Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories: Acts of Love and Courage » (1st Edition)

Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories: Acts of Love and Courage contains touching and personal essays written by contemporary Jewish mothers from different parts of the globe. Their stories reveal the choices that Jewish mothers make in our post-Holocaust, non-Jewish world—the many ways of being Jewish, the acts of loving, of preserving and celebrating Jewish traditions and spirituality, and of transmitting them to their children and families.

The firsthand stories in this compelling book raises questions and provides you with insight into a variety of topics, including:

• The 'Jewish mother' stereotype and its impact on real Jewish mothers
• ethnic/historical connections between mothers and daughters
• moving acts of love, courage, and sacrifice in response to illness, war, or conflicting ideologies
• motherhood as a catalyst for personal evolutions of Jewish identity and values
• Orthodox to secular expressions of spirituality.
• The impact of the 'Jewish motherhood imperative'
• positive experiences of conversion and interfaith families
• conveying Jewish history and tradition in a Christian world

Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories will draw the reader, Jewish or not, mother or not, into an appreciation of the cultural, ethnic, and spiritual aspects of mothering. This remarkable collection explores the different meanings of today's concept of "Jewish mother" and "Jewish family."

• About the Editors
• Contributors
• Introduction
• SECTION I: TRADITIONS
  • Chapter 1. From Generation to Generation
  • Chapter 2. How I Learned to Be a Jewish Mother
  • Chapter 3. Traditions
  • Chapter 4. My Mother Is Greek
  • Chapter 5. Mandelbrot, Rugelach, and a Family Quilt
• SECTION II: UNBINDING LOVE
  • Chapter 6. Unbinding Love
  • Chapter 7. How a Paper Clip Changed Our Lives
  • Chapter 8. On Mourning for Soldier Sons in Israel
  • Chapter 9. On My Son's Induction into the Israeli Armed Forces: A Feminist Mother's Prayer
  • Chapter 10. Jewish Mother and Son: The Feminist Version
  • Chapter 11. If I Can't Tear the Toilet Paper, Why Can I Flush the Toilet?
• SECTION III: JEWISH VALUES
  • Chapter 12. On the Other Hand
  • Chapter 14. My Journey Toward Jewish Identification
  • Chapter 15. Am I a Jewish Mother?
  • Chapter 16. Conversion: The Mother of Invention
  • Chapter 17. A Wandering Mother
• SECTION IV: JEWISH IDENTITY—DISCOVERED AND REDISCOVERED
  • Chapter 18. Jewish Mother "From Scratch"
  • Chapter 19. How Modern-Day Austria Made Me a Modern Jewish Mother
  • Chapter 20. Learning to Speak German
  • Chapter 21. Washing Down the Chalk
  • Chapter 22. While My Sixteen-Year-Old Daughter Visits Auschwitz
  • Chapter 23. A Long, Circular Journey
• SECTION V: SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
  • Chapter 24. A Life in Code
  • Chapter 25. You Will Teach Your Children Diligently
  • Chapter 26. Beresheet, In the Beginning
  • Chapter 27. On Carving a Life
  • Chapter 28. Integrating Feminism, Judaism, and Spirituality
  • Chapter 29. Seeking Serenity As a Single Jewish Mother
  • Chapter 30. Oranges and Cinnamon
• SECTION VI: THE REAL WORLD
  • Chapter 31. Dealing with the Real World: Our Children, Ourselves
  • Chapter 32. No More Family Secrets
  • Chapter 33. If I'd Known How To Be a Jewish Mother, I Would Have Been One
  • Chapter 34. Chopped Liver and Sour Grapes: Jewish But not a Mother
  • Chapter 35. My Two Lives
• Glossary