Be brave. Be bold. Be brilliant.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to inspire the next generation of young women. The AJN looks at RBG's Brave & Brilliant Women – a book created by the late Supreme Court Justice and Nadine Epstein, showing that just as women who came before us changed history, so too can you.
Jewish women are brave. They’re inspirational. They’re smart, powerful, intuitive, adventurous and ambitious. The late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, believed there was an age-old connection between social justice and Jewish tradition. And the importance of Jewish women in this narrative is paramount.
Which is why, together with Moment magazine editor Nadine Epstein, she created a book for all the Jewish girls searching for someone to inspire them.
“In my growing up years, the term role model was not yet coined. And it wasn’t easy to learn about the many great women who had changed the world for the better – and paved the way for women like me to attend colleges and universities, and become lawyers, doctors, or violinists in orchestras,” RBG, as she is commonly called, said in her introduction for RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone.
The book is a collection of stories, from women in ancient times to now, from all around the world. The common denominator is that they were guided or shaped by their Jewish beliefs or values.
“What they all have in common is that they transcended what was expected, allowed or tolerated for a woman of their time,” Epstein writes in the prologue. “They chose difficult or unusual paths and stayed true to their talents and missions despite the obstacles. They achieved what was unimaginable, and the unimaginable led to the advancement of women, to breaking barriers in previously men-only fields, and to changing the world for the better.”
The influence of RBG
Epstein explains that when they started the book, RBG was already physically frail, having survived cancer several times. When her pancreatic cancer returned, Bader Ginsburg was determined to complete the book, ensuring it was part of a legacy passed down to the next generation of Jewish women.
“This is but one example of how this strong-willed, forward-looking person never stopped fighting for what she believed in,” Epstein wrote.
Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to sit on the high court, but even before her appointment she had established a legal legacy, finding a way to prioritise the rights of women.
Her Jewish identity was ingrained in her from birth and the fact that she was Jewish and a woman resonated with many young people. In the face of deteriorating health, she seemed to gain even more strength, with videos surfacing of her lifting weights with her personal trainer.
On September 18, 2020, erev Rosh Hashanah, Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Many people have spoken about how poignant her passing on Rosh Hashanah was, with Jewish teachings about the significance of dying on Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah circling immediately following her death.
“By the time she died, RBG had joined the ranks of a small group of Americans whose deeds will not be forgotten,” Epstein writes in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg chapter.
From biblical times to the space race
RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women takes a trip down life’s memory lane, starting with Miriam in the Book of Exodus through to Emmy Noether, Golda Meir and Anne Frank, before finishing with Judy Resnik, the first Jewish woman to travel to space.
Each chapter comes alive with beautifully woven stories about the individual’s impact on the world. It talks about Miriam being more than the older sister of Moses, and Yocheved being one of the most pivotal figures in Jewish history. It shares the story of Rebecca Gratz, the founder of the first social services organisation in America.
There’s a chapter dedicated to Emma Lazarus, the poet behind one of the most famous poems in history – “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …” – familiar to many around the world, greeting every immigrant arriving by ship in New York harbour since 1903 and every tourist who has visited the Statue of Liberty since.
There’s also Henrietta Szold who transformed healthcare in Israel and was one of RBG’s personal heroes, and Gertrude Berg – the woman behind The Goldbergs – who built a media empire.
There are businesswomen, Nobel Prize-winning writers, opera stars, shipping magnates and mathematicians. Teachers, rabbis, medical experts, and lawyers. There are women representing every career, every background, some who lived to old age and others whose lives were cut short too soon.
What they all had in common is that they were trailblazers of their time. And as the book concludes, all young Jewish women who read it will realise that they have it in them to be trailblazers too.
As Epstein encourages in her call to action – find your voice, use your voice, talk to people who agree and disagree with you, be patient and don’t give up.
“Be brave. Be brilliant. Soon it will be up to you to lead the way to a more just society … and remember, when the going gets tough, you have female role models to inspire you.”
RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone is published by RHUS Children’s Books, $24.99 (rrp)
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