Western Jewish
Bulletin
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r ■
Moon Struck
A women's covenant to mark time/15
Jerusalem Day
Preserving the past and protecting the future can be at irreconcilable odds/6
B.C. BecOons
Ernst Zundel's lawyer seeks political seat in Victoria area/9
750 MAY 17,1996/28 IYAR5756
Spiritual lessons
A Vancouver woman follows her passions after being acceoted to Reform rabbinical school in Jemsalem.
BAILA LAZARUS STAFF REPORTER
W:
■ ■hen you many, will you mairy a f man?" That was the question a seven-year-old girl asked Tali Hyman after watching her praying at the Wailing Wall in Jeimsalem, wearing teftlin and a tallit. "I told her, 'I hope so'," Ms. Hyman relates.
That wasn't the first time Tali Hyman had to deal with a somewhat uncomplimentary reaction to her choice of religious practice — and she is likely to have to deal with many more: this June, the 22-year-old Vancouver native will be heading to Jeiaisalem to start a four-year course at the Reform rabbinic school of Hebrew Union College (HUC). She is the first female fi-om B.C. to be accepted into the program.
Ms. Hyman says a future in rabbinical work will allow her to practice one of her greatest enjoyments — that of teaching. "I would be able to fulfill my passion," Ms. Hyman says, "by teaching in a synagogue, giving adult or B'nai-Mitzvah classes, or by delivering a drosh fser-monj on Shabbat."
If there is any one factor that she could point to that has led to her desire to pursue rabbincial studies, it is her experience as a teacher. "Sometimes, when I am teaching, there is a moment of profound togetherness. It's very spiritual. It's then when I feel closest to God."
Ms. Hyman began to think about the idea of being a rabbi during her second year at the University of B.C. when she saw a photograph at Hillel House of a man and woman in kip-pot and tallitot (praying garments). Although she had seen similar pictures before, this par-
Studying the Torah during luncli, Vancouverite Tali Hyman is one of a growing number of women who want a deeper religious experience.
ticuhu' image stuck.
For her third year of studies, she went to Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Her desire to pursue rabbinic studies was consolidated. When she returned to Vancouver a year laler, she decided to apply to HUC.
Just the fact that she got through the application process at all is a testament to her convictions. Candidates must submit a 10-page biographical statement outlining their background and explaining why they are applying. They must also undergo a psychological interview and>take a Hebrew proficiency exam. Potential candidates are also interviewed by a panel of'six people, usually including repres(!ntatives from the faculty, staff, student body, one rabbi and one lay person.
Ms. Hyman acknowledges a certain timeliness to her decision. She agrees that recently more and more women are seeking personally enriching religious experiences and more and more women are seeing the need to write about rituals and blessings for women.
"Because women have not traditionally written liturgy," Ms. Hyman says, "there are no blessings for things like menstruation, menopause, etc." Now, she says, women are taking the initiative in making up blessings they feel are appropriate to their own experiences.
"I was participating in a women's Passover seder in New York," Ms. Hyman relates. "When discussion of the Ten Plagues came
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LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS VICTORIA B.C. V8V 1X4
Israel's world according to Bibi
sraelis are taking a hard look at how a Netanyahu-led govemment would behave.
Binyamln Netanyahu points to the screen of a voting computer as Israel gets wired tor upcoming elections.
ERIC SILVER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
tierusalem
The day after winning the 1977 elections, Menachem Begin visited the militant settlers of Eilon Moreh. They had defied the previous Labor govemment policy by establisliing an outpost near Nablus, the biggest West Bank Arab town. "In a few weeks or months," the triumphant first Likud prime minister told them, "there will be many Eilon Morehs!"
When a foreign correspondent started to ask about the "occupied territories," Mr. Begin roundly rebuked him: "These are not occupied territories, these are liberated territories."
By the time Mr. Begin retired six years later, the tally of West Bank set-
Pre-election analysis
tlements had risen from 23 to 112. The number of Jews living beyond tht,> pi-e-1967 "green line" border had soai'od more than tenfold from 3,000 to 40,000 (it is now moi-e like 140,000). Mr. Begin, with the eager cooperation of his agriculture minister, Ariel Sharon, had redrawn the map of Judea and Samaria (referred to in the secular media as the West Bank).
A 10-year taboo on settling Jews amid the Arab towns and villages along the spine of Israel's pre-1967 border, which separated it from the bulk of the Palestinian population centres, was seen by Labor as Israel's readiness to withdraw from captured territories in return for a negotiated
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