Politics and Government

Sara Stern-Katan (1919–2001) was a Holocaust survivor, leader, and politician who played a central role in Religious Zionist movements in Poland, Germany, and the State of Israel.

A pediatrician trained in Germany and Russia, specializing in the care of infants and mothers, Roza Shabad-Gawronska was president of the OZE/TOZ (Jewish Health Care Society) in Vilna on the eve of World War II. In the Vilna ghetto, she established all the medical and medico-social institutions for young children, including the orphanage and day care center. She was assassinated with the children of the orphanage in September 1943.

A transformational leader, Shoshana Pakciarz helped build nonprofit social service and arts organizations across the Boston area. As executive director of Project Bread, she expanded the Walk for Hunger into a major annual fundraiser with over 40,000 participants, raising millions to fight hunger. A longtime board president of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, she helped it grow into a beloved and internationally recognized cultural institution.

Miriam Shtarkman-Verlinsky was a trailblazer for women in the legal field in Israel, with a lifelong dedication to Zionism and women’s rights. Shtarkman-Verlinsky  was the second women to become a judge in the newly established state and the first to become a Chief Magistrate. 

Ruth Dayan, married to Israeli general Moshe Dayan, built a life entirely her own. She worked with Jewish immigrants from Yemen and North Africa; founded the fashion house Maskit, and later became a sharp critic of Israeli policy and a tenacious ally to Palestinian activists and Arab intellectuals.

Zionist and women's rights activist Adina Kahansky emigrated from Lithuania to Argentina in 1894 and arrived in Erez Israel in 1902. One of the first two women in the Yishuv elected to a local council, he settled in Rishon le-Zion, joined women's organizations, and published in the Hebrew press advocating for women’s rights, the implementation of the Hebrew language, and a Jewish state. 

Dalia Itzik is a former politician and was the first woman to serve as the Speaker of the Knesset. She also was the first woman to serve as the acting President of Israel. 

Marcia Judith Prince Freedman was an American-Israeli feminist writer, Knesset member, and advocate for women's rights who played a pivotal role in establishing Israel's feminist movement. Her activism included founding consciousness-raising groups, advocating for equal pay and reproductive rights, and challenging sexist religious laws. She also became politically involved in the United States, pushing for a new perspective on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

A lifelong rebel, a trade unionist, and a Trotskyite, Fanny Klenerman is chiefly associated with the Vanguard bookshop, an icon in left-wing circles in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the period 1931 to 1974.