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Programming pioneer Milly Koss got her start in the 1950s, when computing was in its infancy and the machines were the size of a large room. She worked on programming for UNIVAC 1, one of the first commercial computers, the E101, an early desk model, and Transac, the first transistorized machine, which set the computer revolution in motion. Milly Koss was interviewed as part of JWA's oral history project "Women Whose Lives Span the Century," in collaboration with Temple Emunah of Lexington, Massachusetts. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Milly describes how exciting it was to be part of computing when the field was new—and surprisingly open to women. You can hear Milly’s full interview, and over 300 more interviews with remarkable women, in JWA's Tanner Oral History Collection. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

Matchmaking has been a fixture in traditional Jewish communities for generations. But lately, more and more non-Orthodox and secular Jews are turning to matchmakers to find love.  In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with three  modern-day yentas—Aleeza Ben Shalom (of the hit Netflix show Jewish Matchmaking), Danielle Selber, and Michal Naisteter—about why matchmaking is becoming more popular, the pressures women face, and why they love their work. Check out this episode for the back story on the word yenta. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

In the coming weeks, voters in Israel and the United States head to the polls, and the results will have profound consequences for both countries. In this episode of Can We Talk?, political analysts Dahlia Scheindlin and Jim Gerstein join us to explore gender and democracy in the upcoming elections.  Check out our past interviews with Moran Zer Katzenstein for our "Israel at 75" episode, and with Lee Hoffman Agiv for "The Women's War Room." Both women are on the slate for the Demokratim in the upcoming Israeli election. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

In this bonus episode, we talk with Simone Nathan, the creator, writer, and star of Kid Sister, a funny and heartfelt TV series from New Zealand about a young Jewish woman navigating family expectations, falling for a non-Jew, and figuring out what she wants from her life. Simone talks about growing up Jewish in New Zealand, drawing on her own family and experiences to create the show, and how a specific story can be universal.  Kid Sister makes its US premiere on Chaiflicks on October 11, 2026.  Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

Adina Sash, AKA Flatbush Girl, uses controversial methods to fight for agunot, women trapped in their marriages because their husbands refuse to grant them a get, or Jewish divorce. She calls out get refusers by name, rallies her Instagram followers against them, and even uses images of women’s bodies as a form of protest.  In this episode of Can We Talk?, Adina explains the thinking behind these tactics. She also talks about why she believes get refusal is about much more than individual husbands, why she sees it as a form of domestic abuse, and what she thinks needs to change. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

Pass the crackerjacks! It's the inaugural season of the Women’s Pro Baseball League. This is the first women’s professional league in the US since the women of the All-American Girls Baseball League got their chance on the field while the men were off fighting in World War II. In this episode, we take in a WPBL game and hear from league Commissioner Justine Siegal about her Jewish upbringing, her love of baseball, and why she sees women’s and girls’ participation in the sport as a social justice issue. Play ball! Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

For the last of our summer re-releases, we're sharing the second episode in our two-part series on Joan Rivers. It features a conversation between Joan and her longtime friend and comedy partner, Treva Silverman. Joan and Treva talk about what it was like to be women in comedy in the 60s and 70s, how they got their start driving to gigs in the Catskills in Joan’s beat up old car, and the origins of some of their favorite jokes. We hope you enjoy it, and we'll be back with brand new episodes of Can We Talk? very soon.  Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

Feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem died on September 2, 2026. In this special episode, JWA's CEO Judith Rosenbaum remembers her lunch date with Gloria 21 years ago, the feminist legacy of Gloria's grandmother Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, and Gloria's affirmation that she "threw her lot in" with the Jewish people. We also hear Gloria Steinem's own voice from her participation in JWA's 25th anniversary celebration in 2021. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

While the podcast is on hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. This time, an episode featuring a 2006 interview with Joan Rivers from JWA's documentary Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women. This is the first episode in a two-part series about Joan Rivers.  Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

While the podcast is on summer hiatus, we're listening back to some of our favorite Can We Talk? episodes. First up, an episode from 2020 called Coming of Age with Judy Blume. To mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic novel Are you There God, It's Me Margaret? Nahanni and Judith re-read the book with their pre-teen daughters, Shalvah and Ma'ayan. Then they got together to discuss the book—what felt dated and what still felt relevant.  Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

Sheket bevakasha! We're in the thick of summer, so we're talking about—what else?—camp! In this special summer episode, Nahanni, Judith, and Jen talk about The Floaters, a fun new movie set at a Jewish summer camp, and how the film fit—or didn't—with their camp experiences and their kids'. Then, Shai Korman, who produced the film along with his sisters Becky and Lily, joins the conversation to talk about creating authentic Jewish characters, why they decided to create a camp run by women, and why a Jewish camp movie can be for everyone. For more conversation about iconic summer movies with a Jewish twist, check out our episode marking the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

In this episode of Can We Talk?, Jen Richler, Nahanni Rous, and Judith Rosenbaum recap the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 podcast seasons, revisiting episodes about a Jewish woman in a Japanese internment camp, America’s first TV mom, a Tel Aviv–Ramallah romance, and much more. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

Sari Bashi’s memoir Upside Down Love chronicles the tumultuous early years of her relationship with Osama (a pseudonym for the man she eventually marries). Sari is an Israeli Jewish woman and Osama is Palestinian. The book is set between Tel Aviv, where Sari lived at the time, and Osama’s home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. In this episode of Can We Talk?, Sari describes the physical and emotional boundaries she and Osama have overcome, and how they are raising their trilingual, multicultural children. She also talks about what it’s like to be a Jewish woman living in a Palestinian city in the West Bank. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

UK-based columnist and author Hadley Freeman joins us to discuss the wave of violent attacks on British Jews, which has spurred UK prime minister Keir Starmer to declare antisemitism a crisis. In her Sunday Times column, Hadley writes frequently about antisemitism, gender, and politics. She is also the author of several books, including House Of Glass, about her grandmother’s family during the Holocaust. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.

For generations of readers, Judy Blume's novels made growing up feel less lonely. In this episode, Judith Rosenbaum talks with Mark Oppenheimer, author of a new biography of Blume, about their favorite Blume titles, what’s Jewish about her work, and why her novels are radical in ways people often overlook. Throughout the episode, listeners share what Judy Blume's books mean to them. Send us Fan Mail You can find Can We Talk? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Love Can We Talk? Please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also drop us a line to let us know what you think or suggest ideas for future episodes. We just might read your email on the air! Want even more Can We Talk? Sign up for our newsletter.