Hadassah Magazine is going beyond the printed word by making the majority of the articles published by this magazine available as audio posts online. Beginning with the January/February 2026 issue, anyone can listen either to individual articles or hit play once and hear the magazine spoken aloud—starting with Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz’s column and ending with the Question & Answer interview at the end of each issue.

To access the audio option, head to our homepage, click on “Current Issue” at the top of the page and then select from the playlist of articles; once you hit play on any title, the recording will continue until the end of the playlist or whenever you click stop. On the same page, beneath the playlist, you will also find the flip-through version of the corresponding print issue that can be magnified to a comfortable reading experience.

The audio project was born out of a conversation that Hadassah Magazine Chair Ellen Hershkin, a former Hadassah national president, had last year with Phyllis Gangel, a longtime member of the Oceanside, N.Y., chapter, at a Nassau region event in Long Island.

“I asked Phyllis how she was,” Hershkin recalled, “and Phyllis said, ‘I’m O.K., but my eyesight is failing, and while I love Hadassah Magazine, I can no longer read it. What about an audio option?’ ”

Failing eyesight, Hershkin soon learned, is only one reason to listen to a magazine rather than read it.

“In speaking with my daughter,” she said, “I told her about wanting to see Hadassah Magazine on an audio platform. To which my daughter replied, ‘I consume everything on audio, including books and podcasts. I would listen to Hadassah Magazine, too.’ ”

For younger women, Hershkin realized, “everything is through their ears, if they’re exercising or in the car, everywhere.”

Gangel is now among the earliest users of the magazine’s audio offering.

“I think it’s simple enough to navigate the website, and I liked the voice used to read the articles,” she said. “I listen to audiobooks all the time, and now I’ll listen to Hadassah Magazine.

“I can’t read a newspaper or magazine without a big magnifier,” Gangel added, “and even then, it’s hard. You end up losing interest in an article. That’s why I’m so thrilled with this audio option.”

The need was there, Hershkin said, and “it wasn’t for one generation. This was a broad-based need. We can increase our readership through listenership.” 

Libby Barnea is the deputy editor of Hadassah Magazine.