Women and Zionism
IN THE French Revolution there was a very witty revolutionary by the name of Sieyès, who played a great rôle later on, too. An interesting saying is attributed to him. When he was asked, "What did you do during the Reign of Terror?" he replied, "I lived." The same man had previously drawn up a manifesto, which has become very celebrated. In this document he said concerning the Third Estate, at that time not yet enfranchised, "What is it? Nothing. What ought it to be? Everything!" This utterance of Abbè Sieyès I should like to apply to women. What are women in relation to Zionism? I do not care to say Nothing. What might they, what should they be? Perhaps everything. And should our agitation create proper channels for itself, it will surely come about.
If we consider the present situation of Jewish women, we shall understand why they have been so indolent up to this time, why they have kept aloof from us. Right here I should like to draw a line of division between the women who know the seamy side of life and the others.
Among the Jews the women who are flung into the struggle for existence are the very poorest. In all likelihood they have neither a husband nor anyone else to stand between them and the conflict, and such circumstances are found only among the poorer classes of Jews,As a matter of course advancement qe inspiration cannot issue from such women. Once in a Way they come along from Roumania ar Galicia.or Russia, and ask to be helped on with their luggage. Perhaps. they might be good Zionists; perhaps they could develop into good Zionists, if fortune placed them in better circumstances. As it is, we can neither expect nor demand help from such women in our Zionist agitation. The women whom we must win are those who are separated by a high wall from everything [+ plied in Judennot and in our terrible situation and in the need for bringing about an improvement.
Thanks to an old tradition which is to be reckoned among the most precious of our Jewish heritages, our women live in seclusion in their homes, as they are glorified in Heine’s beautiful poem, “Princess Sabbath.” There they live, removed from the hardships and storms and asperities of life. Such, at least, was the lot of the old Jewesses who are still to be met with, though, to be sure, they are no longer very numerous in well-situated.
*An address delivered in The Zionist Women's Society, in Vienna, January 12, 1901.
circles. For this type of woman I have the greatest veneration, because in her have been preserved, in their purest and their most beautiful form, all those admirable, all those great and eternal qualities which were particularly ‘precious in our dark days. We must reckon with the Jewesses of the new type, those who-have turned away from us since Jews have been living in. easier circumstances. They are distinguished from the Jewesses of the old type in that they do not concern themselves with preparations for the day of rest, with cherishing the Sabbath, from which emanated all the fragrance of Jewish poetry. At the same time they resemble the Jewesses of the old style in that they do not come into touch with life. The husband of the one ac of the other chielde the
wife against: all knowledge’ of disagreeable things. The new Jewesses, too, live sheltered lives—the new Jewesses whose indolence causes our bitter plaint. As he who drives along in his equipage can have absolutely no conception of the feelings of the shivering .peddler.on the street or the hunted shopkeeper seeking a livelihood, so the woman living in a too sheltered seclusion, even. though she be not an excessively self-indulgent
lady, will never discover what Judennot means, The fine tradition maintained alive in the Jewish family, which is looked upon as a sanctuary, to keep as far as possible away from the excitements and the noises of the street,— this tradition replaces the advantages of wealth. This gentle care supplies the place of abundant means, and it explains luxurious indolence. _
Now, how can all this be changed? Is it proper for us to wish Jewesses to become acquainted with the ugly sides of life? Should we say that these too sheltered women should be made miserable in order that their minds should become receptive to the great idea of the necessity of Zionism? Such radical means I should not care to invoke if I had the power. At any rate, all women. would then only be in the position of those who understand all, but can do nothing. It is the French couplet. in another form. You know the old witticism, “If youth but knew, if age but could!” Our variation on the theme is “If wealth but knew,” etc. That is the question before us. The poor are not able, the rich do not know. It would therefore be useful if, for the women among us who are unacquainted with Jewish need, we could find something to replace the hard discipline of life, the experiences of the great world, something to open their eyes to the value of the Zionist movement. :
I believe that such means might be found. I believe that Jewish women might be aroused to interest them-