The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

Becoming a Jewish Feminist

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Martha Ackelsberg - Professor of Government and the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College - remembers the first time she led high holiday services because the guy who was supposed to do it was sick, and describes her path to Jewish feminism.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Martha Ackelsberg.

This excerpt is in English.

Martha Ackelsberg was born in New York, New York in 1946.

Other video highlights from this oral history

From Radical Zionism to Conservative Judaism

2 min 23 sec

Passover - A Time to Feel Fully Jewish

1 min 40 sec

In the Kitchen of the Passover Seder

3 min 9 sec

A Girl to Lead the High Holidays' Services

5 min

Early Years of a Jewish Feminist

1 min 32 sec

Camp Ramah: Being Able to Be a Whole Person

3 min 10 sec

My Neighbor, the Country Club

2 min 13 sec

Commitment to Israel and to Social Justice

1 min 46 sec

The Chavurah Movement Now and Then

4 min 25 sec

"Jewish Women Call For Change!"

5 min 13 sec

The Fragility of Progress: Reflections of a Jewish Feminist

3 min 36 sec

A "Mizmor L'Dovid" Melody Learned in Cordoba, Spain

1 min 35 sec

Rebuilding Jewish Life in Cordoba, Spain

6 min 55 sec

Sephardi Jews in Turkey

1 min 58 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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