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“Bad Fathers and Good Mothers of the Bible” and “Millenarian Motherhood: Meanings, Motives and Practices in African Hebrew Israelite Community” are two essays on Jewish motherhood in the forthcoming fall issue of Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Issues published by the International Research Institute on Jewish Women at Brandeis University (founded in 1997 by Hadassah) and the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Subscriptions: $25 ($20 students); single copies: $15 from: IRIJW, Lown 300A, MS 079, Waltham. MA 02254-9110; fax: (781) 736-2070; lRlJW@brandeis.edu or Schechter Institute, P.O. Box 8600, 91083 Jerusalem, Israel; fax (972-2) 679-0840; dvorahg@iol.co.il

Quilted midrashim were created by fabric artist Elizheva R. Hurwich as a fundraiser for Bat Kol, A Feminist House of Study now offering its third summer of feminist text study in Jerusalem, with teachers including Judith Plaskow, Leah Shakdiel and Naamah Kelman. Four different colorful note cards recreate the quilts and help sustain the program. 12 cards for $15, payable to the Shefa Fund. Send to Bat Kol: A Feminist House of Study, P.O. Box 4047, Philadelphia, PA 19118; (215) 844-8425; batkol@batkol.org

Are You a Jewish Woman of Color? A special issue of Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends wants your unpublished essays, narratives, fiction, poetry, reviews and art. How do you incorporate diverse identities, diverse genealogies and histories? Editors are looking for work “created from outside of a victimization stance.” How has your family’s identity shifted over generations? How do you and other Jewish women of color enact Jewishness—through ritual and community and as a political stance in given situations? Submit up to 35 pages of prose or 10 poems, in duplicate with a brief bio by June 30 to: Clare Kinberg, Bridges, PO Box 24839, Eugene, OR 97402; phone/fax (541) 343-7617; ckinberg@pond.net; http://www.pond.net/~ckinberg/bridges.

The traditional Hebrew formulation beginning the grace after meals welcomes only men. Women can use a seder zimmun for women to lead each other in these blessings—gvirotai nevarech—that was created for the February 1999 conference “Courage to Be Modern and Orthodox” For a bat mitzvah celebration, a wedding shower, or other occasion you can request copies from: Edah, 47 W. 34th St., #700, New York, NY 10001; (212) 244-7501.

Another kind of broth for the Jewish Women’s Soul—for a proposed anthology, inspired by a rosh hodesh group in California, send short essays and poetry on inspirational Jewish women’s themes to Robin C. Westmiller, 1321 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. #102, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362: fax: (805) 373- 0597: robin@westmiller.com

A Newsletter of the Israel Association for Feminist and Gender Studies to be sent through the internet is being prepared by Dafna Lemish and Sharon Halevi. Debuting in June, it will list lectures, conferences, news of promotions, awards and offer reviews of recent publications. Contact: kidma@psy.haifa.ac.il

Afterword, a new Canadian national Jewish student newspaper appears five times a year and joins other Canadian Jewish student publications such as After the Flood, Bleu et Blanc, CybersPiel, and Grape Juice. Recent articles: “Is Homer Simpson Jewish?” and “When a Sibling Interdates.” Afterword, 44 Reindeer Rd, Toronto, Ontario M3H 2L2: (416) 631-8053: 71562.400@compuserve.com

The mimeographed study sheets, gilyonot—with discussions on the weekly Torah portion—of late great Israeli Bible teacher Nehama Leibowitz, are now available as pamphlets, free of charge, on line, in Hebrew, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or German. Rabbi Arnold Samlan, Jewish National Fund, 42 E. 69th St., NY, NY 10021; (212)879-9305 x264; fax (212) 517-3293; jnfed@aol.com

FRIENDLY SETTINGS

Does your shul or temple ignore its seniors? “Help Opportunities, and Programs for Jewish Elders: An Action Guide for Synagogues” is an amazing compendium of creative programs and suggestions. Want to learn how to train volunteers as “friendly visitors” in nursing homes?

SYNAGOGUE HOPE How to create a telephone visitation program? Help seniors who are unable to be physically present in synagogue for a family lifecycle event? Find out how in this 140-page publication by Amy Sales, made possible by the Grotta Foundation. $18 from Cohen Center for Modem Jewish Studies, Brandeis University MS 014, Waltham, MA 02454- 9110. (781) 736-2066; fax (781) 736-2070.

The Jerusalem Open House—Ha ‘bait Ha’patuach, the holy city’s first building devoted to gay and lesbian community activities—intends to draw “lesbian settlers from the occupied territories, gay teenagers from area high schools, Haredi Jews from ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods like Me’a She’arim, university students, Arabs from East Jerusalem, and persons of every faith.” Founded in 1997, JOH offers a community information line, religious study and support groups, a youth group, anonymous HIV testing, a speaker’s bureau, and an Amnesty International group working for the human rights of gays and lesbians.The JOH works closely with: KLAF—the lesbian feminist community, www.aquanet.co.il/vip/klaf; The Other 10%—the gay and lesbian student union of the Hebrew University, www.poboxes.com/asiron; and TEHILA—Israeli Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays, www.poboxes.com/tehila. Contact: Jerusalem Open House, 7 Ben Yehuda St. (on the pedestrian mall), 3rd floor, Jerusalem, Israel or mail to P.O. Box 33107, 91037 Jerusalem Israel; phone the Jerusalem Infoline: Tuesdays, 20:00-22:00, (972) 2-537-3906; US coordinator, Hagai Elad, 47 Saint Botolph St., #5, Boston, MA 02116-6454; (617) 247-8420; fax (617) 266-5832; www.poboxes.coin/gayj; gayj@hotmail.com

HeartBridge Center for Loss and Transition is a nondenominational organization dedicated to providing a safe, supportive environment where grieving children, teens and adult family members or caretakers can share the bereavement process and receive coping and life redirection skills. Services are free to families, schools and the community at various locations, and may include the sending of support materials. Tax-deductible contributions are welcome. HeartBridge Center for Loss and Transition, 711 West End Ave. #6LS, New York, NY 10025; (212) 865-6742; fax (212) 865-6635.

ECO WELL BEING

Now here’s a New Year’s Eve idea! A Millennial Embrace on December 31, 1999 will celebrate with a festive human hug of men, women and children around the Dead Sea, dedicated to peace and the conservation of nature for children. Cosponsored by the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Jubillennium Organization, 1 Haomanut St, 42160 South Netanya, P.O. Box 8362, Israel: (972- 9)835-9494: fax (972-9)885- 2068: www.jubillenium.com; info@jubillenium.com

Mercury-Free Moms is a campaign to rid homes, schools and hospitals of the deadly slippery substance—beginning with mercury thermometers. Obtain a free brochure from Health Care Without Harm, P.O. Box 6806 Falls Church, VA 22040: (703) 237-2249: noharm@iatp.org: www.noharm.org or www.sustain.org/hcwh

JEWISH PEACE CORP

Avodah: Jewish Service Corps is a year-long community service program for young Jews who want to work on America’s pressing social problems, combining Jewish study and a communal living experience with jobs at non-profit organizations that fight illiteracy and urban poverty, helping the homeless, and organizing community activists. Rabbi David Rosenn, Avodah, 443 Park Ave. South, 11th fl., New York NY 10016: (212) 545-7759: fax (212) 686-1353.

Active, enthusiastic, flexible, innovative and knowledgeable Jews are sought as volunteers for one year of Jewish outreach service creating cultural and social programs, informal and formal Jewish education, holiday programs, arts & crafts and music with people of all ages, in communities in Bulgaria, India, Morocco or Tunisia. The Jewish Service Corps, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017; (212) 687-6200; fax (212) 370-5467.

The Jewish Volunteer Corps sends catalysts for change—aged 22-65—as computer specialists, small business consultants, public health professionals, teacher trainers and agriculturalists to organizations in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Volunteers may also be involved with Jewish community development and democratization and human rights projects. Placements for one to nine months. American Jewish World Service, 989 Ave of the Americas, 10th fl., New York NY 10018; (800) 889-7146; fax (212) 736-3463.

Contributions for Emergency Relief for Kosovar Refugees may be sent to either the American Jewish World Service or the Amercian Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, addresses above.

TREASURED DISCARDS

Did you replace old Passover haggadahs with new ones this year? Donate your old ones to share with dispersed Jewish communities around the world. Send to Kulanu Haggadah Project, 1217 Edgevale Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20910-1612; (301) 681-5679; kulanu@ubmail.ubalt.edu

EXHIBITS

Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture is a major exhibition examining the life and ideas of the founder of psychoanalysis who has greatly influenced popular culture and our notions of identity, memory, childhood, sexuality and meaning itself. Organized by the Library of Congress in cooperation with the Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna, and the Freud Museum, London. Through September 9 (and traveling later to the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles) at The Jewish Museum., 1109 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10128: (212) 423-3200.

Her Mouth is Full of Wisdom: Women, Religion and Learning, a new exhibit focuses on the background and impact of the past decade’s widespread and still growing revolution in Orthodox women’s studies. Sponsored by the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center for the Study of Women in Judaism and the Leiber Ait Exhibition Center on display through July at Floersheim Museum of Jewish Art and Judaica, Faculty of Jewish Studies Building, Bar llan University (entrance Keren Hayesod St.), Ramat Gan, Israel: call for tour (972-3) 531-8286