JEWELS

JEWELS is an organization founded in the summer of 1980 by a group of women representing a broad cross-section of the Orthodox Jewish community. Its goal is to enable all Jewish women to explore their heritage as Jewish women in all its dignity, creativity, vitality and beauty in order to attain their fulfillment as people within a strong marriage and family.

It is our belief that the Torah with its 600,000 facets belongs to every Jewish woman. This means that each has her own unique personal relationship with Torah, as it is written, "It is not in heaven…Neither is it beyond the sea…It is very close to you…to do it." (Deuteronomy 30:12-4). Each person was sent into this world with a unique purpose and was given special attributes and potential. There is a place for each personality within the framework of Torah. G-d granted all attributes-physical, mental and spiritual-in order to be used to their fullest. Thus, each Jew may come closer to G-d and brighten the environment while conducting a Jewish life.

The Torah contains secrets which have been the mainstay of individual well being and family life for generations. Unfortunately, in our generation many of these keys to harmonious living have either been misinterpreted or not communicated at all to vast numbers of Jewish women. The purpose of JEWELS is to make available informative literature, slides, films and programs, and to provide speakers to all interested individuals and groups on topics relating specifically to women and their Torah observance.

When the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai approximately 3300 years ago, the Jewish people accepted it saying, "All that G-d has spoken we will do and obey." (Exodus 24:7). First, they agreed to do and then to listen and understand. By nature, Torah is beyond the scope of human reason.

Many women have been led erroneously to believe that Torah study is not a woman's province. Today, when Jewish women are privy to all other types of knowledge, it is becoming common practice for them to set aside regular periods of time to study Torah. Torah study, joyous in itself, can play an important role in maintaining a woman's strong Jewish identity and commitment, healthy spiritual life, and the performance of mitzvot pertaining to them, as well as all the negative commandments. Naturally, this study should lead to total observance of all mitzvot.

The backbone of Jewish life is Jewish marriage. Husband and wife enable each other to fulfill all of their potential and responsibilities. Marriage is a mitzvah. Each individual needs a helpmate in life as G-d said when he created the woman, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helpmate for him." (Genesis 2:18). Thus, the couple complements each other in all their endeavors, although each has a separate but unique function within the marriage.

The Hebrew word for marriage is kiddushin, from the root kadosh, meaning sanctified and separated. Where there is kiddushin, the relationship itself is sacred, good and beautiful. With regard to physical expressions of love, the husband and wife are separated from all others and share only with each other. The Jewish marital relationship is a blend and balance of two kinds of love: love with physical fulfillment and the relationship of loving friends; because at certain times all physical contact is forbidden. Such a balance ensures that the relationship always entails a powerful spiritual dimension. Judaism takes the physical, mundane act of the union of husband-wife and elevates it to the level of kedushah (holiness).

Marriage is necessary not only for the sustenance of Jewish life, but for society as well. Statistics have shown that married people live longer and healthier lives than those who never marry. Sustaining a marriage requires the development of the partners' dedication, patience, assumption of responsibility and ability to give. Hence, marriage builds the quality of society as well as the partners' characters, because society is only as strong as its members.

The wellspring of the Jewish marriage is the mikvah (ritual bath) in conjunction with Taharat Hamispacha (the laws of family purity). Taharat Hamispacha addresses the physical relationship between husband and wife. It also ensures that the children born of their union are conceived in tahara, a life-affirming ritual state. The couple separates during the menses and for a period afterward, followed by the wife's ritual immersion in the warm, clean waters of the mikvah and culminated by the reuniting of the couple. The status of the couple at all times and the woman's privacy at the time of immersion are to be carefully preserved. Taharat Hamispacha gives couples the important opportunity to develop many facets of their relationship as well as various means of communication. Some feel that the separation period allows each one time for themselves within the framework of marriage. Many say that their observance of this mitzvah brings into the marriage increased understanding, mutual respect and appreciation.

A great deal of misinformation about Taharat Hamispacha has been disseminated. All Jewish women-from high school girls to post-menopausal women-deserve to know the truth about this mitzvah and, once married, the opportunity to perform it.

There are many laws and guidelines controlling the proper observance of Taharat Hamispacha in each of its various phases. It is not the intention of this publication to give all details of these laws. There are various publications, written in English which enumerate them. For further information on the observance of these laws, contact Mrs. Bluma Rivkin.

Today the Jewish mortality rate exceededs the birth rate, with the numerical void of the six million yet unfilled. Recently, there were more abortions in Israel than there were Jews who made aliyah (immigrated) from other countries. The alarming assimilation rate only increases the dire need for additional Jewish children.

Meanwhile, in America today, there are many fears and taboos concerning having a large family. Birth control and abortion are used to prevent large families. These methods are, except in special cases, prohibited by the Torah and in themselves inflict difficulties, if not emotional scars, upon parents and children. According to Jewish law, the woman's life is placed before the fetus', and where pregnancy threatens the mother's life and health, birth control or abortion may be necessary (and hence, mandatory. However, before any such decision is made, a competent Orthodox rabbi, knowledgeable in the field must be consulted. Other than in rare exceptional cases, each abortion and every use of birth control damages the quality of Jewish and human life and delays the redemption.

The prejudice against large families must be lifted. This can be accomplished through education regarding the blessings of children and through dialogue with women who have raised large families and who are willing to share their insights and practical experience. All Jewish women should be encouraged to have as many children as G-d will grant. Each new baby has the power to bring wonderful benefits not only to the parents, but to the siblings as well. The One Above who gives life will also provide means of sustenance. The circumstances of the Jewish people mandate nothing less than a major change in attitude and behavior in this area.

A woman may honestly feel that her won childhood experiences did not prepare her to be a good marriage partner and mother. If so, it is not too late now to replace old, negative patterns of behavior with positive ones. This can be accomplished through several means: A one-to-one relationship with a married woman whom one respects and with whom one can discuss these issues; a friendly relationship with a family whose members interact harmoniously and from whose behavior patterns one can learn; and study of the Torah, which deals at great length with issues concerning interpersonal relationships.

Not every woman is granted offspring. Throughout Jewish history, barren women have not experienced their childlessness without a sense of regret at having missed one of life's great experiences. However, in Judaism there is a place for women whom G-d did not give children.

The Torah singles out some Jewish women for their accomplishments as wives and mothers. The family life of other great women of Torah is barely mentioned. Sarah's spiritual attainments surpassed Abraham's to the extent that G-d told Abraham to listen to Sarah. This occurred years before she bore Isaac. The Talmud, Masechet (tractate) Megillah, lists eight prophetesses, all of them spiritual giants independent of their accomplishments as mothers. Miriam was a prophetess at the age of three, long before she was married. Her son, Hur, is not mentioned in the Torah itself; we only learn of his existence through the commentary of Rashi (11^th century Biblical commentator). The halachic opinions of Bruria, the great Talmudic scholar, are held in great regard to this day. We may learn from these women that the spiritual and communal accomplishments of a woman, independent of her achievements within the family, are also of great importance to Judaism.

Today's times and today's women are radically different from those of the last generation; as radically different as our grandmothers were from their own grandmothers. Even in our grandmothers' generation, as in our times, there was the opportunity to lose faith in the preciousness of leading a Jewish life, saying, "Times have changed."

We are alive today because our grandmothers, and theirs, chose to maintain Jewish lives with faith and trust in the Torah as a viable lifestyle for them and a worthy inheritance for the next generation. They also kept faith in themselves and their own creative abilities to relate to the Torah meaningfully. They challenge themselves to grow spiritually. The proof of this is the extent to which their Jewish observance was vibrant and exciting. They questioned and searched because G-d wanted them to search.

In the book of Exodus, at the giving of the Torah, G-d told Moses to teach the Torah first to the women and afterwards to the men (Exodus 19:3). Two different verbs, tomar and taged , are used in commanding Moses to teach the women and men. Rashi explains that the Torah was taught to each group using a different tone and manner. This, perhaps, represents the beginning of the women's tradition within Torah, which ahs endured for some 33 centuries. This tradition is wholly in accord with the Torah and the rulings of the great Torah leaders of every generation. The women's trust in the Chachamim (Torah Sages) is based on their experience with these people so utterly trustworthy and as having both women's and men's best interests at heart. In Judaism, where all the energies and talents of all Jews are required in order to fulfill the purpose of the Jewish people's existence, there is no room for mistrust.

There is no ultimate difference between the women's and the men's path in terms of their connection to Torah. The women's tradition is based on the fact that a woman, created in G-d's image, must have utter self-respect and must utilize her G-d-given abilities to enrich the world. Women relate to Judaism from the vantage point of a woman's unique perspective and life experience within the framework of Torah.

Tuning in to the woman's unique tradition is necessary in order for women to be in touch with their own wealth of spiritual resources. It is the only means to eliminate the feeling, too rampant in some circles, that women are second class citizens in Judaism. The Jewish women's tradition is visible in many cases though reading and studying Torah and Jewish books; or by seeking out women who live Jewish lives both spiritually and physically. Jewish women have traditionally been the strongholds of faith and trust in G-d, His Torah and his mitzvot.

It is a divine promise that the Jewish people will exist eternally. This is a promise in which we are partners with G-d. At the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, G-d took the Jewish people as His bride, as it were, and we offered our children as guarantors of our faithfulness. By having children we fulfill our "marriage contract" with G-d; we do our part to ensure him a Jewish people for the next generation. We also insure our own eternity.

A Jew is never alone, and one's life is not entirely one's own, according to Torah. Our Sages say, "All Jews are responsible for one another." An act of kindness one performs for another affects not only the other individual, but the future of the entire Jewish nation. Unfortunately the reverse is true as well.

It is difficult to contemplate the results of Yocheved never having given birth to Moses, but during Pharaoh's death decree against all Jewish boy babies, Yocheved and her husband Amram, divorced in despair. It was young Miriam who approached her parents and challenged "Pharaoh decreed death to the boys; should you decree death to the girls, as well, by having no children at all?" Her parents remarried, and the result of their union was Moses. Today, we must remember that every potential child is a potential Miriam or Moses and must be treated accordingly.

Living Jewish life to the fullest requires a strong sense of bitachon (trust in G-d). Each Jew has the inner power to live up to his or her particular challenges, and to be instrumental in shaping this generation and the next in a special way.

Our rabbis tell us "Hakol Min Ha'isha" ("Everything is from the woman"). [Bereishis Rabbah 17:12]. A virtuous woman has within her capabilities to influence her husband and family towards positive actions and deeds. Due to the righteous women in Egypt we merited the redemption; so too, in our generation each and every woman must fulfill her potential to build her family within the structure of Torah-true observance, thereby brightening her environment with dignity, creativity, vitality, and beauty in the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot.

Printed in loving memory of Chaya Sarah ob"m bas Reb Avraham, who tirelessly gave of herself to help Jewish women know.