JWA chats with Zohare Jacobi of Jewitches. 

In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Eastern Europe, Jewish women served their communities as spiritual leaders and paid religious functionaries. The main women’s leadership roles documented in Yiddish literature, memoirs, memorial books, and ethnographic studies include the midwife, the evil eye healer, the cemetery measurer, the prayer leader, and the mourning woman. 

Arlene was known for her intense and fervid connection to Jewish liturgy, her dazzling smile, her love of words, music and laughter, and her steadfast commitment to feminism.

JWA chats with Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder about what it was like to officiate Meredith Marks' bat mitzvah onThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

Every piece of Judaica Dolin creates is an expression of Jewish tradition and intention.

JWA chats with artist and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain about her new solo show,YOU ARE HERE, why nature inspires her, and why people who say they're not creative are wrong. 

JWA talks to Rising Voices Fellowship alum Sofia Isaias-Day for our series marking the 10th anniversary of the fellowship.

JWA talks to Dena Eber about her passion for photography and her new bookYou Refuse to Believe That You Ever Liked Pink.

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

Nothing is lost by encouraging and enabling different ways of accessing spirituality. If anything, people will learn a new tradition along the way.

As Jewish feminists, we should  fight alongside deaf people for inclusion within the feminist movement, which has often forgotten and misrepresented disabled individuals.

The poignant and often hilarious novel made me consider my own experiences with grief and (metaphorical) lostness.

Instead of using the poem the way a husband would honor his wife for taking care of the entire family, I chose to useEshet Chayil as my way of thanking and expressing the awe that I have for these female role models in my family.

When my bubbe gave me this yad, I felt like I finally didn’t have to hide some parts about my Jewish identity.

The British Library shares a fifteenth-century prayer book commissioned by a father to his daughter, Maraviglia, a testament to women’s participation in fifteenth-century Italian Jewish ritual life.

Slowly, I have come to understand that my connection to Judaism doesn’t need to be a linear path. I experience days of doubt, times of radiant joy, and moments of deep guilt.

When the topic of my bat mitzvah surfaced in my two households, it became evident that my bat mitzvah was not going to be like the ones my friends were having.

JWA talks to Gavi Weitzman, a multimedia artist based in Philadelphia whose work explores Judaism, the body, and identity.

JWA talks to Jenni Rudolph and Maryam Chishti, Co-Executive Directors of the LUNAR Collective, the only organization by and for Asian American Jews.

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?

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.

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. 

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.