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Episode 1: The Pilot's Pilot

Our pilot episode is 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.

Released January 25, 2016
  • Zahara Levitov

  • Pilot Deb Dreyfus with her plane

  • Article about Elynor Rudnick in the Bakersfield Californian from April 10, 1945

  • Newspaper clipping from the Bakersfield Californian describing Elynor Rudnick as an "aviatrix." April 1, 1948.

  • Zahara Levitov with fellow pilots at Elynor Rudnick's flying field in Bakersfield, CA

  • Right: Zahara Levitov's death notice, signed by David Ben Gurion. Left: the letter to Zahara's family, from 1949.

  • Zahara Levitov flying a plane
  • Deb Dreyfus with her plane
  • Elynor Rudnick Article
  • Elynor Rudnick Newspaper Clipping
  • Zahara Levitov with pilots in Bakersfield, CA
  • Zahara Levitov's Death Notice and letter to her family

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Episode 1: The Pilot's Pilot." (Viewed on March 19, 2024) <http://jwa.org/podcasts/canwetalk/pilots-pilot>.