Oral History Collection

The Nicki Newman Tanner

Oral History Collection

As part of JWA’s mission to expand the narrative of Jewish history, we have collected and recorded hundreds of interviews with leaders, activists, and community members across the United States, documenting their encounters with major events and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries and the many ways that gender, class, place, and religious and ethnic identities have shaped women’s lives. With generous support from Nicki Newman Tanner,  Mass Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are proud to make these interviews and transcripts available to the public. All entries include transcripts; audio or video recordings are also available where narrator permissions allow. 

More about the collection

Judy Panko Reis

Project
Women Who Dared

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Judy Panko Reis in Wilmette, Illinois, on February 21st, 2007, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Disability activist Judy Panko Reis overcame personal tragedy to fight for equitable access in disability transportation and co-founded the Women with Disabilities Center while pursuing higher education and working as a Healthcare Policy Analyst.

Aliza Parker

Project
General

Jayne Guberman interviewed Aliza Parker on February 13 and March 28, 2008, in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of the Jewish Women's Archive's general oral history project. Parker discusses her family history, upbringing in Brooklyn, involvement in Zionist youth movements, experiences in Israel, teaching career, participation in a Jewish study group, and reflections on her marriage, children, and the evolving world and Israel.

Judy Patkin

Project
Soviet Jewry

Judy Patkin was interviewed in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Patkin shares her experiences meeting refuseniks, visits to the former Soviet Union, involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, the birth of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, her Jewish identity, organizational work, interactions with the American government, personal growth, and the impact of her children on her trajectory.

Marilyn Paul

Project
Women Who Dared

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Marilyn Paul on July 27, 2000, in Lexington, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Marilyn's journey from a childhood in Lexington with a distant connection to Judaism and Israel to her eventual involvement in public health work in Gaza challenged her perspective on management culture, gender dynamics, and Palestinian-Israeli collaboration, ultimately shaping her unique bond with Israel and her career in organizational management, which she plans to continue alongside her husband through consulting for nonprofits in Israel, while reflecting on the cultural differences she's observed between Israeli and American societies.

Ruth Emmerman Peizer

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Ruth Emmerman Peizer on June 18 and August 6, 2001, in West Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Peizer discusses her Yiddish upbringing, her parents' immigration, education, work, connection to Yiddishkeit, struggles during the Korean War, motherhood, volunteer work, teaching Yiddish, and volunteering in Latvia.

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.

Richard Perles

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Richard Perles on September 1, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Perles is a lawyer, musician, and active volunteer from Boston who now resides in New Orleans, serving on the board of a Jewish Day School, practicing law, playing music, and engaging in various charitable activities.

Missode Israel Piha

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Missode Israel Piha on June 28 and September 6, 2001, in Seattle, Washington as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Piha details her family history and upbringing in a religious household in Greece, discussing Jewish customs, traditions, and holiday celebrations, as well as her journey to the United States, and settling in Seattle with family.

Muriel Pokross

Project
Women Whose Lives Span the Century

Ellen Rovner interviewed Muriel Pokross on December 20, 1996, and June 30, 1997, in Belmont, Massachusetts, for the Women Whose Lives Spanned the Century Oral History Project. Pokross reflects on her experiences during significant historical events, her efforts to aid Jewish refugees, and her career as a rehabilitation counselor, while emphasizing the passing down of values and her close family bonds.

Mindy Portnoy

Project
Washington D.C. Stories

Deborah Ross interviewed Rabbi Mindy Portnoy on November 9, 2010, in Washington, DC, as part of the Washington D.C. Stories Oral History Project. Rabbi Portnoy shares her personal journey and observations as a female rabbi, her motivations for entering the rabbinate, her perceptions of women in this new position, and her responses to challenges during a transformative period in Jewish life.

Ruth Anna Putnam

Project
Adult Bat Mitzvahs

Shayna Rhodes interviewed Ruth Anna Putnam on December 20, 2004, in Arlington, Massachusetts, as part of the Adult Bat Mitzvahs Oral History Project. Putnam reflects on her journey with Judaism, including her memories of living in Germany during Nazi rule, her parents' immigration to America, her evolving relationship with Judaism, and her experience of having an adult bat mitzvah at the age of seventy.

Donald and Fran Putnoi

Project
Soviet Jewry

Gabriel Weinstein, Tamar Shachaf Schneider, and Aaron Hersh interviewed Donald and Fran Putnoi in Massachusetts, as part of the Soviet Jewry Oral History Project. Fran and Dr. Donald Putnoi share their involvement with Action for Soviet Jewry, discussing their experiences with Rabbi Mehlman, missions to the USSR, treating patients, and their efforts in supporting Soviet Jews resettling in the United States.

Hedy Ratner

Project
Women Who Dared

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Hedy Ratner on January 31, 2007, in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Ratner shares her journey from her childhood in Chicago as an immigrant's child to her experiences with Jewish education, women's liberation, social justice activism, and her evolving relationship with Judaism, highlighting the influential figures and moments in her life.

Toby Reifman

Project
Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America

Judith Rosenbaum interviewed Toby Reifman on October 30, 2005, in New York, New York, as part of the Barnard: Jewish Women Changing America Oral History Project. Reifman talks about her journey of growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, her experiences with gender dynamics and inequalities in Judaism, her involvement in Jewish feminist movements, and her evolving commitment to feminism and personal fulfillment throughout her life.

Karen Weissbecker Remer

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Karen Weissbecker Remer on September 27, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Remer discusses her transition from Conservative Judaism to modern Orthodox Judaism, her experience during Hurricane Katrina, and the impact it had on her life and community.

Shayna Rhodes

Project
Boston Women Rabbis

Ronda Spinak interviewed Shayna Rhodes on March 17, 2014, in Newton, Massachusetts, as part of the Boston Women Rabbis Project. Shayna reflects on her Orthodox upbringing, her frustration with limited questioning in her early education, her feminist awakening during her time at Barnard College, and her journey towards becoming a rabbi, emphasizing the support of her family, her evolving religious practices, and her mission to empower women's voices in Talmud scholarship.

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.

Bernice Mossafer Rind

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Bernice Mossafer Rind on June 5 and July 20, 2001, in Medina, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rind recounts her family's history, her upbringing in Seattle, her musical career, meeting her husband, raising their son, volunteer work, Sephardic rituals, a trip to Israel, and her perspectives on family, Jewish heritage, aging, and personal philosophies.

Diane Rippa

Project
DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Ann Buffum and Sandra Stillman Gartner interviewed Dr. Diane Rippa on November 9, 2008, in Essex Junction, Vermont, as part of DAVAR: The Vermont Jewish History Project. Dr. Rippa discusses her family background, her grandfather's influence on her interest in medicine, involvement in Jewish youth groups, and her career as a family doctor in Vermont, highlighting the challenging period when her father fell seriously ill, which ultimately shaped her approach to patient care.

Bluma Rivkin

Project
Katrina's Jewish Voices

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Bluma Rivkin on October 12, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Rivkin shares her Chabad upbringing, involvement in the New Orleans Jewish community, experiences during Hurricane Katrina, evacuation to Houston, spiritual guidance, return home to devastation, and joyful celebrations of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

Mildred Rosenbaum

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Roz Bornstein interviewed Mildred Rosenbaum on August 8th and 9th, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, for the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rosenbaum recounts her journey from a childhood accident and hospitalization to her involvement in the Jewish community, her marriage, her support for Israel, and the establishment of Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle.

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.

Dina Rosenfeld

Project
Meet Me at Sinai

Jayne Guberman interviewed Dina Rosenfeld on February 8th, 2015, in New York, New York, as part of the Meet Me at Sinai Oral History Project. Rosenfeld talks about immigrating to Boro Park, becoming involved in Jewish feminism through Ezrat Nashim, confronting the Jewish Theological Seminary, and discussing the impact of the movement on women's religious participation.

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.

Amalie Rothschild

Project
Weaving Women's Words

Jean Freedman interviewed Amalie Rothschild on August 19, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. Rothschild details her life journey, from growing up in Baltimore suburbs, studying art, getting married, raising her children, and pursuing a successful career as an abstract artist and sculptor, while navigating her Jewish identity and the evolving role of women.

Birth City

Type

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Oral History Collection." (Viewed on May 14, 2024) <http://jwa.org/oralhistories>.