NCJW in Israel

THE FLAVORS, SIGHTS, AND SOUNDS OF ISRAEL

A record number of members came to our General Meeting on January 19 where we all enjoyed a program of Israeli sights, sounds, and delicious food, thanks to our wonderful Israeli caterer, Cohi of MashuMashu. We were also introduced to the philosophy and art of belly dancing by our inspirational instructor Sandi Cohen. The event, put together by our chair of programming, Fran Einiger, with the help of Marcia Levy and Carole Benson, gave us all just a taste of the Israel that they enjoyed on the NCJW Israel Granting Program Mission recently.

Marcia, Fran and Carole gave some perspectives of a few of the NCJW programs they experienced in and around Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Carmia, and Ashkelon.

MARCIA:
There is a tremendous pride of country when one talks with university students and Knesset politicians. Israel's problems seen overwhelming – water, war, sex trafficking, a too powerful orthodox authority and an impossible political system with 28 different parties.

NCJW is very highly respected and appreciated and our mission was fortunate to meet and engage with powerful Israeli women – members of the Knesset like Rachel Adato whose portfolio is Women and health Reform and Orit Zuaretz, the advocate on the Status of Women in the Knesset. A very dynamic Peggy Cidor a journalist for the Jerusalem Report and an activist with Women of the Wall. This organization is very much front page both in Israel and the US. A very determined group of women who risk arrest and are showered with verbal and physical abuse by right wing (orthodox) men and women because they wish to worship at the Kotel just as men do.

When we thought we couldn't be more impressed, we spent an hour with Dorit Benisch, the president of the Israel Supreme Court. Later that day, we met another dynamo, Amal Esana Almjooj, a Bedouin woman who was a Nobel Prize candidate for her work with NISPED, The Neven Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development. They are all women activists in movements for empowerment, politics, health care, gender studies, domestic violence, business, and communications who know and respect our organization.

FRAN:

Eden School

The Eden School is housed on a rented space on Kibbutz Carmia in Ashkelon. The 24 female residents are 12-19 years old and have been removed from their family homes for their own well-being. They have been abused (many sexually) or neglected. Their safety is jeopardized still by the rocket attacks from Gaza (only 6 miles away.)

As part of the stringent therapy, the girls can earn the privilege to work in the rented bakery facility. In this space, a line of cookies has been produced. ÒSweet FuturesÓ are now sold in some local super markets. We even enjoyed the pleasure of working with the girls to bake a batch of these yummy delights.

Bedouin Women

The empowerment of the Bedouin women is an Israeli problem. Their empowerment will lead to a better life for all Bedouins, especially those in deregularized villages.

Most women remain uneducated. Educated females are expected to return to their villages and repeat the lifecycles of their mothers. This only includes the raising of very large families (many with 13-15 children), with no help from other family members, including husbands.

The Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development is trying to improve the situation of Bedouin women. We were invited to have lunch in a Bedouin tent. Totally prepared and served by women who provide lunches for a local school. Upon completion of this plentiful vegetarian meal we took a few steps over to the store. A well-kept assortment of handmade needlecrafts were neatly displayed for purchase. And purchase we did!

CAROLE:

Tel Aviv University NCJW Women and Gender Studies Program

At the workshop "My Personal Path as an Israeli Feminist Legal Academic: A Conversation with Dr. Yofi Tirosh" a law professor at Tel Aviv University, Yofi enlightened us about "hot" legal issues that relate to equality for women in Israel, such as segregation on buses and the difficulties some women experience obtaining a "get" - both violations of human rights that exist nowhere else in the democratic world in the 21st century. Yofi said as long as war and security are priorities, Israel is very resistant to gender mainstreaming. She quoted Moshe Dayan who said, "the day women will fly airplanes, men will knit socks."

Joining us was the very dynamic Hannah Nevah, Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature, Chair of the NCJW Women & Gender Studies Program and Head of the Arts Faculty at Tel Aviv University. We heard about this groundbreaking program, established in 2001 with a $1 million endowment by NCJW to educate and nurture students to see the world through a gender lens and to become agents of social change in Israel. The program - the first bachelor degree-granting program of its kind in the Middle East - provides an interdisciplinary approach and research through over 100 courses from the faculties of Law, Humanities, Art, and the Social Sciences.

Hannah proudly screened for us the loosely autobiographical 32-minute Israeli Film Academy award-winning film "Pinchas", written and directed by the successful filmmaker, Pini Tavger, a graduate of Hannah's Department of Film and Television. Reflected through 4-year-old Pinchas's eyes, we witnessed many social issues and problems regarding immigration, hardship, deprivation, sexual and social inequality, and religious divides pertaining to women, children, and families in Israel, many of which also exist in our own community.

Through the work of the Women's Rights information Center in Englewood that our section supports, many women like Pinchas's mother, Irina, are helped to overcome their difficulties and are given the tools to obtain a better life for themselves and their children here in Bergen County.

In the 2007 fiscal year, NCJW completed its funding of this innovative program and continues to award scholarships to students in need, for studies in the NCJW Women and Gender Studies Program.

CAROLE:

Kedma School

We travelled right into the heart of the impoverished low-income Katamonim neighborhood of Jerusalem – they call it Òthe ÔhoodÓ – where they are winning the battle against educational inequality by providing academic – NOT vocational instruction – curriculum. Ten years ago, the percent of 12th-grade Kedma students who completed a full bagrut certificate was only 10% and now it is higher than the national average. Those students who haven't achieved bagrut before doing their military service are allowed to return to Kedma to complete their studies.

There were stories of students arriving at Kedma with large gaps in their educational achievement, low self-image, and a vision of school as Òa place I go to failÓ. Here is what a couple of the students had to say:

(Sammy, 11th grade) I was a different person before I came to Kedma. I was suspended every other day. The way they treated you – they didn't let me believe in myself. At Kedma they gave me all the credit to succeed.

(Racheli, 12th grade) ÒAt my old school, the teacher would tell my mother: ÔYour daughter cannot grasp the material,' - truly in those words. Today I am studying psychology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In my life I never dreamed that I would reach a level like this.

Some of the 150 bright, and outgoing girls and boys in grades 7 through 12 together with members of the faculty proudly showed us their current art exhibition using the Mona Lisa as a reference, depicting her as a victim of abuse, and violence.

Kedma School was founded in 1994 by parents and academics, in response to the need for academic education in development towns and impoverished neighborhoods in Israel, mostly inhabited by Mizrahi Jews of North African and Middle Eastern descent. Kedma School fully prepares students for matriculation – ÒbagrutÓ in Hebrew - and higher education, which otherwise only exists in wealthy areas, inhabited mostly by relatively well-off Ashkenazi Jews of western descent. The school has it's own unique academic - NOT vocational – curriculum. It re-thinks old fashioned curricula and is approved by the Israel Dept. of Education. The model developed at Kedma shows that the battle against inequality CAN be won.

An emphasis is placed on the study of feminism, human rights, civil rights, and equality and on promoting their involvement in society. The NCJW Israel Granting Program Yad B' Yad > - NCJW's Initiative to Nurture Knowledge, - contributes funds to their ÒFeminism is for EverybodyÓ program, in which students study the topic of sexual equality and gender and the status of women in Judaism. The program is now mandatory for all Kedma students for an entire school year. Kedma's goal is to establish more schools in similar neighborhoods throughout Israel.

MARCIA:

The Jerusalem Shelter for Battered Women

The Shelter is on a quiet residential street. There is no sign over the door. We identify ourselves and get a warm welcome and the wonderful aroma of baking bread greets us. It is Friday afternoon and even though the women are not all Jewish, the Sabbath is a happy time. The children sing for us and insist we eat the chollah rolls they have made. We give them the gifts we have brought. Both children and women are shy and the counselors do a lot of translating. They are very proud of their half way homes program, which is very much like our local transitional housing, which fosters independence and renewal.


The women's stories – Arab, Jewish, or American, whether in Teaneck or Jerusalem are the same. Years of mental and /or physical violence, forgiving, and forgetting and finally the courage to meet the challenges of life on your own.

Here is a poem written by Daniel who was 6 when he came to the shelter with his mom. He was frightened and insecure and his mom was confused. They have now had a successful transition into a more peaceful and stable life.

This is what he wrote:

There are all sorts of children in our world.

Some are big and some are small,

There are strong ones and there are weak ones
There are children who tell lies and those that tell the truth,

There are children who have parents that are married,

There are children whose parents are divorced.
And these children are also happy and are able to enjoy life.

MARCIA :

The IGP (Israel Granting Program) 12.0pt; has two parts:

Yad B Yad

- NCJW's Initiative to Nurture Knowledge - the education piece of the IGP. Yad B Yad provides grants to help children who are new immigrants, emotional support to at-risk children, and much more through social empowerment and academic education programs for Israeli citizens in need.
Women to Women - provides opportunities for women to attain economic and social equality, and to be empowered to use their skills to develop micro-businesses to attain financial independence.

In 2010/2011, there are six grant programs for Yad B Yad totaling $40,000 and nine grants for Women to Women totaling $70,000, through he generous support of our members of NCJW in the USA.

Israel Granting Program, 2009

Bergen County Section is pleased to announce their partnership in the NCJW Israel Granting program to support Economic Empowerment for Women. This program is dedicated to improving women's lives through financial independence. This grant will help fund the Business Incubator in Haifa and the Galilee project designed to provide women who have started small businesses with mentoring services and other resources needed to sustain their businesses, as they break out of poverty.

Read more: Update on Israel Granting Program in the South.

July 2009 Israel Program Report

In this edition:

Message from Shari Eshet

NCJW recently honored Geraldine Soba, NCJW's United Nations (UN) representative, at the 2009 Israel Benefit Luncheon. The event took place at the UN, Jerrie's 'home away from home' for the past 27 years. In her remarks, Jerrie stated that 'as the UN moves forward in the development of its goals for a better world in the 21st century, it offers the opportunity for NCJW and ICJW to play a strong advocacy role. Together, we have worked so closely to represent our organizations' philosophies which allow us to champion the needs of women, children, and families while striving to reach a progressive stance on issues such as human trafficking, climate change, the spread of disease and deadly weapons, and the scourge of terrorism.'

I know 27 years sounds like a long time, but NCJW has actually been represented in Israel for 62 years -- almost as long as the existence of the UN. And while Jerrie and others represent NCJW at the UN, I represent NCJW in Israel. One of the most successful advocacy campaigns NCJW created for Israel was to support women in Israel as they advocated for UN Resolution #1325. Finally in 2005, the Israeli Knesset passed Amendment 4 of the 1951 Equal Representation of Women Law, calling for women's increased presence in all peace and conflict resolution negotiations and implementing United Nations Resolution 1325. Passage of this amendment represented a huge victory for those who understood the importance of women's unique and necessary role in peace negotiations. Now all we need is for the amendment to be enacted!

NCJW is monitoring this issue as well as other issues concerning the rights of women such as marriage and divorce, trafficking, and economic empowerment. Through our Israel Granting Program and our advocacy work, we are still on the ground making a difference, 62 years later -- thanks to people like Jerrie and other NCJW volunteers and members who make this all happen.



Shari Eshet
Director, NCJW Israel Office

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The 2009 Jewel Bellush Feminist Award

This month NCJW awarded the sixth annual Jewel Bellush Feminist Award to Sharon Shenhav. The Jewel Bellush Israeli Feminist Award was established in the year 2002, under the auspices of US/Israel Women to Women, an organization dedicated to supporting grassroots programs and advocacy efforts for women in Israel. The award, which is given annually, honors Jewel Bellush's contributions to that organization and the women's movement in Israel. It is a one-time $1,000 award to an Israeli feminist.

In 2005, US/Israel Women to Women joined with the National Council of Jewish Women, the oldest Jewish women's volunteer organization in the US. The alliance between the two organizations creates a meaningful opportunity to build on their shared legacies of courageous, compassionate work to improve the lives of women, children, and families in Israel.

The recipient of this year's award is Sharon Shenhav, who is being honored for her contribution to advancing social change by improving the religious divorce process in Israel and for serving as a pioneer in advocacy on behalf of agunot since 1980. In 1992 as a representative of ICJW, Sharon became a founding member of ICAR, the International Coalition for Agunah Rights, which is comprised of 25 women's organizations including NCJW. In 1995, after years of lobbying by Sharon and other colleagues, the Knesset passed legislation allowing the imposition of civil sanctions against recalcitrant husbands. In 2002, Sharon was elected by the Israel Bar Association to be their representative to the National Commission on Appointment of Dayanim (Religious Court Judges). Sharon was the only woman serving on this ten-member commission. She is currently the Deputy Chair of the Israel Bar Association Committee on Rabbinical Courts.

Jewel Bellush had this to say about Sharon: 'Shenhav has given creative leadership to the struggle for bringing justice and equal treatment to agunot (women denied a divorce, or get) before the Rabbinical courts. For over two decades her intellectual insights have challenged the negative features of the religious forces which have impacted so unfairly on women.'

And Marilyn Flanzbaum, an honorary member of the NCJW Board of Directors and member of the Jewel Bellush Award Committee, stated the following: 'I felt that all of the nominees were very good, but some were truly excellent. Israel can be very proud of the women who are leading the feminist agenda and are doing so in a way that benefits not only the women, but their families and the society as a whole. There were no losers since each of the nominees will go on with her work and will continue to be an asset to the women, to their families, and to Israel.'

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Religious Conversion in Israel

Funding Conversion Classes
Israel's High Court of Justice ruled recently that the State must fund private conversion classes operated by the Reform and Conservative movements as well as the traditional Orthodox conversion classes. The chair of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee responded by saying: 'It cannot be that the Israeli taxpayer is funding only one type of conversion,' he said. 'Religious pluralism is a foundation stone of any democratic state. The state must therefore view all of the streams of Judaism as equals and the Immigrant Absorption Ministry must carry out the High Court ruling to the letter of the law.'

'Converting to Judaism is an intimate and personal transformation, not a political football. If Neeman (Minister of Justice) and others see converts merely as more numbers in the demographics game, they will ultimately fail. A real change in attitude toward those seeking to be accepted into the Jewish people can only happen when we begin treating them as individuals with aspirations of their own.'

Annulment of Conversions
Recently, Israel's High Court of Justice called on the Rabbinic Court to justify its annulment of several Jewish conversions made by the government-appointed National Conversion Authority.

'This is a very positive and important step to stop the ongoing inquisition by the Beth Din of converts to Judaism,' said attorney Susan Weiss, founder and executive director of the Center for Women's Justice (CWJ), which brought together 15 organizations and individuals as co-defendants in a High Court petition questioning the authority of the Rabbinic Courts to cancel conversions. She went further to say that this means that 'converts are never quite sure if their status as a Jew is final.' Conversion plays a part in the divorce and marital status of women in Israel as well.

The Center for Women's Justice is an NCJW Israel Granting Program grantee for 2008 and 2009. Striving to create a legal legacy for generations of women, the CWJ has become a significant force in the court systems of Israel both civil and religious.

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Update: Gender Segregation on Israeli Buses

In 2007, the Israel Religious Action Center filed a challenge to the segregated publicly-funded bus lines that operate in Israel. On these buses, women are forced to enter from and sit at the rear of the bus, and they are required to wear 'modest' clothing. Failure to comply has led to verbal intimidation and harassment by men on the bus, in addition to physical violence. Originally intended for strictly Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, these buses are now employed across and between several cities, without any alternative public bus service. Bus companies running these lines are receiving government dollars to support a service that discriminates against women.

The suit urged the Israel High Court of Justice to compel the Transportation Ministry to investigate the need for any segregated service, and if deemed necessary, to require a desegregated alternative. The High Court handed down a decision, tasking Israeli Minister of Transportation Shaul Mofaz to look into the problem and determine next steps. Mr. Mofaz has assigned an advisory committee to review the issue and determine the future status of these buses.

NCJW members and supporters sent the Chair of the Advisory Committee, Mr. Alex Langer over 800 emails stating, 'As a strong supporter of Israel, I urge you to put an end to the discriminatory practice of gender segregation on public bus lines. Requiring women to sit at the rear of any public bus and dictating dress requirements infringes on women's fundamental rights to equality and dignity.'

Very often NCJW fights the fight that no one else wants to take on. This was true of the gender-bus segregation issue that was taken on only by IRAC and Naomi Ragen as a co-defendant- in Israel. I am happy to see that retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner agrees that this is an intolerable situation and urged young secular students in Jerusalem to start riding haredi bus lines as a political statement in protest against r the gender segregation advocated by the ultra-Orthodox. These arrangements should not be forced on the general population," she explained. Dorner told students 'If you, the young people, don't fight for equality, there will be no equality, because the haredi sector is very dominant and is fighting for its rights.'

The Advisory Committee is due to present its results to the High Court in a few weeks. Let's hope Dorner's call to activism is heard.

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