Happening

Songs & Prayers
Counting Angels In the Wilderness, Geela Rayzel Raphael, Juliet Irene Spitzer, and Margot Stein sing original songs about biblical women—Ruth, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah; holidays, ritual occasions and more. Cassette $12, CD $16, plus $1 shipping, from MIRAJ, 166 E. Levering Mill Rd #240, Bala Cynwyd PA 19004; Phone orders to Sounds Write Productions, 1-800-9-SOUND-9. For concerts/programs call (610)771-0831.

“Praise the world/ praise its fullness/ and its longing/ its beauty and its grief.” Marcia Falk’s Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily Life, the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festival, written in English and Hebrew, gender-inclusive and non-patriarchal, is available to congregations at quantity discount of 50%-60%. Paperback: Kristin Woodcock, Beacon Press, 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA02108-2892; (617)742-2110×573; fax (617)742-2290; kwoodcock@beacon.org. Hardcover: Stacey Home, Harper Collins, 10 E. 53rd St., New York, NY 10022; (212)207-7945; fax(212)207-7222; stacy.horne@harpercollins.com. Also visit Falk’s website: www.interbridge.com/marciafalk

Health News
Breast Health; The Weight of Eating Disorders; Women’s Health After Menopause are recent themes of the bimonthly National Women’s Health Report. Receive it as a member ($25 annually) of the National Women’s Health Resource Center, a not-for-profit clearinghouse. NWHRC, 120 Albany St., #820, New Brunswick, NJ08901; 877-98-NWHRC; www.healthywomen.org

Helping End Eating Disorders. Twelve million are afflicted with eating disorders in the US. This nonprofit organization is planning to build a halfway house on Long Island for patients leaving the hospital but needing more intensive care than an outpatient program. HEED, 9620 Church St, Brooklyn, NY 11212; (718)240-6451; fax(516)935-7952; www.eatingdis.com

“Parental contact” laws restricting abortion have been passed in 42 states and are in effect in 30. Experts say that for teens who feel they cannot tell their parents they are pregnant, these laws do not improve family communication. Judicial bypass permits a judge to determine if a young woman is mature enough (or if it would be in her best interest) to obtain an abortion without telling her parents. Learn more in the free monthly “Reproductive Freedom News.” The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy 120 Wall St., New York, NY 10005; (212)514-5534; fax (212)514-5538; info@crlp.org; www.crlp.org

Lesbian Women with Breast Cancer can join a support group sensitive to the special needs of a population that often does not receive adequate care. The New York program is a joint effort of a gay women’s health practice and Beth Israel Hospital Cancer Center. Cindy Turkeltaub, (212)844-6022.

Searching For…
A US Women’s Movement Directory—at last—will provide information on activists from the years 1963-1973. It will include biographic information and first-hand accounts of who, what, where and when. Send info to: Barbara Love, 43Fifth Ave., New York, NY10003; (212)627 2146; bjlove@msn.com

Women spies, resistance and combat fighters, pilots, scientists and journalists who served in these roles during World War II can tell their stories to documentary filmmaker Kathy Conkwright (615)386-3668; conkwright@earthlink.net

Voices from the Well: Miriam and the Women of Exodus. For an anthology send your poems, midrash, textual analysis or essay about Miriam, Yocheved, Bat Pharoh, Shifrah, Puah or Zipporah: Rikudei Mririam Press, 2521 Valley wood Dr, San Brunio, CA 94066; (650)568-7929; RivkahS@aol.com

Community Work & Family: Voices, Current Issues and Controversies would like to publish voices traditionally left out of academic journals. Submissions may include drawings and poetry. Michele Moore, Dept. of Educational Studies, University of Sheffield, 388 Glossop Rd., Sheffield SI0 2JA, United Kingdom.

Rain and Thunder: A Radical Feminist Journal of Discussion and Activism seeks writing from radical feminist perspectives including theory, opinion, strategy, action updates, news, reviews, and upcoming events, artwork. A one-year subscription costs $1 for every $1000 of your income. Rain and Thunder, P.O.B.813, Northampton, MA01061; rainandthunder®yahoo.com

Exhibits
Making Change: 100 Artists Interpret the Tzedaka Box inspiring viewers to give away money regularly. Through January 23 at The Jewish Museum of San Francisco, 166 Geary St. #1500, San Francisco, CA94108; (415)788-9990; fax (415)788-9050; www.jewshmuseumsf.org

Eve’s Vocabulary: Paintings by Deborah Rosenthal interpret woman’s identity, female shape, creativity and muse on the “first woman” of the Bible. Dec. 10 thru April 10. Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad Ave., Philadelphia, PA; (215)627-6747. 

Women Beyond Borders is a traveling exhibit of the work of 500 women artists from around the world who created art out of miniature wooden boxes at the invitation of Californians Lorraine Serena and Elena Siff Women Beyond Borders, P.O. Box 1315, Carpinteria, CA93014; www.womenbeyondborders.org

Attend
Social Change and the Evolving Nature of Jewish Law: Tensions, Contradictions and Accommodations is the conference on feminism and Orthodoxy, February 20-21 in New York City. JOFA, 459 Columbus Ave. #329; New York, NY 10024; (888)550-JOFA; jofa@rcn.com

The Jewish Superwoman: A Woman of Two Realms, a national collegiate Jewish women’s conference will take place March 10-12. Contact: Erica Michelstein or Rebecca Rakow, c/o Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel, 52 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, MA 02138; (617)495-4696; emichels@fas.harvard.edu or rakow@fas.harvard.edu

Unmasking Esther, a new feminist Purim celebration is planned for March 19 in New York City. Call Lois Stogel (914)949-4717 x114.

Kol Isha, an international summer seminar brings to Jerusalem 25 Jewish women (ages 18-25) interested in setting new visions for their communities. Explore the status of women in Judaism, Israeli and Diaspora politics, the peace process, and tour with peers. World Union of Jewish Students; (972)2-561-0133; wujs@netvision.net.il 

Tzedaka
Beit New York-Jerusalem finds volunteer opportunities for visitors from the New York area to Jerusalem, assists tourists, and arranges home hospitality. Drop in: Beit New York, Safra Sq., Bldg #10, enter on Tzahal Sq. or write to BNYJ, Partnership 2000 Jerusalem-NY, Jewish Agency, Israel Dept., 9100 Jerusalem, Israel; (972)2-624-3451/4681; fax (972)624-4682; cindyb@jazo.org.il New York contact: Volunteer Alliance/Sol Goldman Y, (212)780-0800 x28I; volimteer@edalliance.org

The Hunger Site. Click a button and somewhere in the world a hungry person gets a meal, contributed—at no cost to you—by the site’s corporate sponsors. www.thehungersite.com

Help Earthquake Victims in Turkey via American Jewish World Service, 989 Ave. of the Americas,10th fl, New York NY 10018; (800)889-7146; fax(212)736-3463; or American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017;(212)687-6200; fax (212)370-5467.

Organize a mother/daughter sports night at your school or JCC—and learn about Canadian Bobbie Rosenfeld (1903-1969), Olympic gold medalist and popular sportswriter. Monitor your area’s politicians on women’s rights, civil rights and the environment, causes dear to the first Jewish woman elected to Congress, Bella Abzug (1920-1998). Talk to seniors in your community, inspired by the book/film Number Our Days, about the lives of elderly Jews in Los Angeles by anthropologist and filmmaker Barbara Myerhoff (1935-1985). Free posters and resource guide for Jewish Women’s History Month (March): Leslie Mirchin, Jewish Women’s Archives, 68 Harvard St., Brook line, MA 02445; (617)232-2258; fax (617)975-0109; lmirchin@aol.com; www.jwa.org 

Girls
The Peace Maker Training Institute offers people ages 17-25 a chance to explore nonviolence, multiculturalism, racial and social justice, gender issues, gun violence, and gay and lesbian rights. Learn leadership strategies, group facilitation, publicity, event planning, public speaking. Peacemaker Training Institute, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Box 271, Nyack. NY 10960; (914)358-4601; fax (914)358-4924; forpti@igc.org; www.nonviolence.org/for

The Center for Ventures in Girls’ Education offers organizations girl-centered programs and trains adults who work with girls, to counteract the disadvantages that exist for girls in co-ed settings. “The Leader Reader: A Girl’s Guide to Making Things Happen” is their manual. The Center for Ventures in Girls’ Education, 160 Grove St. Wellesley, MA 02481; (781)237-3358; fax (781)237-3371.

The Girls Report: What We Know & Need to Know About Growing Up Female, written by Lynn Phillips for the National Council for Research on Women, gives the most recent findings on research, policy analysis, advocacy and innovative programs on behalf of women and girls. (It is a sequel to the 1991 study: “Risk, Resiliency, and Resistance: Current Research on Adolescent Girls.”) The 120-page publication includes a bibliography and resource guide. $20 from NCRW, 11 Hanover Sq., New York, NY 10005; (212)785-7735; fax (212)785-7350; ncrw@ncrw.org