Impact

Read what our contributors, educators, researchers, users, supporters, and partners are saying:

“I feel like we are living in a time where to be at the intersection we are at (Jewish and Women and Feminist) these have become such dirty words. It’s that much more important to have a podcast like this these days.”

—Shoshanna W., JWA podcast listener

“ The Jewish Women’s Archive is becoming my favorite party guest. She knows where to get the liquor and mixes herself a drink, puts her foot up on the couch and isn't afraid to laugh so loud she could frighten the horses.”

—Samantha W., Facebook follower

“The amazing work you do inspired me to give ... I appreciate how hard JWA works to maintain the vitality of the Jewish community, and renew us in continued ways.”

—Marisa N., JWA supporter

“While [studying abroad], I was continually searching for ways to engage in Jewish learning without a community to support me. Having attended day school my whole life, I struggled a lot with the level of creativity and responsibility this demanded. But a few months into the year, I discovered the JWA website and it totally changed my experience for the rest of the program. I led a class/discussion with my group (all non-Jews) using the JWA Lilith lesson plan, I regularly read JWA’s bios, and I explored the website’s educator’s resources whenever I was feeling Jewishly malnourished. I, of course, want to thank you and the entire organization for providing me with these resources. I can't imagine my year without them.”

—Rafi L., college student

“Your pilot [podcast] is awesome—super professional—it sounds like NPR.”

—Peter B., Leadership Development and Podcast Professional

“JWA's website is the first and last place I check when I want to know anything and everything about Jewish women’s history. I’ve used the site when teaching my 7th grade religious school class and while teaching a college course. The website is engaging and interactive. The staff is incredibly responsive and helpful. I’m so proud to be associated with JWA!”

—Ilana G, Rabbi

“JWA has given me a platform to explore my Jewish feminism in the context of other Jewish feminists both my own age and older role models. It’s been really amazing to have a Jewish feminist support system. JWA is dedicated to preserving and discovering Jewish women’s history in the past but also working to create it in the future, and I’m really excited to be part of creating that future.”

—Avigayil Halpern, JWA Rising Voices Fellow

"The stories JWA uncovers really inspire me. When I’m faced with a problem, I think, what would Emma Goldman do? What would Emma Lazurus do? Bella Abzug was a totally awesome, fiery feminist. I should exercise more agency and courage just like her."

—Jordan N., Jewish communal professional

“JWA has become for me, and for many others, a go-to resource that simply wasn’t there before. If we want to talk about bat mitzvah, or we want to talk about any women’s ritual, or we want to talk about the importance of women in America, it’s the immediate go-to resource. It’s huge. And its advocacy on behalf of Jewish women as leaders is exciting.”

—Aliza K., Jewish communal professional

“I am sure that Aunt Rose and her contemporaries would be delighted that your organization exists. I have used your website for a number of years and appreciate all the resources and scholarship offered.”

—Annie Valliere, niece of Rose Schneiderman

“I am so impressed with JWA. The men and women involved with the website development, the planning of the materials and every aspect of JWA are professional, meticulous and kind-hearted.”

—Adam S., educator

“As a mom of a Jewish girl, I want her to have a deep Jewish identity, but also a sense of who her heroes are that go outside of what normative Jewish education might teach us. I’ve found JWA to be an incredible resource for discovering role models. When we were preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, we went on JWA’s web site and looked through the profiles of Jewish women. We talked about what models of leadership are, what models of Jewish life are, how many different ways there are to live a Jewish life, and it was a very rich place around to have a nuanced conversation around what it means to be a Jewish woman today.“

—Rachel R., Jewish communal professional

"What we know of history is what people capture and keep. And so much of history has been a history of men, a history of non-Jewish men, a history of the people that had the tools and the voice in society to step back and write the history. JWA is a part of re-writing history from the perspective of people who are actually living it every day. And it’s a group of people who have contributed so meaningfully to history, whose stories haven’t been told the way that they should, and we’re making sure that the accurate history is captured."

—Kate F., researcher

"What an amazing organization. A few years ago I had a whim to Google my great-grandmother, in search of whatever ancestry info I could possibly find. I can't begin to describe how moving it was to find her (and my great aunt) in your database. My great-grandmother has been a huge inspiration to me throughout my life. She was way ahead of her time; a true feminist. It's an incredible thing to know she's appreciated by so many others. Thank you."

—Naomi S.

"You have done an excellent job of creating an intelligent, fascinating, user-friendly and totally valuable website of great significance. You should feel as proud, as we all are eternally grateful!"

—Gay B., artist

"I teach a course based almost exclusively on the materials from the Jewish Women’s Archive. And that course has evolved over the last 11 years because of the increasing materials that have come to the website and through my engagement with their teacher education programs."

—Barbara R., educator and JWA supporter

"I really appreciate the value of oral history and of capturing the stories from voices that would normally get lost. JWA does that in a way for Jewish women that’s completely unprecedented. What’s unique about JWA is that it’s both a highly sophisticated organization in its use of technology and outreach, but also grass roots in a way that I really admire. It’s really a model of a kind of lean and very effective organization."

—Debra S., educator

Want to add your own testimony about JWA’s impact on your life? We would be honored to hear from you at GreatNonprofits.org or on the JWA Facebook page.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Impact." (Viewed on November 30, 2024) <https://jwa.org/aboutjwa/impact>.