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An Early Blow
for Liberation
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Even as a little girl, Bella was attuned
to inequality in her religious heritage.
"We were a religious family. My grandfather went to
the synagogue twice a day, and whenever I wasn't in
school, he took me along. I learned to recite the
solemn Hebrew prayers like such a wizard that he
always made it a point to show me off to his
friends.... It was during these visits to the
synagogue that I think I
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had my first thoughts as a feminist
rebel. I didn't like the fact that women were
consigned to the back grows of the balcony."
When her father died Bella was only
12. Although the custom of saying Kaddish is
traditionally reserved for sons, she stood by
herself in synagogue each day for a year to say the
mourning prayer. "In retrospect, I describe that as
one of the early blows for the liberation of Jewish
women. But in fact, no one could have stopped me
from performing the duty traditionally reserved for
a son, from honoring the man who had taught me to
love peace, who had educated me in Jewish values.
So it was lucky that no one ever tried."
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How to Cite This Page
For a bibliography:
Jewish Women's Archive. "JWA - Bella Abzug - An Early Blow for Liberation." <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/abzug/liberat.html>.
For a footnote:
Jewish Women's Archive, "JWA - Bella Abzug - An Early Blow for Liberation," <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/abzug/liberat.html>.
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