Happening

ON CAMPUS

A National Conference on Judaism and Feminism for college and university students of all religious backgrounds will be held March 27-30 at Yale University. Biblical scholar Aviva Zornberg will be the keynote speaker in a program of seminars, lectures and interactive workshops on issues facing a new generation of Jewish women. How does our Judaism differ from that of our mothers? How do we see ourselves united as Jewish women? Contact Sara Meirowitz, (203)436-1732; saram@pantheon.yale.edu

Celebrate Jewish Women’s History Week, March 2-9. Ma’yan and the Jewish Women’s Archive have developed posters to stimulate interest in the history and achievement of Jewish women. Showcased are Glikl of Hameln, 17th century memoirist; Rose Schneiderman, labor organizer; and Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah. Posters, $10 each, 3 for $25, from Ma’yan (212)580-0099; for program ideas including a list of speakers from LILITH’s Jewish Women’s Talent Bank, contact Jewish Women’s Archive (617)232- 2258.

“It’s Not Just About Trees, It’s About Roots” is the motto of the Jewish National Fund’s student program. Their looseleaf compendium To Everything There Is a Time and a Season contains ideas for planning events around the Jewish calendar with activities for responsible care of the environment, such as visiting a zoo and studying Torah texts on the treatment of animals. Free from Aliza Kline, JNF on Campus, 42 E. 69th St., New York, NY 10021; (212)879-9300 x330, fax (212)517-3293;jnfoncampus@aol.com

GO AND LEARN

She’arim is a 12-month integrated study course in Jewish texts and pedagogy for recent college graduates (female or male) considering Jewish education as a career. The nondenominational program awards an $18,000 stipend package and includes subsequent job placement and professional support. It shares the resources of Drisha Institute, Beit Rabban School, and the Beit Rabban Center for Research in Jewish Education. Program begins June 1997. Contact Leslie Lautin, She’arim, 131 W. 86th St., New York, NY 10024; (212)595-0307; fax (212)595- 0679; e-mail drisha@panix.com

The New York Kollel, a center for adult Jewish study in a transdenominational, pluralistic, egalitarian environment, offers evening, day-time, lunch-time as well as Internet courses. Recent offerings of their Women’s Beit Midrash: “Our Bodies Ourselves: Female Sexuality and Judaism” taught by Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses and “Ritual Waters: the Laws of Mikveh” with Rabbi Sarra Levine. New York Kollel, Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion, 1 ‘W. 4th St., New York, NY 10012-1186; (212)674-5300; http://www.huc.edu/kollel/

ISRAEL PROGRAMS

Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel offer a summer in Israel to 26 Jewish teenagers entering 12th grade. Students from diverse religious backgrounds in the U.S. or Canada study, dialogue and travel in Israel and are inspired to future Jewish leadership. Candidates for this five-week program are selected on the basis of character, intellectual interests, special talents and leadership qualities. All costs are underwritten by the Samuel Bronfman Foundation. Half the “fellows” are usually female; the faculty has included Rabbi Sharon Cohen-Anisfeld of Yale Hillel and Regina Stein of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Political and cultural leaders past groups have met include: MK’s Yael Dayan, Naomi Chazan, Limor Livnat, and Jerusalem City Councilwoman Anat Hoffman. Completed applications must be postmarked by January 31. The Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, 17 Wilbur St., Albany, NY 12202; (518)465-6575; fax (518)432-8984, e-mail YFI@mcimail.com; webpage: http://www.bronfman.org/byfi

The Dorot Fellowship in Israel—to help build a “knowledgeable and impassioned lay leadership for the Diaspora Jewish community”— is open to college graduates in their 20’s or 30’s (but “not open to persons already in or definitely entering Jewish professional careers”). Each “fellow” designs a yearlong program in Israel to include a summer ulpan, courses in Jewish studies, a part-time internship, and monthly Dorot seminars. Fellowships include tuition and a stipend of about $13,000. Apply by January 8 for the 1997-98 year. Dorot Fellowship in Israel, 439 Benefit St., Providence, RI 02903; (401)351-8866; fix (401)351-4975; e-mail: info@dorot.org

Female applicants are encouraged to apply to the International Olympiyeda (a combination of the words Olympics and knowledge), a TRAVEL Looking for an egalitarian synagogue in Paris? Pauline Bebe, ordained at the Leo Baeck College in England, is the first—and so far only—female rabbi in France, She leads the Communaute Juive Liberalelle de France, 6, rue Pierre Ginier 75018 Paris, tel 01-42 93 03 44. Their services are Friday evenings 6:45pm and Shabbat mornings at 10:30am. Also, a French Anglophone congregation with a trilingual service, (Friday evenings at 7:00pm and a monthly Shabbat morning at 10:30am) is led by Bebe’s American-born, Jewish Theological Seminary ordained husband Tom Cohen. (They met while studying in Jerusalem.) Kehilat Gesher, 10 rue de Pologne 78100 St. Gemain-en-Laye; tel 01 39 21 97 19. It is a good idea to call when you are on location to confirm. Ask also about a lunch and learn “absorber et s’absorber” Cohen teaches in French every Tuesday at Restaurant Goldenberg, 69 avenue Wagram., Paris 75017 and every other Thursday at Kehilat Gesher (address and phone above) in English. E-mail Cohen for further information 75040.1426@compuserve.com

Kulanu (Hebrew for “all of us”) is an organization dedicated to finding lost and dispersed remnants of the Jewish people such as the Shinlung community in India and the Abayudaya in Uganda or anusim “marranos” in Brazil or Santa Fe. They provide these dispersed Jews with help in research, contacts, education, conversion when requested, and relocation to Israel if desired. This tax-exempt organization is supported by and comprised of volunteers who are Jews of varied backgrounds and practices. You can become a supporter and receive their newsletter Kulanu as well as advice on visiting these dispersed and isolated communities by sending $18 or more to Kulanu, 1211 Ballard St., Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Science talent competition now open to 9th and 10th grade English-speaking high school students in North America. Participants are selected based on a science aptitude test and an exam on study material. The program, based on the Technion campus in Haifa, aims to grow to 50 participants, including Spanish speakers, by 1998. The three week program (including transportation) is free to successful applicants. American Friends of the Israel National Museum of Science, 511 Fifth Ave., 10th floor. New York, NY 10017; (212)578-1756.

HELPING HEALING

The Counseling Center for Women is Israel’s only professional mental health center informed by a feminist perspective that “only women who feel strong within themselves will be able to achieve equality’ in their personal lives and promote social change in Israeli society.” In Jerusalem and Ramat Gan, they offer individual, couple and group therapy, support groups for low-income women, assertiveness training, therapeutic groups for survivors of childhood incest and sexual abuse, support groups for immigrants from Ethiopia and the FSU. You can support their work by making a designated contribution to The New Israel Fund, P.O. Box 91588, Washington, D.C. 20090-1588.

Songs of Love is a nonprofit organization that creates personalized songs for children and teens who are chronically or terminally ill. Each patient receives a cassette of her/his own song, with original melody and lyrics based on a profile submitted by hospital or family. There is no charge for this mitzvahdik service, started by a songwriter in memory of his twin brother, also a songwriter, who died in 1984. Financial support and the talents of songwriters and singers are welcome. Johv Beltzer, Songs of Love, 108-12 65th Rd, Forest Hills, NY 11375, telfax (718)997-8482. e-mail: songslove@aol.com

FILM

To bring Anzia Yezierska to the screen—wanted: Jewish actresses, actors, and angels. Ongoing casting rehearsals are being conducted for a film version of the novel Bread Givers, about a young Jewish Russian immigrant daughter seeking independence from her Old World rabbi father in 1920’s Lower East Side New York. Funds to complete this until-now independently financed, community-based production are also needed. Contact film writer/director Victoria Sampson, (800)921- 6213; VSampson@aol.com

JOURNALS

Nashim, a Journal of Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies will premiere in Spring 1997—in English and Hebrew—under the auspices of the Seminary of Judaic Studies of the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel. Editorial board members are Ze’ev Ealk, David Golinkin, Renee Levine- Melammed, Einat Ramon, Susan Sered, Alice Shalvi and Deborah Weissman. The first issue will focus on “Women and the Land of Israel,” and the next on motherhood. Send papers “emerging from original research from within and across the various disciplines where women’s and gender studies and Jewish studies overlap” to managing editor, Deborah Greniman, Seminaiy of Judaic Studies, P.O.Box 8600, 91083 Jerusalem, Israel, fax 972-2-790840; e-mail dvorhg@mail.iol.co.il

The Pakn-Treger (formerly known by its English translated name The Book Peddler)—of the National Yiddish Book Center— has been transformed from a newsletter into a quarterly magazine of Jewish culture. Recent articles have featured Jewish women such as Dina Abramowicz, YTVO librarian; Miriam Riselle, star of the Yiddish film classic, Tevye; Sharon Rivo and Mimi Krant, of the National Center for Jewish Film; and Laurel Paull, maker of the documentary film on Jewish life in Cuba, “Havana Nagila.” A subscription is a benefit of membership ($36; $18 for students or seniors) in the
organization famed for the rescue and recirculation of Yiddish books. National Yiddish Book Center, 48 Woodbridge St., South Hadley, MA 01075; (413)535-1303.

Conscience: A News journal of Prochoice Catholic Opinion is published quarterly by Catholics for a Free Choice. The Autumn 1996 issue reprinted a long letter to Pope John Paul II, from Dr. Henry Morgentaler, an abortion provider and a leading longtime Canadian Jewish abortion rights activist. Prompted by the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin and a concern for how violent words contribute to violent acts, Morgentaler pleas for the Pope to turn down the volume on his rhetoric against abortion. The publication is free to libraries, $10/year to individuals. CFC, 1436USt.,NW, Washington, D.C 20009- 3997; (202)986-6093.

ORTHODOX FEMINISTS

The Women’s Tefillah Network is on the Internet. You can chat with this community of Orthodox women who meet in as many as 30 groups in the United States, Canada, England, Australia and Israel. Join their listserve by sending a message to majordomo@mbhs.bergaum.kl2.ny.us. In the subject box write new, in the main text box write subscribe wtn. You can then write to their davening group members worldwide by using the following address: WTN@mbhs.bergt.ratim.kl2.ny.us

Feminism and Orthodoxy a conference to be held Feb. 16&17 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, will feature Susan Aronoff, Bonnie Becker, Blu Greenberg, Rivka Haut, Batsheva Marcus, Leah Shakdiel and other speakers on such topics as agunah, family planning, head-covering, mikveh, kol ishah, life-cycle ceremonies, death, loss, mourning, tallit and tefillin, women in the Orthodox synagogue. Women at the Wall, halachic “windows of opportunity”—such as a woman reading the ketuba at a wedding or saying kaddish, Orthodox women and political power in comparison with religious women of other faiths. The program will include an evening of song, prayer sessions, talks by invited rabbis, and a dedication in memory of the late educator Judy Hurwich. Fee is $135 including meals for two days; $85 for one day. Contact conference coordinator Esther Farber, 3333 Henry Hudson Pkwy., #11S, Riverdale, NY 10463; (718)601-3769; fax (718)543-8485.

PLEASE TELL

Did you grow up in Israel? How did the Arab/Israeli conflict affect your childhood or teen years? Submit your story—in English—by March 15, 1997 to be considered for the anthology Children of the Promise to be published by Simon & Schuster. A $1000 award is offered for the best contribution. Send for guidelines from editor Laurel Holiday, 4714 Ballard Ave., NW#187, Seattle, WA 98107-4850; la@aol.com

For an anthology of Middle Eastern and North African poetry and art for young people, ages 10-18, to be edited by Naomi Shihab Nye, poets may send by January 1, previously published or unpublished poems about childhood, growing up, your country and culture, family members and personal observations (with an English translation if possible). Artists may send, by February 1, full-color art, in any medium, but no originals since work will not be returned. Include a very brief biography and address, and your-phone or fax number. If your work is selected you will be notified and receive a small honorarium and a copy of the finished book. ME/NA Anthology, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1230 Ave. of the Americas, Neiv York, NY 10020, fax (212)698-2796.

Do you think you have been taken advantage of sexually by a rabbi or a cantor? Are you the wife of clergy who has suffered from your husband’s sexual misconduct with other women? A woman psychotherapist researching this issue, assuring confidentiality, would like to hear from you. Dr. Charlotte Schwab, 300 E. 75th St., New York, NY 10021; (212)717-5234.

Were you in Feldafing DP Camp in the American Zone in Southern Germany from 1945? For a master’s thesis, can you share documents, testimonials or printed material shedding light on life there? Haia Kami, 16 Dairyfield Ct., Rockville, MD 20852.