Editorial
"The roads were abandoned;
travellers took to winding paths.
Village life in Israel ceased,
ceased until you, Debora, arose."
"Debora will be all right" - she
was a judge, she was a prophetess, she was a military leader. But do we
consider ourselves her "daughters" or rather her "sisters"? Rachel had just
suggested to name our conference "Debora’s Daughters". But why are women so
inclined to name themselves in terms of biological lines? Our issue - isn’t
it much more comprehensive? What is it all about: isn’t it the spirit,
disciples, a school, a place we intend to create? Something like the School
of Hillel? - "Bet Debora!" Rachel exclaimed, and that was it: a "Bet", a
house, a place of encounter and of learning. A spiritual centre that will
transmit new ideas to the outside world.
Three women, sitting at a big table
buried under piles of paper, we were pondering the future features of a
forum for European "rabbinically scholared and interested "Jewish women.
When we spoke about confining ourselves to Europe, a number of people
objected: "Well, you will hardly find any women rabbis there, maybe a couple
of them in England and then, in Oldenburg, Bea Wyler. You should invite
lecturers from America and Israel." But that was definitely what we did not
want to do. Not again did we want to model ourselves on situations abroad
and we did not want to be lectured by Jews from the USA or Israel about what
our Judaism was to look like. We had set up our own structures long ago,
hadn’t we? And this was not only about us, but also about lots of Jewish men
and women in other European countries.
We are three women living in Germany,
in the country that was mostly not foreseen ever to give rise to an
authentic Jewish life again. We grew up aware of this fact. In spite of all
the different experiences the three of us brought along, there was a
deeply-felt unanimity in one thing: we were tired of being told time and
again about what was lacking in this place, what was assumed to be
impossible in this place because we had lost knowledge of our tradition. We
were tired of pitying ourselves. We wanted to do something. Each of us had
learned, had acquired Jewish knowledge, each had tackled her own fragmentary
Jewish family history; a painful task, leading, however, to one result: here
we are and here we will stay for good. And here we live our lives as women
committed to feminism.
What about our conceptions of Bet
Debora? No hierarchy, no competition, no majority decisions! Everyone has
something to give. That is how we had experienced our preparatory team-work:
each of us had the chance of contributing her style, her knowledge and her
wishes. We benefited and learned from each other. That was our wish for "Bet
Debora", too. So we invited European women rabbis, cantors, rabbinical
scholars and Jewish women and men with interest in rabbinical matters for a
first conference in Berlin. For four days in May 1999, the historical site
of the former "New Synagogue" in the Oranienburger Strasse would bear the
hallmarks of a new era.
The articles in this journal give
examples of the diversity and vivacity of our conference, which was attended
by 200 men and women. The journal will be issued in three languages, German,
English and Russian. It is more than just a kind of conference proceedings.
Apart from excerpts from the speeches and descriptions of the workshops,
there are essays, reflexions and interviews. It meant a lot to us to let the
participants also have their say. We were overwhelmed by the number of texts
we received. Unfortunately, printing space is limited. We were compelled to
abridge almost all articles in order to be able to edit them. The complete
versions and everything we will receive in addition will be found on our Bet
Debora homepage in the net (http://www.hagalil.com/bet-debora).
So, Bet Debora will go on! Besides
our homepage and this first journal, we take measures to found our own
library with an integrated archive. We collect any written testimony, either
in print or hand-written, in order to provide evidence of the lives and work
of Jewish women. We have that dream of our own Bet Hamidrash, combined with
a publishing house. In any case, we want to contribute to the creation of a
European Jewish women’s network.
We are planning another big meeting
in spring 2001, where we are going to raise questions concerning the
"Family" topic from a women’s point of view, such as: Is the family still
the foundation of Jewish life and who belongs to it? What about singles,
lesbian couples, children of Jewish fathers or single parents? In which way
will the present-day diversity of life-styles change Judaism and its further
development? We are looking forward to all kinds of suggestions, via mail,
phone, net or fax.
Reactions to this journal are welcome
as well and may cause further discussions. We have the Federal Ministry of
Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Juveniles, especially Anna-Gertraude
Schmidt and Gudrun Dölling, to thank for financing this journal. We have
Gabi Burke and Judith Kessler to thank for their unflagging efforts
regarding the layout. We have all authors to thank for their articles and
all translators for the great job they had to do in almost no time. Last but
not least, we have all our friends, men and women, to thank for their
encouragement and their spiritual support.
Rachel
Monika Herweg
Lara
Dämmig
Elisa
Klapheck
[CONTENT
BET-DEBORA JOURNAL]
[photo-exhibition]
- [program] - [reactions]
[history of women in the rabbinate]
- [women on the bima]
[start in german] - [start
in english]
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