Zionism

Flora Benenson Solomon

Flora Benenson Solomon’s deep commitments to welfare and Zionism traversed geographical boundaries and social groups. From her efforts to improve the lives of Jewish and Arab communities in Palestine to the her work on behalf of garment workers in England, Solomon maintained an unwavering commitment to Zionism, which acted as a sustainer of Jewish identity in England.

Batya Gur

Israeli author Batya Gur is best known for her mystery novels centering on the investigations of detective Michael Ohayon. Her work brought literary complexity to the Hebrew mystery novel.

Dvorah Hacohen wins the National Jewish Book Award for "To Repair a Broken World "

January 20, 2021

On January 20, 2021, distinguished Israeli historian Dvorah Hacohen won the National Jewish Book Award for To Repair a Broken World, a biography of Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold. The multitude of strong female Jewish voices present in the construction and content of Hacohen’s book speaks to an intergenerational admiration for Jewish women leaders.

Collage of teenage girl, background of Jewish stars and backpacks, pencils, computers

November 2, 2021

Jewish Schools Aren't Making the Grade

Rose Clubok

If we want to engage young Jews, we need to rethink how we educate them.

Topics: Schools, Jewish Education, Summer Camps, Israel, Zionism

Berta Gerchunoff

Berta Wainstein de Gerchunoff was an Argentine socialist, feminist, and later Zionist leader. As President of the Argentine branch of WIZO, she led an exponential growth of women’s Zionist commitments all over Latin America.

Sally Gottesman

Sally Gottesman, born 1962 in New Jersey and residing in New York, is a non-profit entrepreneur whose leadership and philanthropy have had a major impact on the Jewish feminist and justice landscape.

Cecilia Klaften

Cecylia Klaften, a pedagogue and a civic activist from Lvov (Galicia/Eastern Lesser Poland), implemented social reform projects and especially promoted the founding of vocational schools for women in interwar Poland. In the 1920s she was one of the founders of the Jewish Women’s Association and the WIZO Jewish Women’s Organization for Pro-Palestinian Work in Lvov. In the 1930s she was politically active for Lvov’s City Council.

Róża Pomeranc-Melcer

Róża Pomeranc Melcer was a social reformer, feminist, and Zionist active in Galicia and later in Eastern Lesser Poland. She was the first and only Jewish Member of Parliament in the Second Polish Republic (1918-1939) and championed the goals of modern Zionist women's politics.

Judith Butler

Judith Butler is the Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature and the Program in Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. Butler’s work treats gender, hate speech, the precarity of life, the precarity of one’s position as a Jewish thinker in light of Israeli policy towards Palestinians, alternative kinship structures, non-violence, vulnerability, and other, equally complex and important aspects of human existence.

Bruria Benbassat de Elnecavé

Bruria Benbassat de Elnecavé was an ardent activist who dedicated her life to educate Jewish Argentines in general and Jewish Argentine women in particular about Zionism and the State of Israel.

Episode 40: Rachel Sharansky Danziger: Let My Story Go (Transcript)

June 17, 2019

Lessons from the D.C. Dyke March

Sophie Hurwitz

What can we learn from the debate about Jewish and Israeli symbols at Pride?

Topics: LGBTQIA Rights, Israel, Palestine, Zionism

Episode 13: Borders of Love (Transcript)

April 17, 2019

Next Year in Jerusalem

Lisa Batya Feld

A rabbinical student studying in Israel explores how it feels to say “Next Year in Jerusalem” this year, knowing that next year she won’t be there.

Topics: Passover, Zionism

Episode 7: Women of the Wall (Transcript)

September 12, 2018

A Sisterly Homeland

Savoy Curry

As soon as I mentioned Birthright, my sister seemed to know exactly where our conversation was headed. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, too,” she said, reminding me that despite being my younger sister she always seems to be one step ahead of me.

Topics: Boycotts, Israel, Immigration, Zionism

Sara Ehrman

A political operative who served as deputy director of issues and research for George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, Sara Teitelbaum Ehrman had an inadvertent brush with history when she drove Hillary Rodham to Arkansas while urging her not to marry Bill Clinton.

Rising Voices Fellow Maya Jodidio Holding "The Crisis of Zionism"

February 6, 2017

Chuck Schumer, It’s Time to Prevent a Third Intifada

Maya Jodidio

I understand where Chuck Schumer’s public stance comes from. He and his supporters are afraid of the “anti-Israel bias” at the UN, and they believe that anything passed by the organization is inherently anti-Zionist. Sadly, Senator Schumer and many other Jews have a misconstrued notion of what it means to be pro-Israel.

Topics: Israel, Zionism

Henrietta Szold on Saying Kaddish

In a 1916 letter, Henrietta Szold (the founder of Hadassah) defied Jewish tradition and challenged rituals that exclude women by asserting her right to say Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for mourners).

March 10, 2015

“Hatikvah” of Stav Shaffir

Eliza Bayroff

Often, when I see an article about Israel in a magazine or a newspaper, a gnawing sense of despair wells up in my chest. As the country’s political and class conflicts seems to stagnate and worsen, I have found it easier to avoid such news altogether. I don’t like feeling that way. I hate feeling that way. Though I may not always agree with the actions of the state, I am invested in Israel and want her to succeed and thrive. But as I grow older and more aware, my cynicism often diminishes my capacity for hope.

Topics: Israel, Civil Service, Zionism

Henrietta Szold and the First Graduating Class of Hadassah Nurses Training School, 1921

Henrietta Szold sends nurses Rose Kaplan and Rachel Landy to Palestine to begin the work of Hadassah.

January 18, 1913

"This is what your group ought to do … You should do practical work in Palestine."

Shulamit Aloni, 1928 - 2014

Aloni spearheaded an ideology in which feminism is a lens for social equality across all social sectors. Her work with Palestinians was informed by her feminism, and her feminism was informed by her work with Palestinians. She held on to a world view in which equality and compassion were part of the process of learning to see the “other” in society, whether that “other” was distinguished by gender, ethnicity, religion, or anything else.

Roz Garber

Roz Garber evaded the KGB to bring hope to refuseniks in the USSR.

Elana Brownstein

Representing a new generation of women activists, Elana Brownstein advocated for countless causes, ranging from body image to AIDS orphans, while still in high school.

Ruth Surosky Levy

Ruth Surosky Levy was passionate about her family and her Judaism. She was born in 1922, just 1 year after her Russian immigrant parents settled in West Baltimore. During her childhood, Ruth's mother convened meetings of the Zionist group, Pioneer Women, in the family's store, Surosky's Butcher Shop. Having absorbed her family's dedication to Zionism, Ruth was involved in Zionist schools, camps, and organizations throughout her life.

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