Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Israel Lauds a Feminist
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

I received a mass email from a friend and feminist activist yesterday tauting the fact that Israel has decided to give its highest honor to a, well, feminist activist. "It is nothing short of astonishing that a strong, declared, dedicated feminist activist has won the Israel Prize. For those unfamiliar with the prize, it's the highest honor bestowed by the State of Israel. Click here for more information about the prize." Here's an article about the recipient at Haaretz:

The Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to Society and the State of Israel will be awarded to Professor Alice Shalvi, a religious scholar and one of the country's leading feminists, and to Dov Lautman, former head of the Israel Manufacturers Association.

In their decision, the judges called Shalvi "revolutionary and courageously trailblazing, with intellectual integrity and long-term vision." She will be given the prize during an Independence Day ceremony.

Shalvi served as principle of the Pelech School for Girls in Jerusalem, turning it into one of the first religious experimental schools and a model for other experimental and democratic schools throughout the country. She began her feminist activity in the 1970s, battling for the rights of women whose husbands refused to grant them a divorce. She was also among the founders of the Israel Women's Network, and chaired it from its founding in 1984 until the beginning of this year. Shalvi was born in Germany in 1926 but fled to Britain shortly after the Nazi rise to power, when she and studied English literature at Cambridge. After immigrating to Israel in 1950 she received a position as a professor of English at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Labels: Middle East

Posted by B Feiler at 8:15 AM
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