Bet Debora - Jewish Women's Perspectives

Daphna Birenbaum-Carmeli is a medical sociologist and professor in the Department of Nursing at the Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa. She is known, among many other things, for asking research questions that provide unique insights into the working of contemporary societies. In this podcast episode, Daphna talks with Barbara Prainsack about two of her research projects that illustrate the changing meaning of kinship in Israeli society, from two very different perspectives: One project looks at how family relationships are changing when same-sex parents break up. The other one explores how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the relationships of young Israelis with their partners and children, as well as their attitudes towards family and work.

Carmel Shalev is an Israeli bioethicist and writer. Her work spans the big themes of life: Having been the first academic researching and writing about surrogacy, she influenced the introduction of surrogacy in Israel. Her most recent book, "In Praise of Ageing", combines reflections on growing older in a society that has particular "scripts" for ageing women with ancient Buddhist wisdom. In this podcast episode, Carmel Shalev tells the story of what made her a feminist, how her years studying law in Yale shaped her, and what it is like growing older in a radically changing Israeli society.

Barbara Staudinger ist seit Sommer 2022 Direktorin des Jüdischen Museums Wien. Im November 2022 präsentierte sie die erste von ihr und anderen kuratierte Ausstellung „100 Missverständnisse über und unter Juden“. Wir sprechen mit ihr über ihren Werdegang als Historikerin, Judaistin und Kuratorin, ihre Arbeit in Museen in Deutschland und Österreich sowie ihre Ziele als Direktorin des Jüdischen Museums Wien.

Ronit Irshai and Orna Sasson-Levy both work in the department of Gender Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. They both see Israel in crisis and Gender Studies in Israel under attack. In an open discussion they point out the problems they are faced with and their strategies to overcome them. They also point to the special situation of Gender Studies at Bar-Ilan University, a conservative, religious institution.

Susanne Plietzsch ist Professorin für Judaistik und leitet seit 2010 das Zentrum für jüdische Kulturgeschichte der Universität Salzburg. Mit ihr sprechen wir über die Inhalte der Jüdischen Studien und das Salzburger Zentrum. Susanne Plietzsch begeistert sich für rabbinische Literatur und hier vor allem Midrasch. Ein wichtiges Anliegen ist es ihr, die Universität und insbesondere die Geisteswissenschaften zu befähigen, auf die Bedürfnisse der modernen Gesellschaft einzugehen.

Muss jiddische Volksmusik immer Klezmer sein? Unser neuer Podcast stellt jiddische Arbeiterlieder a capella gesungen von Isabel Frey vor. Isabel bemüht sich um eine zeitgemäße Belebung des Gedankenguts des Allgemeinen jüdischen Arbeiterbunds, der bedeutendsten jiddischen politischen Bewegung vor der Shoah und im Zusammenhang damit um eine Stärkung der jüdischen Diaspora, besonders auf kulturellem und politischen Gebiet.

Dwora Stein war langjährige Bundesgeschäftsführerin der Gewerkschaft für Privatabgestellte, der größten Gewerkschaft Österreichs. In unserem Gespräch beschäftigen wir uns mit der Frage, was es für eine jüdische intellektuelle Frau bedeutete, in der männerdominierten Gewerkschaftsbewegung Karriere zu machen und welches ihre wichtigsten Errungenschaften waren. Außerdem sprechen wir über das vielfältige jüdische Engagement Dworas.

Jakob Ehrlich, Catherine’s grandfather was one of the most important Zionist politicians of Austria before the Shoah. After the Nazi takeover he was arrested immediately and deported to Dachau where he perished a few months later. His wife Catherine and his son Paul escaped to England where Irma became a successful speaker and fundraiser for WIZO (Women’s International Zionist Organization). She continued this career after her move to New York. After the war she assisted survivors with their restitution claims in Germany.

Catherine Ehrlich explains why she focused her book on Irma and how she influenced her life.

Daphna Hacker, Professor at the Tel Aviv University Law Faculty and the Head of the Women and Gender Studies Program at the Faculty of Humanities, explains the growing importance of improved legislation concerning transnational families. Daphna Hacker also demands changes in inheritance laws that would enable the elderly to secure the necessary care they need.

Another topic of our conversation is the recent regression in women's status in Israel, focusing on two main issues: the weakening of motherhood as a rewarding status, and women's exclusion from the public sphere.

Anna Goldenberg, born in 1989 in Vienna, studied psychology at the University of Cambridge and journalism at Columbia University, New York. She worked for the Jewish newspaper The Forward in New York before returning to Vienna where she now works for the weekly Der Falter and the daily Die Presse. Her book "I Belong to Vienna" was published in 2018 by New Vessel Press and in German under the title "Versteckte Jahre. Der Mann, der meinen Großvater rettete". (Hidden years. The man who saved my Grandfather) by Paul Zsolnay Verlag. In the podcast Anna Goldenberg discusses her family’s fate during the holocaust and after the war as well as her role as an author and granddaughter.

Jewish Women’s Aid was the first organisation in Britain - and arguably in Europe – to help Jewish victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Rabbi Lee Wax describes the kind of violence and abuse Jewish women and children are exposed to and the ways her organisation can help them.

Anikó Félix is a Sociologist, received her PhD in Sociology from Eötvös Lóránd Science University, Budapest, Hungary in 2019. From 2020, she serves as a Case Manager for Combating Antisemitism at the World Jewish Congress. Her main fields of expertise are the contemporary far right movements, subculture and parties with a huge focus on their gender aspect, right-wing populism and antisemitism.

Susanne Scholl beobachtete und kommentierte als Auslandskorrespondentin des Österreichischen Rundfunks den Fall des kommunistischen Regimes, den Aufstieg Vladimir Putins und den Krieg in Tschetschenien. Heute engagiert sie sich für Demokratie, Menschenrechte und einen humanen Umgang mit Flüchtlingen.

Dieser Podcast entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Politikwissenschaften der Universität Wien.

Norli Lappin-Eppel spricht mit Shoshanna Duizend-Jensen, Historikerin und Archivarin, Tempelvorständin und Flüchtlingshelferin in Wien, über ihre Aktivitäten und die Stellung der Frauen in der orthodoxen jüdischen Gemeinde.

Andrea Petö, Professor for Gender Studies at the Central European University, Vienna, talks with Lori Weintrob, Professor of History and founding director of the Wagner College Holocaust Center, Staten Island, New York, and Laura Morowitz, who is currently researching issues of art in Nazi Vienna about the different forms of Jewish women’s heroism. They discuss why it is important to remember these heroines and what they mean for us today.

Norli Lappin-Eppel spricht mit Elisa Klapheck, Rabbinerin der liberalen Synagogengemeinschaft „Egalitärer Minjan“ in der Jüdischen Gemeinde in Frankfurt am Main und Professorin für Jüdische Studien an der Universität Paderborn darüber, was uns Rabbinerin Regina Jonas, die Philosophin Margarete Susman und die Judaistin Pnina Navé Levinson heute zu sagen haben. Außerdem zeigt sie den Zusammenhang zwischen jüdischer Tradition und Politik und erklärt, wie der Talmud ihr hilft, die Wirtschaftsseiten der Zeitung zu verstehen.

In this podcast Andrea Petö, Professor of Gender Studies at the Central European University, Vienna, discusses the relationship of gender studies and Jewish studies with Paula de Villa from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and Veronique Sina from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The speakers also reflect on the relationship between academia and politics and the necessity to combine them.

In this podcast Norli Lappin-Eppel talks to Rabbi Barbara Borts from Newcastle, England. They talk about the challenges women rabbis and women cantors are faced with and about the importance of music in synagogue services. Rabbi Borts also explains the connection between Yiddish and Yiddishkait and the different forms the practice of Judaism can take.

Andrea Pető and Norli Lappin-Eppel talk with Simone Suskind from Bruxelles about her initiatives to foster a Jewish-Palestine dialogue as a way to reach a peaceful solution for the Middle East conflict. Simone talks about the Jewish Secular Center in Bruxelles, her achievements as a politician and her activities and ideas to fight antisemitism. Moreover, Simone describes her project of training women in order to become future political leaders in the Maghreb countries.

Im neusten Podcast sprechen wir mit Martina Maschke aus Wien über die Bedeutung von jüdischer Erziehung im Allgemeinen und der Zwi Perez Chajes-Schule im Besonderen. Martina Maschke berichtet außerdem über die Verbesserung der Holocausterziehung in Österreich und die Zusammenarbeit mit Yad Vashem sowie über ihre Arbeit bei der International Holocaust Remembracne Alliance (IHRA), wo sie sich besonders für die Anerkennung des Roma-Genozids einsetzt.

In this podcast Tova Starik talks about her way from Zfat to New York and Vienna. In Vienna Tova and her husband Rabbi Moshe Starik established "Bayit", an organization that offers seminars for young Jewish professionals in order to help them to build Jewish homes in Europe. Tova also explains the philosophy of Chabad about lighting the spark in every Jew and bringing light to the world.

Norli Lappin-Eppel talks with Dominique Tomasov Blinder in Barcelona about Jewish life in Spain, about the renewed interest of the Spanish government  and the Spanish population in Jewish heritage 500 years after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and about her personal efforts to preserve this heritage and make it known to a broad national and international public.

In this podcast, Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts, who lives in Newcastle, England, and Rabbi Ariel Friedlander, who lives in Modena, Italy, talk about fostering progressive Jewish life in Italy, about how various strands of Judaism in the UK are dealing with the pandemic, and about how their pets have helped them to cope during the lockdowns in the UK and Italy. They share their feelings about the positive aspects and the difficult aspects of Jewish life during the past year.

Music: Vermont Nocturne by Vally Weigl (1894 Vienna – 1982 New York) © Extraplatte

In this podcast Norli Lappin-Eppel speaks with Prof. Andrea Petö, Professor for Gender Studies at the Central European University (CEU), about the reasons why her university had to move from Budapest to Vienna and how this reflects the situation in Hungary. We also look back at the 4th International Bet Debora Conference, which took place in Budapest in August 2006 and was hosted by the CEU. Another topic of our talk is Andrea Petö’s research. Her focus are women in World War II: victims as well as perpetrators. She explains how these divergent topics are connected and why she thinks that it is important to reflect and talk about them.

Music: Vermont Nocturne by Vally Weigl (1894 Vienna – 1982 New York) © Extraplatte

In ihrem neuen Buch „Vom Wert des Lebens“ tritt Barbara Prainsack für ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen für alle Menschen, die in Österreich ihren Lebensmittelpunkt haben, ein. Sie erklärt, warum dies gerade angesichts der durch die Corona-Pandemie ausgelösten Wirtschaftskrise notwendig und wie es die Situation von Frauen positiv beeinflussen würde.

Music: Vermont Nocturne by Vally Weigl (1894 Vienna – 1982 New York) © Extraplatte