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February 20, 2009
Sharing life experience
Mintz speaks at Vancouver storytelling festival.
SARA NEWHAM
Dressed in baggy black pants and a white peasant shirt of eastern European origins, Helen Mintz began her storytelling performance with grand arm gestures, the passion rising in her voice, as she told the tale of a woman storyteller travelling from town to town.
About 20 people were on hand to witness Mintz's six-story performance Feb. 8 at Heritage Hall on Main Street. She regaled the audience with stories of Jewish women .
"This show was really about Jewish women who could be my heroes, on whose path I could follow," said Mintz following her hour-long performance.
Mintz told the audience that while searching for stories to tell she often comes across two archetypes: the meek woman unable to stand up for herself and the bold, sassy, daring woman who is often a bother to those around her and, therefore, unable to accomplish anything.
"[I choose] stories that I love and stories that show strong Jewish women. I want ... to paint a portrait of Jewish women that is in sync with the life that I lead," she said.
Mintz explained that part of what she tries to do is look closely at Jewish life in eastern Europe because she feels it was not actually the way people are led to believe it was. She said that while there were a lot of problems, Jews had more contact with non-Jews than she had initially thought was the case.
"Some of those relations were really bad but some of them were not and I think it's important to show the diversity," she said.
Her performance blended the Jewish tradition of storytelling with dramatics and costume that gave the stories a sense of time and place.
Mintz began, coincidentally, with The Storyteller, excerpted and adapted from a traditional Chassidic folktale in The Legend of the Baal-Shem by Martin Buber, before telling the story Stotsl is Coming, about a group of women who decided to act to change their circumstances after a discussion about how much work they did compared to their husbands.
Mintz then recited the English version of a Yiddish poem by Rachel Korn before telling the tale of a lesbian woman in Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon.
"I thought it was very well rounded," said Pat Mahoney, who watched Mintz's presentation. "She covered a lot of issues that women are passionate about – nonviolence, equal rights and respect for sexual orientation – and she's a wonderful storyteller."
Mahoney was also moved by Mintz's telling of Lena Doesn't Live Here Anymore, about the effect of the Israeli policy of house demolitions on a Palestinian family. The story showed how such a policy affects the psyche of a family and a community when a home is taken down several times after attempts to rebuild it.
"It was incredibly moving just the way she was able to express the experience of those people from the inside and what it would be like to have your home demolished and trampled upon over and over and over again," said Lisa St. Cyr.
Mintz explained that she chose that story because she supports the work of the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions and other peace workers in Israel. "I've tried for a long time to figure out how I, as a Canadian Jew, could talk about this issue, and eventually I came to feeling that what I can do is support people there whose work I want to support."
Mintz ended her performance with a poem, "Kindness," told in English and Yiddish and written by Naomi Shihab Nye, which gave the audience a sense of hope and peacefulness.
"She's not overdramatic. She seems very grounded and present in her body and definitely you can feel that she has a lot of genuine compassion for those people and [is] able to tell their story quite authentically," said St. Cyr.
Mintz, who has been storytelling since 1992, explained that she memorizes the words of the stories that have authors, but will adapt the folktales. She has told stories to adults and children in Canada, the United States, Germany and Lithuania and will be teaching a storytelling class at Langara College until April 7.
Sara Newham is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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