Nivcharot in the media and in the field

Since October 7, Haredi Society Has Been Under the Spotlight, Facing Harsh and Justified Criticism

A wide-ranging Samadar Shiloni interview (February 2026) around the premiere of "Cheshbonot Shamayim" ("Heavenly Accounts"), Shushan's first narrative feature, about a Haredi couple grieving after their young son is forgotten in a car and dies. Shushan describes the film as "a mirror," not entertainment — raising hard questions about faith and accountability within Haredi society in light of recent tragedies. On post-October-7 criticism of Haredi society: "justified"; she likens the Meron disaster to "the Haredi October 7" — a breaking point that exposed systemic failures of communal accountability.

Jerusalem Highlights: November 7-14

A Hagay Hacohen article (November 2025) includes a listing for a screening of the 2021 documentary "Woman of Valor" (dir. Anna Somershaf) about Esty Shushan, described as "a prominent activist and promoter of change within the ultra-Orthodox society" who has "openly called on haredi women not to vote for political parties in which no women were among the candidates." The screening included a post-film meeting with Shushan.

"A Day Will Come and It Will Happen": When Will We See Women in Haredi Parties?

An Eliezer Hiyon article (March 2025), a decade-later retrospective: Nivcharot's early wins forcing bylaw changes, alongside the fact that no woman has yet been elected to the Knesset from a Haredi party. The piece notes movement at the municipal level — 14 Haredi women recently ran in local elections, two won.

The Major Haredi Women's Organizations Were Not Allowed Into the Knesset Lobby on the Issue

A Nofar Moshe Pardu and Ward Palmano article (July 2023) reports that Nivcharot, Kolech, and the Center for Justice for Women were barred from a new Knesset "Lobby for Haredi and Religious Women" convened by MK Limor Son Har-Melech; organizers said the existing groups "do not represent" the women they wanted to represent.

I'm Telling the People of Israel — Yesterday They Excluded Us, From Now On They'll Exclude All Women in the Country

An Adi Shaham article (February 2023) on judicial-reform dangers to women's rights; quotes "Esty Shushan-Biton, founder of Nivcharot" at length warning that gender segregation now threatens to expand from Haredi buses into academia and workplaces broadly: "Yesterday they excluded us; today they're excluding everyone."

Male Rule: How Did Women's Representation in Israel Fall to the Level of Syria and Pakistan?

An investigative piece by Mai Pacht and Amit Kaminski (December 2022) on Israel's collapse in global gender-representation rankings; Shushan details Nivcharot's legal wins and continued rejections: "Twenty-two women submitted formal requests to ultra-Orthodox parties and received rejections."

Gender Segregation Under Cover of Law? "You Need to Understand, This Isn't a Religious Matter"

An article on coalition negotiations over proposed gender-segregation legislation (November 2022), quoting Shushan by name as Nivcharot's founder: "Separation has power to grow... one could suddenly think of opening a radio station where only men speak" — arguing the exclusions aren't religiously mandated.

There Is No Halachic Religious Justification for This Exclusion

A radio interview (103fm, October 2022) with Shushan, identified as "CEO of Nivcharot," ahead of the 2022 election, on the flyer campaign in Haredi neighborhoods: "There is no religious justification for this exclusion; they do it because they can."

Esty Shushan: Israeli feminist, liberal haredi woman fighting for change

A Jerusalem Report profile by Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman on Esty Shushan, emblematic of tensions in a slowly changing but change-averse Haredi community. Shushan, who launched "No Voice, No Vote" in 2012 (Nivcharot from 2015, Israel's first Haredi feminist organization): "Being criticized does not mean I have to leave my community. It means I have to stay and try to fix it." "The common thing about these parties is that they have no women at all." The piece also notes the 2015 petition that led, three years later, to a Supreme Court win.

At First the Haredim Attacked Nivcharot's Founder. Now It's the Gender Studies Department

A Tamar Kaplansky article (July 2022) notable because the backlash here comes from an unexpected direction: after Shushan published a poem ("Thesis"), criticism came from feminist/gender-studies circles rather than Haredi rabbis — a second axis of controversy: marginalized within Haredi society for her feminism, and within secular academia's gender-studies circles as a Mizrahi woman.

Six Months After the Walder Abuse Scandal Broke, Has the Haredi World Seen Change?

An Amy Spiro article (May 2022) on the Chaim Walder affair's aftermath; Shushan, Nivcharot's founder and CEO, describes the community's initial denial: "people didn't want to believe that this is what had happened."

So How, in Fact, Do Haredi Women Behave?

A Gitit Levy-Paz column (December 2021) argues Nivcharot represents genuine internal Haredi feminism rather than externally-imposed change, referencing the documentary made about the movement.

Esty Shushan, Who Fought for Haredi Women's Representation in the Knesset: "I Wear the Title Divorcée With Ease"

A personal profile by Tahiya Barak (likely November 2021, around the "Women of Valor" broadcast on HOT8) of Shushan, then 44. "I didn't know back then that one day I'd lead a Haredi feminist movement." The piece opens up non-political personal details: married at 18 and a half, divorced within five months, remarried at 19, and after 25 years and four children separated again during Covid lockdown, without lawyers. Shushan: "In my identity I am Haredi at the deepest level. I still pay my Haredi tax" — now living in secular Ra'anana, with a cat.

The Israeli Woman Leading a Feminist Revolt in Ultra-Orthodox Society

A Judy Maltz profile (November 3, 2021), tied to the documentary "Women of Valor." In the accessible opening paragraph: Shushan, eldest of 12 children, grew up in a home that barred girls from Talmud study, and was told as a child: "Don't bother your pretty little head with subjects only men can understand" — instead encouraged toward "cooking and baking skills, the better to find yourself a nice husband." The article is paywalled beyond this opening.

"Woman of Valor" at the 2021 Jerusalem Film Festival: A Significant Contemporary Document

From a Jerusalem Film Festival roundup by Marlyn Vinig (August 2021): the documentary "Woman of Valor" is described as "a significant contemporary document" on Haredi women's aspiration to integrate into Haredi Knesset parties. Shushan is portrayed as "an intellectual Haredi woman whose feminist consciousness develops through attempts to create change"; director Anna Somershaf's choice to follow her as a silent witness creates the sense that "the camera is one of the struggle's agents."

Haredi Experts and Activists Against the Daycare Subsidy Cut

An article (July 2021) on opposition to a proposed daycare-subsidy cut. Shushan argues the cut hurts exactly the women who need it most, and calls instead for the budget to support core-curriculum studies in Haredi state schools.

When Extremists Dictate the Agenda — Public Safety Is Abandoned

An Esty Shushan opinion column (May 2021), written in the wake of the Mount Meron disaster; Shushan cites her own father's longstanding refusal to attend the Lag B'Omer pilgrimage and argues extremist factions dictating event-safety decisions, unchecked by government oversight, caused the tragedy.

What We See Today Isn't the Mirror of Haredi Society

An Ilana Shuteland article (January 2021) with young Haredi opinion-leaders following the COVID-lockdown riots in Bnei Brak; Shushan, identified as "43, founder and director of Nivcharot," argues Haredi political leadership should pressure rabbinic authority the same way it mobilizes voters.

In Israel 2021, Men-Only Parties Are Still Running for Knesset

A Yael Finkelstein article (January 2021), ahead of the election, quotes Shushan (identified as Nivcharot's director) describing "a deliberate, long-standing policy" that excludes women from resources and decision-making.

As Israel's election nears, some ultra-Orthodox women seek a greater political say

A Washington Post piece (February 2020, ahead of the 2020 election) on a small but growing number of Haredi women seeking political voice beyond the two Haredi parties. The piece documents a "flood of threats" against Haredi women in politics, and party leaders' view that "ultra-Orthodox women in parties are destroying Judaism, and men are the public emissaries."

The article itself is paywalled; its content was verified via search-indexed snippets only.

Black Panthers: Haredi Women Got Fed Up, So They Went to War

A Hagai Amit article (February 2020) profiles several Haredi women activists — Shushan, Ester Tavarski, Tirtza Bloch-Estherzon, Hila Hasan-Lefkowitz, Efrat Shokron, and Yael Elimelech — as primary breadwinners fighting exclusion. The piece frames their willingness to risk religious ostracism as the price of the struggle.

Haredi Women Don't Need Men to Speak for Them

An Esty Shushan opinion column (January 2020) argues Haredi politics is "male in its essence," linking the all-male party lists to a culture that lets abusers — citing the Rabbi Berland and Malka Leifer cases — escape accountability because no women are in the room.

Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Women Launch Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign

An Alexandra Vardi article (November 2019) covers Nivcharot's "If you are scared, that is not shlom bayit" campaign for the Int'l Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women; reports the org's "around 15,000 supporters" at the time and describes the culturally-coded imagery (spilled wine, not violence) used to reach Haredi women via WhatsApp.

The Haredi Women's "Chairs Protest": "We Are Invisible"

A Yitzhak Tessler article (September 2019) covers Nivcharot's "chairs protest" ahead of the election — benches labeled "for men only" — with activists describing harassment when trying to engage Haredi MKs directly.

A Day in the Life of Esty Shushan: No Box for All My Identities, but Overall a "Kosher Woman"

A "day in the life" profile by Sivan Klingbeil (March 2019) of Shushan as a 41-year-old mother of four in Petach Tikva — her family, her poetry as an outlet, and her resistance to being boxed into one identity category.

Nivcharot's Founder Wins the Rappaport Prize for Trailblazing Women

The Ruth Rappaport Prize for Trailblazing Women, awarded annually since 2013 by the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Foundation to women "generating change in Israeli society," gave three ₪60,000 awards at a March 2019 Tel Aviv Museum of Art ceremony — to Dr. Nasia Lang, Sigal Knutofsky, and Esty Shushan, founder of Nivcharot. The prize's own site, linked here, is the foundation's general homepage and doesn't name Shushan directly; her win is independently confirmed by parallel Globes coverage (see further down this archive).

The Social Network: The Rappaport Prize for Trailblazing Women, Awarded

A Michal Raz-Chaimovich article (March 11, 2019) on the Rappaport Prize ceremony: three ₪60,000 awards — to Dr. Nasia Lang, Sigal Knutofsky, and Esty Shushan. Globes chair Alona Bar-On, in her ceremony remarks: "We proved that women exist and deserve recognition... but there's a disease called modesty — self-erasure." The Tel Aviv Museum of Art ceremony also touched on Frida Kahlo's legacy and unveiled a new Lexus model — society-pages coverage, not straight policy journalism.

Esty Shushan and Tamar Ben Porat Prove Haredi Feminism Exists

A Hadas Bashan profile (March 2019) of Shushan alongside secular attorney Tamar Ben Porat, who together drove the Agudat Yisrael bylaw change.

The Conditions Are High-Tech; the Exploitation Is Low-Tech

An Esty Shushan opinion column (March 2019) argues Haredi women in tech earn only 68% of what Haredi men earn (and half of secular men), and describes worse exploitation of women by "religious" Haredi employers in welfare/education nonprofits who count on women being trapped as sole breadwinners.

A Third of Haredim: We Won't Vote for a Party Without Women

An article (February 2019) on a Geocartography Institute phone survey: roughly 40% of Haredi women and 33% of Haredi men say they won't vote for a party that bars women from candidacy. 79% of the general public agrees.

Survey: 39% of Haredi Women and 33% of Haredi Men Won't Vote for Parties That Exclude Women

An article bylined by Esty Shushan herself (approx. February 2019) on the same Geocartography survey, from a second outlet: 59% of the general Israeli public said they would like to see Haredi women serving as MKs.

The "Agudat Yisrabluff" and the Haredi Shrug at Women

A sharp Orit Levi Nishalel opinion column (February 2019) argues Agudat Yisrael's bylaw "compliance" was cosmetic. The column explicitly credits Nivcharot and Esty Shushan with forcing the issue onto the agenda, and asks what exactly Haredi leadership fears about women's civic involvement.

No Voice, No Vote

A separate column under the same title, by Peta Jones Pellach (January 2019), covers Nivcharot's slogan and its legal wins against discriminatory bylaw clauses; quotes co-activist Estee Rieder-Indursky on the suffragist comparison.

Under Court Pressure: A Woman Can Now Join Agudat Yisrael as a Member

A Menahem Staub article (January 2019) reports on Agudat Yisrael's formal bylaw amendment — removing the word "man" from its membership clause — under Supreme Court pressure. A later, distinct procedural stage from the July 2018 court order already covered elsewhere in this archive: this is the actual bylaw change taking effect.

Haredi Politicians, Meet: Violence Against Women

An Esty Shoshan opinion column (January 2019) argues Haredi MKs systematically avoid advancing domestic-violence and sexual-assault legislation, and ties this directly to the absence of women on Haredi party lists.

"No Voice, No Vote," Say Feminist Haredi Women in Israel

An Eetta Prince-Gibson profile (September 2018) of Nivcharot, founded by Shushan (41) and Rieder-Indursky (44) six years earlier. Following the July 31, 2018 court win, Shushan: "We won! We made history!"; Rieder-Indursky: "This is for all haredi women!... the last of the suffragists in the modern world." The piece also documents the cost: rabbinic calls for divorce without alimony, and children expelled from schools. A cited 2016 Hiddush survey: 80% of Israeli Jews support the right itself.

Ultra-Orthodox Coalition Party to End Ban on Women, but Says Nothing Will Change

A Times of Israel staff report (September 4, 2018): Agudath Israel will remove the clause barring women's membership, but the party itself makes clear "the change in the regulations will not bring about any actual change in acceptance to the party" — following the Court order and Ben-Porat's petition with the ten organizations, including Nivcharot. Estee Rieder-Indursky, in an i24 interview: "For us it is not 2018. It is 1918" — a warning that the legal win isn't yet a real one.

Israel's Ultra-Orthodox Women Win Partial Victory in Fight to Run for Office

A Michele Chabin article (August 2018), built largely around Shushan's own quotes. Shushan: "We women are 50 percent of the haredi population but we have no access at the decision-making table"; "Haredi women are allowed to become marketers, lawyers, journalists — but the one place they can't enter is politics." On the personal cost: "There are people in the community who either ignore us or shame us." Still: "The parties will find a way to get around it, but I feel the change in our community."

Court Urges Ultra-Orthodox Party to Allow Women to Run for Public Office

A Times of Israel staff report (August 1, 2018): the Court ordered Agudath Israel to allow women candidates by September 2, or "we will be forced to issue a legal ruling." The petition was filed by Tamar Ben-Porat and ten organizations, including Nivcharot, named directly. Shushan: "a historic decision... we feel something big happened today." The party's own lawyer conceded in court: "there is no halachic problem [with women's representation], but it is inappropriate." Rieder-Indursky: "For us it is not 2018. It is 1918."

High Court to Agudat Yisrael: Amend the Clause Barring Women From Running

Kikar HaShabat reports the High Court, led by President Hayut, gave Agudat Yisrael until Sept. 2, 2018 to amend Section 6 of its bylaws — which defines a member as "any Jewish man," barring women from membership and candidacy. The petition, filed by attorney Tamar Ben-Porat back in 2015, was backed by "Lo Nivcharot – Lo Bocharot" activists; Estee Rieder-Indursky called it "a historic day": "[To] see a courtroom full of ultra-Orthodox women." Agudat Yisrael dismissed the ruling, calling the petitioners "delusional."

High Court Orders Agudat Yisrael to Change the Party Bylaw Discriminating Against Women

A Tal Schneider article (July 31, 2018), same-day coverage as the Kikar HaShabat item above: a five-justice panel ordered Agudat Yisrael to amend or strike, within 30 days, the clause barring women's membership. Attorney Neta Levi, who represented the petitioners: "The atmosphere in the courtroom was very positive... the judges left the party one final option." The petition's own argument: "The party, even if it is Haredi, is not a religious body."

No Voice, No Vote

A Nancy Strichman opinion column (July 2018) on The Times of Israel's blogs traces Nivcharot's founding, its Supreme Court and UN advocacy, and draws a suffragette-movement parallel.

Lady Globes Presents: 20 Influential Female Activists in Israel, 2018

In Globes' "Lady Globes: 20 Influential Activists, 2018," Shushan is profiled as leading the fight, and herself calls the exclusion of Haredi women "a closed, declared, and fenced-off male territory": "There is no halachic reason, not even a cultural one, that should prevent us so absolutely from participation in decision-making." She names several drivers — ethnic discrimination, leadership failures, domestic violence, and silenced abuse — and admits many women support her only privately, fearing public exposure.

No exact publish date is shown on the page; the accessible page shows Shushan's own entry from the list of 20.

Petition for Haredi women representation in Haredi parties advances

A Jerusalem Post article by Jeremy Sharon (December 2017) on a petition for Haredi women's representation within the Haredi parties themselves. The subheadline, accessible past the paywall: "Women do not have the ability to join as Haredi party members so they do not have the ability to hold formal office within the party or stand as candidates." The article's body itself is paywalled and wasn't accessible beyond that.

Two ultra-Orthodox feminists challenge Israel's political landscape

A wide Washington Post profile by Ruth Eglash on Esty Shushan and Estee Rieder-Indursky, who over the five years before publication led the push to get women onto Shas and United Torah Judaism candidate lists — parties holding 13 Knesset seats and three ministries between them, all held by men. Shushan: "As Haredi women, we face many battles. It took me awhile to realize that fighting those battles starts up there." Rieder-Indursky: "This change will happen, the question is just when... because it has happened all over the world." The piece also documents personal cost: a court order to keep Shushan's daughter enrolled in her school, and Rieder-Indursky's own son begging her to stop.

This Is What a Revolution Looks Like: The Women Leading the Struggles Shaking Up the Haredi Agenda

A guest column by Esty Shushan (April 2017) situates Nivcharot within a wider wave of internal Haredi women's struggles — wage discrimination, harassment survivors, daycare workers — invoking Sarah Schenirer as a historical symbol of an earlier women's educational revolution.

High Court Orders Agudat Yisrael to Explain the Party Bylaw Clause Discriminating Against Women

A Yarden Skop article (October 2016) covers a conditional order requiring Agudat Yisrael to justify, within 75 days, why Section 6 of its bylaws — defining a member as "every Jewish man... who observes Torah and mitzvot" — shouldn't be struck. Justice Uzi Fogelman, who signed the order: "It is clear that a Haredi woman would find it difficult to stand before the party and be exposed." The article's body is paywalled beyond these details.

Boycott, Boycott, Shalt Thou Pursue: The Haredi Weapon That Guarantees Obedience to Rabbinic Rules

A comprehensive Yaki Adamker article (October 2016), a retrospective look at the attempted communal boycott (cherem) against Shushan: Haredi officials threatened her children's educational placement, and she preemptively moved them to alternative schools. Shushan: "They realized they had no weapon" — once the threat failed to silence her.

Is Shas Undergoing a Women's Revolution?

A Tamar Rotem article (November 2015) on whether Shas is undergoing genuine change for women; Shushan, alongside journalist Aviva Golan, offers a skeptical view that token Zionist Congress delegate quotas represent procedural compliance, not real transformation.

For the First Time: A Haredi Woman on the TED Stage

A Yearit Albaz article (May 2015) covers Shushan's TEDxJerusalem talk — the first ever by a Haredi woman — in which she recounted the movement's founding story.

"Lo Nivcharot Lo Bocharot" — There Is Such a Thing as Haredi Feminism

A Yael Barzilai interview (March 2015) with Esty Shushan on the choice to work within existing parties rather than found a separate women's party; Shushan also discusses criticism she faced from Mizrahi feminists and Shas-aligned circles.

Who Funds "Lo Nivcharot Lo Bocharot"?

An Emily Amrosi investigation (February 2015) into the campaign's funding traces two leaders' ties to the Shachar Institute for New Politics, backed by the New Israel Fund — Rieder-Indursky as a research fellow, Ivenboim a former board member. The campaign flatly denied any dependency: "No body funds, manages, or operates us"; the New Israel Fund answered similarly: "There is no connection between us and the campaign." An investigation whose evident aim is to cast doubt on the campaign's independence.

Emily Amrusi Published False Insinuations

Esty Shushan's direct rebuttal (February 2015) to journalist Emily Amrusi's claims of hidden campaign funding — Shushan denies any organizational dependency and threatens defamation action. A separate publication from Amrusi's original investigative piece, documented separately in this archive.

"Lo Nivcharot, Lo Bocharot": Haredi Women Speak

A February 2015 feature gives voice to a range of Haredi women. Shushan: "I would not take such a step, one that carries a heavy price, had I not known how necessary it is for the Haredi woman." Tali Farkash explains the goal is "to reflect the needs of Haredi women, about 5% of society." Alongside supportive voices, the piece also carries a skeptical take from attorney Rebecca Schwartz: "Religious law determines this matter. If the campaign's goal is to open closed doors, it has already succeeded" — a genuinely multi-perspective piece, not tilted toward one side.

Why I Oppose the Haredi-Women-to-Knesset Campaign

A Shiffi Chariton opinion column (February 2015) against the campaign lays out three arguments: no explicit rabbinic backing for the move; tactics she calls too combative — "I see the militant demand of the campaign's women and think they're acting like the men they're fighting"; and a claim that the messaging alienates the very Haredi women it claims to represent. Chariton herself favors advancing Haredi women, but through other, rabbi-consulted channels — a detailed objection, not a dismissive one.

Haredi Feminism Has Launched

An analysis by Roytal Amiran (February 2015) argues the "Lo Nivcharot Lo Bochrot" campaign marks an irreversible turning point: Haredi women's growing workforce participation is making their political exclusion increasingly untenable. The piece calls the campaign "the opening salvo of Haredi feminism."

It's Dangerous What We're Doing Here

An extensive investigative segment on Ilana Dayan's flagship newsmagazine "Uvda" (Channel 12), by Ben Shani (February 2015), following Shushan, Esty Rieder Indursky, Racheli Ivenboim, and Tali Farkash through Mea Shearim and Bnei Brak in their fight for representation. The piece frames the campaign as "a real war."

State Attorney Considers: Investigating Rabbi Mordechai Bloi

An Eli Shlesinger article (January 2015) reports the Deputy State Attorney examining possible criminal charges against Rabbi Mordechai Bloi, over his public threats against Haredi women engaging politically.

Following the Uproar: Ravitz Sent a Clarification Letter to Fellow MKs

An Ari Vider article (January 2015) covers a clarification letter MK Yitzhak Ravitz sent to fellow Degel HaTorah MKs after facing backlash. The letter confirms he still opposes women serving as MKs on halakhic grounds, despite conceding women are capable of the role.

Yitzchak Ravitz: "Subject to Halacha, a Woman Could Serve in the Knesset"

An Israel Cohen interview (January 2015), marking six years since MK Avraham Ravitz's death, with his son Rabbi Yitzchak Ravitz, chairman of Degel HaTorah. He frames the question as a halachic one rather than a matter of principle: women "do everything — manage schools and run large companies successfully"; "the Knesset is like a building committee, so maybe a woman could manage it" — but stresses that he himself isn't a halachic decisor and that the ruling belongs to the Torah sages. He calls on the community more broadly to "work harder" at integrating working Haredi citizens.

A New Haredi Politics? Only With Women

An Esty Shushan opinion column (January 2015) argues there's "no reason whatsoever to exclude women from influencing politics," citing Rwanda's female-majority parliament as a model and acknowledging the backlash the campaign faced over women's dress and lifestyle criticism.

"Lo Nivcharot" Presents: Our 10 Candidates for Knesset

An Eli Cohen article (January 2015) on the campaign publishing its slate of ten recommended Haredi women for Knesset candidacy — including Adina Bar-Shalom, Rivka Ravitz, and Yehudit Yosef — following flyer distribution and public confrontations.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox mull bigger role for women

A Tia Goldenberg piece (December 2014) examines ferment over Haredi women's representation: over 20% of Knesset members are women, but none from Shas or United Torah Judaism. Shushan, then 37: "There is an absurd situation in Israel where women cannot run for two political parties." The piece also notes Adina Bar-Shalom, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's daughter, pushing for change from a different angle — her threat to defect pushed Shas to create a women's advisory council and name her its co-chair.

"Aha! The Haredi Feminists Confused the Haredim"

A Kobi Nachshoni article (December 2014) covers a satirical poster campaign run by "Lo Nivcharot Lo Bocharot" supporters in four Haredi cities, deliberately mimicking genuine anti-women-in-politics flyers — with the fine print revealing the parody. The prank worked too well: several Haredi outlets, Kikar HaShabat chief among them, mistook it for real news and published it as such, turning the stunt itself into a story about how Haredi media reacted to the campaign.

Men, a Haredi Woman MK Is Also in Your Interest

An Eliezer Hiyon opinion column (December 2014), written by a male commentator, argues Haredi men should support women's Knesset representation as a shared communal interest, citing historical precedent of rabbinic acceptance of women's suffrage.

After 19 Elections of Exclusion, Haredi Women Are Done Staying Silent

A Tamar Dressler article, ahead of the 2015 election, on an initiative that had already gathered over 3,000 supporters: "If you don't include a woman in your ranks, you won't get our vote." The piece names Shushan — a filmmaker and mother of four — alongside Michal Chernovitzky, Ivenboim, and Estee Rieder-Indursky, and notes that 75.7% of Haredi women work, against zero Haredi-party Knesset seats held by women. Rabbi Mordechai Bloi threatens communal sanctions; a UTJ official dismisses the campaign as "margins within the margins."

"A Woman Would Not Dare Go Near a Secular Party"

An article by Eli Cohen (December 2014) documents a declaration by Rabbi Mordechai Bloi, a senior United Torah Judaism figure, against Haredi women approaching parties not led by the "great sages": a woman who does so, he said, "will leave without a ketubah" and be barred from communal education. Bloi: "I guarantee, without a vow, to enforce all of the above, and this applies to men as well"; anyone defying the sages, he added, "is not truly Haredi." A direct record of rabbinic threat aimed at the kind of activism Nivcharot represents.

Women Are Not an Automatic Vote

An Esty Shushan opinion column (December 2014) argues Haredi women shouldn't be treated as an "automatic vote" for their parties, and deserve real agency in their political choices.

For the First Time: A Party of Haredi Mothers in Elad

An article (September 2013) on an all-women Haredi municipal list running in Elad, noting that women candidates in other Haredi towns had withdrawn under "pressure and threats" — evidence of the wider difficulty the representation struggle grew out of.

"The Ultra-Orthodox Activist's Protest: At the Junctions, Yes — In the Knesset, No?"

A Kobi Nahshoni article (January 2013) profiles Rut Kolian, a law student who volunteered for Shas field work in order to expose, in her telling, a contradiction: the party is willing to use women for "dirty work" but bars their candidacy. Kolian, who received MK Aryeh Deri's blessing for her efforts: "It's not modest for a woman to enter strangers' houses, but doing dirty work — sticking stickers on cars and hanging signs — that's acceptable?" Shas responded that women's presence in the public sphere "contradicts Jewish tradition."

"Not Elected, Not Voting"

Esty Shushan's founding manifesto op-ed in Ynet (December 2012) attacks Shas and United Torah Judaism for enshrining women's exclusion from candidacy in a standing bylaw clause despite no real halachic prohibition — the "a woman's place is elsewhere" justification, she argues, rests on "social codes" alone. She points to what she calls hypocrisy: parties use women for TV campaign appearances but deny them decision-making power: "Women are worthy of supervising and managing... but Knesset member is a position reserved only for Haredi men." She calls for withholding votes until the parties recognize the right to run — the manifesto Nivcharot grew out of.

Nivcharot's Founder vs. Shas

A December 2012 piece in which Shushan directly accuses Shas and United Torah Judaism of "two-faced leadership," and calls on women voters: "do not vote for those who do not choose you."

Haredi Women Demand Representation in the Knesset

A Liron Sham article (December 2012) on the earliest wave of the "Lo Nivcharot Lo Bocharot" campaign, then spreading through Meah Shearim, Elad, and Bnei Brak.

Mako blocks automated access to its content; the headline and URL were confirmed via Google's index rather than direct retrieval.

The Haredi Parties Are No Longer an Option

One of Esty Shushan's earliest opinion columns — from October 2012, predating even the December manifesto of that year Nivcharot is usually dated from. The column argues the Haredi parties have become unfit representatives, offering only promises of "the world to come" instead of real present-day benefits.