voices
We are in Casco Antiguo, the old, colonial quarter of Panama City where buildings date back as early as the 1600s. The D.J. at the end of the room has... Read more »
Life lessons from the mythological Lilith. Betty Friedan on her feminine mystique & being Jewish. Those thorny Jewish women's organizations.
A few years ago, at a workshop at my suburban East Coast temple, parents were asked to list some of the ways in which they were keeping their older children... Read more »
To celebrate Lilith’s 40th anniversary, we asked readers to suggest Jewish feminist items that carry special meaning. Check out the results. And tell us online: What Jewish feminist object would you nominate?
Ardent Pro-Israel Jew? Radical Anti-Zionist Jew? Politically and Culturally Apathetic Jew? Welcome to the identity fair.
Miriam When my aunt remembers Odessa she remembers her mother’s Odessa fortress city with steps down to the Black Seanear the woodswhere the Jews would run from the soldiersduring pogromsAnd now I rememberher... Read more »
One convert’s reflections on “choosing” to be part of the “chosen” people.
Not long ago at a packed synagogue service, the rabbi happened to ask the congregation, “How many of you are psychotherapists?” A stunning number of hands shot up and the... Read more »
One of Jewish feminism’s great strengths has been doing the serious scholarly digging needed to bring new life into old rituals and develop new ones. Back in 1971, Arlene Agus brought... Read more »
What is a hamantasch? A sacred vulva filled with black seeds. A food, source of nourishment, which we make with our hands reflecting our (women’s) felt sense of self-containment, of creativity... Read more »
What is feminism? Betty Friedan encapsulates it in a word—the “personhood,” she puts it, of women. On that everyone can agree, and it may be that we ought to stop at... Read more »
Several issues ago, Lilith put out a call asking women who wore tallesim [plural of tallis; tallit in modern Hebrew]—traditionally men’s prayer shawls—to tell us about them, and the response was... Read more »
When Barbra Streisand sang, with a meaningful nod, “We grew up together” in the opening number of her HBO recorded concert, my partner turned to me and said, “Everyone in the... Read more »
“Thank you for triggering my memories of Mercedes,” wrote Joanne Drapkin of Bandon, Oregon. “I haven’t thought about her for literally decades. I shared a bedroom with her for two years... Read more »
Three women highlight dynamics experienced by deaf Jews, often marginalized by religious practice and by the inaccessibility of Jewish functions. Tzila Seewald-Russell, 25, says, “I would consider myself deaf (with... Read more »
The stereotype of the JAP—the Jewish American Princess —is a relatively new phenomenon, emerging after years of Jewish Mother jokes and slurs. But whereas the Jewish Mother has been lampooned... Read more »
Looking for Lilith stories on forming families? Check out this compilation.
I grew up in a picture-postcard-perfect family. My six siblings and I lived in a nice, middle-class, largely Christian neighborhood in Ottawa, Canada. My lovely German mother wore her blue-black hair... Read more »
When “Sex in the City” features a bat mitzvah party where the precocious 13-year-old girls talk about performing oral sex on the guys “to be popular,” we’re tempted to blow it... Read more »
Jewish women today control more wealth than ever before —as wage- earners, beneficiaries of estates, directors of companies, board members of foundations and women’s funds, and as the ones in charge... Read more »
Judaism teaches us to sanctify the significant moments in our lives with rituals, and thus it seems appropriate to me to mark the beginning of my recovery from anorexia with some... Read more »
Picture the stairwell in the poor apartment: the neighbor descends the steps and the woman in the doorway repeats, “Good night, good night,” and then haltingly speaks the words: “He hit... Read more »
The first thing that strikes me is how good-looking everyone is. I wonder, is it because it’s a European crowd (there are over 500 here from Europe), or does it actually... Read more »
My name is Loolwa Khazzoom. I was born into an Orthodox Jewish family, with an Iraqi father and an American mother. The first priority in my parents’ life was giving my... Read more »
I never could have imagined a commitment ceremony for me and my partner, or dreamt that our parents would willingly and lovingly host a magnificent celebration for 165 relatives and... Read more »
With 40 years of riches to choose from, selecting classics from Lilith’s archives to t the space constraints of a single issue of the magazine proves a nearly impossible task.... Read more »