Yael Unterman was born in Jerusalem, Israel.
She grew up in Manchester, England, and returned to Israel at the age of 18. In addition to spending several years on advanced Torah studies, she earned a BA in Psychology/Talmud (Bar-Ilan University), and Masters degrees in Jewish History (Touro College) and Creative Writing (Bar-Ilan University).
The many hats she wears include:
- Poet
- Author (click a b c)
- Actress
- Life Coach
- Culture Reviewer
- Teacher & Lecturer
- Translator & Editor
- Bibliodrama Facilitator
Her first book is Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar (Urim Publications), a biography of the legendary Torah teacher. Finalist in the 2009 National Jewish Book Awards, Modern Jewish Thought category.
Her second book The Hidden of Things: Twelve Stories of Love & Longing (Yotzeret Publishing) is a collection of fictional tales of young Jews searching for love, spiritual connection and identity. Finalist in the 2015 USA Best Book Awards, Religious Fiction category. (Free stories online: Ged and God and Glove.)
Yael has run over 750 Bibliodrama workshops around the world. You can join Yael for Zoom Bibliodrama and lectures. Contact here to inquire about those, or about online Bibliodrama training courses such as this one from June 2023.
Yael has lectured in many venues around the world. Testimonial from Jane Tobin Green, South Hampstead Synagogue, London:
It was such a pleasure and privilege to have you as Scholar in Residence this Shabbat. Your topics were fresh and original and you really brought them to life. ... Wow! We were all riveted - I only wish I had notes to refer back to so I could keep hold of the details.
You can also watch her on her You Tube channel and on other videos on You Tube.
UPDATES:
Trainings
# JUNE 2023 First 4-part Bibliodrama online mini-training through Ivrim (contact here to be informed of the next one).
Interviews
# About Bibliodrama - by Yasminah Huberman, on the Jewish Education Experience Podcast.
# Simon Brook asks eleven probing questions on Jchatting.
Writings
# Bibliodrama: Transformation of Story into Experience published in Jewish Educational Leadership.
# Times of Israel Blog Posts and 929 Tanach project articles, plus latest Torah blog posts
# "Modern Midrash" published in Dirshuni Volume II (Hebrew) and in the English version.
Misc
# Launch of YouTube channel.
# Rabbi David Fohrman mentions the impact of Bibliodrama on his approach in The Koren Podcast (at 1:06:20)
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