Please wait...
Author Archives: Jill Finkelstein
January 22, 2012 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup:Remembering Roe v. Wade
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
http://www.flickr.com/dukeyearlook
Marking the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches on January 22nd, National Council of Jewish Women CEO Nancy K. Kaufman explained why women should continue to “guard against efforts to roll back choice.” The Guttmacher Institute reported that in 2011 individual states introduced more than 1,100 anti-choice proposals, 135 of which were enacted in 36 states. [The Forward]
On Friday, the Obama administration rejected requests made by the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to exempt religiously affiliated employers from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to cover the full cost of contraception in employer-sponsored insurance plan. Religiously affiliated institutions that currently do not cover contraception will have until August 2013 to do so, while houses of worship will remain exempt from the new law. [Ms. Magazine]
In a bold move, the Israel Medical Association (IMA) barred its members from attending the PUAH Institute’s annual fertility and halacha conference because the event excluded female speakers. The PUAH Institute responded to the boycott by announcing its plans to host a women-only conference over the summer, leading author Elana Sztokman to criticize the organization inadequate “separate but equal” solution. [Jerusalem Post] & [The Sisterhood]
- No Comments
January 8, 2012 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: Beit Shemesh Riots and Gender-Neutral Toys
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
www.adriennecooper.com
Beloved Yiddish singer Adrienne Cooper died on December 25th at the age of 65. Among her many accomplishments was her sensitive and original Lilith article on family violence in women’s Yiddish songs from the Spring 2011 issue. [NY Times]
Israel found its own “Rosa Parks” after a woman named Tanya Rosenblit refused to move to the back of an Egged bus headed to Jerusalem, despite receiving threats from ultra-Orthodox passengers who tried to insist that women and men remain in separate sections of public buses. Rosenblit’s bravery has since inspired other women to sit at the front of ‘mehadrin’ buses, including Knesset member Tzipi Hotovely. [Jewish News One] & [Ynet]
Two weeks ago, riots broke out among Haredi Jews in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh after police officers removed signs calling for gender segregation even on public sidewalks. Following the sign removal, an Israeli television news crew was attacked after featuring Na’ama Margolese, an 8-year-old girl who had been spat on by a Haredi man for dressing “immodestly.” [Jerusalem Post] & [The Sisterhood]
- 1 Comment
December 9, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: Sexism & The Morning-After Pill
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
Plan B One-Step®
In a surprising move which left many women–and women’s reproductive rights organizations–outraged, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to make the “morning-after pill” available to anyone, including young teens, without a prescription. Sebelius defended her decision against removing the age restriction, citing that because Teva Pharmaceuticals had not included 11-year-old girls in its study, it had failed to “conclusively establish that Plan B One-Step should be made available over the counter for all girls of reproductive age.” [NY Times]
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under fire after criticizing Israel’s treatment of women. During a Washington, D.C. forum on Saturday, Clinton noted that Israel’s gender bus segregation and the Orthodox boycott of women’s voices were reminiscent of Rosa Parks and Iran. Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz struck back, calling Clinton’s comments “completely exaggerated.” [Ha’aretz]
On Tuesday, an FBI advisory board voted unanimously to broaden the definition of “rape.” The new definition is currently awaiting final approval from FBI Director Robert Mueller. [NY Daily News]
- No Comments
December 3, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup:Remembering Paula Hyman
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
Groundbreaking Jewish feminist historian and activist Paula Hyman passed away on Thursday at the age of 65. [Forward] To read some of her early pieces in Lilith click here and here.
Yeshiva University’s newspaper, the Beacon, faced a backlash after publishing an anonymous female student’s story on premarital sex. Because of the “controversial” nature of the article, the university made the decision to sever ties with the newspaper, and two of the paper’s editors resigned. [New Voices] & [Jezebel]
A new survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that nearly 1 in 5 of the women surveyed had been raped in their lifetime. In addition, 1 in 4 women reported being physically assaulted by an intimate partner. [New York Times]
On Tuesday, the Ministerial Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women in Israeli Society met to discuss the exclusion of women in the public sphere. Only two ministers showed up: Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Culture and Sports Minister and committee head Limor Livnat. [Haaretz]
Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum has resigned from her position as assistant dean at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem because the school has not fulfilled its promise to ordain LGBT students. [JTA]
For more coverage on the latest news stories, follow us on Twitter at @LilithMagazine.
- No Comments
December 2, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
To mark 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Lilith shared some of our articles on domestic violence in the Jewish community, including “He Beat Me Black and Blue: Yiddish Songs of Family Violence” from the Spring 2011 issue and “Wife Abuse, Drugs, and Silence” from the Summer 1998 issue.
Yesterday, U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Crapo introduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Though the new bill cuts the current law’s funding by 19%, it features new measures to reduce violence against women, including “improved training for law enforcement, victim service providers and court personnel; strengthening of tribal jurisdiction over crimes committed on Native land; expansion of federal housing protections and improved means of tracking funds.” [Ms. Magazine]
A new study, conducted by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality’s committee for advancing the status of women, revealed that 83% of Tel Aviv women report being sexually harassed at least once in their lifetimes. In addition, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel reported a dramatic increase in sexual assault complaints following former President Moshe Katsav’s rape trial. [Haaretz] & [Ynet]
- No Comments
November 21, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: Redefining Rape and the Feminist Blogosphere
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
Ms. Magazine
In a historic move, the Uniform Crime Report Subcommittee voted unanimously to update the FBI’s definition of rape. The previous definition, which has remained the same since 1929, was limited to forcible rape committed against women. [GOOD]
In a recent issue of New York Magazine, Emily Nussbaum explained how the blogosphere has transformed the feminist conversation. She wrote, “Freed from the boundaries of print, writers could blur the lines between formal and casual writing; between a call to arms, a confession, and a stand-up routine—and this new looseness of form in turn emboldened readers to join in, to take risks in the safety of the shared spotlight.” [New York Magazine]
Following last year’s revelations about the significant gender pay gap and lack of female leadership among Jewish communal professionals, Dan Klein highlighted the advancements made by Jewish Federations over the past year and the problems that still remain for women working in the Jewish community. [JTA]
According to a report from NARAL Pro-Choice America, a Jewish undercover investigator who posed as a pregnant woman was told by five taxpayer-funded “crisis pregnancy centers” that she would go to hell unless she converted to Christianity. [ThinkProgress]
Last week, the Anti-Defamation League criticized the film “180” for comparing abortion to the Holocaust. [Salon]
- No Comments
November 10, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: A Spotlight on Gender Segregation
http://www.flickr.com/theeerin
Over the past six months, the news has been filled with stories about gender segregation and gender discrimination in Israel and the Jewish community. From the Hillary Clinton Photoshop fiasco to the recent Brooklyn bus scandal, here’s a look at the biggest headlines.
In May, the Brooklyn-based Orthodox weekly Di Tzaytung digitally removed Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason from the famous Situation Room photograph following the death of Bin Laden. Since then, new stories have been reported about the absence of women from Jerusalem billboards and ads as well as the exclusion of girls from Clalit HMO stickers, which are given to children as prizes at doctors’ offices. Images of women were also removed from the National Transplant Center (ADI)’s bus ads for its organ donation campaign in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. Last week, the pluralistic organization Yerushalmim began fighting back by inviting women to be photographed for its “Uncensored” poster campaign. The organization plans to hang the posters around the city in order to return Jerusalem to its “natural state.” [Haaretz]
In June, we reported that the Ultra-Orthodox community in posted flyers around Old City Jerusalem insisting women either stay home or take an alternate, longer, route to the Kotel on Shavuot. Despite the controversy caused by the signs and a court ordered ban on segregation, the Haredi community of Mea She’arim imposed its own segregation policy during Sukkot. Efforts to fight the segregation were unsuccessful as Jerusalem City Council Member Rachel Azaria was fired for petitioning the High Court to uphold the ban. Listen to her interview with Rusty Mike Radio. [The Sisterhood]
- 1 Comment
October 12, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: High Holidays Edition
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
http://www.flickr.com/daniellerose
Writer Ann Brenoff shared why an article in Lilith inspired her to collect trash on her wedding day. [Huffington Post]
In honor of the High Holidays, Dr. Sharon Ufberg commented on why the holidays mean extra work from women, adding that “while the burden is great, the blessings and joy of the cultural connection to ones’ roots and the pride of heritage keep Jewish women… willing to continue to bring the family together to celebrate and remember, year after year.” [Huffington Post]
Chanel Dubofsky encouraged women to be less apologetic this holiday season, especially when it comes to their beliefs about reproductive health. [Jewesses With Attitude]
In honor of National Domestic Violence Awareness month, Jewish Women International created a special Misheberach prayer for victims of domestic abuse. [The Jewish Chronicle]
Women around the world rejoiced after it was announced that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize would be awarded to three women — Tawakkol Karman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Leymah Gbowee — for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” [Washington Post]
- 1 Comment
September 18, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: Remembering 9/11
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
10 years later, Lilith looks back at Ruth Messinger’s words about September 11th, reminding us what we learned in the aftermath. [Lilith Magazine]
In his new book Contending With Catastrophe: Jewish Perspectives on September 11th, author Rabbi Michael J. Broyde revealed the Jewish dilemma that resulted from the 9/11 attacks. Many Jewish widows became agunot and were not permitted to remarry because they couldn’t prove that their husbands had been killed. [JTA] & [The Forward]
On Thursday, the state of Virginia passed the strictest abortion provider regulations to date in the United States, putting the state’s 22 abortion clinics at risk of being shut down. [Huffington Post]
The U.S. Labor Department has begun cracking down on gender discrimination in wages by examining the pay practices of government contractors. [Capital Business]
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina filed a lawsuit against the state for authorizing a “Choose Life” license plate, while refusing to issue a pro-choice alternative. Katherine Lewis Parker, the organization’s Legal Director, stated, “It is a fundamental tenet of the First Amendment that the state cannot use its authority to promote one side of a debate while denying the same opportunity to the other side.” [Mother Jones]
For the first time ever, the city of Chicago will now offer its employees paid maternity leave. [Huffington Post]
Four religious cadets were dismissed from the army’s officer course after walking out of an IDF event because they refused to listen to female soldiers singing. [Haaretz]
This isn’t the only gender issue that the IDF has faced. This summer, a debate broke out after Avi Zamir, the former head of the Israel Defense Forces’ Personnel Directorate, released a statement calling for the curtailment of the army’s religious extremism because of its threat to the advancement of women in the IDF. [Arutz Sheva] & [Ynet] (more…)
- No Comments
August 30, 2011 by Jill Finkelstein
Link Roundup: Women's Equality Day
Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.
The cover story from Lilith’s summer 2011 “Swimsuit Issue” was featured in Tablet Magazine and the New York Times opinion section in a letter from Deborah Lipstadt. [NY Times] & [Tablet Magazine]
In honor of Women’s Equality Day on August 26th, a coalition of women’s groups have launched #HERvotes, a new campaign to “mobilize women voters in 2012 around preserving women’s Health and Economic Rights (HER rights).” The campaign kicked off by releasing a list of the Top Ten Historic Advances for Women Now at Risk. [Ms. Magazine]
On August 18th, in honor of the 91st anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, JWA recognized the Jewish leaders of the women’s suffrage movement. [Jewesses With Attitude]
Writer Eryn Loeb explained why Gloria Steinem and so many other second-wave feminists were Jewish. [Tablet Magazine]
A new study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce revealed that women have to earn a Ph.D. in order to obtain the same lifetime earnings as men with a Bachelor’s Degree. [Feministing]
Shana Strauch Schick became the first woman to receive a doctorate in Talmud from Yeshiva University. Schick also holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Stern College for Women, however Stern does not currently have a doctoral program. [YU News]
Last week, TIME magazine featured a profile on Areleh Harel, the West Bank Orthodox rabbi who serves as a matchmaker between gay men and lesbians. Harlel began matchmaking to allow Orthodox homosexual Jews to fulfill their desires to start families and remain in the religious community, while also keeping their sexual orientation a secret. Rabbi Andrea Myers criticized the process, stating, “The key problem with these matches is coercion, people feeling forced into marriage because they see no viable alternative.” [Huffington Post] (more…)
- No Comments