Encyclopedia Categories | Jewish Women's Archive

Kolech: Religious Women's Forum

Kolech (Hebrew for Your Voice): Religious Women’s Forum was founded in Jerusalem in 1998 with the aim of raising the standing of women in Jewish religious Orthodoxy. Among its achievements are a monthly pamphlet discussing the weekly Torah portion, halakhic issues, homiletics, and various Torah subjects; international conferences; and a guide for rabbis and communal workers on how to act when approached by women. Kolech is also active in the work of the Israeli Parliament, concerning certain laws which affect women.

Home page from early iteration of Ritualwell with many images including Jewish ritual objects, food, and a map of Israel

Kolot: Center for Jewish Women's and Gender Studies

Kolot, the first Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies established at a rabbinical school, was founded in 1996 to bring the insights of Jewish feminist scholarship to the training of rabbis, both in a revised curriculum and through innovative projects. Among these projects, Kolot developed ritualwell.org, a widely used feminist website of new Jewish rituals and liturgy, and a program to enhance self-esteem in teenaged girls, Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

Although he credited women for their emotions and intuition and valued them for their essential position in the family, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook generally regarded women as inferior to men. He believed women should not be educated but rather should be limited to the home and to serving as their husband and family’s housekeeper.

Julia Koschitzky

An activist, philanthropist, and leader of Canadian and world Jewry, Julia Koschitzky was born in Cardiff, Wales, the daughter of Max Podolski and Elli (Moses) Podolsk. The family relocated to Canada in 1949, eventually settling in Toronto in 1956. Julia and her husband Henry Koschitzky became involved in communal leadership and philanthropy, specifically in Jewish education and social welfare, and she took on active roles in Jewish affairs both in Toronto and around the globe.

Frances Krasnow

Frances Krasnow helped bring scientific rigor to dental medicine through her research into oral biochemistry and microorganisms. A graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, and the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Krasnow would eventually receive recognition for being a pioneer in both science and Jewish education.

Sarah Kussy

Sarah Kussy was a founder and leader of a constellation of significant Jewish organizations, including Hadassah and the United Synagogue Women’s League. Through her many associations, Kussy worked to change the face of Jewish education, Zionist activities, and women’s participation in Jewish American communal life.

Annie Edith Landau

As an educator in Jerusalem at the beginning of the twentieth century, Annie Edith Landau established new standards both in educational methods and in the cultural, ethical, and health arenas, while at the same time setting an example of polite and civilized behavior.

Learned Women in Traditional Jewish Society

The long-standing idea that women are either not fit to be educated or do not need to be educated has deep roots in Jewish history. Yet in spite of these very real disabilities, there seem always to have been a handful of women in traditional Jewish communities who became educated.

Sara Lee

Sara Lee, a Jewish educator who combines charisma with caring and vision with realism, has been a central figure in the effort to ensure Jewish continuity. In recent years the American Jewish community has recognized both the critical need for and the difficult challenge of providing all Jews with an excellent, compelling Jewish education.

Elma Ehrlich Levinger

Early twentieth-century author and educator Elma Ehrlich Levinger wrote over thirty books for children and several for adults—all of which emphasize the importance of maintaining Jewish identity in America.

Tehilla Lichtenstein

Tehilla Lichtenstein co-founded the Society of Jewish Science with her husband as an alternative to Christian Science, creating a small but passionate following and carving a place for herself as a congregational leader.

Eliana Light

Eliana Light has used her passion for music and Jewish education to engage children and adults in a relationship with the divine.

Belda Lindenbaum

Belda Lindenbaum was driven by the birth of her daughters to create new opportunities for Jewish women and girls.

A group of seven women standing at a bimah, posing underneath a banner with Hebrew writing

Yeshivat Maharat

Founded by Rabba Sara Hurwitz and Rabbi Avi Weiss, Yeshivat Maharat is the first Orthodox rabbinical school to ordain women. Building upon expanding education and ritual roles for Orthodox women in America that began in the late twentieth century, themselves outgrowths of American feminism, as of 2021 Yeshivat Maharat had graduated over forty women who powerfully impact Orthodox and wider Jewish communities all over the world.

Judith Pinta Mandelbaum

Judith Pinta Mandelbaum was an important part of the Mizrachi Women’s Organization of America (American Mizrachi Women) from the 1930s until shortly before her death in 1977, by which time the organization was known as AMIT. She also achieved professional acclaim as an outstanding teacher and is remembered fondly as a woman with a wonderful sense of humor and a rich family life.

Miriam Markel-Mosessohn

Miriam Markel-Mosessohn was a Hebrew writer. She was most admired by Judah Leib Gordon, the foremost poet of the Haskalah, with whom she maintained a regular correspondence. Through her translations, her brief journalistic career, and her influence on Gordon, Markel-Mosessohn played a key role in the Hebrew literary revival.

Yavilah McCoy

Yavilah McCoy is the founder of Ayecha, a nonprofit Jewish organization that provided Jewish diversity education and advocacy for Jews of color in the United States.

Medieval Ashkenaz (1096-1348)

The Jews of medieval Ashkenaz are known for their prolific rabbis and for the Ashkenazic customs that became characteristic of many European Jewish communities. During the High Middle Ages, the women in these communities had many important roles women within the family and in the communal, economic, and religious life.

Florence Zacks Melton

A philanthropist and visionary innovator and a lay leader for over fifty years, Florence Zacks Melton helped build institutions that improved the quality and broadened the scope of Jewish education throughout North America.

Mexico

The communal culture developed by Mexican Jewry emphasized unity, harmony, and consensus regarding groups, politics, and gender. Mexican-Jewish women participated widely in and contributed to the vibrant community’s cultural, artistic, social, and educational endeavors. They continue to redefine their role in Jewish community spaces amidst the new organizations, profiles, and activities of the twenty-first century.

Mexico: Education

The first immigrants to arrive in Mexico during the early decades of the twentieth century from Eastern Europe, Syria, and the Balkan countries were profoundly concerned with the formal education of their children. At that time, part of the controversy in the community was whether Mexico should be an “in transit” country to the United States or a place in which to settle permanently, in which education would play an important role as part of the socializing process.

Linda Rosenberg Miller

Linda Rosenberg Miller devoted herself to Jewish studies and collecting art and archeological treasures.

Penina Moïse

A Jewish-American poet, nurse, journalist, and educator, Penina Moïse was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1797. Penina Moïse, a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, shaped American-Jewish culture through her poetry as the first woman poet included in an American prayer book.

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.

Old Yiddish Language and Literature

Women played a central role in the development and evolution of Old Yiddish literature. Old Yiddish literature was published with women’s literacy in mind, most nominally for women’s religious practice and learning.

Sharing Stories
Inspiring Change

The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Education: Jewish Education