Zionism

April 5, 2011

Remembering Netiva Ben-Yehuda

Ari Davidow

Many years ago I was sitting in a kibbutz dining hall in the north of Israel. One of the older members, a woman, was reminiscing about the equality of the sexes that supposedly existed when the kibbutz was founded.

Topics: Feminism, Radio, Israel, Military, Zionism, Writing, Non-Fiction

March 14, 2011

10 Things You Should Know About Gertrude Weil

Leah Berkenwald

Gertrude Weil was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina in 1879. Her father, an immigrant from Germany, was among the business and civic leaders of the community. At the age of 15, she was sent to Horace Mann High School in New York City. She went on to Smith College, where, in 1901, she became the first graduate from North Carolina.

Topics: Civil Rights, Labor Rights, Voting Rights, Women's Rights, Organizations and Institutions, Zionism, Judaism-Reform

March 9, 2011

10 Things You Should Know About Emma Lazarus

Leah Berkenwald

Emma Lazarus was born in 1849 to Moses and Esther Nathan Lazarus, descendants of the pioneering group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews who settled in New Amsterdam in the mid 1600s.

Topics: Labor Rights, Antisemitism, Volunteers, Immigration, Zionism, Poetry

March 2, 2011

10 Things You Should Know About Rose Schneiderman

Leah Berkenwald

Born in 1882 into a devout Jewish family in Saven, Poland, Rose Schneiderman was raised from an early age to believe she was capable of doing anything a man could do. Her parents enrolled her in a Jewish school at the age of four. Two years later, the family moved to the city of Chelm so that Rose could attend a Russian public school and receive an excellent secular education.

Topics: Community Organizing, Labor Rights, Unions, Voting Rights, Women's Rights, Civil Service, Organizations and Institutions, Socialism, Zionism, Memoirs

Irma Lindheim became a member of Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek

October 30, 1933

Irma Lindheim, a wealthy American-born Jewish woman, joined Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek on October 30, 1933.

December 21, 2010

Henrietta Szold and Emma Goldman: Star-crossed "Women of Valor"

Leah Berkenwald

December 21st is the winter solstice and this year it was also the date of a lunar eclipse. December 21st, however, is also a big day for two important "stars": Henrietta Szold and Emma Goldman, two very important women in JWA's online Women of Valor exhibit.

Topics: Labor Rights, Israel, Zionism

Nell Ziff Pekarsky, 1910 - 1998

Nell made a strong impression. Her build was slight, but she was no pushover: her energetic gait and purposeful expression projected a commanding, yet accessible, presence. She laughed easily and sometimes uproariously – especially if the joke was on her. Nell loved to hear and to tell what she called 'juicy' stories. She was not interested in idle gossip. But she was ever curious about people, relationships and the world around her.

Sara Blum, 1910 - 1986

Before anyone ever dreamed of feminism or women's liberation, Sara embodied for her campers the absolute model of female strength, purpose and achievement ... [she] had the uncanny ability to really know people and to uncover that uniqueness within each one that made her or him feel special. The only demand Sara Blum ever made in return was that you pushed yourself to be the best you could be.

Clara Fox, 1917 - 2007

As one of the first professionals to initiate a joint venture between a nonprofit and the private sector, Clara was way ahead of her time.

Andrea Bronfman, 1945 - 2006

Whatever the particular project – this woman pushed on. Whether it was the Guide Dogs for the Blind, the children of Jerusalem who would benefit from this park or that zoo, and most recently, the passion for exposing Israeli excellence in the decorative arts to international audiences. Her zeal for young people – Birthright groups, Reboot young adults, children in enrichment programs in Israeli schools whether in Beit Shemesh or Sakhnin, was overwhelming.

Unit 3, Lesson 2 - Growing tensions I: Black-Jewish Relations

Analyze how underlying rifts in the relationship between African Americans and Jews brought these groups into more overt conflict in the late 1960s, with a focus on the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school crisis and a poetry slam activity.

Unit 3, Lesson 4 - Moving Inward: bringing liberation movements into the Jewish community

Act out, through tableaux vivants, the ways Jews took what they had learned from the Civil Rights Movement and other liberation movements and used these insights to change the Jewish community.

Emma Lazarus

One of the first successful Jewish American authors, Lazarus was part of the late nineteenth century New York literary elite and was recognized in her day as an important American poet. In her later years, she wrote bold, powerful poetry and essays protesting the rise of antisemitism and arguing for Russian immigrants' rights. She called on Jews to unite and create a homeland in Palestine before the title Zionist had even been coined.

Zionists celebrate Henrietta Szold's 75th birthday

December 21, 1935

The 75th birthday of the pioneering Zionist Henrietta Szold on December 21, 1935, was celebrated with a radio address broadcast across the United States.

Shoshana Cardin becomes first woman to lead a major national Jewish organization

November 15, 1984

After over two decades of building a reputation as a passionate and generous member of the Jewish community through her activism and volunteer work, Baltimorean Shoshana Cardin was elected as the first woman president of the Council of Jewish Federations on November 15, 1984.