Jewish Resilience: Confronting Wartime Sexual Violence Denial
Content advisory: This episode discusses sexual violence in the context of the October 7th Massacre and the captured hostages.
Join Z3 Podcast host Rabbi Amitai Fraiman and Laura E. Adkins, award-winning writer and former opinion editor at The Forward, as they dive deep into a discussion about the state of the world for American and Israeli Jews, with a special emphasis on the experiences of women. Amitai and Laura talk through Laura’s experience working with survivors of the Nova music festival attack. During this conversation, Amitai and Laura discuss the struggle for Israeli women to be believed about having experienced and witnessed sexual violence by Hamas on October 7th and thereafter. Though the nature of this conversation is filled with intense themes, Laura leaves us with these underlying ideas to give Jews strength going forward: Jewish resilience as a constant thread throughout history and the importance of the Diaspora building intentional connections with Israelis. Learn more about the work Laura is doing and about supporting survivors of sexual violence at jwi.org or ibelieveisraeliwomen.org.
About our guest:
Laura E. Adkins
Progressive Thinker, Writer and Activist
Laura E. Adkins is an award-winning writer based in New York. Her work on Israel, global Jewish life, and gender issues has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Glamour, Fox News and other outlets. Laura is a senior director at Jewish Women International, working to combat gender-based violence and advance economic justice and women’s leadership. She is also a volunteer mentor-editor for the OpEd project and serves on the New York Atid board of the Israel Policy Forum. Previously, Laura was the Opinion Editor of the Forward, an adjunct instructor of journalism at Yeshiva University’s Stern College, an inaugural member of the Shalom Hartman journalism cohort, the Opinion Editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the editor of Jewish Insider and an assistant blogs editor at The Times of Israel. Approaching the world with curiosity and humility, her work aims to advance our collective understanding of the realities and beliefs that shape individuals and societies, particularly in Israel and Jewish diaspora communities.
