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In the wake of Adolf Hitler’s terrifying ascent to power in 1933 Germany, Florence Mendheim, a New York City librarian, went undercover as a spy, infiltrating the Nazi-associated “Friends of New Germany” club and reporting to the American Jewish Congress. 

Reflecting on her career for BBC Radio, Yasmin Levy has remarked that she is “embarking on a 500 years old musical journey, taking Ladino to Andalusia and mixing it with flamenco, the style that still bears the musical memories of the old Moorish and Jewish-Spanish world with the sound of the Arab world. In a way it is a ‘musical reconciliation’ of history.” 

On December 8, 1987, Yelena Khanga, a Russian journalist who has played a significant role in Russian journalism and written about her experiences as a Black Jewish woman in Russia, arrived in the United States as a member of the Soviet Press Corps to cover the historic Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Washington, D.C. 

On May 24, 1993, Roberta Achtenberg became the first openly gay person confirmed by the United States Senate for a major political post when she was voted in by a 58-31 margin.  Achtenberg’s appointment to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development marked a historic turning point in American LGBTQ history.

Zipporah Michelbacher Cohen was an American civic leader who was heavily involved in charitable organizations in Virginia. From working as a nurse to serving on the boards of numerous Jewish women’s associations, Cohen spent over sixty years helping the less fortunate.

Barrister and solicitor Ethel Benjamin was best known for being the first female lawyer in New Zealand and the first woman to appear in court as counsel in the British Empire. Benjamin’s struggle against gender discrimination and her pioneering role in the legal world helped clear the way for female lawyers.

In January 1996, Rabbi Cynthia Culpeper stood before her congregation in Montgomery, AL, and announced that she had contracted AIDS, becoming the first pulpit rabbi to disclose an AIDS diagnosis. 

Poet Yonit Namaan was born in Yehud, Israel, in 1975 to Yemenite parents. On June 25, 2018, she was featured in the episode “Spleen and Failure” of the web series A Tale of Five Poets, which offers a close look into the lives and minds of five prominent Israeli poets. 

Clara Bagelman was born on October 17, 1920, in the Bronx, New York. With her younger sister Minnie, she would eventually form the famed Yiddish singing duo The Barry Sisters.  

Ruth de Krivoy is a highly influential Venezuelan macroeconomist who specializes in the dynamics between monetary and fiscal policy and politics, as well as economic crisis resolution. Through her decades-long career in monetary policy and public service, she has paved the way for women in economics in Venezuela.

Eliza Davis, a Jewish Englishwoman, is renowned for her courageous correspondence with Charles Dickens regarding his derogatory portrayal of Jewish characters, particularly Fagin in Oliver Twist. Her letters, spanning from 1863 to 1867, reflect the blossoming confidence of English Jews and their advocacy for fair representation in literature. 

As an influential Jewish author and communal leader, Ida Maze played a crucial role in helping fellow Jewish writers flee Europe after World War II by securing Canadian entry visas for them and helping to publish their works. Maze was part of a greater population of Yiddish-language speakers and writers in Montreal who cultivated community through their shared love for Jewish culture. 

The Women’s Chess Olympiad is an international event held by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) beginning in 1957 in which teams of women compete for their nations. Representing the USSR alongside Nona Gaprindashvili and Kira Zvorykina in only the tournament’s second year, Tatia Zatulovskaya brought home the gold. She won the title a second time in 1966. 

On December 10, 2009, political scientist Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Her research focused on economic governance and “the commons” (natural resources accessible to all). She studied the relationship between people and their ecosystems, to prove that finite resources can be used by local communities in ways that prevent their depletion. 

On October 23, 2019, Mexican artist Aliza Nisenbaum presented her paintings at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts, as a part of an exhibition featuring more than twenty artists from around the world. It aimed to showcase the displacement of peoples through different artistic media such as painting, sculpture, and video. 

On March 23, 2022, Nani Vazana released her song “Una Segunda Piel” (“A Second Skin”). For the Judeo-Spanish community, her music has great significance, uniting and enriching the culture of Sephardic Jews. 

Olga Benário, a Communist revolutionary, was born to a successful Munich Jewish family on February 12, 1908. Though she was executed at only age 34, Benário had a fruitful career as a revolutionary for the Communist International. She carried out this work even in the midst of Nazism in her home country and fascism abroad. 

Inez Bensusan, an Australian and English playwright, actress, and suffragist, was born on September 11, 1871. She wrote and acted in many feminist plays and was active in multiple activist groups, often combining theater and feminism for a political cause.

Denise Eger, the first openly gay president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and known for her trailblazing activism, was born on March 14, 1960. Eger’s rabbinical career spanned several decades and she notably served California’s queer Jewish community at the height of the AIDS crisis. 

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo was elected President of Mexico on June 2, 2024. She assumed office on October 1, 2024, making her the first woman president of Mexico, and the first president from a Jewish background.  

Renée Dangoor was the first beauty queen of Iraq, winning the title of Miss Baghdad in 1946 and Miss Iraq in 1947.  

Sultana Daoud, also known as Reinette l'Oranaise, was an Algerian singer, oud player, and composer of Arab-Andalus music. For the majority of her career, she was a representative of the Hawzi folk music of Algeria. 

Ezra Hospital, a hospital in Kolkata established by Mozelle Ezra, admitted its first patients on April 9, 1888. Mozelle Ezra, born 1853, was the daughter of Sir Albert Sassoon, a Baghdadi businessman and philanthropist, and Hannah Meyer Sassoon. She was the wife of community leader and philanthropist Elias Ezra. She helped ease the poverty of the Jewish community in Calcutta and donated generously to synagogues in schools. 

Florence Ezekiel, known by her stage name Nadira, was an Indian actress who worked in the Hindi film industry, usually playing "vamp" or femme fatale roles in the 1950s and 60s.  

Born 1975 in London to a Bahraini Jewish family, Nancy Khedouri is a politician, businesswoman, and writer. On December 14, 2010, she became a representative in Bahrain’s National Assembly, succeeding her first cousin Houda Nonoo (former Bahraini ambassador to the United States) and making her the second Jewish woman to serve in the National Assembly.