Gender Studies
As adult Jewish courses grow, women outnumber men.
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
renaissance among Jewish women.
"Women have emerged much more visibly both
in positions of Jewish leadership and prominence
and have been re-empowered Jewishly," he said.
He added, however, that in some communities
— such as Florida — there are simply more
women around than men, while in others a size-
able number of women do not work, thus giving
them more time for study.
While Me'ah and the Melton Mini-School
nationally report a 60-40 ratio of women to men, in
at least one community, women make up an even
greater majority of adult learners. And they are
inspiring a women's day of learning and a spring
semester focusing on women's studies.
All our classes are geared toward or about
women," said Nancy Lipsey, who coordinates educa-
tional programs at the Atlanta Jewish Community
Center, where more than 75 percent of participants
in the Melton Mini-School — and the majority of
students in the JCC's other courses and book discus-
sion groups — are women.
Lipsey said she did not know why women domi-
nate the class rosters, noting that most of the stu-
dents work full time, dispelling any speculation that
it is stay-at-home moms or retirees who have more
time than their male counterparts.
"Why do more men watch sports?" she asked
rhetorically
Betsy Katz, North American director of the
Melton Mini-School, suggested more women enroll
in adult Jewish learning because they take a more
active role in educating their children Jewishly.
Women outnumber men in Jewish communal
agencies — like JCCs and federations — that often
encourage or subsidize employees to enroll in the
mini-school.
Katz said, "We need to work harder to recruit
men" by making the program more accessible,
including offering more courses in the evenings and
at workplaces.
New York
t the burgeoning international network of
two-year Jewish study programs, the Florence
Melton Adult Mini-Schools, Jewish women
comprise about 60 percent of the pupils.
Women also are approximately 60 percent at
Me'ah, another long-term course involving Jewish
history, texts and values that is offered in a growing
number of communities around North America.
Clear away your stereotypes of Jewish men poring
Leo Goldstein of Farmington Hills attended a Seminar
over religious texts while the women stay home for
for Adult Jewish Enrichment class at the JCC last month.
the cooking, child-rearing and candlelighting aspects
of Jewish life.
In what researchers are heralding as a profound
Fishman, co-director of one of the study's sponsors,
the Hadassah International Research Institute on
cultural reversal, a new study released this week at a
Brandeis University conference reveals that women
Jewish Women, women are not only more likely to
are more likely than men to be engaged in adult
engage in Jewish study but have also played a key
Jewish learning.
role in the revival of adult Jewish learning.
The study, based on a national sample of 1,302
Women's excitement about text study was "the
adults, is part of a larger research project on Jewish
galvanizing force in creating this whole sea change,"
adult education being conducted by Hebrew University
said Fishman, who is a professor of contemporary
sociologist Steven Cohen and Aryeh Davidson, dean of Jewish life at Brandeis.
"It's now cool to do adult study. Twenty years ago
the education school at the Conservative movement's
Jewish Theological Seminary.
it wasn't. What made it cool was women being excit-
The gender gap is most dramatic among Jews
ed about having access" and "they've changed the
who are religiously observant, but not Orthodox.
culture," she said, noting that synagogues that have
brought in the Me'ah program often do so at the
When ranked according to level of ritual obser-
urging of female congregants
vance, 57 percent of women who are very highly affil-
Rabbi David Gordis, the president of Hebrew
iated Jews study a moderate amount, compared with
45 percent of men. Among highly affiliated Jews, 48
College in suburban Boston and one of the founders
percent of women study a moderate amount, com-
of Me'ah, also attributed the statistics to a sort of
pared with 36 percent of men.
There are few gender differences,
however, among Orthodox Jews and
Jews with low levels of affiliation,
according to the study. Orthodox men
and women both study Jewish topics a
New York/JTA — In a ceremony at
tells the stories of diplomatic rescues.
great deal (37 percent of men and 39
the
United
Nations
on
Monday,
Attending the ceremony were sur-
percent of women report high levels of
some
rescued
Holocaust
survivors
vivors
who escaped to Japan thanks to
Jewish study) while unaffiliated Jewish
met
their
unknown
heroes,
or
their
visas
issued
by wartime Japanese Consul
men and women both study Jewish
close
family
members,
for
the
first
Chiune
Sugihara.
Stationed in Kovno, .
topics very little (86 percent of men
time since the war.
Lithuania, Sugihara issued thousands of
and 87 percent of women report low
The international community
visas during the summer of 1940.
levels of Jewish study).
honored government diplomats who
"There's a story" that Sugihara's wife
Indicating how women may influ-
risked their careers and lives to save
"rubbed his hands at night because
ence the burgeoning field of adult
thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi terror.
they hurt from signing all of the visas,"
Jewish education, the study also finds
The
ceremony
took
place
before
said
Meryl Fischoff, daughter of Ben
that women and men have different
the
opening
of
a
traveling
exhibit
to
Fischoff,
who received a Sugihara visa.
interests and motivations for enrolling
be
displayed
at
the
United
Nations.
Rabbi
David Baron, project coor-
in Jewish studies courses.
"Visa for Life: The Righteous
dinator for the New York arm of the
For example, women tend to be
Diplomats" honors 65 diplomats,
exhibit, said the diplomats issued
more interested than men in learning
representing more than 22 countries,
more than 200,000 visas during
about Jewish spirituality, ritual obser-
who issued thousands of visas for
World War II to help Jews escape to
vance, Jewish values and Jewish art,
Jews escaping Nazi terror.
friendlier territory, despite clear gov-
while men express a greater interest in
The
exhibit
includes
never-before-
ernment
prohibitions.
learning Talmud and Jewish history.
seen
Holocaust-era
photographs
and
Among
those honored was the late
According to Sylvia Barack
A
.
Exhibit At U.N. Honors Righteous
4/7
2000
28
Dr. Feng Shan Ho, Chinese consul
general in Vienna from 1938-1939.
Ho issued innumerable visas to
Jews escaping Austria after the 1938
Nazi takeover there. With his help,
Jews were able to escape to
Manchuria, Shanghai, China — and
from there to Palestine and America.
"It's within the Jewish character to
remember our friends," said Rabbi
Arthur Schneier, president and
founder of the Appeal of Conscience
Foundation. Rabbi Schneier escaped
because of a safety pass issued by
Carl Lutz, consul for Switzerland in
Budapest from 1942-1945.
"They were unsung heroes by
their own government in a way that
defied the silence of their govern-
ment," Rabbi Schneier said.