Jewfem Blog

Unwanted touch, negiya, sexual assault, and the Cuomos of the world




  Enter your text here ... A few years ago, I was interviewing a woman for research on sexual abuse in the Jewish community when she told me something that roiled me. My interviewee, a religious journalist working for a Jewish publication, described an experience she had at a media conference, in which a male colleague drew her into a hotel ro...

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TWO DAYS till my new book launch!


TWO DAYS TO BOOK LAUNCH! "I turned fifty years old this year. I did not mark the event by giving away cars, nor by taking my friends and family to Morocco for the weekend. Instead, on the day itself, I spent the morning taking my daughter wedding dress shopping, and then spent the afternoon meeting with a group of women to establish a new women's p...

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How lockdown is affecting my relationship with my body


Here is a thought that I can barely comprehend: Exactly one year ago, I was running for Knesset. I had formed a new Women's Party with a bunch of energetic women, and we were on the campaign trail. It's hard to picture, or even remember. I mean, it seems so far away that the coalition has already since collapsed AGAIN but nobody seems to realize or...

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Conversations with my Body: Now on sale


I am thrilled to report that today, my new book Conversations with my Body goes on sale as an ebook. (The print book will be later this week.) The books will be available directly on my book site and on my publisher's site, and on many locations around the web. We are NOT using Amazon. We are part of a movement to support the publishing industry an...

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Amy Coney Barret and Me: Thoughts on women who uphold the patriarchy

(Excerpt. Published in the current issue of LIlith Magazine HERE)  As the world watches Amy Coney Barret on display in the Senate judiciary hearings, I can hear the sound of bewilderment erupting in many people's heads. It's like the noise that your Waze makes when you make a wrong turn and then she has to adjust her entire plan while wonderin...

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Hard lessons I learned from four years of doing media opposite Trump supporters

Over the past four years, I have been in an unenviable position of regularly debating Trump representatives on air. As Vice Chair for Media for Democrats Abroad in Israel, I was the go-to person for the Israeli media looking for a voice to counter their Trump-supporting regulars. Amid the predominantly pro-Trump Israeli media, my team and I were ra...

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Merav Michaeli for Prime Minister

I'm very excited about what is happening today, right this second, in the Labor Party. Although I had to cancel my Labor Party membership last January when we formed the Women's Party, if I WERE still a member of Labor, i would be EAGERLY and EXCITEDLY voting for Merav Michaeli right now... The prospect of Merav Michaeli winning as head of the part...

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Inauguration: I'm breathing again

Like so many other people, I cried during the inauguration of Biden and Harris. It was about the humanity, the diversity, the joy, the compassion, the commitment to serving the people, the listening. All of that. And more.  The music, the cultures, the celebration of what can be. I daresay hope. But let's face it. There was a much bigger ...

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What happened to the women erased in the biblical genealogy?

Following up on my previous post, this is the essay I wrote after my first one was rejected. They published it, only after deleting several sections about Miriam's life and about gender in Jewish life. It was incredible to me. In an essay about the many ways women's lives are erased, they erased women's lives. I'm publishing this here in full ...

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What if Moses were a woman? Here's what would happen

​The following post on the Torah portion was solicited by a Jewish newspaper that then refused to publish it on the grounds that, "Your essay needs to be about the parsha." The post was exactly my thoughts after reading the first section of Parshat Va'era, and cites those sections. The reason it wasn't "about the parsha" in my understanding is that...

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The JewFem Blog

Elana Sztokman
09 May 2022
RELEASE DATE: June 14 Barry Freundel. Steven M. Cohen. Marc Gafni. Moti Elon. Larry Bach. Jonathan Rosenblatt. Len Robinson. Malka Leifer….. The Jewish community has been rocked by shocking stories about rabbis and other...
Elana Sztokman
13 March 2022
 Book Review: Dreaming Against The Current: A Rabbi's Soul Journey, By Haviva Ner-David (Bedazzled Ink Publishing; Release date: Dec 15, 2021)  Rabbi Reverend Dr. Haviva Ner-David has made some very unorth...
Elana Sztokman
05 January 2022
 Introducing JewFem 2.0, an exciting new online course with your favorite Jewish feminist thought leaders, scholars and activists. This will be an outstanding gathering for engaging discussions about the evolution o...

Elana's Books

The Men's Section

Elana's first book, The Men's Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World , investigates a fascinating new sociological phenomenon: Orthodox Jewish men who connect themselves to egalitarian or quasi-egalitarian religious enterprises.

Educating in the Divine Image

The first comprehensive examination of gender messages in Jewish education, this book is a must-read for educators, parents, and concerned lay people. Drawing on studies in education, social science, and psychology, as well as personal interviews, the authors show how traditional (mainly Orthodox) day school education continues to re-inscribe gender inequities and socialize students into unhealthy gender identities and relationships.

The War on Women in Israel

In this gripping exposé, leading women's activist Elana Sztokman investigates the struggles of Israeli women against increasing levels of religious and political intrusion into their lives, from segregation on public buses to being refused admittance to public events.

Masala Mamas

Masala Mamas is an award-winning book of recipes and stories celebrating the lives and cultures of incredible Indian women making a difference in the lives of children in the slums of Mumbai through food and love. All proceeds from the book go to support the women's project of providing hot meals for kids in school in the Kalwa slum in Mumbai.

Get Your Copy

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