Politics and Government: Organizations and Institutions
Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn
Esther Rome
A coauthor of Our Bodies, Ourselves, a classic women’s resource book, Esther Rome came of age with the onset of the modern feminist movement and was a leader in shaping modern American notions of self-help and advocacy for women’s physical and mental health.
Hannah Toby Rose
Käte Rosenheim
A social worker by training, Käte Rosenheim held numerous public service positions in Germany before the Nazis took power. In 1933 she joined the Reich Representation of German Jews; before she herself fled to the United States in 1940, she facilitated the escape of over 7,250 Jewish children from Nazi Germany.
Hadassah Rosensaft
Dr. Hadassah Bimko Rosensaft played an instrumental role in saving the lives of fellow concentration camp inmates at Auschwitz-Birkenau and then at Bergen-Belsen. Rosensaft was later involved in the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Etta Lasker Rosensohn
An influential philanthropist and social activist, Etta Lasker Rosensohn focused most of her energy on Jewish and Zionist affairs in New York City. Her great passion was Hadassah, where she served on the national board for more than two decades and as the national president.
Martine Rothblatt
Dame Miriam Rothschild
Dame Miriam Rothschild was a renowned British natural scientist who published over 300 scientific papers throughout her lifetime, making groundbreaking contributions to the fields of entomology, zoology, marine biology, and wildlife conservationism. In 1985 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and credited for her work in the histology, morphology, and taxonomy of fleas.
Hannah de Rothschild, Countess of Rosebery
A member of the English Rothschild family who married the Earl of Rosebery, a future Prime Minister of England, Hannah was a devoted wife, mother, and philanthropist.
Lady Louise Rothschild
Lady Louise Rothschild came from a distinguished line of Anglo-Jewish aristocracy. Using her unrivaled social status, she founded the first independent Jewish women’s philanthropic associations in 1840, inspiring upper- and middle-class Anglo-Jewish women to venture outside the home and into public life for the first time.
Mina Fridman Ruetter
Mina Fridman Ruetter (1922-2003), an Argentinean-born Jew, was the most prominent leader of the Yiddisher Kultur Farband (YKUF) beginning in the 1970s. She studied and worked as a writer, teacher, and translator in organizations linked to the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. She was a highly visible leader and the disciple of YKUF intellectuals such as Pinie Katz and Samuel Gordon.
Sharon Salzberg
Sheryl Sandberg
Cecile Ruth Sands
Tova Sanhadray-Goldreich
Tova Sanhadray-Goldreich was a leader of religious Zionist movements in her home in eastern Galicia before making aliyah to Palestine, where she organized a merger of several women’s organizations to form Emunah. She was also the first woman member of the National Religious Party to be elected to the Knesset.
Karen Sarhon
Karen Gerson Sarhon, founder and vocalist of the Sephardic music group Los Pasharos Sefaradis, is coordinator of the Sephardic Culture Research Center in Istanbul, Turkey, and chief editor of El Amaneser, the world's only newspaper wholly in Judeo-Spanish/Ladino. She continues to produce innovative projects for the preservation and promotion of Sephardic culture and language.
Mathilde Schechter
Faye Libby Schenk
Fay Libby Schenk turned down a promising career as a zoologist to devote herself to Hadassah and other Zionist organizations. She worked her way up at Hadassah and eventually became president, during which time Hadassah began rebuilding its hospital on Mount Scopus and created its Institute of Oncology in Jerusalem.
Julie Schonfeld
Deborah Wasserman Schultz
Lynn Schusterman
Billionaire philanthropist Lynn Schusterman changed the landscape of the American Jewish community through her advocacy for Israel, engagement with young Jews, and pioneering funding of inclusion and equality. As Chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, her bold vision and commitment to repairing the world extended from Tulsa, OK, across the American Jewish community, to Israel and the Former Soviet Union.
Rosika Schwimmer
Norma Levy Shapiro
Norma Levy Shapiro’s Jewish background gave her a greater understanding of the evils of discrimination and social injustice, the blessings of liberty, and the importance of each individual’s efforts to make the world better. Her decisions as a lawyer were largely shaped by her Jewish values.