Graduation December 2003:
Saluting Pluralistic Studies
 | | (right)
Ibrahim Al-Graba, principal of the Segev Shalom
School in the Negev received an MA degree
in Jewish Studies and Informal Education from
the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
in Jerusalem along with 55 additional graduates
including (left) Ofer Grinbum, from Kiryat
Arba who directs the Pisga Pedagogical Center
in Kiryat Arba and is in charge of the town's
emergency services. |
December was filled with deliberations, celebrations and much simcha for the Schechter Institute.
On Sunday, December 14th, the seventh annual Liebhaber Prize for Religious Tolerance was awarded to Judith Edelman-Green for her inspiring Bar-Bat Mitzvah Project for Children with Special Needs. On Monday, December 15th, Prof. Alice Shalvi, who is stepping down as Chair of the Schechter Institute Executive Committee, was feted at a very special event held in her honor in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, December 16th, 56 graduates, including four rabbinical ordainees, 53 MA students and 3 DHL students received degrees at the Schechter 16th Ordination and Commencement Exercises in Jerusalem. The Jewish Theological Seminary presented honorary degrees to Prof. Ruth Gavison and Prof. Joseph Dan. These events were an inspirational part of the program of the Schechter annual Board of Governors which also met in Jerusalem.
Best wishes and Mazal Tov to Professor Shalvi, Judith Edelman-Green and to all Schechter graduates. May you continue to contribute your multitude of talents to Israeli society.
What follows is the valedictorian speech presented at the Graduation Ceremony on December 16, 2003.
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TAMAR BIALA
VALEDICTORIAN OF THE SIJS CLASS OF '03
The valedictorian address of Schechter's
16th Ordination and Commencement Ceremony was delivered
by Tamar Biala, a graduate of the research track
in Jewish Studies with a specialization in Women's
and Gender Studies. Tamar works at Kolech,
where she writes curriculum for religious teenagers
on gender issues from a Jewish feminist perspective.
At the Center for Social Leadership, she
writes curriculum for Israeli schools which emphasizes
the social aspects of Judaism.
"Schechter family, honored guests from Israel and
abroad, family and friends, and dear fellow graduates:
In this week's Torah reading, Parashat Vayeshev,
the Torah's narrative emphasis shifts from the life
of Jacob to that of his son, Joseph. The last thing
we are told about Jacob as central character is
the first verse of the Parasha: 'And Jacob settled
in the land where his forefathers sojourned, in
the land of Canaan."
This seemingly banal piece of information in fact
bears a profound weight. Jacob the tent-dweller
who fled his father's house in fear of the brother
from whom he had stolen a birthright; Jacob the
homeless who lay his head on stones by the roadside
and contended with angels in the night, finally
succeeds to settle, and not just to dwell, in none
other than the place from which he was sent out
on his wonderings, the land of his forefathers'
sojourns.
Those seemingly simple words hold many memories;
a sense of purpose, chosen-ness and strength imparted
to him with his mother's milk. But also disappointments,
fears, longings and humiliations experienced in
places where he sought a home, and on his journeys.
Jacob's willingness to retrace his footsteps to
the land of his forefathers' sojourns is, in a way,
surprising.
And nonetheless, from the place where I stand this
evening, I think I can understand.
Like Jacob, and like many in our time, I too found
myself driven out of the spiritual home of my childhood,
which on the one hand planted in me a sense of purpose
and religious strength, but also contained, at times,
threatening existential conflicts.
As I grew up and became aware of the injustices
visited by patriarchal society on men and women
alike, I sought a Jewish existence that would see
feminism and humanism not as a threat, but as a
mitzvah. Like Jacob, my spiritual models ascended
and descended one after another, and it was incumbent
on me more than once to wrestle until dawn with
God and men. And I did not always prevail.
I credit the opportunity to return and consider
the tradition from which I emerged, and moreover,
to choose to dwell in it, to the institution which
we are celebrating today - the Schechter Institute.
Here I, like many others, discovered a land of Canaan
that was good for living.
The studies in the program in Women's Studies were
not easy for those of us who came from a religious
background, but neither were they easy for those
of us who came from other backgrounds. The demand
to stand before a clear mirror, which hides nothing
from the unjust and painful realities of our lives,
was hard. Even with all the good intentions of the
faculty and administration, it was inevitable that
each one of us undertake probing introspection regarding
his or her own life. Yet this place, which offered
not only consciousness-raising but also directions
for change, room for creativity, and much support,
made it possible for us at the end of the day to
turn this mirror into a shining light.
On behalf of all the graduates, I would like to
thank this institution, for enabling us in one way
or another to return to the land of our forefathers
- and foremothers' - sojournings; for providing
us what is in Israel a rare opportunity to come
to know another face of Judaism, a space in which
our spirituality and religiosity are the very spaces
of our ethics and authenticity.
You conveyed to us that feminism and humanism are
part of tikkun olam, the sacred repair of the world,
a mitzvah and a blessing, and that tolerance, pluralism
and humility do not threaten culture, but empower
it and lend it flavor.
And perhaps this all flows from the definition that
my husband regularly points out, and I quote: "Nebbach,
Conservatives, they think that being Jewish means
being nice."
In conclusion, on behalf of all of today's graduates,
I would like to thank Schechter's administration,
and faculty, -- who in a departure from academic
norms, work to maintain an air of closeness and
caring alongside academic rigor - and to Nira Golan
and all the Schechter staff, who were always there
for all of us, with grace and affection.
And I would personally like to thank the director
of the Women's Studies program, Professor Rena Levine-Melammed
who supported me over the years, my thesis advisor
Dr. Tamar Ross, my husband Yehudah and my mother
who accompany my tikkun olam with pride and strength.
"
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