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A review by dominic_t
Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology (Revised and Updated Edition) by Evelyn Torton Beck
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was a really interesting collection of essays that represented a wide range of views. I read the updated version that was published in 1989, and I'm glad I read that version. The editor noted that the situation in Israel and Palestine had changed greatly since the original publication and added a new piece by an activist in the peace movement.
Not everything in this anthology ages well. One piece was by Adrienne Rich, and I can't read that piece without knowing how transphobic and transmisogynistic she was. It makes me wonder how many of the authors held and promoted transphobic and transmisogynistic values in the course of their work. Some of them referenced the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a music festival now remembered for its exclusion of trans women. However, this anthology predates the anti-trans incident that incited yearly protests by trans people and allies. I'm curious about how their views on trans people evolved as trans people became more visible and the trans movement gained strength.
The conversation about antisemitism vs. anti-Zionism is another piece that didn't age well. All of the pieces on this topic said that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic and brushed aside criticism that Zionism is racist. None of the essays really engaged with the idea that Zionism is racist; they didn't bother exploring why some people believe that, so they didn't counter any of the specific claims. They also gave examples of people being antisemitic while claiming to be anti-Zionist, but they didn't engage with the actual ideology. It's telling that they were happy to paint anti-Zionists with a broad brush saying that they're antisemitic, but they threw a fit when anti-Zionists said that Zionism is racist. Several of the essayists were in the process of unpacking their complicated feelings around Israel, and this was an aspect that needed to be unpacked further.
I was happy to see that the essayists were fairly diverse. They had multiple women of color and one convert. It would have been cool to see a few more women of color and women from non-Ashkenazi backgrounds, but the diversity was still pretty good.
One of my favorite pieces was "Living in the In-Between" by Chaya Shoshana. Chaya is a convert like I am, and a lot of what she said really resonated with me. "I was drawn to the reality of a communal identity that would travel with me, a community that existed both as an identifiable entity in the world and as something contained within me...Each person is responsible for the active affirmation and continuation of the community..." (p. 93). I really loved this explanation of the role of community in Judaism. This also resonated with me: "As a Jew I became whole: tied to the seasons, a necessary member of the community, and bound by an ethic of activism" (p. 94).
The section on Israel was interesting. As I mentioned above, the editor actually added a new piece to this section, and that greatly improved the entire book. I've also read another book called Lesbiot that was a series of oral histories of Israeli lesbians from the late 80s and early 90s, and I actually recognized a couple of the names in this section from that book. In Lesbiot, the lesbians interviewed brought up their work in the Israeli peace movement repeatedly. I found it simultaneously interesting and disappointing that most of the essays in this section didn't really touch on the occupation. The essays were still good, but I found it a weird omission given that so much of the lesbian movement in Israel has a long history with the peace movement. "Letters from My Aunt" was a really sweet series of letters between a lesbian niece and her lesbian aunt. The new piece in this section, "Yom Hashoah, Yom Yerushalayim: A Meditation" is probably my favorite piece in the entire book. In this essay, Irena Klepfisz writes about her activism in the Israeli/Palestinian peace movement. I found it incredibly moving when she talked about meeting Palestinians and working in solidarity with them. She wrote a beautiful speech to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and she talked about balancing her desire to honor Holocaust survivors with her need to connect the current oppression of Palestinians with the historical oppression of the Jews. She maintains throughout the essay that she believes that Jews have a right to a homeland but also believes that Palestinians should have their own state. I'm curious to know if she still feels that way because a lot of activists and organizations are moving away from supporting a two state solution towards supporting one democratic state for both Palestinians and Jews that doesn't prioritize one religion over another.
I think this book is worth reading because it has some really interesting insights and personal narratives. However, you do have to approach it with the understanding that it was written more than thirty years ago. It's fair to criticize it and point out the things that didn't age well, but it's also important to recognize how important it was when it was written.
Not everything in this anthology ages well. One piece was by Adrienne Rich, and I can't read that piece without knowing how transphobic and transmisogynistic she was. It makes me wonder how many of the authors held and promoted transphobic and transmisogynistic values in the course of their work. Some of them referenced the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, a music festival now remembered for its exclusion of trans women. However, this anthology predates the anti-trans incident that incited yearly protests by trans people and allies. I'm curious about how their views on trans people evolved as trans people became more visible and the trans movement gained strength.
The conversation about antisemitism vs. anti-Zionism is another piece that didn't age well. All of the pieces on this topic said that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic and brushed aside criticism that Zionism is racist. None of the essays really engaged with the idea that Zionism is racist; they didn't bother exploring why some people believe that, so they didn't counter any of the specific claims. They also gave examples of people being antisemitic while claiming to be anti-Zionist, but they didn't engage with the actual ideology. It's telling that they were happy to paint anti-Zionists with a broad brush saying that they're antisemitic, but they threw a fit when anti-Zionists said that Zionism is racist. Several of the essayists were in the process of unpacking their complicated feelings around Israel, and this was an aspect that needed to be unpacked further.
I was happy to see that the essayists were fairly diverse. They had multiple women of color and one convert. It would have been cool to see a few more women of color and women from non-Ashkenazi backgrounds, but the diversity was still pretty good.
One of my favorite pieces was "Living in the In-Between" by Chaya Shoshana. Chaya is a convert like I am, and a lot of what she said really resonated with me. "I was drawn to the reality of a communal identity that would travel with me, a community that existed both as an identifiable entity in the world and as something contained within me...Each person is responsible for the active affirmation and continuation of the community..." (p. 93). I really loved this explanation of the role of community in Judaism. This also resonated with me: "As a Jew I became whole: tied to the seasons, a necessary member of the community, and bound by an ethic of activism" (p. 94).
The section on Israel was interesting. As I mentioned above, the editor actually added a new piece to this section, and that greatly improved the entire book. I've also read another book called Lesbiot that was a series of oral histories of Israeli lesbians from the late 80s and early 90s, and I actually recognized a couple of the names in this section from that book. In Lesbiot, the lesbians interviewed brought up their work in the Israeli peace movement repeatedly. I found it simultaneously interesting and disappointing that most of the essays in this section didn't really touch on the occupation. The essays were still good, but I found it a weird omission given that so much of the lesbian movement in Israel has a long history with the peace movement. "Letters from My Aunt" was a really sweet series of letters between a lesbian niece and her lesbian aunt. The new piece in this section, "Yom Hashoah, Yom Yerushalayim: A Meditation" is probably my favorite piece in the entire book. In this essay, Irena Klepfisz writes about her activism in the Israeli/Palestinian peace movement. I found it incredibly moving when she talked about meeting Palestinians and working in solidarity with them. She wrote a beautiful speech to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and she talked about balancing her desire to honor Holocaust survivors with her need to connect the current oppression of Palestinians with the historical oppression of the Jews. She maintains throughout the essay that she believes that Jews have a right to a homeland but also believes that Palestinians should have their own state. I'm curious to know if she still feels that way because a lot of activists and organizations are moving away from supporting a two state solution towards supporting one democratic state for both Palestinians and Jews that doesn't prioritize one religion over another.
I think this book is worth reading because it has some really interesting insights and personal narratives. However, you do have to approach it with the understanding that it was written more than thirty years ago. It's fair to criticize it and point out the things that didn't age well, but it's also important to recognize how important it was when it was written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Genocide, Rape, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Racial slurs