I was always an activist.
As a child in Australia, my parents took me to participate in protests on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Later, I demonstrated against apartheid in South Africa and was in the streets with the moratorium against the Vietnam War and demanding land rights for indigenous Australians.
As my Jewish identity developed, I channelled much of my activism on behalf of Israel and Zionism. I remember particularly my impassioned speech when the UN defined “Zionism as Racism” and I fought against anti-Israel activity on campus from within the student movement. I was also becoming a committed Orthodox Feminist, fighting battles within my own community and refusing to remain silent regarding discrimination against women in the religious realm or elsewhere.
In all of these battles, I had colleagues from other religions. Many Christians were on the left out of principle. The Churches took the lead on behalf of land rights. Women in religions found a common cause in their search for a voice.
My career was in Jewish education – I dropped out of law studies on recognising that law was not offering me the direct way to pursue justice that I had envisaged – and I hoped to instil in my students the same Jewish values of human dignity and justice that inspired me. It was as an educator that I became involved in interfaith dialogue, representing the Jewish community in theological discussions with the Churches as well as developing an understanding of our common ground on a range of practical issues.
When I came on Aliyah, interfaith dialogue became my profession, and teaching a side-line. I became education director for the Elijah Interfaith Institute, secretary of the Jerusalem Rainbow Group for Jewish-Christian Encounter and Dialogue and founded, along with a Christian colleague, Praying Together in Jerusalem.
In 2015, my friend Shelagh Shalev told me that she was part of a 50 day strike outside the Prime Minister’s residence. I went to the tent to support the women (and a couple of men) demanding peace. In 2016, I participated in the March of Hope, along with my sister, who was visiting from Australia. It was then that I formally became a member of Women Wage Peace and I have not removed my blue bracelet since.
Whenever I can, I join my sisters on the corner of Azza and Metudela or participate in mass events. Since the Kiverstein Institute was founded in 2019 and I became a Senior Fellow, there have been more opportunities to deepen my connections to WWP activists, whom I consider my sisters.
From the beginning, I have been disappointed that not more religious women are active in WWP. We pray every day for Shalom; why don’t we do more to make it a reality? As a friend and colleague, Alick Isaacs, said recently, “If it’s worth praying for, it’s worth working for.” I hope that my presence in WWP will encourage others to be part of this powerful sisterhood, diverse in so many ways but united by our passion for peace.
Watch the short video we have created in the Kiverstein Institute to promote resolution 1325 of the security council of the UN – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCWw9fzmAnU.
