For Israel’s 75th anniversary, the Jewish women’s movement, Momentum, has launched a social media campaign that spotlights women who have integrally shaped Israel over the last 75 years.
The organization works to inspire Jewish women to connect with Israel and their Jewish values, launched a year-long campaign highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of eight intrepid Jewish women to celebrate Israel’s milestone 75th anniversary.
Social media posts on Instagram and Facebook are showcasing highly stylized illustrations of these pioneering figures, including:
* Judoka Yael Arad, the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal;
* Noted Israeli scholar and commentator who rekindled broad interest in Bible study, Nechama Leibowitz;
* Israel’s first and only female head of government and the first woman to lead a government in the Middle East, Golda Meir;
* Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah and the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Henrietta Szold;
* Activist and prominent public figure in the movement to free Soviet Jewry, Avital Sharansky, who fought for the release of her husband Natan Sharansky;
* Rita, one of Israel’s most iconic singers;
* Alice Miller; who broke the glass ceiling for women serving in the IDF as pilots, and
* Dr. Miriam Adelson, an influential and visionary philanthropist who is one of the world’s best-known supporters of Jewish causes.
The campaign illustrates how these women have been integral in shaping Israel over the last 75 years. Israeli women have changed the face of Israel. From Avital Sharansky being a key figure responsible for liberating Jews stuck behind the Iron Curtain, to Rita singing moving songs in her native Farsi that have shown the world — and even Iran — the cultural diversity of Israel, to Dr. Miriam Adelson’s inspiring broad support for Israel and the Jewish community through philanthropy, to Golda Meir blazing the trail for the female political leaders who have followed her, these women are not only examples of Israel’s inclusivity but are responsible for helping shape the entire country and its global impact.
The organization is spreading the campaign across its social media channels and integrating it into its immersive in-person experiences like the Momentum Fellowship and the Momentum Yearlong Journey, an eight-day trip to Israel which encourages participants to walk in the footsteps of these eight and understand how they, too, can be agents of change. Participants are to include some 600 women from 12 countries including France, Argentina and Spain.
“With this campaign, we hope women will be able to recognize aspects of themselves,” said Lori Palatnik, Momentum Founding Director. “Each one of us has the ability to lead, guide and contribute. We sometimes just need a little inspiration. And what better way to get that, than through women who have lived their lives based on Jewish values. We believe that a world that empowers women is beneficial to all.”
The yearlong social media campaign builds on Momentum’s growing foray into the digital world, with its network of more than 20,000 Jewish women from 35 countries. Last year the organization launched Yomm, the first mobile app exclusively tailored for Jewish women, in collaboration with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.
