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Blanche Goldman Etra

Blanche Goldman Etra opened doors to independence and education for other women by founding women’s divisions of medical schools and women’s seminars on financial planning. A woman of high intelligence and great energy, characterized by a strong sense of integrity and morality, Etra set out to use her considerable talents for the betterment of the Jewish and general communities.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/etra-blanche-goldman

A brick building with a tower, situated on a street corner in New York City

Sylvia Ettenberg

Sylvia Ettenberg dedicated her life to the advancement of Jewish education. Her concern for building strong leaders to represent the Conservative Movement prompted her to develop ways to search for and inspire promising teenagers and young adults to further their studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ettenberg-sylvia

Sara N. Evans

Sara Nachamson Evans served as the “first lady” of Durham, North Carolina, from 1951 to 1963. Known affectionately as “Miz Evans” by her friends and family, she was a prominent local, regional, and national leader of Hadassah.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/evans-sara-n

Ethiopian Jewish Women

Jewish women in Ethiopian villages were traditionally inactive in public and were in charge of the domestic sphere. After immigration to Israel, their lives changed dramatically, with some young women acquiring higher education and becoming high-profile career women.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ethiopian-jewish-women

Rosa Eskenazi

Roza Eskenazi was a renowned Greek singer who had a long and influential career. She recorded hundreds of songs throughout her life, and her powerful range and unique voice continue to inspire generations of listeners.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/eskenazi-roza

Tamar Eshel

A lifelong diplomat with a strong record of defending women’s rights and human rights, Tamar Eshel capped her career with two terms as a member of the Knesset from 1977 to 1984. In 1990 she was made an honorary citizen of Jerusalem in recognition of her service to Israel.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/eshel-tamar

Phoebe Ephron

Phoebe Ephron was not only a successful playwright and Hollywood screenwriter but also the mother of four daughters, three of whom achieved success in the film industry as well, thereby proving that women could have both a career and a family. Ephron's family life influenced her writing, and the lessons she learned at her job were also taught to her children.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ephron-phoebe

Charlotte Epstein

Charlotte “Eppy” Epstein helped popularize women’s swimming and coached Olympic athletes who broke more than fifty world records. Epstein also started the renowned Women’s Swimming Association of New York, which launched the national and international fame of American women swimmers in the early twentieth century.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/epstein-charlotte

Claire Epstein

Claire Epstein is an outstanding example of a spirited woman archaeologist who worked untiringly and out of true love in search of the past in the Land of Israel. She received two important awards for her work: the Israel Museum’s Percia Shimmel Award in Archaeology and the Israel Prize for archaeology.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/epstein-claire

Judith G. Epstein

Judith Epstein led Hadassah through the tumultuous years of World War II, shifting its mission from building infrastructure in Palestine to establishing an internationally recognized Jewish state. During her tenure, Hadassah became the largest Zionist organization in the world.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/epstein-judith-g

Equality, Religion and Gender in Israel

Although the principles of equality for women under the Declaration of Independence and the Women’s Equal Rights Law were not endowed with constitutional force, and the 1992 Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty does not expressly include the principle of equality, these laws have been interpreted by the courts as securing the principle of gender equality as a basic principle of the legal system.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/equality-religion-and-gender-in-israel

Lotte Errell

Photojournalist Lotte Errell worked tirelessly to make her adventurous travels in Africa, China, and the Middle East accessible to her readers at home in Germany and beyond. Her success illustrates how photography and travel journalism provided women with new possibilities for independence and careers. Errell traveled the world throughout the 1930s taking photos and writing essays, but she was interrupted in the 1940s by the war.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/errell-lotte

Rachel Ertel

Born in 1939, Rachel Ertel is a translator and an essayist. She remains one of the most prolific translators from Yiddish to French and dedicated her life to the survival of Yiddish culture in France and America.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ertel-rachel

Esau, Wives of: Midrash and Aggadah

Esau’s three wives are given more context and background by the rabbis than in the Torah. Esau’s first two wives, Adah and Judith, are described as adulterous and idolatrous, while his third wife, Mahalat, is interpreted as either Esau’s repentance or his fall further into evil.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/esau-wives-of-midrash-and-aggadah

Sara Riwka B’raz Erlich

An exemplar of the amalgamation of cultures in the Diaspora, Sara Riwka Erlich was a Brazilian-Jewish woman author and scientist whose writings drew from her work in psychiatry, her Jewish heritage, and her experiences in Brazil and Israel. The daughter of Polish immigrants, Erlich was born in Recife, Brazil, in 1935 and published memoirs, stories, poems, and essays in Portuguese until the early twenty-first century.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/erlich-sara-riwka-braz

Oshra Elkayam-Ronen

Oshra Elkayam-Ronen is an Israeli dancer and choreographer who belongs to the pioneer generation of Israeli movement theater; she was one of the important Israeli choreographers in this style in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1984, she established her own troupe, which includes artists from different theater disciplines.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/elkayam-ronen-oshra

Shulamith Reich Elster

Dr. Shulamith Reich Elster was known as the dean of Jewish education in America. She put Jewish day school education on the map during her ten-year tenure as Headmaster of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School of Greater Washington. She then joined the prestigious Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education and concluded her long career as executive director of Hillel of Greater Washington.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/elster-shulamith-reich

Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs

The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs, or ELF, was a women's group inspired by the humanistic spirit of poet Emma Lazarus. The clubs worked through education and outreach to promote a progressive, secular Jewish heritage, as well as causes such as women's rights and the elimination of antisemitism and racism.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/emma-lazarus-federation-of-jewish-womens-clubs

Emunah

Emunah was founded in 1935 under the leadership of Tova Sanhedrai-Goldreich. With its headquarters in Jerusalem, the organization aims to strengthen various sectors of the Israeli community. World Emunah aims to strengthen global commitment to Israel in communities abroad.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/emunah

Katharine Engel

Katherine Engel helped the massive wave of European Jewish émigrés after World War II resettle and adjust to life in the United States. A renowned emigré expert and Jewish communal leader, Engel was also an outspoken critic of McCarthyism and a tireless advocate of immigration reform.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/engel-katherine

Entrepreneurs: From Antiquity Through the Early Modern Period

Jewish women have been recorded in entrepreneurial roles as early as the fifth century BCE, and many women held vital roles in their communities’ economies. Around the world, Jewish women took part in moneylending, trading, and property ownership, both with their husbands and independently.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/entrepreneurs

Nora Ephron

As a journalist, writer, and filmmaker, Nora Ephron used her provocative wit, biting sarcasm, and ability to make the mundane entertaining to write her way into the lives of millions. Heeding her mother’s advice that “everything is copy,” Ephron drew upon her own experiences – childhood dreams, observations about aging, and her two divorces – in her articles, books, and screenplays.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ephron-nora

"Mama" Cass Elliot

A folk singer with a gift for turning formerly up-tempo tunes like “Dream a Little Dream of Me” into unforgettable torch songs, “Mama” Cass Elliot helped define the sound of her generation as a member of the Mamas and the Papas, as well as during her prolific solo career.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/elliot-mama-cass

Education of Jewish Girls in the United States

American Jewish girls have had access to a broad range of educational opportunities. Pioneering innovations such as the Hebrew Sunday school opened doors to religious education, while in public schools, training schools, and the hallways of higher education, American Jewish girls pursued secular studies as well. Today, the landscape for American Jewish education has expanded beyond the classroom to include a range of experiential educational opportunities.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/education-of-jewish-girls-in-united-states

Amy Eilberg

Rabbi Amy Eilberg, ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1985, is notable as the first woman ordained as a rabbi by the Conservative movement. Her multifaceted career as a chaplain, spiritual director, kindness coach, and peace and justice educator has focused on serving as a resource to help others achieve personal, interpersonal and spiritual growth.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/eilberg-amy

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