MEET

Leora Balinsky

Hi! My name is Leora, and I love Jewish learning and living. I was born and raised in a small, out-of-the-box community in Evanston, Illinois, and I spent two years after high school studying in the Migdal Oz Beit Midrash, and after that I studied Philosophy at Barnard College. After college, I moved to the Holy Land, where I learned Torah at Yeshivat Drisha while pursuing an MSW at Tel Aviv University.

I currently live in Jerusalem with my husband Sam and our son Boaz. I spend my days teaching Talmud and serving as the Mashgicha Ruchanit at Midreshet Amudim. I feel most at home in Torah that speaks to the infinite worth of every life and of the bidirectional relationship we have to the Infinite One. I feel most connected to my Creator in singing community.

My main hobby is spending Fridays cooking ambitiously elaborate Shabbat meals at an overly casual pace, making a big mess in the kitchen, rushing in the last hour before sunset, and then telling myself that I’ll start earlier and finish earlier next week.