Voices of Women at Wartime

Tamar Biala has been collecting and editing modern women's midrashim for over 20 years and published them as part of the "Dirshuni" series, with two volumes in Hebrew and one in English. The first Hebrew volume was co-edited with Nehama Weingarten-Mintz.

Since October 7, Biala has received many texts relating to the Hamas attack and its aftermath. In this two-part session we will study these powerful texts...

Thousands of Lone Soldiers come from all over the world to serve in the Israeli army.  What caused these brave youngsters to leave everything and come to Israel? Where do they live? Who does their laundry when they get out for weekends? How do they pay rent? 

Arlene Abrams is a mother of a lone soldier, Efraim. She talks about her son's experience in the Gaza War. Ellen Tuggle is the mother of Zack, a lone...

Anne Rethmann, a PhD fellow from Berlin studying at Hebrew University, explains how the notion of "dignity" entered into the discourse on human rights, and describes the gap between individual human rights and collective human rights. Anne also tells us about her personal experience on October 7, and how various countries, particularly Germany, responded to the war.

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Esther Markus, a social worker and therapist, manager of clinic resilience center of Sdot Negev, and member of Kibbutz Alumim talks to us about her experience on Oct. 7th and the work she has been doing since. The personal tragic story of her husband's death is part of the bigger story of the horrific attack of Hamas.

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Hana Cooper, a digital selections collector for the National Library of Israel, collects online materials related to October 7 and the ensuing war for the massive "Bearing Witness" project. While the library has always collected material on historical events, this is the first time it became actively involved from the start. We learn from Hana the ethical and logistical challenges of ...

Dr. Susan Weiss, founder and director of the Center for Women's Justice, interviews podcast host and to'enet rabbanit Rivkah Lubitch about how Jewish law might affect women in the aftermath of the Gaza war. Susan and Rivkah talk about women who might not be able to get divorced (agunot); women who might need their brother-in-law's permission to remarry (halitzah); and women who may — or may not — have been raped, and h...

Shana Aaronson is the director of Magen, an organization that services and advocates for victims of sexual abuse in the Orthodox and ultra Orthodox Jewish communities. She speaks about the impact of the Gaza War on her work. She explains how the war has had a triggering affect on women who have experienced sexual abuse in the past; and she describes the problems of sexual harassment that have arisen in hotels that are ...

Celia Jawabreh, a feminist social activist and educator in the Arab-Israeli community, has a very painful and candid conversation with us. She tells what it is like to grow up as a woman in a patriarchal religious society, and especially how Arab women (and men) are faring since the 7th of October. We learn what it is like to be identified in public as an Arab and having Israeli Jews suspect her as being pro-Hamas. She described ho...

Embedded trauma specialist Lisa Fliegel recounts working with children survivors of October 7th. Drawing on her experiences in three disparate high conflict zones—Israel, Northern Ireland and inner city Boston—Lisa shares insightful and effective ways of responding to children processing trauma.

Read about Lisa's experiences with children survivors post-October 7th here.