Hope into Practice, Jewish women choosing justice despite our fears

To reach a place to be able to put hope into practice, to choose justice, despite fear, the author begins this book with a look at why many a Jewish woman, told she doesn’t look Jewish, would act as if it is a compliment. This leads into the first chapter, which asks how things got so hard. The author, to her credit, leaves no topic untouchable, exploring anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, politics, Israel, Palestine, and more, where it relates to being a Jewish woman today in America. She explores issues such as reactions of family, neighbors and friends, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, Jewish and non-Jewish, and how all play into the unconscious mind causing a fluctuation between feelings of being either a victim or privileged. The author discusses each with intelligence and compassion, providing quotes from others to illustrate her points and sharing a vignette of activist work. After including an action-orientated reader’s guide, a section of notes and index, the author places her acknowledgments at the end.

“Although I quote from a plethora of activists, scholars, journalists, and friends, this work in its entirety reflects no one’s perspective other than my own. That said, there is no way I could have transformed my Ph.D. dissertation into this book without the extraordinary help, generosity, and support of my community.”

This reviewer found the book to be one of hope as it shared the many sides of being a Jewish woman, looking for ways to remedy the many injustices of the past by going forward to create justice for everyone. Readers, whether Jewish or not, will rethink the stereotypes that limit us all. This quote from Anne Frank personifies hope. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

The author has begun this improvement.