Hadassah Foundation grant recipients are making headlines as they work to improve the lives for women and girls. Here’s a sample of recent articles highlighting the work of some of our current and recent grant recipients. You can learn more about each grant recipient here. Please note that the Hadassah Foundation does not endorse every view expressed in the articles below.
An Installation in Pennsylvania Marks a Milestone in the Journey of Orthodox Women Rabbinic Leaders
JTA: January 22, 2025
Rabba Sara Hurwitz, the founder of Yeshivat Maharat, the first institution to ordain Orthodox women rabbis in the United States, celebrates the ascent of a graduate to the senior rabbinic position at a major Philadelphia congregation. She explores the challenges Orthodox women rabbis face when advancing professionally and finds parallels in the experiences of early Reform and Conservative women rabbis. Maharat is a current grant recipient, and Rabba Hurwitz is a past recipient of the Hadassah Foundation’s Bernice S. Tannenbaum Prize.
Women studying at Yeshivat Maharat. (Shulamit Photo & Video for Maharat)
Israel Blocks UN Probe Into Hamas Sexual Crimes From October 7 to Avoid Inquiry Into Abuse of Palestinians
Haaretz: January 8, 2025
Longtime Hadassah Foundation grant recipients Israel Women’s Network and the Rackman Center take the Israeli government to task for blocking a UN investigation of Hamas’ sexual crimes on October 7. The Israeli government is reportedly not cooperating because it does not want the UN to investigate allegations of sexual assault against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, founding director of the Rackman Center, tells Haaretz that failing to allow a comprehensive investigation represents “a missed opportunity for a definitive international record and recognition for the victims – not to mention the obligation to thoroughly investigate the new evidence to uncover the truth.”
The Challenge of Israel Education Is Not What You Think
eJewish Philanthropy: January 6, 2025
Jonah Peretz of Moving Traditions, a Hadassah Foundation grant recipient, describes the organization’s pilot curriculum that is teaching U.S. Jewish teens about Israel. “When it comes to Israel education, teens need content knowledge, social-emotional scaffolding, and room to think for themselves,” he notes.
Why Gendered Antisemitism Matters
eJewish Philanthropy: December 11, 2024
Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of Jewish Women’s Archive, a past Hadassah Foundation grantee, reports that “As an organization with a large social media presence and the words “Jewish” and “women” in our very name, we have experienced an overwhelming and alarming surge in antisemitic comments and messages since Oct. 7. While much of it is generic, it is often framed in specific gendered terms: attacking us as women, targeting our bodies and threatening rape.” She notes that “despite increased recognition of the intersectional nature of identity,” gendered antisemitism urgently needs more attention from researchers. (Read the results of this survey on how antisemitism affects Jewish women, conducted by our friends at Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America)
Israeli Government Advances Bill to Permit Gender Segregation in Academia
Haaretz: December 2, 2024
A new bill, proposed by a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, seeks to override a 2021 High Court ruling that permitted gender-segregated studies solely for bachelor’s degrees and under specific conditions. Israel Women’s Network, a Hadassah Foundation grant recipient, is fighting the bill because it would lead to “discrimination and exclusion of women in Israel.”
ARCCI’s Orit Sulitzeanu (center) with Tali Binar, an advocate for survivors of the sexual violence of October 7, and a survivor of the Nova massacre; Shelly Yachimovich, journalist and former Member of Knesset speak at the Knesset November 26, 2024. (Courtesy of ARCCI)
Sexual Violence Doesn’t Stop During War: It Persists Both in Emergencies and in Everyday Life
Jerusalem Post: November 25, 2024
In this op-ed that appeared on the print edition’s front page, the CEO of Association or Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI), a Hadassah Foundation grantee, emphasizes that the problem of sexual violence goes far beyond the atrocities Hamas perpetrated on October 7, 2023. While “critical for Israeli society, its government and civil organizations to prioritize” justice for the October 7 victims, Orit Sulitzeanu writes, “it is equally essential to recognize the scope of sexual violence that happens daily and understand that it demands a serious and systematic response, now more than ever.” She calls for, among other things, expanding mental health services, increasing conviction rates for sex offenders, and providing education about the prevention of sexual violence.
The October 2023 War: Impacts on Women in Israel
Adva Center Report: November 2024
This study by the Adva Center, a past grant recipient of the Hadassah Foundation explores how the current war is widening gender gaps in decision-making and employment, and is creating other challenges, such as increased rates of family violence and cuts to social services, which impact women more severely than men. The report notes that “the absence of women from decision-making positions in different areas …means that their point of view and experience, their social and economic position, and their status and individual safety are not taken into account when decisions are made that affect their lives.”
A Few Other Recommended Articles:
Hebrew University: Female Computer Science and Math Students to Get 1st Year of Tuition Free
Times of Israel: December 25, 2024
The initiative is designed to reduce the gender representation gap in these sought-after fields and enable more women to take part in significant roles in the high-tech and science industries. According to figures provided by the university, in the current 2024-2025 academic year, just 36 percent of registered computer science students and 25 percent of mathematics students are female.
Misogyny and Antisemitism Are a Toxic Brew
New York Times: December 1, 2024
Professors Natalia Mehlman Perzrela and Rachel Schreiber observe that “to be a Jewish American woman is to experience a paradox: We are a minority vulnerable to exclusion yet simultaneously perceived as sufficiently inside the dominant culture that we are often expected to endure, or even deserve, any opprobrium that comes our way.”
Only 2% of Charitable Giving Goes to Women. Can Melinda French Gates Change That?
NPR: October 9, 2024
Since leaving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates has announced she will spend more than $1 billion to address systemic problems facing women and girls, and the persistent lack of funding to fix them.
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