THE POWER OF JEWISH WOMEN STORIES OF YESTERDAY, LESSONS FOR TODAY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
03
TAMAR
04
JUDITH
05
DAUGHTERS OF TZELOFCHAD
06
DONA GRACIA
07
GLUCKEL
08
GOLDA MEIR
NOTES: 1. All summaries are adapted from JWA – the Jewish Women’s Archive 2. The “Lessons Learned” all come from comments made by the participants after the breakout rooms discussions.
TAMAR SUMMARY: TThe story of Tamar appears in the book of Genesis, chapter 38. Tamar married the eldest of Judah’s sons (Judah is one of Jacob’s 12 sons). When her husband dies and she is left with no child, Judah’s second son marries her (levirate marriage), but he also dies. Judah does not want to give Tamar his third son, and she is unable to remarry. However, she ultimately tricks Judah into impregnating her. When she is found to be pregnant, Judah wants her killed, accusing her of having slept with a man while she was “waiting for his third son.” Tamar asks that the father of the baby take responsibility and Judah publicly recognizes that he was wrong, and that Tamar was more righteous than he was. LESSONS LEARNED: 1. As women, sometimes one just has to make her own decisions and take control of her destiny. 2. You cannot always rely on others. 3. It is important not to embarrass others or speak about others in a public setting. 4. When you are stuck, it is important to figure out how to move forward; it may seem manipulative in certain ways, but it is good to know how to navigate the system. 5. Both as an individual and as a community, it is important to look behind the veil: don’t stick to what you want to see and hear; remove the blinders so that your eyes will be open. 6. Be open to admitting a mistake and making changes.
JUDITH
SUMMARY: The story of Judith is told in an apocryphal book (i.e., a book that was not canonized as part of the Bible). Israel is invaded by Assyria, led by a man named Holofernes. He besieges the town of Bethulia, where a widow named Judith dwells. Frustrated by the lack of faith in God shown by Bethulia’s leaders, Judith concocts a plan of her own. She takes matters into her own hands, seducing and murdering Holofernes in his tent. The death of Holofernes restores faith among the Israelites, and they rout the Assyrian forces, securing victory for Israel. LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Women are bold and fearless – they are not afraid of doing what needs to be done. Women tend to do things behind the scenes, quietly. Judith takes credit for what she did (and thanks God as well), but she does not allow another person to take credit for what she did. 2. Women get involved in social action: when a woman sees something is wrong, she takes action to change the world. Sometimes, in modern days, we are tied down to committees, when women in the Bible could act individually and act faster. It is important to balance working as a group and taking action. 3. Courage and risk taking are part of what women do. 4. Women use their brains, not only their beauty (but her brains are what tells her to use her body to have access to the places she needs to be in for her plan to work). 5. It is important to think outside the box to solve problems. 6. It is possible for a woman to live and be powerful without a man, whether it is because she is single, divorced or widowed. It is reassuring to know that a woman does not “need” a man, even if she may want to get married/remarried. 6. Sometimes men feel women threaten their leadership. 7. There must be a balance between one’s faith in God and recognizing the need for action (every person is an instrument of God and must act as such).
DAUGHTERS OF TZELOFCHAD SUMMARY: According to God’s original decree, once the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land, the land would be divided by tribe and, within each tribe, by family counted only by the men. Tzelofchad left no sons, only five daughters, who would be left without an inheritance. When they appeal this regulation, God agrees to implement their proposal, which provides legitimation of a limited right of Israelite women to inherit land.
LESSONS LEARNED: 1. There is strength in numbers; when women work together for a common goal, we are more successful. 2. It is not necessary to use beauty to achieve what we want/need; these women used their knowledge/education to question an unfair situation. 3. Do not settle for “this is the way it has always been.” 4. Challenging authorities publicly is what can affect change in the world. The fact that these women advocated for themselves led to a change in the law for all nation.
DONA GRACIA SUMMARY: As a young woman Doña Gracia Nasi inherited her husband’s fortune. When the Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536, she was forced to flee Lisbon. After navigating dangerous political waters, the family eventually settled in Venice, where they continued to practice crypto-Judaism while maintaining a Catholic façade. After the Venetian court involved itself in a familial inheritance dispute, Gracia Nasi moved her family and property to Ferrara, where they lived openly as Jews for the first time. She was an active supporter of literary activities among Ferrara Jews – she was also instrumental in financing and organizing transportation and resettlement for conversos fleeing Portugal. In 1552, the family moved to Constantinople. Gracia Nasi assumed a role of leadership in the Sephardic world of the Ottoman Empire, providing relief to needy Jews, supporting rabbinic scholars, and establishing synagogues.
LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Hiding one’s Jewish identity is still sometimes required in smaller communities, especially at a professional level. But no matter how difficult it may be, it is possible to remain committed to one’s identity. 2. There is strength in community – one is more likely to maintain one’s identity when one is part of a larger group which shares the same values. 3. The value of one’s work/achievements is sometimes only recognized decades or even centuries later. 4. There are no boundaries for women other than the boundaries we impose on ourselves. 5. Fighting for human rights is important as a Jew.
GLUCKEL SUMMARY: Businesswoman and memoir-writer Glückel of Hameln was born to an affluent family in Hamburg, Germany. She married young and had fourteen children, twelve of whom survived past infancy. Glückel was an active partner in her husband’s business and managed the business after his death in 1689. She began writing memoirs in 1691 to help her own mental state and educate her children about their family history. These memoirs are a meticulous record of her life and descriptions of events that occurred in local Jewish communities during that period, having become an important social and historical document.
LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Leaving a written legacy/memory of one’s history to their children is an important way to keep future generations connected to past generations and to our history. 2. The balance between motherhood/family life and professional life is important. One does not need to give one up for the other, and sometimes outsourcing child care is not what a woman wants. 3. Education (both secular and Jewish) is important for all. Having an education is not the end, though. One must use their education. 4. Jewish observance does not prevent one from living in the secular world.
GOLDA MEIR SUMMARY: Golda Meir was born in Kiev and moved to the U.S. as a young girl, but her passion for Labor Zionism drove her to make Aliyah and join a kibbutz in 1921. She became secretary of Histradut’s Mo’etzet ha-Po’alot, the Women Workers Council, and later head of Histradut’s political department. In 1949, she was elected to the Knesset and became Minister of Labor before becoming Foreign Minister in 1956 and Prime Minister in 1969. She served as Israel’s first female Prime Minister through the turbulent period of the Yom Kippur War. While Israel was able to regain the offensive after the Yom Kippur War, the massive casualties of the war were seen as Meir’s failure, and she resigned from office in 1974. LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Being physically unattractive may have its advantages: men look at you as a person, not as an object, and women do not feel threatened/competing. 2. Sometimes we must accept a not-so-good option if that is the only possible option. In other words, it is important to recognize that sometimes the limitations are real and cannot be overcome. 3. As women, we tend to feel guilty because we have not been able to do everything (work, parenting) perfectly. We must feel comfortable with the fact that we do that which is possible, not that which is idealized. It is also important to focus on what we were able to do and not on what we were not able to achieve. 4. For a woman to be successful in all the areas she would like to be successful in, she must have a strong support system (whether husbands, parents, hired help). 5. Sometimes one must stand up and do what is moral and right, regardless of the outcomes.
THANK YOU
Sandra Lilienthal
Jewish Educator & Author https://www.sandralilienthal.com
THANK YOU 2021/2022 PARTICIPANTS Rosita Beer Betty Brutman Tammy Fayne Stacey Fisher Debra Gill Debbie Gober Amy Goldin Randi K. Grant Joan Gross Claire Grossman Michelle Hershenson Robin Kabat Jodi Katz Rica Leibowich
Elisa Lerner Denise Lettau Leslie Linevsky Lori Margolis Elsa Rozenberg Liz Samrick Ibby Schulman Esther Shacket Anne Sopshin Judy Spatz Gina Stelnik Hillary Waksman Karen Zemel