Our stories give us hope in challenging times. Support JWA by Dec. 31.
Close [x]

Show [+]

Volunteers

Content type
Collection

Yvonne Campbell

Yvonne was a lifelong educator. After retiring from teaching nursery school, Yvonne continued to educate as a speaker in middle and high school classrooms, sharing her Holocaust story through the organization Facing History & Ourselves. She was a gifted storyteller, and used her talent whenever she could to spread the message of “Never Again.”

Angèle Guéron

Angèle Guéron was an educator in Edirne, once an important city in the late Ottoman Empire, now a border town in northwestern Turkey. The eloquent journal she kept during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) provides a rare glimpse of life in a besieged Ottoman city and the struggles of a Sephardi Jewish woman against a conservative communal patriarchy. 

Episode 110: Oral History Showcase: Leni's Ladino Legacy

Lenora LaMarche, better known as Leni, was born in 1921 in the Sephardic Jewish community in Seattle, Washington after her parents moved there from Rhodes, looking for better economic opportunities. She grew up speaking Ladino, and for over 30 years, she wrote a Ladino column in her synagogue newspaper called "Bavajadas de Ben Adam"—people’s foolish little words.
In this episode of Can We Talk?, you’ll hear excerpts from an interview she did in 2001 for the “Weaving Women’s Words '' oral history project, in which she reflects on her Sephardic heritage and peppers her stories with colorful Ladino words and sayings. Her testimony is one of hundreds in JWA’s Tanner Oral History Collection.

Rebecca Young

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Rebecca Young on January 29, 2002, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Young reflects on her upbringing in poverty, the loss of her mother, the reconnection to her Jewish identity, her activism in prison reform and prisoners' rights, and her involvement in various social causes including women's rights, anti-poverty, and anti-apartheid.

Marion Stone

Project
Women Who Dared

Marion Stone was interviewed on February 4, 2004, in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the Women Who Dared oral history project. Stone shares her upbringing in Chicago Heights, experiences of antisemitism, education, a career in social work, involvement in the Jewish community, family resilience during the Great Depression, missions in Israel, and dedication to arts education.

Magda Schaloum

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Magda Altham Schaloum, on June 5, 2001, in Mercer Island, Washington, for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Schaloum shares her experiences growing up in Hungary, including enduring antisemitism, the impact of anti-Jewish laws, her family's separation and deportation to Auschwitz, her survival through slave labor camps, and her life after the war, including immigrating to Seattle and building a new life with her husband and children.

Laurie Schwab Zabin

Project
Women Who Dared

Chana Revell Kotzin interviewed Laurie Schwab Zabin for Women Who Dared on September 24 and October 13, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Zabin discusses the intersection of adolescent sexual education with politics, economics, population, and the environment, sharing frustrations with the lack of emphasis on family planning and education in various countries.

Bernice Stern

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Bernice Stern on June 22 and July 31, 2001, in Seattle, Washington as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Stern discusses her Seattle upbringing, involvement in the Jewish community, activism in social justice causes, political engagement, and her roles as a councilwoman and grandmother.

Clementine Kaufman

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Jean Freedman interviewed Clementine Kaufman on March 16, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Kaufman discusses her upbringing as a rabbi's daughter, her experiences in Switzerland, relationships, college, volunteer work, career in social work, and the changes she has observed in Baltimore.

Shoshana Shoubin Cardin

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Elaine Eff interviewed Shoshana Shoubin Cardin on August 30, September 4, September 7, and October 3, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Cardin shares her journey as an immigrant to the United States, her experiences growing up in Baltimore, her education, marriage, and the challenges and changes in the Jewish community, as well as her lifelong commitment to volunteerism and philanthropy.

Madalyn Schenk

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Madalyn Schenk on July 25, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Schenk talks about her upbringing in a tight-knit Jewish community in Chicago, her move to New Orleans, her leadership during Hurricane Katrina, and her involvement in civic organizations and fundraising for the city's rebuilding efforts, as well as her approach to Jewish identity through activism.

Jane Krieger Schapiro

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marie Cohen Ferris interviewed Jane Krieger Schapiro on April 11, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Schapiro details her journey growing up in Baltimore, encountering antisemitism, eloping with her first husband during World War II, her involvement in Jewish organizations, her commitment to Israel, and the roles of motherhood and community in her life.

Barbara Cole

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Rachel Alexander interviewed Barbara Cole on August 20, 1997, in Lexington, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Span The Century Oral History Project. Cole discusses her upbringing, Jewish cultural background, thoughts on religion, experiences at Smith College and work at Filene's, as well as her travels to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.

June Salander

Project
DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Ann Zinn Buffum and Sandra Stillman Gartner interviewed June Salander on June 29, 2005, in Rutland, Vermont, as part of DAVAR’s Vermont Jewish Women’s Oral History Project. Salander recalls her immigration to the United States from Poland as a young girl, settling in Harlem, attending Hebrew School, and her active life as a Red Cross volunteer, Hebrew School teacher, real estate broker, and baker, culminating in her Bat Mitzvah at age 89.

Missode Israel Piha

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Missode Israel Piha on June 28 and September 6, 2001, in Seattle, Washington as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Piha details her family history and upbringing in a religious household in Greece, discussing Jewish customs, traditions, and holiday celebrations, as well as her journey to the United States, and settling in Seattle with family.

Joshua Mann Pailet

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Joshua Pailet on August 2, 2007, in New Orleans, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Pailet reflects on his childhood, artistic journey, the atmosphere of New Orleans, his firsthand experience of Hurricane Katrina, participation in the "Torah rescue," the rebuilding process, the importance of grassroots efforts, and his strengthened Jewish identity

Ann Lustig Nieder

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Ann Lustig Nieder on July 11, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Nieder reflects on her childhood, family traditions, experiences at school and camp, community service work, and her role as a mother and grandmother, ending with the loss of her husband and life as a widow.

Dorothy Muscatel

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Dorothy Muscatel on April 12 and April 19, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Muscatel shares her family background, her father's community involvement, her upbringing in Seattle, her early engagement in charity work, her active role in Jewish organizations, the challenges of motherhood, and her current health condition.

Ruth Levy

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marcie Cohen Ferris interviewed Ruth Surosky Levy on September 8, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Levy shares her love for family and Judaism, recounting her upbringing in Baltimore, her father's kosher butcher shop, her involvement in Zionist activities, her education, her Navy service, raising her children, and the importance of Judaism in her life.

Beatrice Levi

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marcie Cohen Ferris and Brenda Rever interviewed Beatrice Levi on February 4 and November 8, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Levi reflects on her childhood, family life, involvement with the League of Women Voters, experiences during the Great Depression, academic pursuits, marriage, volunteer work, and pride in her daughters' achievements.

Nathan Rothstein

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Nathan Rothstein on July 22, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Rothstein talks about his family history, parents, Jewish upbringing, his experience in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, his work with nonprofit organizations, and his efforts to foster interfaith collaboration in the city, providing insights on race and the Jewish community.

Florence Schornstein

Project
Women Who Dared

Abe Louise Young interviewed Florence Schornstein on January 11, 2005, in New Orleans, Louisiana as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Schornstein recounts her upbringing and journey with Judaism, highlighting her involvement in various organizations, including her role in the Civil Rights Movement, and reflects on the importance of humanitarian causes and encouraging young Jewish women to be active in their communities.

Ventura Franco Israel

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Ventura Franco Israel on May 31, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Israel reflects upon her family history, the challenges they faced after the death of her father, her marriage, her experiences as a working mother, and her thoughts on Jewish values, intermarriage, and the Seattle Sephardic community.

Susan Hess

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Susan Hess on November 16, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Hess talks about her family background, experiences during Hurricane Betsy and Hurricane Katrina, her journey towards more observant Judaism, and her involvement in raising funds for the Louisiana SPCA and City Park after Katrina.

Bess Fishman

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Elaine Eff interviewed Bess Fischman on May 30 and June 8, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words oral history project. Fishman shares memories of her childhood, family, Jewish observance, marriage, and involvement in Jewish organizations and the Zionist movement, being involved with the Beth T’filoh Sisterhood and visiting Israel.

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