For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodox Through the Arts in the Digital Age

Book Talk with Author Jessica Roda 

For Women and Girls Only is a groundbreaking novel on the reversal of mainstream portrayals of ultra-Orthodox religious women, and of those who have left the community yet maintain ties to it. It is the first work to focus on the ultra-Orthodox female art scene in music, film, and dance across North America and on social media.

Roda poses the question, "Have you had a glimpse of the mesmerizing music videos of ultra-Orthodox women celebrities, Bracha Jaffe and Devorah Schwartz, captivating over half a million viewers on YouTube, or the myriad of films and Yiddish plays crafted by Hasidic girls in Montreal and New York?" She notes, probably not likely.

In this talk,  the audience will learn about these hidden artistic worlds, the experience of Hasidic women who now perform for public audiences, and their challenges to transform the image of Hasidicness. As an active observer and participant, Roda says brings unique insights into these private feminine worlds. "Much like in mainstream society, the emergence of celebrity status is rare, but stars like Bracha Jaffe and Shaindy Platzer are household names in these circles, and the impact of their artistic productions is broad for Jewish music."

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Jessica Roda is an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist and anthropologist trained between Europe and North America whose research interests include music, religion, cultural heritage, gender, health, and media. She has published over fifteen scholarly articles, three books, and a special issue of an academic journal on these topics in French and English.

Roda's public-facing work has appeared in BBC, LaPresse, TV Quebec, The Huffington Post, Akadem, Radio Canada, Canadian Jewish News, France Culture, The Moment, Glamour, The Conversation US, Times of Israel, and numerous networks in Europe and the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Colombia, USA). She has served as a fellow at Université de Paris (Lab Urmis), McGill University, Columbia University (Heyman Center), UCLA (Department of Ethnomusicology), Université de Tours, Hannover University, University of Pennsylvania, and the State University of Campinas in Brazil. She is a collaborator in various collective research programs in Canada, Europe, and Brazil. From 2022 to 2024, she served as the president-elect of the Canadian Association for Traditional Music and is currently the co-chair of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Special Interest Group for Jewish Music.

Beyond her academic life, she is also a trained pianist, flutist, and modern-jazz dancer (City of Paris Conservatory), and she grew up in French Guiana, a childhood that shaped her as a person, educator, and scholar.

This program is made possible thanks to:

The UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies
The UCLA Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience
The Joy & Jerry Monkarsh Family Fund

Contact: levecenter@humnet.ucla.edu