Jewish Women’s Voices Matter

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Bonus Episode: Remembering Susan Stamberg

Public radio icon Susan Stamberg died on October 16, 2025, at the age of 87. In this special episode, we pay tribute to Susan by listening back to our 2018 interview in which she discusses her New York accent, how early NPR audiences responded to hearing a woman deliver the nightly news, and what she listens for in a broadcast voice. The interview was part of an episode about women's voices in broadcasting, called "Breaking the Sound Barrier."

Headshot of Mia Sherin

7 Questions for Sex and Dating Writer Mia Sherin

Sarah Groustra

JWA sat down with sex and relationship writer Mia Sherin.

Topics: Feminism, Writing

Episode 132: Two Years Later

Two years after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, we speak with family members of Vivian Silver and Hayim Katsman, Israeli peace activists who were murdered that day. Hayim’s mother Hannah Wacholder Katsman and Vivian’s son Yonatan Zeigen share how they are carrying on their legacies.

Helen Hull Jacobs

Winner of numerous championship victories, including the triple crown, Helen Hull Jacobs was a force to be reckoned with on the tennis court in the 1920s and 1930s. Her love for the court was only rivaled by her passion for writing, to which she dedicated the second half of her life, writing over 21 books, many about tennis.

Shoshana Pakciarz

A transformational leader, Shoshana Pakciarz helped build nonprofit social service and arts organizations across the Boston area. As executive director of Project Bread, she expanded the Walk for Hunger into a major annual fundraiser with over 40,000 participants, raising millions to fight hunger. A longtime board president of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, she helped it grow into a beloved and internationally recognized cultural institution.

Bianca Eshel-Gershuni

Bianca Eshel-Gershuni (1932-2020) was a pioneering Israeli sculptor and jewelry designer known for challenging artistic conventions and redefining the boundaries between craft and fine art. In contrast to the dominant minimalist, conceptual, and abstract tendencies of her time, her work proposed an aesthetic of abundance—a profusion of materiality, color, narrativity, and personal expression—paving the way for generations of artists exploring gender, kitsch, and popular culture.

Gabriele Tergit

Rising to prominence as a journalist in Weimar-era Berlin, Gabriele Tergit, née Elise Hirschmann (1893–1982), was an important chronicler of German-Jewish life. In her journalistic writings and novels, Tergit wrote biting social satires, sweeping panoramic novels, and lucid, hard-hitting commentaries on current events. A liberal whose writings reveal her strong commitments to social justice, women’s rights, and humanism, Tergit was forced to flee Germany in 1933 and settled permanently in London in 1938.

Selina Solomons

Selina Solomons was a turn-of-the-twentieth-century activist and writer, best known for her leadership role in the 1911 suffrage campaign that granted California women the right to vote. Solomons belonged to a prominent Jewish American family and spent her life in the San Francisco Bay Area. She employed multiple genres in advocacy of women’s rights, including speeches, poetry, drama, short fiction, and a manual-cum-suffrage history titled How We Won the Vote in California

Roberta Achtenberg becomes the first openly gay person to be confirmed by the United States senate for a political post

May 24, 1993

On May 24, 1993, Roberta Achtenberg became the first openly gay person confirmed by the United States Senate for a major political post when she was voted in by a 58-31 margin.  Achtenberg’s appointment to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development marked a historic turning point in American LGBTQ history.

Episode 129: Idit Klein on a Quarter Century of Queer Jewish Leadership

Supporting and embracing queer Jews has been Idit Klein's mission for over a quarter century. Since 2001, she has led Keshet, which is now the largest organization for LGBTQ+ Jews in America. With her departure from Keshet approaching, Idit sat down with her longtime friend Judith Rosenbaum, to reflect on her career, the impact of today's political climate on her work, and how much has changed for queer Jews in her lifetime.

Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff

Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff was an Egyptian-Jewish essayist, novelist, journalist, and literary critic. She is best known for promoting “Levantinism,” a social model for coexistence in Israel—a concept she articulates most fully in her “A Generation of Levantines” essays (1959). Her writings have inspired generations of Sephardi and Mizrahi writers in Israel.

Miriam Shtarkman-Verlinsky

Miriam Shtarkman-Verlinsky was a trailblazer for women in the legal field in Israel, with a lifelong dedication to Zionism and women’s rights. Shtarkman-Verlinsky  was the second women to become a judge in the newly established state and the first to become a Chief Magistrate. 

Salem Section of NCJW, 1957

When Women Led Small-Town Jewish Life

Austin Reid Albanese

In mid-century Salem, Ohio, a handful of women carried Jewish life, interfaith connection, and civic leadership on their shoulders.

Episode 128: Orthodox Women Rabbis Crack the Stained-Glass Ceiling

In June 2025, the thirteenth cohort of Orthodox women rabbis graduates from Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox yeshiva in North America dedicated to ordaining women. In this episode, we look at the status of the so-called stained-glass ceiling for Orthodox women rabbis as they seek pulpit positions, and we talk about the unique challenges for women’s leadership in the Orthodox movement. We speak with Rabbanit Leah Sarna, Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman, and Yeshivat Maharat’s founder and president, Rabba Sara Hurwitz.

Episode 127: The Scribe and Her Quill

For centuries, writing a Torah scroll was a sacred task reserved for men. But a couple of decades ago, a handful of women decided to pick up the quill—without waiting for permission—and paved the way for other women to do the same. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from women who write Torah scrolls and explore what it means to inscribe yourself into tradition.

Adina Kahansky

Zionist and women's rights activist Adina Kahansky emigrated from Lithuania to Argentina in 1894 and arrived in Erez Israel in 1902. One of the first two women in the Yishuv elected to a local council, he settled in Rishon le-Zion, joined women's organizations, and published in the Hebrew press advocating for women’s rights, the implementation of the Hebrew language, and a Jewish state. 

Collage of the Kotel with a hand touching the wall and stars around.

Praying for a Feminist Future at the Kotel

Amia Kaplun

Learning about the Women of the Wall made me realize that my discomfort at the Kotel was part of a larger, ongoing struggle for religious equity. 

Collage of Diane Von Furstenberg

The Feminine Power of Diane Von Furstenberg’s Wrap Dress

Dany Dorsey

When I put my wrap dress on, it is a continuation of Von Furstenberg's legacy of empowerment. 

Collage of Nechama Leibowitz and a torah scroll

How Nechama Leibowitz Helped Me Reclaim Torah

Gaby Brown

Nechama Leibowitz revolutionized the way Torah is studied and played a crucial role in shaping contemporary approaches to scripture.

Collage of Blu Greenberg with a drawn asterisk in the background

The Contradiction of Orthodox Feminism

Lea Davis

Blu Greenberg for showed me that Orthodoxy can be more inclusive for women and other underrepresented groups.

Emma Goldman with green and blue multi-color stars and a megaphone

Wrestling with Identity Politics

Jess Shapiro

In some ways this “identity revolution” introduces a new type of social order.

Elaine Showalter

Elaine Showalter is a pioneer of feminist criticism. She is best known for inventing the term “gynocriticism,” a new theoretical framework that argued that that women had been using the language of men for far too long and that they needed to develop a new critical approach to better understand the female subcultures that operate within male-dominated power structures. 

Collage of women dancing with a rainbow background

Rhymes with Bike: Reflections from a Queer Jew

Liana Galper

Connected by a visceral understanding of one another, queer Jews are able to widen each other’s understanding of Judaism.

English-Language American Jewish Women’s Magazines, 1895-1945

In the first half of the twentieth century, Jewish women published a wide array of magazines, bulletins, and newsletters, which displayed their skills as writers and editors. These publications served as tools for communication, publicity, and education and provided platforms for the diverse ideologies and perspectives of Jewish women.

Collage of the Seattle skyline including the Space Needle. There is a Jewish star in the sky with water colors.

Karen Treiger: An Inspiring Jewish Change-Maker

Yona Pianko

In the Seattle Jewish community, Karen Treiger is known for fighting for women’s involvement in Jewish ritual.

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