|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
Invitation to the Conference:
POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY
from Jewish Women’s Perspectives
The theme of "power" always has been a delicate subject for Jews in the Diaspora. In general, Jews have had limited opportunities to influence the non-Jewish majority. At the same time, Jews have had to fight continuously against the anti-Semitic notion that as Jews they would undermine existing power structures and substitute it with their own "world power." In fact, European Jewish history is a sad testament to centuries of powerlessness, a condition that also typified Jewish identity.
From the perspective of Jewish women, the theme of ‘power’ is even more problematic than in society at large. It goes without saying that many women have an ambivalent relationship to power, in part because they virtually were excluded from positions of power in public life for centuries (exceptions prove the rule).
In Jewish life, there is the added obstacle that women who reached positions of authority and influence were quickly seen as a threat to tradition, supposedly even signifying "the end of Jewry." Many could not imagine Judaism functioning outside the traditional patriarchal framework.
But in a positive sense, ‘power’ is defined first and foremost as the readiness to take on responsibility. Jewish women who have chosen to live in Europe today are faced with the challenge of bringing the Judaism they inherited forward into the future. The task can be fulfilled only through cooperative work toward remodelling Judaism, both in relation to communal issues and to overarching societal issues. In order to fulfil this goal, women must prepare themselves to understand the positive aspects of power.
THEMES
xxxxx•xxxHow
does Jewish tradition relate to the theme of “Women and Power”?
What does the Bible have to say? And how do the rabbinical texts deal
with this question?
xxxxx•xxxHow
does today’s situation appear to committed women in the Jewish community?
In which areas are they politically, religiously, socially or educationally
active? What status do they enjoy?
xxxxx•xxxHow
much control do women have over the definition of Judaism? For example,
how much influence do they have in Jewish educational content? How strongly
do they express themselves on general Jewish themes that affect them directly
as women, for example, human rights, nutritional matters and marriage
rights?
xxxxx•xxxTo
what extent do Jewish women avoid speaking openly with each other? What
roles do competition and solidarity play? Who has the power to define
questions related to Judaism and feminism? What power structures influence
relationships between Jewish women from the east and west?
xxxxx•xxxWhat
do Jewish women bring to society? To what extent do Europe’s new
political conditions present a challenge to Jewish women? Do they bring
their own views to issues such as multi-cultural society, Jewish-Islamic
dialog and immigration policies?
xxxxx•xxxWhat
responsibilities do men bear in the promotion of equality within Judaism?
Lara Dämmig and Elisa Klapheck
Lara Dämmig - co-founder of "Bet Debora" and "Sarah – Hagar“, initiated in the 1990s the Egalitarian Minian of Berlin and a Rosh Chodesh group, author of "Bertha Falkenberg" (in "Mit der Erinnerung leben", 1996), editor of "Prayers of Bertha Pappenheim" (2003)
Elisa Klapheck – at that time editor of "Jewish Berlin" and rabbinical student in the Aleph Rabbinic Program, co-founder of "Bet Debora" and “Sarah - Hagar" in Berlin, author and editor of "Miss Rabbi Jonas. Can a Woman Be a Rabbi?" (2000) and "Prayers of Bertha Pappenheim" (2003)