Limmud Seattle 2019

When a group is excluded from official realms and relegated to the domestic sphere, they essentially are ignored. The women in Eastern European shtetls had the freedom to think, discuss, and read amongst themselves and finally get to a place of moving into modernity almost clandestinely while the men were unaware and oblivious. The influence of this reading on women manifested in a wide set of changed behaviors including girls refusing marriage to rabbinic scholars, secret alliances forged to promote secular education, heretical tendencies, girls running away from home to seek an education, and joining revolutionary movements.
SpeakChorus, a spoken word cantata in the style of a Greek chorus, embodies this relatively unknown phenomenon of our history. Using poetry, midrash and song, we will explore the paradox that marginalization led to greater freedom, growth, and societal transformation. Participants will also have the opportunity to tell their own stories as well as those of their mothers and grandmothers.