Adriana Brodsky

Adriana Mariel Brodsky is an assistant professor at Saint Mary's College of Maryland. Her doctoral dissertation, entitled The Contours of Identity: Sephardic Jews and the Construction of Jewish Communities in Argentina, 1880 to the Present,” focuses on how the Sephardim resisted their minority status within the largely Ashkenazic Jewish Argentine community and its organizations and defended their individual identities. She has published articles on Sephardic women and female philanthropic organizations in Argentina. Her interests include the Sephardic communities in Argentina, Sephardic women, Zionist female organizations in Argentina, and issues of identity.

Articles by this author

Bruria de Elnecave

Bruria Benbassat de Elnecavé

Bruria Benbassat de Elnecavé was an ardent activist who dedicated her life to educate Jewish Argentines in general and Jewish Argentine women in particular about Zionism and the State of Israel. 

A Moroccan-Born Mother with Two of her Argentine-Born Daughters, circa 1929

Argentina: Sephardic Women

Argentina’s Sephardic community included Jews from all over the Sephardi diaspora. Immigrant women often worked alongside their fathers or husbands in general stores, as well as doing household chores and raising children. As Sephardic communities became more established, women’s educational opportunities expanded, and women played important roles in philanthropy and Zionism.
Judeo-Argentine newspapers and magazines from different periods in Yiddish, Hebrew and Spanish

Argentina: Zionist Activities

Argentine Jewish women were important players in Zionism, from early women’s committees of male groups to independent female ones. They carried out significant work on behalf of WIZO (Women’s International Zionist Organization) to help women and children in the Jewish community of Palestine and later in Israel, and participated in other Zionist organizations.

Argentina: Philanthropic Organizations

Three Jewish women’s philanthropic organizations emerged on the scene in early 20th-century Argentina to support orphans and poor children in the community. The Society of Israelite Beneficent Women was responsible for the Jewish Girls’ Orphanage that opened in 1919. The Yiddish-speaking Women’s Aid Association formed the Jewish Infants’ Home to help new mothers and ran a Kindergarten. The Women’s Commission helped run the Jewish Boys’ Orphanage.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Adriana Brodsky." (Viewed on November 21, 2024) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/brodsky-adriana>.