Media

Ofra Haza

Born in Tel Aviv, Ofra Haza was an international singing sensation who performed across Europe, America, and Israel. Known for combining traditional Yemenite music with electronic pop sounds, Haza performed in the film Shlagger and in 1983 she placed second in the Eurovision competition. In 1998 Haza collaborated with many world-renowned artists and performed Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold” at the official ceremony marking Israel’s fiftieth anniversary.

Hasidic Women in the United States

Hasidic women belong to various sects of Judaism’s most religiously observant and traditional communities. Postwar Hasidism took root and thrived in many U.S. cities; while women remain dedicated to domestic responsibilities, with large family sizes and a high birth rate, many also work outside the home and/or are college-educated religious activists. .

Leah Cohen Harby

Leah “Lee” Cohen Harby was a vibrant member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Her patriotism and her pride in her Southern roots found an outlet in her essays, short stories, and poetry.

Shulamith Hareven

Born in Poland in 1930, Shulamith Hareven was an Israeli poet, author, essayist, and political activist. From capturing the lingering pain of Holocaust survivors to describing the harsh conditions of Palestinian refugee camps, Hareven used her writing to push Israelis to confront uncomfortable truths.

Marion Hartog

Marion Hartog and her sister Celia published influential poetry and books on Jewish themes, including works that were among the first fictions ever published by Jewish women anywhere in the world. Hartog later created and edited the first Jewish women’s periodical in history, The Jewish Sabbath Journal.

Käte Hamburger

Käte Hamburger was a German literary scholar and philosopher who developed a philosophical theory of literature.

Bracha Habas

Bracha Habas was an educator and one of the first professional women journalists in Erez Israel. She was a member of Davar’s editorial board and the co-founder of its children’s newspaper, Davar le-Yeladim. Enumerating on Habas’s 48 publications, Rahel Adir described her as “the recorder of Yishuv history.”

Ruth Gruber

Reporter and writer Ruth Gruber dedicated her life to rescuing and covering the stories of suffering Jews worldwide. She made history as the youngest PhD in the world, escorted European refugees on a secret mission to America, and famously reported on the crisis of the Exodus 1947 and the foundation of Israel.

Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg

As director of the Child Study Association of America, Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg blended the best research on child development and her own experience as a mother of four, publishing numerous books and articles on parenting. She was a leader and publicist in the parent education movement and an authority in the field of child study.

Elinor Guggenheimer

Elinor Guggenheimer first toured New York City day nurseries as a member of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies during the 1930s. Horrified by what she saw, Guggenheimer began a lifelong crusade for improved and standardized child care facilities across the country, in addition to her work promoting women in public office.

Vivian Gornick

Vivian Gornick is an American essayist, memoirist, and noted second-wave feminist. She is known for bringing a personal lens to political and critical writing.

Dorothy Lerner Gordon

Dorothy Lerner Gordon—musician, broadcaster, author—dedicated her talents to the entertainment and education of children and young people. Throughout her career, she created radio programming to give children access to literature, music, and current events.

Eydie Gorme

One of the great stylists of the American popular song, Eydie Gorme achieved national prominence with her appearances on Steve Allen’s Tonight! show, where she met and performed with her husband Steve Lawrence. Gorme’s dynamic nightclub act, frequently as a duo with Lawrence, drew sell-out crowds keeping true to the best traditions of the American “standard”—traditions she herself helped to establish.

Claire Goll

Claire Goll’s poetry and prose were fueled by the tragedies and scandals that shaped her life. She and her husband, writer Yvan Goll, were central cultural figures of the French avant-garde, and her prolific body of work includes journalism, multiple novels, short fiction, and numerous translations of other authors’ works.

Jennie Goldstein

Jennie Goldstein was one of the foremost Yiddish theater tragediennes, beloved by the public and acclaimed by critics for her acting skills and outstanding voice. During the 1940s, as opportunities in the Yiddish theater waned, Goldstein transformed herself into a comedian.

Therese Giehse

Focusing on difficult roles written for older women, Therese Giehse earned a reputation as a talented actress who brought Bertolt Brecht’s works to life. She co-founded an anti-Nazi literary cabaret called The Peppermill in 1933 and was known for touring successful anti-fascist theaterical works. She had a long collaboration with Brecht and developed a reputation as an “intellectual popular actress.”

Esther Gamlielit

Esther Gamlielit was prominent in a lineage of Yemenite singers, after Brachah Zefira and before Shoshana Damari. Gamlielit was a talented singer, dancer, and actress, known for performing songs with the Yemenite-style pronunciation of the Hebrew letters het and ayin.

Annabelle Gamson

More than any other artist in the mid-1970s, Annabelle Gamson initiated unprecedented attention to the history of American modern dance. Her musically inspired, passionate performances of dances, choreographed by Isadora Duncan and others in the early twentieth century, brought about a resurgence of interest in Duncan’s work and her legacy, modern dance.

Henriette Fürth

Despite facing ongoing anti-Semitism, journalist Henriette Katzenstein Fürth remained a passionate and vocal German patriot throughout her life. She began publishing articles on social criticism while raising eight children, eventually writing 200 articles and 30 monographs, earning both an income and a reputation for insightful journalism. She served on the Frankfurt municipal council and in 1932 she was honored by the city of Frankfurt for her 70th birthday.

Luisa Futoransky

Poet, novelist, music scholar, and journalist, Luisa Futoransky has led a life characterized by travel and the arts: she has published over two dozen books (poetry and narrative fiction), many of which have been translated into English, French, Hebrew, Portuguese, Japanese, and German, and other languages. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1991, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in 1990, the Centre National des Lettres Fellowship in 1993 and 2010, and was the Regent’s Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley in 1997.

Barbara Frum

Barbara Frum was an awarding-winning Canadian journalist. She was the founding co-host of CBC’s “The Journal,” in which capacity she gained public respect as a tough interviewer. Over the course of her career, she interviewed over 2600 people, receiving numerous awards for her work. Her reputation as a Canadian icon lives on.

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan was the author of a pathbreaking feminist book, The Feminine Mystique, which sold millions of copies and helped to provoke a feminist movement in the United States. She was an activist and writer who hoped to improve women’s lives by co-founding the National Organization for Women and other women’s political groups. Her many books focused on women’s rights, the women’s movement, and aging.

Ray Frank

While her career was short-lived, Ray Frank remains significant as the first Jewish woman to preach from a pulpit in the United States. Her speeches often encouraged communal cooperation and tried to heal congregational disputes, and she notably gave an address at the first Jewish Women’s Congress in 1893.

Helen Forrest

Despite an unhappy childhood, Helen Forrest achieved great success as a singer in several big bands. She was one of the first singers in the big band era whose vocals were featured throughout a full band arrangement, and one of the only women vocalists who had the courage to ask for individualized arrangements.

Lee Weiss Frank

Lee Weiss Frank worked as a reporter and radio show host, was involved in the Women’s International League for Peace, and was a prominent public figure in Philadelphia. Her legacy extends beyond her community work and journalism, as she was a prolific artist painting in oil and in watercolor.