Jewish Women’s Voices Matter

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Journalism

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Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas is Inaugurated with Sofía Ímber as its Director

February 20, 1974

On February 20, 1974, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas (MACC) was officially inaugurated, with Sofia Ímber as its first director. Ímber served as the museum’s director until Hugo Chávez removed her in 2001. 

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."

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.

Yelena Khanga Covers the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit

December 8, 1987

On December 8, 1987, Yelena Khanga, a Russian journalist who has played a significant role in Russian journalism and written about her experiences as a Black Jewish woman in Russia, arrived in the United States as a member of the Soviet Press Corps to cover the historic Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Washington, D.C. 

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.

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.

Blanche Bendahan

Blanche Bendahan, born in Algeria in 1893, to a Sephardi father and a Catholic mother, became a renowned writer, poet, and political activist. One of her most famous works, Mazaltob, addressed themes of tradition versus modernity, women's rights, and the intersections between Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities. She continued to write about her homeland until her death in 1975, combining her multicultural background with modernist style.

Rachel Luria

Rachel Luria (Rokhl Lurye) was a writer of Yiddish short fiction and investigative journalism in the early twentieth century. She was known for her complex and often cynical writing about immigrant life, especially in regards to portrayals of sexuality and gender.

Bring Them Home Now with images of Israeli hostages

Post-October 7 Op-Ed Erased Violence

Shamim Elyaszadeh

Oftentimes, when I am watching or reading the news, Al Jazeera shows up in my suggested content because I am interested in the Middle East.  

Topics: Journalism
Collage of Rachel Sassoon Beer on pale pink background

A Catalyst for Change: The Power of Written Language and the Media

Frieda Belasco

Rachel Sassoon Beer is an exceptional example of the value of activism through media. We can take inspiration from her bravery to defy social norms.

Sarah Goldblatt

Sarah Goldblatt was a staunch advocate of the Afrikaans language of South Africa. Despite learning the language later in life, she devoted herself to her adopted tongue, publishing multiple books in Afrikaans and serving on the editorial board of an Afrikaans newspaper. Trained as a teacher, she also taught the language to students around the country.

Helen Epstein

Born to two Holocaust survivors from Czechoslovakia, Helen Epstein has spent her life building an impressive journalistic career. She has also explored her own lived experiences, as well as the repercussions of intergenerational trauma from the Holocaust, on both her own family and the families of other survivors, in several memoirs and non-fiction books.

Collage of newspapers clippings

The Future of Judaism in Journalism

Rosie Yanowitch

When I look at my American Jewish identity, I find that news from the Jewish community, and in particular, the Jewish feminist movement, continue to be underrepresented and under-publicized.

Topics: Journalism, Writing

Episode 88: Jewish Women Behind the Mic

Here at Can We Talk?, we’re podcast fanatics. And we especially like shows that feature Jewish women’s voices. So we decided to bring together some of our favorite Jewish women podcasters to talk shop. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum takes us behind the scenes with Stephanie Butnick from Unorthodox, Judy Gold from Kill Me Now, and Emily Bazelon from Slate's Political Gabfest, to talk about what makes their shows Jewish, sharing the mic with men, and answering to their listeners.

Episode 87: Jodi Kantor Said

In 2017, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the New York Times story about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse of women. They chronicled the experience in their book She Said, which was made into a film by the same title in 2022. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni Rous talks with Jodi Kantor about how Weinstein tried to pull the “Jew-to-Jew” card with her, what she learned about taking on a bully, and how she felt about the film’s portrayal of her as a working mom.

Collage of Susan Weidman Schneider on green and white checkered background

Like Lilith, Re-channeling My Anger

Noa Karidi

Rather than reacting from a place of anger, the LGBTQIA+ community needs to follow the example of Weidman Schneider to use education in order to change the perception of this bill and of the community

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.

Susan Stamberg

Project
Washington D.C. Stories

Deborah Ross interviewed Susan Stamberg on March 28, 2011, in Washington DC, as part of the Washington D.C. Stories Oral History Project. Stamberg shares her groundbreaking experience as the first female national news anchor, highlighting her successful career in interviewing and her passion for the future of radio.

Jane Krieger Schapiro

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Marie Cohen Ferris interviewed Jane Krieger Schapiro on April 11, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Schapiro details her journey growing up in Baltimore, encountering antisemitism, eloping with her first husband during World War II, her involvement in Jewish organizations, her commitment to Israel, and the roles of motherhood and community in her life.

Barbara Gaffin

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Barbara Gaffin in Boston, Massachusetts on July 11, 2000, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Gaffin, raised in a Jewish community, recounts her career in Jewish organizations, her perspective on the relationship between American Jews and Israel, her work in Ethiopia, and the prejudice and contradictions she encountered while helping others.

Joan Nathan

Project
Washington D.C. Stories

Deborah Ross interviewed Joan Nathan on July 12, 2011, in Washington, DC, as part of the Washington D.C. Stories Oral History Project. Nathan reflects on the significance of food to Jewish life, as she recounts her career as a cookbook author, cultural historian, and food writer who combines recipes with stories to educate about Jewish life, tradition, and history.

Blanche Narodick

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Blanche Narodick on June 6, 2001, in Seattle, Washington for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Narodick reflects on her childhood, education, professional life in Chicago, marriage, involvement with Jewish organizations, experiences during World War Two, work with the American Red Cross, friendships, and personal philosophy on life.

Mark Schleifstein

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Mark Schleifstein on December 10, 2006, in Metairie, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Schleifstein talks about advocating for hurricane preparedness, experiencing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and struggling to reconcile his faith in science and belief in God while finding solace in the unity of the Jewish community.

Madeleine Kunin

Project
DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Ann Zinn Buffum and Sandra Stillman Gartner interviewed Madeleine Kunin on May 1, 2006, in Burlington, Vermont, as part of DAVAR's Oral History Project. Kunin shares her journey from Switzerland to the United States, her career in journalism, her involvement in Vermont politics as the first woman governor, and her role in education under the Clinton administration.

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