Elana Sztokman

The latest round of election commercials is particularly depressing....After watching this whole election production, I found myself really jealous of Americans. They had two years of vetting their candidates, of nitpicking every line of every policy platform, of dozens of debates and expert analysis on every significant issue including health care, economics, social policy, education, and yes, foreign affairs and defense. In they end, they now have a leader who is serious, smart, professional, and surrounded by people who worked really hard to get to where they are. What do we get? Two weeks of bad campaigns and it’s anyone’s guess who these people who are supposedly leading us, what they really believe, what they are capable of, whose wisdom they will rely on, and what they intend to do once in power. I feel like our country is being run by accident. Read the rest of this entry →

Every year, Mavoi Satum (lit., the Dead End), helps dozens of agunot and mesuravot get out of their unwanted marriages through a unique combination of legal and social services along with empowerment programs to help women rebuild their lives and their identities. Now it's our turn to do our part. Their annual fundraiser is coming up in February: the 11th annual Supper Quiz coordinated by the tireless and dedicated volunteer, Symma Freedman. Hundreds of homes have participated in this event over the years. Now, Mavoi Satum is looking for more homes to host in 2009. It has minimal effort -- inviting some friends for a night of fun -- but the impact is enormous. Below is an essay by Susie Komar about her experiences with the event. To learn more, contact Symma Freedman at supperquiz@gmail.com

Helping chained women - no trivial matter!

By Susie Komar

What could there be in common between L, a gentle women in her early thirties trapped in an abusive marriage, and a gallery of Jewish sports heroes? Or between T, a young mother of two left with heavy debts after her violent husband left the country, and quotations from cartoon characters?

After watching the first official round of election broadcasts tonight, one thing is clear: a true Israeli is a man. The absence of women in positions of power, as announcers, and as opinion makers is only piece of the masculinity of Israeli culture. The entire discourse places women as outsider, and as lesser actors: less powerful, less intelligent, less central, less active, less knowing, in short, less. The most glaring example of this is undoubtedly the Likud’s attack on Livni, “Gadol aleha” – it’s too much for her. This is the ultimate diminishing of women, the infantalizing, a more aggressive version of the age-old “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Women cannot handle the “real” work of politics. Particularly in the aftermath of the Gaza war, this discourse of women not being "real" leaders because they are not "real" men has returned with a vengeance. There is an unequivocal connection between the war, Barak's increase in numbers and Livni's reduction in numbers. The connection, of course, is gender. The discourse of leader as man, of citizen as man, is in full swing. Read the rest of this entry →

Yudit Sidikman, Judo master -- Kyu 9 (White belt) – Shotokan Karate, Black Belt Third Dan-Judo -- specializes in helping women strengthen their inner resolve through self-defense. A resident of Efrat, she has been teaching for over 11 years, and is one of the founders of El Halev, a women's and girl's martial arts and self defense institution in Jerusalem. Here she shares some of the vibrant ideas that guide her work:

[You can also read about this on the Kolech English blog, Jewish Women's Voice]

I am one of the founders of EL HALEV and I am a self defense instructor. The reason that I am both of these things is that I truly believe in a woman's right and ability to protect herself. I believe that no matter what her size, shape or background every woman deserves to learn verbal and physical self-defense tools and strategies that could save her life.

The advertisement for "Bat Mitzvah" program caught my eye, not only because I have an eleven-year old daughter, but also because of where I saw it: the municipality announcements in the local Modi'in newspaper. Hmmm, I thought, the municipality has a program -- maybe it's interesting. Then I noticed that right next to the "bat mitzvah" ad was a "bar mitzvah" ad. Same size, same font, same layout, could there be two programs offering the same education to boys and girls? Who am I kidding. Read the rest of this entry →

As if women don’t have enough sources of overt discrimination, this week the Clalit health clinic launched a sales campaign with two distinct ads, one aimed at women and one aimed at men, advancing some of the most damaging gender stereotypes around. The object of each ad is unequivocal, since Hebrew lacks a gender neutral pronoun and verb form. Read the rest of this entry →

Not one woman spoke at last week’s Ninth Annual Puah Conference on Women’s Fertility. Not one! Certainly the conference opened up a discourse about intimacy and sex that was hitherto unspoken in the religious world. But the status of women as “objects” of this discourse rather than as full participants – even when it is all about us and our bodies – remained firmly in place, thus limiting the effectiveness of the conference in moving Israel towards being a more progressive society. In fact, the conference was arguably a major regression for women. Read about this on the Kolech English website, Jewish Women's Voice Read the rest of this entry →

This was printed in the Jerusalem Post on 2 Feb 09.

“Obama makes me want to be smarter. He makes me want to get involved.” That’s what a teary-eyed Beyonce said after gloriously singing to the new First Couple’s dance as hundreds of millions of people around the globe looked on. Beyonce captured what is happening all around the world right now. President Barack Hussein Obama has managed to do bring out not only people’s hope but also their desire to lead intelligent and caring lives. This is, indeed, remarkable, inspired change.