Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman is the executive director of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. A writer, researcher, educator and organisational consultant who has been active in Orthodox feminism for the past 17 years, Elana holds a doctorate in gender and education from Hebrew University. She is the author of the award winning The Men’s Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World (Brandeis, 2011) and The War on Women in Israel: A Story of Religious Radicalism and the Women Fighting for Freedom (Sourcebooks, 2014).
Our Voice of the Fortnight is from the Times of Israel's 'Wartime Diaries' podcast. In the immediate aftermath of October 7th, Shai Davidai – an Assistant Professor at Columbia University – became an unlikely public defender of Israel. And truthfully, even he was surprised by this turn of events: As a committed left-wing Israeli, he had spent years criticizing the government, and often took to the streets to demonstrate against its policies. But the atmosphere he witnessed on college campuses (and specifically on his own campus at Columbia), compelled him to speak up and speak out.