Rising Voices Blog Posts

Rising Voices

Learn more about the Rising Voices Fellowship, JWA's thought-leadership program for young Jewish women and non-binary teens.
Photographs of Miriam Niestat, her family, and a loom collaged on woven green background

Weaving My Asymmetrical Jewish Identity

Miriam Niestat

My uncle had the idea that maybe I could weave a tallis of my own. But I didn’t want it to somehow invalidate my bat mitzvah.

Topics: Crafts, Family, Ritual
Photo of wall covered in hamsas, on a yellow patterned background.

Unity through Symbolism: The Hamsa

Leila Nuri

As a teen with a Muslim-Palestinian father and a Jewish-American mother, the hamsa has always meant a lot to me.

Topics: Crafts, Family, Palestine
Photographs of Torah, a book of commentary, and Shabbat candles collaged on patterned orange background.

Imagining Feminist Torah Commentary For Everyone

Miriam Stodolsky

For the past year, I’ve been reading the parasha each week. It's been fascinating, meaningful— and incredibly exasperating.

Outlined drawings of city skyline, old synagogue, girl writing, and other doodles on red background

Confronting the Mechitza in Hamburg

Adina Gerwin

At the Hamburg synagogue, I found myself in a place literally built to go against the foundational egalitarian principles my Judaism had always been about.

Outlined drawings of hamsa, pomegranate, and candles over blue background with pens

Writing My Jewish Magical Realism

Sofia Isaias-Day

My two identities and their literary traditions, Torah and magical realism, work together to shape my writing style.

Topics: Fiction, Ritual
Illustrated Outline of a Woman Sitting Cross-Legged; Background with Stars of David

Microaggressions in High School: Learning to Advocate for More Inclusive Communities

Georgia Fried

I’m calling out a system that doesn’t make Jewish students feel seen at school—a system that doesn’t educate people on religions that aren’t the most mainstream ones in our culture.

Illustration of Campers Sitting on a Log Side-By-Side

Social Dates, Gossip, and Exclusion: Combating Toxic Hookup Culture and Heteronormativity at My Jewish Camp

Talia Bloom

I'll admit that my time as a camper was sadly tainted with anxiety and self-deprecation as I tried to navigate the toxic culture, and I currently see the same feelings developing in my young campers.

Collage with Wallpaper of Illustrated Pens, Illustrated Fists in the Air in the Foreground

Six Months After Colleyville: The Power of Journalism and (Less So) Running

Ilah

Discouraged and still reeling from the events of the past weekend, I took the story of Colleyville and the continued hatred against Jewish individuals in this country to our school newspaper.

Collage of Illustrated Women Swimming; Star of David Patterned Background

Sink or Swim: Antisemitic Jokes Are No Laughing Matter

Elle Rosenfeld

After reckoning with my friend’s antisemitism, it’s clear to me that intersectionality can be a tool to fight this form of hatred.

Collage with TV Still from "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

"Remember That We Suffered": Grappling with Privilege and Intergenerational Trauma as a Jew

Abigail Gilman

We can acknowledge the horrors that our ancestors endured without letting that knowledge stop us from living fully and compassionately in the present.

Collage of Illustrated Adult Hand Holding Child's Hand

My Dad Gives Me Choices: On Male Authority Today

Mira Eras

The chance to have power over my own choices is an incredible opportunity that many people don't have, now more than ever.

Topics: Family, Feminism
Picture of Main Actresses in "Mamma Mia" Production at the Terazije Theatre in Serbia, 2015

"Mamma Mia" is a Feminist Exploration of Choice

Georgia Fried

In my view, Sophie embodies the notion of choice—a central feminist idea that is explored in the musical.

Topics: Feminism, Theater
Megan Fox holding a flame to her tongue with her phone held up to her ear

"Jennifer's Body": A Metacommentary on Exploitation in the Film Industry

Sofia Isaias-Day

The film Jennifer's Body addresses themes of assault and exploitation without being obvious about it—which may have been a necessary tactic.

Topics: Feminism, Television
Collage of Illustrated Figures in Front of Asexual and Aromantic Pride Flag Colored Rainbows

What "Be Fruitful and Multiply" Means for Ace and Aro Jews

Talia Bloom

Queerness, asexuality, and aromanticism don't take away our ability to fulfill the mitzvah, "Be fruitful and multiply"; in some ways, they actually open up our world.

Movie Still from "Ghost World", 2001: Image of Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch

"Ghost World": Flawed Portrayals of Flawed Jewish Women

Lucy Waldorf

Ghost World is satirical, but is that fact enough to excuse the writing of the Jewish female characters?

Colorful Illustration of Women Leaning on Each other

Jewish Summer Camp and The Book of Ruth: The Power of a Jewish Woman's Support

Ilah

While my first go at standing up to a man in a position of power may not have gone as planned, I've recognized in the events that followed the power of Jewish women, like Ruth and Naomi, to lift each other back up.

Collage with Outline of Western Wall and Illustrated Woman Facing Away From It

In the Streets of Jerusalem: Discovering What Jewish Space Means to Me

Maddie Nowack

Throughout my many years of Hebrew school, I was taught that Israel was supposed to be my second home. After I traveled there, I realized this couldn’t be further from the truth for me.

Collage with Maroon Background and Illustrated Young Woman Carrying a Menorah

“All Too Well”: How I Went From Embarrassed to Proud of My Jewish Identity

Amanda Xinhui Malnik

What if there was a short film of my life with captions describing each stage of my relationship with Judaism, like Taylor Swift’s film for her ten-minute version of “All Too Well"?

Collage with Background of a Product Label and Foreground Illustration of a White Woman

As a Jewish Feminist, Learning How to Engage with My "First Ingredient": Whiteness

Lilly Rochlin

If I were a can, and you were to pick me up off of a grocery store shelf and scan my backside for a list of ingredients, “white” would be first.

Collage of Outlined Abstract Images: Face with Tear Drop, Candlesticks, Challah

Grief Made Me an Outsider, but Shabbat Drew Me In: How Judaism Helps Me Make Sense of Loss

Amelia Posner-Hess

Shabbat at synagogue was the one place where my grief belonged, where I belonged, after my my dad died. 

Collage of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" Book Covers

"Our Bodies, Ourselves" in 2022

Sofia Isaias-Day

As a Jewish feminist, I have a responsibility to further the movement started by the writers of Our Bodies, Ourselves.

Collage with Image of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Pen

Abolish the Death Penalty in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ellie Friedman

This month especially, while remembering everything RBG accomplished, we should take the time to look into the lesser known parts of Justice Ginsburg’s long career.

Collage with Image of Alix Kates Shulman at Miss America Protest at "Freedom Trash Can"

Protest Social Media's Beauty Standards in the Name of the Freedom Trash Can

Mallie Lifsitz

It’s undeniable that our current beauty standards are unattainable. I think that contemporary activists can learn from Alix Kates Shulman’s approach to this issue.

Topics: Feminism, Protests, Media
Collage with Image of Gisella Perl

Lessons From Gisella Perl, Reflections on the Texas Abortion Ban

Sarah Gorbatov

Holocaust survivor and doctor Gisella Perl's story has long been unsung; learning her story can serve all of us in our struggle for reproductive rights today.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Rising Voices Blog Posts." (Viewed on April 25, 2024) <http://jwa.org/blog/risingvoices>.