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Community Organizing

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Sam Woll cropped

Remembering My Friend, Sam Woll

Jenny Nathan Simoneaux

She never stopped hoping that our shared humanity could guide us through the most difficult conflicts and help the world become a more peaceful, just, and equitable place. 

Episode 98: By Disabled Jews, For Disabled Jews

What did JOIN for Justice, the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network, do when the pandemic made its in-person community organizing fellowship impossible? It turned the obstacle into an opportunity, shifting to a virtual fellowship specifically for people with disabilities. 

Over seven months in 2021, a cohort of Jewish young adults with a wide range of disabilities, race and gender identities, and social justice interests met online for JOIN’s Access to Power Fellowship.  In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from the Access To Power director and two participants about how the fellowship shaped them, how their Jewish and disabled identities intersect, and why disabled people should be at the forefront of movements for social change.

Two people holding signs that read "Vote Samantha Perlman"

Q & A with Samantha Perlman, City Councilor and Mayoral Candidate

Zia Saylor

JWA chats with Samantha Perlman, a city councilor and mayoral candidate for Marlborough, Massachusetts about the Jewish women who inspired her to run for office, how she responds to pushback about her age and gender, and showing young people they can be drivers of change.

Ellen Kanner

Project
Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America

Judith Rosenbaum and Jayne Guberman interviewed Ellen Kanner on October 12th, 2005 in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a part of the Jewish Women Changing America: Barnard Conference Oral History Project. Kanner reflects on her early life in New York, her involvement in the Jewish community, attending Jewish summer camps, her experience at Smith College, and her lifelong engagement in consciousness-raising groups.

Anna Charny

Project
Soviet Jewry

Gabriel Weinstein Tamar interviewed Anna Charny in Massachusetts as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Charny shares her experiences growing up in Moscow, encountering antisemitism, becoming a refusenik, and eventually immigrating to the United States, highlighting her family's Jewish identity, her activism, and the challenges of assimilating into a new country.

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.

Marilyn Golden

Marilyn Golden was a long-time disability rights advocate who played a leading role in advancing accessible architecture and transportation in the United States. She was a key player in developing the accessibility provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and ensuring their effective implementation.

Betsy Shure Gross

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Betsy Shure Gross on July 31, 2001, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Gross discusses her childhood, family roots, connection to Judaism, involvement in community restoration, and environmental justice issues, emphasizing the intersectionality of her activism as a woman and highlighting the impact of her work on others.

Vivian Cahn

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Vivian Cahn on October 21, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Cahn tells her experiences of growing up in the South, moving to New Orleans, evacuating during Hurricane Katrina, and the challenges and recovery efforts faced by the Jewish community in rebuilding the city after the storm.

Andrea Waldstein

Project
Soviet Jewry

Georgia Westbrook and Alexandra Kiosse interviewed Andrea Waldstein on July 14, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Collection. Waldstein explores her family's Ukrainian roots, her Jewish upbringing in Massachusetts, her involvement in the Soviet Jewry Movement, and her reflections on Jewish identity and women's issues.

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.

Judy Patkin

Project
Soviet Jewry

Judy Patkin was interviewed in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Patkin shares her experiences meeting refuseniks, visits to the former Soviet Union, involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, the birth of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, her Jewish identity, organizational work, interactions with the American government, personal growth, and the impact of her children on her trajectory.

Anne A. Jackson

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Pam Goodman and Fran Putnoi interviewed Anne A. Jackson on February 4 and May 19, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Jackson recounts her personal journey, including her close relationship with her sister and the impact of her death, her experiences during the war years, raising her children, and her lifelong passion for art.

Yossi Nemes

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Rabbi Yossi Nemes on July 13, 2006, in Metairie, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Rabbi Nemes recounts his experiences during Hurricane Katrina, including hiding in his flooded house, escaping to Memphis with help from the Jewish community, and his acts of kindness, while discussing Hasidic teachings and faith.

Sara Mayeux

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Sara Mayeux on September 21, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Mayeux talks about her family, moving between cities, meeting her husband in California, their decision to move to New Orleans, her involvement in the Jewish community, and her role in the city's recovery after Hurricane Katrina.

Richard Lipsey

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Richard Lipsey on October 28, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Lipsey shares his family background, military service, and community involvement in Baton Rouge, emphasizing his pivotal role in facilitating rescue missions, coordinating angel flights, and leading a city-wide effort to rescue Torahs after Hurricane Katrina.

Miriam Latter

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Miriam Latter in Metairie, Louisiana, on September 26, 2006, as part of the Katrina’s Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Latter reflects on her upbringing, running Tujague's Restaurant, her leadership in the Jewish community, and the impact of Hurricane Katrina, highlighting the community's resilience and the significance of community-wide prayer services.

Madeleine Kunin

Project
DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Ann Zinn Buffum and Sandra Stillman Gartner interviewed Madeleine Kunin on May 1, 2006, in Burlington, Vermont, as part of DAVAR's Oral History Project. Kunin shares her journey from Switzerland to the United States, her career in journalism, her involvement in Vermont politics as the first woman governor, and her role in education under the Clinton administration.

Bernice Kazis

Project
Soviet Jewry

Alexandra Kiosse and Georgia Westbrook interviewed Bernice Kazis on July 5, 2016, in Auburndale, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Kazis reflects upon her Jewish identity, the role of women in Judaism, her ties to Israel, her experiences in the Soviet Jewry Movement, and her work with Jewish Family Service in resettling Jewish immigrants from Russia.

Lee Isaacson

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Lee Isaacson on August 30, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Isaacson talks about his family background, education, experiences during Hurricane Katrina, and his current work at the Jewish Community Center, expressing his disaffiliation with organized religion and frustration with government negligence.

Eleyna Fugman

Project
Meet Me at Sinai

Jayne Guberman interviewed Eleyna Fugman on February 18, 2015, in New York, New York, as part of the Meet Me At Sinai conference and Oral History Project. Fugman reminisces on her family background, her personal journey as a feminist and Jew, her pursuit of Jewish and feminist education, and her activism against racism, antisemitism, and sexism.

Joel Colman

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Cantor Joel Colman on August 31, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina’s Jewish Voices project. Rabbi Colman discusses his background, relocation to New Orleans, evacuation during Hurricane Katrina, living in a FEMA trailer, the significant turnout for the first High Holiday celebration after the storm, fundraising efforts, reflections on the storm's impact, and his son's plan to become a firefighter in New Orleans.

Edward Cohn

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Rabbi Edward Cohn on July 25, 2007, in New Orleans, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices project. Rabbi Cohn talks about his family background, his role at Temple Sinai in New Orleans, their preparation for Hurricane Katrina, community outreach efforts, and the collective trauma experienced by Southern communities.

Alice Siegal

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Alice Siegal on July 10 and July 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Siegal discusses her family, upbringing in Seattle, involvement in social justice, education, marriage, and career, reflecting on the changing Jewish community and her Jewish identity.

Jonathan Cohen

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Stuart Rockoff interviewed Jonathan Cohen on October 11, 2007, in Utica, Mississippi, as part of Katrina's Jewish Voices project. Jonathan shares his background, the role of Henry S. Jacobs Camp during Hurricane Katrina, the formation of a supportive community at the camp, the creation of the "Jacob's Ladder" relief project, the impact on the Jewish community, and the ongoing challenges faced by the camp in the post-Katrina era.

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