Source: Israelitisches Familienblatt 7 September 1933
When Young People Ask ....
Today we Jewish women share the same fate as Jewish men. We are affected not only in the home and the family; it strikes us in the work place, in our professions and in our civic and economic rights, which perhaps has been more costly to us than to the men; since these rights have been more recently acquired, they were not yet self evident. And still vividly attached to these rights is the memory of the women's movement struggle, in which Jewish woman took their share. But we would not be women, if we did not now perceive our own responsibility, if we, in the vastness of need and fear, were not to care for those who are helpless and who seek aid, if we did not extend a comforting, helping hand and show support and love to those in need. It is an area requiring discretion that calls upon us. Here we are not needed for the work of professional relocation, emigration and economic distress. Rather, we answer the anxious calls of distressed souls. Young people, young Jews, left uprooted by a non-Jewish education, now seek answers to questions, which they face for the first time, either unwillingly or filled with shame. Therefore, a new duty arises for the Jewish woman with her open heart and nursing hands. In this regard one can apply the words of Rabbi Tarphon who says: The day is short, the work is great, the workers are lazy, the reward is high, the landlord is demanding .'
... Thus, for those who do not know how to ask, it is up to you, Jewish Woman, to ask. You should not stand by and wait, until a person - a youth or an adult of your acquaintance - speaks to you. Sensitive mastery of how to make contact and figure things out is called for. Nor should you retreat into yourself and think that you have enough to worry about with your own troubles, and that others - the parents (they themselves hardly know up from down), our Rabbis, our community leaders, are better equipped to deal with peoples' problems.... Do not withdraw into yourselves! It brings so much happiness to be needed. It is so enriching to seek the answer for oneself, to prepare oneself and stand prepared; when faced with a questioning soul you are informed and loyal. This ΓÇ£LearningΓÇ¥ is also a ΓÇ£blessed burdenΓÇ¥ for us women. If we are to lead and to educate, we have to know the way ourselves. If we are to answer, we must ourselves have discovered the question and with its answer the hundred-fold relationships of each of our actions to our law and of each of our experiences to our history. We Jewish women, our home, our table, our heart have a new task in Israel. It is as old as our blood and faith. It is called love and loving.
