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Jewish History

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Frances Rosenthal Kallison

Frances Elaine Rosenthal Kallison was a horsewoman and historian, a cofounder of the Texas Jewish Historical Society, and the only Jewish woman in the National Museum and Cowgirl Hall of Fame.  A regional leader of the National Council of Jewish Women, she lobbied to end the poll tax and open pre-natal clinics for the poor. The exhibit she curated on Texas Jewry for the 1968 World’s Fair in San Antonio has been continually updated.

Audrey Flack

The only female member of the founding group of photorealists, New York-born painter and sculptor Audrey Flack is especially recognized for the feminine content in her art. Her feminist sensibilities manifest in both her pioneering paintings, which often consider stereotypes of womanhood, and her sculptures, frequently depicting goddesses and other strong female figures. Flack’s work appears in prominent collections around the world.

Women at Masada

In the first century BCE, King Herod the Great built a fortified palace atop the mountain of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. Seventy years after Herod’s death, during the First Jewish Revolt against Rome, Masada was occupied by bands of Jewish rebels, including families. This entry surveys the literary and archaeological evidence of women among the rebels at Masada.

Ministering Women and Their Mirrors

Women who ministered at the entrance of the Tabernacle gathered around to donate their copper mirrors (Exodus 38:8), which were then smelted down to make the basin where the priests would wash before entering the sanctuary. The women may have served as guards, warding off evil with their mirrors. Midrash, however, conjectures that the women used these mirrors to seduce their husbands in Egypt, raising up the hosts of Israelites.

Leslie Feinberg

Leslie Feinberg and the Power of Queer Jewish Memory

Avivit

After reading Stone Butch Blues, I feel like I finally have a history and a sense of memory as a queer Jew.

Monica Unikel

Mónica Unikel-Fasja is a chronicler of Jewish immigrant stories. She created a dozen guided walking tours in Mexico City and revitalized the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue as a bastion of Jewish culture, designating it a treasure trove of history fully accessible to the general public.

Lilith Magazine Fall 1987 (crop)

Jewish Feminist Texts Help Me Get through the Pandemic

Molly Fraser

I will continue to access Jewish feminist texts for wisdom and fortitude when I need them.

Photo of Mollie Steimer with Lined Background

Mollie Steimer: Finding a Radical Approach to the American Criminal Justice System

Liana Smolover-Bord

Mollie Steimer dedicated her life to advocating for prisoners. Though we’ll likely never fully live up to her anarchist ideals, we can fight for radical solutions.

Belinda Brock's parents crop

The Language of the High Holidays

Belinda Brock

Rosh Hashanah connects us to each other and to our roots—even virtually.

Episode 45: Shofar in the Desert

No sound is more iconic for the Jewish New Year than that of the shofar blast. This year, many Jews will hear the sound of the shofar virtually. Can We Talk? producer Sarah Ventre is one of hundreds of shofar blowers who will share their shofar blasts with their congregations over Zoom. In this special Rosh Hashanah mini-sode, Sarah ventures into the urban desert in Phoenix, Arizona to practice blowing her shofar. She shares her thoughts on what the shofar blast means to her this year, during the global pandemic.

Nicodemus Historic Site

The Forgotten History of 19th Century Black and Jewish Settlements in Western Kansas

Emily Cohen

In the late nineteenth century, Russian Jews and Black Americans settled in western Kansas to start a new life. Was it the promised land they imagined?

Topics: Jewish History
Sketch of Ray Frank, 1893

Ray Frank, A Complex Figure: Let’s Talk about Honesty and Self Care

Eleanor Harris

In March, my RVF piece about Ray Frank went up on the blog; however, parts of this blog post trouble me.

Illustration of a Plague Doctor wearing beak mask.

Antisemitism During Coronavirus: From Pandemic to Pandemic

Ari Fogel

Antisemitism is, unfortunately, not a unique response to a pandemic.

2019-20 Rising Voices Fellow Madeline Canfield's Notebook

My Worn and Faded Yellow Notebook, a Living Record

Madeline Canfield

In my notebook, I recount anecdotes that bear the mark of the past I am reckoning with today.

Online History Courses

Dive into Jewish women’s history from the comfort of your living room with JWA’s online history courses. Here, you can:

  • Learn more about this virtual program
  • Access information for upcoming courses

The Plot Against America Promo Image

"The Plot Against America" and the Jewish Insult

Ilana Diamant

The Plot Against America exemplifies how "Jewish" speech illuminates the diversity in class, culture, and politics of the Jewish people.

Episode 42: Ode to Ladino (Transcript)

Episode 42: Ode to Ladino (Transcript)

Episode 42: Ode to Ladino

Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, was once the mother tongue of Sephardic Jews in Turkey and other Jewish communities that once thrived around the Mediterranean. Now, there are only about 100,000 Ladino speakers scattered throughout the world. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we meet Karen Sarhon, a woman on a mission to keep Ladino, and the culture surrounding it, alive. Freelance journalist Durrie Bouscaren brings us this story from Istanbul, Turkey.

Inés of Herrera

Inés of Herrera was a twelve-year-old prophetess whose message of salvation appealed to the conversos of Castile at the end of the fifteenth century. The Inquisition was anxious to quickly deal with this threat, trying many girls and women as heretics as of 1500; their confessions reveal details about this movement.

How Yiddish Changed America cover cropped

What's Yiddish Got to Do with It?

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambart’s new anthology, How Yiddish Changed America, and America Changed Yiddish, is the perfect text to help you test the waters of Yiddishkeit. 

Photo of Sarah Schenirer

Tracing the Roots of Jewish Women's Education

Ellie Klibaner-Schiff

Sarah Schenirer started the revolution—that is still in process today—to create equal Torah learning opportunities for women.

Jewish Women of Color Marching

Top Ten Moments for Jewish Women in 2019

Judith Rosenbaum

JWA CEO Judith Rosenbaum lists her top ten moments for Jewish women in 2019.

Topics: Jewish History
A woman with curly hair

Just a Small-Town Curl

Jennifer Greenberg

I have always struggled to accept my curls.

Topics: Jewish History
Yiddish Motifs

Yiddishes, Alive and Dead

Sophie Hurwitz

For many American Jews, Yiddish is the language of a mythicized shtetl, but today the language is still very much alive.

Topics: Jewish History
Susan Sontag Mural

A Visit to the Tucson Jewish History Museum

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

Visiting a Holocaust Museum as a Jew can be meaningful, painful, and sometimes, exposing.

Topics: Jewish History

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