Academic Studies Press Opinionated: The World View of a Jewish Woman

A collection of essays which reflects the author’s skills and her ability to communicate and educate on a variety of levels. Her writing is informative and inspiring, passionate and poignant and ranges from the comic to the tragic, all frequently peppered with personal insights and anecdotes. Critical family issues such as childlessness and matriarch are sensitively covered alongside issues of death and burial. Sometimes there are vignettes such as her account of the funeral conducted by her youthful father for a bird he accidentally killed. In sum, this collection provides a sweeping overview of Jewish life and culture as viewed through the eyes of an academic who is also a woman, equally at home in the real world and the ivory tower. About the Author Sara Reguer is Professor of History in the Department of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Middle East history. She has published on a variety of topics, both scholarly and popular, including articles on Winston Churchill during World War I. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Introduction The ivory tower is a comfortable, lofty perch from which scholars can view the world and engage in research and writing which they can share with other occupants equally versed in the ins and outs of academe. To support this lifestyle, they must occasionally and sometimes disdainfully descend into the classroom, there to share the fruits of their learned labors with a new generation. This transmission of scholarship from the ivory tower to the classroom is, however, not an easy process. The professor must translate and communicate a vast body of sophisticated knowledge to students who may still lack the skills to operate on his or her level and do so without compromising intellectual integrity. This process is even more daunting when a scholar enters the public arena and attempts to communicate with a broader audience of laypersons alien to the rarified atmosphere of the academy. A few decades ago, Prof. Sara Reguer was invited to undertake such a daunting task. An accomplished scholar with bona fides in Middle Eastern studies, Jewish history, Jewish religious studies, and women’s studies, her task was further complicated by her chosen venue: a Jewish newspaper with a primarily Orthodox Jewish target audience. To her many skills she now had to add a balancing act, striving to prudently communicate sensitive themes without compromising her standards or offending her readers. This collection of essays, culled from over twenty years of her columns, is testimony to Prof. Reguer’s multiple skills and her ability to communicate and educate on a variety of levels. Her writing is alternately informative and inspiring, passionate and poignant, and ranges from the comic to the tragic, all frequently peppered with personal insights and anecdotes. Her readers learned about the preservation of Jewish tradition during the Spanish Inquisition and the challenge of synagogue decorum in the time of Maimonides. A visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art prompts an essay on Jewish art and a timely recommendation to acquire a reproduction of an illuminated Haggada. Critical family issues such as childlessness, a husband’s duties to his wife, matriarchy, and much more are sensitively covered alongside issues of death and burial. The collection includes many charming―sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant―vignettes. The description of her Cousin Feigel is most touching, and her account of the funeral conducted by her youthful father for a bird he accidentally killed is just one of several humorous moments in the book. In sum, this collection provides a sweeping overview of Jewish life and culture as viewed through the eyes of an academic, equally at home in the real world and the ivory tower. Dr. Jonathan Helfand, Emeritus Professor, Brooklyn College, CUNY