Remarks from the (First-Ever) Lilith Launch Party

Elizabeth Mandel, speaking, is a Lilith writer and the founder of JGirls. Photo Credit: Joan Roth.

And yet, and yet, there was Lilith magazine, at her bedside, on the dining room table, and eventually in my hands…. As my mother and many of her friends, while modeling feminist behavior, would not name it as such, and while I was despairing that my emerging feminism and Judaism as I knew it were inherently incompatible, there was the magazine, giving me the tools to embrace feminism, Jewish feminism. Lilith blazed a trail through my mind and my soul, encouraging me to challenge, question, break glass ceilings, and telling me, and so many others, that feminism was not antithetical to living a Jewish life, rather it was imperative to living a Jewish life.

Susan Weidman Schneider on The Power of Collectivity
“The magazine is not the creation of only one or two or three people… I think it’s the collectivity that feels so marvelous, both in creating in Lilith and in an opportunity like this party—an opportunity to hang out and talk to people who are like—and unlike—yourself.”

Lilith’s Editor in Chief, Susan Weidman Schneider was the final speaker of the evening. Photo Credit: Joan Roth.

Many thanks to Chef’s Table, Fairway Kosher, and Seed + Mill for generously donating excellent food for this event and to the JCC Harlem and Ma’yan for co-sponsoring the event with Lilith.