COLLECTION NAME:
Leah Novick Collection
Record
Collection Name:
Leah Novick Collection
Title:
Los Gatos JCC
Name:
Novick, Léah
Resource Type:
Moving image
Genre:
Lectures
Place Created:
Los Gatos (Santa Clara, California, United States, North America) (inhabited place)
Date Created:
1980s
Language Term:
English
Language Term:
Hebrew
Extent:
1 VHS tape; color, sound (optical, multichannel); 01:22:16
Form:
presentations (communicative events)
Form:
Instructional and educational works
Abstract:
Leah Novick is invited to give a talk about women in Jewish history at the Jewish Women's Resource Collaborative event in California.
Note:
00:00 Carol Ward, Program Director of the Jewish Community Center introduces Leah Novick as the first speaker for the Jewish Women’s Resource Collaborative; 02:46 Leah Novick begins her talk by first speaking about her daughter Mindy and the work she does regarding women’s identities in Judaism. She continues to ask and attempt to address the question of why Judaic male scholars and rabbis have neglected or repressed information about Jewish women. In particular, Leah begins to cover the topics Jewish women struggle to get into such as: political power, spiritual leadership, study and prayer, and organizational leadership; 05:57 Leah talks about the history of a prominent Jewish, female ruler named Salome (Shelamzion) Alexandra and her ability to conduct peaceful negotiations throughout Israel at the time; 20:15 Leah talks about other current Jewish, female leaders who ran for office such as Harriet Woods who ran for the United States Senate and Madeleine Kunin who was Governor of Vermont. She continues to talk about more Jewish women in California who were politically active; 22:00 Leah talks about how Jewish people tend to enjoy working behind the scenes and struggle to hold more positions of power, as well as feel uncomfortable supporting more Jewish women in positions of power, over men; 24:00 Leah talks about former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman and when she ran up against male senators; 26:19 Leah relates the conversation back to Salome and how women talk about an alternative way of dealing with power or how society never experienced cultures dominated by women in power long enough. Leah states women end up having to be more like men to get into powerful positions; 28:48 Leah talks about an experiment she carried out at a conference where it was a predominantly female culture and how intentionally presented conflicts or differing opinions would be handled amongst the participants at the conference. Ultimately there was less conflict experienced at the event when compared to the conflict generated from an average football game; 30:29 Leah talks about another woman she enjoys reading about. Her name is Dona Gracia Nasi who lived during the Portuguese Inquisition; 38:10 Leah reads a passage from a poet named Samuel who described Dona Gracia. She continues to talk about the accomplishments and political work of Gracia such as the boycott of the port of Ancona; 46:00 Leah talks about walking through gardens and universities and mentions how there are very few landmarks or things named after prominent women unless they are an associated wife to a wealthy husband. These women become lost to us in history when scholars overlook the work of women; 50:00 Leah mentions that whenever the Jewish community was in peril it was often women who took more of an active role in the ritual lifestyle and; therefore, women might contain more knowledge and preservation of Judaism; 52:30 Leah tells one more story about the Maiden of Ludmir, the only female rebbe in the history of the Hasidic movement; 01:02:00 Leah makes an observation stating it is very hard for women to become successful or powerful if they are married. Women often must deal with the notion that they are “unmarriageable” because they are too attached to their work, or they have to give up their careers to be married; 01:09:00 Leah ends her talk and thanks her audience. The audience asks her questions or share their stories with her.
Note Type:
timestamp
Subject Topic:
Jewish women
Subject Topic:
Women--History
Subject Topic:
Women--Social conditions
Subject Topic:
Feminism
Subject Name:
Salome Alexandra, 139 B.C.-67 B.C.
Subject Name:
Nasi, Gracia, approximately 1510-1569
Subject Name:
Werbermacher, Chana Rochel, 1815-1892
Identifier:
narv_novickLeah_box3_losGatosJCC_a.mp4
Physical Location:
University of Colorado Boulder Libraries Rare and Distinctive Collections
Date Captured:
2021-12
Internet Media Type:
video/mp4
Digital Origin:
reformatted digital
Access Condition:
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).