Related Blog Posts on Arts and Culture, Israel, Israeli History, and Jewish History

I was shocked when Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, named me one of 2025’s 18 American Zionist Women You Should Know. I don’t feel I deserve this honor.

This week, as Shabbat approaches, we gather in community to pray for the shelter of peace in Israel and at home. 

Even as I'm writing this piece, I'm missing my Israel trip. It was by far the best trip of my life. It was a month and a half of new experiences, opportunities, and community.

In the pages of a hand-drawn picture book, your story first unfolded before me, telling the tale of my parents' first journey together to your distant lands.

Israeli artist Sam Griffin's paintings, forged in the crisis of war, convey the human capacity for healing and hope for a peaceful future for Israel and humankind.

This year, Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, finds me in a place that the past 10 years have not: in my birth country, the United States. My journey to and from Israel includes chapters that people can instinctively understand: a year of protesting judicial overhaul in Israel, the events of October 7th, and the bitter war in which we are still immersed.

Here are just a few modern-day female and genderqueer badkhens who have broken the mold as they share their own brand of Jewish joy with the world.

When invited to create work for the Jerusalem Biennale (an international art exhibition held every two years in Jerusalem) last year, artist Archie Rand decided to depict "a grouping of Jewish heroes who are women, appearing in an underreported story that should have a painted monument sampling the collective."

The events of October 7th left an indelible mark on Israeli society, reshaping the nation in ways that have yet to be fully realized, and will be felt for generations. The solidarity so many Jewish communities around the world have expressed, along with emotional, financial, and actionable support, have been sources of hope and resilience.

The Heller Museum invited leading contemporary artists to conceive innovative designs for a mezuzah. Seventeen artists imaginatively reenvisioned this traditional Jewish ceremonial object.