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Performing Arts

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Collection
Kesha Praying

The Anthem I Needed

Emilia Diamant

Amidst all the glitter and alcohol, I knew Kesha was an actual talent. A friend directed me toward an NPR interview in which she talked about her deep love of Bob Dylan, the fact that she does most of her own songwriting, and her deeply artistic spirit. I was smitten.

Topics: Feminism, Music
Bat Mitzvah or Check?

6 Bat Mitzvah Gifts to Look at Before Writing a Check

Sara Lebow

Here are six adorable Bat Mitzvah gifts to consider before just giving up and writing a check to the newly minted young adult in your life.

Tovah Feldshuh

Tovah Feldshuh set a record for the longest running one-woman show with her starring role in Golda’s Balcony, a Broadway play about Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Tanya Segal

As the first full-time female rabbi in Poland, Tanya Segal has creatively transformed Jewish life in the historic city of Krakow through her blending of Jewish learning and performance art.

Amy Bernstein

As leader of one of the largest Reconstructionist synagogues in the country, Rabbi Amy Bernstein has worked to create the welcoming community for others that she had longed for at an earlier age.

Sophie Tucker / Rachel Bloom

Bawdy Entertainers

Challenging Cultural Mores, One Song at a Time

Ghosting Anxiety Image

Is Your Crush Ghosting You or Do They Just Observe Shabbat?

Sara Lebow

It’s Saturday evening, and it feels like your crush hasn’t talked to you in days. You’ve texted them five times with no response. Are you being ghosted? Or are they just resting for the Sabbath? We’ve created this helpful checklist to help you find out.

Topics: Comedy, Writing

Rebecca Taichman

Rebecca Bayla Taichman’s success as the Tony award-winning director of Indecent is a reflection of her lifelong celebration of plays by and about women.

Paula Vogel

Although she made her Broadway debut with Indecent in 2016, playwright Paula Vogel has long been hailed for her unflinching exploration of taboo topics, from the AIDS crisis to child abuse.

Eliana Light

Eliana Light has used her passion for music and Jewish education to engage children and adults in a relationship with the divine.

Marjorie Fisher

Marjorie Switow Fisher found inventive ways to improve children’s lives, from funding mobile dental clinics to using summer jobs as an opportunity for career training. Fisher majored in art at Marjorie Webster Junior College and graduated at the top of her class.
Glow, a Netflix Original Series (2017-)

Wrestling with Women's Relationships in GLOW

Sara Lebow

The women who stumble into the wrestling show, filled with as much hope, desperation, and monotony as Ruth, do not simply to take over men’s parts, but redefine their own.

Adina Verson and Katrina Lenk in Indecent

Indecent is Here to Stay! (Sort Of)

Elena Hoffenberg

For the first time, ever, I decided to watch the Tony Awards earlier this month. This is unusual for me; even Rachel Bloom hadn’t convinced me to be interested. I know next to nothing about theater, but having studied Yiddish and been fascinated by how we tell the stories of Jewish immigration to the United States, I had tickets next month to see Indecent, a drama about a Yiddish play that featured Broadway’s first on-stage lesbian kiss in 1923. I was excited to see how this play would fare at the awards show. When Rebecca Taichman won the Tony for the Best Direction of a Play for her rendition of Indecent, I grew even more excited. It felt that, at least for a while, Indecent’s legacy was somewhat secure on “the Great White Way.”

Topics: Theater
Cover of Sarah Silverman's A Speck of Dust

A Speck of Silverman

Larisa Klebe

Silverman delivers the type of no-holds-barred, crude, hilarious, smart comedy that we’ve all come to expect from her. She also drops some serious truth bombs.

Topics: Television, Comedy
Gal Gadot cropped

Can Wonder Woman Come Fix Our World Now, Please?

Emily Cataneo

At the onset of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, protagonist Diana Prince has spent her millennia-long life on Themyscira, an idyllic Mediterranean colony of Amazonian women where she grows up learning badass warrior skills from wise matriarchs. The plot kicks off when an American pilot crash-lands off the island’s coast. He tells Diana, played by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, about a cataclysmic war raging back in the world of men, instigated by the bad guys. Who are the bad guys? she asks. He explains succinctly: the Germans.

Topics: Feminism, Film
The Wedding Plan (2017) Movie Poster

Rama Burshtein’s “The Wedding Plan”

Elena Hoffenberg

I did not know what to expect from a romantic comedy about a woman intent on getting married in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, but The Wedding Plan by Rama Burshtein is one of the most feminist films I’ve ever seen.

Topics: Comedy, Film

"Lilith: Demoness or Heroine?" with Alicia Jo Rabins

Join Alicia Jo Rabins: poet, musician, composer, and Jewish educator, as she introduces Girls in Trouble, her new curriculum based on her songs about women in the Bible. Learn about all that this curriculum has to offer and how to use it in your classroom, and participate in some of the activities from Alicia’s lesson about Lilith. Plus, hear Alicia perform her song about Lilith, live!

Rising Voices Fellow Madisen Siegel with her Best Friend Lucy

She Has Pink Hair and Just Doesn't Care

Madisen Siegel

Lucy is easy to find. It’s easy to spot her bobbing pink hair in the crowd, though it might have a blue or purple undertone now. Even before she started dying her hair last year, Lucy made herself known. Whether it’s by singing at the top of her lungs – with perfect pitch, by the way – or boldly introducing herself to strangers left and right, Lucy is not like everyone else.

Topics: Schools, Music, Cantors

Didi Conn

Didi Conn became famous for her role as Frenchy in Grease, then used her fame to advocate for autistic children and their families.
Rising Voices Fellow Molly Pifko Dressed as Princess Leia

The Women of Star Wars: Princesses and Jedi

Molly Pifko

When I was ten years old, I dressed up as Princess Leia for Halloween. I dressed up as her because I admired her, and because I felt like I had no choice. My brother and I were both deep in our Star Wars phases, and I knew I had to match his Darth Vader costume with an iconic character of my own. Of course, as a little girl, there weren’t many iconic female characters to choose from, but I didn’t mind too much at the time. 

Topics: Children, Film
Emma Stone

The 21st Century Scarlet Letter: A Look at How the High School Rumor Mill Affects Teenage Sexuality

Hannah Himmelgreen

I was a sophomore when I first stumbled across Easy A on my Netflix browser one lonely Friday night. The green poster, exclaiming in bold lettering, “Let’s Not and Say We Did,” was the first thing to pop up under the “Top Picks For Hannah” banner. It instantly grabbed my attention. Intrigued, I clicked play. 

Topics: Schools, Film, Fiction
Rising Voices Fellow Aliza Abusch-Magder

Radical Feminist Idea: Independent Identity

Aliza Abusch-Magder

Her struggles are relatable, and her story is compelling, giving hope that we too can break free from the patriarchy. By talking about her life with such brutal honesty, Liz Gilbert provides a cautionary tale for women about what happens when we define ourselves by our relationships with men. 

Topics: Feminism, Marriage, Film
Disney's Zootopia

Zootopia: An Empowering, Feminist Tail

Abigail Fisher

Zootopia actively addresses the struggles associated with being a woman in a modern, though patriarchal, society. Let’s just say, this isn’t your grandmother’s Disney movie (but maybe she would like it). 

Topics: Feminism, Film
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Jewish-American Witches

Sarah Biskowitz

Despite my positive feelings about them, I was disappointed that Tina and Queenie didn’t acknowledge their Jewishness, that the movie left this part of their identity ambiguous. Sometimes it’s fun as a Jewish viewer to get winks that fictional characters may be members of the tribe. The hints of Judaism in Fantastic Beasts, like Tina’s middle name being Esther and a glimpse of a challah, made me smile. But since having two Jewish women starring in such a global, mainstream fantasy film would be monumental, I wished that Tina and Queenie had claimed their heritage proudly like I do.

Topics: Film, Fiction
The Disney Princesses

The Disney Princess Phenomenon

Lili Klayman

From an early age, I learned that diversity in mainstream media was seriously lacking. I grew up in an era when mainstream media was mostly dominated by white, heterosexual people. One example of this is the Disney princesses

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