Read­ers look­ing for pow­er­ful, female, Jew­ish role mod­els will find a valu­able resource in this com­pi­la­tion of sto­ries based on real Jew­ish hero­ines through­out the ages. Each short, con­cise sketch focus­es on a brave, deter­mined woman who pre­vailed against odds and changed a cor­ner of her world — and in the process, changed Jew­ish and often world history.

Entries include Sarah Aron­son, a fear­less agent spy­ing for Israel against the Ottomans; Beate Siro­ta Gor­don, who fought for wom­en’s rights; enter­tain­er Mol­ly Picon, who per­formed for refugees and sol­diers through­out Europe dur­ing World War II; Riv­ka bat Meir Tik­tin­er, a renowned schol­ar from the six­teenth cen­tu­ry; Dr. Rahel Goritein Straus, who helped advance the State of Israel in its ear­ly days; astro­naut Judith Resnick, who lost her life on the Space Shut­tle Chal­lenger but inspired many to reach for the stars; and many oth­ers who dis­tin­guished them­selves in busi­ness, pol­i­tics, aca­d­e­mics, sci­ence, and count­less oth­er fields.

Some of the names will be famil­iar to read­ers and their fam­i­lies and teach­ers; oth­ers will be pre­vi­ous­ly unknown, pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty for fur­ther read­ing and research that will deep­en the knowl­edge and enhance the edu­ca­tion of today’s youth.

This intro­duc­tion to these names and faces of many Jew­ish hero­ines reminds us that impres­sive accom­plish­ments can be achieved even under cir­cum­stances that are chal­leng­ing or seem impos­si­ble at first. They show that grit, deter­mi­na­tion to suc­ceed, and an abil­i­ty to expand bound­aries have been a focus of Jew­ish women for centuries.