Leah Berkenwald

Probably the only thing better than reading a thought provoking piece in a major publication is realizing it was penned by a colleague. Leah Berkenwald, the former editor of our blog, wrote a fantastic article about sexual assault and responsibility. Her message veers away from the traditional, and unfortunate, message of placing blame on women who drink too much and open themselves up for violence, and instead asks the reader to think about the sexual culture of college campuses. Today Leah is the Wellness Education Coordinator at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where she is implementing an original bystander intervention campaign to prevent sexual assault called "Be a WIThero."

Dear friends,

After three invaluable years, I’m signing off as Communications Specialist and Blogger-in-Chief at the Jewish Women’s Archive.

In a blog post last week Gabrielle Orcha asked, "What about the Jewish father? ... Who is he really?"

Mother's Day always makes me wonder: How do we convey the love, respect and gratitude we feel for the women in our lives – and for the fortitude and accomplishments of women everywhere?

Dyanna Loeb aka Dyna*Mic is an MC, poet and arts educator who started performing with Youth Speaks in 2001.

April 26 is national Poem In Your Pocket Day.

If you listen closely, you may hear people wishing one another a "Happy 4/20" today. Why?

Jojo Lazar is a Boston-based multimedia visual and performance artist known as The Burlesque Poetess.

Big sister. Song leader. Outspoken challenger. Prophet. In her many roles, Miriam is integral to the story of Exodus. Her legacy is complex, dynamic, and hopeful.

Last week Kathleen Peratis shared her disappointment with the widely acclaimed The New American Haggadah by Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander:

Sunday morning, as readers of the New York Times were mulling over a long and thoughtful article about Gloria Steinem's legacy, Steinem herself was with friends and fellow supporters of the Jewish Women's Archive to honor three remarkable Jewish women—Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Elizabeth A. Sackler, and Rebecca Traister — at JWA's second annual Making Trouble/Making History luncheon.

Last Hanukkah, the we celebrated the women who light up our lives (video).

Thanks to the success of feature film Defiance (2008), Americans now associate the history of Jewish partisans with the hunky Bielski brothers, played by Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jaime Bell. In the film's depiction of their society hidden deep in the forest women contributed by cooking and gathering food but not so much as leaders or fighters. The real story of female Jewish partisans--in the Bielski encampment and elsewhere--is, of course, much richer.

Yesterday eJewish Philanthropy released a special, satirical Purim edition of their usual newsletter called pJewishMisanthropy. The whole thing is absolutely hilarious--at least it should be to any of us working in the Jewish communal world who read often-vague articles about the future of "peoplehood," "Jewish innovation," "leadership," and "engagement" in the ever-changing Jewish American/Israeli landscape. Still, one story in particular caught my attention.

For most of her life, philanthropist Deborah Strobin kept her past a secret from her friends, her children, and even her husband.

I'm not the first one to point out how outrageous it is that in 2012, birth control is a controversial political issue.

In early January, JWA moved its offices to an historic building in Brookline Village, a half mile down Harvard Street from our home for the past six years. After weeks of packing and un-packing, we are settled in a bright and sunny space and finally know where things are. Since most of you may find it hard to drop in on us—although you are welcome anytime—we thought it would be fun to give you a short “virtual tour” and show you a few of the treasures we brought with us to the new space.

It's a tradition for players in the Super Bowl to wear a patch with the Roman numerals of the game's year on the left side of their chests (46, or XLVI, this year). On Sunday in Indianapolis, the Patriots will be wearing it on the right side; the left is already occupied by a patch honoring Myra Hiatt Kraft, the wife of team owner Robert Kraft who died in July of 2011.

Today we learned that Susan G. Komen For The Cure, the nation's leading breast cancer charity, is ending its partnership with Planned Parenthood in a move that will result in a major loss of funding for breast exams at Planned Parenthood. Last year, Komen grants totaling roughly $680,000 were distributed to at least 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates to fund breast exams and other breast-health services.

This morning, Gabrielle Giffords offered her official resignation from Congress to Speaker John Boehner.

Do people even use address books anymore? Either way, we're moving and we want you to have our new address!

This week we were excited to receive news that our Hanukkah video, Women Who Light Up Our Lives, inspired Rabbi Janie Grackin to create a special project for "Rosh Hodesh Hanukkah." A Florida-based Jewish community educator and participant in JWA's summer Institute for Educators, Janie writes:

“[Debbie Friedman] emphasized the value of every voice and the power of song to help us express ourselves and become our best selves. As she wrote for JWA's online exhibit Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution: 'The more our voices are heard in song, the more we become our lyrics, our prayers, and our convictions.' The woman who wrote the song that asks God to 'help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing' herself modeled for us what that looks like.”—Judith Rosenbaum.
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Miriam Karp is an artist who has been creating hundreds of one-of-a-kind ketubot since 1976.

Back in October, eJewishPhilanthropy ran an article by Leo Margul joking about a "Jewish update" to the Apple iPhone's automated personal assistant, Siri. "Jewish Siri" has all sorts of features to simplify the life of the modern Jew, like automatic sweater notifications so that everytime the weather dips below 75 degrees, Siri will notify your parents that you are indeed wearing a sweater. (Read more at The Jewish Week, via Rabbi Jason Miller.)

Today we're kicking off a third round of #jwapedia, JWA's campaign to tweet the online version of Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

This month, the folks at the Jewish Women's Archive and its blog Jewesses with Attitude are honored to host the November Jewish Book Carnival.

Wonder Woman, created in the 1940s, showed the world that women could kick butt.