Taking Root: Narratives of Jewish Women in Latin America PDF
Preview Taking Root: Narratives of Jewish Women in Latin America
Marjorie Agosín edited by T a k i n g R o o t narratives of jewish women in latin america Taking Root This series of publications on Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Global and Comparative Studies is designed to present signi¤cant research, translation, and opinion to area specialists and to a wide community of persons interested in world affairs. The editor seeks manuscripts of quality on any subject and can gener- ally make a decision regarding publication within three months of receipt of the original work. Production methods usually permit a work to appear within one year of acceptance. The editor works closely with authors to produce a high-quality book. The series appears in a paperback format and is distributed worldwide. For more information, contact the executive editor at Ohio University Press, Scott Quadrangle, University Terrace, Athens, Ohio 45701. Executive editor: Gillian Berchowitz AREA CONSULTANTS Africa: Diane Ciekawy Latin America: Thomas Walker Southeast Asia: William H. Frederick The Ohio University Research in International Studies series is published for the Center for International Studies by Ohio University Press. The views expressed in individual monographs are those of the authors and should not be considered to represent the policies or beliefs of the Center for International Studies, Ohio Uni- versity Press, or Ohio University. Taking Root Narratives of Jewish Women in Latin America Edited by Marjorie Agosín Ohio University Center for International Studies Research in International Studies Latin America Series No. 38 Athens © 2002 by the Center for International Studies Ohio University Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved The books in the Ohio University Research in International Studies series are printed on acid-free paper 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 5 4 3 2 1 Mary Berg translated the introduction and the following chapters from the Spanish: 12 (Nedda G. de Anhalt), 13 (Graciela Chichotky), 14 (Sonia Guralnik), 15 (Rosita Kalina de Piszk), 16 (Angelina Muñiz de Huberman), 17 (Teresa Porzecanski), 18 (Mercedes Roffé), 20 (Ana María Shua), 21 (Ivonne Strauss de Milz with Marjorie Agosín), and 22 (Nora Strejilevich). Chapters not mentioned here were written in English. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Taking root: narratives of Jewish women in Latin America / [edited by] Marjorie Agosín. p. cm. -- (Research in international studies. Latin America series ; no. 38) ISBN 0-89680-226-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Jewish women--Latin America--Biography. 2. Jews, Latin American--United States--Biography. 3. Latin America--Emigration and immigration. 4. Immigrants-- Latin America. I. Agosín, Marjorie. II. Series. F1419.J4 T36 2002 305.48'892408'0922--dc21 [B] 2002016986 Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction Marjorie Agosín xi 1 Latin American Jewishness A Game with Shifting Identities Edna Aizenberg 1 2 A Sephardi Air Ruth Behar 12 3 What! No Yiddish? Growing up Sephardi in Peru Fortuna Calvo-Roth 16 4 My Past Is Present The Complex Identity of a German-Jewish-Venezuelan-American Verónica de Darer 29 5 El Azar-Fate Put the Novel Cláper in My Hands Joan E. Friedman 45 6 Memories of Comings and Goings Ethel Kosminsky 58 7 My Cuban Story Ester Levis Levine 96 8 Crossing Creative and Cultural Barriers Natania Remba Nurko 110 9 Growing up Jewish in Columbia Cecilia Rosenblum 128 v contents 10 Found in Translation On Becoming a Cuban Jewish Writer Ester R. Shapiro 134 11 Mosaics The Story of Her Life Wilma Bloch Reich, as told to Jessica P. Alpert 148 12 Shared Memories Nedda G. de Anhalt 162 13 Judaism An Essential Tool Graciela Chichotky 172 14 A Passion to Remember Sonia Guralnik 183 15 Poetry in the Clouds A Costa Rican Journey Rosita Kalina de Piszk 195 16 From Toledo to the New World A Story of Secrets Angelina Muñiz de Huberman 205 17 Uruguay A Story in Episodes Teresa Porzecanski 218 18 Of Spices and Spells From Morrocco to Buenos Aires Mercedes Roffé 229 19 Saint Anthony’s Intervention and Other Accounts of Growing up Jewish in Mexico Diana Anhalt 239 20 With All That I Am Ana María Shua 251 vi contents 21 A Tale of Courage and Fortitude Ivonne Strauss de Milz, as told to Marjorie Agosín 264 22 Too Many Names Nora Strejilevich 272 Contributor Biographies 291 vii Acknowledgments among the joys of editing Taking Root, I am grateful for the commit- ment and authenticity of each of the writers included, as well as for their belief in and passion for sharing their stories as Jewish women in the Americas. Each of the authors included so graciously agreed to write an essay specially for this collection, and I thank them for their effort and their grace. I am also grateful for the chance to know them better and to share in their world of memories of displacement and permanence. Each one of them is not only a contributor but a friend. i also wish to thank the Littauer Foundation. Their generous sup- port of this project made it possible for me to travel to Latin America to interview the writers. i also wish to thank Mary Berg for her elegant translations and her commitment to excellence in rendering one language into the other. my special thanks to the staff at Ohio University Press, especially to Gillian Berchowitz, whose generosity and belief in this project have been a source of strength and inspiration. I must also thank Sharon Rose for her warmth, her delicacy as an editor, and her dedication to this project. all creative work is shaped by our communities, and I thank my friends and family all over the world, who have helped me gather my own roots, and my husband, who is my tree. ix
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