Inspired by the youth villages that allowed Israel to welcome staggering numbers of orphans after the Holocaust, Anne Heyman created the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village to shelter orphans of the Rwandan genocide.
One of the rare Supreme Court Justices who had never served as a lower court judge, Elena Kagan has made her mark on the court as a liberal Justice with a gift for engaging dissents that avoided legal jargon.
Spirited and determined, Babatha repeatedly fought for her rights in court, showing the differences between the ideal world of the Mishnah and the real lives of second century Jews.
Shulamit Aloni, the first Israeli woman to successfully found a political party, brought her zeal for education and empowerment to her career in the Knesset, helping generations of Israelis learn—and fight for—their rights.
Having experienced the sexism rampant in higher education herself, Elga Ruth Wasserman guided Yale through the difficult process of becoming a co-ed university.
"I saw the vast chasms between our rhetoric of freedom, equality and charity, and what we were doing to, or not doing for poor people, especially children.” - Justine Wise Polier
Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush followed in the footsteps of her famous father, Louis Brandeis, by becoming a leader in labor legislation and helping lay the groundwork for the New Deal.
Sada Jacobson won the bronze medal for sabre fencing at the 2004 Olympics (the first Olympics where women were allowed to compete in sabre), then did one better in 2008, bringing home both a silver and another bronze medal.
During her years on the bench as a judge and a Supreme Court Justice, Ayala Procaccia shaped Israeli law to support equality for all, regardless of gender or religious practice.
As New Jersey’s first woman attorney general and first state Supreme Court chief justice, Deborah T. Poritz influenced every major public issue in the state for over a decade.
As general counsel to both Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, Harriet Fleischl Pilpel helped shape the arguments for reproductive rights in the years leading up to Roe v. Wade.
In her too-short life, Vera Paktor reached unprecedented heights for a woman in maritime law, forging regulations for new developments in the shipping industry.
When Margarete Muehsam–Edelheim’s efforts to secure women’s rights to practice law in Germany failed, she turned her talents to journalism, editing periodicals ranging from the legal section of a Berlin newspaper to the Leo Baeck Institute’s newsletter.
I’ve already expressed my feelings on the whole “year of the Jewish woman” thing, but that’s not to say we shouldn’t celebrate the many great moments for Jewish women in 2014. Here, in no particular order, are a few of our favorites at JWA.
Rebecca Pearl Lovenstein became the first woman lawyer allowed to practice in Virginia in 1920 and went on to create a state bar association for women.
Ruth Lewinson, one of the first female Jewish lawyers in America, both worked in private practice and gave public lectures on practical law to help people better navigate the legal system.
Unusual in every respect for her time, Melba Levin–Rubin juggled a high–profile career as assistant attorney general of Michigan with raising four children.
Sonya Levien was one of the most prolific screenwriters of her day, crafting over seventy films ranging from the 1939 version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame to the screen adaptations of Oklahoma! and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
