Bhaskar
Lama
Dr.
Bhaskar Lama teaches in the Department of English at the University of
Hyderabad, India. His Ph. D dissertation is on the topic “Contemporary Jewish
American Women Writings: Orthodoxy and Modernity”.
Abstract
In
the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth
centuries, the Jewry from Eastern Europe and Russia migrated to America with
dreams in their eyes and hope in their hearts of a better life for themselves
and their family members. Religious persecution and socio-economic factors compelled
them to dissipate into countries that provided them with opportunities for
progress, especially America. They made some adjustments in their lifestyle,
but would not wholly surrender their religious beliefs. Nonetheless, some
reforms were brought about within their religion which impacted their
individual and domestic lives. When these reforms were carried out, the voice
of Jewish menfolk could be heard, loud and clear, but the voice of Jewish women
was missing. The latter were oppressed in the hands of patriarchy in America too,
as they were before moving there. Gradually, with the reforms in Judaism, the
condition of Jewish women started to change along with their perspective
towards Judaism. The first-generation Jewish American migrant women were not interested
in Judaism as it debarred them from participating in it and curtailed their
freedom. The second-generation women were involved in career-making and
improving their public life, so they were indifferent to Judaism. Paradoxically,
it was the third-generation Jewish women who showed a keen interest in Judaism from
which the first and second-generation warded off. This essay focuses on the
changing role of the Jewish American women towards Judaism in the twentieth
century. It examines the reasons that necessitated the third-generation Jewish
American women to participate actively in the religious tradition as opposed to
their predecessors. In this context, the essay does a literary analysis of
Rebecca Goldstein’s Mazel (1995),
employing the theoretical framework of identity, racism and feminism.
Keywords: Judaism,
Jewish American Women, Torah, Mazel, Rebecca Goldstein
Introduction
Jewish American women writing emerged as a
resistant voice to the hoary patriarchal tradition. The works like Irving
Howe’s World of our Fathers (1976)[1]
go on to show the role of Jewish men in forming the Jewish American society.
The literary representation always had Jewish male as a centrepiece. Even if
there were female protagonists, like in the works of Mary Antin and Anzia
Yezierska, at the beginning of the twentieth century, they were confined to the
family chores. They did not have access to the main sanctum of the family which
carved the Jewish identity, i.e. the religious front. It is the
religion/Judaism which gave the Jewish fathers right to claim over everything
that made up the Jewish life in America. Hence, the Jewish feminists sought for
a book which would talk about “the world of our mothers” (Avery 4). There were
many positive changes in the lives of the American Jewish women with the
reforms brought in the religious and social front.
The
traditional Judaism was orthodox, in form and practice. When Judaism evolved
into other forms like Conservative and Reform, there were changes accordingly,
in terms of approach to Torah[2],
the Jewish religious book, and the inclusion of secular aspect in it.[3]
The religion grew quite flexible towards Jewish women who could participate in
the limited functions of the religion from which they were debarred earlier.
The essay points out that the modern American Jewish women, especially the
third-generation of the migrants, do not simply participate in Judaism, rather
they take recourse to Orthodox Judaism. It argues that the modern Jewish
American women, who have access to modern education, recline in the traditional
faith to dig into their history and recount their participation. Secondly, in
multicultural America, going back to the roots is also a process to reclaim one’s
identity.
Thus,
the essay examines problems like women’s role in Judaism, their fight with
racism and patriarchy, their balance of modernity and orthodoxy. To do so, it
is divided into three sections: first, it reflects on Jewish women’s position
in the religious space in general; second, it deals with Jewish women in
America, and issues of modernity, racism and identity; finally, it examines the
text, Rebecca Goldstein’s Mazel,
highlighting the crucial issues, arguing the need of modern Jewish American
women to take recourse in Orthodox Judaism.
Jewish Women in Religious
Space: Patriarchy and Gender-bias
Traditionally,
the Jewish law called Halakhah,[4] derived from the Torah, administered every
aspect of Jewish life and expected the Jews to fulfil their religious
commitment by following the precepts and commandments of God (mitzvah)[5].
It specified their duties, domestic and religious, which included monitoring
the conduct of men and women. Given that men were privileged in this, there was
prevalent gender-bias towards womenfolk. Norma Fain Pratt writes that Halakhah was guided by patriarchal
order, and “women’s role in life was defined as caring for her husband,
children, and home” (211). To be born as a girl was considered a “sad” in
Judaism. Jewish men would thank their stars that they were born as men and not
women. In this context, Hana Writh-Nesher writes: “The Torah left by Moses is the
heritage of the children of Jacob...” and males recite it in their morning
prayers, “I thank Thee, Lord, for not having created me a female” (73). Ann
Braude expresses her dismay that the Jewish women were excluded from religious
duties in traditional Judaism. She writes that in normative rabbinic Judaism
“women could not be counted in the minyan
of ten adults required for public prayer.” Accordingly, they could not say a prayer
for the dead (kaddish), nor could
they serve as a witness. In the synagogue, women were secluded behind the
barrier (mechitza) far from
men who read from the Torah. Married women were supposed to “wear wigs to hide
the attractiveness of their own hair” (112).
In
Judaism, women were dehumanized of their emotions and pains, their
individuality and experiences were not valued, and they were seen as a source
of sin. Judith Plaskow writes that Judaism is a “deeply patriarchal tradition”
(xiii), in which “women’s experiences have not
been recorded or shaped the contours of Jewish teaching because women do not
define the normative community” (8). In other words, Jewish women have
never had the chance to represent or speak about themselves, but have always
been “seen through the filter of male interpretation” (8). They have been
treated as non-entity, writes Cynthia Ozick recounting her experience of
Sabbath in “Notes Toward the Right Question: A Vindication of the Rights of
Jewish Women”:
In
the world at large I call myself, and am called, a Jew. But when, on the Sabbath,
I sit among women in my traditional shul and the rabbi speaks the word “Jew,” I
can be sure that he is not referring to me. For him, “Jew” means “male
Jew.”…When the rabbi speaks of women, he uses the expression “Jewish
daughter.”….”Jew” signifies adult responsibility. “Daughter” evokes immaturity
and a dependent and subordinate connection. (qtd. in Braude 134)
So,
the Jewish women did not have any say either in the religious matter or in
domestic affairs. They were supposed to dutifully obey their husbands and carry
out household chores.
The
Jews have always been a victim of religious persecution and racism. They were
persecuted throughout history for being non-believers/non-adherents to “the New
Israel”[6]
or Christian faith. They were seen as murderers of Jesus Christ, and the
doctrine of Saint Augustine suggested that “the conversion of the Jews was a
Christian duty and essential to the salvation of the world” (Fredrickson 19).
They were “demoniz[ed]” and executed, and their communities were “pillag[ed]”
(20). The racism towards Jews was predominantly “exclusionary” in nature, and
they were tolerated until they remained within their ghettos. When they moved out
from the ghettos, it incurred unwarranted punishment in various forms, especially
due to the furore of anti-Semitism among non-Jews. To consider that these
problems were merely faced by Jewish men and would have no impact on Jewish
women is to foreground a naïve statement. The Jewish men would make the Jewish
women the beast of burden; vent the frustration of the outside world in the
domestic space.
The struggle of Jewish women needed an outlet to
address many of these problems, on different fronts―religious, domestic,
economic and social. When the Jewry moved to America in the hope of better life
and freedom from various parts of Europe, particularly eastern Europe and
Russia, this also provided an opportunity to Jewish women to enhance their
lives at multiple levels. However, the progress was not immediate, and they had
to face gender-bias and racial problems. These shall be taken up in the next
section.
Jewish Women in America:
Modernity, Racism and Identity
The
migration of Jews in America did not immediately improve the quality of their
lives. The condition of Jewish women remained pathetic even after migrating to
America as religious constrictions remained the same for them even there. They
faced inequality everywhere, including the synagogues where the seating
arrangements were such which “mirrored social and gender inequalities within
the community and reinforced religious discipline” (Sarna 18). Women were not
allowed to worship from the centre where the ritual was conducted. Instead they
“worshipped upstairs in the gallery” (18) as per the Jewish tradition. They had
no say in religious matters, and to silence their voices, they were
disqualified from reading/studying the religious scriptures. However, there was
a gradual change in the way Jewish women were perceived within Judaism and how
Jewish women looked upon their religion. This was a result that came about due
to the changes in the social, economic, and religious advancement in the lives
of Jewry, and the internal reforms in Judaism.
Over
time, the condition of American Jews improved from the initial days of
migration. The gradual changes within Judaism were offshoots compelled by the
need to adjust to the new world. The seeping in of modern education remoulded
their traditional bearings. There were massive
reformations within the structure of American Judaism like the induction of
female Rabbis and the removal of barricades between male and female worshippers
in the synagogues. These changes did not happen in the absence of Jewish
women’s participation. Instead, they were overtly involved in bringing about
the changes to improve their status quo within the community. Judith Plaskow
writes that Jewish feminism had “emerged as a diverse and complex religious and
social movement”, and they addressed “inequalities in Jewish life” (xv). They
also discussed matters that concerned “ethnic, national and communal elements”
(xv). Thus, the Jewish women had a massive
responsibility and opportunity to prove that they were not just the passive
recipient of established norms and traditions.
American
Jewish women realized their potential and the necessity to speak up for their
rights. Herschel writes that Jewish feminism is very much “American phenomenon”
which grew “out of political movement for social change associated with the
struggle against racism” (46-47). When Fishman writes, “[t]he Jewish women are
intelligent, articulate and aggressive and they do not passively accept what
fate has to offer them” (2), it embodies the language of a challenge to the
condescending attitude that Jewish men had towards Jewish women for ages. In
Ozick’s words, feminism is “equal worth of the sexes, before God and humanity
and equal access to whatever needs doing in the world, or to whatever the world
calls you to do?” (qtd. in Kauvar, “Interview” 1993: 372). Hence, the stand
which Jewish women had taken was not to separate themselves from the religion,
instead to participate in the religion to bring necessary changes. These
changes would not be confined to the religious sphere but would connect to the
domestic and social spaces.
The
watershed moment that replicated in the changes of American Judaism,
particularly for Jewish women, provided an opportunity to the American Jewish
women to think about their family, identity and their role in Judaism. Modern
American Jewish women, who were educated in modern institution showed intense
interest in Orthodox Judaism. They wanted to participate in Judaism fully: to
read religious books, to form minyan,
and other activities of the synagogues. The question arises here regarding the
burgeoning interest of these modern American Jewish women in Judaism. Why was
it important for them to recline on the Orthodox Judaism which deprived Jewish
women/them of their rights for ages? While Jewish women wanted more freedom,
and their modern education provided them so, why did they look back upon
religion which had restricted their ‘being’? Before we answer these questions,
we need to discuss Jewish American women in the context of the outside world
and racism.
While
the Jewish women had to fight a battle within Judaism, the outside world was
another big challenge. The modern Jewish American women were not simply
accepted by the mainstream “white” American women as one of them. This problem
has its connection to the historical setting of Jewish immigration. The
European immigrants were compelled to fit into the category of “white” and “by
deciding they were white,” (Roediger 330) they wanted to fit in to avoid racism
meted out to the African Americans.[7]
Nonetheless, as the Jews were a part of the “trading minorities” they had
greater opportunity to develop a positive sense of non-white identity (336).
They also knew that they did not have to face the danger of being branded
“niggers” (337). Hence, they faced a different kind of racial discrimination,
i.e. of exclusion. Essed Philomena and David Theo Goldberg write: “racism
operates in relation to and through other systems of exclusion,
marginalization, abuse and repression” (3). Thus, Jewish American women met
racism through exclusion when they participated in the women’s movement of the
1960s. It was professing of their religion which brought in anti-Semitic
feelings from the others. Despite that, Jewish women became more strict
followers of their faith. Why were they so bent on their religious propensity
when they had the option to leave a modern secular life, with more freedom?
My
take on these problems is two-fold: firstly, the modern Jewish American women attempt
to reclaim their past in which they were deprived of religious participation.
This argument is in tune with Susannah Heschel’s point that Jewish feminists
wanted to “create new rituals and to find halakhic justifications for women to
observe aspects of Judaism from which they were exempt” (46). It is an attempt
to understand the religion by actively participating in it, at the same time
logically analysing the reasons for gender-bias that operated for ages within
it. Secondly, I argue that the third-generation Jewish women who were born
around/after the women’s liberation movement had encountered racism in
multicultural America. This was also a time when the educated people of ethnic
groups like African American were taking recourse to “roots” to trace their
history and identity. The third-generation Jewish American women also
encountered the questions of identity in multicultural America, given that they
had experienced some forms of racism. To settle these simmering questions of
their exclusion from their religion, their othering from the mainstream world,
and their quest for identity, the only recourse was their “roots”, Judaism. The
next section examines the aesthetic representation of all these
problems/concerns and subjectivity of Jewish characters through literary
analysis.
Literary Representation:
Rebecca Goldstein’s Mazel
Goldstein’s
Mazel published in1995 won the
National Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award.
Mazel means luck in Yiddish, and Jewish people strongly believe in it—Mazel is
a “great confounder of closed systems and their pretenders” (1) (all the
quotes hence will be from the text). In the process of writing Mazel, Goldstein mentions in the
“Afterword” of the novel, she felt intense Jewish experience, as Jewishness
“snuck up” on her. This effect surprised her as it proceeded to apply on all
that followed, just as it happens with one of her “very own character” (364). Mazel is
about three women of three different generations―the grandmother, Sasha; her
daughter, Chloe; and Phoebe, the granddaughter¾who
distinctly whittle their career and live in a markedly idiosyncratic manner.
Sasha is an actress, who had her reputation in pre-war Poland in Yiddish
theatre, later she migrates to New York. Chloe is a professor of Classical
languages in Columbia, and Phoebe is a professor of mathematics at Princeton
University. These three women are ideologically different from each other. For
the sake of lucidity, the analysis of the novel is divided into two sections:
Pre-American Life and Life in America.
Pre-American
Life: Shtetl and Judaism
Goldstein
depicts the condition of Jewish people in Poland, around the 1930s, in poor
limelight due to reasons like poverty and religious discrimination. Owing to
these reasons, the Jewish people leave their homes and move elsewhere in search
of a job and a better life. Sasha, whose actual name was Sorel, was born in
Shilftchev, a shtetl or Jewish settlement in Poland keeps moving to different
places to build her career, and in search of freedom from the confines of
religious restriction. It was not just Sorel/Sasha who wandered to different
places, but most of the Jewish men and women did the same. Her mother, Leiba,
travelled far and wide for commercial purposes with her husband. Her sister
Fraydel thinks of going off with the “gypsies”. Her partner, Maurice, moves
from Poland to Palestine and then to America, and from there he keeps moving
without settling down anywhere. Even Sorel travels with the Bilbulnik Art
Theatre to different places. Then she leaves Shluftchev for Warsaw, where she
is given a new name, Sasha, by Aunt Frieda. From there, she moves to Vilna,
conceives Chloe, and gives birth to her in Palestine. Finally, she travels to
America and settles in Manhattan, New York.
Life
had been difficult for the Jewish women, in Poland, within the confines of
their religion. They were not allowed to express their mind, and speaking and
singing openly were considered depravity. Leiba would not sing during day time
“lest [she should] be heard by some male outside of the family, which is
forbidden by modesty……… [and her] singing was one of the nighttime secrets that
Sorel kept to herself” (10). Sorel could not participate in the theatre without
being a rebel, as women were not supposed to involve themselves in activities
that involved any form of public display. Her sister, Fraydel, was an excellent
storyteller and a brilliant person. However, she became prey to the priest whom
she loved and “me[t] in secrecy”, and he inflicted the “poison of self-hatred”
in her (151). Helen Meyers writes, in Fraydel Goldstein “presents us
with a portrait of a madwoman of the shtetl- a Jewish Judith Shakespeare figure
who could find no outlet for her genius in the oppressively traditional shtetl”
(62). Fraydel, finally, ends her life by committing suicide.
Problems were
emanating from the social quarters for the Jewish people. They wanted to fit
into the society, and to do so, they had to mask their identity, as it was
their Jewish identity that caused them trouble. One of the identity markers
that they compromised over was their Jewish names. They changed their names to be
acceptable to the mainstream society, and to prove that they were modern,
therefore, secular. In Mazel many
characters change their names: Fruma and Chayim
changing their names to Frieda and Heinrich, and names of their sons Velvel,
Meyer and Leibel to Wolfgang, Maximilian and Ludwig respectively. Aunt Frieda
provides Sorel with a new name, Sasha. Another instance of racial
discrimination that the novel depicts is the covert banning of the first
Yiddish play, Serkele, a “story of an
ambitious woman.” It was not produced in the lifetime of its writer, Solomon
Ettinger. Hence, “copies of the manuscript were privately circulated, daringly
read in the salons and parlors of the Polish Jewish intelligentsia” (178).
Thus, the discrimination was of race and gender as the lead character was a
female Jew.
Compromising
their religious belief fetched some relief to both Jewish wo/men in Poland,
though this came at the cost of resentment of friends and relatives of similar
faith. Hence, the Jewish wo/men were rattled in the quandary of private and
public life as they tried to balance between these two, in the context of
modernity and tradition. Aunt Frieda, in Mazel,
is an example of this blend: She was “a modern, married woman who didn’t cover
her hair. Though she had assured Sorel’s mother that her home was strictly
kosher, [but Sorel’s father] didn’t touch any of the fancy pastries that Aunt
Frieda laid out on the round table” (172). With these changes, in their lives,
Frieda and Henrich, her husband, “instantly bec[ame] people of the highest
importance, mixing with the most elite of Jewish society” “in Poland, even in
such city as Warsaw” (168). Hence, it required some compromise over their
traditional Jewish faith to blend themselves in society. Such changes also
brought about class hierarchy within the Jewish people, so in Warsaw, there was
a particular class of “Jews who didn’t look like Jews, who didn’t think like
Jews” (167).
Given all
the difficulties and discrimination that the Jewish people encountered they
moved to different parts of the world which permitted them, and America was one
such haven. However, the question of home and homeland did not leave the Jewish
people even in America as Helene Meyers deals with this topic in her discussion
of Mazel.[8]
Though the first-generation migrants to America would find a space for
themselves to grow in many fronts, it is the later generations that come up
with problems of different nature, like identity and racism. The major concern
for the first-generation would be that of survival, and the generation that
follows would have time and space to think about matters that form their
subjectivity. In the next section, the essay takes up this changing scenario of
Jewish women in America from one generation to the next.
Life in America: Jewish Women’s Role in Judaism
In Mazel, when the Jewish people move from shtetl to different places,
they had a difficult time as they encountered unfamiliar settings—social,
political and religious. For the Jewish women, facing modern pattern of
livelihood posed a challenge as they were always trained in a traditional
religious manner. However, for Sasha, it was relatively easy to embark on the
model of modern livelihood given that she was ambitious and flexible to
changes. She was “an irrepressible champion of chance and disorder” (16) and “emphatically, not the sort of person
whose head is swivelled on backward, fixated on the past” (21, emphasis in
original). She was quick in adapting to changing situation, showing-off her
talents, and boasting about her daughter. Sasha neither followed religious
rituals nor did she mingle with people who would make her realize of her
religious duties.
On
the other hand, her daughter, Chloe, was not as open-hearted and liberal like
her mother, nor was she decisive about matters like her daughter, Phoebe. She
represented a figure that was caught up in a mess between her own personal life
and her societal responsibilities. She shared the same fate as her mother, as
she was also a single-parent. She was educated, modern and individualistic like
her mother. She knew that her daughter missed her father as she asked about him
often. Chloe considered Judaism outside the realm of her experience, and “had
no idea whether this was, in itself, a good thing”, however, she thinks that it
is good for her daughter (336).
Paradoxically,
it was Phoebe who was not just religious, but a strict follower of Judaism, and
“describe[d] herself as orthodox” (332). She decided to "start taking
being Jewish so very seriously, insisting on removing it from the level of
mythology" (336). She was a strong personality, and Sasha saw the trace of
her sister in Phoebe: “Fraydel returned, given a second chance at life” (17).
Phoebe was imaginative and brilliant, a challenge to existing patriarchy.
Phoebe moved to Lipton, the place which Sasha senses as a modern version of
Shluftchev, the shtetl, that did not provide an opportunity for Fraydel.
However, given that Phoebe had similar brilliance like that of Fraydel, and she
was in a setting that enabled the growth of her talent, there were chances that
she would do something unique. Phoebe was exactly the character that Goldstein
aimed for: “I'm interested in characters who are full of longing, who have that
sense of displacement” (Lang 6).
The
question about Phoebe that arises here is the kind of displacement that she
suffered. This will also enable us to understand her interest in Orthodox
Judaism from which her grandmother distanced herself. In the case of her
mother, as a second-generation Jewish woman, she was still striving to balance
between professional and personal life. As a single mother, she had
responsibility within the domestic sphere, and as a University Professor, she
had responsibility at the professional level. But more than that, as a second-generation
Jewish American woman, she was amenable about her stance regarding her religion
working in a secular and modern space of the University. Hence, she was indifferent
to her religion and did not indulge in thinking about it.
In
case of Phoebe, a modern Jewish American woman of third-generation, who had a
prospective career as a mathematics professor, the case was different. She chose to follow her traditional religion, unlike Sasha
and Chloe, and wanted to marry in an Orthodox Jewish manner. When Goldstein
says that in Mazel the Jewishness
“snuck up” her very character, she certainly implies Phoebe. In other words,
Phoebe also resonates like Goldstein who says in the interview: “I'm a
philosopher and a rationalist. I take grounding beliefs very seriously. I think
that it's a very important human responsibility. We have to look for
justification” (20). When Phoebe reclines to Orthodox Judaism despite her
modern education, there are many “justifications” that back up her stance.
Some
of the justifications emanate from the fact that the modern academia that
Phoebe was engaged in post women’s movement discussed issues of cultural relevance
like identity and subjectivity. It is not very unlikely to have an impact of
such discussion in the interdisciplinary set-up. This was a historical moment
for the ethnic groups in quest of their identity, like the African American
were taking recourse to the “roots”, i.e. Africa, to define themselves[9]. In case of Jewish people,
the only roots that they could go back to for identity was their religion, i.e.
Judaism. The other reason why Phoebe takes recourse to the Orthodox faith is
also to reclaim the status within the religious faith from which they had been
historically debarred. As an academician, Phoebe had the time to reflect on
matters that concerned historical injustice, like racial and gender
discrimination, over the period of time how it had contributed to her
subjectivity. It is similar to what Cynthia Ozick says, “I do very much see
Judaism in its ontological and moral aspects as a civilization that continues
to define how I am to understand my life” (qtd. in Kauvar, “Interview” 1985 379).
In a similar strain, Phoebe sees no escape from Judaism in defining and
understanding herself, thus, she embraces it.
Conclusion
The condition of Jewish women from the time they arrived
in America to the time they wilfully participated in the functioning of Judaism
is a trajectory marked with lots of ups and downs in their lives. These ups and
downs are caused by continued developments that occur within the Jewish
communities in America, at the same time, changes marked in multicultural
American society. The changes that ensued owing to reforms within Judaism
enhanced the position of Jewish women within the religious sphere, and that
enhancement spread in the domestic and social spaces too. Jewish women started
to feel free and pursue their dreams and acquired modern education. The
religion which was looked upon with abhorrence for its restrictive nature was
something to look upon for security. This backcloth of Jewish women’s
trajectory, from discarding Judaism to taking up the ownership, finds its
depiction in Rebecca Goldstein’s award-winning novel Mazel. Goldstein’s heroine, the first-generation migrant Jewish
woman Sasha is an epitome of rebellion, who navigates her way through the
modern life of America in her terms and conditions. She is indifferent to her
religion as the primary focus is on survival. Her daughter, Chloe, is a second-generation
Jewish woman in America who is educated and teaches at Columbia University. She
is a single mother and entrapped in the phase of transition of life, from
survival to career. Thus, for her, religion is not of much consequence as she
adjusts herself with the Jewish identity in the modern secular world. What was renounced
by the previous generation is embraced by the third-generation—the modern and
educated granddaughter of Sasha, Phoebe. She is not just religious but chooses
to pursue Orthodox Judaism. As a professor of mathematics, she can rationalize
matters to their advantage, and teaching in Princeton gives her avenues to
indulge in reflection and discussion on cultural issues, like ideology and
identity. It was also a historical time that educated people in ethnic groups
were sprawling upon their roots to give meaning to their lives. Phoebe looks
for this meaning-making process in her religion by understanding the historical
exemption that Jewish women underwent, and subverting such historiography
through her participation in Orthodox Judaism.
[1] For details see, Irving
Howe’s World of Our Fathers: The Journey of
the East European Jews to America and the Life they Found and Made. Touchstone,
1976.
[2] Alternate
spellings are Toirah, Toyre, Torah. It literally means “Teaching”, and includes
the five books of Moses. In general, it means Jewish law and value. See, Jewish English Lexicon https://jel.jewish-language.org/words/579
[3]
Orthodox Judaism upholds the point of view that the Torah is God-given, and it
decides the course of life of the Jewish people. Conservative and Reform Judaism are more
liberal. Conservative Judaism is slightly more traditional in its approach, but
Reform Judaism is more secular in approach. It views Jewish laws as “a source
from which individual Jews may draw ceremonies and other practices which they
find meaningful.” For more information on the differences between the three
types of Judaism, one can refer David Steinberg’s “Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform Judaism”. The differences have been systematically arranged for more
convenience of the readers in terms of Religion, Jewish Laws, Secularism and
others.
Source: www.adath-shalom.ca/OR.htm
[4] Also,
written as Halachah or Halakha. it means “a set of Jewish rules and practices
which affects every aspect of life”. It comes from the Torah, the rabbis, and
custom. See, Judaism 101: Halakhah:
Jewish Law https://www.jewfaq.org/halakhah.htm
[5]
Alternate spellings are mitzvah, mitsve. It literally means “commandment” and
good deed. See, Jewish English Lexicon https://jel.jewish-language.org/words/386
[6] By “the New Israel” Alina Polyak means The
Christian Church, which overtook the “birthright of the Chosen people.” See, Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary
Jewish American Literature, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Co.,
2010.p. 18.
[7] The
racism meted out to the African American was that along the “color-line” to put
in terms of W.E.B. Du Bois in The Soul of
Black Folks.
[8] For full article, see Helene Meyers’ “On Homelands and
Home-making Rebecca Goldstein's Mazel.”
Journal of Modern Literature, Vol.
33, No. 3, 2010, pp. 131-141 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jml.2010.33.3.131
[9] Many of the African American writers post-Black Arts Movement looked for “roots” for their identity. To
mention some: Alex Haley, Sania Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, etc.
Works
Cited
Avery, Evelyn, editor. “Modern Jewish Women Writers in
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