When philanthropist Barbara Dobkin founded Ma’yan in 1993, her goal was to foster the women’s movement within Jewish communities. Which is exactly what Ma’yan achieved: Based out of the JCC Manhattan, the organization published an influential feminist Passover Haggadah; helped launch the Ritualwell website — offering new resources for spiritual practice — and worked with…
This weekend, The World Bank announced Saudi Arabia and The United Arab Emirates will donate a combined $100 million to a fund conceived by Ivanka Trump, which will support women entrepreneurs worldwide. Critics — particularly some former Hillary Clinton supporters — are crying foul. The donations are being made by countries ranked 109th and 141st…
The Women’s March on Washington, planned for January 21, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of protesters and create numerous logistical difficulties. There’s the challenge of mapping a route when lots of areas are off-limits because of security concerns around the inauguration. The marchers themselves have security concerns….
Attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents women suing President-elect Donald Trump on sexual harassment charges, blasted the news that a planned march of women on the day after Trump’s inauguration will be blocked. “It’s code red for women’s rights in this country,” Bloom said Friday while speaking on the Stephanie Miller show. Bloom is the daughter…
It is a simple and obvious equation: If you educate girls and women, you improve the world. Economists know this. It’s likely that even the most sexist of humans know it (deep, deep down). But when documentarian Debra Gonsher Vinik set out to investigate the role religious organizations play in securing and perpetuating education for…
The doors are open to everyone at Shabbat services held on the ground floor of this Nostrand Avenue building in Brooklyn. But, unlike most Orthodox spaces, here it’s the women who lead prayers. Men? They can sit in the back. “Men are welcome,” said Nechama Levy, 32, who organized the new prayer group. “But this…
Guess who Sarah Silverman hung out with last night? A nice Jewish boy named Jesus Christ. Yes, that Jesus. It seems that Jesus is a little upset about how his name is being used in the national discussion about women’s reproductive rights (or “intolerance and oppression,” as Silverman puts it), and wants Sarah to spread…
Legal abortion could become a thing of the past in a handful of states if anti-choice efforts are successful. Note that I don’t say abortion will become a thing of the past, because the need for abortion will persist, but safe and legal abortion will be outlawed as a spate of new state-level laws curtail…
