ABSTRACT

Winner of the Women in Psychology Jewish Caucus Award for 2000!Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories: Acts of Love and Courage contains touching and personal essays written by contemporary Jewish mothers from different parts of the globe. Their stories reveal the choices that Jewish mothers make in our post-Holocaust, non-Jewish world--the many ways of being Jewish, the acts of loving, of preserving and celebrating Jewish traditions and spirituality, and of transmitting them to their children and families. The firsthand stories in this compelling book raises questions and provides you with insight into a variety of topics, including:

  • The 'Jewish mother’stereotype and its impact on real Jewish mothers
  • ethnic/historical connections between mothers and daughters
  • moving acts of love, courage, and sacrifice in response to illness, war, or conflicting ideologies
  • motherhood as a catalyst for personal evolutions of Jewish identity and values
  • Orthodox to secular expressions of spirituality
  • The impact of the 'Jewish motherhood imperative’
  • positive experiences of conversion and interfaith families
  • conveying Jewish history and tradition in a Christian world

    Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories will draw you into an appreciation of the cultural, ethnic, and spiritual aspects of mothering. This remarkable collection explores the different meanings of today's concept of “Jewish mother” and “Jewish family.”

part I|41 pages

Traditions

part II|54 pages

Unbinding Love

chapter 6|9 pages

Unbinding Love

chapter 9|3 pages

On My Son's Induction into the Israeli Armed Forces

A Feminist Mother's Prayer

chapter 10|10 pages

Jewish Mother and Son

The Feminist Version

part III|53 pages

Jewish Values

chapter 12|10 pages

On the Other Hand

chapter 13|4 pages

Old Clothes and Food from Afar

chapter 15|5 pages

Am I a Jewish Mother?

chapter 16|8 pages

Conversion

The Mother of Invention

chapter 17|11 pages

A Wandering Mother

part IV|42 pages

Jewish Identity— Discovered and Rediscovered

part V|45 pages

Spirituality and Religion

chapter 24|10 pages

A Life in Code

chapter 26|4 pages

Beresheet, in the Beginning

chapter 27|6 pages

On Carving a Life

chapter 30|5 pages

Oranges and Cinnamon

part VI|45 pages

The Real World

chapter 31|9 pages

Dealing with the Real World

Our Children, Ourselves

chapter 32|10 pages

No More Family Secrets

chapter 34|8 pages

Chopped Liver and Sour Grapes

Jewish but Not a Mother

chapter 35|9 pages

My Two Lives