The magazine Lilith is an independent,

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

non-profit publication that has been issued quarterly since 1976. The magazine features award-winning investigative reports, first-person accounts (both contemporary and historical), entertainment reviews, fiction and poetry, art and photography. Topics range from rabbinic sexual misconduct, to new rituals and celebrations, to deconstructing Jewish-American stereotypes, to understanding the Jewish stake in abortion rights.

History

The magazine was founded in 1976 by a small group of women led by Susan Weidman Schneider: “to foster discussion of Jewish women’s issues and put them on the agenda of the Jewish community, with a view to giving women—who are more than fifty percent of the world’s Jews—greater choice in Jewish life." Amy Stone served as the magazine's first senior editor. Aviva Cantor Zuckoff served as the acquisitions editor. Those consulted as part of the creation of the magazine included

Sally Priesand Sally Jane Priesand (born June 27, 1946) is America's first female rabbi ordained by a rabbinical seminary, and the second formally ordained female rabbi in Jewish history, after Regina Jonas. Priesand was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Je ...

, the first female rabbi in the United States, and

Letty Cottin Pogrebin Letty Cottin Pogrebin (born June 9, 1939) is an American author, journalist, lecturer, and social activist. She is a founding editor of ''Ms.'' magazine, the author of twelve books, and was an editorial consultant for the TV special '' Free to B ...

of Ms. Magazine. Weidman Schneider and her colleagues founded Lilith to fill the gap in the

feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...

and feminist press with a publication that focuses on religion and specific experiences of women from minority populations. This aim was explained in the editorial of the magazine’s first issue in 1976:

“As women we are attracted to much of the ideology of the general women’s movement; as Jews, we recognize that we have particular concerns not always shared by other groups. How do we reconcile our sense of ourselves as worthy individuals while identifying with a religious and social structure that has limited women’s options in the synagogue, the home, and the community at large?”

During its early years, Lilith focused on religious topics and the organizational establishment of the Jewish community. They chronicled the fight to ordain women at the Jewish Theological Seminary and published frequent updates and articles on the topic. Lilith also publishes fiction, poetry and reviews of books, films, theater, and music.

Name

The publication is named after

Lilith Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...

, a character said to be Adam's first wife. Though not mentioned in the Bible, Talmudic scholars later wrote that Lilith was banished from Eden after refusing to be submissive to Adam. Lilith has been interpreted by modern feminists as a symbol of independence and social activism geared towards women's rights.

Staff and Contributors

Susan Weidman Schneider has been ''Lilith''′s editor-in-chief since 1976. She is the author of the books ''Jewish and Female'' and ''Intermarriage: The Challenge of Living with Differences between Christians and Jews'', and co-author of ''Head and Heart'', about money in the lives of women. Writers, editors and contributors to ''Lilith'' include

Cynthia Ozick Cynthia Ozick (born April 17, 1928) is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist. Biography Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City, the second of two children. She moved to the Bronx with her Belarusian-Jewish parents from Hlusk, ...

Grace Paley Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet, teacher, and political activist. Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and Na ...

, Nessa Rapoport,

Blu Greenberg Blu Greenberg (born January 21, 1936, in Seattle, with the name Bluma Genauer, later legally changing her first name to Blu) is an American writer specializing in modern Judaism and women's issues. Her most noted books are ''On Women and Judaism: A ...

Allegra Goodman Allegra Goodman (born 1967) is an American author based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Goodman wrote and illustrated her first novel at the age of seven. Biography Allegra Goodman was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Hawaii. The daughter ...

Myla Goldberg Myla Goldberg (born November 19, 1971) is an American novelist and musician. Biography Goldberg was born into a Jewish family. She was raised in Laurel, Maryland, and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Maryland), Eleanor Roosevelt Hig ...

, Rabbi Susan Schnur (Lilith's senior editor), Naomi Danis (Lilith's managing editor),

Dara Horn Dara Horn (born 1977) is a Jewish American novelist, essayist, and professor of literature. She has written five novels and in 2021, released a nonfiction essay collection titled ''People Love Dead Jews'', which was a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus ...

, Jennifer Baumgartner,

Marge Piercy Marge Piercy (born March 31, 1936) is an American progressive activist and writer. Her work includes '' Woman on the Edge of Time''; '' He, She and It'', which won the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award; and ''Gone to Soldiers'', a New York Times Best ...

(Lilith's poetry editor), Sarah Blustain,

Leela Corman Leela Corman is an American cartoonist and illustrator. Corman created the 2012 graphic novel ''Unterzakhn'', which follows the lives of Jewish twin sisters growing up in the tenements of New York City's Lower East Side at the turn of the last ce ...

, Liana Finck, Danya Ruttenberg, Shira Spector, Rachel Kadish, Anat Litwin, Ilana Stanger-Ross, Leslea Newman, Yona Zeldis McDonough (''Lilith''′s fiction editor), Alice Sparberg Alexiou, Amy Stone,

Ilana Kurshan Ilana Kurshan is an American-Israeli author who lives in Jerusalem. She is best known for her memoir of Talmud study amidst life as a single woman, a married woman, and a mother, ''If All the Seas Were Ink.'' Personal life Kurshan was raised ...

, Francine Klagsbrun, Lori Hope Lefkowitz, Tova Hartman, and more. ''Lilith'' has also published the work of visual artists, including Judy Chicago,

Miriam Schapiro Miriam Schapiro (also known as Mimi) (November 15, 1923 – June 20, 2015) was a Canadian-born artist based in the United States. She was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and a pioneer of feminist art. She was also considered a leader of the Pa ...

, Elana Maryles Sztokman, Joan Roth (''Lilith''′s photographer),

Maira Kalman Maira Kalman is an American artist, illustrator, writer, and designer known for her painting and writing about the human condition. She is the author and illustrator of over 30 books for adults and children and her work is exhibited in museums a ...

, Roz Chast, and Eva Hesse.

References

External links

Official website
{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States Political magazines published in the United States Women's magazines published in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States Feminism in the United States Feminist magazines Judaism and women Magazines established in 1976 Jewish feminism Jews and Judaism in New York City Jewish magazines published in the United States 1976 establishments in New York City Magazines published in New York City