Prime Ribs: A Second ‘Rabba’; Birth and Infant Mortality Rates

By Elissa Strauss April 28, 2011

Another “rabba” is slated to be ordained next month by the Academy of Jewish Religion, The Jewish Week reports. (The Sisterhood will have more on this shortly.)

Chabad.org has a story about “The Heart That Sings,” a movie with an all-female cast. The film was screened in 11 cities during the Passover holiday; audiences were all women, and mostly Haredi.

Over at Double X, Amanda Schaffer writes about the potential risks of taking too much folic acid — a vitamin that has been shown to reduce the incident of some birth defects.

On the blog Family Inequality, sociologist Phillip Cohen writes about the new National Center for Health Statistics’ findings showing that the recession has driven birth rates down.

Think Sweden is utopia for mothers and young families? Jonas Himmelstrand, an author and consultant from Sweden, tells eReview about the pros and cons of life in the country.

There are two male characters with speaking roles for every female character with such a role in top grossing films, reports The Women’s Media Center.

The infant mortality rate for Arab-Israelis, including Bedouins, is three-times higher than it is for Jewish Israelis, writes Haaretz.

Also in Haaretz: Agunot have begun to file damages suits in attempt to extricate themselves from their unwanted marriages.

Elissa Strauss has written for the Forward over a number of years. She is a regular contributor to CNN, whose work has been published in a number of publications including The New York Times, Glamour, ELLE, and Longreads.

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