Activism: Reproductive Rights
Bertha Beitman Herzog
Bertha Beitman Herzog was an active participant in local and national women’s associations in Cleveland, Ohio. From 1928 to 1930, Herzog served as the first woman president of the Jewish Welfare Federation (later the Jewish Community Federation) in Cleveland, and she received the Charles Eisenmann Award for outstanding community service in 1941.
Elizabeth Holtzman
Elizabeth Holtzman pursued a public career epitomizing some of the most important trends in postwar American and Jewish life. In her successive roles as a congresswoman, Brooklyn district attorney, comptroller of New York City, and political commentator, she emerged as an effective and activist public servant, a forceful campaigner, and a champion of liberal and feminist causes.
Aletta Henriette Jacobs
A pioneer in many realms—birth control, women’s suffrage, peace activism, and envisioning a wider future for women—Aletta Henriette Jacobs began her career as the Netherland’s first women physician in 1879. She went on to participate in many women’s rights conferences and was a staunch anti-war activist, traveling to the Hague and the United States to advocate her position.
Rachel Kagan (Cohen)
Taube Kaplan
Taube Kaplan (the Greene Rebitzin) was the principal fundraiser and founder of the Hebrew Maternity Ward, founded in 1916 in the Plateau-Mont Royal neighborhood of Montréal, Quebec. Her efforts contributed to a reduction in maternal and infant mortality in Montreal’s Jewish community. Kaplan also raised funds for the establishment of the Jewish General Hospital, which opened its doors in 1934.
Régine Karlin-Orfinger
Régine Karlin’s resistance activities would alone have warranted esteem and recognition, but she did not desist from further work. Totally bilingual in French and Dutch and even polyglot, since she was also proficient in both English and Russian, she had a brilliant career as a lawyer, characterized by her militant and unwavering support of causes that she considered just.
Matilda Steinam Kubie
Madeleine May Kunin
Marj Jackson Levin
Lena Levine
Nita M. Lowey
Fania Mindell
Fania Mindell was a feminist activist and co-founder of a birth control clinic. She was arrested and fined for her work, which helped bring America’s attention to women’s health. She also worked on Broadway as a translator and costume and set designer.
Bessie Louise Moses
Carol Nadelson
Carol C. Nadelson is a ground-breaking female psychiatrist whose work has changed how medical practice addresses women’s medical care and encouraged women to break the glass-ceiling. She as the first woman president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society and the American Psychiatric Association. Under Nadelson’s editorial leadership, the American Psychiatric Press became a leader in the field of psychiatry.
National Council of Jewish Women
National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods
Founded in 1913 as the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and officially renamed Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) in 1993, the WRJ has for more than a century galvanized hundreds of thousands of Jewish women to support and advance Reform Judaism, the Jewish people, and Jewish values in their home communities, around the country, and around the world.
Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Israel, 1948-2000
Miriam Zoila Pérez
Harriet Fleischl Pilpel
Harriet Fleischl Pilpel was a prominent participant and strategist in women’s rights, birth control, and reproductive freedom litigation for over half a century.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman is an actress and activist who takes pride in her acting roles as a reflection of her activism. Her ultimate goal is to raise awareness of the role and importance of women.
Bertha Floersheim Rauh
Dedicating her life to ameliorating the condition of the poor, the oppressed, and the sick, Bertha Floersheim Rauh first worked for over twenty years as a volunteer and for twelve years as Director of the Department of Public Welfare of the City of Pittsburgh. She brought about many reforms in the public services sphere throughout her career and was highly regarded by her colleagues and the communities she served.
Graduating Rabbis, the Class of 2017
Back Row: Leiah Moser, Birgit Elke Klein, Diane Sarah Tracht, Kami Knapp, Michael Ethan Pollack, Hannah Michelle Spiro, Rayna Ilyza Grossman
Front Row: Marley Anne Weiner, Jamie Sara Serber, Ariel Cherly L. Tarash, Julianne Denise Benioff, Wendy Georgette Kennebrae, Alexander R. Weissman, Mimi Polin Ferraro
Reconstructionist Judaism in the United States
Reproductive Technology, New (NRT)
New reproductive technology has provided the solution for problems of infertility for hundreds of thousands of couples. For halakhically observant Jews, especially in the pro-natal state of Israel and in general in the post-Holocaust era, this technology has been a blessing but has also created a multitude of halakhic problems.
Madalyn Schenk
