Joanne

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land,Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightening, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGloves world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin-cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your […]

Passover is an appropriate holiday to honor Ruth Gruber, a woman who dedicated her life to rescuing Jews from oppression. Ruth was born in 1911 in Brooklyn, NY, one of five children of Russian Jewish immigrant parents David and Gussie (Rockower) Gruber. She was a brilliant scholar, entering college at the age of 15, and

O Lord, My G-d,I pray that these things never end.The sand and the sea,The rush of the Water,The crash of the heavens,The prayer of woman and man. “Eli, Eli,” a poem written by Hannah Szenes, has become a folk song and modern prayer made famous, in part, because of her courage and dignity in the

This Passover I would like to tell you the story of Henrietta Szold, a woman who dedicated her life to Jewish education, social action, and Zionism. Henrietta Szold was born in Baltimore during the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1860. She was the oldest child of liberal Rabbi Benjamin Szold and Sophie Schaar Szold,

Letty Cottin Pogrebin is an important early leader in the women’s movement who combined her feminist ideas with Jewish values. Ms. Pogrebin was born in 1939 in Queens NY. She was raised in an observant Jewish home, and loved to studied Torah and Talmud diligently with her father, even beyond her Bat Mitzvah. However, when