Can We Talk? The JWA Podcast

In this bonus episode, we talk with Simone Nathan, the creator, writer, and star of Kid Sister, a funny and heartfelt TV series from New Zealand about a young Jewish woman navigating family expectations, falling for a non-Jew, and figuring out what she wants from her life. Simone talks about growing up Jewish in New Zealand, drawing on her own family and experiences to create the show, and how a specific story can be universal. 

Adina Sash, AKA Flatbush Girl, uses controversial methods to fight for agunot, women trapped in their marriages because their husbands refuse to grant them a get, or Jewish divorce. She calls out get refusers by name, rallies her Instagram followers against them, and even uses images of women’s bodies as a form of protest. 

Pass the crackerjacks! It's the inaugural season of the Women’s Pro Baseball League. This is the first women’s professional league in the US since the women of the All-American Girls Baseball League got their chance on the field while the men were off fighting in World War II. In this episode, we take in a WPBL game and hear from league Commissioner Justine Siegal about her Jewish upbringing, her love of baseball, and why she sees women’s and girls’ participation in the sport as a social justice issue. Play ball!

For the last of our summer re-releases, we're sharing the second episode in our two-part series on Joan Rivers. It features a conversation between Joan and her longtime friend and comedy partner, Treva Silverman. Joan and Treva talk about what it was like to be women in comedy in the 60s and 70s, how they got their start driving to gigs in the Catskills in Joan’s beat up old car, and the origins of some of their favorite jokes. 

Feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem died on September 2, 2026. In this special episode, JWA's CEO Judith Rosenbaum remembers her lunch date with Gloria 21 years ago, the feminist legacy of Gloria's grandmother Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, and Gloria's affirmation that she "threw her lot in" with the Jewish people. We also hear Gloria Steinem's own voice from her participation in JWA's 25th anniversary celebration in 2021.

While the podcast is on hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. This time, an episode featuring a 2006 interview with Joan Rivers from JWA's documentary Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women. This is the first episode in a two-part series about Joan Rivers. 

While the podcast is on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. First up, an episode from 2020 called Coming of Age with Judy Blume. To mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic novel Are you There God, It's Me Margaret? Nahanni and Judith re-read the book with their pre-teen daughters, Shalvah and Ma'ayan. Then they got together to discuss the book—what felt dated and what still felt relevant.

Sheket bevakasha! We're in the thick of summer, so we're talking about—what else?—camp! In this special summer episode, Nahanni, Judith, and Jen talk about The Floaters, a fun new movie set at a Jewish summer camp, and how the film fit—or didn't—with their camp experiences and their kids'. Then, Shai Korman, who produced the film along with his sisters Becky and Lily, joins the conversation to talk about creating authentic Jewish characters, why they decided to create a camp run by women, and why a Jewish camp movie can be for everyone.

For more conversation about iconic summer movies with a Jewish twist, check out our episode marking the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler, Nahanni Rous, and Judith Rosenbaum recap the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 podcast seasons, revisiting episodes about a Jewish woman in a Japanese internment camp, America’s first TV mom, a Tel Aviv–Ramallah romance, and much more.

Sari Bashi’s memoir Upside Down Love chronicles the tumultuous early years of her relationship with Osama (a pseudonym for the man she eventually marries). Sari is an Israeli Jewish woman and Osama is Palestinian. The book is set between Tel Aviv, where Sari lived at the time, and Osama’s home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Sari describes the physical and emotional boundaries she and Osama have overcome, and how they are raising their trilingual, multicultural children. She also talks about what it’s like to be a Jewish woman living in a Palestinian city in the West Bank.

UK-based columnist and author Hadley Freeman joins us to discuss the wave of violent attacks on British Jews, which has spurred UK prime minister Keir Starmer to declare antisemitism a crisis. In her Sunday Times column, Hadley writes frequently about antisemitism, gender, and politics. She is also the author of several books, including House Of Glass, about her grandmother’s family during the Holocaust.

For generations of readers, Judy Blume's novels made growing up feel less lonely. In this episode, Judith Rosenbaum talks with Mark Oppenheimer, author of a new biography of Blume, about their favorite Blume titles, what’s Jewish about her work, and why her novels are radical in ways people often overlook. Throughout the episode, listeners share what Judy Blume's books mean to them.

It is a tense moment in the war between the United States and Israel, and Iran. A temporary ceasefire is set to expire, and it is unclear whether diplomacy will resume or violence will erupt again.

Roya Hakakian is a writer, journalist, and political commentator and the author of Journey from the Land of No, a memoir about growing up Jewish in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution. She and her family fled Iran for the United States in 1985.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, Roya describes what it’s been like to watch the conflict unfold, her hopes for the Iranian people, and what Western feminists can learn from Iranian women.

What does it mean to be a third-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors? Jen reflects on her grandparents' experiences in the Holocaust—the ones they shared and the ones they didn't—and her responsibility to learn about and share them with her children. She also talks to Rachael Cerrotti, creator of We Share the Same Sky, a podcast about her journey tracing her grandmother's Holocaust survival story. Together, they explore how our family stories help us understand our own lives, and how we carry the past into the present and the future. 

More about Rachael Cerrotti's work: 

Personal website

Substack

We Share The Same Sky podcast

We Share The Same Sky book

In the years since her death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been remembered as a feminist icon and, more recently, a figure some blame for the Court's sharp rightward turn, the fall of Roe v Wade—even the decline of American democracy. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we take a new look at RBG’s legacy. Actor Michelle Azar, who brings Ginsburg to life in the one-woman show All Things Equal, talks about changing audience reactions in a moment of deep political and legal upheaval. Then, journalist and Supreme Court expert Dahlia Lithwick dissects the stories we tell about Ginsburg—from the “Notorious RBG” phenomenon to the backlash that followed her death—and explores what those narratives get right, and what they miss. Together, we dig into Ginsburg’s legal strategy, her critiques of Roe, and the enduring impact of her commitment to equality and civility.

Schedule and tickets for All Things Equal tour

Profile of RBG in JWA's Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

The word zaftig has been used to describe everyone from 1930s burlesque dancers to Marilyn Monroe to buxom bubbies. But what does it really mean? Is it only for women? And is it a compliment—or an insult?

English-Yiddish dictionary editor Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath helps answer these questions in our latest "Word of the Week" episode. Comedian Judy Gold, Talmud explainer Miriam Anzovin, and writer Lizzie Skurnick also share their takes. 

And Jen heads to Zaftigs Delicatessen in Brookline, MA to hear what diners think of the word. 

In this bonus episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler talks to Stephanie Butnick, founder of the Jewish lifestyle newsletter GOLDA, about sparking Jewish joy through rituals, books, art—and shopping. 

To mark our 10th anniversary, we're re-releasing our pilot episode about...pilots! Elynor Rudnick and Zahara Levitov grew up on different continents: one in America, one in British-ruled Palestine. In the 1940s, they were both young Jewish women with pilot's licenses. During some of the most turbulent years in modern Jewish history, their stories were woven together—not by fate, but by flight. Plus, Deb Dreyfus, a modern day Jewish woman pilot, takes our host Nahanni Rous for a spin in her four-seater Cessna.

From "Jewess Jeans" to "Coffee Talk" to "Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy," Jewish women have left their mark on Saturday Night Live as cast members and as characters. In this episode of Can We Talk? we look at the evolving role of Jewish women on the show over its 50 years on TV. Original cast member Laraine Newman talks about how her Jewish identity influenced the characters she played, and how the show reflects changing attitudes about being Jewish. Also, pop culture scholar Jennifer Caplan helps us dissect some iconic sketches—some of which have aged better than others. 

Step into the history of queer Jews in Washington, DC, as Nahanni tours the Capital Jewish Museum’s current exhibit, “LGBTJews in the Federal City” with curators Jonathan Edelman and Sarah Leavitt. Through artifacts, photos, and oral histories, the exhibit looks at decades of federal discrimination and the fight for equality, the AIDS epidemic and national response, and the transformation of Jewish communal life locally and nationally. Highlights include a panel from the AIDS memorial quilt, a purple, sequined gown from DC’s favorite Jewish drag queen, and a pair of rotary phones that dial up oral history clips from local LGBTQ community members.