Activism

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Collection

Gerry Faier, 1908 - 2011

An agitator, rabble-rouser, and working-class Jewish lesbian, Gerry Faier found company and camaraderie among fellow labor organizers, the burgeoning gay and lesbian communities of Woodstock and Greenwich Village, and activists across many generations.

Barbara Dobkin receives honorary degree

May 5, 2011
Barbara Dobkin, the Founding Chair of the Jewish Women's Archive, receives an honorary degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in recognition of her visionary advocacy of women's causes.
jwapedia Hashtag

#jwapedia: Tweeting the Encyclopedia!

Leah Berkenwald

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, the Jewish Women’s Archive is launching a campaign to tweet our online Encyclopedia of Jewish women’s history. The project poses an intriguing and entertaining challenge: to summarize a scholarly article in no more than 140 characters.

Caryn Surkes, 1956 - 2011

Caryn tenaciously challenged complacency, resignation, and lack of creativity wherever she found it. With her characteristic absence of judgment, she continually modeled for everyone the holding of hope for all those struggling with physical and mental disabilities.

Ruth Nussbaum, 1911 - 2010

She understood the need for promoting religious pluralism, human rights, and democracy in Israel as fundamental Reform Jewish values. To Ruth, Jewish nationalism expressed in Zionism is a seamless and natural aspect of Reform Jewish identity.

"The Songs of Joy," by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

The confrontational face of Miriam

Susan Reimer-Torn

When we are first introduced to Miriam in the Bible, the times are bleak. The Egyptian Pharaoh has decreed that all baby boys born to the Hebrew slaves be immediately put to death.

Women's Liberation Daughters: The Next Generation Panel

Women's Liberation and Jewish Identity: Bringing it home

Leora Jackson

Last week, I had the great privilege of attending the conference “Women’s Liberation and Jewish Identity: Uncovering a legacy of innovation, activism, and social change.” (JWA was a conference sponsor, and you can check out Judith Rosenbaum’s response to the conference here!) As a research intern for Professor Joyce Antler, the conference convenor, this past summer, I spent hours reading short essays, activist statements, and poetry by many of the conference’s speakers, who were primarily Jewish women involved in feminist activism in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Seeing their words come to life as they spoke to an audience of peers, academics, and a few young feminists was enlightening, particularly as it provided me with a chance to rethink my own relationship to Jewish feminism as it relates to Jewish ritual practice.

The Wandering is Over Haggadah: Including Women's Voices

The modern Haggadah: New voices and the reactionary

Elyssa Cohen

This year I tried something new at my family’s Seder. We used a new Haggadah!

Spanx

Spanx may make panty lines invisible, but can't smooth over feminist critique

Leah Berkenwald

This delicious article in the Boston Globe had me pumping my feminist fist in the air! In a report on the Combined Jewish Philanthropies Women’s Philanthropy’s annual Pomegranate event held at Congregation Mishkan Tefilah in Chestnut Hill, MA, Beth Teitell reported that there were no "visible panty lines," or "VPLs."

A Fifth Question for Passover

Linda Frank

The Passover Seder offers an opportunity to remember more than just the exodus from Egypt and our desert wanderings.

Rachel Berry from Glee

Why Rachel Berry deserves our compassion

Leah Berkenwald

Recently in The Forward, Jay Michaelson compared four characters from “Glee” to the “Four Children” from the Passover seder tradition. What I loved about the piece was Michaelson’s point that for young Jews, Jewish identity is one variable in a multi-variable identity that youth will embrace, when and if they find it meaningful. What bothered me about the piece was the language Michaelson used describing Rachel Berry, the analogous “Wise Child,” as an “irritating control freak” and “intolerable.” It was particularly difficult to read this because, well, I used to be Rachel Berry.

Synagogue Sanctuary

Is the shul a place for political activism?

Kate Bigam

I spent last Friday night celebrating Shabbat at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Mass., a Reform synagogue I’d never before visited. I was in awe of the chapel’s breathtaking, brightly colored stained glass windows, and I was fascinated by Rabbi John Franken’s take on Parshat M’tzora, which drew unexpected parallels between, of all things, skin diseases and marketing (all with a Jewish bent, of course). But it was a bright green insert in the Friday night program that struck me most.

Joyce Antler

Q&A: Joyce Antler on "Women's Liberation and Jewish Identity"

Chanel Dubofsky

I first read the Joyce Antler’s book The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America as an undergraduate, deep in the thrall of Jewish feminist academia.

Adele Landau Starr, 1916 - 2007

She had a strong sense of what was ethical and right; she didn’t just talk about it, she took action.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Mazel Tov Debbie Wasserman Schultz, new chair of the DNC!

Leah Berkenwald

Yesterday the Democratic party announced that President Obama chose Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the incoming chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, making her the first woman DNC chief in 15 years and the third in history. Considering that the first two women to lead the DNC only served temporary stints, Wasserman Schultz’s appointment is extremely significant.

Netiva Ben-Yehuda

Remembering Netiva Ben-Yehuda

Ari Davidow

Many years ago I was sitting in a kibbutz dining hall in the north of Israel. One of the older members, a woman, was reminiscing about the equality of the sexes that supposedly existed when the kibbutz was founded.

Labor History Landmark: No. 9 The Metropolitan Opera House

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitude created in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City

Labor History Landmark: No. 8 Carnegie Hall

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitudecreated in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary ofthe Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

The 8th of the Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is the Carnegie Hall.

100 Years: Commemorating the Triangle fire

Leah Berkenwald

As regular readers of Jewesses with Attitude (and the New York Times) know, today is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Factory fire. On Sunday, March 13th, 230 people joined the Jewish Women's Archive in New York City for the first Living the Legacy awards luncheon held to commemorate the centennial of the fire and celebrate the contributions of Jewish women activists. 

Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City

Labor History Landmark: No. 7 Jefferson Market Courthouse

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitude created in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City

Labor History Landmark: No. 6 Washington Square

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitude created in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City

Labor History Landmark: No. 5 Asch Building/Brown Building (Triangle Factory)

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitude created in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

Our Bodies, Ourselves: The Manual and The Mystery

Susan Reimer-Torn

The subject of a woman’s body, even in its most intimate functions, was not taboo in the orthodox Jewish world of my upbringing.

Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City

Labor History Landmark: No. 4 The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union Headquarters

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitude created in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

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