Jewish Women and Judaism

Judaism is a major monotheistic ethnic religion based on the teachings of the New Testament. It is not only a faith but also embedded in tradition, law, culture and history. Around 0.2 percent of the world population is Jewish.

‘Four Winters’ Reveals Jewish Women’s Armed Resistance to Nazis During World War II

PUBLISHED 9/6/2022 by

In the new documentary Four Winters, award-winning filmmaker Julia Mintz shatters myths of Jewish passivity during World War II. “Jewish women were not part of the battles of history that they had been taught about. They learned to use a gun. They learned to adapt and become what they needed to be. I’m trying to give these women their rightful place in history.”

“The resiliency and self-determination, the courage, ingenuity and grit these women embodied—it’s our collective legacy. I hold them as my sheroes.”

Cowgirl Boots, Anxious Nights: Transgender Youth and Families Fight Hostile Legislation and Sky-High Suicide Rates

PUBLISHED 8/30/2022 by

In states around the U.S., families of transgender youth are battling anti-trans legislation blocking life-saving healthcare and transphobic ideas that permeate into their families and schools, and terrifying mental health statistics of trans youth who do not receive care.

Families share how they’re building safe and affirming homes for their children amidst such barriers.

I Will Not Be Overturned: Why I Developed an NFT Collection to Combat the Overturning of Roe v. Wade

PUBLISHED 6/15/2022 by

My Unorthodox Life star Miriam Haart shares how her background pushed her to battle for abortion rights using NFTs.

“When I saw an Instagram post that said Roe v. Wade would be overturned by the Supreme Court, I felt angry. My rights were being taken away from me, just as they had been growing up in an orthodox Jewish community as a woman.

“But now, as a Stanford graduate, that’s why I created an NFT project that will give 100 percent of its proceeds to fighting for abortion.”

The Movie Star and Madame Salon: The Friendship of Anna May Wong and Bernardine Szold Fritz

PUBLISHED 3/3/2022 by

In the mid-1930s, Anna May Wong was Hollywood’s preeminent Asian American starlet frustrated by a racist film industry. She connected with Bernardine Szold Fritz, a Jewish American writer and American salon hostess in Shanghai.

Today, 100 years after Anna May starred in her first leading role, The Toll of the Sea, stereotypes and casting white actors for Asian roles are still all too prevalent. Outside Hollywood, the U.S. is just beginning to recognize her groundbreaking achievements—Anna May Wong will be one of five American women to be featured on a U.S. quarter this year. It’s a start.

N.Y. Lawmakers and Activists Speak Out for Abortion Rights and Reproductive Justice: “If We Cannot Control Our Own Bodies, There Is No Democracy”

PUBLISHED 12/8/2021 by
N.Y. Lawmakers and Activists Speak Out for Abortion Rights and Reproductive Justice: “If We Cannot Control Our Own Bodies, There Is No Democracy”

“If we cannot control our own bodies, there is no democracy. That is the requisite of every democracy,” said Gloria Steinem at a press conference organized by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) with New York political leaders and reproductive rights advocates in front of Planned Parenthood Manhattan Health Center in New York City on Monday. 

Rabbi Hara Person: Why Progressive Faith Leaders Must Defend Reproductive Rights

PUBLISHED 9/5/2020 by
Rabbi Hara Person: Why Progressive Faith Leaders Must Defend Reproductive Rights

Ms. recently spoke with Rabbi Hara Person—chief executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and self-proclaimed “reader, writer, feminist and challah-baker” —about politics, women’s rights, and the role of faith-based leaders in 2020.

“We need to make sure people hear that there is no such thing as the one religious perspective or the one faith perspective on reproductive rights—we need to say loudly and clearly that there is a progressive religious voice on these issues as well as the right wing religious voice that they regularly hear. “