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(email:) sonia@vax2.concordia.ca;
(regular mail): Sonia Zylberberg, Religion Department, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8.

Thanks,
Sonia Zylberberg
Religion Department, Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Canada H3G 1M8
sonia@vax2.concordia.ca
(514) 848-2065

We are happy to announce the publication of

Noga 40

Table of contents:

Cover - Illustration by Michal Bonano
2 - Information on feminist organizations and
announcement on the short story competition for 2002
3 - Editorial

Editorial

At the beginning of the 21st century, enveloped in the rhetoric of women's progress and equality, we find ourselves in the same reality women from the beginning of the past century experienced. It was then that women trafficking flourished, and numerous poor Eastern European women were sold for prostitution in the New World. Today, according to UN data, women trafficking occupies third place on the international organized crime list, after drug trafficking and weapon trade.

In Israel, a market exists, in which, on a daily basis, women are being sold as slaves. These women are deprived of all human rights, they are deprived of their freedom of movement, they are locked in cells and are forced to supply sexual services nonstop.

In the reality of our lives, abuse, greed, aggression, oppression, and violence against individuals and against nations, is the name of the game. This reality prevents the physical, political and human liberties of the weak, of the other, of our own.

In this issue we bring the voices of Palestinian women from the occupied territories, and the voices of Jewish women Peace activists, documenting moments of the everyday life of the El-Aksa Intefada a hard and violent reality, deprived of freedom and life- a reality existing right next to us and within us.

There's no way to overlook this reality, no way of silencing the voices.A stop must be put at once to this violence and oppression.

4-11 This is what's going on: news from the world.

12-13 On the agenda: by Rachel Giora, Erella Daor, Rachel Ostrowitz

14-32 Don't say we didn't know
Palestinian women's testimonies and Jewish peace activists on the El-Aksa Intifada.
Kawther Salam
Dr. Mona El-Ferra
Neta Golan
Naama Farjoun
H. Ghanim
Hagit Gur
Hanna Safran

Don't say we didn't know

We bring here a number of essays of Palestinian women writers, and Jewish women peace activists. Those are the voices that the bulldozer cannot silence, the concrete blocks it cannot block, and the trenches cannot suffocate. These voices describe almost-random moments in the everyday life of people under siege, living in terror and humiliation. The main part of the Jewish population chooses to ignore the hardships that the Israeli government is imposing on a whole nation, under a false rhetoric of peace. This deliberate act of looking away is an active cooperation with the oppression. The indifference and the silence licence and support the Israeli government's crimes, as signs of consent. In the face of this silence and disregard we want to thrust the reality as it arises from the experience of Palestinian women from the occupied territories, and Jewish peace activist.

34-35 She was a mother and a sister to us
On Virginia Snitow

36-39 The battle over the body
"Fight club", "La Condanna" Orli Lubin

40- A room of her own
A poem by Tal Haran

41-48 To knock on the sea's door
A short story be Rela Mazali

49-51 Book reviews
Tami Razi, Gail Hareven

52 A cover of her own
art by Joel Yasur

Subscription:
In Israel - Israeli Shekel 120 for 4 issues
Outside Israel - $ 40 for 4 issues (Air Mail)

"The creation of a Virtual Archive is at the heart of our mission," said JWA Executive Director Gail Twersky Reimer. "We hope that by making a rich history of Jewish women readily accessible to students and professional researchers, indeed to casual users, we can help introduce the world to a part of history that too often goes untold. "

Eventually, the Virtual Archive will reference all major archival source material holdings on Jewish women. At the present it has a database including 500 archival images. Visitors online can access information about a particular woman, organization or collection, or they can search by subject, occupation or genre of primary source by oral histories, diaries, personal papers, etc.

The mission of the Jewish Women's Archive is to uncover, chronicle, land transmit the rich legacy of Jewish women and their contributions to our families and communities, to our people and our world. JWA used both traditional methods and emerging technologies to accomplish this mission.

Jewish Women's Archive
68 Harvard St., Brookline, MA 02445
(617) 232-2258; Fax (617) 975-0109 www.jwa.org

MSU-WID also publishes a WID Working Papers Series with more than 250 titles availableto date. Abstracts of the Working Papers are available on our home page. Full Papers can be purchased from the below address. If you are interested in submitting a paper, details on how to do so are also on our home page.

If you have any information or additional resources that you feel would be useful to our Program or if you have any information you would like us to disseminate regarding women and international development, we invite and encourage you to contact our office.

Sincerely,
BernaDeane Wing, Bulletin Editor
bulletin@msu.edu; wid@msu.edu

Women and International Development
202 Center for International Programs
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48825_1035
http://www.isp.msu.edu/WID

telephone: (517) 353-5040
fax: (517) 432-4845

Information on Egg Donors

Do you know of any Jewish woman who has been an egg donor?

The Brandeis University student newspaper, and other papers, have run ads offering young Jewish women up to $50,000 for donating their eggs; we have heard that egg donation has become a hot issue in Israel as well.

LILITH Magazine is interested in finding out if these ads have been successful, or in hearing from women who have been eggs donors in any other context.

Has anyone you know ever donated/sold her eggs? Do you think she would be willing to discuss the experience? Please contact lilithmag@aol.com and let us know.

If you've seen ads such as the one that was printed in The Justice, the Brandeis paper, please let us know, or fax a copy of the ad to Lilith at (212) 757-5705. We'd be glad to reward your help with a complimentary one-year subscription to Lilith.

Thanks very much,
Susan
SusanWeidman Schneider
Editor-in-Chief
Lilith Magazine

To respond to these queries, please contact Lilith Magazine at 212-757-0818, or email lilithmag@aol.com

Lilith Magazine
250 West 57th St., Suite 2432
New York, NY 10107
212-757-0818
212-757-5705 (fax)
lilithmag@aol.com (e-mail)
www.lilithmag.com

For this reason we are offering this feature on a strictly voluntary basis. The discussion will be very free-wheeling, with all topics within good taste welcome. Emails will pass by the Editors on their way to the members. We hope that readers will send queries about women's issues, newspaper articles of interest, and, of course, comments about WIN articles.

As the discussion picks up, there will be more and more emails sent, so those who wish may register for the once-a-day digest with all of that day's correspondence. Others may choose to have emails turn up in their box one by one as they are sent. To join, click on this link: http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/win-chat and you will be taken to a page at egroups.com where you will sign up. If you have any questions about or difficulties in doing this, let us know at editor@winmagazine.org.

Thank you for being a loyal reader of WIN, and we look forward to getting to know you even better in the coming year.

With our best and warmest wishes,

Judith Colp Rubin, Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief
Joy Pincus, Assistant Editor/ Promotions Manager

Dear E-Journal Editor or List Moderator

(This was sent to Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, but could be of interest to others.)

We are pleased to announce that your journal or discussion list appears in the first edition of the "Directory of Scholarly Electronic Journals and Academic Discussion Lists."

This title supersedes the "Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists," of which the seventh and last edition was published in 1997. The new Directory differs from the previous one in scope; it contains only peer-reviewed electronic journals due to the phenomenal growth in web publishing by scholarly publishers. Like its predecessor, the "Directory" should become a standard reference tool for locating scholarly, academic, or professional journals and discussion lists on the Internet.

The new Directory is available both electronically and in print. Access to the electronic version of the Directory will be available through IP address or password. The online version will be periodically updated.

In the printed edition of the new Directory, the first part lists over 3,900 peer-reviewed journal titles available electronically, while the second part contains over 4,600 e-conferences. Part one, the e-journal section, is compiled and maintained by ARL. The e-conference entries are contributed by Diane Kovacs of Kovacs Consulting. A freely accessible list of e-conference titles which Diane Kovacs and her team compiled is available at http://www.n2h2.com/KOVACS/.

For more information on this new ARL publication, visit
http://dsej.arl.org>

In recognition of your journal or discussion list's inclusion, we would like to offer the "Directory" to you at our special member price. Please reference code 1213CP when ordering.

Directory of Scholarly Electronic Journals and Academic Discussion Lists, First Edition.
Dru Mogge and Peter Budka, editors. 2000. 1,102 pp. ISSN 1524-2439 (print)/1524-2447 (online). US $95 ($65 ARL members) for both print and online versions/ US $70 ($50 ARL member) for online version only. Quotes for rush orders and bulk discounts can be obtained from pubs@arl.org. To order, call the ARL Distribution Center at 301-362-8196.

The Association of Research Libraries is a not-for-profit membership organization comprising over 120 libraries of North American research institutions. Its mission is to shape and influence forces affecting the future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication. The Association articulates the concerns of research libraries and their institutions, forges coalitions, influences information policy development, and supports innovation and improvements in research library operations. For more information, visit our website at http://www.arl.org.

Sincerely,Dru Mogge dru@arl.org & Peter Budka peter@arl.org, Editors

For a special issue for the fall of 2002
JEWISH IN AMERICA
EDITED BY SARA BLAIR AND JONATHAN FREEDMAN

This special issue of Michigan Quarterly Review seeks to bring together academic essays, high-level journalism, personal narratives, fiction, poetry, and visual art responding to the transformations of Jewish experience in the United States during the last fifty years, and speculatively, extending into the twenty-first century. We seek writings that respond to the multiplicity of representations, cultural forms, fashionings and refashionings, that have defined the experience of Jews in America and continue to compel debate. We welcome works by Jews and non-Jews that engage contemporary controversies in the fields of politics, sociocultural dynamics, the arts, and the relation of Jewish life in America to other historical periods, other geographical places.

Manuscripts due February 1, 2002
Submit to Sara Blair and Jonathan Freedman care of:
Michigan Quarterly Review
University of Michigan
3032 Rackham Bldg.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070

Call for Papers:
WOMEN, WAR AND PEACE IN JEWISH AND MIDDLE EAST CONTEXTS

In many respects, war is a gendered activity in which women and men are expected to play radically distinct roles. Moreover, persons whose sexual identity does not fall firmly into either category may be excluded and viewed as dangerous. Traditionally, men fight battles, sustain casualties, lead armies and plan strategies, while women mind the hearth, support the war effort, bind up soldiers’ wounds, grieve over their deaths, glorify their victories and pay the bitter costs of defeat. Not incidentally, women play roles in war that are linked with female biology: they bear the sons who fight the wars, and they provide sexual relief, as wives, lovers, sex workers and rape victims, to the fighters. The sorrowing wife/mother is a valued role, but women are mostly far from war's touted glory.

Particularly since before World War I, many women believe that they have an additional role in relation to war: that of struggling, on their own or alongside men, to preserve or reinstate peace. When parents expect to have few children and raise each one to adulthood, the cost of war becomes intolerable for many. Some women also see themselves as having a special voice to raise in opposing war, as representatives of the sex that mothers its victims, combatant or not. Feminists have argued that women have a unique interest in the abatement of war, because the military enshrines the patriarchy and disseminates it into civil society.

For nearly two millennia, from the crushing of the Bar Kokhba rebellion circa 150 CE until the modern era, Jews were largely excluded from war-making, even as gender distinctions were rigidly enforced in traditional Jewish society. Indeed, their non-combatant image contributed to the stereotyping of Jewish men as “effeminate.” With the extension of citizenship to Jews in the western world, Jewish men became liable for military service, and Jewish women, too, became involved with the war efforts of the societies around them, whether as the mothers and wives of soldiers or as leading ideological pacifists.

The Zionist movement, which from its inception was bound up, on the one hand, with conflict with Arab Palestinians (and the British Mandate) and, on the other, with redefining gender roles among Jews, involved the Jewish people as a whole in modern dilemmas about militarism and peace-making. From the anomalous specter of women in army uniforms, through the legendary status of the sorrowing mother, to the radical activities of the pro-expansionist Women in Green, Israeli women are intimately involved in the effort to defend the people and the land. At the same time, the last decades have seen the multiple growth of women’s peace groups, ranging from the maternalist Four Mothers to the feminist Women in Black, to dialogue groups between Palestinian and Israeli Jewish women.

Under the editorship of Professor Alice Shalvi, issue no. 6 of NASHIM: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Issues, aims to take a learned, interdisciplinary look at the roles and representations of Jewish women in war and peace, in any historical period, and at the impact of war and militarism on gendered aspects of Jewish/Israeli society. Since Israel remains locked in conflict with the Palestinian people, we would also like to extend a special invitation to Arab/Palestinian feminist scholars to take part in this issue with contributions on how the conflict has impacted in gendered ways upon Palestinian society and upon their own thinking. Contributions on cooperation and friction between Jewish and Palestinian women in the framework of the conflict and pro-peace efforts will also be welcomed.

Proposals for contributions to this issue should be sent to NASHIM by September 15, 2001, by e-mail to dvorahg@zahav.net.il; by mail to the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, P.O.B. 8600, Jerusalem 91083, or by fax to +972-2-6790840. Final date for submission of completed articles: November 30, 2001.

Deborah Greniman, Managing Editor
NASHIM: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues
e-mail: dvorahg@zahav.net.il
Tel: (972-2) 6716096; Fax: (972-2) 6790840

To QUIT the list: send the message UNSUBSCRIBE IFF-L to majordomo@research.haifa.ac.il .

Call for Papers - Ihrsinn is looking for authors!

Ihrsinn, a German lesbian feminist magazine, is planning an issue on the topic of solidarity. Is solidarity just a big, outdated concept without a real social or political base? Or maybe a critical reflection of traditional values of solidarity can be enlivening? Politically solidarity can be interpreted as resistance against oppression. For example "solidarity" is used by neoliberals in connection with individual responsibility, self-help and self-organization, while the state withdraws from social and public responsibilities.

But the first attempt of contemplating about solidarity should not end up in a complaint about the lack or loss of solidarity. Aspects of resistance and creative empowering politics can be seen as positive. After all, our main interest with this issue is to explore new avenues of solidarity. Class solidarity developed in the labour movement in the 19th. Century. A sense of belonging, mutual support and collective action against oppression were the practical side of Marxist analysis of capital and labour. Solidarity was internationally orientated and organized. In West Germany during the 60's the students' movement and the extra parliamentary opposition exhibited left-wing traditions. The fight against capitalism initiated proletarian grassroot activism and solidarity with the liberation movements of the third world. But this became as well problematic due to conflicting interests and political ideas of students and workers. And then women began to claim their own ideas of liberty, adventure and solidarity.

Looking back at the early years of the women's movement in Germany international solidarity was an important issue. Though, the following questions arise: What were and are the different ideas about solidarity in different historical, cultural and national contexts? What is the role played by lesbians in the transnational fight and the global networking against globalization and neoliberalism? Is it an individual focused role or can it be seen as a group effort with its own political agenda? What can be said about lesbian politics six years after the women's world conference in Beijing? What has changed concerning the international women's solidarity in the past 25 years? What meaning does international women's solidarity have for lesbians today?

'Sisterhood is powerful" - this slogan, symbolizing a central motive of collective women's power, has been changed to "Sisterhood is powerful - it can kill you!" after women's experiences with power and oppression. Solidarity among sisters also means a potentiality for privileges, dominance, divisions and competition. The history of women's and lesbian's movement contain successful attempts of solidarity as well as failed ones, for example, the conflict lesbians and heterosexual women, between lesbians of different social and cultural background, and between lesbians and other political groups. Solidarity can be based on similar lives, realities and experiences of oppression. One can also show solidarity and support to differing interests and goals.

Subjectivity was and is a characteristic for the process of solidarity among women and among lesbians: self-interests, conflicts, and wishes are not left out; rather they evoke a conscious reflection of social conflicts and their transformability. Maybe the slogan: "You won't be free unless all women are free" illustrates this point of individual and social oriented desires. Solidarity needs mutual appreciation of different realities and the strong wish to abandon dominance and oppression. Solidarity can also be demanding. As political or cultural events, discussions about services that should be done by everyone such as cleaning, bring forth discussions whether prices should be income based so that differently abled lesbians or lesbians with a different mother tongue can participate and contribute. There are many examples for solidarity or lacking of solidarity among lesbians. We are as well interested in experiences based on daily life as in political ideas that promote alternative modules against racism, poverty, violence, tendencies of individualization and isolation. Are there new ways of support, networking, economical and financial modules, and critical and self-critical debates? Maybe the term solidarity shows up in new disguises - in unfamiliar theoretical and political contexts? For example, what is the meaning of solidarity in queer-theory and politics? Competition can be seen as the opposite of solidarity. Are egoism and competition increasing because of harder social fights? Tell us about your experiences with competition at the workplace and competition or solidarity between lesbian feminist projects. Is there a connection to politics, to feminist, anti-racist, lesbian politics? Which mechanisms can prevent solidarity? Does solidarity only exist when there is some profit for myself? No doubt: A project like Ihrsinn, based on unpaid work, couldn't exist without solidarity. We still do believe: solidarity is essential for economic, political, and cultural alternatives.

And we are looking forward to your contribution!

Please send us texts or graphic material until September 15, 2001. Please send contributions in other languages than English at least two weeks earlier.

The issue will be published in December.

IHRSINN Schmidtstr. 12 D-44793 Bochum Germany
PHONE; (0234) 68 31 94
Fax: (0234) 91 60 944
E-mail: FrauenbuchladenBO@w4w.de
http://www.lesben.org/ihrsinn.htm

BRIDGES Jewish feminist journal announces the publication of a special issue

Writing and Art by Jewish Women of Color

If your mental image of "Jewish" is synonymous with "white," prepare yourself for a paradigm shift. If you are one of the 400,000 Jews of color in the United States, you already know how hard it has been to find you and your family represented in the media. That is beginning to change, and Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends is adding to the momentum. The first ever collection of writing and art by Jewish women of color—Jewish women of African, Asian, Latin and Native American descent—will be available from Bridges in August 2001. In essays, poetry, fiction, memoir and visual art this new collection offers readers a chance to experience the many colored ethnic diversity of the Jewish people through the eyes, hearts and minds of Jewish women.

From anthropologist Katya Gibel Azoulay's examination of the social, political and legal coincidences of being born Black and Jewish and living in the United States to a conversation among nine women artists who define themselves as "Mizrahi" in the Israeli context—coming from Jewish immigrant families from Muslim countries—readers will gain many new insights on racism within the Jewish community and the racialization of Jewishness.

When Indian, Ethiopian, Iraqi, and Yemenite Jewish women living in the United States tell their stories, the effect is to de-center the Ashkenazi experience, revealing Jewish diversity that refuses classification along ethnic and racial lines. When African American, Latina and Asian women tell complex and moving accounts of coming to Judaism—including hidden histories of Jewish ancestors and connections to Judaism through dance, story, culture and politics as well as religious belief-understanding of Judaism and Jewishness expands beyond preconceived boundaries.

The 128 page volume with 26 contributors has been guest edited by Katya Gibel Azoulay, Siona Benjamin, Carolivia Herron, Shahanna McKinney, Aurora Levins Morales, and Rosa Maria Pegueros and has taken over two years to complete.

Since its founding in 1990 by a collective of writer/activists, Bridges has published hundreds of essays, interviews, translations, short stories, poems, visual art, music and reviews connecting Jewish women's identity with our activism for social justice and peace. Bridges' international subscription base is 1,500 and growing. The journal is a "bridge" across generations and cultures, between Jews and non-Jews, among writers, artists and the wider community.

Single issues $9. Subscriptions are $18 for two issues. Wholesale terms available
For orders contact: Clare Kinberg, Bridges Managing Editor, ckinberg@pond.net
PO Box 24839, Eugene OR 97402
541-343-7617 or 888-359-9188
See our website at www.pond.net/~ckinberg/bridges for a complete list of back issues.

Bridges' Core Editorial Group members are:
Ruth Abrams, Enid Dame, Clare Kinberg, and Jessica Stein.

Writing and Art by Jewish Women of Color
Contents
Peacesong a memoir by Carolivia Herron
Scenes from a marriage a poem by Hilary Tham
An Ethiopian Gilgul Come to Life: An Interview with Toni Eisendorf by Reena Bernards
Moving Women, Moving Me an essay by Dina Dahbany-Miraglia
Jews, Blacks and the (Multi)racial Category an essay by Katya Gibel Azoulay
ebony-vermilion stories a poem by Amal Rana
Sister: Mizrahi Women Artists in Israel a conversation with art Sigal Eshed, Shula Keshet, Ahuva Mu'alem, Shuli Nachshon, Zmira Poran Zion, Dafna Shalom, Chen Shish, Parvin Shmueli-Buchnik, Orna Zaken
Finding Home and the Dilemma of Belonging essay and art by Siona Benjamin
Incajew art by Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss
Of Faith and Fire an essay by Rosa Maria Pegueros
The Compass of Human Conscience: Notes on the Israeli Peace Camp an essay by Molly Malekar
Belaynesh Zevadia: Israeli, Ethiopian, Diplomat Interview by Siona Benjamin
Born to be Yemenite a personal narrative by Miri Hunter Haruach
AframJews Forum: Creation of an Online Community an essay by Tamu Ngina
Internet Resources on Jews of African Descent
Reflections of a Jewish Mother an essay by Harriet McKinney
In the Sudan, Hanukkah Celebration, a village of witches poems by Mary Loving Blanchard
Conversations with a Jinni a story by Lital Levy
Black, Jewish and Interracial: It's not the color of your skin, but the race of your kin and other myths of identity by Katya Gibel Azoulay reviewed by Shahanna McKinney
Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self by Rebecca Walker reviewed by Shahanna McKinney