Education

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Carol and Lucy Targum

L’dor Vador: A Legacy of Love

Carol Targum

A grandmother reflects on the joy, responsibility, and sacred beauty of nurturing Jewish identity across generations.

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. 

Stella Moussa Salmon and Sephardi House Fellows - faces

How Sephardi House Became My Sephardi Home

Stella Moussa Salmon

The Sephardi House Fellowship offered more than community—it gave me a voice and a mission.

Dalia Itzik

Dalia Itzik is a former politician and was the first woman to serve as the Speaker of the Knesset. She also was the first woman to serve as the acting President of Israel. 

Political scientist Elinor Ostrom wins Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

December 10, 2009

On December 10, 2009, political scientist Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Her research focused on economic governance and “the commons” (natural resources accessible to all). She studied the relationship between people and their ecosystems, to prove that finite resources can be used by local communities in ways that prevent their depletion. 

Canoeing at Camp Bechol Lashon

Creating Belonging for Black Jews

Shoshana McKinney Kirya-Ziraba

Institutions created by and for Jews of color are fostering community, resilience, and belonging in ways that mainstream Jewish spaces often fail to.

Hanna Herzog

Professor Hanna Herzog is a key advocate for feminism in Israel. Herzog combines academic achievement and social activism, emphasizing the importance of listening to diverse voices and critically examining marginalized people. Her journey into sociology was influenced by her own experiences of marginalization, starting from her time at Reali High School in Haifa, which ultimately led to her interest in research and the pursuit of knowledge.

"An Unfinished Symphony," art piece by Judy Robkin

The Power of Visual Storytelling

Jen Richler

JWA chats with Barbara Rosenblit and Sheila Miller, the creators of Artful Disclosure, a program that honors the ordinary and extraordinary lives of Jewish women through visual storytelling. 

Girls who were part of first transport of Jews to Auschwitz

Q & A with Heather Dune Macadam, Director of "999: The Forgotten Girls"

Jen Richler

JWA talks with Heather Dune Macadam, director of 999: The Forgotten Girls, a new documentary that tells the story of the young women who made up the first transport of Jews to Auschwitz.

Judith Lax

Dr. Judith H. Lax (1924-2022) was a trailblazing lay leader in the Conservative movement. In 1971 Lax became the first female president of a Conservative congregation. She went on to hold numerous positions in the United Synagogue of America that were previously held exclusively by men. Through her many firsts, Lax quietly laid the groundwork for women’s equality and helped change the face of Conservative Judaism. 

Marilyn Safir

Marilyn Safir is an Israeli-American psychologist who played a critical role as a feminist activist in sparking the Israeli women’s movement and in establishing the academic field of women’s studies in Israel. Her academic career has focused on sex, sexuality, and gender. 

Yvonne Campbell

Yvonne was a lifelong educator. After retiring from teaching nursery school, Yvonne continued to educate as a speaker in middle and high school classrooms, sharing her Holocaust story through the organization Facing History & Ourselves. She was a gifted storyteller, and used her talent whenever she could to spread the message of “Never Again.”

Charlotte Charlaque

Charlotte Charlaque was a transgender trailblazer, actress, and translator in Weimer Berlin and post-Shoah New York City. 

Judith Laikin Elkin

The historian Judith Laikin Elkin Is best known as the founder of the Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA). She was the author of the foundational text The Jews of Latin America as well as research guides and two memoirs.

Alice Shalvi

This was essential Alice—kind, appreciative, loving (and missing) those whom she adored, always inquisitive and expanding my questions, always wanting to know more. 

Episode 115: Dr. Ruth's Radical Legacy

The iconic Dr. Ruth Westheimer died earlier this year at the age of 96. Dr. Ruth was a trailblazer for her candid and joyful talk about sex, regularly using words like "masturbate" and "vibrator" on the air, and talking about sexual pleasure— including women's sexual pleasure—at a time when few others did. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we remember and celebrate Dr. Ruth. Historian and author Rebecca Davis explores Dr. Ruth's radical legacy and actress Tovah Feldshuh reflects on their friendship. Plus, archival tape of Dr. Ruth herself dishing out sex advice to her devoted listeners.

Analía Bortz

Analía Bortz is the first Latin American woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi. Her approach to spirituality and religion combines with her medical training. As a doctor specializing in bioethics, she has also helped women and couples with fertility issues. 

Angèle Guéron

Angèle Guéron was an educator in Edirne, once an important city in the late Ottoman Empire, now a border town in northwestern Turkey. The eloquent journal she kept during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) provides a rare glimpse of life in a besieged Ottoman city and the struggles of a Sephardi Jewish woman against a conservative communal patriarchy. 

Collage with star of David, trees, and summer camp cabin

The Magic of Inclusion at Jewish Summer Camp

Roz Larsen

With programming that addresses and affirms our identities, we can make camp a relaxing and nurturing place for all.

Topics: Education

Episode 111: Ladino Makes a Comeback

Segun el tiempo, se abolta la vela. That’s a Ladino saying that means, “According to the weather, shift your sail.” And it's an apt way of describing Ladino's recent comeback. Ladino—or Judeo-Spanish—the language spoken by Sephardic Jews in Turkey, Greece and North Africa, saw a major decline after the Holocaust destroyed communities of native speakers. But like a sailboat shifting course when the wind changes direction, Ladino has adapted to the times. In this episode of Can We Talk, you’ll hear how from Naomi Spector and Nesi Altaras, two Ladino enthusiasts, and from Hannah Pressman, one of the people spearheading Ladino’s resurgence.

Rose Clubok cropped

Where Are They Now? RVF Alum Rose Clubok

Sarah Biskowitz

JWA talks to Rising Voices Fellowship alum Rose Clubok for our series marking the 10th anniversary of the fellowship.

Shahanna McKinney-Baldon and Michal Avera Samuel

A Curriculum That Celebrates Jewish Diversity

Shoshana McKinney Kirya-Ziraba

The project's creators hope it will change the way Jewish kids see themselves and each other. 

Image from JIMENA Sephardi and Mizrahi Toolkit

JIMENA's New Sephardi and Mizrahi Education Toolkit

Lizzy Danon

JWA talks to Sarah Levin, executive director for Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) about its new Sephardi and Mizrahi Education Toolkit. 

Headshot of Emma Mair with shoulder-length light brown hair and tortoiseshell glasses, posing in front of trees

Where Are They Now? RVF Alum Emma Mair

Sarah Biskowitz

JWA talks to Rising Voices Fellowship alum Emma Mair for our series marking the 10th anniversary of the fellowship.

Bettina Aptheker

Bettina Aptheker is an American feminist, writer, educator, and political activist. She advocated for racial justice, studied and taught African American women’s history, and founded the Feminist Studies department at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

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