Related Blog Posts on Jewish Values and WRJ YES Fund

congregants of Temple B'nai Jeshurun of Short Hills, including Rabbi Hannah Ellenson, standing together and smiling

Entering a Holy Relationship

Rabbi Hannah Ellenson

During my time as the (first!) social justice intern at Women of Reform Judaism, I had many conversations with WRJ leaders from all over the country. I heard time and time again that WRJ was the place where they could combine their dedication to Judaism and

Text: "This Repro Shabbat, Our Tradition Demands Action" by Shayna Dollinger (photographed on the left) and Jessica Cadmus (photographed on the right)"

This Repro Shabbat, Our Tradition Demands Action

Shayna Dollinger
Jessica Cadmus
As a member of Jews for Abortion Access, WRJ is proud to co-sponsor NCJW’s Repro Shabbat, when we will join with the wider Jewish community to recommit ourselves to reproductive rights and health.
women in synagogue social room being honored

Creating a Successful YES Tea Event

In 2000, when I was President of Beth Am Women in Los Altos Hills, California, our board was trying to decide what to do for our end-of-year event. One of our board members had previously belonged to a congregation in Massachusetts whose sisterhood had a brunch around WRJ’s YES Fund.
headshots of five women, the inaugural JWA Pomegranate Fellows, smiling

Supporting the Thought Leadership of Women of Color

Judith Rosenbaum, PhD
This year, with the support of a WRJ YES Fund grant, the Jewish Women’s Archive launched the Pomegranate Writing Fellowship for Jewish Women of Color, a new model for Jewish thought leadership that centers the voices and vision of Jewish women and gender-expansive people of color as writers.
WRJ attendees smiling at Consultation on Conscience in Washington DC

"When Everything Looks Dark, You Are the Shard of Light"

Emma Aaronson
Shayna Dollinger

The Jewish mystical tradition, Kabbalah, teaches us that when the world was created, God’s presence filled the Earth. When God’s divine beings came into the world, God made room for us by contracting the divine light into vessels, but the vessels were too

four young women smiling at a Women of the Wall event at the kotel in Jerusalem

My Experience as an American Jew in Israel

Camila Slatopolsky
Being on a gap year program and living in Israel for a year has given me a different perspective on Jewish practice. As the heart of Jewish life, Israel is a place where Jewish identity is expressed in deeply diverse and sometimes conflicting ways.
WRJ International Travel

Connecting Internationally with WRJ

Morgan Helfman
Lauren Wilson

There’s something uniquely powerful about international travel—the way it invites you to step outside your comfort zone, discover new perspectives, and find connections in unexpected places. And as is such in the small interconnected Jewish world, those

Barbara Ostfeld, a woman with short gray hair, round black glasses, and a peacock-printed shirt, stands in front of a microphone

"You Have a Voice!"

Ellen Miller

“I’m not a cantor.”

Surrounded by more than 200 cantors at the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) Convention 2025 in Washington DC earlier this month, this was my mantra as I introduced myself throughout the gathering.

Thank you, thank you, thank you WRJ for

Maintaining a Learner's Mindset

Rabbi Rachael Houser

Lately, I’ve been playing a game of comparisons. My old place in Cincinnati had lilac bushes by the front door. Now my new block in Astoria smells of roses, owing to the talented gardeners who grow all varieties of colors and scents in their tiny patches of

girl with brown hair wearing black long sleeve dress speaking at podium into microphone

The Past Few Months as a WRJ Legislative Assistant

Jessica Cadmus

Growing up in Los Angeles, I was privileged to never worry about accessing reproductive health care or an abortion. However, while attending college in Arizona, that all changed. In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which led to the state of