Gabrielle Birkner
By Gabrielle Birkner
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Life Trio of Jewish Women Rockers Perform Their New Single
Last year as part of the “28 Days, 28 Ideas” project, Ladino chanteuse Sarah Aroeste made a case on The Sisterhood blog for more collaboration among Jewish female musicians. In the piece, she discussed her own work with fellow singer-songwriters Naomi Less and Chana Rothman. In an effort to highlight the work of female artists…
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Life Making the Case for Fertility Education
Back in 9th grade health class, we were tasked with creating — and memorizing — a chart of the various methods of birth control on the market and how effective they were in preventing pregnancy and, in the case of latex condoms, sexually transmitted diseases: We learned about oral contraceptives, barrier contraceptives, spermicides, and intrauterine…
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Life Celebrating Judith, Heroine of Hanukkah
At Hanukkah time, Judah and the Maccabees get top billing. Often left out of the narratives passed down from one generation to the next is the story of Judith, who is said to have killed an enemy general and, ultimately, to have led the Israelites to victory. Our friends and partners at the Jewish Women’s…
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Life My Good News Isn’t What You Think It Is
“You’re pregnant!” That’s the response I’ve received, over and over again, when I’ve called a friend or family member to say that I have “good news” or “big news.” “No,” I tell them, “I’ve been nominated for a journalism award” or “Jeremy [my husband] won an Emmy” or “We bought an apartment.” To which the…
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Life Ruth Madoff’s Marital Bed May Be Returned
The 10.5-carat diamond ring that once graced Ruth Madoff’s hand, and the Steinway piano that once graced her living room are likely gone for good. But the elaborately draped, four-poster bed that she slept in alongside the world’s most famous Ponzi schemer could soon be hers again — that is, if the woman who purchased…
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Life Germany’s Pioneering Female Rabbis
Alina Treiger made headlines last week, when she became the first woman rabbi to be ordained in Germany in 75 years. But Treiger, 31, is not the first woman rabbi to serve in Germany since World War II. That would be Bea Wyler, who was trained and ordained at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary during….
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Culture New Language Meets New ‘Genius’
As early immigrants to what is now Israel were learning how to communicate in a revived ancient language, the hard-of-hearing among them were creating a new language altogether. Combining signs from most all of the different countries from which the Jewish populations emigrated, Israeli Sign Language began to take shape in the 1930s. Around the…
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News From Pain to Revelation
Rabbi Naomi Levy rarely answers the phone on Shabbat. But nine years ago, she made an exception, and on the other end of the line was a doctor with grim news: Levy’s 6-year-old daughter, Noa, had a fatal degenerative disorder called ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T). How Levy faced life in the wake of the devastating diagnosis is…
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