Being sick and being Jewish: a special section on healing. What’s your name? Birth name? Married name? Yiddish name? Creating a feminist pantheon of Jewish feminist scholars.
Table of contents Get the issueIt turns out that Woody Allen didn’t invent anhedonia. For Jewish immigrants in America, happiness was just not seen as a legitimate goal in life. Lilith's back page on women’s history—"The Way We Were"—asks what happened when the American ideal of romantic love and matinee idols clashed with the realities of sour tenement lives.
Genesis is in. Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and yes, even Lilith, are popping up in every new book. Everyone and her mother wants to reexamine the compelling story of Genesis. PBS... Read more »
Who are the pillars of present-day Jewish feminist scholarship? And what do these women-and the "pioneer scholars" of the 1970s and 1980s say about Jewish women’s studies )and about each other) as we approach the year 2000. A LILITH 20th anniversary review.
Judith Helfand lost her reproductive system at 25 thanks to the "wonder drug" her mother took while pregnant. As "A Healthy Baby Girl"—Helfand’s startling film about being a DES daughter—heads to the Sundance Festival, Helfand talks about her mom, her politics and the community of filmmakers who’ve helped her heal.
"Everywhere I read that we are created in God’s image. What about me? Does God also walk with crutches, have difficulty breathing? Why did God do such a lousy job with my body?" One professor asks the questions; Rachel Naomi Remen and Rabbi Shoni Labovitz offer partial answers.
AVERTING DEATH When I was 15 years old, my mother died. She was 46. At that time, my aunt told me, “your grandmother and great grandmother also died at age... Read more »
Each of us has a name,given to us by God,and given to us by our fatherand mother.Each of us has a name,given to us by our statureand our way of... Read more »
When my partner and I decided to have our commitment ceremony, we were thinking of how to create a family unit. Traditionally in Judaism, when a couple marries they choose... Read more »
My name is SEENA CANDY SWEET No, really, seriously, that’s my name. It’s on my birth certificate. It’s not made up. No, I’m not a stripper, either. It” not Tina,... Read more »
Karen Hillary Rosenstein. A child writes out her name when she first begins to label her work in school and examines that name for what it is: a newly formed... Read more »
“Your name is Phyllis,” Miss K greeted me that September morning, my first day at school. Mama had reassured me that this was the public school’s kindergarten, so as far... Read more »
My legal first name is Esther, but the actual name on my birth certificate was Estera. An anonymous immigration officer Anglicized my name when I arrived in the United States... Read more »
When my son told me that he wanted to take on his bride’s last name, I heard myself say, “No!” How, I asked, could he simply renounce who he was,... Read more »
My father’s name is Kantrowitz. He changed it to Kaye in 1942. At the dyke bar in Portland I tell my best Jewish friend that I’m thinking about taking back... Read more »
I am living in Rabat, Morocco, a place where I allow myself to be Rachelle instead of Rachel. It has a musical ring to it when my boyfriend and his... Read more »
I was the seventh child in my family. My parents were all out of names. Everyone who needed someone named after them had been appeased. The story goes that it... Read more »
My whole life—as a poet, and even before I knew that I would be a poet—I have been fascinated with names. I grew up in a small Missouri town and... Read more »
My name usually evokes comment. “Mara? How is that spelled?” often I am asked what my name means or what language it is. “In Tibetan Buddhism, ‘Mara’ is an evil... Read more »
My name is Troim, a Yiddish word that means a dream of hope, an ideal. The word is often used in Yiddish poetry. My father frequently introduced me this way:... Read more »
I was named Sureh Henya for my mother’s sister who died of cancer just before I was born, but was called Sureh Henya only when teased. Henya rhymes with zshmmya... Read more »
As I studied Judaism in preparation for conversion, the name I’d always loved began to itch and not fit very well. Kristin, you see, is sometimes pronounced “Christian.” Even when... Read more »
When I married, neither my spouse to be nor I wanted to take the other person’s last name as our own, nor did we want to hyphenate, and yet we... Read more »
RACISM OBSCURED I felt your article on children of black and Jewish parents was very important, and that is why I was grateful to be interviewed by you for this... Read more »
