MATERNITY

from page 83

In Mother of My Mother: The
Intricate Bond Between
Ni: • MOTH 1.7.. it •
Generations (The Dial Press;
$23.95), author Hope Edelman
explores the dynamics and unique
three-generational bonds between
HOPI;
grandmothers, mothers and
V.DELNI A \
daughters — from which women
develop their female identities.
Drawing from her own experi-
ence and the recollections of more than 70 other
granddaughters, Edelman comes up with four basic
grandmother "types": the "Gentle
Giant," the matriarch who exer-
cises behind-the-scenes power in
her family; the "Benevolent
Manipulator," whose love for her
family is rivaled only by her desire
for control; the "Autocrat," who
rules her extended clan like a
despot; and the "Kinkeeper," the
grandmother who acts as the fam-
Hope Edelman
ily's social, cultural or religious
center. Edelman also is the author
of Motherless Daughters, which was not only a best-
seller but spawned an international network of sup-
port for women and girls dealing with mother loss.

frffif, ft 11 F.:

.

Empty the Ocean withra Spoon
(Fithian Press; $15.95), by Rosalie
Sogolow, is all about Jewish tradi-
tions involving love and marriage,
food and children, home remedies
and cooking, manners and morals,
folk tales and superstitions.
"Growing up in my grandparents'
Jewish home in a Jewish neighbor-
hood in Chicago during the 1940s
and 1950s gave me a particularly
distinctive perspective on life,"
writes Sogolow, a teacher of English
as a Second Language who also
composes and performs music. "If I
got too impatient about something,
I was told, 'You can't empty the
ocean with a spoon.' This is an old
Yiddish proverb and typical of the
kind of Jewish wisdom I heard in
Rosalie Sogolow
their home every day. How did
they get to be so smart?" A cornu-
copia of Jewish culture, this book stresses the impor-
tance of generational continuity. After all, asserts
Sogolow, "Raising children is all about tradition."

Cd•aal.Calfx-fir‘VestlaVZ•v ,WW7.

In Revision: Seeing Torah
Through a Feminist Lens
(Jewish Lights Publishing;
$19.95), Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
offers new interpretations of the
Torah to help women shape a
new understanding of Jewish life
and thought. Goldstein explores
how women existed within the

5/7
1999

90 Detroit Jewish News

power structures of biblical soci-
ety, and how they transformed
those structures to form the
Jewish people. She also examines
the textual themes of blood and
water, and how the physical func-
tions of menstruation and child-
bearing were central to the Torah's
notion of what it meant to be
female. She relates ancient rites to Elyse Goldstein
today's search for meaning and
spirituality among modern Jewish women.
Goldstein is the director of Kolel, a Center for
Liberal Jewish Learning, the adult education insti-
tute of the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism.

•

••:,Volit•rs tk ibmcrre,

• • .• •

Fifity on Fifty: Wisdom,
Inspiration and
Reflections on Women's
Lives Well Lived (Warner
Books; $30), by Bonnie
Miller Rubin, is a perfect
choice for baby boomer
moms. Fifty celebrities
from all walks of life who
are about to or have turned 50 share their experi-
ences and wisdom gained during a half-century of
life. Black and white photographs complement the
text. Ellen Levin, editor-in-chief
of Good Housekeeping, says, "My
advice to other women is not to
be so anxious to get ahead. ...
Don't be too hungry, too aggres-
sive — if you burn a lot of people
along the way, it catches up with
you." Fashion designer Donna
Karan notes that her "success is
directly tied into being a woman. Bonnie
Being a mother is the most cre-
Miller Rubin
ative thing you can do," she
remarks. We can't be young
again, but we can be new," asserts writer Letty
Cottin Pogrebin. Screenwriter Nora Ephron wishes
she'd "worn a bikini when I was in my 20s."
Indeed, author Rubin, a newspaper reporter for
the Chicago Tribune, was inspired to write this
book "while trying on bathing suits — in front of
a three-way mirror."

Author Edith Chevat in her
novel Love Lesson (Valon
Books; $12) lays bare the power-
ful contradicto-
ry forces that
bind mothers
and daughters.
A portrait of
two strong
women and the
confusions that shape the rela-
tionships between Jewish foreign-
born parents and their American
Edith. Chevat

daughters, Love Lesson also is the story of a
woman who finds that when it comes to her own
daughter, she is not as different from her mother
as she had thought. Chevat, .a freelance writer
based in Manhattan, is the editor of Girls: An
Anthology.

Suitable for the mom-to-be, A
Time To Be Born (The Jewish
Publication Society; $39.95), by
Michele Klein, Ph.D., preserves the
rich and far-reaching customs and
folklore surrounding childbirth.
Interested in learning more about
the emotions, beliefs, customs and
traditions of
childbirth among Jews, Klein
interviewed Jewish women and
men in all corners of the
Diaspora and in Israel, ranging
from ultra-Orthodox to corn-
pletely secular. She found that
despite their differences, all
shared common ideas, traditions
and stories from their common
Michelle Klein
Jewish heritage, and that "grow-
ing numbers of Jews are seeking
new ways of expressing their spiritual feelings
about childbirth." The book is divided into the
four major phases of the childbearing process. In
"Conception," Klein examines the importance in
Jewish tradition of having children, from fertility
to barrenness to contraception to abortion.
"Pregnancy" deals with the formation of the
embryo, the experiences of pregnancy as well as
the experience of pregnancy loss. "Birthing" con-
cerns everything from the actual process to mid-
wives to death to Lilith, the folk demon who
threatens women in childbirth. "Welcoming the
Newborn" addresses the postnatal period, from the
first week to rituals to blessings and reflections.
Klein, a psychologist and the mother of three, lives
in Israel.

In A Jewish Mother in Shangri La
(Shambala; $20), author Rosie
Rosenzweig accepts her Buddhist son's
invitation to find out about Buddhism
firsthand. She travels with him to
retreat centers in Europe and Asia and
meets the meditation masters who are
his gurus. Through it all, Rosenzweig,
a poet, journalist
and Jewish educator, tries to find
common ground between two
ancient traditions, to understand her
son and to find her own truth while
remaining true to her Jewish identi-
ty. As Sylvia Boorstein writes in the
book's foreword, "Rosie learns what
the Buddha taught. The Buddhist
teachers hear about Judaism. The
Rosie
reader learns from both."
Rosenzweig

-