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e.g.,Mitzvat Nashim, Venice, 1552;Seder Nashim, Prague 1629;Mitzvat Ha’Nashim, Hanau 1677. However, most contemporary authorities now discount the exaggerated claims of almost universal female literacy in Hebrew made by Cecil Roth in “Outstanding Jewish Women in Western Europe; 15–17 Centuries”; Leo Jung, ed.,The Jewish Library-Third Series, New York, 1934.
J. P. Schultz, “the ‘Ze-enah U-Re’enah’: Torah for the Folk,”Judaism, No. 141, Winter 1987, pp. 84–96.
J. Carlebach, “Ze’nah Ur’enah: The Story of a Book for Jewish Women,”L-Eylah, 23, 1987, p. 43.
L. Finkelstein,Jewish Self-Government in the Middle Ages, West-port, Conn., 1924, p. 379. Z. W. Falk,Jewish Matrimonial Law in the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1966, supports Finkelstein’s position.
The source for all campaign statistics is Council of Jewish Federations,Fund Raising Survey: Women’s Divisions, 1986, September 1986.
A May 1987 program from the Federation Endowments Corporation and Women’s Leadership Board of the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia.
For data on the high volume of geographical movement, see B. A. Kosmin, P. Ritterband and J. Scheckner,Jewish Population in the United States, 1986, in D. Singer and R. Seldin, eds.,American Jewish Year Book 1987, New York, American Jewish Committee, 1987, pp. 34–56.
Hilkhot Melakhim, 1:5. For a comprehensive treatment of this theme see Rachel Biale,Women and Jewish Law, New York, 1986.
I. Jakobivits, “Women in Community Service,”L’Eylah, 23, 1987, p. 5.
What follows is a condensed version of the findings. The full report was published as B. A. Kosmin and J. Scheckner,The Place of Women in the Leadership of Federations, 1975–1986, CJF, New York, 1986.
The content and range of programs is well presented inIdeas Bazaar published by the CJF Women’s Division.
Some awareness of such issues is shown by certain Federations e.g., Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles,Women in Federation and Agency Leadership, Los Angeles, 1983.
J. Fuld,Child Day Care Under Jewish Auspices, Community Planning Dept., CJF, New York, 1984.
I am indebted for many of these insights to Sue Stevens, Director of Women’s Division, CJF.
A Cantor, “Power Plays: Breaking the male monopoly of Jewish community leadership,”Lillith, 14, 1985, p. 13.
For other examples of this paradox involving (a) the English working class-see B. A. Kosmin, “Political Identity in Battersea,” in S. Wallman, ed.,Living in South London, London, 1982, pp. 17–50, and (b) Black Americans: P. Ritterband, “Community Control and the Black Political Agenda,” in W. C. McCready, ed.,Culture, Ethnicity and Identity, New York, 1983, pp. 291–300.
M. Passon,The Status of Women in Federation, Women’s Division Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit, 1987.
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This paper was presented to the Conference on “Women and Philanthropy: Past, Present and Future” Center for the Study of Philanthropy, Graduate Center, CUNY, June 17–18, 1987
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Kosmin, B.A. The political economy of gender in Jewish Federations. Cont Jewry 10, 17–31 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965555
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02965555