this story. The biblical story that has
the most to do with family violence is
the one on Jephthah's daughter and it
can be understood as a story about
abuse. -
"It's both a small and a big story ...
It's about a father sacrificing a daugh-
ter because he has the power of life
and death over her. She is his property.
But the larger story is the story of how
many unknown girls' and women's
lives in Jewish and world history have
been literally or symbolically sacrificed.
JN: She hasn't a name?
Ostriker: Many women in the Bible
are not named. That means they are
not so important.
Part of my work rests on the deep
belief that in Judaism and in all reli-
gious traditions, when women regain
the right to speak and to interpret and
become prophets and leaders ... when
women contribute as much as men to
our tradition and faith, everything will
look differently... I believe God has
been only partially understood because
we have the understanding of only
half of the people.
J/V• How do you treat Jephthah in
your piece?
Ostriker: The lament is from the
point of view of a women's chorus
commemorating this loss [the daughter
sacrificed] and all the symbolic losses it
implies. So Jephthah is treated as a
warrior, who is what he is, and later he
is treated with pity. But the real loss is
concentrated on the daughter.
At the end of judges [Chapter] 11,
the episode of Jephthah's daughter,
we're told that the women of Israel
used to commemorate this death for
four days a year. My poems are
intended to provide a libretto for such
a commemoration, and to bring it
back into our calendar and into our
consciousness. - -
JN: Poetry has its own rhythms and
music from the language. What did
music add to it?
Ostriker: The music is so beautiful,
so lyrical, so dramatic, that it gives the
words an entirely deeper and richer
dimension.
Budmor: Good poetry doesn't need
music, so the task of the music is to
intensify the emotional aspect of the
work.
JN: What's your Jewish background
and how does it affect your work?
Ostriker: I'm from a left-wing
Jewish background: third-generation
atheist Jews. And since you have to
rebel against your family, a spiritual
search has always been important to
me ... It's about men and women. It's
important for women to claim the
right to interpret everything because
we haven't had that right before.
[Part of her search is explored in two
nonfiction books she wrote: Feminist
Revision and the Bible (Blackwell;
$24.95) and The Nakedness of the
Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revision
(Rutgers University Press; $20)].
JN: What have you learned about
your parents as you've studied the
Bible?
°striker: I didn't realize that their
commitment to social justice comes
from the Hebrew prophets. When the
prophets critique and attack kings and
priests in the name of God, they say
God doesn't care about sacrifices and
fasts. He wants you to feed the hun-
gry, clothe the naked and seek justice
on earth. That's a strain that runs
throughout our history.
J1V• What's important to know
about your new book of poems?
Ostriker: Those were channeled
poems. They just started coming, very
dark and disturbing poems ... The
poems address a "you" that is very slip-
pery and illusive, sometimes God,
sometimes my mother, sometimes the
shechinah in the Kabbalah, the femi-
nine aspect of God who has been
divided from Him and is hidden in
secret in the world.
J1V• What's important to know
about the music in this piece?
Budmor: This particular poem has
to do with time. I wanted something
ticking all the time — the wood block
ticks constantly. It's totally dependent
on the poetry — its rhythms and its
structures.
This piece starts and ends with the
audience singing with the singers ...
The music will be printed so you can
sing — that's important, involving the
audience." 0
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Jephthah's Daughter: A Lament for
Women's Voices, Piano, Guitar,
Woodblock and Dumbeck will be
performed 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct.
27, at Gesu Church, 17204 Oak
Drive, Detroit. The poet and
composer will discuss the work at
a reception following. Free and
open to the public.
Alicia Suskin Ostriker will read
poetry from The Volcano Sequence
7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, at
Lansing-Reilly Hall on the
McNichols-Livernois campus of
University of Detroit Mercy. Free
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For information on both
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