Elana Sztokman
By Elana Sztokman
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Life Stop Minimizing Barry Freundel’s Actions By Saying He is Nonviolent
One of the most infuriating responses to the Freundel scandal I‘ve heard is the argument, “But it wasn’t rape.” As if to say, what he did was not such a big deal — after all it’s not categorized as a “violent” crime. In one really frustrating exchange I had, a radio host kept insisting that…
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Life Israel’s Police Sexual Harassment Problem
Israel police officers by Mark Probst via Wikimedia Commons. There has been an earthquake in the Israeli police force, and the institution may never be the same again. No less than three senior police officers have been accused of sexual harassment in the past two weeks, including one who is now under house arrest, and…
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Life Baking Challah As a Feminist Act
via wikicommons The first thing I did when I finished reading Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner David’s new book, “Chana’s Voice” is to set out to learn how to bake challah. Haviva’s writing is like that; she inspires you to open your heart and approach yourself to new possibilities. For Haviva, baking challah is one of…
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Life A Political Tipping Point for Ultra-Orthodox Women?
A poster for the group promoting haredi women political candidates, ‘Lo nivcharot; lo bocharot,’ which means, if we can’t be elected, we will not vote for you. There is a new feminist revolution happening in Israel, and it is emerging from one of the most surprising places: Ultra-Orthodoxy. Over the past two years, ultra-Orthodox or…
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Life Unlikely Orthodox Superstar Finds Her Voice
Shayna Rehberg performing on Kochav Nolad. Screenshot via mako.co.il Shayna Rehberg is an unlikely superstar. A 30-year-old religious mother of four originally from Texas and now living in Safed, Shayna walked onto the stage of Israel’s popular singing competition show, Kochav Haba [Next Star], donning her headscarf and long skirt, and made it to the…
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Life Where Are the Women Leaders in Wartime?
Gender democracy activist Anat Thon-Ashkenazy holds a 1325 pin in support of the UN resolution to bring women leaders into negotiations. “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them,” Albert Einstein famously quipped. Yet, when it comes to the current crisis in Israel and Gaza, the…
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Life Israel’s ‘Men’s Only’ Bomb Shelters
Getty Images // There was gender mixing in this shelter in Tel Aviv, unlike one in Ashdod. While people all around Israel have spent the past two weeks scrambling for cover during rocket attacks, it seems that in some places, only men’s lives are considered worth protecting. In the Ashdod rabbinate building, the bomb shelter…
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Opinion Teens’ Funeral Changed Israeli Youth Forever
Funeral ceremony for the three Israeli teenagers / Getty Images When the city of Modi’in was built in 1993, I don’t think the planners envisioned the scene that took place here today. Tens of thousands of Israelis — nearly the equivalent of Modi’in’s entire population — descended on the modest cemetery at the outskirts of…
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