Although Susan Weidman Schneider left Winnipeg (for Brandeis University) in 1961, growing up in Winnipeg left a strong imprint in the founder and still editor-in-chief of the award winning Jewish feminist magazine Lilith.

Weidman Schneider has returned to Winnipeg many times over the years to see family. She will be back again on the weekend of April 9 and 10 as the keynote speaker at Winnipeg’s first Jewish Women’s Symposium, which will be held at the Rady Centre inside the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

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The Jewish Women’s Symposium will begin on the Saturday evening with Havdalah and a program showcasing women’s contributions to the performing arts. This will be followed by a wine and dessert reception. Sunday will be a series of sessions through a Jewish lens with 15 different panelists discussing such topics as Women in Jewish

Leadership/Cultivating the Next Generation, Choices We Made, Jumping In, Navigating Challenges and Social Action/Jewish Values.

“We are thrilled to have Susan Weidman Schneider as our keystone speaker,” says Tamar Barr, the assistant executive director at the Rady Centre which is co-sponsoring the symposium with National Council of Jewish Women of Canada – Winnipeg Section.

“Susan’s magazine, and her books, articles and lectures, are often credited with changing the way women see themselves and shape their roles in the Jewish community. Lilith provides women with fuel to power change.”

Barr notes that Schneider’s major articles have covered, among other subjects, Jewish women’s philanthropy, the Jewish stake in abortion rights, gender stereotypes of Jews and the positive effects of feminism on Jewish life. She is the author of three books: Jewish and Female, the first book to take a comprehensive look at Jewish women’s special concerns; Intermarriage: The Challenge of Living with Differences between Christians and Jews and Head and Heart, about money in the lives of women – and has won several journalism awards.

Weidman Schneider credits her early synagogue involvement in Winnipeg for helping develop her feminist outlook. “My maternal zaide was a member of the Rosh Pina Synagogue in North Winnipeg,” she recalls. “And in the Junior Congregation there, I was exposed to two amazing Israeli educators – Jack Horowitz and his nephew, Gadi. They didn’t impose any gender constraints on us as kids. Girls as well as boys were encouraged to lead services. As a result, I experienced a more elastic view of Judaism than many of my contemporaries who grew up in other communities.”

When asked what changes she has seen in the acceptance of woman in the Jewish world and modern life, she replies that while women are generally well-accepted in secular and religious leadership roles, there is still a question of equal value for equal work. For example, she questions how often female rabbis are considered for plum positions as compared to their male counterparts.

“And it’s just not a matter of equal pay for equal work,” she says. “There is also the question of what kind of lives people want to lead and where work fits in.”

She says that she is looking forward to the upcoming symposium which, she notes, will be touching on many of the issues that Lilith tries to address. “I will be interested in what the participants in the symposium have to say as we try to determine where we go from here,” she says.

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Barr says the idea for the symposium arose from a meeting of community leaders a couple of years ago. “Our [the Rady Centre’s] executive director Gayle Waxman thought that this would be a great opportunity to bring women together of all ages to exchange ideas, learn from each other and explore different ways women can make a difference in the Jewish and general communities.

“We put together a working committee of women from different Jewish organizations.”

“The symposium has attracted a lot of interest,” Barr says. “We are expecting a good attendance.”

The Jewish Women’s Symposium is receiving financial support from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba and Women’s Philanthropy-Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.