 The
individuals profiled in this
volume are the authors' considered
choice of Jewish women who have
had great impact in their
respective fields. Among these
outstanding personalities, one
will find the biblical Deborah and
the late Israeli prime minister
Golda Meir, women who led their
nation in war; U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Nobel
Prize-winners Rosalyn Yalow and
Nelly Sachs; singer/actress Barbra
Streisand; playwrights Lillian
Hellman and Wendy Wasserstein;
business tycoons Helena Rubenstein
and Estée Lauder; and U.S.
Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne
Feinstein. In each of the
biographies, Elinor Slater and
Robert Slater describe the
subject's unusual gifts and
achievements, noting, when
relevant, her relationship to
Judaism and the Jewish people.
The
Slaters believe that while women in
general have had to overcome
discriminatory barriers in order to
succeed in their various pursuits,
Jewish women have often had to
overcome a double measure of
discrimination: one involving their
gender and the other their religion.
Hence, while all women who have
achieved success and made a
contribution to society deserve
acclaim, Jewish women are doubly
deserving.
And it is for this reason that the
authors undertook this project: to
give special recognition to those
Jewish women who have persevered and
succeeded, sometimes against great
odds. As United States Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writes in
her introduction to Great Jewish
Women, "This collection will have
served its purpose if its readers come
away from it with an enhanced
appreciation that, with a strong will
and hard work, one can overcome
artificial barriers and turn dreams
into reality." With black-and-white
photographs.
"The
perfect Bat Mitzvah gift."
--The Jewish Press
About the Author
Robert Slater and his wife, Elinor
Slater, are coauthors of the highly
popular Great Jewish Women, Great
Jewish Men, and Great Moments in
Jewish History.
Robert Slater was a reporter in the
Time magazine Jerusalem Bureau from
1976 to 1996. He is also the author of
Great Jews in Sports, Rabin of Israel,
and Golda: The Uncrowned Queen of
Israel. Elinor Slater has worked for
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as
the coordinator for U.S.-sponsored
research programs since 1982. She has
helped in the editing of all her
husband's books and is active in the
Israel Women's Network.
Elinor Slater, born in the United
States in 1944, and Robert Slater,
born in the United States in 1943,
have been married since 1966. In 1971
they moved to Jerusalem, where they
continue to make their home. The
Slaters have three children, all of
whom live in Israel. |
