68 Friday, November 11, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The New Colossus
By
&Milli
Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant. of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand,
A mighty woman, with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
'"Keep, ancient landi, your storied pompj" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore—
Send them, the homeless, tempest-
tossed, to me —
I lift my lamp beside the
golden door!"
Emma . Lazarus, Poet of Freedom
July 22, 1849-Nov. 19, 1887
b
Nov. 2. marked the 100th anniversary of the composition of the poem The
New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. She wrote the poem as part of an appeal for
funds to build a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. In 1903,
the poem was engraved on a plaque inside the pedestal. Jewish Currents maga-
zine, edited by Morris E. Schappes, devoted its recent issue to the anniversary.
Jewish Feminists Assess Challenges, Gains in Equality Struggle
By SUSAN BIRNBAUM
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Challenges facing Ameri-
can Jewish women in their
long-standing effort to
achieve equality in all areas
of Jewish life and ways to
attain this objective was the
r
basis of a recent two-day
Jewish feminist conference
here. The 250 women who
met in Cong. Ansche Ch-
esed also examined
achievements gained dur-
ing the past decade.
One of the primary goals
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Jewish feminists set a little
more than 10 years ago was
met when the Faculty Se-
nate of the Jewish Tehologi-
cal Seminary of America
voted 34 to 8 to admit
women to the seminary's
rabbinical school for ordina-
tion as Conservative rabbis.
The vote culminated a
decade-long struggle that
was sparked by the mem-
bers of Ezrat Nashim, the
first Jewish feminist organ-
ization, founded in 1971, to
convince the Conservative
movement that women are
equally capable of intense
study of the Jewish religion,
are equally devoted to keep-
ing traditional Jewish pre-
cepts and practices, and
should be considered bound
to fulfill all the religious ob-
ligations ("mitzvot") of men.
On March 14, 1982, the
14 members of Ezrat
Nashim attended a ple-
nary session of the Rab-
binical Assembly, where
they issued a "Call for
Change," requesting that
women be granted: syna-
gogue membership; in-
clusion in the minyan;
full participation in reli-
gious observances;
recognition as witnesses
in a Jewish court of law;
the right to initate di-
vorce proceedings; per-
mission and encourage-
ment to attend rabbinical
and cantorial school, and
to perform these func-
tions in the synagogue;
encouragement to join
decision-making bodies
and assume professional
leadership roles, both in
the synagogue and the
secular Jewish commu-
nity; and to be considered
obligated to maintain the
mitzvot.
Arlene Agus, a founding
member of Ezrat Nashim,
and currently the director of
external affairs and plan-
ning at the Cardozo School
of Law at Yeshiva Univer-
sity, reminded the confer-
ence at Ansche Chesed that
10 years ago, at the first
Jewish feminist conference,
"We had three rabbis speak-
ing, all of them men. Today
we have five rabbis speak-
ing, all of them women."
(There are now more than
60 women rabbis, ordained
through the Reform and Re-
constructionist branches of
Judaism; at the time of the
conference 10 years ago,
there was only one, Sally
Preisand.)
Agus, who was the mod-
erator of the recent confer-
ence titled "Jewish
Women's Conference: Chal-
lenge and Change," a proj-
ect of the National Council
of Jewish Women-New
York Section and sponsored
by the Jewish Women's Re-
source Center, said that al-
though many of the changes
sought in the early years
had been achieved, there
were "not enough. We're
asking more fundamental,
more difficult, and more
frightening questions about
structure, form, theology,
prayer language and per-
haps prayer routine."
Paula Hyman, another
founding member of
Ezrat Nashim and now
dean of the Seminary Col-
lege of Jewish Studies at
the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, re-
ferred to the conference
as "our Bat Mitzva year."
A leading feminist and
coauthor of "Jewish Women
in America," Ms. Hyman
pointed out that the Jewish
feminist movement had ac-
crued great strength since
its inception. She called
Jewish feminism an
"eloquent voice" which has
defined and presented the
"needs and claims of
women."
Stressing that women's
claim to equality is "pro-
foundly moral," Hyman out-
lined a two-fold agenda for
change: "equal access" and
"equal valuing" of women.
She defined "equal ac-
cess" as the opening up to
women of "major aspects of
Jewish experience formerly
denied to us," including the
assumption of Jewish reli-
gious study and the taking
on of leadership roles within
both the religious and com-
munal realms of Jewish life.
This "equal access," accord-
ing to Hyman, is the easiest
part of the agenda to accom-
plish.
The "equal valuing" of
women, she said, meant
taking seriously their ex-
periences and their point
of view. She underlined
that valuing women's ex-
perience within Judaism
would be of benefit to the
whole Jewish commu-
nity, men and women
alike.
Hyman stressed that
women have their own
spiritual resources, creative
wellsprings, and a "specifi-
cally feminine way of read-
ing Torah, which must be
liberated and ligitimated."
She called for the creation
of a women's midrash (ex-
position of scriptural text),
which she considers the
primary task facing Jewish
women. Listening to that
midrash, she said, would
then be the primary task
facing men.
Among the workshops
which followed each day's
symposium were two ses-
sions on midrash, conducted
by Rabbi Ruth Sohn of the
Council of Jewish Organi-
zations of Columbia Univer-
sity . In defining midrash,
Rabbi Sohn emphasized the
inherent need to delve into
both the text and "our-
selves." She said that
"whatever one's level of
elucidation, we all have the
ability to write midrash."
The class, none of
whose members had
previously done such an
exercise, proceeded to
examine and write about
texts on Miriam, and
Jacob's marriage to both
Rachel and Leah.
Two Orthodox women
from Montreal, who ex-
pressed the initial feeling of
being unable to even begin
the task, created such an in-
tricate and well-written
commentary that the rest of
the group broke into spon-
taneous applause.
In a workshop on prayer
language, Annette Daum,
of the Task Force on Equal-
ity in Judaism, and Rabbi
Jules Harlow, director of
publications of the Rabbini-
cal Assembly, presented a
"Glossary of Substitute
Terminology" which con-
tains suggestions for non-
sexist words and phrases in
prayer.
The glossary, prepared
under the aegis of the New
York Federation of Reform
Synagogues, offers specific
substitute language, in-
cluding God, Almighty
Blessed One, for "Lord; One
God, Maker, Creator, for
"Father"; humanity, people
us for "man"; ancestors,
forebears, patriarchs and
matriarchs in lieu of
"fathers." In pointing out
the present masculine-
biased language in prayer,
Ms. Daum stressed that
"both God and Judaism are
beyond sexuality."
Among America's weal-
thiest Jews, worth an esti-
mated $75 million to $100
million are: Sam Israel, Jr.,
coffee importer; Lester,
Milton and Irvin Levy,
industrial cleaners and
paints; the Meyerhoff fam-
ily, insurance, real estate
and investments; William
S. Paley, CBS president;
Victor Posner, steel, in-
vestments; Rosenbloom
family, garment manufac-
turers and former owners of
the Los Angeles Rams;
Shaprio family, paper cups,
straws, plates; Charles E.
Smith, real estate; and Lew
Wasserman, motion pic-
tures and record production.
—The Jewish Almanac