Hadassah-Brandeis Institute

Meet the Gilda Slifka Interns

Every summer, HBI welcomes interns from across the country and world who complete original research related to the HBI mission of fresh thinking about Jews and gender worldwide and support the work of scholars affiliated with HBI and Brandeis University. During the eight-week program, the interns also attend educational lunch sessions with scholars and artists, and visit Jewish art and cultural sites of interest in the area. This year’s group will visit the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA, and go on a photo tour with photographer Hannah Altman, whose recent art exhibition, As it Were Suspended in Midair, recently closed at HBI. They recently toured the art studio of Caron Tabb, where they discussed art and activism. The Gilda Slifka HBI Summer Internship is supported by a generous gift from Gilda Slifka. Meet our interns.

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2025 Gilda Slifka Interns

Judy Goldstein (she/her) recently graduated from Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she majored in history and Jewish gender and women's studies. Her thesis, A Night at the Ball: Jewish Immigrant Social Events in New York City, 1900-1939, won the 2025 Ingeborg, Tamara, and Yonina Rennert Senior Thesis Prize in Jewish Studies at Barnard College. Goldstein will present this work, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody": Gender and Romance at Jewish Mutual Aid Dances, at Boston’s Lehrhaus, a not-for-profit, Jewish tavern and house of learning, on Thursday, July 17 at 6:00 pm. Information and registration is here.

This summer, Goldstein is thrilled to assist Sara Ronis, St. Mary's University Professor of Theology, HBI Research Associate, and past Scholar in Residence, with editing Ronis’s manuscript, titled Fetal Positions: The Talmudic Construction of Personhood. Goldstein’s personal project will highlight translations of 20th century Yiddish poetry by Jewish women.

Tidhar Gutman (she/her) is a doctoral student at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University’s School of Education. She holds a B.A. in Cognitive Sciences and is a graduate of the "Amirim" honors program in the humanities. She also has a master's degree in Teaching and Learning from the School of Education at the Hebrew University. Her research interests include critical and feminist pedagogies, Jewish learning and hermeneutics, and gender.

Gutman’s research examines the field of pluralistic batei midrash in Israel through a gendered lens, highlighting the unique contributions of women facilitators to the development of Jewish renewal, and the pedagogy of beit midrash. It examines how, if at all, the work of these facilitators is connected to social change, and how their pedagogy supports and possibly enriches feminist approaches to knowledge, interpretation, and learning.

Gutman is an educator who develops tools for practical knowledge and educational leadership. She designs educational programs, and facilitates batei midrash. At HBI, Gutman is working with Professor Rabbi Rachel Adelman of Hebrew College, a member of HBI’s Academic Advisory Committee and Research Awards Selection Committee, on her upcoming book focused on feminist interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, classical and modern midrash, titled Daughters in Danger, from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash.

Lee-El Messinger (she/her) is a rising sophomore at Brandeis University where she is studying History, Politics, Legal Studies, Near Eastern Judaic Studies, and Women and Gender Studies. This summer she is working with Brandeis University Professor Emerita Sylvia Barack Fishman on a project analyzing Jewish women's public leadership roles, especially after October 7, 2023, for a new book project, And She Rose: Jewish Women Leaders for Troubled Times. For her personal project, she is researching women's views on the ancient hymn, Eshet Chayil, and how religious views or age impact these views. Messinger is looking to pursue a career in law, advocacy, and politics when she graduates Brandeis University.

Annabel Morrisová (she/her) is a History - Jewish studies and Biblical Hebrew track student at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne going into the second year of her undergraduate degree. Originally from Prague, she has a strong interest in Jewish history and comparative European history. This summer she will be working on an individual project on Jewish female resistance in Europe during World War II. Additionally, Morrisová is interested in radio, journalism and censorship, as well as cartography, languages and drawing. She hopes to incorporate creative media and radio into her individual project. During this internship, she is excited to be assisting Laura Jockusch, Brandeis University Professor of Holocaust Studies, in completing Jockusch’s monograph that seeks to carry out a reappraisal of Stella Goldschlag, titled, The Trials of Stella Goldschlag – Nazi Victim, Holocaust Survivor, and War Criminal.

Simone Rothstein (she/her) is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. Majoring in Ethics, History, and Public Policy, Rothstein’s academic interests include Feminist and Environmental Ethics, as well as Diasporic Judaic Studies. As part of her major and senior honors program, Rothstein completed both a capstone project on labor violations by healthcare monopsonies (a market structure in which a single buyer substantially controls the market) in Pittsburgh, PA, and a thesis on conceptions of nationhood in the Jewish Diaspora. Rothstein looks forward to working with her advisor Joyce Antler, the Samuel J. Lane Professor Emerita of American Jewish History and Culture and Professor Emerita of Women's, Gender and Sexuality, to research the engaging women who surrounded and impacted the career of Justice Louis Brandeis for Antler’s upcoming book, The Remarkable Women Around Louis Dembitz Brandeis: Reclaiming An Activist Legacy. For her personal project, Rothstein hopes to explore how feminist thinkers like Judith Butler and Shulamith Firestone could direct Jewish communities towards an increasingly genderless halakha.

Judy Ruden (they/them) is a rising sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin where they are pursuing a double major in English and Plan II Studies. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ruden enjoys studying interdisciplinary issues ranging from ethical systems of race to evolutionary biology. They also have experience teaching Hebrew and Jewish Studies classes at their synagogue, as well as art classes at their local JCC summer camp. At HBI, Ruden is working with Jordan Katz, a professor at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, current HBI Research Associate, and past Scholar in Residence, for Katz’s manuscript on Jewish midwives in early modern Europe, titled Delivering Knowledge: Jewish Midwives and Hidden Healing in Early Modern Europe. They also hope to explore the intersection between Jewish and queer identities through careful research and written analysis. When they aren’t buried in a book, Ruden enjoys painting, crafting of all kinds (currently they are attempting to sew), and browsing the Libby catalogs.

Sophia Stewart (she/her) is a rising senior at Brandeis University from Orange County, CA majoring in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Politics. She is excited to be back at beautiful Brandeis and HBI this summer, exploring a variety of topics and values through a Jewish feminist lens. At HBI, Stewart is working with Rachel Munn, Ph.D., an HBI Research Associate and HBI Holocaust Research Study Group member, on her creative non-fiction book of narrative poems about motherhood and the experiences of her extended family during the Holocaust titled, The Last Transport: Motherhood, Family Stories and a Holocaust Inheritance. Aside from academic pursuits, Stewart enjoys reading, running, swimming, and baking.