Two years ago, a day devoted to Jewish women’s poetry at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center generated a lot of excitement. Ever since then, Ruth Phillips, director of the Jewish learning center at the BRJCC, has been in conversation with others about how to build on its success.
Phillips continued to brainstorm with Mills College professor Cynthia Scheinberg and Naomi Seidman, director of the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union.
The result is a daylong gathering called “Kol Isha — Jewish Women’s Voices Unbound: Creativity, Scholarship and Performance,” which will begin at 9 a.m. Feb. 26 at Mills in Oakland.
“If you think of what’s going on in the different disciplines, we have some fabulous Jewish studies, some fabulous ethnic studies, and some fabulous women’s studies, but issues about Jewish women can fall by the wayside,” said Scheinberg, who is in the English department at Mills. “We’re trying to look at that small but important piece of what’s going on in Jewish women’s or gender studies.”
The three women applied for a grant from the Koret Foundation. When that came through, with the help of some individual donors from Mills and the East Bay Jewish community, the plans went forward.
“As soon as people have heard about the event, they want to be a part of it,” said Scheinberg.
“Institutions, businesses and individuals in the greater Bay Area clearly have a great interest in Jewish women’s creativity and Jewish women’s studies, and it has been very gratifying to be organizing this series in such a positive climate.”
Indeed, the number of co-sponsoring organizations and individuals is quite large.
The opening speaker is feminist poet Irena Klepfisz, and local performance artist Sara Felder will close the day.
“We chose Irena Klepfisz because
she’s someone who has revolutionized poetry from a Jewish women’s perspective in the last 30 years, and has had an incredibly forceful effect on contemporary poetry,” said Scheinberg.
“She’s also doing really important scholarship on Yiddish women writers.
“And Sara Felder came to mind as a great closing person to talk and do, because we didn’t want the conference to be just talking.”
The conference will include a broad range of women’s topics.
On the spiritual front, Nan Fink Gefen, the co-founder of Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, will lead a workshop on meditation. And former Bay Area artist Nancy Katz will speak about self-expression through making a personal tallit.
On the academic front, topics include Sephardic women’s songs, the Israeli poet Dahlia Ravikovitch, Latin American Jewish writers, and Jewish women at the time of the Arabic renaissance.
“We wanted to bring people together in the broadest way,” said Scheinberg. “We’re hoping people will be excited by that mix, and maybe taste something they wouldn’t be able to normally, and get them to cross their own boundaries, as well.”
While Mills, a liberal arts college for women, has not exactly been a center for academic scholarship on Jewish women, Scheinberg indicated that this conference could be seen as an early step in that direction.
With the support of college President Janet Holmgren, “we are definitely thinking about how can we continue to study Jewish women and gender here at Mills,” Scheinberg said.
A lecture series is also planned for this spring.
Kol Isha begins 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 at Mills College Concert Hall, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Tickets: $25 general; $10 seniors, Mills and GTU faculty/staff and BRJCC members; free for students. Information at www.mills.edu/kolisha.