‚fit-miraAJewish Feminist Magazine

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NUMBER 2SHAVUOT, 5745/MAY, 1985

EDITORIALWelcome t0 the second issue of SHIFRA, and greetings for Shavuot.

Our first issue provoked many and varied responses (see letters pages). And judging from the range ofcontributions we have received since SHIFRA 1, it is clear that we are beginning to realise one of ourmain aims: lots of different women are reading SHIFRA all over the place!

This issue includes: aspects of Jewish tradition explored by feminists on our own terms, articles centeringon the politics of Jewish feminism, personal accounts of women’s experiences, prose/fiction, poetry,reviews, recipes, conference reports and contacts.

We recognise that as Jews, we come from a variety of cultures and backgrounds‚ and we hope this isreflected in the magazine: the Glos_sary includes definitions of words which may be familiar to someof us and not to others —and that goes for the definitions themselves . . . .

. We see one of the strengths of SHIFRA as provicling a forum for all Jewish feminists. Although we I

acknowledge the diversity within feminism (and that includes our collective), there are certain feministprinciples women on SHIFRA all share: the power of men over women is a reality for which men areresponsible, and which feminists must challenge. However, we are aware that patriarchy is a complexreality: all men do not have equal power over women. As Jewish feminists, we oppose abuse of powerin all its forms, and are seeking to explore these issues in SHIFRA.

Wewelcome lots and lots more contributions from as many Jewish women as possible—photographswould be wonderful! At the moment, each issue seems like a miracle —it would be lovely t0 haveenough copy to plan several issues ahead!

It would also be nice to have enough money to be able to plan ahead. Several women have commentedon the high cover price of SHIFRA. It is very expensive to produce a 48 page magazine, and we arebarely covering our production costs.Wedo not receive funding from any source, and rely totally onsales. subscriptions and donations.

Thanks to everyone who made this issue possible!

THE SHIFRA COLLECTIVE Bev Gold, Dena Attar, Elizabeth Sarah, Jane Black, LeahRuth,Libby Lawson, Linda Be1los‚ Marilyn Fetcher, RivaKrut, Scarlet Pollock, Sheila Saunders.

Allmaterial published in Shifra is Copyright to uthe author; the opinions expressed are notnecessarily those of the Shifra Collective.

SHLFFE was a Jewish woman whose surname (sire-name) is unknown‚Active in the Warsaw Ghetto resistance, she chronicled the suffering ofher people. She was caught by the Nazis on the Aryan side of the city,

' tortured and murdered in 1943.

There have been many thousands of courageous Jewish women- weknow very Iittle about fheir Iives and experiences.Wechose äHlfl-Ebecause she speaksfco us in her own name and not in the name of afather or husband. S LFE symbolises our purpose in creating thismagazine.

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PUBLISHEDBY: TYPESET & PRINTED BY:

Shifra, Box No.2, 59 Cookridge Street, Leeds 1, Amazon Press, 75 Back Piccadilly, Manchester 1,' England. England-

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SHAVUOT, 5745/MAY‚ 1985NUMBER 2

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Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43HeritageB’ruria: The First Woman Rabbi? Penina Stone . . . . . . . 4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17The JewishAssociation for the Protection of Girls and Women. Cecily B Solomons. . . . 39

Features/Personal AccountsFour Questions for Jewish Feminists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Why I Am Not a Jewish Feminist. Dena Attar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Outside Looking In. Rose Weitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Reflections. Raina Sheridan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‚ 27Excuse Me, Is There a Christian In The House? Sheila Saunders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29The Shiva‚ A Tradition Worth Reclaiming? Judith Emanuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Women and the Traditions of Shiva. Jane Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32The Day. Hedi Argent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Passion For Truth. DoreenWachmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Jewish or Not Jewish: Another Story. TanyaWesker 40

FictionThe Cost of A Free Do. Sabina Mitchell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1lWhose Greenham? MichelineWandor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

PoetryTonight’s The Night. C.J. Batten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13SnowWhite. Margaret Guery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . n . 16Rome on the 9th October, 1982. A Paula Savage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Family Album. Chaia Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34ReviewsB’ruria . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18“Very Accurate‚ Just like a Jew” . . . . . .-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Bessie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Conference ReportsWhere DoWeGo From Here and Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.Limmud Incognito . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

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Shifra invites Jewish women to send material tous for Issue Number 3, which will be published atRoshHashonah (copy deadlinewill be the end ofJuly 1985).Wewould like to thank ‚all those who havecontributed, both creatively and financially. Shifra1s a non-profit making voluntary Organisation,entirely dependent on donations and subscriptions.

Wecannot exist without your help, so please keepsend1n_g y_our_articles, and remember to take out asubscription 1fyou haven’t already.

Front cover photograph: Pearl Golombek, amachinist in a Manchester tailoring workshop, in her‘Shabbosbest’. 1920s. Thanks to,Manchester Jewish Museum for thephotograph.

DEAR SHLFFZDear Shifra Collective,This is a very belated letter to say how much Ienjoyed the first issue. I read it from cover tocover, greedily absorbing every item. Like othersI know, I found Elli’s article especially movingand stimulating but genuinely enjoyed it all. Ofcourse there are criticisms I could make—tocriticise is easy and besides I’m sure there’snothing I could say that you haven’t thought ofyourselves. What is much harder, is to get out aninteresting, diverse and entertaining magazine forJewish feminists and other Jewish women. Andyou did it . . . with no paid workers‚ no massiveGLC grant‚ just your own hard work and tenacity.I do hope you're actually going to allow your-selves to enjoy your achievement!

With love and appreciation,Francesca (Klug),London.See Francesca Klug’s review of"Bessie”‚ byLawrence Bush, on Page 22.

Dear Shifra,I am a Jewish woman of the older generation(O.A.P.)‚ and theWomen’s Liberation Movement(W.L.M.) is ajoy to me. After the war, in the’50s‚ everything went backward and reactionaryas far as women were concemed —till 1969 that1s.

I can’t send a donation this time because I amsending to theWomen’s Support groups—butnext time I will.

Itake ‘Spare Rib’ and its one-way anti-Zionismreally turns me off —Lbelong to MAPAM*'soyou’ll knowmy ideas regarding Israel and the Arabs(why don’t they allow us a voiee?)—so it’s arelief to welcome Shifra —may she long live togrow strenger! If you have any more detaals ofShifra, please may we have thern —or any otherunknown (buried) Jewish heroines.

Keep going—like the miners’ wives!Dorothy Grey (Ms)Enfield.

P.S. Just read your editorial and review of a bookof poems—it’s no good!—you’ve got t0 have adonationl! So I’ve opened the envelope and madeout a new cheque.

‘MAPAM is a left-socialist zionist Israeli politicalparty,allied to the Hashomer Hatzair Kibbutzmovement andPeace Now. It advocates self-detemfination for bothJewsand Palestinians.

Dear Shifra Sisters,Thank you for the first issue. The article b,Franzie Goldberg reminded me that my grand-mother had come over from Vienna to Liverpoolin 1938 too, and it occurred to me that theymight have met. lt transpired that Grandma claimsto have been the second refugee in Liverpool, andhas remained friends with Franzie Goldberg untilnow, and that they still live around the cornerfrom each other. I’m sure she’d like to read thearticle.

I wonder if you could include some informationin the next issue. Josephine Zara (whose 4 poemswere published in the first issue) alongwith otherJewish women, (and some non-Jewish) is beingpublished in a book which Brightonwomenwriters are publishing. Oooh women will be avail-able around Pesach‚ with 56pp of poetry; price€1.25 including postage from BrightonWomenWriters, 22 Eaton Place, Brighton, Sussex.

I look forward to next Shifras.

Shalom,KarenAdler,Brighton.

Dear Shifra,Ienclose a poem that I wrote as a result ofreading ‘Rome on the 16thOctober 1943’,printed in your first issue. I take no credit forthe style or language used, for, as youwill see, ittakes exactly the same form as the poem byJosephine Zara (and needs to be read, I think, inconjunction with her poem). It makes the pointthat for at least one day, and probably for sometime after the event, the Roman people wereshocked by the anti-semitism that they saw ontheir doorsteps. The poem refers to the bombattack at the Great Synagogue, Rome, in which atwo year old child was killed and forty otherswere injured. I was living in Rome at— the time (inthe JewishQuarter, very close to the shul) andthe family for whom I worked were at the shul.The congregants were attacked after the serviceon leaving the building—with hand bombs,gvenades and bullets frommachifle guns. TheRomans were truly shocked and supported theJewish community, joining in with prayers at thesynagogue and by attending two subsequentprotest marches. Some even closed their shops inprotest.

All this has, perhaps, little to do with JewishFeminism,but I thought it may be of interest toyou—or to Josephine Zara.I vvish you all successwith your magazine.Yours sincerely,Paula Savage,Birmingham.

Paula Savagek Poem appears an Page 28.

More LettersDear Shifra,Howmuch I appreciated the first edition! It wasreally wonderful to read all the diverse experi-ences of so many Jewish Feminists. I want tothank the collective and everyone who contri-buted for brightening up my life andmakingmefeel part of something so BIG and EXCITING!

I would like, however, to make one point ofconstructive criticism. I’m sure you’ll agree thatShifra should be as open and accessible to allJewish Feminists everywhere. Unfortunately,the “Open Letter from the Shifra Col1ective” didnot fit into this category. I’m sure there are manywomen, like me, who did not understand it asthey were not aware of the full story, and mayhave felt alienated by it. That would be a shame.May I suggest that in future editions adequatebackground information is provided for anyfactual articles or editorials.

Ihope this plea from an out-of-town JewishFeminist is heard! And I promise that as soon asmy exams are over I’11contribute an article.

With a big mazeltov and much love,Naomi Fulop,Bristol.

Dear Shifra,First let me say personally how wonderful, yeswonderful, I found the first issue of Shifra, sothank youvery much for that.

Second1y‚ the Archives here want to subscribefor a year‚ starting from No.1.

Wehope you’1l find the two issues of our bulletinmteresting. Thanks and good luck for the future.Yours,Penelope Hammon behalf ofthe Archives Recherches etCultures Lesbiennes, Paris,

Dear Sisters at Shifra,Pvejust read the first issue and I’m very pleasedthat you’re around. I would like to read morearticles about Jewish women’s history in particular,eg, ourmothers’ and grandmothers’ experiences.Also, are you going to write about Zionism at all?I know it’s complex and (for me)painful. Also,the Jewish religious View of women?

Looking forward to your next issue.

Love,Pauline Allen,London.

Dear Shifra,Thank you for sending me a copy of the maga-zine, which is very impressive. l have twothoughts. Thc first is that I would love to seesomething on the specific nature of Englishanti-semitism, which seems to mequite unique——in literature, Disraeli, quasi-fascists, literarypcople, the Kothschilds round the second worldwvar, to Lord Longfords peculiar Organisation ofhis report on pornography‚ where the Jewishperspectwe is singled out in the strangest possibleway. Second, I would love to see the magazinehave more theory in it: how, why, all theseelementsof atrocity and subordination andmarginahzation get to be dynamic, useful parts ofsystems of power—how they change their formsbut maintain their function.

Andrea Dworkin,New York, USA.

Dear Shifra,I thjnk it is a good magazine, well written, welldisplayed‚ but for me it is claustrophooic. I am_an agnostic but I am horrified at anythmg that 1sin any way anti people.When I was teaching mprimary school I attended the religious ceremonyeach morning. At Easter the kids were taught thatthe Jews were responsible for the murder of JesusChrist, and at a very young age kids accept dogmawithout question. By the time they are old _enough to question dogma, the anti-Jew diatnbes.learnt at school from the age of five, have becomedeeply ingrained in them. I am a memberottheHumanist Association who seek to have fEhglOUSteaching taken out of the school Curriculum,

Best wishes for your success.

Yours sincerely,Isabel Turner,London.

Dear Shifra,Congratulations on a very fine issue of yourmagazine. Thanks for finding such a suitable titlefor my story, it was the hardest part for me and

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did hope you would do better.

Now, as I have many friends and relatives eagerto read the paper I have to send copies to myrelations in America, Australia, Switzerland,Holland, Portugal (a result of being a refugee ofa very large family).

Wishing you to continue to be successful I remainwith best regards,Yours,Frances Goldberg,London.

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Letters/Contacts

T0 the Reader's of Shifra,I’m very proud to hear from the women creatingthjs new Jewish magazine. There are many otherJewish women like me‚ with histories told andnot told. Webuilt unions, camps for children,movements for the unemployed, for the Blackpeople, for others of the oppressed—undergroundin Russia, and here in the streets of the U.S.Wehelped create a secular Jewish movement that hasa lot to teach Jews today. It's a pleasure to be arebel—you never grow old in your mind. 1hopesomeday wecan meet—l guess, through thebook, that we have.Bessie Sayet.

See Francesca Klug’s review af"Bessie", byLawrence Bush, cmPage

JONAH (Jews Organised for a Nuclear ArmsHalt) was founded in Leeds and London in 198las a response to the growing concern over thespiralling nuclear arms race and a realisation thatthere had to be a responsible Jewish voice con-tributing to a re-awakened Peace Movement.Through its activities JONAH aims to raiseawareness within the Jewish communities andto promote the belief that the historical heritageof Judaism demands action to reduce the nuclearthreat.

Leeds JONAH,14 NorthPark Grove, Leeds LS8 1JJ .

FEMINIST W570)?’ CONFERENCE

FEMINIST HISTORY CONFERENCE

13th, 14th, 15th, July 1985

At the Conway Hall,Red Lion Square,London.

Registration fees will be based on a sliding scale:Claimants, pensioners E1 per dayLow waged E2 per day55000-10900 f;2—f‚5 per dayi10,000—l5,000 i7 per day

Because it has been very difficult to find fundingfor the conference, wewill unfortunately have toask everyone, even those who are giving papers, tocontribute something. ln the unlikely event thatwe make any sort of profit, it will be used to helpfund next year's conference.

There will be a creche, run by womerh at theConway Hall, so if you require this facility, couldyou please let us know as soon as possible, so that _we know the numberswe have to cater for.

Inexpensive‚ vegetarian food will be provided bya women’s catenngService during the lunch break,and tea and coffee willlbe available throughout.

Disabled access to Conway Hallposes someproblems‚ asone of the workshop spaces isupstaim. However,helpwill be available for anywomen who wish to be carried upstairs, and all the‘other rooms are accessible, and the toilets are onthe ground floor.

The conference will consist of amixture ofdiscussions,Workshops and short written papers,with several sessions running concurrently.Women from many different backgrounds will betaking part; some are working in women’s groups,in local history groups or oral history groups;others doe research at colleges or universities.

Our aim in organising the conference is not topresent “experts” in new fields, but to providea Forumwhere we can pool ideas, knowledge andquestions. Feminist history has the potential tocut across divisions between “academic” and“non-academic” interest in women’s experiencesin the past and their relation to the present. Theconference is for all women who are interested inour history,wherever their interest comes from.

If women want it, black and lesbian only work-shopswill be held, and wehope to have somespace available throughout for women to arrangetheir own discussions if they wish.

Where participants agree, discussions will betaped to make them available in the future to thevisually disabled. These tapes will form a part ofany future publication.

Finally, a disco‚ with food, is being arranged forthe Saturday evening, to whichwe hope as manyof you as possible will come.

The organisers of the conference would likecontributions from Jewish women able to givepapers or lead discussxonns. If you are interested,write to Sarah lambert, 16aBrightwellCrescent,London SE17.

I'M/K 00537/0116‘ FÜR JEW/S/I fEM/l/IJTS

Why is Jewish Feminism different from otherfeminisms? What is our tradition? Does the Move-ment have a history? Who are our foremothers?These are fundamental questions for JewishFeminists and for the Jewish Feminist Movementtoday. Yet if we ask these questions of traditionalJewish books and history teachers, we receive noanswers. The Spiro Institute,which has taughtcourses in Modern Jewish History to adult classesin London over the last few years, now offers acourse which places Jewish women centre stage inJewish history. “The Jewish Woman fromPre-Emancipation to Modern Times”.Weare the people of the Word and the Book. Yetin the vast list of books claiming to be classics inthe field ofJewish history, women are scarcelymentioned. For example, one of the most impor-tant source-books for teachers of Modern JewishI-Iistory is a collection of Original documentsedited by.PaulMendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz‚The Jew in the ModemWorld. Out of over 250pieces, there are just two women’s voices: RosaLuxemburg and Rachel Levin Varnhagen. AndJewish women’s movements (as opposed to wcllwom themes of Hassidism, Halakah. Zionism)have no place at all.

Over the last decade, Jewish feminist historianshave discovered a fascinating array of Jewishwomen whose biographies are part of our presenttradition as Jewish feminists. These include thefamous Talmudist Beruriah;merchant, diarist andmother of fourteen children, Gluckel of Hamelin;her decendant and the woman who translatedGlucke1’s Yiddish into German and so preservedher diary for posterity, Bertha Pappenheim, her-self a pioneer of the German Jewish FeministMovement, an important philanthropist whoopened refuges for battered women and homesfor unmarried mothers in Galicia; novelist EstherKreitman who lived in the shadow of her brotherIsaac Bashevis Singer;German salon socialiste andfriend of Rachel Vamhagen, DorotheaMendelsohn; English novelist, socialjst, feministand friend of Eleanor Marx,Amy Levy; Russian-American anarchist and feminist, Emma Goldman.With time, we can be confident that the list ofour foremothers will increase and multiply. Butapart from individual women who provide someidea of the range and diversity of our past, it is

also critical that we uncover the history ofJewish women’s movements. The course willconsider three kinds:

1. A paradoxical spinoff from patriarchalJewish religious orthodoxy is that Jewish womenhave a tradition of organising aswomen in theJewish community. Jewish women’s groups havetraditiona-lly provided Voluntary labour in thefields of philanthropy, fund raising and synagoguedecoration. All of them had to balance their com-munity activities against domestic responsibilities.They may not have regarded themselves asFeminists, yet the right of Jewish women t0organise separately from men has never beenchallenged.2 Jewish Feminism as a movement was bornin Germany at the tum of the century. The his-tory of the Jüdisher Frauenbund is important: itemerged at a moment when Jewish feministsfound it necessary to organise as Jewish feministsvvithin but also autonomous from the feministmovement. Their reasons and their experiencesprovide an important context for us almost acentury later.3. Perhaps one of the most dramaticexperiments in practical feminism was theKibbutz movement. Jewish women tried toimplement equality on the ground decades beforethe current feminist movement took off in the1970s. A generation later, daughters of theKibbutz challenge the idea that equality achievesa meaningful status for women. They too providean important case for the English Jewish FeministMovement.Westarted with four questions. The coursesuggests that there are more than four answers.“The JewishWoman from Pre-Emancipation toModern Times” examines the complex anddiverse experience of Jewish women through aseries of Seminars organised by Penina Stone.Penina drawns on her own research, and otherJewishwomen gave sessions on specific topics:AgiKatz, Julia Pascal, Michelene Wandor, KateLowenthal, Rickie Burman, RivaKrut.

For further details contact RivaKrut at the SpiroInstitute. Phone 286 4805, or wIite to:3 St John’sWood Road, LondonNW8 8RB.

W117 I 4M N07’ 4 JEWISII fEM/NIST

In the last few years amovement Calling itself‘Jewish feminisrn’ has grown up, in no small partowing to the feelings of vulnerability amongstJews after Israel’s appalling actions in Lebanon‚but also the result of other pressures which Ishall discuss later. My initial contacts with thismovement—a meeting and a conference inLondon, reading an American anthology, a Jewishco—counse11ing weekend —did not encourage meto go any further. The concerns which otherwomen spoke of, wanting to reclaim their Jewishidentity or work out a ‘feminist’Version ofJudaism, were not my concerns, and I felt nogreat urge to identify with this new grouping.Then after Sabra and Chatila, a spate of anti-semitic writing in the feminist press and a growingsense of isolation, I formed a local Jewish feministgroup with a small number of other women andbegan going to meetings, held fairly infrequently.A national Jewish feminist newsletter appeared,more groups were getting off the ground, Shifrawas on the way and suddenly there seemed nomore doubt about it —here was a new movementand a possible new identity, a new politics.

But was there and is there a new movement? Atthe start of my involvement with ‘Jewish femin-ism’ I was ambivalent about it and felt dissatisfiedby what I heard, read and found happeningwithinJewish feminist circles. I am still dissatisfied and Iknow now that I amnot a ‘Jewish feminist’, but afeminist who is also Jewish, and I see no goodreason for ‘Jewish feminisrn’ as a separate move-ment or politics.

I want to make it absolutely clear that I believethere are times when vvithout doubt, it is usefulfor us to organise ourselves as Jewish women, todebate common concerns and offer personal sup-port to each other. I have benefited from thedebates and from the support, a fact which Iwould never wish to deny, but I also think it isvery important for us to see that beyond certainlimits, this separate Organisation stops being use-ful and turns into a different kind of phenomenon.I have always believed that in the end the pointwas to work out an understanding and a viewpointwhich we could use in our daily lives and in ourpolitical struggles. Bernice Reagon in ‘Coalitionpolitics: turning the century’writes with wonder-ful clarity and eloquence about the need for us all—black‚ white, lesbian, whoever—to leave whatshe calls the ‘barred room’ where we are onlyamong women just like ourselves, and try to forgeooalitions with other oppressed groups. The‘barred room’ works for a time as ‘anurturing_space where you sift out what people are sayingabout you and decide who you really are’..But, as she puts it, ‘There is no chance that youcan survive by staying inside the barred room’. Itake that to mean that wemust work out howbeing Jewish affects our lives from our ownstandpoint and that of other people, not in orderto wrap ourselves ever more tightly in a new-found Jewish identity but so that we can struggle

9+3?more effectively for our own futures as women,and for the futures of all other women.

Reasons of safety, support, commoninterests aregood enough reasons for temporary alliances andgroupings but they are not the only reasons whywomen have decided to organise as Jewishfeminists. I want to look at how the idea of a dis-tinctive ‘Jewish feminisrn’ has grown up, how itis being used and what its possible effects might be.

Let me quote first of all from the editorial in thefirst issue of Shifra:

Shifra is a collective of ten Jewish feminists—with at least eleven opinions—continuingthe Jewish tradition. Yet the Jewish tradi-tion for the most part describes the experi-ence of Jewish men. Our experience iswoman-centred. Wewant to claim our heri-tage as Jewish women.

Admittedly this is a very brief summary of Shifra’spurpose as a Jewish feminist magazine and shouldnot be taken as a complete Statement of its aims.But what strikesmeabout it are the phrases ‘theJewish tradition’ and ‘our heritage as Jewishwomen’. They are entirely vague. What are theysupposed to mean‘? I think they are intended torepresent the positive aspects of being Jewishwomen, as opposed to exploring the experienceof oppression. I believe wholeheartedly that lt 1svital for us to explore the experience of oppres-sion but I can quite see that in a magazinewhichwants to have a wide appeal something else seemsto be needed to give the contents a cheerier andmore positive feel. (In the same way l havebeenasked several times to say what I find positiveabout being Jewish, in meetings and Workshopsat confcrences, as if wehave to find some kind of‘balance’.) One strand of ‘Jewish feminism’_ then‚I think it is fair to say‚ has the aim of creatmg apositive Jewish identity for Jewish women basedon ideas about our heritage and tradition.

Once you being talking about Jewish identity youare up against the old question: Who is a Jew? Asfeminists weare likely to accePt WOMCYVSfightsto define their own identities as they wish.Womenwho identify asJewish m3)’h?!“ n0 feligiousfaith whatsoever, may not have been brought upasJews, may not have been bom to parentswhowere brought up asJews. In that case the commonground between us cornefdown to anti-semitismand possibly, to some similanties in our back-grounds and culture. Assuming that we share thesame tradition and heritage is not, after all, goingto get us very far.

The Jews are not a ‘race’ and although the Nazistried to categorise us as genetically different fromother groups of people we know that that is anentirely false idea. Judaism is a religion, and if weare Jewish but not religiouswe are so eitherbecause we are from families who were at onetime Jewish in the religious sense, or because welive in societies which label us according to thefacts of our birth and without regard to what webelieve. It is absurd to pretend that what we sharein common is not ultimately due to religion, orthat we have necessarily got all sorts of charac-teristics in common. Wemay talk loud —so doother people, and anyway that cannot possiblybe true for all of us. We ought t0 challenge anystatements about ‘all J ews’ whether good or bad‚because they all make the same mistake—a mis-take with consequences we should not under-estimate —of pretending that Jews are in somemystical way all alike.

Weare not all alike. Among the members of myown extended family are Jews from India, Iraq,Sweden‚ looking Indian, Arab and Swedish inappearance and with completely different sets ofcustoms. Even among Ashkenazi Jews in Britainyou can find wide differences between separatereligious communities, between Jews whosefamilies were of different national origins beforesettling in Britain, and of course differences ineconomic class and in attitudes towards beingJewish. When you reflect on the fact that thereare Jewish communities all over the world, someestablished many hundreds of years ago, it isobviously impossible to go on maintaining thatwe are somehow, in some special sense, all onepeople. The idea that we are comes from twosources: religion‚ and Zionism. For anyone whois not a Zionist and not religious, the question ofidentity may come down to the question of thebest way of responding to anti-semitism. I do notthink there is only one answer at all times to thatquestion, or that our defiant need‚ after Hit1er’sattempt at a ‘final solutionf, to go on surviving asJews forces us to cling to rrtuals and beliefswhichwewould otherwise reject. 1understand thereasons why some women are trying to create, orrecreate, a sense of ‘being Jewish’ outside ofrehgron even though they do it in a way which Ioften find self-conscious and artificial. It connectswith the anti-racist strategy taken up by otheroppressedminorities of resisting being absorbedinto a dominant culture which we do not believeis bettef than Our own and is hostile to us. Butthere is a difference between assertingwho weare and trying t0 recreate who weno longer are.On the theme Of ‘moral necessity’ MaximeRodinson writes (in Cult, Ghetto and State. 1983):

Judaism is explained by history, not outsideit. It merits no special scientific or moralprivilege. There was no divine or extra-rational necessity for the survival of theJewish people or the Jewish religion as such.The only moral necessity is to demand res-pect for the legitimate collective rights of areligious or secular community when itexists, but not t0 maintain it, recreate it, orreinforce it when impersonal social factors(and not brutal constraint, force and perse-

cutron) cause it to wither. If Judaism or theJewrsh people have been the bearers of somepartlcular values that are laudable, beautiful,and still useful, then these must be defendedbecause of their intrinsic validity, withoutregard to the people or ideology that hasadopted them.

Rodinson writes about the pressures put on us toidentify ourselves with the concept of a specialJewish people, what he Calls Jewish nationalism,and of the problems Jews face when they wantto oppose nationalism (he himself is a left-wingJew whose own parents were murdered by theNazis, non-religious and non-Zionist):

Nationalism and religion proclaim our dutyto rally to their banners, and accuse us ot‘treason and cowardice if we fail to do so.For various reasons, often good ones, manywho find themselves in this position put upwith it, gritting their teeth and holdingtheir tongue.

Studying the question of Jewish identity for someJewish feminists seems to produce a self-consciousness about being Jewish which I havenoticed that others‚ who take their identities forgranted, find puzzling. It may be that this is atemporary result of paying so much attention toour habits of speech and so on, but it may belinked with another side of the Jewish identitytheme. Feminists wanting to examine what aJewish identity might mean for them, like otherwomen seeing themselves as distinctive groups,turn to our history and try to understand asmuch as possible about the lives of other Jewishwomen, past and present. I think there are verygood reasons to Iearn asmuch as wecan oihistory and of other people’s lives in the present,but with one caution. Historians are rarely neutralobservers, and as feminists we know how slantedthe work of male historians can be. But historycan be slanted in otherways too, and is too oftenwritten not with the aim of finding out as muchtruth as possiblewhatever it might be‚ but selec-tively‚ in favour of particular ideas or groups. IfJewish feminists are tempted to construct a selec-tive history of a kind wemight like to have butwhich does not refleqt the varied reality of Jewishwomen’s experience, I am not sure that they willbe doing us a service.

Jewish identity is one thing, Judaism of course isanother. Some women understand ‘Jewishwfeminism’ asmeaning some kind of combinationof feminism and Judaism. For many of us thecombination is utterly unworkable —religion isafter all a system of thought and practice invol-ving hierarchies and dogma. Feminists generallyoppose hierarchical systems and dogma —whereyou are expected to believe and accept what youare told with only limited freedom ofjudgement.Judaism is not more dogmatic and hierarchicalthan other religions but it certainly is not free-

l0

thinking and non-hierarchical. From the oppositeangle, Orthodox Judaism is hardly going toreconcile itself to feminism and has definitelyanti-feminist Iawsabout women’s sexuality,women’s Status and religious roles. You maymanage to put Judaism and feminist together ifyou are a Western woman belonging to thereform/progressive synagogue, but if you areOrthodox or live anywhere where the OrthodoxVersion of Judaism is all there is, youhaven’tmuch of a hope. People are attached to religiousrituals for all sorts of neu-rational reasons, somespiritual, some Sentimental, and it does not oftenhappen that members of religious faiths movefrom strictly observant forms of worship and dailyIiving to laxer forms ofa very different kind, ifthey start to have doubts. Lookingat the rise offundamentalist, evangelical religions around theworld the oppositc seems more often true. Pro-gressive versions of Judaism may strike feministsasmore acceptable than the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox ones, but that may have no relevancefor Orthodox Jewish women who cannot simplyswitch to another kind of religion which may haveIittle or no meaning or emotional appeal for them.As far as ‘Jewish feminism’ as a reconstruction ofJudaism goes, both feminists who are scepticalabout religion or opposed to it, and Jewish womenwho see no prospect of incorporating feminisminto traditional Judaism are likely to see it as adead end.

I have written some of this in quite abstract termsbut the realities are concrete enough, and seriousenough. How can we deny that women sufferunder the yoke of Judaism, just as they sufferunder Catholicism and Islam? In the name ofreligion Jewish women too are forced to bearmore children than they want, are confined tothe roles of wives and mothers‚ denied abortions,contraception and equality under divorce laws.I am less concerned about the fact that we are notallowed to participateequally in religious cere-monies than I am about the effect ofJudaic Iawon the lives of all Israeli women and of OrthodoxJewish women in other countries, and the fastestway oflifting its burden is for women to refuseto bow to it, not for us to work to change theauthoritarian, anti-feminist structures from within.The same goes for women everywhere—I do notwant to support a feminist Catholicism,Metho-dism or Islam.My support is for feminists andwomen, not for religions, and the rise of religiousmovements around the world at the moment isominous for women and for feminism. Now whensomany women are already being forced backinto traditional roles weneed to support thosewho are trying to resist and defend their freedoms,sometimes only just won. I can already see signsunfortunately that instead of speaking outagainst the harm religion does to our interests aswomen ‘Jewish feminism’ is prepared to grit itsteeth and hold its tongue.

As a feminist who is Jewish, I have some reasonsto want to work alongside other Jewish womenat times, but I have no desire or need to work oninventinga feminist Judaism, or to reclaim aJewish identity. I have never denied being Jewish,and it has sometimes been of great significanceforme, while at other times it has not been soimportant. For the first halfof my life Ipractised Orthodox Judaism with complete con-viction as I had been brought up to d0, going t0Hebrew classes three times a week, observingkashrut and keeping shabat strictly, walking thetwo-hour journey on Yom Kippur, fasting, tothe beautiful Sephardi synagogue of Bevis Markswith my father in order to sit up in the ladiesgallery, following the Service with a mixture ofpride‚ sincere piety‚ terror and sheer boredom. Ido not wish to be sentimental about my past, Ido not need to reclaim it and I also do not needto renounce it. My past gives me something incommon with other Jewish women, but fromexperience I know I have Iess in common withJewish women of Ashkenazi and non-Orthodoxbackgrounds than they tend to imagine; it alsogives me something in common with other womenliving under religious domination. I cannot exag-gerate the importance Judaism had for me whenlwas younger‚ but although Judaism is aninseparable part of my past and present it wouldbe easy enough to exaggerate the importancebeingJewish has for me now. Unhappily theexistence of ‘Jewish feminism’ strikes me ashaving two undesirable effects: minimising theimpact of Judaism upon women in religiouscommunities, or at least ignoring itsmore incon-venient aspects, and exaggerating the importanceof being Jewish and our differences with otherwomen.

In conclusion, I would ask feminists who want tocall themselves Jewish feminists to think aboutthe following point (also from Rodinson: Cult,Ghetto and State) about declaring an allegiance:

I have tried to remain faithful to -myOriginal commitment: as far as is humanlypossible‚ not to allow my origins and situa-tion to influence my analyses and judge-ments, to ask myself not ‘is it good or badfor the Jews?’ but ‘is it good or bad forpeople?’. Anyone who thinks this stance iswrong should say so frankly, should pro-claim openly before the world that it is agood thing to sacrifice other human groups—and the freedom of one’s own mind —forthe good of the Jews, which in any case willalways mean the good of some Jews.

DennAttar.

14

Outside Looking In:AnAmerican Jew In Britain

This article describes my first impressions, as anAmerican, regarding the experience of living as aJew in Britain. I have only been in Britain for afew months‚ so it would be true chutzpah for meto claim to understand British culture. As an out-sider, however‚ I suspect I can see clearly aspectsof British life whose sheer ordinariness make theminvisible to British persons.What follows, there-fore may not be an accurate assessment of BritishcuIture‚ but it is an honest‚ gut-level, first reaction.

My first hint that things were going to be differentin Britain came before I had left America. Thehardest task facingme in making plans to spend ayear in Britain was finding a place to live inLondon —a daunting task for anyonc, but parti-cularly so for someone living six thousand milesaway with no knowledge of the country nor per-sonal contacts. I tinally learned of a residence foroverseas sclrolars which was highly recommended.When I received their application form, however,l was shocked to discover that one of the ques—tions asked for my religion. In the United States,this would be considered evidence of illegal intentto discriminate. Despitemy initial surprise and aslight sense of trepidation, l hesitated onlymomentarily before writing in “Jewish”. Thenext day, however‚ I started worryingwhether Ihad been foolhardy, and wonderingjust howdifferent British norms and laws would prove tobe.

That same form, and every other form I havefilled in sincearriving here, requested my sur-name and “Christian” name. I had actually neverheard that expression used before, although I hadread it in old novels. Americans use the term“forename” or “first name”.My response was tocross out the word “Christian” and then write inmy name. Despitemy minor act of rebellion, thisstill reinforced the feeling that Britain is‚ officially‚a Christian country.

As in the above example, themost commonproblems experienced by Jews‚ in Britain as inAmerica, are invisibility and ignorance. Overtaggression, although more serious‚ is relativelyrare. Christians generally operate on the assump-tion that everyone around them is also Christian.When they leam they are mistaken, they typicallydon’t know how to respond; Christians have littleconception of what it means to be Jewish‚ or tobelong to any otherminority religion.

The depth of this ignorance and invisibility alwaysbecomes clearest around Christmas. Compared toBritain, Christmas in the United States is over-whelming, but not quite somonolithic. In thecities in which I have lived (New York and NewHaven,with sizeable Jewish populations‚ andPhoenix,with only 2%Jewish population), all ofthe newspapers have at least a token article onChanukah, and similar articles at Rosh Hashanaand Pesach; minor Jewish holidays are generallymentioned in small filler articies. The articles aregenerally presented ashuman interest stories,about the quaintly interesting customs of ourJewish neighbours. Still, at least they exist. InBritain, l realised that if I did not have anAmerican desk calendar (from the Sierra Club—an enviromnenial Organisation!) Iwould nothave known the dates for the Jewish holidays.

Even in Phoenix, most stationery stores sell atleast a few Chanukah cards; all have a sizeableselection of generic “seasons greetings" cards.Here, it is difficult to find anything but Christmascards.

Mailingmy Chanukah cards has also beendifficult sinee every time I_go to the post office Iam given Christmas stamps. The last time, I washanded these stamps with the comment “of courseyou’ll want Christmas stamps.”When I respondedthat, actually, I wanted anything but, the poorclerk looked stunned. In fact, the only 3lp stampsavailable (the basic rate needed for posting to theUnited States) were Christmas stamps; I had tobuy 26p and Sp stamps instead. I amsure theclerk thought I was some sort of kook, just tryimzto make his life harder.

In the past month, it seems as if everyone hasvery solicitously asked me about my Christmasplans, The question obviously reflects concernthat I, asa foreigner, not be left alone over theholidays. Yet even persons who know I am Jewishask. The question is always phrased in terrns ofChristmas, not “the holidays”, “over the Semesterbreak”, or “while classes are out”. I am" takenaback each time, as I can’t understand why theyare asking. I am still wondering if maybe theyknow something about British Christmas’s whichI don’t know —do the grocery stores close for aweek, perhaps, so one needs to make plans?

A5my awareness has grown of the differencesbetween America and Britain, I have felt increa-singly COUSCIOUS of being a Jew. Britain seems likeamore dangerous place than Amerlca, particu-larly for someone who has never had to leam t0hid her Jewishness. It’s not that the United Statesis a bed of roses. l live in Phoenix, Arizona, anextremely conservative city in an even more con-servative state. The state was initlally settled byMormons,and is still largely controlled by Mor-mons and fundamentalist Christians. Most of myneighbours and many of my students are bom-again Christians. Many have never met a Jewbefore, and if they’re not prejudiced against Jews,they certainly are opposed to left-wing feministsfrom New York.

Sowhy do l feelmore inrperilled here? Part of itis just that I amin a foreign country (and oneshould neverLmder-estimate the culturaldifferences between the United States and _Britain). I am constantly afraid that Iwill get intotrouble through not understandmg the subtletiesof interactions or social rules. whether the sub-ject is religion or table manners. But this isdefinitely not the only reason I feel vulnerablehere as a Jew.

Amajor factor ismy decreased sense ofentitlement in Britam. In the United States, I feelthat mypountry s law and ideology, if not always1ts_pract1ce, are on my side‚ as a member of aminorlty group. Here, I feel as if the onus is onme‚ rather than on the others‚ to accommodate.Christianity is thestate religion, and that’s apretty powerful thing.

Inthe United _St_ates, the Bill of Rights promisesmdividuals religious freedom,.while forbidding thethagovernment from promoting religion. LaterC1v1_lRights Acts provided additional protectionformdwlduals by making it illegal t0 practisereligious discrimination. British Jews lack com-parable protection and are clearly disadvantagedthrough the establishment of the Church ofEngland as the state religion. Thus, by contrast tothe Bntishsystem‚ the American legal systememphasrzes accommodation to minority groupsrather than accommodation by minority groups.

Thä Xtherisignificant differencebetween Britain

€111merlca (and, aga1n‚ the difference is greater

In ÜIGOTY than In practice) stems from the con-CePtPfthe “melting pot”. The United States hasadmlttfixily been more of a stew than a meltingpot. SUILPUT ldeology stresses the diversity ofthe Amerlcan popu1ation‚ and the benefitsderived from that diversity. Asa result, I feel per-fectly comfortahle Identifyingmyself a; a Jew,and asanAmerican, even though all four of mygrandparents were bornm eastern Europe. In thisI amnot at all unusual; until I left New y m k a:age 23, I never met anyone whose great-grand-parents were born in the United States,

In the midst of my confusion at this question,the only answer that seems reasonable is to saythat I amJewish. Unfortunately, this brings theconversation to a dead halt, leaving the other per-son as confused as I am. So far, everyone has res-ponded as if my remark was a non-seqiaitur; noone has understood that being Jewish means thatmy rclationship t0 Christmas is differcnt fromtheirs. After all, asone woman said. shc “neverthinks of Christmas asChristian" —an artitudcthat only a Christian can afford to take.

In the academic, feminist, and vaguely leftwingcircles in which Iiwork and play, there is inAmerica a significantly greater acknowledgementand understanding of non-Christians. In recentyears, for example, many university departmentsas well as individuals and organisations havestarted hosting “end of Semester” or “wintersolstice" parties, rather than “Christmas” parties.I have yel to sce such a thing here, although I amparticipating in similar social circles.

My American ffiends and acquaintances do tendt0 slip occasionally. and forget about the exis-tence of non—Christians.When this is brought totheir attention, however. they generally under-stand that they have made a slip: the concept ofnon-Christians isjust not as foreign to them as tothe British.

The greater awareness of Jews and JLiduism inthestates cannot be explained away by the relativesizes ol’ the Jewlsh pdpulations. Jews arc onlyslightly more numerous in the United States thanin Great Britain, 2%instead of V205 of the popula-tion. However, Jews have been able to make theirpresence felt due to their concentratioxi in so fewcities (most notably New York. wnere statcschools close on the I-Iigh Holidays). By contrast.even in London Jews account for only 3%oi’ thepopulation.

lt" invisibility and ignorance are the problemscommon to Jews in Britain and America. themajor difference is the existence in Britain of astate religion. From an American perspective. thisis utterly mind-boggling, and seems positivelymedieval. In America, by contrast, major courtcases are now questioningwhether having amoment of silence at the beglnningof the schoolday is an attempt to insert religion into theschools. I was horrified to learn that Britishschoolsmust set aside time for “an act ol‘wor-ship" and religious education each day. Ofcoursesome schools honour this more in the breech thanin the observance, or use this time to teach aboutethnic diversity. Nonetheless, teachers have a rightto stick to strict Christian practices, and somesimply leave non-Christians to deal with thesituation asbest they can.

16

By contrast, BritishJews may considerthemselves British (with its cormotations ofcitizenship or nationality), but can neverEnglish. Not only is England far more homoge-nous than the United States, but ethnicallyEnglish people still use the word “race” in a waywhich became outmoded in the United Statesabout fifty years ago. This was forcefully broughthome to meshortly after my arrival here. Askinga group of white English and Scottish people ifthey thought there were any signiflcant differ-ences between the two groups, I was told, indeadly serious tones‚ that the English and theScots are two separate races‚with totally separatehistories, cultures, languages, and personalities. Ihave since read and heard si-milar things fromother sources. From an American perspective,

this usage of the word “race” is inaccurate,implyingas it does extreme genetic differencesbetween peoples. Given thjs conception of theethnically English asa pure and separate race,there is no way for BritishJews ever to belong,nomatter how long their families live here.In sum, the position of British Jews seemsconsiderably more tenuous than that of AmericJews, at least from my fairly naive perspective. II amcorrect in tracing this difference to the bas"of the British legal system and the most basic co .cept of the Englishnation, then BritishJews hava Ionghard struggle ahead of them.Rose Weitz

Sitting in twilit anticipationI watch the animated childrenWriggle, likemaggots, in the russet.

The scene darkens: my daughter staresCaught in the glare of the snake-eye screenAt a tale my mother told to me.

Must every mother, step or no,Offer her daughter a perfect appleGrown from the seed that poisened her?

Moving deeper through the forest,Fear fades into drudgery:She will serve the menwho mine for wealth.

She may remain immured in a dream‚For the prince, a dwarf in disguise, rides byAnd it’s hard to regurgitate apples alone.

Daughter, I d0 not offer fruit,Only the pips eschewed by Eve _And an oldwoodchopper’s warnlng.

Margaret Guery.

20

WhereDo We G0 From HereAnd Now?This was the theme of the second one—dayconference on Women and Judaism held at LeoBaeck College, 20 January 1985. The conferencewas organised by a group of Jewish feminists,committed to working out the complex relation-ship between feminist perceptions and religiouscommitment.

The previous one-day conference in the Autumn,followed on from a lecture series on Women andJudaism that was part of the college extra-muralprogramme and explored the theme of ‘TheExperience of Being a JewishWoman’. As at mostWomen’s Liberation Movement conferences,women worked in small groups choosing fromamong a number of workshops:—The Jewish family —past and present; rela-tionships.

— Sexuality; menstruation; body image.—Perceptions of ourselves in the world —educa-tion and work.

—Our religlous legacy.—Our language of prayer.

4 Our Situation vis a vis organised Judaism.

The spoken and written response of women tothe October meeting was enthusiastic. The plan-ning group had already set aside a day for anotherconference and even thought of what to call it —the response of women provided us with a clearindication of the sorts of areas women wished toexplore. The programme we evolved combinedconsciousness-raising, study and practicalskill-leaming.

In the morning, women chose between twoparallel workshops: either, ‘Women’s personalquest/images of Jewish spirituality’, which drewon selected texts and the personal experience ofwomen in the group; or ‘Centuries of Responsa onWomen in Judaism’, which examined the decisionsand pronouncement of rabbis past and presentabout the ‘place’ of women in Judaism, with ‚theunderstanding that not long from now womenwill be writing our own Responsa.

In the afternoon‚ women chose between apractical workshop on synagogue ritual and parti-cipation: holding a scroll‚wearing a tallit —thepracticalities of active involvement in the syna-gogue service; or, a study group which exploredthe Book of Ruth from a feminist perspective.

At the end of the afternoon, everyone cametogether for an informal joint workshop onresources, the kinds of women’s groups there areand how to form new ones.

Like the first conference, the January meetingended with a short afternoon Service (Mincha),which experimented with a combination ofanti-sexist and reform liturgy within a traditionalMincha framework.We prayed together as wehad worked and talked together —in a spirit ofhope for the future and what we might make ofit as Jewish women.

Over fifty women participated in the conferencefrom varying backgrounds and of all ages —activefeminists, women from congregations, womenwithout any previous affiliations —all interestedm exploring further our complex relationship aswomen t0 Judaism and Jewish life in all its forms.The day was exciting, exhilerating, and clearlyrevealed that many Jewish women from manydifferent places are committed to re-examiningtheir lives and their Judaism. The call for a furtherconference was unanimous. But even more impor-tant, women exchanged names, addresses andtelephone numbers in the expectation of formingnew groups for consciousness-raising, study andmutual Support . . .Conference Planning Group:Barbara Borts, Dee Eimer, KarenGoldman,DorotheaMagonet, Elizabeth Sarah, SheilaShulman.

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l5’ HIER! 4 (‘l/R/ST/d/I III NIE #0035?

In Jewish feminist circles recently there has beena great deal of discussion about how we should orshouldn’t relate to white Christian feminists. ManyJewish feminists have felt cmshed by the negativeand often antisemitic reactions that being positiveabout our Jewishness has brought forth fromwomen whom we thought were our friends. Forthose of us who live with Christian feminists ourstruggle is close to home. I use the term ‘Christian’not to describe a religious belief but to highlightthe fact that christianity is not merely a religionbut a culture which permeates the very core ofour existence. I believe that it is harder to recog-nise that you oppress unless you understand wherethat oppression originates. As a radical feminist Iwant to see the struggle proceed in a way whichcuts through malestream prejudice and exploita-tion of difference. Feminismmust learn to copewith diversity personally, practically‚ politicallyand theoretically.Wecannot allow male definedcultural superiority to split our movement.It is useful to think about giant problems inpersonal terms and the recent discussions aboutrelationships withwhite Christian feminists makesme recallmy own rise in my Jewish consciousness.Some years ago this radical assimilated Jewishfeminist lived in ignorant bliss.

Sharingmy life with a non Jewish feminist seemedno cause for concern, irrelevant even. Suddenlythrough external pressure and internal combus-tion my Jewishness escaped. A Jewish politicalconsciousness flowed within me makingmeaware in a way that I had not been before. Mystable relationship was unexpectedly threatened.All at once I was Jewish and she was not. Findingsome space to carry on livingtogether, has been adifficult and often debilitating process. Inresponse to my reclaiming Jewish culture we havehad to look more closely at her culture, white,Christian, atheist.

The point at which the realisation of myJewishness and her apparent nothingness cameWhen a friend of mine died. I wanted to go to theshivah house and J decided to accompany me.Wedrove from Leeds to Manchester discussingthe difficulties ol‘ bereavement and our personalfeelings about the death of people whom weloved. Our joumey and our discussion was asalways amicable, supportive, loving. When wearrived at the house we walked straight in, incustomary fashion the door was open. Hesita-tingly I introduced her to Henry. “This is J, wework and live together.” Hesmiled and nodded,he was confused, perhaps he assumed that theyhad met before? Perhaps he noticed how loud Isaid ‘work’and almost whispered ‘live’ together?Perhaps he noticed that I had come to be withhim on that night and nothing else? Weenteredthe small sitting room, I heldmy breath in caseshe had forgotten my instructions about not

sitting on the shivah chair. Of course sheremembered.

Fourmen were already in the room, it suddenlybecame overcrowded. Henry began talking aboutthe funeral, “It was dignified” this mattered agreat deal t0 him, dignity in death had no placein his memories of Dachau. More and morepeople started to arrive‚ mainly men. I was intro-duced as my father’s daughter t0 a man I did notknow. In Manchester, my 01d home town, I haveonly ever been my father’s daughter.

Henry lit the candles, the man of the housebecame to woman of the house with one affir-mative action. lt seemed morbidly ironic that hewas lighting the candles for her, her candles. Thewomen began to withdraw from the room and Jfollowed. I told her that she did not have to, thatit was only misogynist custom, woman denyingpractice. I told her that nothing prohibitedwomen from prayingwith men. She said nothingand silently followed the women, takingwith herfeelings of alienation as a Christian atheistsurrounded by the Jewish religion. I, a confusedlewish atheist, riddled with contradictions, stoodamongst the men and their prejudices, defyingthem to dare to cut me out of a tribute to awoman I loved.

I stood beside a large man and responded to hiswithering gaze by informing him that segregationat a shivah was merely custom not law,There wasI the all time liberated expert on the Jewish wayof death. The thirteen principles of Jewish malechauvinism challenged. Radical shivah a speciality.When you have buried asmany parents as I havean intimate understandingof the sexismsurrounding death and it’s ritual prevails.I tried desperately to follow the service but to noavail, the language had been dead to me for years.The death of the once familiar, although alwaysincomprehensible, language made me acutelyconscious of the woman, Miriam, my friend forwhom we were reciting these chants. I watchedthe men swaying, mumbling, doing their duty asJewishmen. It is the duty of Jewish men toguide the Jewish soul into heaven, throughkaddish, through prayer, through male exclusi-vity. Henry stood alone, no children‚ familymurdered in Germany, he recited kaddish for hismost trusted friend who was also hiswife.

The prayers ended and I pushedmy way towardsHenry to wish him ‘long life’ he looked bewilderedand cried. I looked for J across the sea of suitsand hats.Weleft silently together, each bearingher own grief.Wedrove home in an atmosphereof shock horror. During that forty mile joumeywe both behaved strangly. J commented on theproceedings, Ianswered with aggressive defen-siveness. I could not understand how she could

be so cooI and analytical when I was so obviouslyhystcrical. I realised that this was the first time(hat she had witnessed mein a traditional Jewishsetting. Weanalysed the event, clipped,controlled, tetse. She was speaking firmly asafeminist academic trying to discem the differencebetween religion and culture, discussing theoppressive nature of rehgious dogma and practice.he was verbose, I was tongue tied. I felt that Iwas the subject of her research.T'his Situation had ncver existed between usbefore. Untii this time I had always ‘passed’,assimilated myseifinto the radical grouping ofaso called international feminism, a united sister-hood divided only by mcn. I felt as though mynumber had hccn cailed and I was exposed forwhat I really was —a ghetto Jew. There was notuming back, I Lmderstood (hat this was myAmagccton in the Women ‘sMovement. It wasrime t0 conie out as a Jew. It was time to

Prescnting a challenge t0 Christian culture, insideor outside the Women'sMovement,meansdcvcloping a personal and theretore politicalunderstanding of our oppression asewish

Jewish religiotis cuiturc. Whilst I acknowledgemy cultural background, indegedjt is often

‘Oh! how ethnic’. I think they are antisemitic,they think I amcrazy.

The heightened sensitivity that I have gainedregarding all things Jewish and anti-Jewish, hasenabied meto recognise the subtle asweil as theblatant way in which antisemitism opcrateswithin the Women’sMovement. The effects arenever subtle; usually they are painful and destruc-tive. I felt it when I was involved in the editorial

commitment‚ a vested interest and the capacityto deal with nd recognise differgnce, acknow-

defined socialism to cultural superiority. Remem-ber sisters that MENare the main cnemy andtogether wecan seize their power.

tive, hateful asweII as Ioving.The areas

Sheila Saunders.

40

Jewish or Not Jewish -Ü Ü Ü Ü Ü

Dear ElliHaving read Shifra from cover t0 cover (literally)I thought I’d again tackle the question of whatit’s like to be a Jew who’s not ‘officially’ Jewish.

I should point out for the benefit of others thatan ‘unofficial’ Jew is someone like me who wasborn of a gentile mother and a Jewish fathcr.

What it’s like is another storyl!

You see, from the day I was born I have lived alife which has been (and is) motivated, fuelled andenhanced by things Jewish.

Things? I’m only talking about my family whichappears to be the largest in the world and allmine! Oh and then there’s the history, religionand the cultures which comprise my family. Butthese are all things which are of the utmostimportance-to me because without them I amnothing.Well, almost nothing,

Sweeping Statements aside, my feelings andthoughts on my Jewishness are difficult to discernlet alone express.

One thing is for sure, I am and do feel Jewish. Butsomehow it’s never been that simple, primarilybecause of other (non-Jewish) people who haveinsisted I’mnot.

Their bloody-minded insistence has, over the years,made me feel angry, hurt, uncertain, confused,inadequate, and at times_, totally bewildered.Do you know what it’s like, Elli, to feel suchthings? It’s like being riddled with poisoned darts.But I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what it’s like.

Anyway, on the one hand there’s me whoconsiders herself Jewish, and on the other the.reare these people who don’t. An interestingpredicament, isn’t it?

You know what, Elli? Interesting predicamentssuch as mine do tend to become tedious after a_while becauseI have to d0 all the thinking, talkingand explaining whereas for the other people theyjust have to say ‘you’re not’ and that’s their sumtotal contribution.

Mind you, I have accumulated several thoughtprovoking, mind taxing questions which I wouldask them if I could. For example,will you pigheaded insistors ever allow me to excercise myfreedom of choice (let alone my ‘right’ to be whoI am)?Will you ever allow me peace of mind foropting to be Jewish? Or will your arrogant insis-tence on defining ‘others’ likeme eventuallysucceed in makingmy life not worth living as aJew?

Another StoryI guess I’m still angry, huh? But Elli, suchquestions shouldn’t even exist let alone be asked.

Of course, if people do allow me to live as a Jew‚they have to accommodate me in their minds (andhomes) by heaping stereotypical image uponstereotypical image.

S0, I gather I come from a ‘race’ which is ‘deeplymaterialistic’ and who are constantly shruggingtheir shoulders‚ slapping their foreheads‚gesticulating their arms and saying ‘already’.

Elli, how come this doesn’t correspond with myexperience? How come the only places I’ve seenthis is on the television networks, film circuitsand theatre stages?

D0n’t get me wrong, I have the ability to laugh atmyselfjust asmuch as the next ‘foreigner’. Butwhen I know the characters portrayed only serveto perpetuate popular mythologies, and therefore,confirm small-minded people in their prejudicedand anti-semitic misapprehensions, I becomeangry. Very angry indeed.

But I digress.

The denial of myJewishness is not restricted togentile people only. There are certain sections ofthe Jewish community who would also repudiateme and my claim. Admittedly, the latter are theOrthodox.

Where does this leave me? Well, nowhere inparticular. You see‚ I’m only just accepted by theLiberal and Reformmovements and even thatwould vary according to the Rabbi and/or the(location of) the shul.

And what if Iconverted? Even if I underwent themost strenuous conversion process, I suspect thatas a friend said of another friend wh_o hasconverted, people would say to me‚ ‘oh, you’renot really Jewish then.’

And what if my mother converted? Ditto theabovel

So, there youhave it, Elli. This is what it’s like t0be a Jew who’s not ‘officially’ Jewish.

TanyaWesker

Ü Ü Ü Ü Ü