Wise, powerful women

ALYSSA C. SCHOTTLAND SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

"Don't you know it is degrading for a woman to be continually outside [the home], and the husband should restrain her from this ... the only splendor for a woman is to sit in her corner of the house.... I own you and everything that belongs to you. It is me, your husband, who has the final authority over what you can read, how you can dress, what you can do."

This quote is taken from Jephte's Daughter, one of Naomi Ragen's best-selling novels. It's just one of the many details Ragen reveals in her novels about the dark side of life for women of the Orthodox Jewish faith. Which is all too familiar to Ragen.

Brought up in low-income housing in Brooklyn, N.Y., Ragen moved to Israel after a formal education at both a women's Jewish college and a highly acclaimed, non-secular university in New York. It was in Jerusalem where she experienced firsthand the bitter oppression in which Orthodox Jewish women lived. As an Orthodox Jewish woman herself, but also as a woman with very distinct social, religious and extreme opinions, Ragen never saw a conflict between modern professionalism and Orthodox Judaism.

"I went back to school to get my master's so I could continue pursuing my writing career," Ragen said in an interview. "I wasn't going to give up my plans [in order] to cook all day.

"These constraints were conservative social norms. It wasn't Orthodox Judaism that was saying God wants women barefoot and pregnant. This wasn't Judaism.... Women are wise, powerful and aggressive, and the Bible approves of them. Look at Devorah, she is prophetess, judge and mother," she pointed out. "This is what I fight for, and my novels expose women's struggles so that maybe I could somehow improve life for these poor women."

As a former Jerusalem Post journalist, author, political activist, wife, mother and grandmother, Ragen has definitely done her share to express what she believes in. That is precisely why the Women's Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver (WEF) and the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University of Jerusalem (CFHU) united to bring her to speak in Vancouver.

"Naomi Ragen, woman and Jew, is the common bond between the event's two sponsoring organizations and, as part of bettering Vancouver's Jewish community, we wanted to bring her in," said Josh Kleinman, event co-chair and CFHU past president.

"The organizations have been working towards May 20 for over a year and the commitment from both organizations has been so overwhelmingly strong," said Arlene James, event co-chair.

As the largest event the WEF has ever organized, both on the sponsorship level and the calibre of speaker brought in, James said, "We hope our presence from this event encourages people to become more active in the foundation to help Vancouver's Jewish community thrive."

Ragen will, no doubt, put on a good show on Tuesday evening. Her controversial ideas about women's rights, staunch political views regarding the state of Israel and extreme beliefs on terrorism and the Middle East should make for a thought-provoking evening. Not only will it be an inspiring evening for the audience, but all money raised from the event will be divided equally between the two sponsoring organizations. WEF's share will help fund projects benefiting women in the Jewish community. CFHU's share will be donated to the Lafer Centre for Women's Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a teaching and research division of the University of Jerusalem that cultivates women's studies.

Ragen will speak May 20, 8 p.m. at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue. Last year, as part of Ragen's North American tour, Ragen received a huge response in Winnipeg.

"She is an empowering woman, an excellent speaker, soft spoken, but strong and an inspiration to all women," said Marsha Cowan, founder of the Women's Endowment Fund Winnipeg, after hearing Ragen speak. Cowan was so intrigued by the evening with Ragen that she bought fresh copies of Ragen's novels even though she already owned them.

Books will be on sale at Tuesday's event. For more information, call 604-257-5133 or visit www.vancouverjewishfoundation.com/ragen.

Alyssa C. Schottland is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.

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