Four women to be honored at Women Who Dared dinner

 

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

 

NEWTON - The newest recipients of the Jewish Women’s Archive’s Women Who Dared program will be honored March 19 at Mishkan Tefila in Newton. The fourth annual Purim feast, held to celebrate the legacy of Esther, drew approximately 200 guests in 2002.

 

Boston Globe Afghanistan journalist Marcella Bombardieri, former Soviet Refusenik Galina Nizhnikov Veremkroit, writer and women’s activist Rivka Solomon and Boston Area Rape Crisis Center cofounder Janet Yassen will be honored; following the event, the four women will be added to a multimedia exhibit of designees on the JWA Web site http://www.jwa.org/exhibits/, which includes interviews, biographical information and photographs.

 

A national organization based in Brookline, the JWA seeks to document the noteworthy contributions of remarkable women. In partnership with Hadassah Boston, JWA has held Women Who Dared honorary dinners for the past three years, which celebrate multigenerational, often unsung women, chosen for their activism, to serve as role models for future generations.

 

“These four women, of varied ages, have dared to stand up for the rights of others,” said WWD Program Director Rachel Sagan. “In the tradition of Esther, they have all taken risks on behalf of issues that range from Soviet Jewry, to women's empowerment, the treatment of victims and survivors of violence, and press coverage of the war in Afghanistan.”

 

Bombardieri spent six weeks in Kabul while covering the the war in Afghanistan. Her work took her from remote villages to a battle site in the Shah-e-Kot Valley. Veremkroit, while an activist in the Jewish Women’s Movement in Russia, was harrassed by the KGB while demonstrating against Soviet authorities. Since her immigration to the U.S., she has worked nonstop to aid Soviet Jewish immigrants.

Solomon, who collected essays by women which detailed their bravery into her book That Takes Ovaries!, launched a national series of open-mics where women tell their tales of courage. Yassen has spearheaded advocacy and treatment for victims and survivors of violence. She has consulted on the field in Israel and the former Yugoslavia.

 

"It is truly inspiring to learn what women will risk to assure a just and dignified life for others," said JWA Executive Director Gail Twersky Reimer. "These women are role models for us all - women and girls, men and boys."

 

"What a delight to be awarded something just for being who I already am, a Jewish women activist,” said Solomon. “But that is the whole point of Women Who Dared: they want to recognize the work of ordinary Jewish women who choose to live outspoken, active lives.” She noted that Jewish women, not known for passivity, tend to largely fall into this role; many have inspired her as well.

 

“I stand on the shoulders of so many rabble-rousers who have come before me and thus allowed me to be me, from Esther to Bella Abzug,” she said. “Even my current Jewish women friends and colleagues who are working to make the world a better place with their own activism are my role models."

 

To submit a nomination for an unheralded, local woman for the 2004 Boston Women Who Dared, please contact Ellen Janis at 617-232-2258. 

 

"The choices and life stories of these four women from our own community show tremendous strength and bravery," said Sagan. "Honoring these women recognizes the possibilities for us all."

 

The dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Newton. Tickets are $50.00, which includes dinner (dietary laws observed). Reservations are required. For more information or to R.S.V.P., please contact the Jewish Women's Archive at 617-232-2258. The JWA Web site is www.jwa.org.