Cover Story: Building A Federated Framework
:,.
.,
,‘ ',:. Mt•VO .,,, %WWW‘M:::.E.Z .Z•z:: . .M.EM. , 7 ' 54RN.R.I'm s'.
‘,.‘.% , '•\ ••• , yt ',VW'
. •
,
•:.
,..
,
'•
,,,
s-
ss, , k:',•K • :4:r
,..
—
.,.'")
‘ "
..',.
. 1
'
,
.K.•?\`
,‘„ ,,,
, ,:•N
,,,„••• -"••\'''‘'''
,
•,,,k;to..:,,
..,•:,....\:•,•:.
:4
•,,a,:::?:;:.1:0: `.:•,
..
:•4:•t• ,,S1:10,:t
• .f&R.M.:;:,::.•,&,::::„
, :i i k lA t.
•••.::,
.......V.:14t,,4
, ,•:,•4 ..,•:......W.,4::::
•::::::.,,,:••••:•::::,o,::::
gave up the rough-and-tumble of New York City
o lead a fight fbr human digni.
ular Mafia-busting former prosecutor
and incumbent Republican — Rudy
Giuliani.
A noble cause; a losing race.
She knew it was time to do some-
thing else.
Today, Messinger is the president of
the American Jewish World Service
(AJWS), a non-profit organization
devoted to providing humanitarian
assistance, technical support and
emergency relief to communities
around the world — part Jewish Peace
Corps, part Jewish aid organization.
The AJWS sent representatives to
Central America to assist after the
destruction caused by Hurricane
TODD LEOPOLD
Special to the Jewish News
or more than 20 years,
Ruth Messinger was right
there in the thick of things
— New York, N.Y. She was
a player: from the school board to the
city council to Manhattan borough
president, jostling and jawing with
mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins,
gadfly journalist Jimmy Breslin and
"The Donald" Trump.
In 1997, she ran for mayor, a
Democrat running against a very pop-
II
Todd Leopold is an Atlanta writer.
Mitch; it established a grass-roots
effort in Senegal to ban female genital
mutilation; it provided support to
teachers of rural preschool
children in South Africa. In
many respects, it is as far from
the brass knuckles ethos of
New York City politics as you
can get.
But, for Messinger, the goal
is the same: helping others.-
"It was quite a natural tran-
sition," says Messinger, relaxed
amid the hubbub of the GA's
Delegates' Lounge. She's been presi-
dent of the AJWS for 17 months.
Messinger talks quickly and bluntly,
and though she appears a bit weary,
there's an undercurrent of the politi-
cian's boundless energy — focused on
issues one minute, animatedly
making an appointment with
a passerby the next.
"When I left politics...
what I was looking for profes-
sionally was the opportunity
to run a not-for-profit
agency.... I could use my city
knowledge, but also my
Jewish commitment to social
justice," she says. "I heard about this
job — identifying and supporting
grass-roots humanitarian groups —
BEYOND POLITICS on page 10
*kk:••;'4":,V,KA%•WW4::W.
A conversation with Israeli feminist Alice Shalvi.
Kr 4
••:•.•,
\\
Ks.
RICHARD LUFRANO
Special to the Jewish News
S fitting in the lobby of the
Marriott Marquis hotel at the
General Assembly, Alice
Shalvi wipes away a few
crumbs of peanut butter crackers that
have become her lunch and talks
about feminism.
For her, it is a "transformative ideol-
ogy" that aims to "create a world where
a person's sex should not be relevant."
That dream, both of transforma-
tion and justice, has been a driving
Richard Lufrano is an Atlanta writer.
4 •:,4:14.44:tarar'''''
• • •••••
Ait
•••V
DANA DRATCH
Special to the Jewish News
S
hulamit Reinharz shatters the
stereotype of the reticent,
remote ivory-tower scholar.
The director of women's
studies at Brandeis University is ener-
getic and out there, an academic for
the modern era. Wise with a young
face, idealistic but politically savvy. A
feminist in a mini-skirt.
A sociologist by training, Reinharz
Dana Dratch is senior staff writer
of the Atlanta Jewish Times, sister
publication to the Jewish News.
force in her life. It has led her to be
one of the most visible champions of
women's rights and social justice in
Israel — in 1984 she helped found the
Israel Women's Network.
She is also a tireless peace activist, a
lover of Judaism and the Jewish peo-
ple, and a figure of powerful moral
authority. Her accent and her elo-
quence, reminiscent of Abba Eban's,
lends her already-weighty presence
further weight.
Shalvi's journey has been filled by
struggle with the seemingly irreconcil-
able, and then discovery and integra-
tion. About two years ago, the story
splashed through the Israeli press that
the nation's most ardent Orthodox
feminist was now praying in a
Conservative synagogue and consid-
ered herself part of the
Conservative community. She
jokingly says she was "outed."
She is now the rector of the
movement's Schechter Institute
of Jewish Studies, the Israeli
affiliate of the Jewish
Theological Seminary.
Born in Germany in 1930,
Shalvi immigrated to England
with her modern Orthodox
family four years later. After earning
a master's degree in literature from
Cambridge University, Shalvi immi-
grated to Israel in 1950, where she
went on to receive a doctorate in
English literature from Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. In
1969, Shalvi founded the
Department of English at
Ben Gurion University in
the Negev.
Meanwhile, she says she
never questioned the tradi-
tional gender roles assigned
by OrthodoX Judaism. "Prior
to 1979, I don't think women
in the Orthodox movement
knew what was out there.
What she calls her "epiphany" came
SPEAKING OUT on page 10
"
randeis University Shulamit Reinharz turns women's
dreams into bricks, mortar, money and jobs.
loves causes, ideas, books and people.
As long as you have people," she says,
"great things will happen. ),
On a podium she's formidable —
chic, with a tailored suit, regal pos-
ture, salt-and-pepper hair and a reso-
nant speaking voice.
Across the breakfast table, Reinharz
is engaging. She smiles — easily and
often — with her whole face and talks
with her hands. She laughs and tells
stories.
The 53-year-old could be your
next-door neighbor if your neighbor
had a Ph.D. from Brandeis, drove an
ambulance in Israel during the Yom
Kippur War and founded the only
research institute on Jewish women in
the world.
Three "-isms" — Judaism, femi-
nism and Zionism — fuel her
life. "I feel thrilled at the
opportunity to be working as
an academic at a time when
[women's studies] has taken
off," she says. "Just as I feel
thrilled to be alive at a time
when the state of Israel has
been created for the first time
in 2000 years. I live at the
intersection of those things."
Born to Holocaust survivors in
Amsterdam in the wake of World War
II, Reinharz grew up in New Jersey.
She jokes that she was the only Jewish
girl in town. She was one of the few
who actually learned Hebrew in
Hebrew school.
She spoke it well enough
to act as a translator for a vis-
iting Israeli, Jehuda Reinharz,
when she was 15. The two fell
in love, have been married 33
years and are the parents of
two grown daughters. Today,
Jehuda Reinharz is president
of Brandeis University.
Shulamit Reinharz has
never been afraid to step forward —
provided she can help the causes she
TOWER ACTIVIST
on page 10
11/26
1999
7