Celebrating JWA's Encyclopedia Revision and Expansion
Scholar Harriet Feinberg, who performed editorial work on the first two iterations of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, composed a poem years ago about the resource. We are delighted to share it publicly now in celebration of the Encyclopedia's 2021 revision and expansion.
I was brought onto the staff of Jewish Women in America—the 1997 predecessor to the; new Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women—to help find writers. As I learned more about the dazzling array of women who were to be written about, they began popping up in clusters in my mind. At some point they apparently began interacting—and out came this poem. Much gratitude to the Encyclopedia and to JWA for bringing Jewish women’s history to life!
Women’s Encyclopedia
jumping out of oblivion
the women hurl bricks and songs
at page-passers-by
they want to be extricated
their hair is festooned with capital letters and asterisks
shell-slender
they sway
invoking the Princess of the Printing Press
Recaller to Life
they cry
codify us! alphabetize us! restore us reduce retrieve revamp restructure
us
record us
into
simple 500 word 250 word accounts
so we can sit in our print-condos layer on layer
hang out knotted-sheet-ropes
to shimmy from window to window
climbing from C to D zipping in for a visit
whispering in our cubicles across the generations
o restore!
o store on CD-ROM!
o acres of communicating 3-D women
their dwellings lightly linked with sky-glue
what subversive tendencies
might
emerge
Double your impact to amplify Jewish women’s stories—
All gifts matched up to $35,000
Before you close this article, please consider supporting the Jewish Women’s Archive and uplifting Jewish women’s voices.
At JWA, we preserve the voices of Jewish women and gender-expansive people past and present, share them freely with millions online, and empower a new generation of Jewish feminists to lead with courage, creativity, and conviction.
But none of this happens without you. JWA is an independent nonprofit— we rely on people, like you, who believe that history belongs to all of us and that the voices of Jewish women must remain powerful, and heard.
This month, a generous JWA board member will match every gift dollar for dollar—up to $35,000—through June 30. Your contribution goes twice as far right now.
Every contribution—no matter the size—helps us document, teach, and inspire through Jewish women’s stories.
It takes less than a minute to make a difference.
Thank you for being a part of the JWA community,
Judith Rosenbaum, CEO
