Social Work

Hannah Floretta Cohen

Hannah Floretta Cohen was the first woman president of Britain’s traditionally male Jewish Board of Guardians for Jewish Poor Relief. She also promoted many other Jewish and non-Jewish charitable organizations to promote women's education, to benefit the sick and the elderly, and to encourage investment in the Palestine Mandate, through her public speaking, financial expertise, and administrative skills.

Andrea Waldstein

Andrea Waldstein is a Boston-based social worker and activist who worked internationally to support Soviet Jews, particularly women.

Bernice Kazis

Bernice Kazis is a former teacher and social worker who dedicated much of her career to resettling Soviet Jews in the greater Boston area.

Enid Shapiro, 1925 - 2017

Enid Shapiro lived tikkun olam. She was an early feminist, a devoted Jew, an unceasing learner, and she made a difference in countless people’s lives through her devotion to repair the world and her commitment to kindness and care that came from a place of profound integrity.

June 29, 2017

The Other JWA

Emily Cataneo

JWA made a startling discovery recently: we have a doppelgänger. Okay, that’s not quite accurate. Perhaps it would be better to say that our URL, jwa.org, has a near-doppelgänger: jwa.org.uk. Who was this mysterious British JWA, we wondered?

Topics: Feminism, Social Work

"The Jewish Woman" Magazine Cover, October 1921

Benevolent Societies and Tzedakah

Examine different ways that American Jewish women historically—and we today—fulfill the obligation of tzedakah (charity) and gemilut chesed (acts of loving kindness).

Josephine Stern Weiner

Josephine Stern Weiner’s lifetime of community service culminated in her creation of Women in Community Services (WICS), an umbrella organization that coordinated efforts between Jews and Christians, blacks and whites, at the height of the civil rights movement.

Jackie Gothard

A third-generation New Orleans native and the first female president of Congregation Beth Israel, Jackie Gothard worked tirelessly to restore the synagogue and bring the community back together.

Deena Gerber

As executive director of the Jewish Family Service, Deena Gerber helped survivors navigate New Orleans’s shattered infrastructure and access social services after the storm.

Jackie Gothard

The first female president of her childhood synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, Jackie Gothard helped the Orthodox synagogue rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Deena Gerber

A seasoned social worker and executive director of Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans, Deena Gerber helped residents put their lives back together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Susan Davis

Congresswoman Susan Davis, the first Democrat in more than fifty years to serve more than one term for California’s 53rd district, has repeatedly fought for women’s health issues on both a state and local level.

Joanna Eckstein

Joanna Eckstein widened the perspective of Seattle residents both with her travel writing and as a patron of the arts who supported individual artists and museums.

Marcia Cohn Spiegel

Marcia Cohn Spiegel was one of the first to speak out about alcoholism and domestic violence in the Jewish community, using her own experience to help others.

Nancy Miriam Hawley

Nancy Miriam Hawley helped found the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, Inc., the organization responsible for writing the best seller Our Bodies, Ourselves, which empowered women to take control of their own health care.

Rebecca Yenawine

Rebecca Yenawine’s unorthodox approach to a group of teenage vandals led her to create a unique art school for inner city kids.

Janet Yassen

Janet Yassen helped build the first rape crisis center in Massachusetts and went on to become an international consultant on preventing rape and sexual violence.

Sue Wolf-Fordham

Sue Wolf-Fordham’s experience as the parent of a special-needs child drove her to create resources for families of disabled children around the world.

Judy Wolf

Judy Wolf helped create a resource center for children with disabilities in the city of Dnepropetrovsk that not only transformed the lives of families there but became a model for special education throughout the Ukraine.

Anita Weinstein

As founding director of EZRA, Anita Weinstein created local and far-reaching programs to relieve hunger and homelessness.

Jill Weinberg

A career serving the Jewish Federation brought Jill Weinberg to her life’s work as the first director of the Midwest Regional Office of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.