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Weaving Women's Words

For the Weaving Women’s Words project, JWA conducted oral histories with 60 Jewish women living in Baltimore and Seattle in 2001 and 2002. Born in the early decades of the 20th century, these women lived through political, social, and economic upheaval, as well as dramatic changes in expectations for women and Jews. Doctors and lawyers, teachers and saleswomen, politicians and government workers, homemakers and community volunteers, the narrators reflect the diverse range of backgrounds, affiliations, and choices made by Jewish women who grew up in the shadow of the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the struggle for a Jewish state. Their life stories inspired exhibitions in Seattle and Baltimore that combined excerpts from the interviews, ethnographic portraits by photographer Joan Roth, and works of contemporary art in a variety of media.   

The Weaving Women’s Words oral history project was made possible in part by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Brenda Brown Lipitz Rever Foundation, and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, Inc

Rosalie Silber Abrams

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marcie Cohen Ferris interviewed Senator Rosalie Silber Abrams on May 24, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Abrams, a progressive health advocate, and former Maryland Senator, reflects on her life and career in an interview, highlighting her nursing background, political engagement, and contributions to healthcare and senior services.

Louise Azose

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Louise Azose on April 18 and May 26, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. A Sephardic Jew from Turkey, Azose shares her immigration experience, family life, involvement in her synagogue, traditional cooking, cultural customs, the challenges of separation from her family, raising her children during World War II, the role of singing in her family, and her travels.

Rebecca Benaroya

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Rebecca Benaroya on July 17, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s History Oral History Project. Benaroya reminisces on her upbringing in Seattle as the daughter of Turkish immigrants, her family's Jewish traditions, her marriage, parenting, and community involvement.

Fiola Blum

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Elaine Eff interviewed Fiola Blum on August 20, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Fiola Blum reminisces on childhood memories, starting her realty company, her experiences as a Jewish woman in real estate, and reflects on her family background and Baltimore's Jewish communities.

Elsbeth Bothe

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Elaine Eff interviewed Elsbeth Bothe on September 14 and October 22, 2001, in Baltimore Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Both shares her family background, education, career journey, activism in the Civil Rights movement, and reflections on her Jewish identity and experiences as a woman in the legal profession.

Shirley Bridge

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Lavitt Brown interviewed Shirley Bridge on June 27, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Bridge discusses her family, childhood memories, education, a career in pharmacology, marriage, raising a family, social activism, and her 50-year battle with cancer.

Meta R. Kaplan Buttnick

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Lavitt Brown interviewed Meta R. Buttnick on May 31, June 20, and July 17, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Meta, born in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1913, discusses her upbringing, education, marriage, and lifelong commitment to preserving Jewish history in Seattle through oral histories and archival projects.

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.

Rose Pines Cohen

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marcie Cohen Ferris interviewed Rose Pines Cohen on April 24, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Rose traces her family's immigration to Baltimore, their experiences during World War I, her pursuit of education and teaching, her family life, and her involvement in Jewish organizations, reflecting on her career and influence on her children.

Molly Cone

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Molly Cone on May 22, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words Oral History Project. Cone recounts her family's immigration history, childhood in Tacoma, Washington, feeling different as a minority, education, writing career, marriage, raising children, Jewish holidays, and her passion for travel, including visits to Israel.

Carolyn Blumenthal Danz

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Carolyn Danz on May 11 and May 16, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words project. Danz shares her family history, childhood experiences with volunteer work, a career as a businesswoman, single parenthood, involvement in Jewish and civic organizations, and her active life, including founding the Northwest Croquet Association.

Tillie DeLeon

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Tillie Israel DeLeon on May 24 and June 1, 2001, in Mercer Island, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. DeLeon shares her experiences and insights into the Sephardic community in Seattle, including its immigration history, cultural interactions, education, personal journey, and reflections on Sephardic customs and traditions.

Esther Eggleston

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Lavitt Brown interviewed Esther Eggleston on April 3 and May 3, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Esther shares her family's immigration story, her educational journey, experiences of antisemitism, and her struggles with belonging in various Jewish congregations in Seattle before becoming a trailblazing female executive administrator at Temple de Hirsch, where she made substantial improvements, all while maintaining a busy personal life and active civic engagement, leading to her recognition with the Esther Eggleston Outstanding Service Award in 1993.

Cecillia Etkin

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Cecillia Etkin on June 14 and August 1, 2001, at her home in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Etkin discusses her childhood in Romania, her experiences in concentration camps, her work as a "mikveh lady," and her role in educating youth about the Holocaust, highlighting her resilience and dedication to preserving Jewish traditions and supporting her community.

Lois Blum Feinblatt

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Jean Freedman interviewed Lois B. Feinblatt on March 21, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Feinblatt talks about her background, including experiences of growing up in a segregated Baltimore, her college years, marriage and motherhood during World War II, her career in welfare and later as a psychotherapist, and reflects on her Jewish practice and the Jewish community in Baltimore.

Ruth Finkelstein

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marcie Cohen Ferris interviewed Dr. Ruth Finkelstein on August 30, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Dr. Finkelstein reflects on her upbringing in New York City, her journey as a female medical student, her experiences as an obstetrician, balancing career and family life, and her engagement in the Jewish community and organizations like Planned Parenthood.

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.

Ruth Jungster Frankel

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Ruth Jungster Frankel on August 7 and 15, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women’s Words project. Frankel reflects on her experiences growing up in Germany, witnessing Hitler's rise to power, immigrating to the United States, involvement at Temple Herzi, her husband's Alzheimer's, and her engagement in Jewish camps, trips to Israel, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Edith Furstenberg

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marcie Cohen Ferris interviewed Edith Furstenberg on March 16, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Furstenberg, born in Baltimore in 1910, shares her family history, educational experiences, a career in social work, marriage, and reflections on national political movements, including the Civil Rights Movement.

Arva Davis Gray

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Arva Davis Gray on June 25 and August 9, 2001, in Bellevue, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words project. Gray recounts her upbringing as a poor Mormon in Utah, her journey of rejecting the Mormon church and embracing Judaism, her family life, volunteer work, and personal challenges.

Sarah Kappelman Harris

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Jean Freedman interviewed Sarah Kappelman Harris on May 24, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Harris shares her experiences growing up in Washington, DC, her relationship with Judaism, the influence of her foreign-born parents, her career in the retail industry, meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, her marriages, involvement in Hadassah, and reflections on customs, women's roles, and Judaism.

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.

Ann Meyers Kaplan

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Ann Meyers Kaplan on March 30, 2001, in Mercer Island, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Kaplan shares her family background, upbringing in Seattle, career, involvement in the National Council of Jewish Women, advocacy for the hearing impaired, reflections on Jewish identity and community, and fond memories of various aspects of her life.

Sara Dalkowitz Kaplan

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Sara Kaplan on December 4, 2002, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Kaplan discusses her Jewish upbringing, experiences as the only Jewish kid in her town, involvement in debate and Hillel, meeting her husband, moving to Seattle, working in the Democratic Party, fighting antisemitism, teaching, and support for Israel.

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.

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