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| Making our mark in the world “Well-behaved women rarely make history” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. From the Editor Some friends and I gathered our toddlers together for a little Valentine’s Day party last month. As we sat helping our 2-year-olds with the glue and scissors, one of the moms confided that she had spent the previous night crying over the likelihood that the United States will soon bomb Iraq. What had prompted the tears were her thoughts of the women in Iraq, specifically the mothers. They were probably a lot like us, she said, in their love for their children. And there they were, trapped with no way to escape our country’s impending attack, and no way to protect their children. “Imagine sitting in your home and knowing that, maybe not tomorrow or next week, but soon the United States is going to be bombing your city,” she told us. The way she emphasized the words “United States” made clear the striking contrast between our military machine and theirs. We are, after all, the biggest military might on the planet. And Iraq, despite the claims of the current administration, is a country in economic and social ruin, largely brought about by the Gulf War and subsequent sanctions, which some humanitarian groups estimate have killed 1.5 million Iraqis in the last decade, most of them children. Her words lay heavy upon us, and as we sat there wiping glitter from our kids’ fingers, I am sure that each of us felt the same thing: despair over these women and children whose lives are so disposable to our nation’s leaders. Despair and helplessness. It is hard to know what to do when the obstacle seems so great and the stakes so high. How can we stop the bombs from falling? How can we help save the lives of thousands who are now threatened by not only their own dictatorial regime, but also a nearly out-of-control foreign administration whose finger sits on the biggest weapons cache in the world? These thoughts stayed with me as I worked on this issue of Desert Sage, an issue devoted to women and the contributions they are making to their communities. And I thought of Esther and the parallels between her plight and the challenges we women face today. I am not a Torah scholar, so I will disclose up front that my understanding of Esther’s story is limited in its depth. But even the most cursory perusal of the story presents some interesting opportunities for role-playing. In layman’s terms, here was a lady from a humble background who scored big. She had achieved what some today might call “The American Dream”: security, wealth, status. A life of privilege. And yet despite all this, she still found herself vulnerable to an enemy who, in revenge for a perceived humiliation, plotted the demise of an entire people. So there she was, faced with the seemingly insurmountable task of saving a whole nation of people, something that could be accomplished only by changing the King’s mind. We all know how Esther’s story ends. But what about ours? And who are our players? Is Saddam Hussein Haman, or is George Bush? And what about Esther? She could be a metaphor for America itself: Security, beauty, wealth, status and yet, still vulnerable and torn by inner conflict. The question for us is, will we hide behind our “royal robes,” or will we follow our conscience, sacrifice some of our emotional and physical comforts and place ourselves on the front lines of the good fight? And we don’t have to travel to Baghdad or even Washington to defeat “the enemy.” It lay to some degree within each of us: in greed, arrogance, complacency and a casual indifference to the suffering of so many at the hands of so few. Esther’s power resided in her ability to use her words. With so much at stake, and, truly, it goes far beyond Iraq, isn’t it time we women wielded our power and spoke up? Our principles are not those of war, and our strengths lie not in the ways of battle. We are, at our core, the mothers, the nurturers, the healers of our world and we can no longer let men guide our destiny. In honor of Esther, in honor of our daughters, in honor of ourselves, it is time we made our mark. Building bridges: Hillel director takes pride in connecting students and community By Carolyn Sedalnik Desert Sage Staff Writer UNM Hillel Director Dina Berger identifies her strong belief in Jewish community as the underlying force in her life. That belief, coupled with the strength she yields from her congregation at Nahalat Shalom, has helped her in her role as Hillel’s director over the last 18 months, she said. “When I watch how they take in college-aged students (at Nahalat Shalom), that’s a model,” she said. She sees her role as helping to construct bridges between Hillel and the greater Jewish community. It’s a job made challenging -- and rewarding -- by the diversity of students and faith communities that comprise Albuquerque. “When there are students who represent the spectrum of Israel, it may make our jobs more difficult, but it makes our jobs more honest,” Berger said. Challenging situations are something she knows about. She grew up in New York with a strong Jewish family that really nurtured a sense of community within her. So strong was that foundation that when she went off to college and found its Jewish community lacking, she and her peers created their own Shabbat celebration and Torah study. “If you want a Jewish experience, you have to build it yourself,” she says. Berger arrived in Albuquerque five years ago armed with those college experiences, a master’s degree in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University, and leadership skills from her seven-year tenure as the program director of the Washington University Hillel. Her background has served her well in creating an environment at UNM where learning, community and leadership go hand-in-hand. “If you want to give someone a Jewish community or experience, give them a Jewish playground,” Berger says. “(A playground) is so engaging, but it’s also about taking risks and feeling safe .. pushing yourself ... and that’s how I think about college life in general, and Hillel fits really well into that.” Her commitment to the tenets of community and learning has guided not only her professional journey, but her spiritual one as well, she says, and served as a touchstone whenever she came to a fork in life’s road. She came back to it when she faced a decision whether or not to continue with rabbinical school, which she began about the time she started her Hillel job. “I struggle with a Jewish world where the rabbinical school message is that rabbis do it for people,” she said. I’m really much more of communal-oriented person. Berger believes that Hillel is better served by her not being on the rabbinic path, but rather by her ability to prompt members toward the same creation of Jewish community and independence of spirit that has underscored her life. | |||||||||
