Skip to content

Deena Aranoff A leading scholar on the role of the household and family relations in the history of the Jews Teacher of Torah and Talmud More Information now available "The most enduring aspects of Jewish culture are found in the interplay of formal religious practice and home life "

A new book by Deena Aranoff
More Information Student of Homeopathy Deena Aranoff
background image of sand and sea

Welcome


I am a teacher of classical Jewish texts and history. My goal is to bring the wisdom of these sacred sources to the current generation of learners and seekers.

My current research focuses on the role of family life in the making of Judaism. In my book, Mother’s Milk, I raise up the household as a significant site in the history of the Jews, and in the unfolding of revelation itself.

I am very passionate about the intersection of wellbeing and traditional Jewish practices. Certain signature Jewish practices provide remedies sorely needed in our time: shabbat, holidays, food laws, forms of assembly, property and provision, prayer and song. I hope that you’ll join me in exploring the life-affirming elements contained within these traditional Jewish practices.

I am also interested in the world of parenting. Parents today face many serious challenges that often seem insurmountable; we are turning everywhere for insight and support. I am slowly forming a general approach to parenting that blends the communication approach of Haim Ginott, the writings of Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, Non-Violent Communication, the Enneagram, the principles of homeopathy and the insights of Moshe Feldenkrais. I hope that you will join me for my online and in-person offerings in the coming months!

Mother's Milk

A new book by DEENA ARANOFF

Now Available!

This book engages with an age-old question: What accounts for the persistence of Jewish culture through the ages? Despite significant variations, how were Jewish cultural elements sustained over the millennia?

Mother’s Milk: Essays on Child-Rearing, the Household, and the Making of Jewish Culture proposes that we include the earliest phases of child-rearing in the history of Jewish cultural production. Author Deena Aranoff argues that some of the most enduring aspects of Jewish culture are produced in the context of household and family relations.

Events and News

Online

Talmud Together March Session

Author, Professor, Speaker
Jewish Studies Lecture
Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, West 76th Street, New York, NY, USA

Mother’s Milk Book Talk NYC

Author, Professor, Speaker
Book Talk
Author, Professor, Speaker
Book Talk
Osher Marin JCC, North San Pedro Road, San Rafael, CA, USA

Mother’s Milk: A conversation with Deena Aranoff and Elissa Strauss

Author, Professor, Speaker
Book Talk Jewish Studies

Amen

I have become very enthusiastic about the recitation of amen. Amen is the traditional Hebrew response to blessings uttered before food, ritual activity, or upon noteworthy sensory experiences. It is the chief response to liturgical declarations. It offers a resounding affirmation: I hear you and I affirm you. I serve as your witness. This most ancient of Hebrew utterances forges a powerful, if sometimes ephemeral, link between the person making a formal declaration and those in their presence.  In her recent book, The Amen Effect (Avery, 2024), Rabbi Sharon Brous lifts up the recitation of amen as a means by
Read More

Curious about Homeopathy

I am a student of homeopathy. My interest in homeopathic medicine began when I experienced its astounding benefits for my children, and then for myself. I am now in my second year of formal study with the Academy of Homeopathy Education. My studies have introduced me to a world of thinking about the elements of nature and how they can be summoned for curative effect. If you are curious about homeopathy, please join me for my upcoming zoom on January 5 @ 10am PST / 1pm EST.  In this jam-packed, one-hour zoom, I provide an overview of homeopathic medicine: What
Read More

Religion and Remedy

To a large extent, my academic interests in the last two decades have traced the course of my own life, its challenges and blessings. My recent book, Mother’s Milk, was undoubtedly the product of my own life as a mother. It emerged not from the fluid unfolding of such a life, but from the disruptions and dislocations along the way.
Read More
healing hands image

Healing

Healing is on our minds. It’s on our minds because we seek healing for ourselves and for others. Even if we have been spared the challenges of serious illness or trauma, we are witnessing acts of violence and suffering that impel us to seek recovery and cure, for ourselves, our families, our society, and for the larger eco-system of which we are a part. Healing is our prayer; it is the much-wished-for phase after trauma and illness. I approach the subject of healing from two perspectives. First, as a scholar of Jewish culture. You might ask: what does Jewish culture
Read More

Touching and Not Touching

I am entering a new phase in my parenting life. My children are approaching their teen years, and I am trying to reduce my involvement in their lives. This is a big transition for me, as I have spent many waking (and sleeping) hours responding to their needs. As my husband and I make small changes to our family system so that it might better suit the emerging capacities of our children, I find myself wondering: where can I look for models of relating that allow for separation, for independence, for not knowing? In their book, Liberated Parents, Liberated Children, Adele Faber and Elaine
Read More

A peculiar sort of learning

Every few months I watch this clip of Moshe Feldenkrais on the topic of human learning: I am particularly fascinated with the following words (begins at minute 11:40): “There are two Learnings, two. One learning is, you know, is academic learning. Academic learning. It means you can do it or not do it. You can be a physicist, or you can be a chemist; and you can be an archeologist; you can be a lawyer; and you can learn anthropology; you can learn any damn thing you want…And you can not do it, and you can postpone it. If you
Read More

VIDEOS

×