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. Field experiences include visits to the Yiddish Book Center, Touro Synagogue in Newport, a tour of HBI Board member Caron Tabb's art studio, and a photography workshop with Hannah Altman, whose exhibition, As it Were, Suspended in Midair, was in the Kniznick Gallery during the 2025 spring semester.  The Gilda Slifka Internship Program is supported by a generous gift from Gilda Slifka.

Interns also meet with scholars whose work has shaped the field of Jewish gender studies, including:

• Dana Edell, PhD, Faculty Director of EmersonTHEATER and Assistant Professor of Performing Arts at Emerson College, who led a workshop on using applied theatre techniques as a feminist research method.
• Debra Kaufman, PhD, founding director and professor emerita of Northeastern University's Women's Studies and Jewish Studies programs, who discussed her pioneering role in establishing the field and reflects on the evolution of Jewish feminist scholarship.
• Joy Ladin, PhD, Professor emerita of Yeshiva University who will share her thoughts on gender identity, spirituality, and Jewish tradition

Meet this year’s Gilda Slifka summer interns. 

Ava Cohen (she/her) is a rising junior at Brandeis University from Baltimore, MD majoring in History and Economics. She has a strong interest in Jewish feminism, especially contributions made to secular feminist movements by Jewish women. At HBI, Cohen is working with Ornit Barkai, an HBI research associate, on a project centering friendship poems written by children in a Romanian Orphanage following the end of the Holocaust. For her personal project, she is researching New York City's 1902 kosher meat boycotts and the ways various newspapers covered the events. 

Ellie Friedman (she/her) is a junior at Barnard College, where she is studying Comparative Literature with a focus on English and Spanish, Human Rights, and Jewish Studies. She is a Barnard Writing Fellow and is passionate about learning through writing. This summer she is working with Adriana Brodsky, Professor of Latin American and Jewish History at St. Mary's College of Maryland, on her project about an organization of Jewish Zionist Sephardi women in Buenos Aires. Her personal project will look at Jewish women's involvement in political movements in Buenos Aires and New York City. In her free time, Friedman enjoys going on long walks, reading the latest Taylor Jenkins Reid novels, and trying new coffee shops. 

Lydia Glazer (she/they) recently graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a major in English and World Literature and a minor in history. Her capstone project, Reshaped, Reclaimed, and Revived: The Golem in the Hands of Jewish Women and Jews with Disabilities, analyzed Cynthia Ozick and Riva Lehrer’s explorations of the golem story. She also completed an honors project, Roaches and Mice and Apes, Oh My!: Renegotiating Jewish Identity in The Metamorphosis, Maus, and Cabaret, exploring the ways in which Jewish works have used vermin and animals to depict Jewish characters as a response to early 20th century antisemitism. She is captivated by Jewish monsters, folktales, and reclamations of monstrous bodies. Next year, she plans to pursue a degree in library science. Glazer is excited to be working with Samantha Pickette, an HBI research associate, on her project, Bridging the JAP, researching funny Jewish women of the 1970s. Her personal project will examine the archetype of the monstrous bride in supernatural Jewish tales. 

Isaac Kofsky (he/him) is a rising senior at Carleton College from Westfield, NJ. He is pursuing a degree in Religion with a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and hopes to attend rabbinical school after college. He has a strong interest in Biblical and Talmud studies and has a background in both the academic and lived practice of Judaism. Outside of the classroom, Kofsky is editor-in-chief of his college's newspaper, works for his college's Chaplain's Office, and is a student leader for Carleton's Interfaith Social Action group, which focuses on fighting food insecurity, expanding local transportation, and providing needed support to immigrant families in the wake of Operation Metro Surge. This summer, Kofsky is working with Deirdre Butler, Associate Professor of Religion at Carleton University (not the same as Carleton College!) on her project Troubling Orthopraxy: Jewish Divorce in Canada. His personal project will focus on the ways in which trans and nonbinary Jews have innovated or created liturgy over the past two decades, and what those changes can say about meaning-making and sacred ritual for queer Jewish communities.

Ella Maurice (she/her) is a rising junior at Vassar College where she is majoring in History and German Studies. On campus, she is a member of the History Majors Committee and has been a Co-Captain in Vassar College Mock Trial for two years. Maurice works as a research assistant for Professor AJ Solovy, who specializes in modern European History, and as a drill instructor in the German Studies Department, helping students in introductory classes improve their speaking skills. Maurice is excited to assist Joanna Michlic. Associate Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights at Gratz College, on Michlic’s project Hidden, Forgotten, Remembered? Jewish Child Survivors of Mixed Ethnic Background in Poland after the Holocaust. This summer she is working on an individual project exploring aid-giving amongst Jewish women in childbearing and childrearing scenarios in concentration camps during the Holocaust. When not in class or working, Maurice can be found hanging out with her friends, crocheting, reading, and spending quality time with her pets.

Aviyah Ravin (she/her) is a rising junior at Georgetown University majoring in American Studies and English Literature. This summer, she is a research assistant to Abigail Gillman, Professor of Hebrew, German, and Comparative Literature at Boston University, assisting with her book project tracing a genealogy of the Jewish parable (mashal). For her personal project, she hopes to investigate the emergence of ultra-Orthodox female musicians through the lens of the halakhic concept of kol isha, examining how evolving interpretations of this prohibition have shaped women’s musical performance and cultural production within Orthodox communities.  

Sadie Roraback-Meagher (she/her) is a rising senior at Tufts University, where she is studying Political Science and Judaic Studies. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Roraback-Meagher’s academic interests range from social movement theory to Hasidism in America. She is heavily involved with her student newspaper, The Tufts Daily, where she serves as a managing editor. At HBI, Roraback-Meagher is working with Edith Pick, a lecturer in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at  Brandeis and a Visiting Researcher at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Roraback-Meagher will assist with Pick’s project analyzing maternal organizations in Israel and the Jewish diaspora. When she’s not busy with school, Roraback-Meagher enjoys watching movies, knitting, and reading.

Julia Shadmon is a rising senior at Brandeis University, originally from Los Angeles, CA.  She studies Psychology with a minor in English. She is excited to be part of the Gilda Slifka Internship program, where she is working alongside Yuval Evri , Associate Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies. She will assist on his book, In the Middle: The Invention of Mizrahi Jews as Mediators, which explores Mizrahi women who inhabited and shaped their roles as mediators through practices of translation, espionage, collaboration, radio broadcasting, and political activism. She is also excited to build her independent project, which examines Mizrahi and Sephardic women in the US, and how their identities have built a network of intersectionality between borders, religion, identity, and gender. In her free time, Shadmon enjoys exploring new places, reading, and dancing.