NewsletterSeptember 2007

www.icjw.org, E-mail: contact@icjw.org, Tel/Fax: 972-2-5336955 Editors: Aviva Kohlmann, Judy Telman

לשנה טובה תכתבו ותחתמו

Dear Friends

At the beginning of a new year, we invariably find ourselves saying: “How fast another year has passed!” For the women in ICJW, I have no doubt that time ‘flies’ because they are constantly engaged in work that is crucial for their respective organizations and communities. Each day is filled with a new challenge, and there never seems to be enough time for everything at hand.

The period of the High Holy Days forces us to take “time out”, to step back and take stock. Unlike many cultures, the Jewish New Year is not celebrated with fireworks, alcohol or kisses at midnight. On the contrary, the mood is serious and sober, as we believe that this is a Judgment Day, with personal and national implications for the coming year.

While other Jewish festivals involve much singing and dancing, and even some drinking, Rosh Hashanah is not one of them. We approach the beginning of a new year as an opportunity to reflect on the past and contemplate the future, to consider our achievements and reassess our goals.

All this is done in an atmosphere of family togetherness. Our prayers are, of course, first for our loved ones, and for the Jewish people around the world. But let us not forget those whom we do not know personally or to whom we are not directly connected; many of them need our prayers as well—the poor, the oppressed, and the exploited.

On Rosh Hashanah it is said that the fate of all humankind is sealed. May you and your family be inscribed for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. And may our prayers be answered for justice

and compassion for all the peoples of the world.

Leah AharonovPresident, President, International Council of Jewish Women

CONTENTSPages 2 & 3 News from Our Affiliates Pages 4 & 5 Countering Domestic Violence Page 6 ICJW Life MembersPage 7 A Majority of OnePage 8 View from Australia Page 9 Affiliate Close-Up: Sweden Page 10 Affiliate Close-Up: CubaPage 10 Affiliate Close-Up: CubaPage 11 Global View: Jewish Museums Page 12 ICJW Update

Following the celebration of their 30th anniversary, the Council of Jewish Women of Belgium began their fourth decade with a variety of activities and programs, under the leadership of its newly-elected president, Liliane Seidman. Through lectures, seminars, and workshops, Council members have tackled many topical issues, including the role of women in politics, education in human rights, anti-Semitism in Europe today, Judaism in schools and socio-cultural organizations, and interfaith dialogue at UNESCO and the European Union. The Council has sent delegates to local events as well as to those held in France and the Czech Republic.

The League of Jewish Women in Serbia operates on many levels. They are very involved with interfaith activities and have developed friendly relationships with the Christian leadership and Moslem refugees from Kosovo. The League performs many humanitarian services, such as collecting clothing and working with people with special needs, regardless of their religion or race. They also work with the elderly in Jewish old age homes whom they visit before every Jewish holiday, bringing food and good cheer for Pesach and Hanukah.

The Coopération Fémenine in France marked its 40th anniversary with the initiation of a major project--“Battling Violence Against Women.” The

first meeting was attended by 400 people (mostly women) and began with round-table discussions. The success of these discussions led to the initiation of a telephone hotline that is now open to callers four mornings a week. The organization is also working to raise women’s awareness with regard to how to obtain a Get (Jewish divorce), and they are receiving a great deal of cooperation and support from other women’s organizations, the French rabbinate and Beth Din.

“Towards Harmony and Progress – Women Lead the Way” was the theme of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia’s 28th National Conference in June. ICJW President Leah Aharonov was among the guest speakers at the conference, and the five-day program included discussions on issues of modern medical interventions for health and bioethics; anti-Semitism and racism; the Jewish woman – her status, rights and education; and Jewish women around the world. There were also two workshops to train NCJWA volunteers, entitled: “So You Want to be Empowered?” and “Challenges

The following is just a small sample of the activities of ICJW’s affiliates. For additional news, constantly updated, visit www.icjw.org.

News from Our Affiliates

A Special Place in Moscow

Irina Sherban, president of HAVA, ICJW’s affiliate in Russia, has told us about a special community center, which she prefers to call a home.

The Moscow Jewish Community Home (MEOD) was founded 10 years ago as a place where people show interest in the problems of others; here they can be loud and merry together with their friends. It is also a place where Jews of all ages can find a sympathetic ear, receive training and counselling, or simply be congratulated on a happy occasion, or helped through a difficult situation.

Irina explains: “We built our ‘home’ to provide security, warmth, and the feeling of being part of one big Jewish family. We invite people to return to their roots, and currently over 500 people come to MEOD every month. Here there is something for everybody. Our amazing library includes a huge collection of books and periodicals in different languages. Our Cinemateque features the best Jewish films, and our Museum is constantly being updated. Music, chess, and other interests are catered for. The Home is open on weekdays and holidays and has become a central part of the life of our community.”

Ahead in (Post)-Multicultural Australia – Women Working Together Across Cultures and Faiths.” Rysia Rozen took over from Robyn Lenn as National President, and the National Board elevated two past National Presidents, Malvina Malinek OAM and Dr.Geulah Solomon OAM, to the position of Honorary Life Governors of NCJWA (website: www.ncjw.org.au).

Vera Kronenberg, ICJW Vice-President for Switzerland, reports that the Swiss Union of Jewish Women’s Organizations has launched a website (www.bsif.usfi.ch) in two languages, French and German. They recently sponsored a Study Day dealing with “Women’s Health and Halacha,” which included six workshops on the following themes: introduction to yoga; visiting the mikva; possible solutions for infertility and their acceptance in halacha; the science of healthy nutrition; and preventative medical examinations and advice on health protection.They are also supporting a co-existence project in which Israeli and Palestinian girls are invited to Switzerland to stay with host families and then are worked with in

order to reduce prejudices and find a common language. As part of the Swiss women’s umbrella organization, they are promoting a national project of “civil courage” to battle forced prostitution and trafficking. The Swiss Union has also successfully campaigned for the right of women to stand for election to the presidency of the 200-year-old Basel community.

Those of us who have worked with women and children in domestic violence have seen some of the worst and the best aspects of human beings. Of course, the deliberate harming of members of one’s household makes up some of the horrors of domestic violence, but the resourcefulness and courage of women and children in the face of this, and their capacity to create better futures for themselves when given appropriate support, are some of the highlights of

this work.Many people think that domestic violence is physical violence, but it can be severe and dangerous and never include physical violence. Whatever its form, it always involves emotional violence, which women report is more devastating than the physical violence. It may include sexual assault, financial control and abuse, undermining mother-child relationships, isolating women from friends, family and any form of external support.

While details may differ between cases, all domestic violence involves a regime of coercive control, of a perpetrator exercising his tyrannical power over his family, within a web of threats and intimidation. Indeed, this is a domestic form of terrorism. Where men are jealous and make

threats against their partners or children, situations can become life-threatening. Domestic violence occurs within all cultures and classes, yet is gendered in that 90-95 percent of domestic violence is perpetrated by men. It is more prevalent where traditional gender roles and authoritarian male roles are accepted.

It is often difficult for women to see the patterns of abuse in which they live, just as it is difficult for any of us to look objectively at the social patterning within which we live. It is made harder for women in domestic violence, as women’s sense of reality is continually being manipulated and distorted by perpetrators, who usually portray their own actions as positive and their partners’ as blameworthy. Domestic violence perpetrators minimize and deny their abusive and violent actions and cast responsibility for them onto others, usually their victims. Women internalize these distortions and blame, and their own perspectives are undermined, as they and their children see their lives through the eyes of the perpetrator.

Unfortunately, dominant societal attitudes also tend to blame women for the violence they have endured and regard them as responsible for everything within their families. Thus, women may be unwilling to leave their partner, because they believe that the violence is due to their inadequacies. Their low sense of moral worth (as they are insulted, debased, and blamed) can be counteracted when women learn to identify the ways in which they have been undermined.

Effective interventions with domestic violence need to address these distortions and help women re-frame their understanding in ways that more accurately fit their situations. For example, service-providers need to understand how perpetrators constantly minimize their violence and the injuries they cause, that they refuse responsibility, and have an overblown sense of entitlement. They should know (as evidence overwhelmingly shows) that abusive men see their families as their property, as objects whose purpose is to gratify their needs. They should help women and children understand the effects of the violent regime in which they live on themselves and on the quality of their lives.

Based in Adelaide, Australia, Anne Morris is Co-Chair of ICJW’s Committee on the Status of Women. With a background as a practitioner and manager in women’s services, she has published and presented extensively on violence against women and runs regular training workshops for professionals. She is currently completing her doctorate on violence against women and children.

Domestic Violence = Domestic Terrorism

this work.Many people think that domestic violence is physical violence, but it can be severe and dangerous and never include physical violence. Whatever its form, it always involves emotional violence, which women report is more devastating than the physical violence. It may include sexual assault, financial control and abuse, undermining mother-child relationships, isolating women from friends, family and any form of external support.

While details may differ between cases, all domestic violence involves a regime of coercive control, of a perpetrator exercising his tyrannical power over his family, within a web of threats and intimidation. Indeed, this is a domestic form of terrorism. Where men are jealous and make

Silent Witness A “Silent Witness” exhibit was created using cardboard silhouettes with anonymous biographical information from local women who had been beaten, and, in some cases, murdered by abusive spouses. This was displayed at a special dinner for women in order to raise aware-ness of the issue.

What Violence Means to Me An annual contest for sixth-grade students entitled “What Violence Means to Me” encourages children to express their feelings about violence through writing and visual arts. All the competition entries were dis-played over the summer in public libraries. Women’s Survival Space The Women's Survival Space is a program that is held at a women’s shelter. Each month there is a birthday party for the children and their mothers, and gifts are given to the children to choose and present to their mothers at holiday times and on Mother’s Day.

HUG Project Help, Understanding, and Giving is a similar project in another women’s shelter. Baskets full of grooming es-sentials, teddy bears, coloring books and crayons, con-tributed by members and local businesses, are made up for the residents of the shelter and distributed to them.

Women Helping WomenA fashion event was organized, including a display called “Clothesline,” in which t-shirts designed by bat-tered women depicted their stories of survival. They invited a Jewish woman executive to tell her story of surviving domestic abuse and collected pieces of lug-gage to donate to women's shelters.

Teen Dating Abuse Video An award-winning video has been produced entitled Dealing with Teen Dating Abuse: Matters of Choice. It tells the story of an abusive dating relationship between a high school freshman and her junior boyfriend, de-picting the emotional, verbal, sexual, and physical as-pects of abuse, as well as the romance and good times in their relationship. It won an international award and has been highly endorsed by experts in the field. (The video is available to order from cgeller@ncjwessex.org)

Luggage for Freedom This program helps women and children who are ready to leave domestic violence shelters and start their lives anew. During Domestic Violence Month, the group col-lected linens, toiletries, and children’s books and toys, which they packed into 130 suitcases and gave to local domestic violence shelters.

Shalom Bayit: Furnishing Peaceful Homes A project to address the needs of survivors of domestic violence. The group has collected furniture and house-hold goods, which are stored in a warehouse “furniture bank.” Abused women who are setting up new homes can come and choose the essentials they need to help them move from temporary shel-ters or violent homes to perma-nent housing.

The following are examples of some of the grassroots Domestic Violence Programs run by ICJW affiliates and which might be replicated in other communities around the world. The following are examples of some of the grassroots Domestic Violence Programs run by ICJW affiliates and which might be replicated in other communities around the world.

Life Members

Barbara Leslie - Advocate for Women's RightsBarbara Leslie, always known as

Bobby, started her activity in NCJW-

USA, where she was president of the

Peninsula Section and served on the

National Board. Upon completing her

term of office and in the midst of the

UN Decade for Women, she became

a Non-Governmental Observer at the

United Nations. Her efforts on behalf

of women’s rights internationally are

the centerpiece of her extensive volunteer career. She was a delegate

to the Mid-Decade Conference for Women in 1980, in Copenhagen,

to the end-decade Conference in Nairobi in 1985, and she represented

ICJW at the NGO Forum on Women at the Fourth World Conference on

Women in Beijing in 1995. Her deep devotion to women’s rights grew

as she learned more about the unequal status of women worldwide.

Bobby’s background in business and sociology, which she had studied

at graduate level, and her involvement in Middle Eastern Affairs, helped

her shape ICJW’s support of the advancement of women. She traveled

extensively in the United States and abroad, speaking to groups about

the urgent need to improve the status of women worldwide.

Bobby represented ICJW actively among her NGO colleagues at

the UN in New York. She was elected to the NGO committee of the

Department of Public Information, where she built strong networks with

other NGOs. She gave voice to ICJW’s concerns at the Commission on

the Status of Women, and joined other NGOs in preparing statements

at CSW meetings and advocating with government missions for strong

international resolutions to protect women.

She is currently on the board of the JCC of the Greater Five Towns,

where she is a founding member and officer. While her three daughters

were still young, she was active with Bnai Brith and the Anti-

Defamation League.

The Leslie home has always been filled with music. Her husband Cy

has been a leader in the entertainment industry, and Bobby holds up

her end by playing the piano at impromptu songfests for their many

friends.

Roberta Ross

Andrée Fahri - Portrait of a LadyAndrée was born in Alexandria, Egypt,

to a family who came together from

different countries and cities. This,

together with her schooling in French

and British colleges, formed Andrée as a

real cosmopolitan woman.

In 1950, she came to Paris to study history

at the Sorbonne, while simultaneously

studying piano at the Ecole Normale.

She married in 1951, had two children,

and then moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, back to Paris, and then on to

Geneva, from 1974 until 1999.

In 1980, Andrée entered the ICJW world and became the Alternate

Delegate at the United Nations in Geneva, side by side with Leila Seigel.

She became more and more interested in the United Nations world, going

on to become Co-Chair of the Committee on International Organisations,

as well as Co-Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Andrée was elected Vice-President of the NGO Committee on Human

Rights for two terms, as well as Vice-President of the NGO Committee on

UNICEF. She was also a member of NGO Commissions on the Status of

Women, on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and on Interfaith

and Education. In short, the United Nations world became her world.

When the Farhis returned to Paris in 1999, it was natural that Andrée

would join the Coopération Fémenine. She became ICJW Vice-President

for France from 2001 to 2006--an act that is hard to follow.

Working with Andrée is not always easy: she is a perfectionist, and she

encourages us to go beyond what is easy. She is curious about everything,

enjoys politics and knowing how organizations function, and she loves

reporting, listening and working. Andrée now represents the Coopération

Fémenine at the CRIF, and she is also a member of their political studies’

committee and the committee on relations with other NGOs, associations,

and the French trade unions.

Andrée Farhi is now a grandmother of three, and I am sure she transmits

her immense appetite for culture, music, know-how, and perfectionism to

them as well!

Evelyn Ascot

Women in Our Headlines:Anne Ranasinghe: A Majority of OneAnne Ranasinghe: A Majority of One

Anne Ranasinghe has the distinction of being the only Jew in Sri Lanka. She was born in Essen, Germany, in 1925, where she attended Jewish elementary and high schools. Following the terrible events of Kristallnacht, when she was just 13, her parents sent her to relatives in England. She never saw them again. They were deported to the Lodz Ghetto in 1941, and gassed to death in the Chelmo concentration camp in 1944.

Anne completed her education in England, with the help of her aunt and uncle, and worked in several medical facilities during the War, including the Burden Neurological Research Institute in Bristol. In 1949, she married Professor Ranasinghe of the Medical Faculty, University of Colombo, who was then a post-graduate student at Kings College, London. In 1951, she and her husband sailed for Ceylon (later Sri Lanka), and she has

lived there ever since. Her husband died in 1981, and Anne continued in her role as the mother of his three children from a previous marriage, and the four they had together.

Anne wrote a school play at the age of ten, while she was still in Germany. In addition to various other academic achievements, she also has a journalism degree and has effectively used the printed word to tell the story of the Jewish experience.

Anne discovered that there had been no Jewish community in Sri Lanka since the twelfth century and that the local population had very little contact with the outside world--there was no television in the country until 1978. Consequently, they knew absolutely nothing about the Holocaust. So Anne wrote a book entitled At What Dark Point in order to acquaint Sri Lankans with the Holocaust; it was translated into Sinhala, the official language of Sri Lanka.

Anne represents Sri Lanka as an associate member of ICJW. She was invited to join by Lynda Young of New Zealand, who had read articles, poems, and stories written by Anne in New Zealand and Australian journals.

To date, Anne has had 15 books published. Among them: And a Sun that Sucks the Earth to Dry (Poems); With Words We Write Our Lives (Short Stories and Poems); and At What Dark Point (Essays and Poems). Anne’s poems, short stories, features, and radio plays have been broadcast and printed in magazines and anthologies in 20 countries. Some have been translated into many other languages, including Japanese, Korean, Serbo-Croat, and Tamil. She has won acclaim nationally and internationally, and she is certainly a bright star in the family of ICJW.

Judy Telman

Writing a poem is an act of losing myself,a flight into the caverns of the mindto search among those memories or dreamsand sometimes fearswhich have been or are central to my life.Rarely, when everything concurs, I find the momentthat calibrates the edge of joy and longingand so I make a poem, and then am surprisedthat what I write is hardly what I ponderedyet somehow states a truth I did not know I knew.That anything is possible Any time. There is no safetyIn poems or music or even inPhilosophy. No safetyIn houses or templesOf any faith.

Being honored with an Honorary Life Membership of NCJWA’s Victoria Section brought home the realization that I might have come to the end of my “active career” in the organization, and also reached the zenith of my life!

NCJW Australia has had a string of senior leaders awarded as Honorary Life Presidents, Life Memberships, and Life Governorships. Almost in all cases these stalwarts lived to ripe old ages, mostly well into their nineties! Dr Fanny Reading, Vera Cohen, Mary Lieberman, Aelsie Magnus, and Edna Luber-Smith are examples which spring to mind. Many have been blessed with longevity, and I was indeed fortunate to have met or known most of them during my 40 years in the organization. So, instead of a

“sentence,” I now look upon my next term in Council as a prediction of an active long life!

Looking back to the time I started in NCJWA, I guess that I helped the transition from the “old guard” to the new generation. The 1960s were the “Women’s Liberation” years. Until then, most women who were volunteers in the community were known as “charity workers.” They were the homemakers, wives, and mothers--not career-women. They were supposed to do volunteer work because they could not do anything else. They were not the “professionals,” like the men in the community--the lawyers, doctors, and businessmen-- who were the communal leaders. The women were the ones getting the cups of tea, minding the offices and taking the minutes. Women had little or no opportunity to voice an opinion or an idea, and only those who were the wives of someone important were shown some respect.

It was all very intimidating, and it took a lot of courage for newcomers to these establishments to speak up at meetings of Jewish organizations in those days. One had to be a strong personality to make oneself heard and taken seriously among the Jewish male hierarchies. As NCJW was an independent women’s organization with its own agenda, it was difficult for professional men to understand the breadth of interests and influence of a women’s NGO with international affiliations and UN connections.

Although I was a university graduate with European experience and able to hold my own with the men in the community, I was treated as someone who was not worth listening to! Not being as forceful as my mentors, I chose to deliver my salvos via the Jewish News, where I could afford to share my thoughts as I had nothing to lose. I didn’t need the approval of the male communal leaders. Hence, I was a free agent, totally unafraid to express my views as I saw them.

As a result, I had many supporters during my terms as State and National President, even though I created plenty of controversy. Some community leaders avoided me, while others sought my counsel, but suffice it to say that NCJW was not overlooked when important issues of the day were to be discussed. At the same time, within our organization, we were able to attract the new breed of professional women into leadership positions, such as Dr. Geulah Solomon, who was able to help us deal with the government bureaucracies independently from the other Jewish communal bodies. Already in 1975, NCJW in Victoria was able to hold the first-ever Jewish International

Convention in Australia. Altogether, my journey through the ranks of the State, National, and International Council of Jewish Women has been an exciting and fulfilling one. I have met wonderful people in different countries around the world, had many exciting new experiences, and faced new challenges as part of an active, viable, meaningful women’s movement. I do not intend to be “out of sight and out of mind” now. Together with my colleagues, I feel the need to protect the longstanding goals and ideals on which Council was founded 80 years ago.

“It is not always for us to finish the task, but we must not desist from attempting it.”

Women in Our Headlines:Malvina Melinek's View from AustraliaMalvina Melinek's View from Australia

The ICJW Executive recently met in Stockholm, Sweden, and took the opportunity to catch up with its local affiliate, the Jewish Women’s Club. Its Chairperson, Vivianne Nisell, introduced the visiting delegates to the Jewish community in Stockholm, in which the JWC plays an important role.

It was founded in 1931, by active women in Stockholm who wanted to gather Jewish women together in order to enlighten them about Jewish life, as well as giving financial assistance to needy women and children. There have been Jews in Sweden since they were given permission to settle there in 1775. They are an active minority in Swedish society, and, in 1999, the Swedish Parliament, Riksdagen, decided that Jews should be acknowledged as one of five national minorities in Sweden. This policy is designed to protect the country’s various ethnic minorities, giving them greater influence on issues of concern, and helping to keep their historical languages alive.

The Jewish Community of Stockholm is a united community, accommodating all members regardless of their religious affiliation or interests. Unfortunately, its membership is declining, perhaps partly due to their high membership fees, but the number of members of the Jewish Women’s Club has grown during the past year, and they have increased their social and cultural activities. They arrange visits to museums, lectures on topical subjects, excursions to places of cultural interest, and musical gatherings twice each month. The Club’s programmes on Shabbat, featuring a Seudat Shlishit meal, lecture and Havdala ceremony, are particularly popular.

The Jewish Women’s Club assists a number of young female students each year with scholarships, as well as giving financial assistance to the Jewish summer camp, the Jewish school and day care center, and other projects of Jewish interest. The Jewish home for the aged also receives considerable support from the JWC, who arrange weekly events for the residents as well as arranging a Kiddush after Shabbat services.

The JWC recently celebrated its 75th anniversary with a festive dinner for a hundred guests in the Assembly Hall in the community building. They also ran a seminar with the theme “Tradition and Renewal – How our Jewish Life has Changed,” featuring women from three different generations. They discussed the pressing problem of Jewish continuity in Sweden, where the number of intermarriages is increasing, and where it is not always clear how to continue to keep the Jewish traditions. It is, however, clear that the Jewish Women’s Club is playing its part in supporting all aspects of Jewish communal life in Sweden, for young and old.

Affiliate Close-Up: Update from SwedenUpdate from Sweden

An emergency email on the eve of Passover led me to investigate Cuba’s renascent Jewish community. As ICJW webmaster, I received an urgent message from a woman whose mother was once involved with ICJW, requesting assistance for her son. He was stranded in Havana, Cuba, and looking for a Pesach Seder meal.

Since the Communist Revolution in 1959, there have been restrictions on Jewish life in Cuba, but, in 1991, a law was passed permitting religious association. Since then, the community has been rebuilt by the 10 percent of the Jewish population who did not flee in the 1960s, with help from the U.S. Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and, in November 2006, they celebrated their 100th Anniversary.

Mirta Goldflus, chairperson of the Latin American Region of ICJW, attended the celebratory events on behalf of ICJW. She was impressed by the dynamic and flourishing community of 400 families, totaling 1400 Jews, with their own branches of B’nai B’rith and ORT, a senior citizens club (Simja), a Sunday school for children and adults, a Maccabi youth club, and an active ICJW affiliate: Asociacion Femenina de Cuba, headed by its President Dr. Rosa Behar. She also met Lourdes Albo, coordinator of the Simja club and a valuable member of the Asociacion Femenina, who is the director of a new oral history website project preserving the histories of senior members of the community (www.hoj.cuba.org).

Today there are three synagogues in Havana that survived the Revolution; an Orthodox, Conservative, and Sephardic. Despite restrictions on importing goods to Cuba, the JDC has helped by sending in rabbis and delegations of volunteers, bringing in kosher commodities and healthcare supplies. The medicines are distributed free of charge to those in need--both Jews and non-Jews--by Dr. Rosa Behar and her daughter Rebecca, who run the Jewish community pharmacy in Havana.

One of the most interesting sites that Mirta visited was the Hotel Raquel in the former Jewish quarter of Havana. Built in 1905, and decorated in the best art deco style, this building once witnessed the intense Jewish life in Cuba. It has recently been totally refurbished and was reopened to guests in 2003. At the entrance there is a great stone from Jerusalem, and each room has a biblical name written in Hebrew. Its beautiful dome skylight can be seen from the Garden of Eden restaurant, where Jewish food is served, next to the Le Chaim Bar. Our travellers were indeed invited to a Seder meal in Havana, where they found a community with a strong sense of Jewish commitment to its future as well as to its history. Today we can truly say “Am Israel Be Cuba Jai Leolam!”

Sarah Manning, ICJW Webmaster

Mirta Goldflus, ICJW Latin American Regional Chairperson, and Dr. Rosa Behar, President of Asociacion Femenina de Cuba, with the Jerusalem Stone in front of Hotel Raquel.

Affiliate Close-Up: Jewish Life in Cuba

The local Jewish museum is often a must-see when Jewish people travel around the world. We seem to have an insatiable curiosity for Jewish “micro-history,” wanting to know how our ancestors lived and died. Did their candlesticks look like the ones my grandmother gave me, or will I find a familiar name or face peering back at me from behind the glass of memory?

In some countries Jewish museums are maintained as monuments to lost communities. Many set out to explain Jewish culture to others by focusing on major historical events or on the more mundane, domestic details which bring the past to life. The ICJW website showcases various Jewish museums around the world, with information contributed by our members. This feature is worth checking out before you travel, but there are also many online “virtual” museums that can be visited at leisure, while sitting at the computer with your feet up! Here is a small selection to get you started.

The Jewish Museum in New York offers a range of online exhibitions that demonstrate the flexibility of digital media. Rather than presenting a series of images and texts, each exhibition encourages the visitor to click at will and explore different aspects of the displays. The “Entertaining America” exhibition about Jews in media and broadcasting from 2003 is still available online, and their thought-provoking exhibit of contemporary photography from Israel loses nothing when viewed on the small screen.

The museum’s newest web event--“Making Connections in Art and Jewish Culture”--features an eclectic mixture of items and displays, including some which are not on permanent display. Utilising the technology to the maximum, they are arranged simultaneously from three different perspectives--Acculturation, Interpretation, and Text and Commentary--with options to explore the exhibits along different routes according to any of these three themes, or to flick from one to the other, all without getting sore feet: www.thejewishmuseum.org

The online exhibition “Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution” has been compiled from the Jewish Women’s Archive, and it provides an interesting and diverse collection of personal memories and artefacts. Documenting Jewish women’s involvement in the feminist movement since 1963, it also includes political, cultural, and religious milestones up until 1999. The exhibition only focuses on the American Jewish experience, and I wish I could tell you that ICJW women were represented, but sadly not. Perhaps that is something for one of our readers to address!www.jwa.org/feminism.

The Greek Jewish community of Rhodes has made its fascinating museum available online at www.rhodesjewishmuseum.org, complete with recipes, music recordings, epitaphs from the Jewish cemetery, and diverse community and family photographs. The Museum was reopened in 2006 in the Kahal Shalom synagogue, in the rooms formerly used for women's prayer. Their gem of a website really brings to life the Jewish history of the Rhodeslis, as the island’s occupants are known.

The opportunity to explore Jewish museums online has to be the best way to travel through time and space. Happy surfing!

Click on the Cultural Exchange section of the ICJW website for more Jewish museums, and please send us details of any that we have not included.any that we have not included.any that we have not included

Global View:Virtually Visiting Jewish MuseumsVirtually Visiting Jewish Museums

News Round-Up

New ICJW Brochure

The new ICJW brochure is printed and available. This is a corporate-style brochure, which has been written and designed for distribution to important contacts in communities and other organisations who need to understand what ICJW is and what we do. This stands alongside the member brochure, which sets out the advantages of joining an ICJW affiliate organization. To order copies of either brochure, contact esther@icjw.org.

September 2007September 2 Day of Jewish Culture in Europe September 8 International Literacy Day (UNESCO)

October 2007 October 21-22 ICJW Administrative Meeting in Israel

November 2007November 19 World Day for Prevention of Child AbuseICJW has joined the international coalition campaigning on this important issue.

December 2007December 1 World Aids Day December 3 International Day of Disabled Persons December 10 Human Rights Day December 18 International Migrants Day

September 2007

November 19 World Day for Prevention of Child

ICJW Forthcoming Events Calendar

ICJW Website Update

The ICJW website (www.icjw.org) has been substantially redesigned, and new content pages are added all the time. Affiliates are invited to send information for inclusion on the site so that ICJW members can read about what is happening around the world. The new Jewish Education section includes not only the Jewish Heritage study sheets of ICJW’s Interactive Jewish Education Program but also new sections on Jewish educators, food and cultural history, and Divrei Torah on topical Jewish issues.

The project is coordinated by ICJW Jewish Education Committee Chairpersons, Dr. Zehavit Gross and Ana Lebl. Zehavit explains: “We are inviting women from around the world to share their thoughts and suggestions for the Jewish Education section of the website, and also to send us recipes which they have collected or inherited. We plan to include the recipes together with the story behind the food, so that we can build a fascinating on-line library of cultural history. Suggestions for interesting websites which cover issues of concern to women about Judaism would also be welcomed.”

Please send any suggestions you have for the ICJW website, and any material for inclusion to contact@icjw.org.