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Paula Hyman That Won a National Jewish Book Award

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Paula Hyman That Won a National Jewish Book Award PAUL A HYMAN (1946–2011) At the Center of Change by rachel kranson !TTHETIMEOFHERDEATHIN$ECEMBER 0AULA(YMANWASTHE,UCY-OSES0ROFESSOROF-ODERN*EWISH(ISTORY AT9ALE5NIVERSITY3HEHADBEENTHEFIRSTFEMALEDEANOFTHE!LBERT!,IST#OLLEGEOFTHE*EWISH4HEOLOGICAL 3EMINARY THEFIRSTWOMANPRESIDENTOFTHE!MERICAN!CADEMYFOR*EWISH2ESEARCH ANDCO FOUNDEROFTHEGER- MINAL*EWISHFEMINISTGROUPOFTHES %ZRAT.ASHIM7HILESTILLAGRADUATESTUDENT SHEAUTHOREDWHATMAY have been the first social history of Jewish women, The Jewish Woman in America [1976], and then proceeded to transform the way that Jewish scholars think of such basic historical paradigms as assimilation and acculturation BYVIEWINGTHESEPHENOMENATHROUGHTHELENSOFGENDER3EEHERBIBLIOGRAPHYATLilith.org.) -OSTOFTHE*EWISHGIRLSBORNIN!MERICATODAYWILLTAKEITFORGRANTEDTHATWOMENCANBERABBIS COUNT in a minyan, and read from the Torah. And Jewish historians being trained today are called to task when THEYDONOTTAKEGENDERINTOACCOUNT0AULA(YMANWASAT the forefront of the religious and intellectual struggles that GENERATEDTHESECHANGES(ERINFLUENCEEXTENDEDBOTHINTO the academy and far beyond it, affecting the lives of Jewish females in schools and congregations in ways of which many are still unaware. The reflections that follow give some glimpses into her LEGACY ANDTHEEXTRAORDINARYWAYSINWHICHSHESHAPEDTHE Jewish feminist world we live in today. Rachel Kranson teaches in the religious studies faculty at the University of amy stone amy Pittsburgh. She is co-editor of !*EWISH&EMININE-YSTIQUE*EWISH7OMENIN Hyman and her daughter Judith Rosenbaum, 2010. Postwar America (2010) and a contributing editor at Lilith. undergraduate major concentration). One Paula and I were both regular attend- Martha Ackelsberg semester, we actually took all four of our EES AT &RIDAY NIGHT DINNERS AND SERVICES classes together — and this without any AT (ILLEL AND ALSO AT #ONSERVATIVE SER- aula and I first met early in our ADVANCEPLANNINGORCOORDINATION VICES ON 3HABBAT MORNINGS "UT DESPITE freshman year at Radcliffe — prob- I would say that it was probably in THEPRODDINGSOF2ABBI"EN:ION'OLD P ably during the first week, ANDTHROUGH(ARVARD(ILLELTHATWECAME DIRECTOROF(ILLELATTHETIME BOTHOFUS although I cannot remember for sure. to be close friends — and, probably not hesitated to take on the honor of leading Really, I cannot remember not know- coincidentally, began to develop at least services, because we fully accepted the ing Paula once we were at college. an initial feminist consciousness. Paula view, dominant at the time, that leading 3OMEHOW WE ALMOST ALWAYS FOUND OUR- AND ) WERE BOTH PRODUCTS OF *UDAISMS SERVICES WAS hMENSv ROLE ) REMEMBER selves doing the same things, in the #ONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT WE GREW UP IN VERYCLEARLY HOWEVER ANIMPORTANThCLICKv same places —(ARVARD (ILLEL 0HILLIPS synagogues that educated girls and boys moment, when I was sitting with Paula at "ROOKS (OUSE THE SOCIAL SERVICE ORGA- together, but did not count women in SERVICESONEITHER2OSH(ASHANAHOR9OM NIZATION THE #OMMITTEE ON $EGREES IN a minyan, and did not allow girls to be +IPPUR)BELIEVEITMAYHAVEBEENDURING 3OCIAL 3TUDIES A SMALL INTERDISCIPLINARY CALLEDFORANALIYAHASABATMITZVAH our sophomore year). A fellow student 24 LILITH s Spring 2012 (male, of course) was leading the daven- SOME CALLED THAT INSISTENCE hDIVISIVEv 3O uncompromising in her view that it would ING NOT VERY EXPERTLY AND 0AULA TURNED FOREXAMPLE WHENAGROUPOF9ALESTUDENTS be utterly unacceptable for a gathering of TOMEANDSAIDh7ECOULDDOBETTERTHAN (many of whom had studied with Paula) WOMEN NOT TO CONSIDER OURSELVES A PAUL A HYMAN THATv&ORBOTHOFUS THATTURNEDOUTTO ORGANIZEDACONFERENCEONh*EWISH7OMEN minyan. The decision we reached, which be the first, cautious step in an awaken- AND &REEDOMv IN !PRIL OF AND WAS ACCEPTABLE TO THE /RTHODOX WOMEN ing Jewish-feminist consciousness: before INCLUDED ON THE PROGRAM A &RIDAY NIGHT present, was that there would be a full (1946–2011) the end of that academic year, we were service in which the hundreds of women SERVICEANDTHAT/RTHODOXWOMENWOULD both taking regular turns leading the present would not constitute a minyan (the simply not respond to bor’chu or kaddish. congregation in prayer. Needless to say, QUORUMNECESSARYFOR*EWISHPRAYER 0AULA 7OMEN CALLED TO THE4ORAH COULD RECITE the foundations of Judaism did not come TUMBLINGDOWN Paula and I continued our feminist EXPLORATIONSTOGETHERIN.EW9ORK AFTER She was one of the most fearless people I have we started graduate school — I at Princeton ANDSHEAT#OLUMBIA7EBECAMEPARTOF ever known. I remember going to a panel on a feminist consciousness-raising group modern Jewish history. Everyone paid hom- made up of wives of medical students, and spent many hours sharing stories and age to the “great minds” and she said, “I didn’t developing a more systematic analysis of the difficulties we were confronting in our think they were great minds; they never wrote lives and relationships. about women.” And it was breathtaking. Not surprisingly, then, when — as a MEMBER OF THE .EW 9ORK (AVURAH— I Riv-Ellen Prell HELPEDTOORGANIZEACLASSONhWOMENAND *UDAISM v0AULAWASONEOFTHEFIRSTPEOPLE WEINVITEDTOJOIN(ERENERGYANDENTHU- siasm — as well as her deep knowledge of HELPEDTOORGANIZERESISTANCE INSISTINGTHAT whole or partial blessings as they wished. and commitment to Judaism — were criti- THEEGALITARIANGOALSFORWHICHSHEWEHAD !S)RECALL 0AULAREADFROMTHE4ORAH&OR cal to the group. Although we began with fought for so long should not be dismissed the vast majority of people present, it was the simple goal of educating ourselves ORIGNORED EVENINTHENAMEOFhINCLUDINGv the first time we had ever heard a woman about Jewish sources on the status of /RTHODOX*EWISHWOMEN read Torah. WOMEN WEEVENTUALLYCAMETOREALIZETHAT )SPENTTHEFOLLOWING2OSH(ASHANAH Martha Ackelsberg is the William R. Kenan, we needed to take action to try to change Jr., Professor of Government and of the Study WITH THE .EW 9ORK (AVURAH 0AULA WAS the actual situation of Jewish women. of Women and Gender at Smith College. She is eight months pregnant. I can still picture 7E TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY OFFERED BY THE author of, among other works, &REE7OMENOF so clearly the way she carried the baby ANNUAL MEETING OF THE #ONSERVATIVE 3PAIN!NARCHISMANDTHE3TRUGGLEFORTHE in the straight-out-in-front way that led MOVEMENTS 2ABBINICAL!SSEMBLYATTHE %MANCIPATION OF 7OMEN and of Resisting people to say she was carrying a boy. #ONCORD(OTELIN-ARCHOFTOGIVE #ITIZENSHIP &EMINIST %SSAYS ON 0OLITICS !LWAYS OVERTURNING EXPECTATIONS 0AULA ourselves a name —%ZRAT .ASHIM WE #OMMUNITYAND$EMOCRACY. HADAGIRL *UDITH2OSENBAUM !T0AULAS took this because it referred to the wom- prompting, I was given an aliyah — my ENS SECTION IN THE ANCIENT TEMPLE BUT first — and afterwards she congratulated LITERALLY ITMEANShHELPFORWOMENv — and MEONMYBATMITZVAH to present a set of demands: “Jewish 7HENTHE*EWISH4HEOLOGICAL3EMINARY 7OMEN #ALL FOR #HANGEv !MONG THE Judith Plaskow decided in 1983 to admit women into the changes called for in that document were MET0AULA(YMANATTHEFIRSTNATION- RABBINICALSCHOOL AGROUPOF%ZRAT.ASHIM access by women to institutions of Jewish AL *EWISH &EMINIST #ONFERENCE members went out to dinner to celebrate. higher learning, including rabbinical and I IN .EW 9ORK #ITY IN !FTER There, I remember Paula saying that her cantorial schools; counting of women in a the opening sessions, several members MEMBERSHIP IN %ZRAT .ASHIM WAS VERY minyan; full membership in Jewish com- OF %ZRAT .ASHIM WENT TO A HOTEL ROOM important to her as a historian because MUNAL ORGANIZATIONS ABILITY TO BE HEARD TO DISCUSS HOW TO HANDLE THE QUESTION IT MADE HER REALIZE THAT SMALL GROUPS OF as witnesses in courts of Jewish law and of whether women could make up a people really could make history. to initiate divorce…(the full document is VALID MINYAN AT 3HABBAT SERVICES THE Judith Plaskow is professor emerita of religious AVAILABLEAT,ILITHORG 0AULAWASONEOF NEXTMORNING)WASPARTOFTHEPASSION- studies at Manhattan College, a Jewish femi- THEGROUPSMAINSPOKESPERSONS ate conversation about how we could nist theologian, and co-founder of the Journal of Paula never suffered fools gladly, and function as a minyan at a conference Feminist Studies in Religion. Her best-known DID NOT MINCE WORDS 3HE INSISTED ON WITH BOTH /RTHODOX AND NON /RTHODOX book is 3TANDING !GAIN AT 3INAI *UDAISM WOMENS EQUALITY EVEN IN CONTEXTS WHERE participants. Paula, like others of us, was FROMA&EMINIST0ERSPECTIVE. www.Lilith.org s LILITH 25 Once Paula supported a cause, a move- Alice Shalvi Keren McGinity ment, or a principle, she was unshakeable. ,IKEWISE WHENSHEBELIEVEDINSOMEONE he first time I met Paula was in hen I saw Paula at the she never wavered, though privately she WHENWEWEREBOTHAMONG !SSOCIATIONFOR*EWISH would always tell people what she felt they T the participants at a conference on 7 3TUDIES CONFERENCE IN NEEDEDTOHEAR7HENTIMESWERETOUGH GENDERAND*UDAISMAT/HIO3TATE5NIVERSITY Boston I asked her to inscribe a copy of and even when she did not agree with my )TSOHAPPENEDTHAT2OSH(ODESHFELLONTHE Gender and Jewish History which I had just decisions, Paula remained in my corner. second day of the conference. I suggested we PURCHASED3HEWROTEh4O+EREN 4HANK Beth S. Wenger is Professor of History at the HAVEAWOMENSTEFILAAND TOMYASTONISH- you for bringing our work further. All the University of Pennsylvania and director of ment, within 10 minutes everything was BEST 0AULAv4HESEWORDSSIMULTANEOUSLY its Jewish Studies program. Her books include (ISTORY,ESSONS4HE#REATIONOF!MERICAN *EWISH(ERITAGEAND4HE*EWISH!MERICANS
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