Rana Bickel

2015-2016 Rising Voices Fellow Rana Bickel

Rana Bickel is a coffee-addicted senior at CESJDS, a pluralistic school in Maryland. Her senior jersey says Rana The Riveter. When she isn't busy procrastinating, Rana enjoys acting, reading, keeping up with the news, learning Talmud, and writing. When she grows up, Rana wants to be a Maharat and go into social justice.

Blog Posts

2015-2016 Rising Voices Fellowship Cohort Selfie

Finding A Community

Rana Bickel

Such is the life of a Rising Voices Fellow.  Late nights full of soul searching and edited drafts covered in red. Going to sleep feeling like your latest piece is worse than your third grade diary, and waking up realizing it’s halfway decent. But it’s not just about the writing. 

Topics: Feminism, Writing
Rising Voices Fellow Rana Bickel Gardening with her Mom

My Mama Loves Every(body)

Rana Bickel

I was never allowed to have a Barbie doll. My mom decreed it a rule in the Bickel household. I asked her why one time when I was six or seven, and she told me that she didn’t want us having dolls that portrayed unrealistic body standards. She didn’t want me and my two sisters growing up thinking that we were supposed to look like Barbies when we grew up

Pixabay Image of a Woman Crying

I Hate Being an Activist

Rana Bickel

My activism takes the form of words. Words that tiptoe out of my mouth and gently push others on a path towards justice.  But increasingly I find myself not being able to speak. Why? Because being an activist is making me miserable.

Drawing of a Prince and Princess

The Princess Tried

Rana Bickel

My favorite movie [The Princess Bride], though strikingly Jewish, is not particularly feminist. It’s not just that it doesn’t pass the Bechdel test (because let’s be real how many movies do?), it’s because the female protagonist, Buttercup, is seemingly incapable of doing anything on her own. 

Topics: Film
Mechitza

Orthodox Feminism

Rana Bickel

A lot of people leave Orthodoxy because of the sexism. Honestly, it’s really hard to stay. Being a teenager with friends who are all forming their identities, I struggle with this a lot. Many of my friends are leaving the movement because they are tired of tirelessly fighting, enduring, and never being equal. 

Rising Voices Fellow Rana Bickel with the Pope

Pop(e)ular

Rana Bickel

Religious leaders aren’t normally considered cool by teenagers, but Pope Francis is most definitely an exception. As a teenager myself, I can say that the Catholic Church was not at all on my radar until he started making waves. 

Rising Voices Fellow Rana Bickel Then and Now

Best Dressed Most Stressed

Rana Bickel

I used to wear tie-dye. A lot of it. I also used to wear awkward length skirts, brightly colored shirts, and sparkly jewelry. It was a middle school phase; everyone is entitled to one. But it was also more than a phase. It was the time before I cared what people thought of me. 

SlutWalk Sign, 2015

Blaming Victims

Rana Bickel

I have an insane amount of respect for Susan Brownmiller. Trailblazer is truly the word to describe this journalist who became a civil rights and feminist activist. Her book, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, legitimately changed the public outlook on rape. 

Topics: Feminism, Protests
Name Tag

Decidedly Unorthodox

Rana Bickel

Earlier this year, it was a Saturday afternoon and I was at my friend’s house when she asked me how my beliefs in feminism and Modern Orthodoxy were compatible. I tried to explain to her that in order for my feminism to be real, it had to be challenged. 

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Rana Bickel." (Viewed on September 26, 2023) <https://jwa.org/blog/author/rana-bickel>.