As leader of one of the largest Reconstructionist synagogues in the country, Rabbi Amy Bernstein has worked to create the welcoming community for others that she had longed for at an earlier age.
Nechama Hendel was beloved for her soulful contributions to Israeli folk music, but when she seemed to betray her Jewish heritage, her fans turned their backs on her.
Opera singer Emma Lazaroff Schaver was profoundly affected by giving concerts to Holocaust survivors in displaced persons camps, an experience that shaped the rest of her life.
Proving the power of the internet to level the playing field, Tavi Gevinson launched her fashion blog Style Rookie at age eleven and was lauded by Forbes at age fifteen for the massive audience her feminist commentary had garnered.
Folk musician Janis Ian won a Grammy in 1975 for her song “At Seventeen,” then won a second in 2013 for Society’s Child, her spoken word autobiography.
While actress Ellen Greene has played a variety of roles, she is best known for her performances as Audrey in both the live and film versions of the cult classic, Little Shop of Horrors.
The first singer to have a Number One single in the US without a recording contract, Lisa Loeb has since proven that she is no one-hit wonder with a dozen albums to her credit.
Determined to have fuller control over her burgeoning music career, R&B singer Goapele Mohlabane formed her own independent music label, Skyblaze Recordings, in 2001.
Actress and singer Kitty Carlisle Hart was honored for her tireless crusade for funding for the arts when the New York State Theater in Albany was named after her.
Known for the feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” teenage pop sensation Lesley Gore carefully negotiated which parts of her life the media did and did not own.
Joking that she is a Yiddish writer working in French, novelist Myriam Anissimov has been celebrated for her portrayal of the difficulties faced by children of Holocaust survivors.
In her fifty-years as one of Israel’s most celebrated singer/songwriters, Chava Alberstein has run the gamut from recording pop hits to reviving Yiddish classics.
A longtime star of the Broadway stage, Idina Menzel became the first person ever to claim both a Billboard Top 10 slot (for Holiday Wishes in 2014) and a Tony Award (for Wicked in 2003).
Actress Vivienne Segal was best known for creating the role of Vera Simpson in the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey, for which she sang what would become her signature song, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.”
Martha Schlamme rose to popularity singing Yiddish and Hebrew songs at Catskills resorts, but was best known for her interpretations of Kurt Weill’s music.
Shirley Cohen Steinberg helped make the Jewish holidays fun and interactive for children with her Holiday Music Box albums, featuring “One Morning” (popularly known as the Passover “Frog Song”).
Adrienne Cooper played a critical role in the revival of Yiddish music as founder of the Yiddish Folk Arts Program (KlezKamp), a group that brought together musicians, linguists, and anthropologists to recover the tradition of Klezmer.
