Judith Rosenbaum, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Judith Rosenbaum (she/her) is CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive, a pioneering national organization that documents Jewish women’s stories, elevates their voices, and inspires them to be agents of change.

An educator, historian, and writer, Judith served for nearly a decade as JWA’s Director of Public History and Director of Education, developing its major programs and educational initiatives.

Judith earned a BA in History from Yale University and a PhD in American Studies from Brown University. She won a Fulbright Fellowship to study women’s collective communities in Israel, and received a dissertation grant from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study to pursue research on the women’s health movement. Judith has taught and lectured widely on Jewish studies and women’s studies at institutions including Brown University, Boston University, Hebrew College, and Gann Academy. She also serves on the faculty of the Bronfman Fellowship and was awarded a Schusterman Fellowship for Jewish leaders.

Judith regularly publishes in both academic and popular journals and blogs including Tablet, The Forward, HuffPost, Sh’ma Magazine, Hadassah magazine, and Kveller, as well as in several anthologies, including Gender and Jewish History, Women of Katrina, The New Jewish Canon, and The Women’s Passover Companion: Women’s Reflections on the Festival of Freedom.

Dina Adelsky, Chief Development Officer

Dina Adelsky (she/her) was born in Russia and immigrated to Boston with her family at age three. The kindness and philanthropy of American Jewry, concerned with the future of the Jewish people, gave Dina the opportunity to receive a Jewish education and form a strong values-based Jewish identity. Dina received her BA and MA in Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, and served as a year-long Jewish Service Corps fellow in Odessa, Ukraine through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Before joining JWA, she worked in development in a variety of settings, including Jewish day schools and a major Boston medical center. Grateful for the generosity of strangers and having a deep appreciation for the value of “paying it forward,” Dina is honored to develop connections between philanthropic individuals and the Jewish Women’s Archive so that the next generation can continue to build on the important achievements of our ancestors.

Email Dina Adelsky / Tel: (617) 383-6769

Hannah Altman, Digital Media Editor & Communications Manager

Hannah Altman (she/her) is a New Jersey native with a BFA in Photography from Point Park University and an MFA in Photography and Film from Virginia Commonwealth University. During her time in Richmond, she wrote her thesis dissertation Kavana: Photography, Jewish Storytelling, and Memory on images that contribute to collective Jewish memory. Her photography monograph of the same name is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art libraries. She brings her passion for Jewish feminism and storytelling to the Jewish Women's Archive to honor our history and elevate our future.

Email Hannah Altman / Tel: (617) 383-6761

Patrick Dash, Web Developer

Patrick Dash (he/him) brings his enthusiasm, technical knowledge, and passion for web development to JWA. Patrick studied English at Boston University, where he also discovered his interest in web design, building a new website for the Student Activities Office. He has since worked for various companies designing and maintaining websites, and spent several years working for a student financing company in many capacities, including Information Management. Patrick is excited to continue his career at JWA.

Email Patrick Dash

Betsy More, Director of Programs

Betsy More (she/her) earned her PhD in history in 2012 from Harvard University, where her research focused on the history of work and motherhood in the United States. She has taught widely in American history, American studies, and women's and gender studies. She is a recipient of fellowships including the Mellon/ACLS Early Career Research Fellowship and the Women and Public Policy Fellowship from the Harvard Kennedy School. Most recently, she served as the Director of Open Circle Jewish Learning at Hebrew College. She lives in Belmont, Massachusetts with her husband and daughter.

Email Betsy More/ Tel: (617) 383-6764

Diana Myers, Rising Voices Fellowship Assistant

Diana Myers (she/her) is a graduate student in library science at Simmons University. Originally from Philadelphia, she holds degrees in medieval studies from Harvard and Oxford, where she worked on the liturgical histories of women's religious communities. She was a Fellow in the 2016-17 Rising Voices Fellowship cohort and is excited to be back at JWA helping a new generation of Jewish feminists find their voices!

Mikki Pugh, Chief of Staff

Mikki Pugh (she/her) is a licensed independent clinical social worker with over fifteen years of experience in feminist nonprofit management, including gender-specific program development, curriculum design, and evaluation. Mikki holds a BA in Psychology and Women's Studies from Skidmore College and an MSW from UNC Chapel Hill. In addition to her role at JWA, she is also a licensed yoga teacher, a long-time meditation practitioner, and serves on the board of GRCB.

Email Mikki Pugh / Tel: (617) 383-6763

Jennifer Richler, Podcast Producer & Blog Editor

Jen Richler (she/her) grew up in Montreal, Canada, but has lived in the US for over half her life. She has a BA in Cognitive Science from Yale University and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan. So how did she end up as podcast producer and content editor at JWA? A few years after finishing grad school, she decided to leave academia to pursue her passion for journalism. As a freelance writer, she published stories in a wide range of outlets, including Tablet, JTA, Scientific American, and the New York Times. More recently, she decided to try her hand at audio production and became a freelance producer. She's interested in too many topics to list, but especially Israeli and Jewish culture and society, educational equity, and parenting. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her family.

Email Jennifer Richler / Tel: (617) 383-6765

Nahanni Rous, Host and Senior Producer - Can We Talk? 

Nahanni Rous (she/her) is the host and senior producer of Can We Talk? In this role, she has flown over the Chesapeake Bay in the cockpit of a Cessna, chopped garlic in the London kitchen of a world-class chef, and witnessed a small riot at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Most of the time, though, she's in her home office swimming in hours of tape, or recording vocal tracks under a blanket in her closet. Nahanni is also senior producer of Making Gay History, and co-producer of Those Who Were There, Voices from the Holocaust. Nahanni was a founding staff member of the media organization Just Vision, and a producer of Just Vision’s documentary film Encounter Point.

Jennifer Sartori, PhD, Chief Communications Officer and Encyclopedia Editor

Jennifer Sartori (she/her) brings years of experience in public history, Jewish studies, and feminism to her work as Communications Director and Editor of JWA's Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, an extensive revision of Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, released on CD-ROM in 2006 and available on the JWA website since 2009. She received her BA in History with a concentration in Feminist and Gender Studies from Haverford College and her MA and PhD in History from Emory University. Jenny came to JWA from Northeastern University, where she taught for thirteen years and served as Associate Director of the Jewish Studies program. Prior to joining the Northeastern faculty, she served as Director of the Women of Valor program and Director of Education at JWA. Her own research has focused on the shaping of modern Jewish identities, from her graduate work on the education of Jewish girls in 19th- and 20th-century France through her current study of adoption and Jewish identity in the United States today. She is also Co-Director, with Dr. Jayne Guberman, of the Adoption & Jewish Identity Project.

Email Jennifer Sartori / Tel: (617) 383-6756

Gail Twersky Reimer, PhD, Founding Director

A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Reimer (she/her) began her professional career as a faculty member of Wellesley College shortly after receiving her PhD in English and American Literature from Rutgers University. In the early 1990’s, while serving as Associate Director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, Reimer conceived and co-edited two anthologies of Jewish women’s writings – Reading Ruth:Women Reclaim a Sacred Story and Beginning Anew: A Woman’s Companion to the High Holy Days. This work led to the founding of the Jewish Women’s Archive in 1995. Reimer’s leadership of JWA has been acknowledged with numerous awards including being named by The Forward (2001) as one of the 50 most influential Jews of the year and by Womens e-news (2006) as one of its 21 Leaders for the 21st century, honored by Auburn Theological Seminary (2011) at its “Lives of Commitment” event, and awarded the Dr. Benjamin J. Shevach Memorial Award for distinguished achievement in Jewish educational leadership by Hebrew College (2011); the American Jewish Distinguished Service Award from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (2012) and the Lee Max Friedman award for distinguished service in the field of American Jewish History by the American Jewish Historical Society (2014).

JWA Fellows and Interns

Erica Riddick, Twersky Education Fellow

Erica Riddick (she/they) is a passionate educator who wears many hats. In addition to her role as JWA's 2022-2024 Twersky Education Fellow, Erica is Special Projects Manager at Beloved Garden, founding Director of Jews of Color Sanctuary, creator of the Bilhah Zilpah Project, Creative Facilitation Fellow at the Jewish Studio Project, facilitator at Rising Tide: Open Waters Mikveh Network, and owner of Design Theanthropic, a residential design and renovation initiative. Erica lived in Jerusalem while studying at Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, was a 2022 Pardes Mahloket Matters Fellow, the 2021 National Havurah Committee Hollander Social Justice Fellow, and a 2018 JewV’Nation Fellow. A storyteller at heart, Erica enjoys live action role playing gaming, improv, and ballroom dancing.

Shoshana Traum, Oral History Graduate Intern

Shoshana Traum (she/her) got her undergraduate degree in creative writing and linguistics from Binghamton University. and is currently working on a Master's degree in library science with a concentration in archive management at Simmons University. She is interested in oral history and language preservation, and has a particular interest in historical Jewish women from the Talmudic era and earlier. Her favorite forgotten Jewish woman is Shlomtzion HaMalka, from the Maccabean dynastic era.

Nicole Zador, Oral History Graduate Intern

Nicole Zador (she/her) grew up in a small town in central Wisconsin. She double majored in creative writing and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. Currently, she's working toward a Master's degree in Library and Information Science, with a concentration in archival management, from Simmons University. Nicole is interested in the role archives have in community identity formation and looks forward to exploring this further in her time as an intern with JWA.

Micole Abdelhak, Intern

Micole Abdelhak grew up in New Jersey. She is a student at Barnard College in New York City and is currently studying Psychology. She is passionate about cultural history, the French language, and creative writing. In her free time, she enjoys taking trips to The Met, trying new foods, and exploring NYC.

Miriam Abrams, Intern

Miriam Abrams (she/her) is a junior at Smith College, from Lexington, MA. She is majoring in Jewish Studies and is considering a double major in English. In her free time, she enjoys reading, knitting, crocheting, exploring archives, traveling, and writing standup comedy.

Tal Dimenstein, Intern

Tal Dimenstein is a sophomore at Barnard College studying History on a pre-law track and originally from San Diego, California. She has always looked toward Jewish women as a source of inspiration, and is so excited to share their stories with the world. In her free time, she can be found exploring the vast array of New York City’s museums (her favorite is the Tenement Museum) or entering Broadway lotteries religiously.

Judy Goldstein, Intern

Judy Goldstein is a sophomore double degree at Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary studying History and Jewish Gender and Women's Studies. A past JWA Rising Voices Fellow, she is thrilled to help Jewish students around the country find their voices through writing. Originally from Bethesda, Maryland, she enjoys jewelry making and exploring the museums of New York City.

JWA Beat Writers

Savoy Curry, Food Writer

Savoy Curry is a current PhD student at Northwestern University, where she studies Jewish women in the medieval period. She’s currently working on a project that looks at the intersection of religion, gender, and conversion in twelfth to fourteenth century Paris. She loves a good knit crop top, and she loves knitting them herself even more. When she isn’t knitting or reading books for school, Savoy loves going on long walks with her dog and cooking meals for her friends and family.

Sarah Jae Leiber, Culture Writer

Sarah Jae Leiber is a Jewish playwright, screenwriter, comedy writer, and essayist from just outside of Philadelphia, PA. Her work exists at Bitch Media, Bright Wall/Dark Room, JTA, The Broadway Beat, BroadwayWorld, Screen Queens, Sally Mag, Small Screen, The Niche, Uncomfortable Revolution, The Validation Project, and Screen Mayhem. Sarah works in marketing and communications at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. She previously served as entertainment editor at BroadwayWorld and was a member of Actors Theatre of Louisville’s 48th Professional Training Company. B.A. in theatre and history from Muhlenberg College. You can find her whole portfolio here, and you can find her on Twitter @sarahjaeleiber.