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Honorary Committee for the Celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Women in North America

Ann F. Lewis, Chair of the JWA's Honorary Committee for the Celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Women in North America, is a member of JWA's Board of Directors and has served as Counselor to President Clinton at the White House.

Shelley Berkley, Congresswoman from Las Vegas, represents constituents living in the First Congressional District of Nevada.

Anne Bernays is the author of several novels, including Professor Romeo and The Address Book.

Barbara Boxer has been U.S. Senator for the state of California for ten years.

Shoshana Cardin is an outstanding leader for Jewish and secular local, national, and international causes.

Kim Chernin, author of critically acclaimed memoir In My Mother's House, is a writer whose work spans different genres, including memoir, fiction, essays, and poetry, often on feminist and/or Jewish identity issues.

Judy Chicago is a feminist artist, author, and educator, whose installation art combines history and women's identity.

Susan A. Davis represents much of the San Diego district and its coastline in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Anita Diamant, author of the best selling novel The Red Tent, writes both fiction and nonfiction on Jewish topics.

Eve Ensler is an award-winning playwright, activist, and screenwriter. Her play "The Vagina Monologues" won a 1997 OBIE Award. A recipient of a 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting, her world tour of "The Vagina Monologues" led to the creation of V-Day to end violence against women.

Marcia Falk is a poet, translator, and Judaic scholar. She is the author of the highly acclaimed The Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily Life, the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festival. She is also a renowned painter.

Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator from California, serves as ranking member of the Technology and Terrorism Subcommittee, member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, and is the first woman to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sandra Feldman is President of the million-member American Federation of Teachers, its first female president since 1930.

Tovah Feldshuh, award-winning actress, cabaret singer, and all around humanitarian, has entranced audiences on the Broadway stage, on film, and TV. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she worked at the renowned Guthrie Theater in Minnesota and then went on from success to success. Her work has been universally praised throughout her career.

Debbie Friedman is a singer, guitarist, and composer/writer of Jewish songs and liturgy, who has recorded 19 albums.

Blu Greenberg, author and lecturer, has published widely on the issue of feminism in Jewish Orthodoxy, as well as on the Jewish family.

Jane Harman, Congresswoman for the communities of California's South Bay region, is one of the foremost experts on terrorism and homeland security in the United States Congress and a fierce advocate for fiscal responsibility and protection of working families.

Kitty Carlisle Hart, known for her performances on Broadway as well as in opera, film, and television, was head of the New York State Council for the Arts for 20 years.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, former editor of the Harvard Business Review, is a prolific management scholar and a consultant to major corporations around the world.

Madeleine M. Kunin, former Ambassador to Switzerland, was the first female Governor in the state of Vermont, and the first Jewish woman to serve as a state governor in the history of the United States.

Liz Lerman is Founder and Director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Washington, DC. Over the past 20 years she has established herself as a leader in both the modern dance and community arts fields and has used her innovative art to build community and encourage personal insight and healing.

Gerda Lerner, Professor of History, Emerita, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, founded the nation's first masters degree program in women's history in 1972 and subsequently established a doctoral program in women's history at her university.

Linda Lingle, Governor of Hawai'i, is the first woman and first Jewish person to serve as governor of that state. She has served as newspaper publisher, county government leader, active community volunteer, and Mayor of Maui County.

Nita M. Lowey, Congresswoman representing parts of Westchester and Rockland counties in New York, is currently serving her eighth term in the United States Congress.

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, dancer, choreographer and director. A winner of the prestigious "genius" award from the MacArthur Foundation, she has recently composed a new orchestral piece which was premiered in April 2003.

Joan Nathan, internationally renowned expert on food culture, is an author of award-winning cookbooks and host of the PBS series "Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan."

Grace Paley remains one of America's most revered short story writers. Born in the Bronx, New York, in 1922, Paley is the highly acclaimed author of The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974), and Later the Same Day (1985).

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, is an outstanding feminist journalist, author, and writer on Jewish issues.

Hilary Price, a nationally syndicated cartoonist, became, at age 25, the youngest woman with a syndicated daily comic strip. Rhymes with Orange, her first comics, were published in The San Francisco Chronicle. Today, the simple drawings of this self-taught artist and Stanford English major are seen in 100 newspapers daily.

Sally Priesand, spiritual leader of Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton, New Jersey, was the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in America.

Adrienne Rich, feminist poet and theorist, is well known for her writings on the politics of sexuality, race, language, power, and women's culture.

Jan Schakowsky, Congresswoman for Illinois' Ninth Congressional District, serves as Chief Deputy Whip on the House Democratic Leadership team and is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where she advocates for healthcare coverage for all Americans.

Judith Shapiro is the President of Barnard College.

Lynn Sherr, a correspondent for ABC News, specializing in women’s issues and social changes, has received numerous awards for her reports over the past 25 years. She is also the author of several books and articles in publications such as The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Saturday Review, Ms., Family Circle and Mademoiselle.

Joan Micklin Silver is a pioneering female film director. From Hester Street to Crossing Delancey to films for HBO, she has captured the human condition with its laughter and its tears.

Barbra Streisand, superstar singer and actor, director and producer, philanthropist and political activist, is the highest-selling female recording artist to date.

Margot Stern Strom, educator, author, and lecturer, is the recipient of numerous civic and education awards, including the Charles A. Dana Foundation Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education.

Elizabeth Swados is a composer, playwright, novelist, lyricist, choreographer and director whose theater work has appeared on and off Broadway. With her stirring music, passionate writing and acute sense of social justice, she has changed the American musical theater.

Julie Taymor, director, costume designer, mask & puppetry maker and lyricist, is creator of the Broadway mega-hit The Lion King: The Musical. Her past productions range from original musicals and Shakespeare to classical operas and original films, and her awards include a Tony for Juan Darien, an Emmy for Oedipus Rex, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two OBIE Awards and the Brandeis Creative Arts Award.

Lillian Vernon is founder of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, a leading catalog and online retailer, recognized as part of popular American culture and featured on numerous television programs.

Wendy Wasserstein is a renowned playwright. Her play, The Heidi Chronicles, won the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Best Play of the 1988-1989 season. She is also the author of the plays Uncommon Women and Others, Isn't it Romantic, The Sisters Rosensweig, and An American Daughter.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Honorary Committee for the Celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Women in North America." (Viewed on March 19, 2024) <http://jwa.org/350years/honorary>.