In the News

The Library is proud to present the launch of "Living Legacies: A Collection of Inspirational Contemporary Canadian Jewish Women," edited by Liz Pearl, forward by Ina Fichman. Program includes readings by Sharon Trostin Hampson and Ellen Schwartz. Moderated by Susan Jackson, Executive Director of the Centre for Jewish Knowledge and Heritage. Books available for purchase. Free program.

Sponsored by Latner Jewish Library
Lipa Green Building, 4600 Bathurst St.
Room: 420/421
Contact Ms. Lil Nobel for details RSVP lnobel@ujafed.org
Tel. (416) 635-2883 x111 Fax (416) 849-1005

The Jewish Tribune, May 3, 2007, page 11. www.jewishtribune.com

Project promotes positive role models for teenage girls

By Atara Beck
Tribune Staff Writer

TORONTO. A unique and worthwhile gift book geared to young Canadian Jewish women is in the making.

Liz Pearl, an independent therapist/educator in the Toronto community, is working on an anthology of Canadian Jewish women of distinction, titled Living Legacies, in which the featured individuals would impart their wisdom and share their personal stories and insights on life. She hopes it will be available by the end of October.

Pearl, who specializes in psychogeriatrics and the expressive art therapies, is a founding director of KOPE Associates, a "partnership dedicated to the creation of a variety of healing journey literary projects." (KOPE is a play on the word 'cope' that includes the first two letters of the co-founders. surnames, Mara KOven and PEarl.)

Her interest in publishing developed from her professional experience, as she discovered how valuable a therapeutic tool writing can be. KOPE's first two anthologies, Brain Attack, The Journey Back and Mourning Has Broken, are illuminating, well-reviewed contributions to the healing process.

This latest book, however, isn't about healing. A mother of three, Pearl was determined to find inspirational role models with wholesome values for her daughters and other young girls who are inundated with negative ideals for success through media and society in general.

"It's not a Who's Who," she explained. "It's not the 50 most prominent women. There are a fair number of prominent women, but the point is the women telling their stories, sharing their experiences. They're writing their lessons of life, imparting their wisdom to younger women who are searching for their identities.

"I want the girls to follow their own passion," she continued. "They can be everything or anything, not like the message from the media that they have to be only one way, that success is defined in a very particular way. I want them to understand that personal success has a wide range. I included professional women, businesswomen, stay-at-home moms, community volunteers. to be the best at what you're doing. That's where creativity and passion come in."

The range of women chosen is broad in terms of lifestyle and demographics, although they must treasure their Canadian and Jewish heritage. For the most part, they belong to the 40-60-year-old age group.

"The younger ones, generally, are too focused on the here and now," Pearl said. "Only a more mature mother or grandmother comes to realize the value of role models. Wisdom grows every year with hindsight. As you see your children grow, you realize the importance of passing down lessons. Also, as we get older and face our own mortality, we want to leave a legacy, to leave a piece of ourselves here on earth."

Pearl grew up in the '70s in Montreal, when Bat Mitzvah celebrations weren't the norm. "It has taken me 30 years to celebrate my own," she said. Part of the motivation to undertake this extraordinary project was to help the younger generation with the coming-of-age process.

Among the women to be included are Rabbi Elyse Goldstein; Dr. Dina Ripsman Eylon, editor of Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal; columnist Barbara Kay; Jackie Holzman, former mayor of Ottawa; and singer/songwriter Lenka Lichtenberg.

For more information on guidelines for contributing authors and suggested themes, contact Liz Pearl at liz_pearl@sympatico.ca

The Canadian Jewish News, July 12, 2007, page 11. www.cjnews.com

Anthology aims to give girls role models

By Carolyn Blackman
Staff Reporter

Liz Pearl, a therapist, writer and educator, believes girls need positive role models.

The mother of two daughters and a son, Pearl, 42, edited the anthology Living Legacies for our Daughters - a Collection of Contemporary Canadian Women around the time of her eldest daughter's bat mitzvah.

As co-founder, along with Mara Koven, of Kope Associates, a partnership dedicated to the creation of a variety of healing journey literary projects, Pearl has edited two other anthologies: Mourning Has Broken, a collection of writing about grief that she co-edited with Koven, and Brain Attack, a collection of writing about stroke recovery.

She embarked on her latest project, she said, because girls need more role models than they meet in school and synagogue.

"They need models to offset the powerful influences around them from pop culture - something much deeper and broader," Pearl said.

"The message from pop culture is that women are homogeneous in terms of looks and values. I want girls to learn about women's wisdom and hindsight."

Many girls read the Chicken Soup series of books, she said, and "I wanted to give them something else to read, something that can capture their attention and reach them."

The book also served as Pearl's own bat mitzvah project, as she never had one.

Few girls had bat mitzvahs when I was growing up, and I felt that I wanted to do something. This is it," she said.

Together with Koven, who Pearl calls her role model, she created a wish list of 70 women whom they would want in the book.

"We contacted them and heard back from a number of them, each of whom wrote about 1,000 words," Pearl said.

The list of about 50 women includes Prof. Nora Gold, singer Amy Sky, Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, children's singer Sharon Hampson (of Sharon, Lois and Bram), family therapist Sarah Chana Radcliffe and writer Judy Librach.

"Some on the list are well known, others are not known. I looked for women with certain qualities, whether they are stay-athome mothers, volunteers or entertainers. I didn't turn anyone away."

She aimed the book at girls, she said, "because their search for identity is more confusing than for boys. My purpose is to give them a large range of role models." The book is not intended to be read like a novel.

"We can't impart all the values in one day, so I envision a girl picking it up, reading a few pages, and then picking it up another day again. The lessons will be ongoing. It is a book of wisdom, and it should be taken bit by bit," Pearl said.

"It's possible that mothers and grandmothers will read the book first, and the girls will pick it up when they're ready."

For information, contact Pearl at liz_pearl@sympatico.ca.