Lori Palatnik

Lori Palatnik (born 1960) is an Orthodox Jewish outreach personality and Founding Director of the Jewish Women's Renaissance Project.

Work

Palatnik is the founding director of the Jewish Women's Renaissance Project, dubbed "Birthright for Women",[1][2] which has brought over 4,000 women to Israel between 2009 and 2013[3] on a subsidized, 9-day[4] tour-and-learn program. She also appears on her own weekly video blog, Lori Almost Live, on the website of Aish.com,[5] which was seen by 50,000 viewers each month.[6] In 2010, she was one of 20 semi-finalists for the Jewish Community Heroes award presented by the Jewish Federations of North America.[2]

Palatnik has recorded hundreds of Lori Almost Live video blogs for aish.com, addressing a wide range of Jewish and Torah themes, including the soul and the afterlife, Jewish views on marriage, Torah values, current events, and much more.[7]

Palatnik is a popular speaker for women's groups and Jewish conferences in North America, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Central America, South America and Israel.[8][9][10][11][12][13]

In addition to her books, she has contributed to the Aish HaTorah anthology, Heaven on Earth[14] and Jewish Women Speak about Jewish Matters.[15]

Biography

Palatnik was born into a Conservative Jewish family[16] in Toronto, Canada. She majored in communications at the University of Windsor and earned a special degree in advertising. She began her career in radio copywriting.[6]

In 1985 she was a participant on the first Jerusalem Fellowships trip to Israel, and her experience was so positive that she decided to take time off to learn more about Judaism.[17] She studied for a year[16] at the EYAHT and Neve Yerushalayim colleges for advanced Jewish learning in Jerusalem. She returned briefly to Toronto for a writing job for Aish HaTorah, and afterward returned to Israel, where she met her husband, Yaakov Palatnik, a native of Chicago.[16][6] and became an Orthodox Jewish outreach educator, public speaker, and author. They have five children.

They were the founding rabbi and rebbetzin of Toronto's Village Shul, a family synagogue in Forest Hill, Toronto, which they led for 11 years.[16][6] During that time, Lori also hosted The Jewish Journal, a Toronto television show.[18]

The Palatniks next moved to Denver, Colorado, where for the next four years[16] he worked with Aish Denver[19] and she was educational and program director for the Aish-Ahavas Yisrael project.[20] The couple also co-hosted a weekly Denver radio show called The Palatniks on 630-KHOW.[21]

In 2005, the Palatniks relocated to Washington, D.C., where Rabbi Palatnik became executive director of Aish Washington, D.C.[6] and Lori became one of eight women founders of the Jewish Women's Renaissance Project,[22] an outreach effort established in 2008 which has brought over 4,000 women to Israel from 17 countries. [23]The participants must be non-Sabbath-observant, have children at home, and be physically and emotionally healthy.[17] A 2010 poll of tour participants revealed that "76 per cent increased their attendance at Jewish services, 90.3 per cent increased their Jewish learning, and 75.4 per cent increased their observance of Shabbat" after participating in the tour.[24]

Kidney donor

In 2008, Palatnik revealed that she had donated one of her kidneys to a stranger. She explained her rationale in an article on Aish.com,[25] in a live video performance,[26] and in speeches covered by local press.[27][28]

Honors

In 2010, she was a semi-finalist for the Jewish Community Heroes award presented by the Jewish Federations of North America. She received 25,208 online votes[29] out of 311,265 votes cast.[30]

In 2013 she was recognized as one of the nation's "Ten Women to Watch" by Jewish Women International.[4]

Her 2002 book, Gossip: Ten Pathways to Eliminate It from Your Life and Transform Your Soul (co-authored with Bob Burg) was featured on the Dr. Laura show as a recommended book.[31]

In 2015 Hadassah added her to the list of "Most Outstanding Jewish American Women of Our Time"[32]

Bibliography

Books
Audio cassettes
Video Blog

References

  1. ↑ Ohayon, Esther (10 February 2011). "Jewish Women's Renaissance Project A Birthright Like Trip for Women". The Five Towns Jewish Community Service. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Two local finalists for Jewish heroes contest". Washington Jewish Week. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Grossman, Ellie S. (21 August 2013). "Israel journey inspires St. Louis women to live more Jewishly". St. Louis Jewish Light. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Josephs, Susan (Fall 2013). "Lori Palatnik: Educator Helps Jewish Mothers Connect to Their Faith". Jewish Women International. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Yeshiva Holds Gala". Washington Jewish Week. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2010. HighBeam subscription
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Lori Palatnik". Aish DC/MD/VA. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  7. ↑ "List of "Lori Almost Live" video blogs". Aish.com. 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  8. ↑ "About the Presenter". Project Sinai. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  9. ↑ Fine, Arlene (29 December 2000). "Bringing Jewish values home...and beyond: Noted author and lecturer Lori Palatnik will speak here on the soul and the afterlife". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  10. ↑ "First Annual Houston Conference for Jewish Women will be a Hard Act to Follow". Jewish Herald-Voice. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  11. ↑ "Women Need a Place of Their Own to Talk About Life Issues". The New Standard. 25 January 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  12. ↑ "Lori Palatnik Returns to Houston for the ASCENT Mini-Conference". Jewish Herald-Voice. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  13. ↑ "YL Eastern Regional Conference: Confirmed Speakers". Jewish Federations of North America. 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  14. ↑ Coopersmith, Nechemia; Simmons, Shraga (2002). Heaven on Earth: Down-to-earth Jewish spirituality. Targum Press. ISBN 1-56871-206-5.
  15. ↑ Palatnik, Lori (1 January 2000), "Leah and the Lesson of Gratitude", Jewish Women Speak About Jewish Matters, Targum/Feldheim, pp. 97–99, ISBN 978-1-56871-151-5, retrieved 1 December 2010
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Bochner, Rea. "This Week with Lori Palatnik". Ami Living, 9 April 2014, pp. 28-29.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Perkal, Esther. "Israel Trips: Transformative experiences". Hamodia Features, 26 May 2011, pp. C4–5.
  18. ↑ Woldoff, Leisah (13 December 2007). "It's About the Marriage, Not the Wedding". jewishjournal.com. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  19. ↑ "About the Author: Rabbi Yaakov Palatnik". Aish.com. 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  20. ↑ "Lori Palatnik – A short biography" (PDF). Clayhill United Synagogue Newsheet. 13 November 2004. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  21. ↑ "The Red Tent Club for the Women's Division". jewishhowardcounty.org. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  22. ↑ "The Utah-8 Mission: To create a movement that would bring values back to the world". Jewish Women's Renaissance Project. 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  23. ↑ http://issuu.com/jewishnews/docs/jjn_april_14. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ↑ Lungen, Paul (26 March 2012). "Women's group aims at renaissance in values". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  25. ↑ Palatnik, Lori (2 February 2008). "A Kidney To Give: Why I donated my kidney to someone I didn't know". aish.com. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  26. ↑ "Why I Donated a Kidney to a Total Stranger", live video by Lori Palatnik in 4 parts: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.
  27. ↑ Benari, Elad (15 December 2009). "Save a Life, Make a Life". Shalom Life. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  28. ↑ Blackman, Carolyn (23 December 2009). "Kidney donor calls it greatest experience of her life". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  29. ↑ "Lori Palatnik - Rockville, District of Columbia". jewishcommunityheroes.org. 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  30. ↑ "Welcome to Jewish Community Heroes". jewishcommunityheroes.org. 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  31. ↑ "Recommended Books: Gossip: Ten Pathways to Eliminate It from Your Life and Transform Your Soul". drlaura.com. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  32. ↑ Hadassah. http://archive.hadassah.org/site/c.keJNIWOvElH/b.6606301/k.4698/March_Is_Womens_History_Month.htm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  33. ↑ Palatnik, Lori (1999). Friday Night and Beyond: The Shabbat Experience Step-By-Step. Jason Aronson. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  34. ↑ Palatnik, Lori; Burg, Bob (2002). Gossip: Ten Pathways to Eliminate It from Your Life and Transform Your Soul. Simcha Press. ISBN 0-7573-0055-3. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  35. ↑ Palatnik, Lori; Yaakov (2008). Remember My Soul: What to Do in Memory of a Loved One: A Path of Reflection and Inspiration for Shiva, the Stages of Jewish Mourning, and Beyond. K'hal Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60204-014-4. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  36. ↑ "Holy Diner:Shabbat". goodreads.com. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  37. ↑ Protecting the Sanctity of Marriage

External links