While the podcast is on hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. This time, an episode featuring a 2006 interview with Joan Rivers from JWA's documentary Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women. This is the first episode in a two-part series about Joan Rivers. 

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 While the podcast is on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. First up, an episode from 2020 called Coming of Age with Judy Blume. To mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic novel Are you There God, It's Me Margaret? Nahanni and Judith re-read the book with their pre-teen daughters, Shalvah and Ma'ayan. Then they got together to discuss the book—what felt dated and what still felt relevant. 

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Sheket bevakasha! We're in the thick of summer, so we're talking about—what else?—camp! In this special summer episode, Nahanni, Judith, and Jen talk about The Floaters, a fun new movie set at a Jewish summer camp, and how the film fit—or didn't—with their camp experiences and their kids'. Then, Shai Korman, who produced the film along with his sisters Becky and Lily, joins the conversation to talk about creating authentic Jewish characters, why they decided to create a camp run by women, and why a Jewish camp movie can be for everyone.

For more conversation about iconic summer movies with a Jewish twist, check out our episode marking the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing.

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In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler, Nahanni Rous, and Judith Rosenbaum recap the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 podcast seasons, revisiting episodes about a Jewish woman in a Japanese internment camp, America’s first TV mom, a Tel Aviv–Ramallah romance, and much more.

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Sari Bashi’s memoir Upside Down Love chronicles the tumultuous early years of her relationship with Osama (a pseudonym for the man she eventually marries). Sari is an Israeli Jewish woman and Osama is Palestinian. The book is set between Tel Aviv, where Sari lived at the time, and Osama’s home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Sari describes the physical and emotional boundaries she and Osama have overcome, and how they are raising their trilingual, multicultural children. She also talks about what it’s like to be a Jewish woman living in a Palestinian city in the West Bank.

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UK-based columnist and author Hadley Freeman joins us to discuss the wave of violent attacks on British Jews, which has spurred UK prime minister Keir Starmer to declare antisemitism a crisis. In her Sunday Times column, Hadley writes frequently about antisemitism, gender, and politics. She is also the author of several books, including House Of Glass, about her grandmother’s family during the Holocaust.

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For generations of readers, Judy Blume's novels made growing up feel less lonely. In this episode, Judith Rosenbaum talks with Mark Oppenheimer, author of a new biography of Blume, about their favorite Blume titles, what’s Jewish about her work, and why her novels are radical in ways people often overlook. Throughout the episode, listeners share what Judy Blume's books mean to them.

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It is a tense moment in the war between the United States and Israel, and Iran. A temporary ceasefire is set to expire, and it is unclear whether diplomacy will resume or violence will erupt again.

Roya Hakakian is a writer, journalist, and political commentator and the author of Journey from the Land of No, a memoir about growing up Jewish in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution. She and her family fled Iran for the United States in 1985.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, Roya describes what it’s been like to watch the conflict unfold, her hopes for the Iranian people, and what Western feminists can learn from Iranian women.

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What does it mean to be a third-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors? Jen reflects on her grandparents' experiences in the Holocaust—the ones they shared and the ones they didn't—and her responsibility to learn about and share them with her children. She also talks to Rachael Cerrotti, creator of We Share the Same Sky, a podcast about her journey tracing her grandmother's Holocaust survival story. Together, they explore how our family stories help us understand our own lives, and how we carry the past into the present and the future. 

More about Rachael Cerrotti's work: 

Personal website

Substack

We Share The Same Sky podcast

We Share The Same Sky book

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In the years since her death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been remembered as a feminist icon and, more recently, a figure some blame for the Court's sharp rightward turn, the fall of Roe v Wade—even the decline of American democracy. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we take a new look at RBG’s legacy. Actor Michelle Azar, who brings Ginsburg to life in the one-woman show All Things Equal, talks about changing audience reactions in a moment of deep political and legal upheaval. Then, journalist and Supreme Court expert Dahlia Lithwick dissects the stories we tell about Ginsburg—from the “Notorious RBG” phenomenon to the backlash that followed her death—and explores what those narratives get right, and what they miss. Together, we dig into Ginsburg’s legal strategy, her critiques of Roe, and the enduring impact of her commitment to equality and civility.

Schedule and tickets for All Things Equal tour

Profile of RBG in JWA's Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

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The word zaftig has been used to describe everyone from 1930s burlesque dancers to Marilyn Monroe to buxom bubbies. But what does it really mean? Is it only for women? And is it a compliment—or an insult?

English-Yiddish dictionary editor Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath helps answer these questions in our latest "Word of the Week" episode. Comedian Judy Gold, Talmud explainer Miriam Anzovin, and writer Lizzie Skurnick also share their takes. 

And Jen heads to Zaftigs Delicatessen in Brookline, MA to hear what diners think of the word. 

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In this bonus episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler talks to Stephanie Butnick, founder of the Jewish lifestyle newsletter GOLDA, about sparking Jewish joy through rituals, books, art—and shopping. 

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To mark our 10th anniversary, we're re-releasing our pilot episode about...pilots! Elynor Rudnick and Zahara Levitov grew up on different continents: one in America, one in British-ruled Palestine. In the 1940s, they were both young Jewish women with pilot's licenses. During some of the most turbulent years in modern Jewish history, their stories were woven together—not by fate, but by flight. Plus, Deb Dreyfus, a modern day Jewish woman pilot, takes our host Nahanni Rous for a spin in her four-seater Cessna.

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From "Jewess Jeans" to "Coffee Talk" to "Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy," Jewish women have left their mark on Saturday Night Live as cast members and as characters. In this episode of Can We Talk? we look at the evolving role of Jewish women on the show over its 50 years on TV. Original cast member Laraine Newman talks about how her Jewish identity influenced the characters she played, and how the show reflects changing attitudes about being Jewish. Also, pop culture scholar Jennifer Caplan helps us dissect some iconic sketches—some of which have aged better than others. 

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Step into the history of queer Jews in Washington, DC, as Nahanni tours the Capital Jewish Museum’s current exhibit, “LGBTJews in the Federal City” with curators Jonathan Edelman and Sarah Leavitt. Through artifacts, photos, and oral histories, the exhibit looks at decades of federal discrimination and the fight for equality, the AIDS epidemic and national response, and the transformation of Jewish communal life locally and nationally. Highlights include a panel from the AIDS memorial quilt, a purple, sequined gown from DC’s favorite Jewish drag queen, and a pair of rotary phones that dial up oral history clips from local LGBTQ community members.  

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Guita Sazan grew up in a Jewish family in Tehran in the 1960s and 1970s, during the reign of the Shah. She was a teenager during the Islamic Revolution against the Shah and was inspired to join the struggle, even becoming a practicing Muslim. But as time went by, the new regime became more and more repressive, until finally Guita realized her own life might be in danger unless she fled the country. Guita joins us to discuss her dramatic life story and her new memoir Mirrors on Fire: A Jewish Girl Seized in Pursuit of Jihad.

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On October 9, 2023, two days after the Hamas attack, Israeli trauma therapist Merav Roth visited survivors of Kibbutz Be’eri in the hotel they had been evacuated to. Some had seen family members murdered; others were raped or fled homes that were set on fire. Merav stayed and worked with them for weeks. She also helped organize hundreds of therapists to provide emergency aid to survivors. For the past two years, she has continued to work with survivors, with the families of hostages, and with hostages released in every round of agreements—including the most recent one. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Merav describes how some of the hostages coped in captivity, what she's hearing from Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, and what long-term recovery from trauma can look like. 

This episode contains descriptions of violence.

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Public radio icon Susan Stamberg died on October 16, 2025, at the age of 87. In this special episode, we pay tribute to Susan by listening back to our 2018 interview in which she discusses her New York accent, how early NPR audiences responded to hearing a woman deliver the nightly news, and what she listens for in a broadcast voice. The interview was part of an episode about women's voices in broadcasting, called "Breaking the Sound Barrier." 

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Two years after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, we speak with family members of Vivian Silver and Hayim Katsman, Israeli peace activists who were murdered that day. Hayim’s mother Hannah Wacholder Katsman and Vivian’s son Yonatan Zeigen share how they are carrying on their legacies.

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In the spring of 1942, at the height of World War II, Elaine Buchman Yoneda became the only Jewish woman on record to be imprisoned in an American concentration camp. Manzanar was one of the detention centers—commonly known as Japanese internment camps—where the US government imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese descent, the majority of whom were American citizens, during the war. Elaine spent ten months in Manzanar, along with her Japanese-American husband, Karl, and their 3-year-old son, Tommy. 

In this episode of Can We Talk?, Tracy Slater, author of Together in Manzanar, describes the bleak living conditions in the camp, the tensions that festered among the prisoners, and how the Yonedas became targets of violence. She also talks about how the anti-immigrant and racist policies of the time tore families apart, and how those same forces are reemerging today.

Photos reprinted with permission from Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp by Tracy Slater. 

Translation of Elaine Buchman Yoneda's letter used with permission from Manzanar: Internment Camp Diary (English Translation) by Karl G. Yoneda and Ian R. Forsyth. 

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From 1929 until the mid 1950s, Molly Goldberg was America’s favorite Jewish mother. Her character was written, acted, and embodied by Gertrude Berg, the first female showrunner and the first woman to win an Emmy for television. First on radio, then on television, The Goldbergs was a hit show and the first family sitcom. In this episode of Can We Talk?, New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum introduces us to Gertrude Berg and her lovable character Molly Goldberg. We talk about how Molly remade the image of the Jewish mother, how McCarthy-era persecution led to the show’s downfall, and how the show still resonates today.

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For the last of our summer re-releases, we're taking you back to an episode from 2017 about mah jongg, an ancient Chinese table game that’s embedded in Jewish culture. 

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In this special summer episode, Judith, Nahanni, and Jen each share something they've read, watched, or listened to this summer that Can We Talk? listeners will love. 

Judith: Reformed (streaming on Max)

Nahanni: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden; Journey From the Land of No by Roya Hakakian; As A Jew by Sarah Hurwitz

Jen: The Retrievals podcast, season 2

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While the podcast is on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. This time, an episode from 2021 about Moroccan Israeli singer Zohra El Fassia.

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While the podcast is on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. First up, an episode from 2022 all about the word yenta: where it came from, what people think of it, and how its meaning changed over time. Enjoy! 

This episode includes music by Alicia Jo Rabins.

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Supporting and embracing queer Jews has been Idit Klein's mission for over a quarter century. Since 2001, she has led Keshet, which is now the largest organization for LGBTQ+ Jews in America. With her departure from Keshet approaching, Idit sat down with her longtime friend Judith Rosenbaum, to reflect on her career, the impact of today's political climate on her work, and how much has changed for queer Jews in her lifetime. 

This episode includes Taoudella from Blue Dot Sessions. 

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In June 2025, the thirteenth cohort of Orthodox women rabbis graduates from Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox yeshiva in North America dedicated to ordaining women. In this episode, we look at the status of the so-called stained-glass ceiling for Orthodox women rabbis as they seek pulpit positions, and we talk about the unique challenges for women’s leadership in the Orthodox movement. We speak with Rabbanit Leah Sarna, Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman, and Yeshivat Maharat’s founder and president, Rabba Sara Hurwitz.

This episode includes Tiny Putty from Blue Dot Sessions. 

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For centuries, writing a Torah scroll was a sacred task reserved for men. But a couple of decades ago, a handful of women decided to pick up the quill—without waiting for permission—and paved the way for other women to do the same. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from women who write Torah scrolls and explore what it means to inscribe yourself into tradition.

To learn more about the work of the sofrot featured in this episode, and about sofrut in general, check out these resources: 

Jen Taylor Friedman

Shoshana Gugenheim

Julie Seltzer

Ariela Housman

Stam Scribes - Jewish Scribal Collective

Lauren Greenhall - That's How You Make A Torah (Documentary Short)

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In this special Mother’s Day episode, Nahanni interviews her mother, Emma Rous, who died this winter. They talk about how Emma’s teenage activism in a Protestant youth group influenced her politics, her conversion to Judaism in 1971, memories of her first Yom Kippur, what it was like to invent her own Jewish identity, and how Judaism eventually became her home.

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In honor of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, we're sharing a podcast episode from Making Gay History’s current series about the Nazi era.

Frieda Belinfante was a Dutch musician and underground activist who risked her life to help save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis. She’s one of several LGBTQ people whose testimonies are featured in this Making Gay History series. Check out the rest of the series at makinggayhistory.org.

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At the Jewish Women's Archive, we’re closely following the attacks on democracy unfolding around us every day. In this special Can We Talk? audio essay, our own Judith Rosenbaum, JWA's CEO,  calls out President Trump's moves to erase the histories of women and other marginalized groups. A version of this piece first ran on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's website.

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The climate crisis has entered an alarming new era. Since President Trump started his second term, the Environmental Protection Agency has fired scores of climate scientists and is trying to roll back climate protections and slash clean energy funding. For organizations like Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, it's been a giant step backward.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, CEO of Dayenu, about how climate activists are navigating a new political landscape, how Jewish values fuel her work, and how the fight for climate action echoes the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, which Jews will soon mark at our Passover seders. 

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As the war between Ukraine and Russia enters its fourth year, Nahanni checks in with Vlada Nedak, the CEO of Project Kesher Ukraine. While American officials try to broker a temporary ceasefire, attacks on the ground in Ukraine are intensifying. Dozens of people have been injured and killed in the past month, including children. According to Reuters, over 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia invaded the country in 2022. Vlada Nadek lives in Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine, which is frequently the target of Russian missile and drone attacks.

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In this special Purim episode, Talmudic TikToker and storyteller Miriam Anzovin joins us to talk about the darker side of the Purim story, especially the role of gender. We start with a dramatic retelling of the Megillah, with Miriam's very contemporary spin on the traditional tale. Then we take a closer look at the story's gender dynamics, which still resonate 2,500 years later. Happy Purim!

Content warning: This episode includes explicit language and references to sexual assault. 

Use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this podcast episode in your classroom or community. 

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Just over eight years ago, Judith and Nahanni were looking for solace after Donald Trump rode a xenophobic, misogynistic and hate-filled campaign to his first presidential victory. In a November 2016 episode of Can We Talk?, we turned to the poet Emma Lazarus, the Jewish woman who gave the statue of liberty a voice and transformed her into the symbolic mother of exiles. Now, as President Trump turns refugees and asylum seekers away, tightens our borders, and orders the deportation of thousands of immigrants, that conversation feels relevant all over again. We begin our spring season in March. For now, we're sharing that 2016 episode about Emma Lazarus, "Sonnet for America."

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On August 4, 1869, a Jewish baby girl named Josie became Alaska’s first pioneer daughter. Josephine Rudolph was born in Sitka, Alaska to German immigrants, and returned to Germany when she was 6 years old. Seven decades later, her American birth saved her life when the Nazis came to power.

Josie’s story takes us from the muddy frontier town of Sitka to Hitler youth parades in Nazi Germany and finally to postwar New York, where her family tried to find their place. It's a remarkable tale of the survival of one Jewish woman and her family, but it's also part of a much bigger story—about antisemitism, refugees, and settlement, about who belongs, and where.

First we'll hear from Tom Kizzia, the journalist who reported Josie's story, and then from Susie Hoffman and Amy Weiss, Josie's great-granddaughters. 

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It’s a Can We Talk? party! Welcome to our 120th episode 🥳.  We're celebrating this milestone podcast style—Jen gets Judith and Nahanni reminiscing about the early days, we revisit clips from some of our favorite episodes, and we hear "Until 120!" in six languages. We’re honored to be feted by some very special past guests and fans of Can We Talk?, including Susan Stamberg of NPR, comedians Judy Gold and Iris Bahr, actor Eleanor Reissa, singers Galeet Dardashti and Erez Zobary, Noah Efron of The Promised Podcast, and our own daughters.

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Toronto R & B musician Erez Zobary was always proud of her Yemenite Jewish identity, but didn't explore it in her music - until now. Her new album, Erez, is a soulful, personal collection of songs that draws on her family's stories of life in Yemen and Israel. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Erez helps us kick off Mizrahi Heritage Month, when we celebrate the cultures and contributions of Jews from the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Erez talks about her family story, the troubled history of Yemenite Jews in Israel, and her feelings about her identity—and we hear songs from her brand new album.

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This Sukkot, we're welcoming a special guest into Can We Talk?’s virtual sukkah: the Talmudic “femme fatale” Homa, one of the women featured in her new book, The Madwoman in the Rabbi's Attic. In this episode, Talmud scholar Gila Fine tells Homa’s story, reinterprets it from Homa’s perspective, and explains why she thinks Homa makes a fitting symbolic guest for Sukkot.

Use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this podcast episode in your classroom or community.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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A year after Hamas’ brutal October 7 attacks on Israel, the war is far from over. Israel is fighting on multiple fronts—with Hamas in Gaza, with Hezbollah in Lebanon—while war threatens to explode with Iran. Hamas is still holding 101 hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom have been confirmed dead by the IDF.  In this episode of Can We Talk?, three Israeli women—Lee Hoffman Agiv, Stav Salpeter, and Ruby Russell—share thoughts about marking the first anniversary of the attacks in the midst of an ongoing and escalating war. We also speak with Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed, Hebrew University professor of Zohar and Jewish mysticism, who discusses atonement and redemption and what her Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group has meant to her during the past year.  

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Before Joan Rivers, there was another Jewish woman who broke ground as a stand-up comedian. Her name was Jean Carroll, and although she was a household name in the 50s and 60s, today she has been mostly forgotten. Grace Kessler Overbeke hopes her new book about Jean Carroll, First Lady of Laughs, will change that. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we talk to Grace about why Jean Carroll deserves to be remembered for changing both the face of comedy and people's ideas about what a Jewish woman could be. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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The iconic Dr. Ruth Westheimer died earlier this year at the age of 96. Dr. Ruth was a trailblazer for her candid and joyful talk about sex, regularly using words like "masturbate" and "vibrator" on the air, and talking about sexual pleasure— including women's sexual pleasure—at a time when few others did. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we remember and celebrate Dr. Ruth. Historian and author Rebecca Davis explores Dr. Ruth's radical legacy and actress Tovah Feldshuh reflects on their friendship. Plus, archival tape of Dr. Ruth herself dishing out sex advice to her devoted listeners. 

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In this bonus episode, Nahanni Rous shares stories from a trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Nahanni visits a solar energy training center, a skateboarding competition, and the annual Oglala Nation powwow, and meets people who are trying to build a better future, both by innovating and by reclaiming tradition.

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In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen, Nahanni, and Judith recap the past two seasons of the podcast, in which we entered the uncharted territory of a post-October 7 world. We discuss our approach to creating episodes about Jewish women’s responses to the attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, while still making space to tell stories about other aspects of Jewish life.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, Can We Talk? has focused on Israeli women’s responses to the war. In this episode, we turn our attention to Gaza, where Israel’s sustained bombardment has taken a terrible toll—tens of thousands of people have been killed, nearly two million people have been displaced, and the medical system is in ruins.

Over a hundred thousand Palestinians have fled Gaza for Egypt in the past eight months. Human rights activist Jen Marlowe has been raising money and working to help people with the expensive, bureaucratic and logistically complicated border crossing. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak to Jen about her recent trip to Egypt to meet with some of the people she has helped get to safety, the conditions people face in Gaza, and what it’s like for her, a Jewish woman, to do this work. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Dr. Mollie Wallick didn't set out to be a gay rights activist; she stumbled into the role in 1983, when she was a guidance counselor at Louisiana State University’s medical school in New Orleans. In this episode of Can We Talk?, you’ll hear excerpts from Mollie’s 2005 interview for the “Women Who Dared” oral history project. As we kick off Pride Month, Mollie’s story reminds us how much has changed in just a few decades—language, attitudes, and policies. And it offers a glimpse of what it was like to be an advocate for gay students at a time when their school, and society in general, offered few resources and many obstacles.

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Segun el tiempo, se abolta la vela. That’s a Ladino saying that means, “According to the weather, shift your sail.” And it's an apt way of describing Ladino's recent comeback. Ladino—or Judeo-Spanish—the language spoken by Sephardic Jews in Turkey, Greece and North Africa, saw a major decline after the Holocaust destroyed communities of native speakers. But like a sailboat shifting course when the wind changes direction, Ladino has adapted to the times. In this episode of Can We Talk, you’ll hear how from Naomi Spector and Nesi Altaras, two Ladino enthusiasts, and from Hannah Pressman, one of the people spearheading Ladino’s resurgence. 

Additional resources: 

The American Ladino League 

Ladinokomunita (online Ladino discussion group)

Documenting Judeo-Spanish (solitreo documents and reading guide) 

Ladino Linguist (Bryan Kirschen)

Hannah S. Pressman (selected writing)

Enkontros de Alhad (weekly Ladino talk show)

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Lenora LaMarche, better known as Leni, was born in 1921 in the Sephardic Jewish community in Seattle, Washington, after her parents moved there from Rhodes, looking for better economic opportunities. She grew up speaking Ladino, and for over 30 years, she wrote a Ladino column in her synagogue newspaper called "Bavajadas de Ben Adam"—people’s foolish little words. 

In this episode of Can We Talk?, you’ll hear excerpts from an interview she did in 2001 for the “Weaving Women’s Words '' oral history project, in which she reflects on her Sephardic heritage and peppers her stories with colorful Ladino words and sayings. Her testimony is one of hundreds in JWA’s Tanner Oral History Collection.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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When Ronya Schwaab was a young girl, the highlight of her year was preparing for Pesach—the snow was melting, and she got to help bake matzos. Ronya was born in 1909 in Belarus. She grew up amidst the violence and antisemitism of World War I and the Russian Revolution, and immigrated to America as a teenager. As an adult, Ronya devoted her life to helping other Jews escape from the Soviet Union. In this episode of Can We Talk?, you’ll hear excerpts from an interview she did in 1997 for the “Women Whose Lives Span the Century'' oral history project, a partnership between JWA and Temple Israel of Boston. Her testimony is one of hundreds in JWA’s Tanner Oral History Collection. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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A lot of people love klezmer music and know that it made a big comeback a few decades ago. But not a lot of people know that the klezmer revival of the '70s and '80s was connected to queer Jewish liberation. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we’ll hear about how queer activism fits into the klezmer revival story from Eve Sicular, the drummer and leader of the all-female klezmer sextet Isle of Klezbos. And of course, we’ll hear some great klezmer.

Use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this podcast episode in your classroom or community.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Last time on Can We Talk?, we spoke with Danielle and Galeet Dardashti about their new podcast, The Nightingale of Iran, which tells the story of their Persian family's musical legacy. Now, we're sharing the whole first episode with you. Enjoy!  

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Danielle and Galeet Dardashti grew up in a very musical family—they had a family band, their father was a cantor, their mother was a folk singer, and their grandfather was a famous singer in “the golden age” of Iran in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, with his own show on Iranian national radio. But growing up, they didn’t know much about the Persian side of their musical legacy. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni speaks with Galeet, an anthropologist, musician, and composer, and Danielle, a journalist and storyteller, about uncovering that legacy in their new podcast series, The Nightingale of Iran. They talk about what it was like to connect with their family’s Persian musical tradition—and what happened to that tradition when the family left Iran.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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“From the deepest crises come the clearest visions…We're fighting for our lives. We're fighting for our future,” says Sally Abed of Standing Together, a grassroots political movement in Israel. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel who are working on shared society initiatives, even in the midst of the war. Sally Abed, Hanan Alsanah, Ayesha Ziadna, Khitam Abu Bader, and Racheli Geffen talk about how the war has affected their lives, work, and identity; the unique qualities women bring to social justice work; and their vision for a shared future. Jen Richler recorded their remarks during a women’s mission to Israel in January 2024 co-organized by the Jewish Women’s Archive.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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When Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, they raped, tortured, and mutilated women’s bodies in unimaginable ways. News about the sexual violence emerged within days, but few women’s organizations spoke up to condemn it. Some even questioned whether the claims were true. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we discuss the sexual violence of October 7, the effort to collect evidence, and the international response—or lack thereof.  We speak with Hadas Ziv, who co-authored a Physicians for Human Rights Israel paper on the crimes, and Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, one of the sponsors of a recent event at the United Nations aimed at calling attention to the sexual assaults. We’ll also hear excerpts of testimonies given at the UN by people who saw evidence of sexual violence on the bodies of women killed by Hamas. 

Please note, this episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Iris Bahr was halfway around the world when she saw her mother having a stroke over video chat. Within days, she was on an airplane, uprooting her life to become her mother’s primary caregiver. The stroke led to vascular dementia– an irreversible condition. Iris is a writer and actor and chronicles the story in a poignant—and funny— one-woman show See You Tomorrow.  In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni speaks with Iris Bahr about caring for her aging mother and about creating art from personal tragedy. Excerpts from Iris’s show are woven throughout the interview.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Food can be a vehicle for telling stories, connecting with people, and understanding our history—including the uncomfortable parts. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler heads to Charleston, South Carolina to learn about Southern Jewish history through the lens of food. Over a home-cooked meal, Jen talks with Rachel Gordin Barnett and Lyssa Kligman Harvey, co-authors of the new book Kugels & Collards: Stories of Food, Family, and Tradition in Jewish South Carolina. She also talks with Dale Rosengarten, a scholar of Southern Jewish history, and Kim Cliett Long, a scholar whose rich family story weaves together Jewish and African American identities.  

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Today, November 7, 2023, marks one month since the Hamas attacks on Israel, when 1,400 people in Israel were killed. A month has passed, which feels both like a lifetime and like one long, terrible day. This tragedy is present, and raw and still unfolding. Close to 250 Israelis and foreign citizens are still being held captive in Gaza. At least 30 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza. The Palestinian health ministry says that over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed. Israelis and Palestinians and people all around the world are in mourning.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, we share Rabbi Ayelet Cohen's remarks at a recent vigil in Manhattan, and end with a moment of silence, like the one observed today in Israel.

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Israel has been at war with Hamas for nearly a month. Israeli and Palestinian casualties are devastating–and mounting. In Israel, women are on the front lines of a major grassroots mobilization: providing emergency relief to a country in crisis. An army of volunteers of all ages and genders has stepped in to organize clothing, food, and housing for displaced Israelis; students and therapists are working with traumatized kids; and programmers are building apps to connect people with services. Many of these efforts have emerged from organizations that originally formed to protest the Netanyahu government's proposed judicial reforms. They’ve now shifted gears to respond to the current crisis in Israel. In this episode, we speak with Lee Hoffman Agiv, Field Operations Manager of the feminist organization Bonot Alternativa (Building an Alternative), who’s coordinating efforts from Bonot’s “war room.”

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Vivian Silver has been missing since October 7, the day Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,400 people in Israel and took more than 200 hostages to Gaza. Since then, more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel's air strikes in Gaza. Vivian is 74 years old, from Kibbutz Be’eri, on the Gaza border. In this episode, we speak with her friend Ariella Giniger, who was in touch with Vivian as Hamas terrorists entered her house on the morning of October 7.  We’ll also hear parts of our 2017 interview with Vivian, an active member of Women Wage Peace, a movement of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women demanding a peaceful solution to the conflict.

On November 13, Vivian Silver was declared dead after her remains were found at her home. May her memory be a blessing. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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It's been a terrifying week of violence in Israel. Instead of our planned episode of Can We Talk?, this week we offer a poem called “Mishalot”—requests, or wishes—by Esther Raab, one of modern Hebrew’s first female poets, born in Israel in 1894.  She wrote “Mishalot” in 1967, around the time of the Six-Day War. The poem is a reminder that even in dark days, hope can be part of our legacy.

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What did JOIN for Justice, the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network, do when the pandemic made its in-person community organizing fellowship impossible? It turned the obstacle into an opportunity, shifting to a virtual fellowship specifically for people with disabilities. 

Over seven months in 2021, a cohort of Jewish young adults with a wide range of disabilities, race and gender identities, and social justice interests met online for JOIN’s Access to Power Fellowship.  In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from the Access To Power director and two participants about how the fellowship shaped them, how their Jewish and disabled identities intersect, and why disabled people should be at the forefront of movements for social change.

Additional resources:

The 10 Principles of Disability Justice

Places to Start Working Toward Accessibility

Rabbi Lauren Tuchman's website

Rabbi Julia Watts Belser's website

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Golda Meir is known as Israel's "Iron Lady": gruff, chain-smoking, and fiercely ambitious. In the eyes of many, she was also responsible for the Yom Kippur War, which cost thousands of lives. But Golda's story is far more complex.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, as we approach 50 years since the Yom Kippur War, we go beyond the caricatures and talk about aspects of Golda's career that are often overlooked: the ways she helped build the fledgling state of Israel, her relationship with Israel’s Mizrahim, and her complicated attitude toward feminism. We speak with Guy Nattiv, director of the new film Golda, starring Helen Mirren, and with author Francine Klagsbrun, whose biography of Golda, Lioness, came out in 2017. 

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While we’re hard at work on our fall season, which launches Sept 12, enjoy this bonus episode from Joia Putnoi. Joia recorded this conversation with her grandmother Fran Putnoi, or “Granfran,” for a college class. It's about passing recipes and stories from one generation of Jewish women to the next. We think you’ll love it.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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That's a wrap! In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni Rous, Jen Richler, and Judith Rosenbaum recap the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 seasons—from a celebration at a queer Jewish chicken farm to the fight for Israel's "chained women" to reproductive rights after Roe, and much more. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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From Portnoy’s Complaint to Seinfeld, the word shiksa is firmly embedded in popular culture. Where does the word come from, and how has its meaning changed over time? In this episode, we’re bringing you another installment of our “Word of the Week” series, where we dig into one word and explore how it relates to Jewish women. Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Keren McGinity, and Kylie Ora Lobell give us their takes.

This episode features music by Alicia Jo Rabins (www.aliciajo.com).

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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What did talented, dedicated Jewish women do before they could become rabbis? Some became rebbetzins. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we’re looking at the changing role of the rebbetzin—the rabbi’s wife. Women have been rabbis in America for just over half a century, but for as long as there have been rabbis, there have been rabbis' wives—and they've often served as leaders, too. We'll hear from Shuly Rubin Schwartz, author of The Rabbi’s Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life, and from three spouses of rabbis.

This episode includes Tiny Putty by Blue Dot Sessions. 

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Alice Shalvi has been an Israeli feminist pioneer for decades. Born in Germany and raised in England, she moved to Israel in 1949, a young woman excited to help build a new state. She’s spent her life there, working for gender equality and a more just society. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum joins us to tell Alice’s story, and to talk about the ways she’s fought to make Israel a better country. You'll also hear excerpts from conversations between Judith and Alice.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Hebrew is a very gendered language; every noun in Hebrew is either feminine or masculine. So are pronouns, including “I” and “you.” This makes it nearly impossible to utter a sentence in Hebrew without using gender. So as a Hebrew speaker, how do you refer to a mixed-gender group? What about nonbinary people? In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with Michal Shomer, Dafna Eisenreich, and Tal Janner-Klausner, three activists who are taking Hebrew beyond the gender binary and promoting a Hebrew language that includes people of all genders.

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Israel turns 75 this week. This milestone comes at a moment of unprecedented upheaval in Israeli society and escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Over the past few months, around 1.5 million Israelis have poured into the streets to protest the judicial reforms proposed by Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government, which would weaken the power of the Supreme Court.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, we'll hear four Jewish Israeli women from diverse backgrounds reflect on how the country arrived at this tumultuous moment. They'll talk about their hopes and fears for the country, and what the protests have meant to them.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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When the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade, it eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion. As of April 2023, it is now essentially illegal to have an abortion in 15 states. That means limited to no access to terminating a pregnancy. But many people don't realize these bans also affect people who want to get pregnant. Jessica Kalb, Lisa Sobel, and Sarah Baron are among those people. They're suing their home state of Kentucky for its abortion ban, claiming it violates their right to grow their families and their religious freedom as Jews. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we bring you a story about the far-reaching consequences of the Dobbs decision, and three Jewish women who are fighting back. 

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Samira Mehta is the daughter of a white American mother and a South Asian immigrant father.  She’s also a Jew by choice and a scholar of American religious history and women’s and gender studies. Her new book, The Racism of People Who Love You examines the subtle, everyday racism of intimate interactions. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum speaks with Samira about her identity, the differences between racial and cultural privilege, and the conversations about racism and belonging that inspired the book.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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In 2017, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the New York Times story about producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse of women. Their reporting lit a fire under the #MeToo movement, led to Weinstein’s conviction, and prompted a national reckoning with sexual abuse. They chronicled the experience in their book She Said, which was made into a film by the same title in 2022. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni Rous talks with Jodi Kantor about how Weinstein tried to play the “Jew-to-Jew” card with her, what she learned about taking on a bully, and how she felt about the film’s portrayal of her as a working mom.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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It all started at a preschool Hanukkah party a few years ago. That's when an offhand remark led Rabbi Minna Bromberg to start Fat Torah, a project to end fat stigma in Jewish communal life. In this episode of Can We Talk, Judith Rosenbaum speaks with Minna in her home in Jerusalem about how fatphobia plays out in Israel versus the US, the ways it intersects with gender, and how Jewish tradition can teach us to be more body positive.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Teens were already struggling before COVID. When the pandemic hit, things just got worse. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with Vanessa Kroll Bennett, co-host of The Puberty Podcast, parenting writer, and mother of four, about teens and mental health—before, during, and after the pandemic—gender differences, and what caregivers and Jewish communities can do to help. We also hear directly from teens about how the pandemic affected them and how they're doing now. 

This episode includes November Mist from Blue Dot Sessions. 

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For a long time, Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of the website Modern Loss, had been planning to write a guide to coping with grief. Then the pandemic hit, and the need felt especially urgent. So she wrote The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Resilience. The book came out earlier this year. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with Rebecca about all things grief-related: trigger days, bespoke holidays, Jewish grief rituals, and what to say—and not to say—to someone in mourning. 

This episode included Kallaloe by Blue Dot Sessions. 

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In Israel, marriage and divorce are governed by Jewish law and controlled by the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical courts. If a Jewish woman wants a divorce, she has to get permission from her husband, in the form of a document called a get—and he can refuse. That's exactly what happens to about 1 in 5 Jewish women in Israel who want a divorce, according to a recent survey. That figure doesn't even include women who agree to things that are against their best interests because of the threat of get refusal, including one woman we'll hear from in this episode.

We'll also hear from Kylie Eisman-Lifschitz, board chair of Mavoi Satum, about how rabbinical control over the divorce process in Israel harms Jewish women, and about how organizations like Mavoi Satum are taking on the problem, by working with women one-on-one, but also by fighting for systemic change. 

Please note that this episode contains descriptions of violence.

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In this season of ghosts and haunted houses, we’re taking you back to a time when communicating with the dead was a popular way to spend an evening. Séances were the main practice of the spiritualist movement, which is based on the belief that when people die, they survive as spirits, and that we can talk to these spirits with the help of a medium. The movement had its heyday in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Jews all over the world, from London to Brooklyn to Cairo, were at the forefront. Scholar Sam Glauber-Zimra explains why spiritualism had such appeal among Jews, what rabbis had to say about it, and why Jewish women were prominent as mediums. 

This episode included Taoudella by Blue Dot Sessions. 

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On a hot, humid day in late August, Nahanni Rous joined a gathering at Linke Fligl, a queer Jewish chicken farm and cultural organizing project in New York's Hudson Valley. (Linke Fligl is a pun—Yiddish for "left wing.") For the past seven years, queer Jews have celebrated holidays, farmed, and built community on this ten-acre, off-the-grid piece of land—but the project is coming to a close. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we walk the land at Linke Fligl, talk to people at the final gathering, and hear from founder Margot Seigle about how the project started and why it's ending.

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While we're hard at work preparing for Can We Talk's fall season, enjoy this episode of A Bintel Brief, an advice show with a Jewish twist, from our friends at The Forward. In this episode, For Richer or Poorer, hosts Ginna Green and Lynn Harris give their advice to a 30-something woman looking to settle down with a long-term partner. She might've found the perfect match—but if they got married, he definitely wouldn't be the breadwinner.

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That's a wrap! In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni Rous, Jen Richler, and Judith Rosenbaum recap the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 seasons—from the story of an underground abortion collective in the years before Roe to the 100-year history of the American bat mitzvah to our "Word of the Week" mini-series, and much more. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Jewish summer camps and youth movements are a time-honored tradition—tens of thousands of Jewish teens participate. But a group of young Jews is calling out what they say is a “toxic hookup culture” in many of these institutions. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler talks with Dahlia Soussan, Ellanora Lerner and Madeline Canfield, three of the founders of Jewish Teens for Empowered Consent, about how they hope to change the culture. Please note, there are sexual references in this episode.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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"A woman of valor, who can find? Her worth is far beyond rubies..." So begins a 22-verse acrostic poem from the Book of Proverbs. The poem showers praise on an unnamed woman of valor—eshet chayil, in Hebrew—and is sung in some Jewish families on Friday night before the Shabbat meal. In the final installment of our Word of the Week series, we talk with Rena Nickerson, Miriam Anzovin and Rachel Stomel about the meaning of Eshet Chayil today and their memories of singing it growing up.

This episode includes singing and guitar playing by Julie, Mat, and May Tonti, music by Alicia Jo Rabins (www.aliciajo.com), and the song "Eshet Chayil of Hip Hop" by Lea Kalisch (@leakalisch on Instagram and YouTube, @leakalischentertains on Facebook). 

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From MSNBC to Fox News, the word "gaslighting" is everywhere these days. But where does it come from and what does it mean? This time in our Word of the Week series, we dig into the ubiquitous term: its roots in a 1944 Hollywood thriller, how it has come to be used today, and whether it's still a useful word. We speak with linguist Rachel Steindel Burdin and psychotherapist Robin Stern. We'll also hear from comedian Judy Gold and TikTok star Miriam Anzovin.

This episode includes music by Alicia Jo Rabins (www.aliciajo.com).

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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How did a popular Yiddish woman's name come to mean gossip and busybody? In the first of our new Word of the Week mini-series, we trace the evolution of the word yenta. Producer Jen Richler talks with Fiddler on the Roof scholar Jan Lisa Huttner, comedian Judy Gold, author Lizzie Skurnick, and TikTok star and Torah commentator Miriam Anzovin. And in a special cameo...Yente the Matchmaker herself!

This episode includes music by Alicia Jo Rabins (www.aliciajo.com).

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Vlada Nedak lives in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, only an hour's drive from the front lines of the war. She's a wife and mother and the owner of a menagerie of household pets. She's also the Executive Director of Project Kesher Ukraine, a network of Jewish women building community and leadership. When Russia invaded Ukraine, like many Ukrainians, Vlada was faced with the difficult choice of whether to stay or try to leave the country. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni speaks with Vlada about her experiences of the war and about how it has affected the women in Project Kesher's network.

This episode included Tionesta by Trailhead from Blue Dot Sessions. 

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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After a career spent telling other people's stories, Eleanor Reissa has finally uncovered her own. It started with 56 letters she found in a drawer while cleaning out her late mother's apartment. They were letters from her father to her mother, just a few years after they had both survived World War II. The letters sent Eleanor on a search to retrace her family history in Europe, which she chronicles in her new memoir, The Letters Project: A Daughter's Journey. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni Rous talks with Eleanor about how her life has been defined by being the daughter of people who lived through the Holocaust.

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Fifty years ago, Rabbi Sally Priesand made history by becoming the first woman rabbi in America. In this episode of Can We Talk?, women rabbis from three Jewish denominations reflect on the milestone. We speak with Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses, Rabba Sara Hurwitz, and Rabbi Sandra Lawson about the challenges they’ve faced, and about how their presence in the rabbinate is shaping the Jewish community. This is the final episode in our three-part anniversary series.

This episode included Color Country by The Balloonist from Blue Dot Sessions. 

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Hard-boiled egg—check. Greens—check. Charoset, maror, shank bone—check. These are the traditional seder plate items that represent the themes of Passover. Many people have also adopted the feminist tradition of including an orange... but what does it symbolize, and how come so many people have the story wrong? In this episode of Can We Talk?, host Nahanni Rous talks with Susannah Heschel, who created the ritual in the 1980s, about the real meaning behind the orange. She also talks with her aunt and cousin, who introduced the orange to the Rous family seder.  

Use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this podcast episode in your classroom or community.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Fifty years ago, a group of young Jewish women piled into two cars and drove to upstate New York to crash the annual meeting of the all-male Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement. They called themselves Ezrat Nashim and they had a set of demands that included the right to be counted in a minyan, lead religious services, and attend rabbinical school. Their brief but brave action had ripple effects across American Jewish communities. In this second episode of Can We Talk?'s anniversary series, Judith Rosenbaum talks with Martha Ackelsberg, Dina Rosenfeld, and Leora Fishman, three of the women who were involved. Judith's mother, the Jewish feminist scholar Paula Hyman z"l, was also part of Ezrat Nashim. We dedicate this episode to her.

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On March 18, 1922, Judith Kaplan made history when she stood in front of her Manhattan congregation and had America's first bat mitzvah ceremony. Judith's bat mitzvah was groundbreaking at the time, but it didn't look like most bat mitzvahs today. In this episode of Can We Talk?, producer Jen Richler talks with Professor Carole Balin about how the bat mitzvah has evolved over the past century, and how girls and their parents have pushed for that evolution. Carole is working on a book based on interviews with dozens of women, representing many decades of bat mitzvah history. Throughout the episode, you’ll hear some of their voices too.

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"Pregnant? Don't want to be? Call Jane." That was the catchphrase of the Chicago-based Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation, better known as Jane. Before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, the women of Jane provided safe, illegal, and affordable abortions to nearly 12,000 women in the Chicago area until seven "Janes" were arrested in 1972. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from Jeanne Galatzer-Levy and Judith Arcana, two of the "Abortion Seven," as well as Jane founder Heather Booth.

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Dara Horn’s new book is a departure from her usual imaginative fiction. It’s a collection of essays provocatively titled People Love Dead Jews. She also has a companion podcast called Adventures with Dead Jews. In both, Dara explores the subtler side of antisemitism, in which the role Jews play in the non-Jewish imagination has little to do with real Jewish lives. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Dara Horn talks with Nahanni Rous about the way Anne Frank is remembered around the world, how antisemitic attacks are reported in the United States, and the 3000 years of experience Jews have surviving as a minority culture.

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"What would it be like if we could daven and engage in Jewish life without having to endure racism?" says Ilana Kaufman, Executive Director of the Jews of Color Initiative. In a recent survey of Jews of Color by Ilana's organization, most respondents report facing racism and discrimination in majority white Jewish communal settings, and they don't think Jewish leadership is doing enough about it. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Nahanni Rous talks with Ilana about the survey and its implications, and Kasandra Housley, Mirushe Zylali, Gage Gorsky, and SooJi Min-Maranda share personal experiences.  

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Willow Zimmerman! Willow is a social justice-minded Jewish teenager. She loves a hot salty reuben, bakes her own rugelach, and enjoys hanging out with a stray dog named Leibowitz. She’s also the latest Gotham City superhero. In this episode of Can We Talk?, producer Jen Richler talks with novelist E. Lockhart about creating Willow for DC Comics.

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In 1971, photographer Joan Biren, also known as JEB, started doing something revolutionary: documenting the everyday lives of lesbians. This was an era when you could lose everything—your job, your apartment, even your kids— if people knew you were gay. Joan published her first book Eye To Eye: Portraits of Lesbians, in 1979, and the book was reissued this year. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum talks with Joan about her photography and the way her Jewish, lesbian, and feminist identities have intersected throughout her life.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Yael Kanarek wanted a more direct relationship with the Divine than she experienced through male-centric Jewish sacred texts—so she rewrote the Torah.  In Toratah, or Her Torah, Yael has switched the genders of each character.  The result is a familiar text that resonates very differently, with a new set of matriarchs and patriarchs, and stories that draw new connections and pose new questions.

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Menstrual justice is the latest front in the global fight for gender equality. Author Anita Diamant's new book, Period. End of Sentence, explores the stigma around menstruation and efforts around the world to ensure that menstruating people are not denied access to education, work, and full participation in society. Anita, whose 1997 best seller The Red Tent imagined a special retreat where the Biblical matriarchs went when they were having their periods, says in the modern day, menstrual justice has become "part of the justice language."

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The 20th century brought major disruptions, displacement, and annihilation to Jewish communities all over the world. In the Middle East and North Africa, over one million Jews fled or were forced out of places where Jewish communities had existed for over 2,000 years. The San Francisco-based organization JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) works to preserve the cultural memory and heritage of Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews, and ensure that this history is part of the record of Jewish life. In this episode, producer Asal Ehsanipour and JIMENA's Executive Director Sarah Levin share highlights from some of the oral stories preserved in JIMENA's archive and talk about their own family histories.

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In 1738, a young Christian man stepped off a boat in the French colony of Quebec and was doubly outed as a Jew and a woman. Esther Brandeau was born around 1718 in Saint Esprit, a Jewish community on the outskirts of Bayonne, France. Brandeau was the first documented Jew to have set foot on Canadian soil, but she didn’t stay long. Historian and performing artist Heather Hermant tells the story for Can We Talk? and for JWA's revised and updated edition of the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.

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Judy Heumann is a lifelong disability rights activist—from fighting for her own right to live in a college dorm, to lobbying for the Americans with Disabilities Act, to leading major initiatives at the World Bank and State Department. Judy is committed to removing the barriers that prevent disabled people from fully participating in society, a topic she explores in-depth in her memoir, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist. She tells her story for Can We Talk? and for JWA's revised and updated edition of the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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In 1976, a military dictatorship seized power in Argentina. The regime systematically kidnapped, tortured and killed 30,000 people who were suspected of opposition. A year into the war, mothers of the "disappeared" began weekly protests in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires demanding to know what had happened to their sons and daughters. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo kept up their protests for over four decades and became a powerful movement for justice and human rights. Many of them were Jewish. Anthropologist Natasha Zaretsky tells their story for Can We Talk? and for JWA's revised and updated edition of the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Zohra El Fassia was born around 1905 near Fez, Morocco. She sang from the time she was a girl, and by the mid-20th century, she was a star. El Fassia recorded hundreds of songs for international record labels and performed regularly for the king in Rabat. When she moved to Israel in 1962, her career took a hit, but she sought out smaller venues and was soon rediscovered by younger Moroccan Israeli artists. Zohra El Fassia died in 1994. Writer and ethnomusicologist Tamar Sella tells her story for Can We Talk? and for JWA's revised and updated edition of the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.

Zohra El Fassia's 1950s recordings are digitized by Chris Silver at Gharamophone. Also visit Abiadi, Neta Elkayam, and Amit Hai Cohen's musical tribute to Zohra El Fassia.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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Who keeps track of when the mustard is running low? Who does the laundry? Who takes the call from school when kids are sick? These are some of the questions author Eve Rodsky asks in her book and accompanying card game Fair Play. For decades, feminists have tried to address the unfair burden placed on women in the home. The pandemic has laid bare the injustices in our current system—but could this be a moment to re-examine and "re-deal the deck" as we rebuild our society? In this episode of Can We Talk?, Judith Rosenbaum talks to Eve about the personal and societal dynamics around caregiving and domestic labor, how to make sure responsibility for household tasks is shared fairly, and how to value women's and men's time equally.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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"We don’t want to exist, we want to thrive and create a better world." In this episode of Can We Talk?, three young Jewish women reflect on how they became active in fighting climate change, how their identities influence their activism, and what inspires them to keep going. Isha Clarke is an activist with Youth vs. Coal and Youth vs. Apocalypse; Noa Gordon-Guterman is an Avodah Service-Corps member working with Interfaith Power and Light; and Tali Deaner is the campaigns director at Jewish Youth Climate Movement.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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"They were women who carried cash in their garter belts and dynamite in their underwear," says Judy Batalion, the author of The Light of Days, a new book about Jewish women resistance fighters in World War II who "blew up Nazi supply trains and shot and killed Gestapo men." She's also co-writing the screenplay for a Steven Spielberg movie based on the book. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we talk with Judy about what made some women well suited to certain roles in the resistance and why their stories aren't better known today.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

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We kick off Can We Talk?'s spring season just in time for Passover... and about a year since we began living with the global pandemic. This time has been rough on so many people, for so many reasons—hard on working parents with kids in remote school, hard on people who have lost jobs, human contact, and loved ones. In this podcast episode, Judith Rosenbaum and Nahanni Rous—and our podcast listeners—get a breathing lesson from Janice Stieber Rous, founder of Body Dialogue (and Nahanni's aunt). They'll also talk about liberation, well-being, and how stress and exhaustion impact our ability to breathe.

You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!

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