There are women, too
VThe Jewish Women’s Archive, a phenomenal resource of information about Jewish women in all arenas, recently launched the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopaedia of Jewish Women (named after Jewish feminists and pioneers Alice and Moshe Shalvi and Paula E Hyman). The thousands of entries in the encyclopaedia were collected over the course of four years, and the 60-person-strong international editorial board, under the editorship of Jenny Sartori, PhD, worked to make sure they represented current scholarship and the ‘breadth and diversity of Jewish women’s contributions throughout history.’ My own contribution is on twenty-firstcentury Jewish literature by women in the US.
Imagine my shock to see this immense compendium of Jewish women’s achievements drop at the same time that the JC published Dominic Green’s recent column (Assimilated into dullness, 25 June) 2021), which disappears women more effectively than Charedi publications.
Green’s article begins by lamenting the lost era of Jewish
greats in music (Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Richman, Lou Reed, Joey Ramone, Malcolm MacLaren, Bob Dylan) and literature (Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud). It claims “the most prominent Jewish contributions to American life in recent years have come from Roger Madoff and Jeffrey Epstein” (that’s Bernard Madoff, actually, and — gross), and then goes on to disparage contemporary writers Joshua Cohen (The Netanyahus), Jonathan Safran Foer. Among the men (all men) making claims about Jewish culture in this article — Dominic Green, Steven Beeber, Benjamin Kerstein, and Ben Judah — not a mention is made of women. Not one.
In the twenty-first century, Jewish women have been making incredible contributions to Jewish and American culture. Rachel Kadish’s The Weight of Ink (2017), a work of historical fiction that imagines the life of a Sephardic woman in London’s 17th-century Jewish community, is one of the most creative and illuminating novels I’ve read in decades. Dara Horn’s entire oeuvre dazzles; she explores a vast range of histories and issues from the Roman era, to Jewish art, Solomon Schechter’s discovery of the Cairo genizah, the American civil war, and our contemporary relationship to technology.
In television, Jenji Kohan (Orange is the New Black, Glow) has proved one of the most versatile American writers and producers; non-binary Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) have also made outstanding contributions. In comedy, women like Amy Schumer, Ilana Glazer, Tiffany Haddish, and Sarah Silverman are making us — and not at the expense of women, as in the male-dominated comedy landscape of old. Today, Jewish women are absolutely at the forefront of American culture.
I’m sorry (not sorry) to learn that Dominic Green thinks that
American Jewry has been assimilated into dullness. I disagree. But perhaps someone should introduce the man to the 50% of the population he’s clearly unaware of; I suspect he’ll find a few unassimilated, and pretty damn brilliant, gems.
Dr Karen E H Skinazi
Senior Lecturer University of Bristol