Author Archive: New Israel Fund
Be the Change
By Cantor Linda Shivers, October 2013 I have lived through a lot of change. I have felt a lot of the growing pains through the changes, but I am proud of all that has been accomplished for Jewish women in the majority of American synagogues. I have seen changes in the treatment and attitudes toward…
What full partnership in Judaism means in Israel
By Ilan Chaim, October 2013 The goal of furthering women’s rights in the secular realm is not the same goal as women becoming full partners in modern Judaism. Eliminating various glass ceilings and ensuring equal pay for equal work is attainable through legislation. But for a woman to become a full partner in the modern…
Being the First Bat Mitzvah at Shaare Zion Synagogue
By Marion L. Usher, October 2013 I grew up In Montreal, Quebec in a mostly Jewish neighborhood. I say mostly, since we had no contact with the families of other faiths. My father helped build the first Conservative congregation in our new neighborhood. Both parents were totally immersed in synagogue life. Our parents kept us…
The Voices of God
By Mike Rahimi, October 2013 I was raised in an Orthodox Shul in Queens. I thought nothing of the separation of men and women, that’s how it always was. I left Synagogue at 13, when I was told I became a man and could make my own decisions. It was WRT in Scarsdale and Rabbi…
Our Cantor Is Pregnant
By Laura Diamond, October 2013 Growing up, my family belonged to a Reconstructionist synagogue, Kehillat Israel. Beginning in pre-school, I learned that one of Reconstructionism’s hallmarks is the equality of women and men, including the first Bat Mitzvah. This was my proud inheritance, and my lived experience of Judaism was blissfully removed from the inequalities…
What My Rabbi Taught Me
By Naomi Rivkis, October 2013 When I think about equality in Judaism, the rabbi who comes to my mind first was male. His name was Arnold Jacob Wolf, and I’m told now that he was famous. All I knew was that he was my rabbi, my teacher; the person whom I turned to for advice…
Finally, My Bat Mitzvah
By Janet L. Falk, October 2013 I am 60 years old. No girls of my generation became Bat Mitzvahs. It wasn’t done. We attended the Bar Mitzvah services and celebrations of our male siblings, cousins and classmates, and never asked “Why not me?” Our mothers did not question this inequality either. About 30 years later,…
Colorado girl’s Kotel experience
By Melinda Robin, October 2013 When I was 17, I came to Israel as part of Young Judaea Year Course…the only kid from Colorado. We boarded the bus at the airport, exhausted from the long flight. First stop, prior to arriving at our dorms and getting settled – the Kotel. Imagine the power – our…
A Dream Fulfilled
By Rabbi Marion Shulevitz, October 2013 As a very little girl, I loved going with my father to our Conservative synagogue in Detroit. I loved sitting next to him, pretending I could read the Siddur, and when I got old enough, reading with him. In the children’s service, I was thrilled to be called up…
Fish and Bicycles
If you start reading a NIF News column with that title, you might just be A Certain Age
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