- Rosa Sonneschein (1847-1932) was the flamboyant editor and publisher of The American Jewess, the first independent American Jewish magazine published by a woman for women. After every meal, Sonneschein relaxed with her favorite cigar, "Between the Acts." She had taken up the habit when her physician suggested that an after-dinner smoke might prevent the indigestion she suffered from constant dinner disputes with her husband. When her four children were grown, she terminated her disastrous marriage and turned to publishing as a means of livelihood. Her magazine boasted 29,000 subscribers during its brief run (1895-99). She brought to the magazine her great storytelling ability along with a global view on people and events. Most articles were written by women and covered social and religious issues as well as literature. In one editorial she wrote "The New Woman! The New Woman! is the cry on every side. But where, oh where, lingers the New Man? Is he looming on the horizon, or will the feminine phoenix still have to content herself with the Old Specimen?" After attending the first Zionist Congress in Page 309 →Basel (1897), she wrote about women’s disenfranchisement within this emerging socio-political movement. She saw no conflict between her feminism and her liberal Judaism and was impatient with all who failed to recognize women’s religious equality and their potential power as change agents in the community.
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