Former Israeli lawmaker Aliza Lavie is calling on Jewish women to join an online campaign titled @IconicJewishWomen to honor Jewish heroines on International Women’s Day, March 8.
This year, the campaign follows the release of Lavie’s book Iconic Jewish Women: Fifty-Nine Inspiring, Courageous, Revolutionary Role Models for Young Girls.
“We encourage participants to post items on social media platforms about women who positively influenced them,” Lavie told JNS. “Sometimes, participants choose survivors from the Holocaust or historical figures. Others choose women in their lives, a grandmother or a mother-in-law.”
In 1977, the United Nations designated March 8 as International Women’s Day, and it has since morphed into a global event. In Israel, the day is marked in the Knesset by the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality and the Subcommittee for the Fight against Trafficking in Women and Prostitution, both of which Lavie chaired when she was a Knesset member.
This year’s campaign is especially meaningful for Lavie as she said heroes are everywhere since Oct. 7. “Everyone is a hero—my daughters and daughter-in-law, who hold down the fort while their husbands left everything to serve in the IDF,” Lavie said.
On Friday, she’ll be celebrating with friends and colleagues from the northwestern Negev who suffered the Hamas onslaught on Oct 7. “We will organize events for women who left their homes and took matters into their own hands on Oct. 7, as well as those whose spouses were murdered and children kidnapped by Hamas,” Lavie said.
Amid last year’s turmoil over the government’s judicial reform initiative, Lavie launched the “120 Women Leadership Council,” composed of 600 influential women from diverse sectors and backgrounds, to promote constructive dialogue and compromise about controversial societal issues.
“We opened a forum for women from all over the country, religious and secular, left and right-wing, women who demonstrated and those against demonstrations. A forum for everyone to sit together and listen to each other,” she explained.
Lavie is encouraging women to go out on March 8, and throughout the year, to read about Jewish heroines of the past. “Celebrate your role model in whichever way you can,” she told JNS. “Go to libraries and museums to read about them. Use social media to tell their stories. We are starting a cycle of knowledge together for Jewish heroines to be remembered.”