SPECIAL: Our Top Stories For International Women’s Day 2019

In honor of International Women’s Day, we here at the Forward are taking a moment to look back at a selection of last year's reporting and commentary on Jewish women's issues.

Helen Chernikoff, Senior News Editor: These Synagogues Aren’t Orthodox. So Why Are Women Not Allowed To Read Torah?

Historically, Jewish men and women play very different religious roles. In the era of American Judaism, however, both women and men have fought for women’s rights to read Torah and count in the quorum of 10 required to say the most important prayers. In one American-Jewish community, tensions around this issue linger. In January, Ari Feldman visited a synagogue that tries to accommodate a range of preferences, by continuing to host services for the minority which prefers a male-led service. Read on.

Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Life Editor: Mikveh And The American Jewish Woman: It’s Complicated

As I often teach Jewish brides about traditional mikveh (ritual bath) use, a few months ago I got curious about the history of the American mikveh -- how it has evolved over the centuries. While traditionalists insist that the mikveh is primarily a married woman’s place to prepare herself for sexuality, progressives deem tradition as deeply patriarchal and redefine the bath as a place anyone may visit whenever one’s kavannah [intention] inclines one to do so. I wondered: Does this fork in the road have something deeper to say about the future of American Jewry? Read on.

Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Life Editor: On Abortion In The Orthodox Community

After Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the future of Roe v. Wade came to the fore — I was struck by the online discourse in the Jewish community around abortion. It was brutally black-and-white, with many insisting that Jewish law absolutely forbids termination. I wanted to show people that the reality is much more complicated than they think — and I hoped to inspire sensitivity in the wider Jewish community. Read on.

Talya Zax, Deputy Culture Editor: “Why Are Men So Obsessed With Resurrecting Anne Frank?”

Anne Frank occupies a completely unique position of cultural and political importance, and her significance is inextricably attached to the fact that she was a young woman. Given that, it’s worth interrogating the ways in which men have shaped her public image and continue to lay particular claim to her legacy, which I did in an essay for the Forward January magazine. Read on.

Jenny Singer, Deputy Life Editor: “What The New York Times Got Wrong About Me As A Hasidic Woman”

If you are not yourself an Orthodox woman, chances are monumentally high that your preconceptions of Orthodox women are incorrect. I got chills from Sara Blau’s super-polite takedown of the New York Times article that featured her, called “A Glimpse Inside the Hidden World of Hasidic Women.” That article would suggest that one of its subjects writing a rebuttal in a national publication would be like hearing a statue speak. Read on.

Batya Ungar-Sargon, Opinion Editor: Can We Talk About Rape In The Holocaust?

I had never thought about rape in the Holocaust before I met Rochelle Seidel, whose groundbreaking work and exhibit brought sexual assault into the mainstream, against much resistance. It’s such a heartbreaking thing to consider, and one wants to almost protect survivors who sought to keep this part of their experience secret. And Seidel found a way to honor their trauma as well as themselves. Read on.

These stories take time – and resources.

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