10 Life!

AROUND TOWN

Staff photos b An ie Baan

Amy Zonder and Wendy Bakst both of Huntington Woods

Author liana Blumberg

Shdring Insights

Inter-congregational gathering looks at
the role of lewich women.

W

restling with a woman's place —
among the traditions of Orthodox
Judaism and in the intellectual
world of higher education — has been a lifelong
pursuit for author liana Blumberg
of Ann Arbor.
The assistant professor of human-
ities, culture and writing at James
Madison College at Michigan State
University in East Lansing explores
what happens when those two
worlds collide, sharing her personal
struggles in her newly published
memoir, Houses of Study: A Jewish
Woman Among Books.
About 35 women from different
streams of Judaism gathered at the
Jewish Community Center in Oak Park to ask
questions and share their views about the book.
"Can you be a female scholar, and a wife
and mother?" Blumberg asked the crowd. "As I
watched my friends get married, I began to see
this question as more and more difficulty'
The thought provoking discussion was part
of a women's "Book Night Out," sponsored by
the Tri-Synagogue Women's Project, an effort to
bring the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform
communities together. Participants included
members of Congregation Beth Shalom, Temple
Emanu-El, Young Israel of Oak Park and others.
"I thought the book was a wonderful story
about learning, being a woman and loving lit-
erature," said Beth Applebaum of Huntington
Woods, one of the event organizers."I'm not
Orthodox, so I'm sure I looked at it a little bit
differently."
"I think it's fascinating to hear the reactions

30

May 10 2007

of others:' Blumberg said. "What's interesting to
me is to try to listen to where I've struck a chord
with readers because that means that I've got-
ten something right. I'm hoping Jewish women
come away with a sense that there's
much to study, and that it's possible
both to study and to contribute to the
Jewish communal world."
Spotted in the crowd at the April
26 book night were: Michelle Sider,
Sheila Stone, Robin Gold, Jodee
Raines, Rena Friedberg and Amy
Zonder, all of Huntington Woods;
Ann Zousmer of Bloomfield Hills;
Beryl Levin of Farmington Hills;
Claire Belsky of Bingham Farms;
Tina Bonner of Royal Oak; Rena
Spolter and Esther Sherizen, both of Oak Park;
and Terry Selman and Marjorie Klausner,
both of Southfield. II

Julie Edgar of Oak Park and Beth Applebaum of Huntington Woods

About The Book's Author

liana Blumberg received a Ph.D. in English
from the University of Pennsylvania. She
specializes in 19th-century literature and
culture, history of the novel, women and
the novel, Holocaust literature and ethnic
identity and literature. Blumberg taught at
the University of Michigan; the University
of Pennsylvania; Barnard College and
Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in
New York before joining the faculty at
James Madison College, Michigan State
University. She is married and has two
young children. Her book is available in
bookstores and on Amazon.com .

,0*

Vivian DeGain of Rochester and
Bobbie Patt of Huntington Woods

Michelle Sider of Huntington
Woods and Devorah Rich of Oak
Park

