Cover Story

HISTORY from page 14

variation of the glass half full or half empty."
Though her parents are respectful of what was lost dur-
ing the war, she says, they also focus on what needed to
be built, what remained and "on the wonderful people
who saved their lives."
Growing up, Reinharz acknowledges, meant going
through the typical "turmoil and tension" with her par-
ents, but says she always admired them and what they
did.
She admired her mother's ability to raise a family in a
new country, starting with nothing, and her father's pride
in the Jewish people.
The young Reinharz always "delighted" in being Jewish.
Even when she experienced anti-Semitism in high school,
she says, it never diminished her pleasure in Judaism.
"The best influence on me?" She senses her answer
might be surprising: "Hebrew school [in Teaneck, N.J.].
It was a very positive experience." She felt she was learn-
ing something — the language — at school, and it was
fun, competitive and she liked to compete. "They allowed
girls to do everything.
"I've always been a Zionist, always loved Israel, and felt
half-Israeli." After seeing the film Exodus, she decided she
wanted to marry an Israeli.
And then she met one at age 15.
Reinharz tells the story of meeting her husband, then
17, who came from Israel, lived in Germany, then came
to the United States. Though Jehuda couldn't speak
English, both he and Shula knew Hebrew.
"I captured my husband because I could speak Hebrew,"
she says, still enjoying a young woman's chutzpah.

From storage
warehouse to
dream fulfilled,
the Women's
Studies Research
Center at
Brandeis
University goes
through a major
transformation.

Top to bottom:

The building
before
renovations.

Reinharz
in her office.

The library
is the heart
of the building
of the Women's
Studies Research
Center.

Personal And Professional

MINUNINUOMMfte

Reinharz's lifelong pleasure in being Jewish dovetails with
her many achievements. Her vision for women has reaped
rewards for the Jewish community.
Elaine Sturman, president of the Greater Detroit
Chapter of Hadassah, says the institute already has initiat-
ed important changes affecting volunteers, especially
young leaders.
"Leadership is really what this is all about," says
Sturman of Bloomfield Township. "Our young leader
missions to Israel, which came out of suggestions from
the institute, have made young women passionate."
Hadassah's Bernstein adds, "I love the institute's intern-
ship program for young women. Their projects are unbe-
lievable."
She describes one intern's paper on mother loss and
Jewish concepts of death and dying; another on a rosh

Public
Lectures

Shulamit Reinharz,
founding director of the
Hadassah International
Research Institute on
Jewish Women, will
present a lecture on
"Jewish Women
Around the World:
What Difference Does
a Country Make?" 7:30
p.m., Sunday, April 1,
at the Jewish
Community Center,
Maple and Drake, West
Bloomfield.
At noon, Monday,
April 2, Reinharz will
discuss "Neglected
Women in Jewish
History," this year's
George M. and Pearl A.
Zeltzer Lecture on
Women and Judaism.
The brown-bag lunch,
in Detroit at 4339
Faculty/Administration
Building, Wayne State
University, is co-spon-
sored by the WSU
Women's Studies
Program and the Cohn-
Haddow Center for
Judaic Studies, the JCC,
the Greater Detroit
Chapter of Hadassah
and the Brandeis
University National
Women's Committee-
Greater Detroit Chapter.
Both lectures are free
and open to the public.
For information, call the
Cohn-Haddow Center,
(313) 577-2679.

Israeli Women Timeline

Shulamit Reinharz wrote

Timeline of Women and
Women's Issues in the Yishuv
(Palestine) and Israel for
readers "to familiarize them-
selves with the hidden treas-
ure of women's history."
Reinharz believes it is the
first overview of Jewish
women's experience in Israel.
The following is an excerpt.

\

3/30
2001

16

1907
Manya

Wilbushewitz
founds the
first kibbutz,
Sejera.

1920
1944
Women obtain Chanah

right to vote
in 1920 elec-
tions, despite
right-wing
opposition.

Senesh, 23,
executed for
resistance
against the
Nazis.

1948
May 14.

State of Israel
founded.
Declaration of
Independence
signed by 37,
a including
Golda Meir and
Rachel Kagan.

The Law of
Equality of
Women
established
in Israel.

Golda Meir-
becomes
Israeli prime
minister.

Women
in Black
peace
movement
begins

.