Jewfem Blog

Last week, I started a new blog, called "Toxic Tactics: Your Ultimate Guide to Naming and Neutralizing the Toxic Tactics of Emotional and Verbal Abuse that have taken over." You can read about it at www.toxictactics.com  Would love to know what you think. 

Over the past three years, as Vice Chair for Media and Policy for Democrats Abroad Israel, I have been doing media appearances on Israeli television, working to have civil debates with Trump defenders in Israel.   Here are a few examples: * "Trump is the number one inciter", Interview with Ayalla Hasson, on 103 Radio, following ...

As of now, 28 women made it into this Knesset, 1 less than the previous Knesset, and 7 less than the Knesset before that. Of those 28, 2 are Arab, 1 is Druze, 1 is Ethiopian, and 1 is haredi.While many great women didn't make it, and while these numbers are troubling (and there are NO women in the Blue-White coalition negotiations), and while I am ...

The latest Pew Report on religious freedom showing that Israel is practically on par with Iran on this issue should not come as much of a surprise. Those of us who have been tracking religious freedom in Israel have observed that not only are incidents of religious intolerance and oppression on the rise, but they are becoming bolder, more normalize...

WE WON!  I'm absolutely thrilled to report that the cookbook I compiled, The Masala Mamas: Recipes and Stories from the Indian Women Changing their Communities through Food and Love,  WON the international Gourmand Award for food books in the category of fundraising! How exciting is that!! Special shout-out to all the spons...

Dynamics of the Jewish Patriarchy

I made an infographic on "Dynamics of the Jewish Patriarchy" for the current Journal of the Association of Jewish Studies (AJS). With the help of super-talented graphic designer Shoshana Balofsky.  A few disclaimers: It obviously does not exhaust every aspect of the patriarchy, nor does it go into intersectional aspects of the patriarchy ...

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Wednesday night was one of the hardest nights on the Israeli calendar. In that hazy space between sunset and nightfall, Israel transitioned from the intense pain of Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day, to the uninhibited joy of Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day. It's an evocative, jarring and charged transition. After a full day or more of ...

On April 9, Israeli voters head to the polls. In this chaotic and potentially momentous election, the headlines are mostly focused on political maneuvering and corruption scandals in the top-ranks of the male-dominated political parties. But in this election, more Israeli women are running for Knesset than ever before, and they're speaking out abou...

The New York Times report about megadonor Michael Steinhardt's history of sexual harassment should come as no surprise to anyone following the #metoo movement or the excellent reporting of Hannah Dreyfus. The Jewish Week published an investigative story by Dreyfus about Steinhardt last year, although there was very little tangible fallout from the ...

I walked to shul this morning in the rain and hail. As I was futilely trying to keep my layers of clothing dry, thinking about the 49 people killed in mosques in New Zealand yesterday, thinking about the overall state of the world, I was recalling the shabbatot of my childhood in Flatbush, where certain weeks we had to go to synagogue no matte...