Can We Talk?: Recent Episodes
Jewish Women's Archive
Each month on Can We Talk?, the Jewish Women’s Archive features stories and conversations about Jewish women and the issues that shape our public and private lives. Visit us at jwa.org.
Sheket bevakasha! We're in the thick of summer, so we're talking about—what else?—camp! In this special summer episode, Nahanni, Judith, and Jen talk about The Floaters, a fun new movie set at a Jewish summer camp, and how the film fit—or didn't—with their camp experiences and their kids'. Then, Shai Korman, who produced the film along with his sisters Becky and Lily, joins the conversation to talk about creating authentic Jewish characters, why they decided to create a camp run by women, and why a Jewish camp movie can be for everyone.
For more conversation about iconic summer movies with a Jewish twist, check out our episode marking the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing.
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In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler, Nahanni Rous, and Judith Rosenbaum recap the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 podcast seasons, revisiting episodes about a Jewish woman in a Japanese internment camp, America’s first TV mom, a Tel Aviv–Ramallah romance, and much more.
Sari Bashi’s memoir Upside Down Love chronicles the tumultuous early years of her relationship with Osama (a pseudonym for the man she eventually marries). Sari is an Israeli Jewish woman and Osama is Palestinian. The book is set between Tel Aviv, where Sari lived at the time, and Osama’s home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Sari describes the physical and emotional boundaries she and Osama have overcome, and how they are raising their trilingual, multicultural children. She also talks about what it’s like to be a Jewish woman living in a Palestinian city in the West Bank.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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UK-based columnist and author Hadley Freeman joins us to discuss the wave of violent attacks on British Jews, which has spurred UK prime minister Keir Starmer to declare antisemitism a crisis. In her Sunday Times column, Hadley writes frequently about antisemitism, gender, and politics. She is also the author of several books, including House Of Glass, about her grandmother’s family during the Holocaust.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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For generations of readers, Judy Blume's novels made growing up feel less lonely. In this episode, Judith Rosenbaum talks with Mark Oppenheimer, author of a new biography of Blume, about their favorite Blume titles, what’s Jewish about her work, and why her novels are radical in ways people often overlook. Throughout the episode, listeners share what Judy Blume's books mean to them.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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It is a tense moment in the war between the United States and Israel, and Iran. A temporary ceasefire is set to expire, and it is unclear whether diplomacy will resume or violence will erupt again.
Roya Hakakian is a writer, journalist, and political commentator and the author of Journey from the Land of No, a memoir about growing up Jewish in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution. She and her family fled Iran for the United States in 1985.
In this episode of Can We Talk?, Roya describes what it’s been like to watch the conflict unfold, her hopes for the Iranian people, and what Western feminists can learn from Iranian women.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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What does it mean to be a third-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors? Jen reflects on her grandparents' experiences in the Holocaust—the ones they shared and the ones they didn't—and her responsibility to learn about and share them with her children. She also talks to Rachael Cerrotti, creator of We Share the Same Sky, a podcast about her journey tracing her grandmother's Holocaust survival story. Together, they explore how our family stories help us understand our own lives, and how we carry the past into the present and the future.
More about Rachael Cerrotti's work:
Personal website
Substack
We Share The Same Sky podcast
We Share The Same Sky book
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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In the years since her death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been remembered as a feminist icon and, more recently, a figure some blame for the Court's sharp rightward turn, the fall of Roe v Wade—even the decline of American democracy. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we take a new look at RBG’s legacy. Actor Michelle Azar, who brings Ginsburg to life in the one-woman show All Things Equal, talks about changing audience reactions in a moment of deep political and legal upheaval. Then, journalist and Supreme Court expert Dahlia Lithwick dissects the stories we tell about Ginsburg—from the “Notorious RBG” phenomenon to the backlash that followed her death—and explores what those narratives get right, and what they miss. Together, we dig into Ginsburg’s legal strategy, her critiques of Roe, and the enduring impact of her commitment to equality and civility.
Schedule and tickets for All Things Equal tour
Profile of RBG in JWA's Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
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The word zaftig has been used to describe everyone from 1930s burlesque dancers to Marilyn Monroe to buxom bubbies. But what does it really mean? Is it only for women? And is it a compliment—or an insult?
English-Yiddish dictionary editor Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath helps answer these questions in our latest "Word of the Week" episode. Comedian Judy Gold, Talmud explainer Miriam Anzovin, and writer Lizzie Skurnick also share their takes.
And Jen heads to Zaftigs Delicatessen in Brookline, MA to hear what diners think of the word.
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In this bonus episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler talks to Stephanie Butnick, founder of the Jewish lifestyle newsletter GOLDA, about sparking Jewish joy through rituals, books, art—and shopping.
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To mark our 10th anniversary, we're re-releasing our pilot episode about...pilots! Elynor Rudnick and Zahara Levitov grew up on different continents: one in America, one in British-ruled Palestine. In the 1940s, they were both young Jewish women with pilot's licenses. During some of the most turbulent years in modern Jewish history, their stories were woven together—not by fate, but by flight. Plus, Deb Dreyfus, a modern day Jewish woman pilot, takes our host Nahanni Rous for a spin in her four-seater Cessna.
From "Jewess Jeans" to "Coffee Talk" to "Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy," Jewish women have left their mark on Saturday Night Live as cast members and as characters. In this episode of Can We Talk? we look at the evolving role of Jewish women on the show over its 50 years on TV. Original cast member Laraine Newman talks about how her Jewish identity influenced the characters she played, and how the show reflects changing attitudes about being Jewish. Also, pop culture scholar Jennifer Caplan helps us dissect some iconic sketches—some of which have aged better than others.
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And if you want to make sure we continue telling stories at the intersection of gender, history, and Jewish culture, donate to JWA's year-end campaign!
Step into the history of queer Jews in Washington, DC, as Nahanni tours the Capital Jewish Museum’s current exhibit, “LGBTJews in the Federal City” with curators Jonathan Edelman and Sarah Leavitt. Through artifacts, photos, and oral histories, the exhibit looks at decades of federal discrimination and the fight for equality, the AIDS epidemic and national response, and the transformation of Jewish communal life locally and nationally. Highlights include a panel from the AIDS memorial quilt, a purple, sequined gown from DC’s favorite Jewish drag queen, and a pair of rotary phones that dial up oral history clips from local LGBTQ community members.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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And if you want to make sure we continue telling stories at the intersection of gender, history, and Jewish culture, donate to JWA's year-end campaign!
Guita Sazan grew up in a Jewish family in Tehran in the 1960s and 1970s, during the reign of the Shah. She was a teenager during the Islamic Revolution against the Shah and was inspired to join the struggle, even becoming a practicing Muslim. But as time went by, the new regime became more and more repressive, until finally Guita realized her own life might be in danger unless she fled the country. Guita joins us to discuss her dramatic life story and her new memoir Mirrors on Fire: A Jewish Girl Seized in Pursuit of Jihad.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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On October 9, 2023, two days after the Hamas attack, Israeli trauma therapist Merav Roth visited survivors of Kibbutz Be’eri in the hotel they had been evacuated to. Some had seen family members murdered; others were raped or fled homes that were set on fire. Merav stayed and worked with them for weeks. She also helped organize hundreds of therapists to provide emergency aid to survivors. For the past two years, she has continued to work with survivors, with the families of hostages, and with hostages released in every round of agreements—including the most recent one. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Merav describes how some of the hostages coped in captivity, what she's hearing from Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, and what long-term recovery from trauma can look like.
This episode contains descriptions of violence.
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Public radio icon Susan Stamberg died on October 16, 2025, at the age of 87. In this special episode, we pay tribute to Susan by listening back to our 2018 interview in which she discusses her New York accent, how early NPR audiences responded to hearing a woman deliver the nightly news, and what she listens for in a broadcast voice. The interview was part of an episode about women's voices in broadcasting, called "Breaking the Sound Barrier."
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Two years after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, we speak with family members of Vivian Silver and Hayim Katsman, Israeli peace activists who were murdered that day. Hayim’s mother Hannah Wacholder Katsman and Vivian’s son Yonatan Zeigen share how they are carrying on their legacies.
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In the spring of 1942, at the height of World War II, Elaine Buchman Yoneda became the only Jewish woman on record to be imprisoned in an American concentration camp. Manzanar was one of the detention centers—commonly known as Japanese internment camps—where the US government imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese descent, the majority of whom were American citizens, during the war. Elaine spent ten months in Manzanar, along with her Japanese-American husband, Karl, and their 3-year-old son, Tommy.
In this episode of Can We Talk?, Tracy Slater, author of Together in Manzanar, describes the bleak living conditions in the camp, the tensions that festered among the prisoners, and how the Yonedas became targets of violence. She also talks about how the anti-immigrant and racist policies of the time tore families apart, and how those same forces are reemerging today.
Photos reprinted with permission from Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp by Tracy Slater.
Translation of Elaine Buchman Yoneda's letter used with permission from Manzanar: Internment Camp Diary (English Translation) by Karl G. Yoneda and Ian R. Forsyth.
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From 1929 until the mid 1950s, Molly Goldberg was America’s favorite Jewish mother. Her character was written, acted, and embodied by Gertrude Berg, the first female showrunner and the first woman to win an Emmy for television. First on radio, then on television, The Goldbergs was a hit show and the first family sitcom. In this episode of Can We Talk?, New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum introduces us to Gertrude Berg and her lovable character Molly Goldberg. We talk about how Molly remade the image of the Jewish mother, how McCarthy-era persecution led to the show’s downfall, and how the show still resonates today.
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For the last of our summer re-releases, we're taking you back to an episode from 2017 about mah jongg, an ancient Chinese table game that’s embedded in Jewish culture.
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In this special summer episode, Judith, Nahanni, and Jen each share something they've read, watched, or listened to this summer that Can We Talk? listeners will love.
Judith: Reformed(streaming on Max)
Nahanni: The Safekeepby Yael van der Wouden; Journey From the Land of No by Roya Hakakian; As A Jew by Sarah Hurwitz
Jen: The Retrievalspodcast, season 2
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Whilethe podcastis on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. This time, an episode from 2021 about Moroccan Israeli singer Zohra El Fassia.
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Whilethe podcastis on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. First up, an episode from 2022 all about the word yenta: where it came from, what people think of it, and how its meaning changed over time. Enjoy!
This episode includes music by Alicia Jo Rabins.
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Supporting and embracing queer Jews has been Idit Klein's mission for over a quarter century. Since 2001, she has led Keshet, which is now the largest organization for LGBTQ+ Jews in America. With her departure from Keshet approaching, Idit sat down with her longtime friend Judith Rosenbaum, to reflect on her career, the impact of today's political climate on her work, and how much has changed for queer Jews in her lifetime.
This episode includes Taoudella from Blue Dot Sessions.
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In June 2025, the thirteenth cohort of Orthodox women rabbis graduates from Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox yeshiva in North America dedicated to ordaining women. In this episode, we look at the status of the so-called stained-glass ceiling for Orthodox women rabbis as they seek pulpit positions, and we talk about the unique challenges for women’s leadership in the Orthodox movement. We speak with Rabbanit Leah Sarna, Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman, and Yeshivat Maharat’s founder and president, Rabba Sara Hurwitz.
This episode includes Tiny Putty from Blue Dot Sessions.
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For centuries, writing a Torah scroll was a sacred task reserved for men. But a couple of decades ago, a handful of women decided to pick up the quill—without waiting for permission—and paved the way for other women to do the same. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we hear from women who write Torah scrolls and explore what it means to inscribe yourself into tradition.
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To learn more about the work of the sofrot featured in this episode, and about sofrut in general, check out these resources:
Jen Taylor Friedman
Shoshana Gugenheim
Julie Seltzer
Ariela Housman
Stam Scribes - Jewish Scribal Collective
Lauren Greenhall - That's How You Make A Torah (Documentary Short)
In this special Mother’s Day episode, Nahanni interviews her mother, Emma Rous, who died this winter. They talk about how Emma’s teenage activism in a Protestant youth group influenced her politics, her conversion to Judaism in 1971, memories of her first Yom Kippur, what it was like to invent her own Jewish identity, and how Judaism eventually became her home.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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In honor of Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, we're sharing a podcast episode from Making Gay History’s current series about the Nazi era.
Frieda Belinfante was a Dutch musician and underground activist who risked her life to help save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis. She’s one of several LGBTQ people whose testimonies are featured in this Making Gay History series. Check out the rest of the series at makinggayhistory.org.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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At the Jewish Women's Archive, we’re closely following the attacks on democracy unfolding around us every day. In this special Can We Talk? audio essay, our own Judith Rosenbaum, JWA's CEO, calls out President Trump's moves to erase the histories of women and other marginalized groups. A version of this piece first ran on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's website.
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The climate crisis has entered an alarming new era. Since President Trump started his second term, the Environmental Protection Agency has fired scores of climate scientists and is trying to roll back climate protections and slash clean energy funding. For organizations like Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, it's been a giant step backward.
In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, CEO of Dayenu, about how climate activists are navigating a new political landscape, how Jewish values fuel her work, and how the fight for climate action echoes the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, which Jews will soon mark at our Passover seders.
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As the war between Ukraine and Russia enters its fourth year, Nahanni checks in with Vlada Nedak, the CEO of Project Kesher Ukraine. While American officials try to broker a temporary ceasefire, attacks on the ground in Ukraine are intensifying. Dozens of people have been injured and killed in the past month, including children. According to Reuters, over 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia invaded the country in 2022. Vlada Nadek lives in Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine, which is frequently the target of Russian missile and drone attacks.
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In this special Purim episode, Talmudic TikToker and storyteller Miriam Anzovin joins us to talk about the darker side of the Purim story, especially the role of gender. We start with a dramatic retelling of the Megillah, with Miriam's very contemporary spin on the traditional tale. Then we take a closer look at the story's gender dynamics, which still resonate 2,500 years later. Happy Purim!
Content warning: This episode includes explicit language and references to sexual assault.
Use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this podcast episode in your classroom or community.
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Just over eight years ago, Judith and Nahanni were looking for solace after Donald Trump rode a xenophobic, misogynistic and hate-filled campaign to his first presidential victory. In a November 2016 episode of Can We Talk?, we turned to the poet Emma Lazarus, the Jewish woman who gave the statue of liberty a voice and transformed her into the symbolic mother of exiles. Now, as President Trump turns refugees and asylum seekers away, tightens our borders, and orders the deportation of thousands of immigrants, that conversation feels relevant all over again. We begin our spring season in March. For now, we're sharing that 2016 episode about Emma Lazarus, "Sonnet for America."
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On August 4, 1869, a Jewish baby girl named Josie became Alaska’s first pioneer daughter. Josephine Rudolph was born in Sitka, Alaska to German immigrants, and returned to Germany when she was 6 years old. Seven decades later, her American birth saved her life when the Nazis came to power.
Josie’s story takes us from the muddy frontier town of Sitka to Hitler youth parades in Nazi Germany and finally to postwar New York, where her family tried to find their place. It's a remarkable tale of the survival of one Jewish woman and her family, but it's also part of a much bigger story—about antisemitism, refugees, and settlement, about who belongs, and where.
First we'll hear from Tom Kizzia, the journalist who reported Josie's story, and then from Susie Hoffman and Amy Weiss, Josie's great-granddaughters.
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It’s a Can We Talk? party! Welcome to our 120th episode 🥳. We're celebrating this milestone podcast style—Jen gets Judith and Nahanni reminiscing about the early days, we revisit clips from some of our favorite episodes, and we hear "Until 120!" in six languages. We’re honored to be feted by some very special past guests and fans of Can We Talk?, including Susan Stamberg of NPR, comedians Judy Gold and Iris Bahr, actor Eleanor Reissa, singers Galeet Dardashti and Erez Zobary, Noah Efron of The Promised Podcast, and our own daughters.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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Toronto R & B musician Erez Zobary was always proud of her Yemenite Jewish identity, but didn't explore it in her music - until now. Her new album, Erez, is a soulful, personal collection of songs that draws on her family's stories of life in Yemen and Israel. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Erez helps us kick off Mizrahi Heritage Month, when we celebrate the cultures and contributions of Jews from the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Erez talks about her family story, the troubled history of Yemenite Jews in Israel, and her feelings about her identity—and we hear songs from her brand new album.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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This Sukkot, we're welcoming a special guest into Can We Talk?’s virtual sukkah: the Talmudic “femme fatale” Homa, one of the women featured in her new book, The Madwoman in the Rabbi's Attic. In this episode, Talmud scholar Gila Fine tells Homa’s story, reinterprets it from Homa’s perspective, and explains why she thinks Homa makes a fitting symbolic guest for Sukkot.
Use this discussion guide to facilitate a conversation about this podcast episode in your classroom or community.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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A year after Hamas’ brutal October 7 attacks on Israel, the war is far from over. Israel is fighting on multiple fronts—with Hamas in Gaza, with Hezbollah in Lebanon—while war threatens to explode with Iran. Hamas is still holding 101 hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom have been confirmed dead by the IDF. In this episode of Can We Talk?, three Israeli women—Lee Hoffman Agiv, Stav Salpeter, and Ruby Russell—share thoughts about marking the first anniversary of the attacks in the midst of an ongoing and escalating war. We also speak with Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed, Hebrew University professor of Zohar and Jewish mysticism, who discusses atonement and redemption and what her Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group has meant to her during the past year.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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Before Joan Rivers, there was another Jewish woman who broke ground as a stand-up comedian. Her name was Jean Carroll, and although she was a household name in the 50s and 60s, today she has been mostly forgotten. Grace Kessler Overbeke hopes her new book about Jean Carroll, First Lady of Laughs, will change that. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we talk to Grace about why Jean Carroll deserves to be remembered for changing both the face of comedy and people's ideas about what a Jewish woman could be.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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The iconic Dr. Ruth Westheimer died earlier this year at the age of 96. Dr. Ruth was a trailblazer for her candid and joyful talk about sex, regularly using words like "masturbate" and "vibrator" on the air, and talking about sexual pleasure— including women's sexual pleasure—at a time when few others did. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we remember and celebrate Dr. Ruth. Historian and author Rebecca Davis explores Dr. Ruth's radical legacy and actress Tovah Feldshuh reflects on their friendship. Plus, archival tape of Dr. Ruth herself dishing out sex advice to her devoted listeners.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
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In this bonus episode, Nahanni Rous shares stories from a trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Nahanni visits a solar energy training center, a skateboarding competition, and the annual Oglala Nation powwow, and meets people who are trying to build a better future, both by innovating and by reclaiming tradition.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen, Nahanni, and Judith recap the past two seasons of the podcast,in which we entered the uncharted territory of a post-October 7 world. We discuss our approach to creating episodes about Jewish women’s responses to the attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, while still making space to tell stories about other aspects of Jewish life.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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Since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, Can We Talk? has focused on Israeli women’s responses to the war. In this episode, we turn our attention to Gaza, where Israel’s sustained bombardment has taken a terrible toll—tens of thousands of people have been killed, nearly two million people have been displaced, and the medical system is in ruins.
Over a hundred thousand Palestinians have fled Gaza for Egypt in the past eight months. Human rights activist Jen Marlowe has been raising money and working to help people with the expensive, bureaucratic and logistically complicated border crossing. In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak to Jen about her recent trip to Egypt to meet with some of the people she has helped get to safety, the conditions people face in Gaza, and what it’s like for her, a Jewish woman, to do this work.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode!
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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Dr. Mollie Wallick didn't set out to be a gay rights activist; she stumbled into the role in 1983, when she was a guidance counselor at Louisiana State University’s medical school in New Orleans. In this episode of Can We Talk?, you’ll hear excerpts from Mollie’s 2005 interview for the “Women Who Dared” oral history project. As we kick off Pride Month, Mollie’s story reminds us how much has changed in just a few decades—language, attitudes, and policies. And it offers a glimpse of what it was like to be an advocate for gay students at a time when their school, and society in general, offered few resources and many obstacles.
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode!
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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Segun el tiempo, se abolta la vela. That’s a Ladino saying that means, “According to the weather, shift your sail.” And it's an apt way of describing Ladino's recent comeback. Ladino—or Judeo-Spanish—the language spoken by Sephardic Jews in Turkey, Greece and North Africa, saw a major decline after the Holocaust destroyed communities of native speakers. But like a sailboat shifting course when the wind changes direction, Ladino has adapted to the times. In this episode of Can We Talk, you’ll hear how from Naomi Spector and Nesi Altaras, two Ladino enthusiasts, and from Hannah Pressman, one of the people spearheading Ladino’s resurgence.
Additional resources:
The American Ladino League
Ladinokomunita (online Ladino discussion group)
Documenting Judeo-Spanish (solitreo documents and reading guide)
Ladino Linguist (Bryan Kirschen)
Hannah S. Pressman (selected writing)
Enkontros de Alhad (weekly Ladino talk show)
You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also now on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode!
Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line and let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air!
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