Orthodox woman, a first

Published on January 16, 2013

In a groundbreaking appointment, the Academy for Jewish Religion, California (AJR,CA), has selected Tamar Frankiel as its new president, making her the first Orthodox woman to lead an American rabbinical school. Frankiel, 66, is a professor of comparative religion and an expert on Jewish mysticism.

Thousands sign on for Shema flash mob

Published on October 22, 2012

More than 2,500 people signed up to participate in a global Shema flash mob as part of a campaign to promote religious pluralism in Israel. The gatherings early Monday afternoon came two days after Conservative Jewish congregations were asked to dedicate a recitation of the Shema to the topic as well.

Women’s Participation in Ritual: Time for a Paradigm Shift

By Rabbi Zev Farber
Published on October 15, 2012

Shame at the Holiest Site in Judaism

By Rabbi John Rosove
Published on August 20, 2012

Self-Love: What Are Your Top Ten Rules?

By Maya Paley
Published on August 15, 2012

The War on Women or the Women on War?

By Maya Paley
Published on July 17, 2012

Shifting Expectations: Women and Work

By Rabba Sara Hurwitz
Published on July 13, 2012

Jewish woman in Bahrain appointed government committee leader

Published on April 30, 2012

The legislature in Bahrain has appointed a Jewish female parliamentarian to serve as deputy chairwoman of the foreign affairs, defense and national security committee.

Guest Post by Rabbi Seth Winberg Defending Rabbi Dov Linzer’s New York Times Op Ed

Published on February 13, 2012

The Religious Cost of Rejecting Feminism’s Core Moral Claim

By Rav Yosef Kanefsky
Published on January 29, 2012

Jews & Blacks on Reality Television

By Ilana Angel
Published on November 30, 2011

Brooklyn signs ask Jewish women to step aside for men

Published on October 10, 2011

Yiddish signs briefly sprouted on Brooklyn trees asking Jewish women to step aside when a man walks down the sidewalk.

The new Jewess: A rising generation of actresses overturns old tropes

By Danielle Berrin
Published on August 10, 2011

The year is 1950. The setting is a dimly lit movie studio backlot. It’s the middle of the night, and an attractive young woman named Betty Schaefer is explaining to her screenwriting partner why she became a writer instead of what she really wanted to be — an actress. The movie is “Sunset Boulevard.”

MUSIC VIDEO: Panic Ensemble—‘Jewish Women (have more fun)’

Published on November 7, 2008

Panic Ensemble: Jewish Women (have more fun)

Glass ceiling

By Shifra Bronznick
Published on April 3, 2008

We have been having a conversation in the Jewish community about gender for more than three decades. During that time there have been some remarkable changes: the ordination of women rabbis, the proliferation of egalitarian prayer services and bat mitzvah as a rite of passage.So why do we still need to talk about gender? Because in a critical aspect, the gender gap still persists in the Jewish community.

Finding the sacred in the mundane

By Amy Klein
Published on February 14, 2008

Now, following the latest publishing craze of themed Jewish anthologies comes "Bread and Fire: Jewish Women Find God in the Everyday" (Urim Publications, 2008), edited by Rivkah Slonim (with consulting editor Liz Rosenberg). The 400-page compilation features writings from 60 women on topics including modesty, faith, childbirth, prayer, family, community, feminism and, in one way or another, Orthodox Judaism.

Hindu widows, remembering Marcy, Conservatives are dishy, Oh! Happy Day!

Published on September 27, 2007

Various Letters to the Editor regarding previously published stories

Our Hindu Widows

By Rob Eshman
Published on August 9, 2007

I know too many beautiful, brilliant single Jewish women in their 30s and 40s.

Letters to the Editor

Published on March 31, 2005

Letter to the Editor

Women Still Struggle to ‘Have It All’

By Jane Ulman
Published on March 31, 2005

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More than 30 years after Gloria Steinem founded Ms. Magazine and Sally Priesand was ordained a rabbi, more than 25 years after Judith Resnick became an astronaut and more than 10 years after Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Jewish women, along with their non-Jewish counterparts, have discovered that they can have it all -- at a steep price.

Shunning of Wigs Exposes Media Flaw

By Rabbi Avi Shafran
Published on June 3, 2004

The media had a grand time recently when tens of thousands of Jewish women stopped wearing their wigs out of concern that they might contain hair that had been offered to an idol. The more revealing story, though, lay not in the deep dedication to the Second Commandment but in the feeding frenzy of the Fourth Estate.

Curtain to Rise on Women’s Conflicts

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on February 26, 2004

In a rehearsal room at the Odyssey Theatre, Colette Freedman propped her electric-blue high tops on a chair and good naturedly laughed at herself. "I'm truly flawed," the 30-ish actress-playwright said. "I am totally a hypocrite."

Well, not totally. While her "Deconstructing the Torah," an evening of one-acts, skewers part of herself, it mostly dissects conflicts faced by Freedman and other modern Jewish women.

Q & A With Jewtopia Creators Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson

By Amy Klein
Published on January 22, 2004

I'm standing in the foyer of the Coast Playhouse in West Hollywood talking to Bryan Fogel, the co-writer/co-producer/co-star of "Jewtopia" -- a play that parodies dating, JDating, interdating, rabbis, Passover seders, Purim, Chanukah bushes, bar mitzvahs, shofar blowing, other types of blowing, goyim, Asian fixations, synagogue memberships and, most of all, Jewish women and their overbearing mothers -- when this overbearing Jewish mother shamelessly accosts Fogel outside his dressing room to peddle her daughter to him.

A Love Like Mime

By Mark Miller
Published on October 9, 2003

In my San Francisco days, I once had a brief romantic affair with a mime. I was living in a house with lots of bedrooms, which were rented out to many different people. One of them was her, Angie, a young woman who each day would leave the house, go down to the park and do her mime thing, collecting dollars in a hat. I would tease her and we would flirt.

A State of ‘Jewtopia’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on May 15, 2003

We're nice Jewish boys who love our mothers," Sam Wolfson said. "We don't mean any harm," said his pal, Bryan Fogel.

Wolfson and Fogel feel nervous because they've written and are starring in an irreverent play, "Jewtopia," about a Jew who dislikes Jewish women (Wolfson), and a non-Jew who adores them (Fogel). They've included over-the-top riffs on clichés such as theme bar mitzvahs, cheesy Purim carnivals, JAPS and the politically incorrect word, shvartze. They say they intended to humorously but lovingly exploit Jewish stereotypes the way plays like "Nunsense" exploit Catholic ones -- but they're aware viewers could take offense.

Running Out of Time

By Sharon Samber
Published on September 28, 2000

A group of Jewish women of all ages and backgrounds meets regularly in Brooklyn to discuss the domestic abuse they have suffered.

Cat on a Hot Tin Stereotype

By Teresa Strasser
Published on November 11, 1999

There's something inherently sexy about a woman who owns a dog.

The Meaning of Loehmann’s RIP

By Marlene Adler Marks
Published on May 27, 1999

Whatever the rest of America made of last week's news that Loehmann's discount department store is declaring bankruptcy, for American Jewish women, it is very, very sad.