Jewish women share stories of leadership and resilience

Sydney’s Emanuel Synagogue combined with WIZO to mark International Women’s Day yesterday, with a panel of Jewish women from film, journalism, humanitarian aid, and education reflecting on how storytelling and identity shape public conversation and social change.

The event, titled “Champions of Change”, featured filmmaker Cate Shortland; The Daily Aus co-founder Zara Seidler; SmartAID ambassador Alethea Gold; and educator, and social media creator Shoshana Gottlieb-Beker. The discussion was moderated by Emanuel Synagogue’s Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio.

Opening the discussion, Rabbi Ninio framed the panel around the Jewish idea that storytelling lies at the heart of human experience.

“There’s a beautiful teaching which says that God created human beings because God loves stories,” she said. “And you’re all storytellers in your own way.”

Shortland, whose films include ‘Somersault’, ‘Lore’, and Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Widow’, spoke about the influence of Judaism on her thinking and creative work.

“I find great solace in Judaism,” she said. “I find great solace in the teachings, not just biblical teachings, but the way that the rabbis carry themselves and the work they’re doing for social justice.”

She added that Jewish education, which emphasises questioning and debate, shapes the way she approaches storytelling.

“It’s not about the answer,” she said. “It’s about interrogating the question.”

Shortland also reflected on the legacy of earlier generations of women who created opportunities in the film industry.

“All these women in the 1970s put in place the Women’s Film Fund,” she said, noting that initiatives created decades earlier helped empower young filmmakers entering the industry.

Seidler’s digital newsroom, The Daily Aus, which focuses on engaging younger audiences with news and current affairs through a popular podcast and an Instagram following of more than 640,000, began unexpectedly when a friend posted online asking if anyone wanted to start a youth-focused news outlet.

“I was the only person who responded,” she laughed.

Seidler spoke candidly about the pressures of working in public life as a young Jewish woman and how identity shapes both perspective and scrutiny.

“There are many parts to my identity, especially in my work. I think the three most dominant parts are that I’m a woman, I’m a Jewish woman, and that I am a young Jewish woman,” she said.

“Of those three elements, I’d say the thing that brings me the most joy each day and the least criticism is the fact that I’m a woman.”

She told the audience she often finds herself critiqued from multiple directions.

“The Jewish community doesn’t like the fact that I’m Jewish, and so I have found myself in a position where I like to say I’m both too Jewish and not Jewish enough.”

Seidler became emotional as she reflected on those experiences, saying it had been upsetting that, despite her public profile, she had never been invited to speak at Jewish communal events before appearing at this event.

Gottlieb-Beker spoke about the role of humour and social media in engaging younger audiences with Jewish identity and learning.

“I went to a Jewish day school for 13 years and learned a lot,” she said. “Then I left and thought this Jewish stuff sucks, it doesn’t apply to me.”

Her perspective changed later through travel and university study.

“I realised that my existence was different from everyone else in the room,” she said.

Her Instagram account began after friends encouraged her to post the jokes she had been sharing privately.

“I was annoying a lot of my friends by posting jokes in WhatsApp groups,” she said. “They said there has to be somewhere else to put this.”

She also spoke about the hostility that can accompany public engagement online, saying the most practical response is often simply to disengage.

“I just block and move on,” she said, explaining that arguing with people posting abusive messages online rarely leads anywhere productive.

Gold described how her path into humanitarian work began after being invited to the Greek island of Lesbos during the refugee crisis while working in fashion publishing.

“I was supposed to stay for two or three days and I stayed for two weeks,” she said. “I was pulling people off boats. I was crying with them. I became so involved in that whole story that I could not go back to fashion.”

Since then, she has worked on the front lines of humanitarian crises, helping deliver emergency aid to communities affected by disasters and conflict through SmartAID.

Gold said her approach to helping others was shaped by lessons from her father.

“My father could never walk past someone sitting on the street without giving them something,” she said. “He could never drive past someone whose car had broken down.”

She added that in humanitarian crises, gender becomes irrelevant.

“When you’re helping someone, they don’t care if you’re a woman or a man,” she said. “They are grateful for the help.”

Throughout the discussion, the speakers returned to the influence of Jewish identity and resilience.

Shortland said the Jewish story itself offers a powerful example.

“It’s a beautiful story of survival,” she said. “It’s something incredibly inspiring.”

Rabbi Ninio reflected on the Jewish teaching about the value of human life.

“In Judaism, we say that if you save one life, you save the world,” she told the audience.