Everyone reads. Whether it be the newspaper, a Facebook or Twitter feed, fiction or non-fiction.
Reading transports us to places we might not otherwise visit. Reading compels us to tap into emotions and feelings that lie below the surface in the everyday hum drum of life.
Author Jeannette Winterson stated: “reading is like a dose of medicine. It heals the rupture reality makes on the imagination.”
In order to read, something must be written. Following participation in Project Deborah in 2015 – a women’s capacity building course, a number of us came to the conclusion that there was a lack of opportunity in the community for women’s self-expression. Writing compels structure, analysis and above all to be brave. Words on the page require far more commitment than words in your head. But the bar to be published in both print and on-line platforms is high so many of us don’t even try to put pen to paper to encapsulate how we feel about an issue.
Jewish Women of Words is an inclusive community encouraging emerging writers in particular, to write. Subject matter is not prescribed. You’re free to write whatever appeals to you as long as you remain respectful and your writing is original.
Articles are published to the website weekly (mostly) and then distributed via a weekly newsletter. We encourage comments to be made directly on our site. We also have a Facebook and Instagram page. .
All of us are busy. Many of us work, we’re on boards and committees. We have family commitments.
Often, decisions are made that are not entirely our own or they’re made for us.
Novelist Meg Wolitzer talked about the pleasure of writing and that “you have deep control and where else can you find that? You can’t control other people or your relationships or your children but in writing, you can have sustained periods where you’re absolutely in charge.”
So we are asking women of our community, of all ages, to find out what you’re really thinking and feeling about an issue and what it means to you.
We are asking you to be committed and to be brave.
Writer, Joan Didion encapsulates the writing motive for me: “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I say and what it means.”
So to you, our thinkers and writers: take charge; seek out that precious time to find out what you’re thinking. Be brave and share your thoughts and ideas with our community.
Whether you are reader or a writer, our hope is that Jewish Women of Words nourishes you and that you visit often.
Remember, we are the people of the book. Now, we are Jewish Women of Words.
