Ma'yan

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Ma'yan is a non-profit organization supporting research, education, and advocacy with and on behalf of adolescent girls. Ma'yan is housed in the JCC in Manhattan. [1]

Contents

History

Ma'yan was founded in 1993 by Barbara Dobkin and Eve Landau, as Ma'yan: The Jewish Women's Project. The organization aimed to empower women in Jewish ritual and contemporary Jewish culture. [2]

The organization was instrumental in popularizing the feminist Passover Seder, which reconceives the passover rituals in order to celebrate women's role in the Passover story and Judaism as a whole. Ma'yan's feminist seder notably includes a cup for Miriam on the table in addition to the cup for Elijah. According to The New York Times , "The first Ma'yan seder was held in 1994 with 150 women and a waiting list of another 100 who could not get in. Within a few years, Ma'yan was holding them at a catering space with room for 500 people, and holding them on four consecutive nights." [3]

A feminist passover haggadah, The Journey Continues published by Ma'yan, [4] sold over 40,000 copies. [5]

Additionally, between 1997 and 2004, Ma'yan published Journey, [6] a tri-annual journal about women and Jewish spirituality.

Transformation

In 2006, Ma'yan re-cast itself. The organization believed it had been successful in creating a change in the Jewish community, as demonstrated by the ubiquity of the feminist seder. "We can give it up because it became mainstream," said Ma'yan co-founder Eve Landau. [3] Ma'yan changed its name from Ma'yan: The Jewish Women's Project to Ma'yan: Listen for a change and now works with adolescent girls and educators around issues of privilege, social justice, and feminism. [7]

See also

Jewish feminism

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References

  1. "JCC Manhattan". Jccmanhattan.org. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  2. "Ma'yan". Jwa.org. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Feminist Seders Now Their Own Tradition". The New York Times . 16 April 2005. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. Cohen, Tamara (2006). הגדת פסח של מעין. ISBN   9780966710748 . Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  5. "Enriching Your Women's Communal Seder". Ritualwell.org. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  6. "Journey" (PDF). Bcrw.barnard.edu. 2000. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  7. Meredith Bischoff. "The Institute for Welcoming Resources - Progressive Religious Organizations". Welcomingresources.org. Retrieved 18 April 2016.