Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women: Patterns in a Feminist Sampler [Hardcover]

Rachel J Siegel (Author), Ellen Cole (Author), Esther D Rothblum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0789000865 | ISBN-13: 978-0789000866

Jewish women of all ages and backgrounds come together in Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women to explore and rejoice in what they have in common--their heritage. They reveal in striking personal stories how their Jewishness has shaped their identities and informed their experiences in innumerable, meaningful ways. Survivors, witnesses, defenders, innovators, and healers, these women question, celebrate, and transmit Jewish and feminist values in hopes that they might bridge the differences among Jewish women. They invite both Jewish and non-Jewish readers to share in their discussions and stories that convey and celebrate the multiplicity of Jewish backgrounds, attitudes, and issues.

In Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women, you will read about cultural, religious, and gender choices, conversion to Judaism, family patterns, Jewish immigrant experiences, the complexities of Jewish secular identities, antisemitism, sexism, and domestic violence in the Jewish community. As the pages unfold in this wonderful book of personal odysseys, the colorful patterns of Jewish women’s lives are laid before you. You will find much cause for rejoicing, as the authors weave together their compelling and unique stories about:

• midlife Bat mitzvah preparations
• the transmission of Jewish values by Sephardi and Ashkenazi grandmothers
• traditional Sephardi customs
• the sorrow and healing involved in coping with the Holocaust
• a lesbian’s fascination with Kafka
• the external and internal obstacles Jewish women encounter in their efforts to study Jewish topics and participate in Jewish ritual
• becoming a Reconstructionist rabbi
• the difficulties and benefits of being the teenaged daughter of a rabbi

A harmonious chorus of individual voices, Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women will delight and inspire Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike. It reminds each of us how diverse and distinctive Jewish women’s lives are, as well as how united they can be under the wonderful fold of Judaism. This book will be of great interest to all women, as well as to rabbis, Jewish community leaders and professionals, mental health workers, and those in Jewish studies, women’s studies, and multicultural studies.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"This book is a sampler, and within its pages Jewish American and Canadian women have contributed pieces of writing that, like pieces of embroidery, illustrate their lives," assert editors Siegel and Cole (Jewish Women in Therapy: Seen But Not Heard, Haworth, 1991) of this collection of personal essays. Contributors include a wide-ranging group of Jewish women?young and old; conservatives and liberals; converts; lesbians and heterosexuals?and all attempt to "break the silence" traditionally expected of Jewish women. While embroidered samplers may include an assortment of stitches, there is usually a cohesiveness of style that lends a sense of unity to the piece. Unfortunately, the tone of these essays is so uneven?from academic-with-footnotes to casual memoir?that the collection lacks an overall unity and will be hard to recommend to specific groups of readers.?Marcia G. Welsh, Guilford Free Lib., Ct.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 333 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (September 26, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789000865
• ISBN-13: 978-0789000866
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,972,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful overview of the diversity of Jewish women today, January 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Celebrating the Lives of Jewish Women: Patterns in a Feminist Sampler (Haworth Innovations in Feminist Studies) (Paperback)

Many books have been now published on this relatively new subject: women in Judaism, women groping to find their place within Judaism, and how Judaism has influenced the lives of women. This book offers an honest and private look into thirty women's experiences with Judaism. I especially appreciated the diversity of the women chosen, and therefore the diversity of the themes explored. Many essays offered surprising moments of identification with the feelings described by women whose destiny is so different from mine; this is perhaps an indicator of this enterprise's success. Alu Ve'Hatslichu Kulchen! (May you all rise and prosper)