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described starting at the New Yorker in 
2004 as an assistant in the events section 
and working his way up into writing 
articles that specialized in the arts.
“There is a lot of Jewish content in the 
book,” said the author, who celebrates the 
Jewish holidays with family. “The early 
parts of the book cover a lot of the Jewish 
moguls who built the studio system, and 
Steven Spielberg later is a major character. 
“Hollywood was built by Jewish 
immigrants or the children of Jewish 
immigrants, and they have had an 
incredibly lasting influence.”

A LOVE OF MIDRASH
In contrast, Feldman’s book expresses 
her reverence for midrash, and part of 
her programs will be explaining the ideas 
associated with the concept. 
“Writing the book has been a passion 
project for me.” Feldman said. “I love 
midrash, and I love writing midrash. I 
love speaking creatively about the lives 
of biblical women whose stories were not 
told.
“The whole concept of feminist 
midrash is new in a growing area. There’s 
a lot of creativity in discovering women’s 
voices. I feel that I’ve accomplished that 
to a certain degree. 

“I’ve introduced not only new women 
characters that others may not have 
identified with or known from biblical 
stories. I’ve given names to those who 
didn’t have names but also deepened our 
understanding of the lives we did hear 
about.”
The book has 10 
chapters exploring 
different lives 
introduced in the Bible. 
“In my main 
session, I’ll have an 
overview of the book 
and explain what 
midrash is,” Feldman 
said. “I’ll share some 
information about 
the women who 
resonated for me, 
show how questions 
came up from them 
and empower people 
to think about themselves as they read the 
biblical text in a way that lets them ask 
their own questions of the text. 
“There also will be a session that will 
be more text study and explore a little 
more about particular characters.” 
Feldman grew up in Ohio, was active 
in Jewish youth groups and knew that 

she wanted to be professionally involved 
in the Jewish community. She was a 
Jewish studies major at the University of 
Pennsylvania and very grateful for those 
trailblazers who opened the doors to her 
midrash interests. 
After going to rabbinical school 
in the early 1980s, Feldman served 
congregations in Florida and became a 
social action rabbi very engaged in public 
affairs. She decided she wanted to work 
in the Jewish community with public 
policies and got a law degree in 1993 
from the University of Florida. 
Her work in Michigan, from 1996-
2002, was with the Jewish 
Community Relations 
Council. She went on to be 
executive director of Women 
of Reform Judaism.
Feldman, 65, and a New 
York resident, is currently 
retired from full-time 
work, but her days are filled 
lecturing about her book and 
reactivating her law license 
to work in the area of clergy 
contracts.
Among the other authors 
whose books are being 
featured throughout the fair, in 
person or virtually, are Jonathan 
Freedland with The Escape Artist (Nov. 6), 
Colin Campbell with Finding the Words 
(Nov. 7), Martin Fletcher with Teachers: 
The Ones I Can’t Forget (Nov. 8) and 
David and Susan Schwartz with The Joy 
of Costco: A Treasure Hunt From A to Z 
(Nov. 12). 

Details
The Detroit Jewish Book 
Fair is being centered 
Nov. 1-12 at the Jewish 
Community Center in 
West Bloomfield. To get a 
complete list of programs 
and to find out about tickets 
and the ones that are 
priced, go to jccdet/bookfair 
or call (248) 661-1000.

Rabbi Marla 
Feldman

