Antisemitism

Content type
Collection
Woman with puppets on each hand staging a puppet show

Women Shaping Jewish Life in Germany

Donna Swarthout
Doris H. Gray

Women are at the forefront of efforts to change the perception and reality of Jewish life in Germany. 

Sol Hachuel

Sol Hachuel, or as she is also known Lalla Soulika or Sol ha-tsaddeqet, was a Moroccan Jewish martyr from the first half of the nineteenth century. Hachuel was born in Tangier and beheaded in Fez at the age of sixteen or seventeen. Her story has inspired countless versions among North African Jews and Muslims as well as Europeans, and her tomb remains a prominent pilgrimage site in Morocco.

Outline of a woman sitting on the ground on pale yellow background

The Warning Light

Olivia Gnad

The problem with Jews distancing ourselves from anxiety is that it doesn’t go away when we do.

Borscht Belt Historical Marker - placard with info about Monticello

Bringing the Borscht Belt Back to Life

Jen Richler

JWA talks to Marisa Scheinfeld, founder and director of the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project. 

Collage of Alexa and Brennon Lemieux from Netflix's Love is Blind on purple patterned background

Celebrating An Inter-religious Couple on Love Is Blind

Sonia Freedman

Although I was somewhat unimpressed by Love Is Blind’s surface-level coverage of inter-religious relationships, it was beautiful to watch the Lemieux fall in love despite their very different backgrounds.

Collage of Lily James in The Exception on purple patterned background

The Exception's Antisemitism Is, Unfortunately, Not An Exception

Olivia Gnad

Between using atrocities as a way to create romantic drama and its rush to excuse antisemitism, The Exception is a movie that never should have left the writer's room.

Line drawings of a book and pens on light blue background

Interpreting The Sun Also Rises

Maya Viswanathan

Reading The Sun Also Rises was the first time I encountered depictions of antisemitism as an almost normal part of conversation and interaction. I didn’t know how to react to it.

Image of the hebrew letters samech, tav, resh on one row, followed by tav, resh, samech, on the row underneath

Esther and Teresa: A Play on Words for Purim

Ellen Kanner

This Purim, learn all about Teresa de Lucena, a conversa who revered Queen Esther. 

Topics: Purim, Antisemitism
Collage of Rachel Sassoon Beer on black and white background

Reporting the Truth with Rachel Sassoon Beer

Samantha Berk

In her own way, in her own time, Rachel Sassoon Beer fought against misinformation. She’s a role model for modern feminists as well as for that little girl who yearned to hold the pages of the newspaper just right.

Karina Urbach and the Cover of her Book

Reclaiming Europe’s Jewish Past and Present

Savoy Curry

The Nazis stole Alice Urbach’s cookbook. In her new book, her granddaughter, Karina, reclaims Alice’s story—and Jews’ rightful place in European life.

Woman talking and standing in front of slide presentation

I Will Not Hide my Judaism in Progressive Spaces

Adriana Leigh

In naming the nuances of my Jewish experience, I hope that other progressive and feminist Jews feel seen, supported, and empowered.

Collage of various images of Emma Goldman on green background

Emma Goldman and A Jewish Approach to Liberation

Miriam Stodolsky

Goldman drew upon her Judaism as a source of radical moral guidance and held fiercely to her Jewishness without limiting herself to it.

Illustrated Outline of a Woman Sitting Cross-Legged; Background with Stars of David

Microaggressions in High School: Learning to Advocate for More Inclusive Communities

Georgia Fried

I’m calling out a system that doesn’t make Jewish students feel seen at school—a system that doesn’t educate people on religions that aren’t the most mainstream ones in our culture.

Still from the Bachelorette - woman and man talking

Why Haven't We Had an Openly Jewish Bachelorette?

Catherine Horowitz

Although The Bachelor/ette franchise features extensive discussions of Christianity, even the rare Jewish contestants never talk about Judaism.

Collage with Wallpaper of Illustrated Pens, Illustrated Fists in the Air in the Foreground

Six Months After Colleyville: The Power of Journalism and (Less So) Running

Ilah Ross

Discouraged and still reeling from the events of the past weekend, I took the story of Colleyville and the continued hatred against Jewish individuals in this country to our school newspaper.

Collage of Illustrated Women Swimming; Star of David Patterned Background

Sink or Swim: Antisemitic Jokes Are No Laughing Matter

Elle Rosenfeld

After reckoning with my friend’s antisemitism, it’s clear to me that intersectionality can be a tool to fight this form of hatred.

Collage with TV Still from "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

"Remember That We Suffered": Grappling with Privilege and Intergenerational Trauma as a Jew

Abigail Gilman

We can acknowledge the horrors that our ancestors endured without letting that knowledge stop us from living fully and compassionately in the present.

Berlin "Stumbling Stone" to commemorate Holocaust victim with rose and sign reading "never again" placed on top

I Visited Six European Jewish Communities to Explore My Own Identity

Zia Saylor

My travels in Europe helped me reconcile some of the tensions in my Jewish identity.

Movie Still from "Ghost World", 2001: Image of Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch

"Ghost World": Flawed Portrayals of Flawed Jewish Women

Lucy Waldorf

Ghost World is satirical, but is that fact enough to excuse the writing of the Jewish female characters?

Woman stands on in subway car with her head peeking through open doors

"Russian Doll" Season 2: Messy, but Beautiful

Emma Breitman

Despite a sloppy start, the show’s second season ultimately hooked me with its exploration of Jewish themes.

Episode 76: Message From Ukraine

Vlada Nedak lives in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, only an hour's drive from the front lines of the war. She's a wife and mother and the owner of a menagerie of household pets. She's also the Executive Director of Project Kesher Ukraine, a network of Jewish women building community and leadership. When Russia invaded Ukraine, like many Ukrainians, Vlada was faced with the difficult choice of whether to stay or try to leave the country. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni speaks with Vlada about her experiences of the war and about how it has affected the women in Project Kesher's network.

Collage with Maroon Background and Illustrated Young Woman Carrying a Menorah

“All Too Well”: How I Went From Embarrassed to Proud of My Jewish Identity

Amanda Xinhui Malnik

What if there was a short film of my life with captions describing each stage of my relationship with Judaism, like Taylor Swift’s film for her ten-minute version of “All Too Well"?

My Nose Job Helped Me Embrace the “Too-Muchness” of Being a Jewish Woman

Emma Breitman

I’d learned to love my nose. If I changed it, wouldn’t I betray my Jewish, feminist self?

Tova Ricardo at a spoken word performance at a conference in 2021.

I’m a Black Jewish Woman and I’m Tired of Being Called “Angry”

Tova Ricardo

I refuse to choose between being a “good woman” or a woman who will not be intimidated, belittled, or silenced.

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