Synopsis
Presents brief portraits of more than eighty Jewish women and introduces the historical, social, and cultural backgrounds of the periods during which they lived
Reviews
Grade 7 Up. This updated, expanded, and more user-friendly version of the authors' Written Out of History (Bloch, 1978; o.p.) contains over 80 brief biographies, chronologically arranged. Introductory and background material is provided for each period. Coverage is impressively wide-ranging. Although some figures do not receive full entries, they are mentioned in other entries and listed in the index. Some of the subjects will be well known to readers familiar with Jewish history: Gluckel of Hameln, Dona Gracia Nasi, Rebecca Gratz, Hannah Szenes, Golda Meir, and Betty Friedan. Other entries introduce important but neglected personalities. Several heroines of the Holocaust are profiled. A major theme is women's role in religion. The handsome illustrations include numerous black-and-white photos from various archives and private collections, making this edition more accessible and visually appealing. Like the earlier version, Remarkable Jewish Women does not include contemporary Jewish women in Europe. It also gives less coverage to the Greco-Roman period. However, this update highlights more current figures, placing particular emphasis on female rabbis and Talmudic scholars. Many of the biographies offer role models, although the authors point out that some of the women listed rejected Judaism as a religion and the Jewish community. An excellent and much-needed reference tool.?Libby K. White, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
their price is above rubies Eight lesser-known Jewish women whose work has had great impact get their due in Women of Valor: Stories of Great Jewish Women Who Helped Shape the Twentieth Century by Sheila Segal. From Rose Schneiderman, co-founder of the first union of female workers, to Ida Kaminska, who helped to revive Yiddish theater, the women Segal profiles are inspiring figures for a YA audience. The 65 black-and-white photographs show the women at work. Approximately 80 Jewish women from antiquity to the present are the subjects of Remarkable Jewish Women: Rabbis, Rebels and Other Women from Biblical Times to the Present by Emily Taitz and Sondra Henry. Brief sections profile each subject and also describe the historical and social contexts surrounding their achievements. Black-and-white photos and illustrations, unfortunately, are often grainy.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 7^-12. Spanning the ages from antiquity to modern times, this fascinating collection of minibiographies spotlights Jewish women of achievement. Some are givens, like the biblical Queen Esther, who saved the Jewish people from destruction in Persia more than 2,000 years ago, and Ruth, who stayed with Naomi and became the great-grandmother of King David. Others are more obscure feminists of generations past, such as Lady Mizrahi, who lived in Kurdistan in the early 1500s and whose marriage contract guaranteed that she would study and teach rather than do housework. Among the cameos of more contemporary women are Manya Shochat, whose plan became the model of Israel's kibbutz movement, and Nobel laureate Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, who, in the 1940s, fought sex discrimination and anti-Semitism to get accepted into a U.S. university. Each article reflects the importance of the woman's Jewish heritage in her life, as well as the value of each one's achievements to ongoing Jewish tradition. To be illustrated with photos and art reproductions, this ambitious volume will benefit larger collections of feminism and Judaica. Ellen Mandel
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