Eleyna Fugman
Eleyna Fugman was born in Willits, California, in 1975 to a non-practicing Jewish mother and Protestant father, who were part of the back-to-the-land movement of the late ‘60s and ‘70s. She grew up in a small town and was raised in a secular environment. Eleyna attended Brown University and then moved back to the West Coast, where she found a feminist Jewish community in Portland, Oregon. She works in sales for green and fair trade products. She is also a community activist and labor organizer. At the time of the interviews, she was a student at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and taking classes at Hadar, self-directing her Jewish Education.
Eleyna describes her family background and dynamic. Her parents rejected their respective religions and were active in the agrarian movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, living in communes in Northern California. Eleyna discusses her feminist and Jewish evolution and education and says how the two identities and practices are connected. She is self-directing her Jewish and feminist education, taking classes at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and Hadar, and participating in consciousness-raising groups and a havurah as a leader and organizer. Eleyna reflects on the intersections of racism, antisemitism, and feminism and how she fights for equality in those areas today.
