{"id":45611,"date":"2024-12-13T01:24:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T09:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=45611"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:51:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T01:51:54","slug":"inspiring-with-chutzpah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/12\/13\/inspiring-with-chutzpah\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring with chutzpah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image<\/a>Most of us could benefit from a little more chutzpah, as defined by Julie Esther Silverstein and Tami Schlossberg Pruwer, authors of Chutzpah Girls: 100 Tales of Daring Jewish Women<\/i> (The Toby Press, 2024).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Silverstein and Pruwer, chutzpah is: \u201c A Jewish superpower: the daring to speak when silenced, to take action when others won\u2019t, to try when they say it\u2019s impossible, to persevere in times of doubt, to be yourself when it\u2019s easier to conform, to stand tall when made to feel small, to believe when it all feels hopeless, to shine your light in the face of darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Chutzpah Girls<\/i>, Silverstein and Pruwer \u201chope to power up a generation of knowledgeable and confident Jewish kids by zooming in on Jewish women with extraordinary stories across the diverse Jewish experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chances are that many of the adults reading these stories will also be inspired, learning about several, if not a dozen or more, Jewish women they\u2019d never heard of before: brave and action-oriented women from all over the world, from ancient Israel (1500-587 BCE) to the 21st century.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Prophetess Abigail, \u00a0from Ancient Israel, whose portrait was created by Rinat Hadar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 100 are listed alphabetically by first name, rather than chronologically, which gives a timelessness to the feats of each woman. Whether one is a prophetess in ancient Israel, a philanthropist in the early modern era, a trade unionist in the emancipation era, a human rights activist in the 20th century or an intelligence and cybersecurity official in 2024 is mostly irrelevant to the courage one can show.<\/p>\n

There is a timeline at the beginning of the book that outlines the eight time periods into which each of the 100 Chutzpah \u201cgirls\u201d is placed. Near the end of the book is a map, showing their global and historic presence: Argentina, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Germany, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Persia, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Yemen, and others.<\/p>\n

There are three Canadians who made it into Chutzpah Girls<\/i>: Judy Feld Carr, Lori Palatnik and Rosalie Silberman Abella. And they illustrate how people who are just like us can do impressive things and step up when need be.<\/p>\n

Carr was a musicologist, she had a young family. Then, she read an article about Syrian Jews who, after Israel won the Six Day War against its Arab neighbours, were suffering. \u201cAlthough she was far away, she wanted to help,\u201d write Silverstein and Pruwer. \u201cShe reached a rabbi in Syria\u2019s capital city of Damascus by telegram and began sending boxes of needed supplies, including religious books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even after the sudden death of her husband left Carr a single mother, she continued to help, recruiting volunteers from her synagogue. \u201cUsing religious terms as coded messages, they started a secret communication system with the Syrian Jewish community. Judy\u2019s home turned into the hub of an underground escape network to help the Syrian Jews flee to safety\u2026. She negotiated ransoms, planned elaborate escapes, and even smuggled people across heavily guarded borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carr helped save more than 3,000 Jews.<\/p>\n

Palatnik is founding director of Momentum, a global organization that connects women to Jewish values and to Israel, and encourages them to take action to promote unity that embraces difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, Lori was asked if she\u2019d donate her kidney to a stranger,\u201d write Silverstein and Pruwer. \u201cHesitant at first, she drew on her sense of achrayut<\/i>, the responsibility we have for one another. \u2018For someone I don\u2019t know?\u2019 she wondered hesitantly. \u2018But someone knows her. This is someone\u2019s wife, mother, daughter, friend. Why would I pass up this mitzvah just because I don\u2019t know her?\u2019\u201d (Years earlier, Palatnik had been willing to donate a kidney to a friend, but hadn\u2019t been a match.)<\/p>\n

Abella (n\u00e9e Silberman) was the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Born in a displaced persons camp in Germany, she was 4 years old when the family \u201cimmigrated to Canada with little more than hope for a better future.\u201d She became \u201cthe first Jewish female judge in Canada and the youngest in the country\u2019s history,\u201d never trying to hide that she was Jewish to succeed, write Silverstein and Pruwer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn her career, Rosalie worked tirelessly to eliminate the disadvantages faced by people with disabilities, women, people of colour, and the native aboriginal community. After 25 years as a champion of human rights and equality, Justice Rosie became the first Jewish woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Written in a concise, clear manner, there is a lot to learn about some amazing people in Chutzpah Girls<\/i>. Every entry comprises the name of the woman, her era, when she was born and in what country, her job or title, a writeup about one of her chutzpah aspects, and a quote from the woman that reflects what she did or general words of wisdom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Jewish defenders Zivia Lubetkin, who helped command the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and her granddaughter, Roni Zuckerman, an Israeli fighter pilot, as envisioned by Shiri Algor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alongside the text for each woman is a beautiful, colourful, expressive portrait created by one of the dozen-plus illustrators and graphic artists that Silverstein and Pruwer enlisted for this book. The styles are so varied, but all are bold and capture the essence of the woman portrayed.<\/p>\n

The last story and portrait in the book are left blank for the young (or old) reader to add their tale of chutzpah and a drawing of themselves.<\/p>\n

But the book isn\u2019t the end of it. Readers are encouraged to let Silverstein and Pruwer know who you\u2019d like people to know more about \u2013 \u201ca favourite figure from the Torah, a changemaker in your local community, or a leading lady in your own family. It\u2019s even possible our next Chutzpah Girl is you!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To send your suggestion(s), email info@chutzpahgirls.com<\/a>. To learn more about the writers and the artists, visit chutzpahgirls.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of us could benefit from a little more chutzpah, as defined by Julie Esther Silverstein and Tami Schlossberg Pruwer, authors of Chutzpah Girls: 100 Tales of Daring Jewish Women (The Toby Press, 2024).\u00a0 According to Silverstein and Pruwer, chutzpah is: \u201c A Jewish superpower: the daring to speak when silenced, to take action when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[23701,3076,4242,4050,23702,23699,23703,7203,23700,3021],"class_list":["post-45611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-chutzpah-girls","tag-education","tag-history","tag-jewish-history","tag-judy-feld-carr","tag-julie-esther-silverstein","tag-lori-palatnik","tag-rosalie-silberman-abella","tag-tami-schlossberg-pruwer","tag-women"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}