Jael Botsch-Fitterling

Dayenu – Enough is Enough

[German]

Step by step, we women are managing, three thousand years after King David, to bring women’s rights up to par with real living conditions, to eke out the same rights, even if we repeatedly suffer setbacks. In this year’s election for representatives to the parliament of Berlin’s Jewish community, of a total of 62 candidates only four women were elected. And even when only one woman is in the executive and another is in the presidium of the parliament, the significance of women in these groups is increasing continually. So it’s no wonder men are trying to put a damper on things.

As space for families has evolved from housing large enough to accommodate an extended family to a unit that will fit in a standardised three room flat, the myth of the woman as the one who tends of the home and hearth has faded. Reality demands self-confident, emancipated women, who are willing, able and do assume responsibility and competence in the shaping of all aspects of their lives.

Those who know Ivrit know grammatically masculine forms include and certainly do not exclude feminine agents. Dayenu!!! – It’s enough that men interpret Mitzvot [Jewish comandments], etc. to suit their interests. The time is ripe for women to step in and pursue theirs. We women also know what our Torah says about the rights and duties of people in general: the laws, Mitzvot that are to be obeyed by men do not automatically engender bans for women. In this sense and in the tradition of the pre-war community in Berlin, I wish this conference a great deal of fighting spirit, with Rabbi Regina Jonas as a model.

Women of Bet Debora,
you’re on the right road
to making the vision,
of equal rights and obligations
for men and women into reality,
not only in the secular world,
but also in the area of religious services.

I wish you much success
that will benefit the daughters of our people.

Be strong and courageous, daughters of Israel!

(Excerpts from Jael Botsch-Fitterling’s welcoming speech to open the conference)

Jael Botsch-Fitterling is a member of the presidium of the parliament of the Jewish Community in Berlin.