Jewish History

Content type
Collection

Mindy Weisel

Project
Washington D.C. Stories

Deborah Ross interviewed Mindy Weisel on October 19, 2010, in Washington, DC, as part of the Washington D.C. Stories Oral History Project. Weisel reflects on her childhood, the impact of her family's Holocaust legacy, and her journey as an artist to express emotions, find beauty amidst darkness, and foster person-to-person connections for hope and healing.

Judith Wolf

Project
Soviet Jewry

Alexandra Kiosse interviewed Judith Wolf in Newtown, Massachusetts, on July 25, 2016, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Wolf talks about her Jewish identity, marriage, and active involvement in the Soviet Jewry Movement and support for children with special needs, as well as her concerns for the future state of politics and the importance of public discourse.

Sheila Decter

Project
Soviet Jewry

Sheila Decter was interviewed on October 7, 2016, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Decter recounts her role in the Simcha Torah awareness truck drive, her work with the Kennedy Administration, the Jewish Agenda in Washington, and the ongoing importance of the Soviet Jewry cause.

Ary Rotman

Project
Soviet Jewry

Ary Rotman was interviewed on October 25, 2016, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Rotman shares his experiences of discovering the official process to leave the USSR for Israel, his struggles in securing a visa and becoming a refusenik, his arrest and time in jail, his eventual successful visa acquisition, and his adjustment to life in the United States.

Roy Einhorn

Project
Soviet Jewry

Gabriel Weinstein, Tamar Shachaf Schneider, and Aaron Hirsch interviewed Cantor Roy B. Einhorn on November 10, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Cantor Einhorn recounts his involvement in the Soviet Jewry Movement, including mission trips to the USSR with Temple Israel to support refuseniks, and drawing parallels to current refugee crises.

Bernard H. Mehlman

Project
Soviet Jewry

Tamar Shachaf Schneider, Aaron Hersh, and Gabriel Weinstein interviewed Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman on November 1, 2016, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Rabbi Mehlman shares his experiences delivering a heart valve in the USSR, arranging the evacuation of a refusenik, fundraising for Soviet emigre families, and providing support and education programs for newly arrived emigres at Temple Israel of Boston.

Holocaust Remembrance Candle

What Does Good Holocaust Education Look Like?

Elana Moscovitch

Teaching kids about the Holocaust should inspire them to fight injustice and change the world.

Collage of Rachel Sassoon Beer on black and white background

Reporting the Truth with Rachel Sassoon Beer

Samantha Berk

In her own way, in her own time, Rachel Sassoon Beer fought against misinformation. She’s a role model for modern feminists as well as for that little girl who yearned to hold the pages of the newspaper just right.

Karina Urbach and the Cover of her Book

Reclaiming Europe’s Jewish Past and Present

Savoy Curry

The Nazis stole Alice Urbach’s cookbook. In her new book, her granddaughter, Karina, reclaims Alice’s story—and Jews’ rightful place in European life.

Denise Khaitman Schorr

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Denise Khaitman Schorr on June 14, 2000, in Natick, Massachusetts for the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Schorr talks about her childhood in Paris, experiencing growing antisemitism and the Nazi occupation, joining the resistance, working as a social worker after liberation, immigrating to the USA, and her ongoing efforts to share her story and educate others.

Woman talking and standing in front of slide presentation

I Will Not Hide my Judaism in Progressive Spaces

Adriana Leigh

In naming the nuances of my Jewish experience, I hope that other progressive and feminist Jews feel seen, supported, and empowered.

Charlotte "Lotta" Scheiberg

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Emily Mehlman interviewed Charlotte Scheiberg on July 1, 1996, in Cambridge, Massachusetts as part of the Women Whose Lives Span the Century Oral History Project. Scheiberg discusses her upbringing in Germany, her immigration to the United States, her return to Germany in 1985, her experiences during World War II, acts of kindness she and her mother performed, and her involvement as a volunteer in the Fellowship of Jewish and Arab Youth.

Janna Kaplan

Project
Soviet Jewry

Alexandra Kiosse interviewed Janna Kaplan on July 8, 2016, in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of the Societ Jewry Oral History Project. Kaplan recounts her experiences as a refusenik in Russia, her immigration to the United States, challenges as an immigrant, career struggles, Jewish identity, involvement in the Jewish community, interest in science, and reflections on the Six-Day War, Judaism, and feminism.

Ruth Anna Putnam

Project
Adult Bat Mitzvahs

Shayna Rhodes interviewed Ruth Anna Putnam on December 20, 2004, in Arlington, Massachusetts, as part of the Adult Bat Mitzvahs Oral History Project. Putnam reflects on her journey with Judaism, including her memories of living in Germany during Nazi rule, her parents' immigration to America, her evolving relationship with Judaism, and her experience of having an adult bat mitzvah at the age of seventy.

Sylvia Willard

Project
DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Sandy Gartner and Ann Buffum interviewed Sylvia Willard on June 29, 2005, in Rutland, Vermont, as part of the Vermont Jewish Women's Oral History Project. Willard shares her family history, growing up in Vermont, her passion for theater, involvement in the Jewish community, meeting her husband Howard, and their successful ventures in the retail industry.

Sapir Taib and her Safta

Celebrate the Heroism of MENA Jewish Women on Chag Habanot

Sapir Taib

During Hanukkah, Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Jews observe Chag Habanot, which celebrates female heroes

Trude Kranzler

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Jean Freedman interviewed Trude Kranzler on April 28, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Kranzler recounts her experience as a Jewish child in Germany during the rise of Hitler, her family's escape to the United States, and her subsequent career as an educator, emphasizing the importance of education and creating a positive learning environment for students.

Andrea Waldstein

Project
Soviet Jewry

Georgia Westbrook and Alexandra Kiosse interviewed Andrea Waldstein on July 14, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Collection. Waldstein explores her family's Ukrainian roots, her Jewish upbringing in Massachusetts, her involvement in the Soviet Jewry Movement, and her reflections on Jewish identity and women's issues.

Collage of various images of Emma Goldman on green background

Emma Goldman and A Jewish Approach to Liberation

Miriam Stodolsky

Goldman drew upon her Judaism as a source of radical moral guidance and held fiercely to her Jewishness without limiting herself to it.

Judy Patkin

Project
Soviet Jewry

Judy Patkin was interviewed in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Patkin shares her experiences meeting refuseniks, visits to the former Soviet Union, involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, the birth of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, her Jewish identity, organizational work, interactions with the American government, personal growth, and the impact of her children on her trajectory.

Jane Sickles Segal

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Roberta Burstein interviewed Jane Sickles Segal on August 14, 1997, in Brookhaven, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned the Century Oral History Project. Segal shares her family history, including her mother's conversion to Christian Science, her grandparents' immigration from Germany, her college experience, and life in Chillicothe and Boston, discussing topics such as the rise of Nazi groups in the US and her involvement in Jewish community councils.

Dvorah Hacohen wins the National Jewish Book Award for "To Repair a Bro­ken World "

January 20, 2021

On January 20, 2021, distinguished Israeli historian Dvorah Hacohen won the National Jewish Book Award for To Repair a Bro­ken World, a biography of Hadassah founder Hen­ri­et­ta Szold. The multitude of strong female Jewish voices present in the construction and content of Hacohen’s book speaks to an intergenerational admiration for Jewish women leaders.  

Anne A. Jackson

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Pam Goodman and Fran Putnoi interviewed Anne A. Jackson on February 4 and May 19, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Jackson recounts her personal journey, including her close relationship with her sister and the impact of her death, her experiences during the war years, raising her children, and her lifelong passion for art.

Marion Guttentag

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Emily Mehlman interviewed Marion Guttentag on June 4, 1996, in Needham, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Span the Century Oral History Project. Guttentag reminisces on childhood memories of her family, school, and Jewish holidays, as well as her experiences working as a stenographer, reflecting on her career and cherished relationships.

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