Happening
Resources for Jewish Women
PUBLICATIONS
Before Golda: Manya Shochat, a biography written by Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi, with an introduction by Marie Syrkin, was recently published by Biblio Press. Shochat, born in 1879, was a founder of a collective in the lower Galilee and a champion of the rights of women, workers and Arabs. The paperback ($12.95) is available from:
Biblio Press 27 West 20th Street Room 1001 New York, NY 10011
Na’aseh Shalom: Let Us Make Peace (In Response to the Nuclear Threat) a curriculum for Jewish schools by Lyn Fine is available from:
Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education 468 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016
and
The Shalom Center 7318 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19119
A comprehensive activity and resource guide for Jewish teenagers concerned about homelessness and hunger has been published by the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization’s Project REACH. To obtain a free copy contact:
B’nai B’rith Youth Organization 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036
Medicare Made (Almost) Painless: A Reader-Friendly Guide to the Maze of Medicare is available for $4 from:
B’nai B’rith Women Central Services 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036
The Vintage ’45 Press Selected Booklist describing current small press works, both literary and non-fiction, relevant to mid-life and older women can be obtained by sending a legal-sized SASE to:
Selected Booklist Vintage ’45 Press P.O. Box 266 Orinda, CA 94563
Kids Love Israel: Israel Loves Kids by Barbara Sofer, a guide to Israel geared to family travel ($11.95 plus $2 shipping and handling) is available from:
Kar-Ben Copies 6800 Tildenwood Lane Rockville, MD 20852
The JWB Jewish Book Council has published a booklet, Organizing a Jewish Women’s Library, by Marcia W Posner, library consultant to the council. To obtain a copy, write to:
JWB Jewish Book Council 15 East 26th Street New York, NY 10010
AUDIO VISUAL
“Bat Sarah: Jews by Choice” documents a group of Jews by choice who met at “Nishmat Kol Chai,” the first Northwest Jewish Women’s Conference, held in Dorena, Oregon. Each woman tells her unique story and the challenges she faces in her life as a Jew and a woman. The 28-minute video ($25 to individuals; $35 to organizations; plus $3 postage and handling) is available from:
Ain Sof Productions 484 Lake Park Ave. #330 Oakland, CA 94610
“Coming of Age: Adult Bat Mitzvah” is a videotape by Bonnie Burt about why women as diverse as a Holocaust survivor, a dance instructor and a great-grandmother would study for their bat mitzvah. It is available from:
Bonnie Burt 1081 Warfield Avenue Oakland, CA 94610
Two new videos are available from the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. “Refuseniks: Who and Why” is a seven-minute “trigger” film by photographer Su Brodsky and costs $10. “Free at Last” is a 21/4-hour series of interviews in Jerusalem with recently released refuseniks and an analysis of the situation by Soviet Jewry spokesperson Yuri Stern (cost $15). The tapes may be ordered, prepaid from:
Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry 210 West 91st Street New York, NY 10024
“Haviva Reik” is a fifteen minute VHS video about a Czech-born kibbutznik and Jewish resistance fighter, who was the only woman besides Hannah Senesh to parachute into Nazi-occupied Europe. It is available for $19.95 from:
Givat Haviva Educational Foundation, Inc. 150 Fifth Avenue Suite 911 New York, NY 10011
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
The Drisha Fellowship Program provides text-intensive training, particularly in the area of Rabbinics, to women already having reasonable facility with Jewish texts. The one-year program is full-time. For further information, contact:
Rabbi Eliezer Diamond Director, Drisha Fellowship Program 122 West 76th Street New York, NY 10023
A junior year abroad program in Jewish Studies is being offered in Oxford, England. Applications may be obtained from:
Didi Kerler, Junior Year Abroad Coordinator Oxford Centre for Hebrew Studies 45 St. Giles Oxford OX1 3LP England
For those interested in pursuing a career in Jewish communal service, the Pearlstone Fellowship Program is an opportunity to obtain a Master’s Degree in Social Work with all tuition and expenses paid and employment placement upon graduation. For information contact:
Harold Cohen Assistant Vice President United Jewish Appeal 99 Park Avenue, Suite 300 New York, NY 10016
GROUPS AND PROJECTS
“Sarah’s Song” is a musical retelling Biblical events, written and performed by Julie Heifetz. Performances can be arranged by contacting:
Julie Heifetz 41 W. Brentmoor St. Louis, MO 63105
A Purim Fund for Women in Poverty has been established. Grants will be made to organizations representing women on welfare, older women, women of color, and other economically and socially vulnerable women. Contributions are tax-deductible and may be sent to:
Jewish Fund for Justice 1725 K Street NW Washington, DC 20005
Temporary shelter in a kosher two-bedroom apartment is available for any abused Jewish woman and her children in the Toronto area. The apartment is being maintained by the Jewish Family and Child Service and B’nai B’rith Women of Canada. All information is strictly confidential. Contact:
Rayna Knobler or Teri Kay (416) 638-7800
CONFRENCES
“Feminism as Catalyst: Bridging the Discourses of the Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities” is the theme of the Sixth Annual Graduate Women’s Studies Conference at the University of Maryland at College Park, to be held on March 4,1989. For information write:
The Graduate Women’s Studies Conference Women’s Studies Program Mill Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742
The International Coalition for Jewish Prisoner Services, sponsored by B’nai B’rith International, is holding its second annual conference on Service to Jews in Prison to be held January 8-10, 1989 in Washington, DC. For further information contact:
Betty Hilton B’nai B’rith International 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036
The International Network for Sex Equity in Education (IN-SEE) comprised of nearly 50 women from fifteen countries plans to participate in the biannual conference on Gender, Science and Technology to be held in Israel in September 1989. For further information, contact:
Judith Abrahami-Einat 22 Yehuda Halevi Street Raanana 43556 Israel
CALLS FOR MATERIALS
The Whole Megillah Press is a new publishing house committed to publishing books by women whose voices are still rarely heard. They are looking for non-fiction originals, non-fiction and fiction reprints, by Jewish women (especially Sephardic and Mizrachi women), working class women and older women, as well as biographies and out of print books. Please send a query letter and sample chapter, with SASE to:
The Whole Megillah Press P.O. Box 460895 San Francisco, CA 94146
For an anthology of poems about modern Israel, please send up to five submissions to both:
Elaine Starkman POB 4071 Walnut Creek, CA 94596
and
Leah Schweitzer 2067 Linda Flora Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90077
The Lubavitch Women’s Organization of Chicago is compiling a book about Jewish women who, in spite of obstacles, have shown their devotion to observing the laws of mikvah (ritual bathing) during the Holocaust, in the Soviet Union, in small communities around the world. Send to:
Baila Grinker 9077 Barberry Des Plaines, IL 60016
The Documentation Center of the Organization of Victims of the Nazi Holocaust is looking for former Auschwitz inmates who can report any facts about camp dentists. The center has also located Klaus Peter Volkmann, district captain of Kolomea from 1941 until May 1943, and asks for information from survivors of Kolomea who can report about his work. Contact:
Dokumentationszentrum des Bundes Judischer Verfolgter des Naziregimes A-1010 Wien Salztorgasse 6/IV/5 Austria
For an anthology entitled Bubbe Meises by Shayna May delehs send writings by Jewish women about their Jewish grandmothers; poetry and prose poem only. Previously published work acceptable. Deadline May 15, 1989. Send with SASE to:
Leslea Newman 50 Hawley Street Northampton, MA 01060
Her Books is looking for narratives, essays, poems, letters, journal entries, line drawing and black and white photos by and about Women Who Didn’t Find Out They Were Jewish Until They Were Adults. Deadline February 1, 1989. Send SASE for more information to:
Jewish Women’s Anthology P.O. Box 1174 Felton, CA 95018