The Internet Of Queer Jewish Girlhood
Digital spaces like jGirls+ act vital online communities for an under-researched group of Jewish youth, seeking precious few places to negotiate gender, sexuality, and religion.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
Precious Sound
Finding healing with ADHD, stimming, and Sephardic kabbalistic musician Victoria Hanna.
When The Women Sang Shema
One of the oldest Jewish prayers takes on a new unified meaning early in the morning, with Women Of The Wall
Reflections on the URJ Investigation into Sexual Harassment
Why investigating sexual harassment matters.
Women Should Be
“They say I was grieving my loss as the only righteous woman; that sizzles my bones, as if I bought into that scathing myth we force feed our girls, that womanhood is scarce and to be monopolized.”
Revisiting the Jewish American Princess Zine
“While the Jewish American Princess has been weaponized by non-Jews for antisemitic purposes, intracommunally it’s often been used as a caricature to make fun of classist and racist Jewish people.” Welcome to the Jewish Underground Press.
Women’s Talmud Study is Still Revolutionary
We are still at the beginning of this period, and it can still feel like a miracle; we will learn more from this moment if we remember that it is nothing less than a revolution, and that we are responsible for helping this revolution reach all Jews.
Ariana Katz Weaves Her Mark Into Jewish Podcasting with “Thread”
“If the only thing this podcast accomplishes is to have someone resist saying even one time ‘I’m a bad Jew’… then it will have been a success. Rule #1: there is no such thing as a bad Jew.”
Netflix’s Latest Teen Flick Models Toxic Masculinity
Not even Molly Ringwald could save Netflix’s new teen romantic comedy. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, at a time when women’s rights are in and sexualizing women is out, it seems rather odd that Netflix chose to stream its latest teen flick “The Kissing Booth.” The film, starring Joey King, Joel Courtney and…
Do Intersectionality and Anti-Normalization Clash?
A green text bubble flashed across my phone. “You should write about the Farrakhan, Women’s March, anti-Semitism, intersectionality thing.” I turned my screen dark. I’d been avoiding this. I know. I’m a Jewish feminist writer. I drink my morning coffee out of an Emma Goldman mug and my phone auto-predicts the term “intersectional feminism.” I…
When rabbis fail
When Rabbi Steven Pruzansky released a column on his personal blog at the end of March, he claimed that the solution to college campus rape culture is abstinence. If more women abstained from sex, he wrote, as his Judaism warrants, then campus rape culture will magically vanish. I am grateful to have seen so many…
Find inspiration in Jewish history on International Women’s Day
Today is International Women’s Day, a global simcha that began as International Working Women’s Day in 1909, spawning from the Socialist Party as a way of acknowledging the world-changing contributions women have made to society. Eishet chayil, or “woman of valor,” is my kavanah for International Women’s Day. While we rejoice in the women who have…
Can a Fully Feminist, Fully Traditional Jewish Space Exist? A Dialogue
AVIGAYIL HALPERN: When I was fourteen and just beginning to explore what it would mean to me to be a halakhic, or Jewish-law-abiding, Jewish feminist, I was delighted to stumble across a blog called Star of Davida. The blog’s author, who went by the name “Talia bat Pessi,” explored her own beliefs and experiences as…
The Myth of the ‘Feminized’ Religion
I have written in the past about my experiences with gender, privilege, Jewish ritual, and the need to find new and creative ways to engage both men and women ritually. Women, I’ve argued, should be encouraged to try out more traditionally masculine rituals, and men should be encouraged to try out more feminine rituals. There…