Activism

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Collection

Episode 49: Jewish Women Vote (Transcript)

Episode 49: Jewish Women Vote (Transcript)

Maya Stutman-Shaw Wearing Tefillin with a Friend at the Western Wall

My "Girl Power" Tefillin Journey: Wearing Davening Attire as a Girl

Ma'ayan Stutman-Shaw

One day, I hope to walk into an egalitarian Jewish space with my tallit on my shoulders and my kippah on my head.

Topics: Feminism, Ritual
 “Robe Poème, L’Ange a Glissé…” by Sonia Delaunay, 1922

A Jewish Feminist and a Feminist Jew

Liana Smolover-Bord

Judith Plaskow said, “I am not a Jew in the synagogue and a feminist in the world."

Hannah Kornblut's Aunt and Uncle

Remembering My Aunt during Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Hannah Kornblut

"The abuse my aunt endured partially revolved around her Jewish values and upbringing."

Topics: Women's Rights
Marshmallows Over a Campfire

Encountering Homophobia at My Jewish Summer Camp for Girls

Judy Goldstein

There aren't outside pressures from patriarchy in the all-girls camp bubble; but that doesn't mean that bigotry is eradicated.

Episode 49: Jewish Women Vote

As history unfolds in this election season, we talk with Jewish women about their voting stories—past and present. We hear from a poll watcher in Georgia, a young voter whose name was nearly wiped from the voter rolls, and a rabbi who said a blessing as she slipped her ballot in the ballot box. We'll also hear from a 92-year-old voter in Florida who remembers meeting suffragist Alice Paul in the 1970s, and a candidate for US Congress who talks about the dilemma she faced in sixth grade—whether to vote for herself for class president.

Glasses Resting on Open Tanakh

The “Jewish Women Question”: Can Women Learn Gemara?

Rena Kosowsky

I’ve learned the value of endurance in activism through my experience with Talmud learning.

White chairs against a black wall

A Seat at My Orthodox Jewish School’s Ma’ariv Service

Lana Klein

There were no chairs in the women's section of my school's shul. 

Close up image of Shoshanah Curiel-Alessi's tie-dyed pink and purple tallit

How My Bat Mitzvah Tallit Helped Me Find My Voice

Shoshanah Curiel-Alessi

This prayer shawl was the antithesis of everything I’d told myself I was supposed to be; it challenged tradition, caught attention, and took up space.

Episode 47: RBG in Her Own Words

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to sit on the nation’s highest court, died on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Justice Ginsburg was an American and feminist icon and a Jewish hero. Her experiences as a Jew and as a woman helped her identify with outsiders and see the gap between American ideals and the realities that so many people live every day. Justice Ginsburg was a role model... and she had her own role models too. In this episode, we dig into JWA's archive and share some of the Justice's own words about a Jewish woman who inspired her.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1933–2020

Pioneering lawyer, Supreme Court Justice, and pop culture icon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg redefined gender equality through vision, persistence, precision, and dissent. This collection of reflections on her life and work honors her tremendous legacy as a lawyer, judge, feminist, and Jew.

Nadine Batchelor-Hunt crop

Black and Jewish: A Conversation with Nadine Batchelor-Hunt

Emily-Rose Baker

UK-based writer and journalist Nadine Batchelor-Hunt talks to JWA about being Black and Jewish, grappling with those identities being pitted against each other.

Episode 44: The Nineteenth Amendment Turns 100 (Transcript)

Episode 44: The Nineteenth Amendment Turns 100 (Transcript)

2019-2020 Rising Voices Fellows Zine Cover Page Cropped

An RVF Zine: Reflecting on the 2019-2020 Rising Voices Fellowship

Rising Voices Fellows

The 2019-2020 Rising Voices Fellows reflect on their time in the Fellowship and on their collaborative zine-making process.

Topics: Activism, Art, Writing
2019-20 Rising Voices Fellow Hannah Landau's Zine Pages

How to Be Perfect: A Guide for Girls

Hannah Landau

Perfection is the goal and trying is the consequence.

Topics: Feminism, Crafts
Illustration of Raised Hands with #MeToo Written on the Palms

Why We Still Need to Be Talking about #MeToo in the Jewish Community

Dahlia Soussan

As too many Jewish women find their allegations unheard and unaddressed, I am responsible to amplify those female voices.

Illustration of DIfferent Hairstyles

My Relationship with My Mom and My Hair: How They Both Have Grown

Shoshanna Hemley

When I think back on mornings spent sitting on a stool in the kitchen before school, pouting as my mother detangled my thick hair, I’m glad she wrestled those knots for me. 

Topics: Activism, Family

Episode 44: The Nineteenth Amendment Turns 100

One hundred years ago on August 26, 1920, Congress adopted the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum talks with historians Ellen Dubois, Martha Jones, and Melissa Klapper about the role of African American and Jewish women in fighting for the vote, and the racism, classism, and antisemitism that undermined the movement's impact.

Sketch of Ray Frank, 1893

Ray Frank, A Complex Figure: Let’s Talk about Honesty and Self Care

Eleanor Harris

In March, my RVF piece about Ray Frank went up on the blog; however, parts of this blog post trouble me.

Heather Booth and Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964

Freedom Summer: The Fight for Universal Suffrage Continues

Dr. Debra L. Schultz

Scholar Debra Schultz explores the history of Freedom Summer and the fight to enable all American citizens to vote.

Topics: Voting Rights
Photo of Woman at the Beach

Spirituality, Self-Care, and the Fight for Justice

Ellanora Lerner

To see everything as holy, to be amazed by the simple, beautiful things in the world, not only brings me happiness; it also inspires me to fight for justice.

Uyghur Protest Outside the White House

The Uyghur Genocide Is a Jewish Issue

Esti

The manager of the Instagram account @jewsforUighurs explains why this is an issue we need to pay attention to.

Since Parkland Website Image

"Since Parkland": Writing the Stories of Youth Victims of Gun Violence

Ellie Klibaner-Schiff

With "Since Parkland," I tried to celebrate other kids' lives and acknowledge the failures that ended them.

Illustration of Parts of the Body

Social Media “Influencers”: Start Influencing Girls to Love Ourselves

Neima Fax

Girls today are given an image of what an ideal body should look like on social media, and our introduction into womanhood and knowing our bodies is through the lens of fixing it.

Topics: Feminism, Media

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