Religion

Content type
Collection
Collage of waves, hamsa, and woman's face on pink orange background

Dancing Into a Feminist Future

Adina Gerwin

The idea that Miriam will dance with us to repair the broken world paints an image of a world in which change is actually achievable. How beautiful is the thought that we can advocate for a world that swirls with gender equality?

Topics: Prayer, Ritual, Dance

Margie Klein Ronkin

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Lynne Himelstein interviewed Rabbi Margie Klein Ronkin on February 24, 2014, in Brighton, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Rabbi Klein Ronkin reflects on her Jewish upbringing, involvement in social justice activism, journey to becoming a rabbi, founding Moishe Kavod House, and her efforts to address sexual assault and domestic violence in the Jewish community, all while reflecting on her understanding of God.

Louis Trachtman

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Louis Trachtman on July 20, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Trachtman discusses his family history, the transition from Orthodox to Conservative Judaism, his experiences as a physician during Hurricane Katrina, his involvement in the Chevra Kadisha, and his reflections on race relations in New Orleans.

Judith Ehrlich

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Lynne Himelstein interviewed Rabbi Judi Ehrlich on March 5, 2014, in Newton, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Ehrlich shares her journey from Orthodox Judaism in South Africa to becoming a rabbi in America, including her religious upbringing, education in Israel, work as a matchmaker, career as a rabbi, challenges in her family, and her role as a chaplain, providing support to patients and families dealing with loss.

Collage of drawings of skirts and pants on periwinkle background

Is the Future of Modern Orthodox Women In Pants?

Aviva Schilowitz

For some Modern Orthodox Jewish women, skirts versus pants gets tricky.

Collage of Alicia Jo Rabins and a river on purple background

Finding Meaning in Midrash Through Song

Olivia Gnad

When I heard Alicia Jo Rabins' performance of “River So Wide,” it brought the world of the Torah close to me in a way it had never been before.

Cherie Koller-Fox

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Lynne Himelstein interviewed Rabbi Cherie Koller-Fox on March 31, 2014, in Newtonville, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Rabbi Koller-Fox shares her Jewish upbringing, aspirations to become a rabbi, educational journey, involvement in founding CAJE, and reflections on the evolving rabbinate, personal challenges, and the role of Judaism in navigating crises.

Menorah Rotenberg

Project
Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America

Jayne Guberman interviewed Menorah Rotenberg on October 30th, 2005, in New York, New York, as part of the Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America Oral History Project. Rotenberg reflects on her childhood experiences attending Orthodox day school, her growing feminist consciousness, challenges to traditional gender roles, and finding a more egalitarian community in Conservative Judaism.

Hadassah Blocker

Project
Women Who Dared

Elise Brenner interviewed Hadassah Blocker on December 16, 2004, in Newtonville, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Blocker shares her upbringing in Massachusetts, her Orthodox background, challenges to gender roles in Judaism, and her dedication to teaching and promoting women's equal participation.

Eliana Jacobowitz

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Lynne Himelstein interviewed Rabbi Eliana Jacobowitz on February 25, 2014, in Sommerville, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Rabbi Jacobowitz reflects on her spiritual path in Jewish mysticism and becoming a rabbi, aiming to create an inclusive environment at Temple B’nai B’rith, and navigating the challenges of being a woman rabbi in Israel, sharing her complex feelings towards her homeland.

Barbara Penzner

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Ronda Spinak interviewed Rabbi Barbara Penzner on February 25, 2014, in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Rabbi Penzner reflects on her Jewish upbringing, calling to become a rabbi, studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, exploration of the mikvah ritual, working with interfaith couples, and balancing motherhood and her career.

Green and gold watercolor next to line drawing of smartphone

It-Girls, God, and Me

Sonia Freedman

Just as the it-girls online promised, working through my issues by connecting to a feminine God works, even if it is extremely different than what they envisioned.

Red and orange Hebrew letters on yellow background

The Future of Gendered Hebrew

Sam Mezrich

Grammatical gender in Hebrew fosters a culture of exclusion and denies people safety and belonging in our religious spaces. It's time for that to change. 

Elaine Zecher

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Ronda Spinak interviewed Rabbi Elaine Zecher in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 20, 2024, for the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Zecher, senior rabbi of Temple Israel of Boston, shares her journey as a female rabbi, her experiences as the first woman rabbi at Temple Israel, her love for liturgy and involvement in prayer book projects, her spiritual practices, Temple Israel's work with AIDS victims, and her deep connection to the universal values of Judaism.

Claudia Kreiman

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Ronda Spinak interviewed Rabbi Claudia Kreiman on March 30, 2014, In Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Oral History Project. Rabbi Kreiman shares her experiences growing up as a rabbi's daughter in Chile, her journey to Israel, her personal tragedies, and her goals as a rabbi at Temple B'nai Jeshurun.

Animal drawings by Liana Finck on orange gradient background

Making Space

Judy Ruden

In Liana Finck's exploration of the kabbalistic concept of Tsimtsum, the idea of God's contraction as a means of creation, I find the beginnings of a Jewish feminist future. 

Sally Finestone

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Ronda Spinak interviewed Rabbi Sally Finestone on March 29, 2014, in West Newton, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women’s Rabbis Oral History Project. Rabbi Finestone discusses her path to becoming a rabbi, the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated field, her work in Hillel, her role as a mother, her relationship with God, and her pride in her accomplishments as a rabbi and educator.

Black and white collage of clothing items and hangers

To Reveal or Not To Reveal: Modesty, Jewish Feminism, and the Male Gaze

Ava Weinstein

Recently, I’ve embarked on a mission to dress how I want, when I want.

Episode 90: Reproductive Rights After Roe

When the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade, it eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion. As of April 2023, it is now essentially illegal to have an abortion in 15 states. That means limited to no access to terminating a pregnancy. But many people don't realize these bans also affect people who want to get pregnant. Jessica Kalb, Lisa Sobel, and Sarah Baron are among those people. They're suing their home state of Kentucky for its abortion ban, claiming it violates their right to grow their families and their religious freedom as Jews. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we bring you a story about the far-reaching consequences of the Dobbs decision, and three Jewish women who are fighting back. 

Stephen Richer

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Stephen Richer on November 27, 2006, in Gulfport, Mississippi, as part of Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Richer discusses his Jewish upbringing, his move to Biloxi, Mississippi, his experiences as a Jewish community leader during Hurricane Katrina, and how the storm changed his perspective on spirituality and material possessions.

Naomi Rosenblatt

Project
Washington D.C. Stories

Deborah Ross interviewed Naomi Harris Rosenblatt on December 31, 2010, in Washington, D.C. as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rosenblatt details her personal journey from witnessing the birth of Israel to her career in Washington, D.C., discussing her deep connection to Jewish identity, the intertwining of the Bible and psychotherapy, and her concern for the future of the Jewish people.

Ronya Schwaab

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Vicki Gabriner interviewed Ronya Schwaab on January 18 and 26, February 3 and 7, and June 18, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Schwaab recounts her childhood in Gomel, Belarus, highlighting aspects such as the First World War, Jewish traditions, women's roles, interfaith relations, arranged marriages, and encounters with the anti-revolutionary group, the Chyornaya Sotnya.

Lech by Sara Lippman Book Cover

"Lech" Complicates Familial Relationships

Chanel Dubofsky

As Lippmann's characters in Lech excavate their lives in search of clarity, they're ultimately left with this truth: what we're told to believe about ourselves and the world is never all there is.

Turkish Coffee and Dates

The Intricacies of Queer, Interfaith Relationships

D. B. Ashkenazi

It was the first time I’d hung out with “other Muslims” and not felt stressed about being Jewish. My girlfriend’s mom recognized me wholly as a Jewish woman and as a woman of her same culture. I had nothing to prove. I was enough.

Collage of Milla Jovavitch in The Fifth Element on a blue sparkling background

Finding Tzniut in The Fifth Element's Futurist Costumes

Noa Karidi

The film The Fifth Element creates an aspirational society in which a woman does not feel exposed or sexualized because of what she wears. I want that for all of us. 

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