Honor Judith Rosenbaum's leadership on her 10th anniversary as JWA’s CEO by making a donation!
Close [x]

Show [+]

Women Who Dared

JWA’s Women Who Dared project documents the stories of contemporary Jewish women activists who fought for social justice in their own communities, across the country, and around the world. From 2000 to 2007, we recorded oral history interviews with dozens of women of diverse backgrounds and generations in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and New Orleans. Each woman committed to finding solutions to problems ranging from civil rights to the plight of Soviet Jewry, women’s disempowerment to domestic violence, discrimination against the disabled to nuclear disarmament. The project chronicles the often untold story of Jewish women’s activism, highlighting the role of gender and Jewish values in the fight for social justice. 

The Women Who Dared oral history interviews were funded in part by a major grant from the Dorot Foundation

Ruth Abrams

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Judge Ruth Abrams on July 25, 2001, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Judge Abrams explores her family, education, career path, focus on gender issues, and notable legal cases in an interview.

Joanne Alter

Project
Women Who Dared

Deborah Michaud interviewed Joanne Alter on February 22, 2004, in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Alter reflects on her upbringing in a Christian suburb of Chicago, her early activism fostered by wartime experiences, her involvement in political organizations in college, her efforts in foreign relations and women empowerment, her successful political career, philanthropic work, and the influence of her Jewish identity on her activism.

Lynn Amowitz

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Lynn Amowitz on July 31, 2001, in Providence, Rhode Island, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Amowitz reflects on her childhood experiences of antisemitism, her parents' establishment of a synagogue for her bat mitzvah, the influence of family history on her career choice, her work in human rights investigations, and her aspirations to impact policies and methodologies in her field.

Rita Arditti

Project
Women Who Dared

Julie Johnson interviewed Rita Arditti on March 14, 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Arditti, a Jewish activist from Argentina, discusses her upbringing, academic journey, involvement in the women's movement and Science for the People, her battle with breast cancer, and her impactful work with the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

Diane Balser

Project
Women Who Dared

Julie Johnson interviewed Diane Balser on March 8, 2005, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Balser discusses her journey into activism, including her early involvement in peace activism and the women’s movement, and her efforts to raise awareness on global gender inequality issues and facilitating discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Nairobi.

Hadassah Blocker

Project
Women Who Dared

Elise Brenner interviewed Hadassah Blocker on December 16, 2004, in Newtonville, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Blocker shares her upbringing in Massachusetts, her Orthodox background, challenges to gender roles in Judaism, and her dedication to teaching and promoting women's equal participation.

Renee Brant

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Renee Brant on July 18, 2001, in Newtown Highlands, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Brant discusses her upbringing, activism, and career in addressing sexual abuse, emphasizing personal growth, and promoting mental health services in medicine.

Peggy Charren

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Peggy Charren on July 23, 2001, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Charren talks about her family background, her advocacy for children's television programming through Action for Children's Television (ACT), her passion for literature, her marriage, and her reflections on her life and activism, including receiving prestigious honors.

Rebecca Chernin

Project
Women Who Dared

Elise Brenner interviewed Rebecca Chernin on December 19, 2004, in Sharon, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Project. Rebecca discusses her family, childhood, and Jewish identity, highlighting her advocacy efforts to combat teen violence and support domestic violence victims within the Jewish community; she also shares her personal experience as an Orthodox teen survivor of an abusive relationship, her work with REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, and her outreach efforts to address domestic violence within the Jewish community, guided by the Jewish value of shalom bayit, and reflects on her ongoing advocacy goals.

Ruth Clarke

Project
Women Who Dared

Elise Brenner interviewed Ruth Clarke on December 17, 2003, in Nonquit, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Ruth discusses her family background, her conversion to Judaism, the changes in her Dorchester neighborhood, and her impactful work with the Nonquit Street Gardening Club, reflecting on the rewards and challenges of being an activist.

Pamela Cohen

Project
Women Who Dared

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Pamela Cohen on February 7, 2005, in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the Jewish Women’s Archive’s Women Who Dared project. Cohen discusses her family's immigration, her activism for Soviet Jewry, her career in advocacy, her reflections on Judaism, and her hopes for future generations in human rights work.

Merle Feld

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Merle Feld on July 19, 2000, in Northampton, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Feld recounts her upbringing in Brooklyn, her involvement in the Jewish community, her work in facilitating Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, and the profound impact of her activism on her life and career as a writer and public figure.

Vicki Gabriner

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Vicki Gabriner on July 20, 2000, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Gabriner recounts growing up in Brooklyn, her journey through activism, involvement in social justice issues, experiences with the Weathermen, coming out as a lesbian, and her deepening connection to Judaism and Yiddish culture.

Barbara Gaffin

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Barbara Gaffin in Boston, Massachusetts on July 11, 2000, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Gaffin, raised in a Jewish community, recounts her career in Jewish organizations, her perspective on the relationship between American Jews and Israel, her work in Ethiopia, and the prejudice and contradictions she encountered while helping others.

Roz Garber

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Roz Garber on July 26th, 2000, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared project. Garber, a Canadian, shares her journey from choosing to study in the United States and embracing Conservative Judaism, to her work in the Soviet Union, educating and supporting Refuseniks, and her subsequent activism within the Jewish community, recognizing the importance of fighting injustice both at home and abroad.

Shannie Goldstein

Project
Women Who Dared

Abriel Louise Young interviewed Shannie Goldstein on January 12, 2005, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Goldstein explores her family history, childhood in Lowell, Massachusetts, her Jewish education, her involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, her undercover trips to the Soviet Union, her views on feminism, her battle with breast cancer, and her engagement in the Jewish community.

Judith Hirschfield-Bartek

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Judi Hirshfield-Bartek in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Hirshfeld-Bartek, an oncology nurse, discusses her activism in breast cancer research funding, influenced by her Jewish upbringing and family's philanthropic values, as well as her lobbying efforts for increased funding.

Shulamit Izen

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Shulamit Izen on January 14, 2002, in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Shulamit shares her journey of self-discovery as a lesbian, her exploration of different Jewish practices, her experiences in starting a GSA at her Jewish high school, and her activism in creating a supportive community for GLBTQ Jewish youth.

Anne A. Jackson

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Anne A. Jackson on July 10, 2000, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Jackson shares her upbringing in a community of Russian Jews, her involvement in education and activism, including the Civil Rights Movement, her advocacy for Holocaust education, and her reflections on her career as an educator.

Idit Klein

Project
Women Who Dared

Julie Johnson interviewed Idit Klein on February 25, 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Project. Idit's interview highlights her lifelong journey from childhood in Israel to her activism as a Jewish leader, emphasizing her commitment to supporting marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ+ Jews, and her deep connection to her Jewish identity and the importance of community.

Margaret Lazarus

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Margaret Lazarus on July 11, 2001, in Belmont, Massachusetts, for the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Lazarus speaks about her upbringing in Queens, her activist parents, her perception of Judaism as a platform for questioning and civil rights, her career in documentary filmmaking, and her advocacy for women's issues and social justice.

Sally Mack

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Sally Mack on August 3, 2000, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Mack discusses her Orthodox Jewish upbringing, her transition into social activism, including her arrest for protesting, and the connection she finds between activism and spirituality in Jewish communities.

Susan Maze-Rothstein

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Susan Maze-Rothstein on January 25, 2002, in Brookline, Massachusetts, for the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Maze-Rothstein reflects on her family background, experiences with Judaism, activism in addressing diversity and anti-racist education, challenges of being an outsider in both the Jewish and African-American communities, her commitment to social justice as a lawyer and judge, and her inspiration from influential figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou.

Galina Nizhnikov

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Galina Nizhnikov in Peabody, Massachusetts on January 12, 2003, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Nizhnikov talks about her upbringing in Russia, her family's Jewish pride, experiences with workplace antisemitism, involvement with refuseniks, the decision to leave Russia, and the struggles they faced to secure their departure.

Judy Panko Reis

Project
Women Who Dared

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Judy Panko Reis in Wilmette, Illinois, on February 21st, 2007, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Disability activist Judy Panko Reis overcame personal tragedy to fight for equitable access in disability transportation and co-founded the Women with Disabilities Center while pursuing higher education and working as a Healthcare Policy Analyst.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now