I don’t quite know how it happened, but the nights are getting cooler and there’s that feeling of fall in the air. Summer is winding down and with that comes the reds, yellow and orange colors of the changing leaves, thicker sweaters and of course the High Holidays. Read More »
Jewesses With Attitude 
The mission of the Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) is to uncover, chronicle, and transmit to a broad public the rich history of American Jewish women.
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The Spiritual and the Material: Wealth and Stereotypes on the High Holidays
I just came home from a trip to my local suburban mall with two friends from elementary school. The mall is looking good – the walls are an upscale beige accented with stained wood, and new stores like Coach and BCBG emphasize that those who shop here must have ample money to spend. Read More »
Sweeping Away Nostalgia with Songs for the New Year
Recently, I saw Eleanor Reissa , a talented and well-known Yiddish actress and performer, sing “My Yiddishe Momme” to a standing ovation. Mind you, the crowd was entirely over seventy and the children of Polish Jewish immigrants to North and South America. Read More »
The Snarker and The Yente
Evil tongues, gossip and snark; who is not guilty of slithering into their seductive arms? I refused to see the movie “Mean Girls. Read More »
Katrina Plus Five: Carol Wise and granddaughter Zoe Oreck weigh in
To mark the 5th anniverary of Hurricane Katrina, we got in touch with JWA Board member Carol Wise and her granddaughter Zoe Oreck, two Jewish women who experienced the storm and its aftermath first-hand. Carol Wise has served as President of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, and Chair of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Read More »
Five Years Ago
In late August of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, I was lying in a hospital bed in Boston getting nasty medicine through an IV line and receiving all nourishment through another tube. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself until I turned on the generally useless TV and saw what was – and was not – happening in New Orleans. Read More »
Sharing the stories of Katrina’s Jewish Voices
This weekend we lead up to the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans on the morning of August 29th, 2005 killing more than 1,700 people and displacing hundreds of thousands. The media is marking this occasion: The Today Show is live from New Orleans this morning; the Hurricane is a “Times Topic” on nytimes. Read More »
The Lessons of Women’s Equality Day
Thirty-nine years ago today, legendary Congresswoman Bella Abzug led Congress in designating August 26th “Women’s Equality Day . Read More »
Women’s Equality Day and the legacy of Jewish women fighting for suffrage
Today is the 90th anniversary of the 19th Ammendment giving women the right to vote, and has become known as “Women’s Equality Day.” Jewish women undoubtedly played pivotal roles in Suffrage movement. Take a look at their stories of activism on jwa. Read More »
Fress. Kvetch. Shtup.
Your life is a mess. You’re tired of the routine, you’re constantly craving more of what you’ve already attained, and you find true satisfaction in nothing and in no one. Well here’s the quick fix: Plan an expensive get-away. No, actually, scratch that—plan three expensive get-aways. But it’s not just the location that’s getting to you. Read More »
Women reading Torah: Empowerment in Photos
Earlier this week, a post on The Sisterhood blog (with whom JWA regularly cross-posts) publicized a call from Women of the Wall for photographs of women with Torahs as part of a solidarity movement with WOW, who have been subject to harassment and Read More »
Teffilin Barbie and Burqa Barbie: What does it mean to dress dolls?
Barbie was created in 1959 by Jewish business woman Ruth Handler . She was an Amazonian creation: a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, big-busted American beauty. She loved to drive pink convertibles; her wardrobe and shape-shifting abilities were astonishing. Read More »
Nutrition and Social Welfare: What Would Frances Stern Do?
On August 23, 1914 , pioneering nutritionist Frances Stern published an editorial that identified the connection between nutrition, socio-economics, and social welfare. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Caramels from Baden — A way to remember
Talking about food, about the recipes that we’ve tried and recipes that we want to try is often a topic of conversation when I’m with my family and friends. It allows us to share recipes for dishes that we’ve enjoyed and those that we think others would also enjoy. Read More »
8 — Down: Historian Joyce
A friend of JWA tipped us off to an exciting clue in the August 13th Jerusalem Post crossword puzzle. 8 — Down: Historian Joyce (’You Never Call, You Never Write’ History of the Jewish Mother) Six letters. Read More »
“Who Do You Think You Are?” — When Genealogy Meets Reality TV
After hearing various archivists, historians, and librarians rave or moan about the genealogy TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” I finally got a chance to see it for myself. This show is run by the genealogy database Ancestory. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Bagels
My neighborhood in Montreal, called Mile End, is known for hipsters, Chasidic Jews and bagels. Although each of these topics could potentially make for an interesting blog post, it is, of course, the bagel that I would like to discuss. I absolutely love bagels and have been eating them for as long as I can remember. Read More »
Adding Irena Klepfisz to the Canon
In women’s studies classes, we spend a lot of time talking about power: who has it, who doesn’t, and how it moves. Power matters in literature, too, since those in power are the ones who shape the canons – the defined sets of literary works that represent a particular field. Read More »
Mohelot and Brit Milah: Does it matter if a woman wields the knife?
Can a woman perform a bris? Jewish scholars, even the most Orthodox, answer with a tentative “why not?” for there is no halachic (Jewish law) prohibition against mohelot – female mohels. While Jewish law states that it’s preferable for a Jewish male to perform the brit milah (circumcision) if one is present, it is not mandatory. Read More »
As Old as Lilith and Eve: “The Mediator between the Head and Hands is the Heart!”
Last Sunday, after a totaled car and a summarily canceled day-trip to Ipswich, MA, my friend and I decided to make the best of things and not let a little thing like a car accident ruin our day. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Poppy-Seed Cookies
Growing up, most foods that contained poppy-seeds simply didn’t appeal to me. I was wary about those tiny black seeds that dotted pastries, muffins or cookies and wished that they simply weren’t there. Due to this aversion to poppy-seeds, I usually stayed away from desserts that contained any. Read More »
“Being welcoming” is an end unto itself
I recently read a piece called “New Study Finds That It’s Not a Lack of Welcome That’s Keeping the Intermarrieds Away” in the eJewish Philanthropy daily e-letter. It explained how a study done by Steven M. Read More »
The Dark Side of Jewish Pluralism
One of the benefits of being in my parents’ home is access to a whole range of print media to which I would otherwise never subscribe. On the flip side, it also means I encounter a whole range of political opinions that I would otherwise avoid like the plague. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Salade Cuite (Moroccan Matbucha)
I remember being enamored by the various small salads that were placed on the table to begin the meal at the first Shabbat dinner I attended that was hosted by my friend’s parents, of whom her father is Moroccan. Read More »
Meet Alma, JWA Summer Intern
As a summer intern with the Jewish Women’s Archive, I am delighted to join Jewesses with Attitude. This is only my second day at JWA, and I have already learned quite a bit from the people around me and the web content. Read More »
Gertrude Himmelfarb and the Politics of Morality
Historian Gertrude Himmelfarb celebrated her 88th birthday yesterday, August 8, while Congress took its first week of summer recess. In the months between now and November’s midterm elections, much will be made of liberal and conservative values, culture wars, and their derivate potential laws. Read More »
Justice Elena Kagan Confirmed, Jewish Women Rock the Bench!
Mazel tov to Elena Kagan, newest Supreme Court Justice! read more Read More »
Meet Gwen, JWA Summer Intern
This summer, I was lucky enough to spend six fabulous weeks as an intern at the Jewish Women’s Archive. I hail from Lancaster PA, and I’m a rising senior at Smith College, with a major in History and a minor in Archival Studies. My primary historical interests are the social and cultural history of modern Britain and Ireland. Read More »
Half Jewess with a Whole Attitude
When I was a little girl looking suspiciously at a new kind of food (a matzoh ball, for instance, or a slice of Jewish honey cake.) My dad would say, “Well, maybe you’ll half like it. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Borekas
I always said that I was a knish girl. They were my first choice when buying something to eat at the snack bar in elementary school and if they were on the menu at a restaurant there was no doubt that I would order them. However, this all changed recently when I was introduced to the boreka. Read More »
Summer camp’s complex legacy
Last week, this article about summer camp in Tablet caught my eye. I’m sure it was intended as humour, but when the article showed up in my RSS feed, promising advice on surviving the return from camp, I half-expected a full-length article for young 20-somethings who have non-camp jobs for the first time. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: What a Week!
I was so blessed to be part of the Jewish Women’s Archive’s 2010 Institute for Educators . The JWA is about to release their social justice curriculum Living the Legacy and we certainly spent plenty of time reviewing that and the JWA’s multimedia resources (in development right now – stay tuned). Read More »
Blogging the Institute: A Night of Jewish Gospel
On the final night of the JWA Summer Institute for Educators , we wrapped with a fun and moving final session on Jewish Gospel Music. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Coconut Jam
Nothing says summer to me like coconut; whatever form it comes in, its taste and smell evoke a beautiful summer day with the warmth of the summer sun on my skin (it also reminds me of a coconut suntan lotion I loved the smell of as a kid and which Read More »
Girls in science, sure. But what about engineering?
I got my copy of Ms. Magazine yesterday and in it, and was excited to see an article called “Girls Love Robots, Too,” about a group of girls in San Diego who started their own robotics team and have won honors in national robotics competitions. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: The Freedom Riders
Monday night as part of the JWA Summer Institute for Educators , we saw a sneak preview of a newly made documentary, The Freedom Riders , which tells the story of the group of black and white young people, who rode south on two buses to deliberately break the segregation laws. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: Wednesday Lunchtime Reflections
Today, Lynn Golub-Rofrano discusses a morning session with Rabbi Jill Jacobs and a particularly interesting text study. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: What’s going on here?
If this is your first visit to Jewesses with Attitude this week, you may have noticed some unusual content. Read More »
Tu B’Av and the Question of Gendered Rituals
Yesterday marked Tu B’Av, the 15th day of the month of Av, a minor Jewish holiday that Wikipedia tells me has become a Jewish equivalent to Valentine’s Day, in that it is an auspicious day for holding weddings and perhaps meeting a romantic partner. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: Tuesday Lunchtime Reflections
This morning, JWA Institute for Educators participants discussed one of the lesson plans from JWA’s forthcoming online curriculum, Living the Legacy , in depth. They also got to explore the online platform for the curriculum and contribute their input on the design and functionality of the website. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Strudel
I have come to take for granted that with a quick search on Google I can easily find most recipes that I’m looking for. If for any reason I don’t find what I want on the Internet, I can usually consult my ever-growing collection of cookbooks to find the recipe I need. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: Monday Lunchtime Reflections
I am beyond excited to be able to observe JWA’s 2010 Institute for Educators . This morning we listened to two fascinating presentations. Read More »
Blogging the Institute: Sharing Artifacts, Sharing Stories
JWA’s third Summer Institute for Educators kicked off last night with a conversation that allowed participants to share their own personal pieces of history. Everyone brought an object that symbolized the impact of a special Jewish woman on their lives. Read More »
Jewish Women International: 7 Years Later
When Jewish Women International opened the doors to its first International Conference on Domestic Abuse on July 20, 2003 , there was optimism… there was ambition… but nobody knew for certain what would become of the work we were starting that day. Read More »
Kicking off the 2010 Institute for Educators!
Since 2006, The Jewish Women’s Archive has been holding a bi-annual Summer Institute for Educators , a conference that allows teachers to explore ways of incorporating Jewish women’s history into their curricula. This year, the focus of the Institute is Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement. Read More »
Vampire Mania: Paying tribute to the original “vamp”
We are a country in the grips of vampire mania. Twilight books and movies have become a cultural phenomenon approaching Harry Potter levels, and for those with more discerning tastes there is HBO’s True Blood . Read More »
The Sisterhood 50: America’s Influential Women Rabbis
The Sisterhood , the Forward’s women’s issues blog, has twice called attention to the chronic underrepresentation of women on Newsweek’s annual “50 Most Influential Rabbis” list. Read More »
Thinking about women and food on Tisha B’Av
This Tuesday marked Tisha B’Av , the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. Tisha B’Av is a Jewish fast day marking the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, but over the years, it has come to serve as a symbolic day of mourning for tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over the course of history. Read More »
Why We Must Boycott “The Biggest Loser” Casting Call for Jews
I just found out that NBC’s The Biggest Loser is looking to cast Jews in it’s upcoming season. The casting agents will be in Boston July 24 and are even offering a handful of “VIP audition passes” through JewishBoston.com . Read More »
The “Women’s Pages”: Then and Now
Recenytly, Ruth Rosen wrote in the Ms. Magazine blog that the “women’s pages” of the 1950s and 60s have been reincarnated on the internet. Read More »
Eating Jewish: Mandelbrot (Mandel Bread)
When thinking about what I should write about next for Eating Jewish , I came across Lenore Skenazy’s article entitled “You Say Mandel Bread, I Say Biscotti” in The Forward . In the beginning of her article Skenazy confesses her lack of affinity for mandel bread, a baked good she associates with bubbes and paper lined tins. Read More »
Maybe I’d Feel More Jewish If I Could Afford It?
I’ve often kvetched about the high cost of being Jewish. From synagogue dues to the JEA membership to Sunday School tuition to tzedakah to summer camp, it adds up to many thousands of dollars a year, and don’t get me started on the projected costs of hosting a bar mitzvah in a few short years. Read More »
Mazel Tov, Heather Booth!
Yesterday Heather Booth, Director of Americans for Financial Reform , wrote a piece in the Huffington Post called V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!! lauding Congress for passing the most significant financial reform legislation since the Great Depression. Read More »
Finding Women’s Empowerment in Jewish Literacy
I’ve been thinking a lot about literacy lately. Maybe it’s because I’m working for a children’s book company this summer or maybe it’s because I am now open to seeing the holes in my own literacy. Of course, when I think of literacy, I tend to associate it with Judaism because that is where many of my holes originate. Read More »
Jewish women on abortion, burqas, money and more – Link Roundup
Anger over the arrest of Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman at the Kotel. What Justice Ginsburg recently said about Roe v. Read More »
Jamie Keiles: Teen Writing About Teens
I already wrote about The Seventeen Magazine Project over on my blog, from the rib? , but I wanted to write about Jamie Keiles , the girl who ran the project, here, because I personally find her to be incredibly inspirational (and, although she does not mention it often or prominently, she also happens to be a Jewess. Read More »
When Harry Met Sally: 21 Years Later
It was twenty-one years ago on July 12th, 1989 that audiences were introduced to characters Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal), who brought the perennial question of whether men and women could just be friends to the big screen in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally. Read More »
Outraged: Linda Lingle vetoes Civil Unions bill and compares gay marriage to incest
Earlier this week, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle vetoed the state’s Civil Union bill designed to give all couples access to the economic and legal benefits of marriage. I suppose this is not too surprising, considering the fact that she is a Republican. Still, her explanation as to why she vetoed the bill makes me pretty upset. Read More »
Sarah Jones and the Performance of Ethnicity
Sarah Jones is an activist who spreads her message from the stage, portraying characters of many different ethnic backgrounds and in a monologue from each person, discussing issues of ethnicity, diversity, and social justice. Many of these characters are based on people she knew or observed while growing up in Queen’s New York. Read More »
Women of the Wall Leader Arrested for Carrying a Torah
Following the arrest today of Anat Hoffman — chair of Women of the Wall, and former Jerusalem municipal council member — for being a woman holding a Torah at the Western Wall plaza, Hoffman offered me her first-hand account of this morning’s events. Read More »
