Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir, the towering figure of French existentialism and feminism, spent her life pondering the nature of existence, freedom, and the oppression of women. While certainly revolutionary in her own right, her groundbreaking ideas sprang from a decidedly Catholic, aristocratic upbringing, rather than any deep dive into the Talmud.

Her philosophical partner, Jean-Paul Sartre, toyed with Jewish themes in his writings, notably in "Anti-Semite and Jew." De Beauvoir, however, stuck to her own lane, charting a course through radical humanism without once mistaking a challah for a baguette.

Indeed, her magnum opus, "The Second Sex," dissected the societal construction of womanhood with an incisive intellect that would make any kvelling mother proud (if, that is, they could get past the whole "atheist" thing).