Sidonie Wronsky was among the pioneers of professional social work and one of the early social work educators. She was a member of social work organizations, taught at German schools, and wrote prolifically on issues pertaining to social work, Judaism, and women. She continued her career in social work and education after her emigration to Palestine in 1933.

Several biblical passages mention women (e.g., Miriam) celebrating victory with drums, dances, and song. Examining those passages in light of archaeological materials and comparative Near Eastern texts indicates that women, rather than men, were percussionists in ancient Israel and likely participated in religious and secular musical activities.

Five years after the American chapter of the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) was founded in 1922, a women’s auxiliary group (WAO) was created. WAO aided displaced Europeans and focused on creating vocational schools across the world. In the later twentieth century, WAO expanded to help create medical services for students and provide recreational facilities, among other programs.

Women in the ghettos of Eastern Europe often outnumbered men, but within ghetto populations, women generally had lower mortality rates than men, perhaps due to their ability to adapt to their surroundings and use of public health services. However, women suffered uniquely; many women did not menstruate, suffered from symptoms caused by hormone imbalances, and endured prohibitions against childbirth.

Women’s League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ), founded in 1918, is the national organization of Conservative sisterhoods. Throughout its history WLCJ has foregrounded women’s education and engagement in order to enrich the spiritual and religious lives of Conservative/Masorti women and to empower them as leaders in their homes, synagogues, and communities.

Theresa Wolfson, economist and educator, taught at Brooklyn College from 1929 until her retirement in 1967. A prolific writer, she published in the fields of labor economics and industrial relations. As early as 1916, Wolfson studied barriers to the advancement of women in the workplace and the unequal treatment of women within trade unions.

The three women in Samson’s life were Gentiles: the woman from Timnah, the woman from Gaza, and Delilah. In the midrash, rabbis used Samson’s situation to denounce involvement with foreign women.

During the Holocaust, many women’s experiences were shaped by their gender. Pre-war roles and responsibilities, anticipatory reactions to Nazi actions, German policy and treatment of men and women, and the responses of Jewish men and women to Nazi persecution all affected women’s ordeals.

A review of data and statistics about women in the Yishuv workforce from about 1920 to 1945 show that women’s participation in the workforce correlated with higher levels of economic development. Though women contributed to the growth of an economy in pre-state Palestine, they often faced discrimination in what positions they could take and in their wages.

Solomon, third king of Israel, is said to have had a harem that included 700 wives and 300 concubines. Many of those women were not Israelites and refused to adopt Israelite traditions and religion, reinforcing a common Biblical motif about foreign women.

Nelly Wolffheim spent her career developing and teaching a kindergarten curriculum based around Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic framework. She taught this curriculum, which encouraged children to express their sexual desires, to Jewish women teachers in Berlin. After escaping Germany for England in 1939, Wolffheim struggled to continue her research but began publishing her work again after the war.

The Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) was founded in 1920 for and by women who wanted to participate in the Zionist project. It especially supported women immigrant’s settlement in Palestine through education, agricultural and professional training, childcare, healthcare, and welfare.

Martha Wolfenstein is a forgotten figure in American Jewish literature today, but near the end of her life, she was hailed by Israel Zangwill and other critics as “the best Jewish sketch writer in America.” Before her death at age thirty-six, she wrote with charm, learning and a distinctive woman's perspective.

A well-known Social Democrat and Holocaust survivor committed to equal rights for women and sustained Jewish existence in Germany, Jeanette Wolff refused to compromise her socio-political beliefs. She was active in the SPD both before and after the war and served on the denazification committee in post-war Berlin .