Honor Judith Rosenbaum's leadership on her 10th anniversary as JWA’s CEO by making a donation!
Close [x]

Show [+]

Feminism

Content type
Collection

Toby Reifman

Project
Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Toby Reifman on October 30, 2005, in New York, New York, as part of the Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America Oral History Project. Reifman talks about her journey of growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, her experiences with gender dynamics and inequalities in Judaism, her involvement in Jewish feminist movements, and her evolving commitment to feminism and personal fulfillment throughout her life.

Holocaust Remembrance Candle
January 26, 2023

What Does Good Holocaust Education Look Like?

Elana Moscovitch

Teaching kids about the Holocaust should inspire them to fight injustice and change the world.

Topics: Holocaust, Feminism, Jewish Education, Non-Fiction
Collage of Cass Elliot and Rabbi Minna Bromberg on white and yellow checkered background
January 23, 2023

Unearthing the Fat Underground

Judy Ruden

All Jewish bodies are important, no matter what they do or don’t look like. We have to care for each other in a way that makes every single body feel included.

Topics: Feminism, Folk Music, Fashion and Beauty

Madeline Bender

Project
Meet Me at Sinai

Jayne Guberman interviewed Madeline Bender on February 8, 2015, in New York, New York, as part of the Meet Me at Sinai Oral History Project. Madeline talks about her upbringing in New York City, her involvement in various clubs and organizations, and her feminist perspective on Jewish practice, and shares personal experiences of encountering gender equality and combating anti-feminist attitudes.

Ellen Bender

Project
Meet Me at Sinai

Jayne Guberman interviewed Ellen Bender on February 8, 2015, in New York, New York, as part of the Meet Me at Sinai Oral History Project. Bender discusses her childhood in New York, her mother's influence on her feminism, and how it shaped her religious practice, highlighting the impact of Jewish feminism and her vision for gender equality in Judaism and Jewish life.

Collage of band Sleater-Kinney on red background
January 16, 2023

Get Angry: Carrie Brownstein and the Legacy of Riot Grrrl

Ava Weinstein

Judaism’s core teachings of tikkun olam, social justice, and equality are what the riot grrrl movement was all about. Sleater-Kinney is no different.

Topics: Music, Feminism, Protests
Collage of Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Rebecca Gratz, and Emma Goldman on patterned purple background
January 13, 2023

Fighting for Abortion Rights with My Jewish Feminist Heroes

Leila Nuri

Following in the footsteps of Jewish feminists before us, I think educating others to stop the spread of misinformation, accentuating voices that need to be heard, and acknowledging your own privilege is deeply necessary in this fight.

Topics: Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights, Feminism
Woman talking and standing in front of slide presentation
January 12, 2023

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.

Topics: Antisemitism, Israel, Feminism
Fleishman is in Trouble promo image
January 10, 2023

"Fleishman is in Trouble" Asks Universal Questions

Sarah Jae Leiber

This very Jewish TV adaptation of the bestselling novel crackles with sharply drawn characters and brilliant performances. 

Topics: Television, Marriage, Feminism, Fiction
Rabbi Minna Bromberg Blowing a Shofar on the Beach

Episode 86: Fat Torah with Minna Bromberg

Listen Now

It all started at a preschool Hanukkah party a few years ago. That's when an offhand remark led Rabbi Minna Bromberg to start Fat Torah, a project to end fat stigma in Jewish communal life. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum speaks with Minna in her home in Jerusalem about how fatphobia plays out in Israel versus the US, the ways it intersects with gender, and how Jewish tradition can teach us to be more body positive. 

Episode 82: When Jewish Women Talked to the Dead

Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies
December 1, 2022

Q&A with Sarah Silberstein Swartz, Author of "Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women of the Holocaust"

Emma Breitman

JWA sat down with Sarah to discuss her new book, Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women of the Holocaust and the importance of continued Holocaust education.

Topics: Holocaust, Feminism
Close-up of Rita Arditti in front of an information panel

Rita Arditti

Project
Women Who Dared

Julie Johnson interviewed Rita Arditti on March 14, 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Arditti, a Jewish activist from Argentina, discusses her upbringing, academic journey, involvement in the women's movement and Science for the People, her battle with breast cancer, and her impactful work with the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

Outlined drawing of high heels and Jewish stars on bright purple background
November 28, 2022

Finding My Hineni

Rosie Yanowitch

Hineni invites you to confront your own presence, and its unique and vital impact it has on any given point in time.

Topics: Feminism, Family, Spirituality and Religious Life
Black and white photo of three women laughing in a kitchen
November 22, 2022

Let’s Fight for Gender Equality Across All Branches of Judaism

Savoy Curry

We shouldn’t assume that “progressive” branches of Judaism are always more feminist than traditional ones.

Topics: Feminism, Synagogues/Temples, Judaism-Orthodox, Judaism-Reform
Outlined drawings of women's faces and hamsas on a yellow-orange background
November 14, 2022

Jewish Women Count: How B’midbar Taught Me to Be a Jewish Feminist

Samantha Berk

Standing in front of my closest friends and family discussing a holy text that claimed women “do not count” taught me to pay more attention. I became a Jewish feminist.

Topics: Bible, Feminism, Synagogues/Temples
Woman with girl on her shoulders who had her hands in prayer position
November 10, 2022

Translating God's Name in a New Way

Rabbi Beth Lieberman

The entire Hebrew Bible has never been translated into English without the male-centric God language—until now.

Topics: Feminism, Bible, Writing
A-WA
November 2, 2022

Happy Mizrahi Heritage Month!

Jen Richler

Celebrate Mizrahi Heritage Month by checking out some of our favorite JWA content by and about Mizrahi women. 

Topics: Photography, Fiction, Feminism
Victoria Marks by Beatriz Schiller

Victoria Marks

Victoria Marks (b. 1956) is an American dancer, choreographer, professor, and activist. Marks began dancing as a child and later expanded her career as the founder of Victoria Marks Performance Company and a professor at various conservatories around the world. She is also an advocate for mental health and accessibility, collaborating on films that investigate the effects of mental illness and founding the Dancing Disability Lab at UCLA in 2014.

Two women wearing "I voted" stickers
November 1, 2022

Casting a Vote for Reproductive Justice

Steph Black

In the upcoming midterm elections, Jews have the chance to affirm that access to safe, legal abortion is a Jewish value.

Topics: Reproductive Rights, Feminism, Organizations and Institutions
Collage of candlesticks on a stack of books with a light purple background
October 28, 2022

Setting My Feminist Intentions with Shabbat

Olivia Gnad

When I unfold my little silver candle holder and light the flames, I bring in the light of a commitment to practicing my Judaism alongside my feminism.

Topics: Ritual, Feminism, Women's Rights
Collage for Can We Talk episode 82: Jewish Women Talk to the Dead

Episode 82: When Jewish Women Talked to the Dead

Listen Now

In this season of ghosts and haunted houses, we’re taking you back to a time when communicating with the dead was a popular way to spend an evening. Séances were the main practice of the spiritualist movement, which is based on the belief that when people die, they survive as spirits, and that we can talk to these spirits with the help of a medium. The movement had its heyday in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Jews all over the world, from London to Brooklyn to Cairo, were at the forefront. Scholar Sam Glauber-Zimra explains why spiritualism had such appeal among Jews, what rabbis had to say about it, and why Jewish women were prominent as mediums. 

Photographs of Torah, a book of commentary, and Shabbat candles collaged on patterned orange background.
October 14, 2022

Imagining Feminist Torah Commentary For Everyone

Miriam Stodolsky

For the past year, I’ve been reading the parasha each week. It's been fascinating, meaningful— and incredibly exasperating.

Topics: Midrash and Aggadah, Feminism, Jewish Education
A group of people in three rows in front of a bookstore.
September 8, 2022

Interview with Stella Levy, The Only Woman at City Lights Bookstore

Emma Breitman

JWA talks with Stella Levy about her appearance in an iconic photo from the 1960s, and how things have changed for women in the literary world since then. 

Topics: Poetry, Feminism, Photography

Emily Langowitz

Project
Meet Me at Sinai

Jayne Guberman interviewed Emily Langowitz on February 8, 2015, in New York City, as part of the Meet Me at Sinai Oral History Project. Langowitz discusses her Jewish upbringing, her passion for Jewish learning, her experiences at Yale, her reflections on gender disparities in Judaism, and the influence of her renowned rabbi grandfather and Holocaust scholar grandfather on her spiritual journey.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now