Back: Living Legacies - A Collection of Inspirational Contemporary Canadian Jewish Women
"Long before FaceBook, Jewish women knew the value of 'social connectivity.' Maintaining strong connections with family, friends and community is our instinct. Connection attached to social purpose - teaching, advocating, supporting - is our strength. Inspiring others to continue the tradition is our honour."
-Barbara Kay
Columnist, The National Post
www.barbarakay.ca
"This new volume of Liz Pearl's Living Legacies is thoughtful and timely. Jewish women in Canada could benefit from added exposure and recognition. This valuable volume should be part of any syllabus on contemporary Jewish history in Canada."
-Dr. Dina Ripsman Eylon
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal
"This collection of reflections from Canadian Jewish women reflects the diversity and richness of Jewish life and experience in Canada and will provide fascinating and inspirational reading for all."
-Adele Reinhartz, PhD, FRSC
Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies
Associate Vice-President Research at the University of Ottawa
"Living Legacies provides a unique perspective on a gallery of diverse Canadian Jewish women. Reading through the stories, essays and poems is an inspiration and call to action across generations. I can think of no better legacy for aspiring leaders, thinkers and activists."
-Shira Herzog
President and CEO of The Kahanoff Foundation
Israel-affairs columnist, The Globe and Mail
www.shiraherzog.com
"It was indeed an honour to be included in the first volume of Living Legacies, and I eagerly anticipate reading this outstanding collection of writings by a stellar group of Canadian Jewish Women. We are very grateful to Liz Pearl for her innovative idea, and her commitment and dedication to this important series. She has truly provided a legacy for the next generation."
-Karen Mock, PhD
Federal Liberal Candidate for Thornhill
www.karenmock.ca
"Liz Pearl is a shining light whose beautiful book Living Legacies illuminates Canadian Jewish women, and is a source of inspiration to Jewish women of all ages. Living Legacies is a treasure trove rich with evocative stories that can be read and re-read time and time again. What a wonderful gift for a Bat Mitzvah, birthday, Mother.s Day, or as a lovely hostess gift. Liz Pearl.s huge heart is evident in the magnificently edited collection of stories that are interwoven into an enjoyable, entertaining and heartwarming read. The book will make you laugh, cry and think about all of the wonderful people in your life who have helped shape you. This new volume is a must read and a perfect edition to your library. Throughout the book, you can feel Pearl.s incredible energy which is warm, healing, and full of love.
-Judy Librach
Life coach, author and singer
Columnist, The Canadian Jewish News
www.findingyourbliss.com
"Our tradition began with stories passed down from one generation to the next. Over thousands of years and numerous enemies, those stories have survived and thrived. In the many and diverse voices of women, this collection continues the tradition with insight and sensitivity."
-Cathy Tile
Founder, Living Literature Seminars
www.livingliterature.ca
"Much like an endowment, an ethical will is a gift that carries tremendous impact and also stands as a symbol to one's children and grandchildren, conveying to future generations a way of life and perpetuating the value system we inherited from our parents. The Living Legacies collection is yet another way to build bridges between the generations."
-Rosalie Wise Sharp
Author of Rifke: An Improbable Life, www.rifke.ca
Co-editor of Growing up Jewish
Author of Ceramics, Ethics & Scandal
"Jewish Women throughout the ages have contributed to the fabric of Jewish life through their families, Jewish institutions, and the Jewish community as a whole as well as creating the culture of the general communities they have lived in. Liz Pearl helps to highlight the integral work of Jewish women in contemporary Canada."
-Susan Jackson
Director, Centre for Jewish Knowledge and Heritage
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto
"In this Me generation, Living Legacies is a wonderful antidote to the worship of today's golden calf of materialism and shallow role models. This new anthology makes the perfect gift for a girl celebrating her coming of age."
-Atara Beck
Staff Writer, The Jewish Tribune
www.jewishtribune.ca
"I love my Mother, a natural born Rebbetzin, with all my heart. I am an only son, with four creative and charitable sisters. The Jewish female influence in my life has therefore been very strong and I have been fortunate to have benefited from the inspiration of some very soulful women. I am delighted about Liz Pearl's most recent book, Living Legacies. I believe the stories found within this unique compilation will not only inspire Jewish women, but will enthuse, motivate and move many Jewish men. Beautiful job!"
-Avrum Rosensweig
Founding Director, Ve'ahavta: The Canadian Jewish Humanitarian & Relief Committee
www.veahavta.org
Columnist, Canadian Jewish News
"We have precious little in our pantheon of Jewish literature or scholarship directed to the needs and concerns of Jewish girls. By giving voice to outstanding female Jewish role models, Living Legacies has filled an important void."
-Randal F. Schnoor, PhD
Centre for Jewish Studies, York University www.yorku.ca/cjs
President, Association for Canadian Jewish Studies
www.acjs-aejc.ca
"Living Legacies is a rich, glittering treasure of unique and uniquely feminine insights and experiences. With the publication of this marvelous anthology, more readers at home and abroad will see a truer, more textured picture of the Jewish community of Canada and in particular of the creative and contributing place of Jewish women within the community. We are coming of age. Liz Pearl is to be commended and congratulated for helping show us and the world who we are."
-Mordechai Ben-Dat
Editor, The Canadian Jewish News
www.cjnews.com
"As always, Liz Pearl opens channels to communicate women's wisdom, experience and spirituality."
-Helen Redner
Director, Toronto Jewish Book Fair
"Simply inspirational! Liz Pearl's collection of writing by remarkable female Jewish role models offers the reader sure evidence of the astonishing diversity of female authors and thinkers that make our Jewish community so vibrant. The insight in this book will motivate all ages to seek meaning and Jewish self awareness and I am most excited to present this remarkable book to B'nai Mitzvah at our Synagogue."
-Rabbi Yossi Sapirman
Beth Torah Congregation
www.bethtorah.ca
"Because I strongly believe that a child's first educational centre is the home, Liz Pearl's collection of wisdom strikes a deep chord within me. Women are innately nurturing and sharing individuals, and as such, are exceptionally capable of passing along the benefits of their experience, knowledge, feelings and respect for others. Living Legacies stands poised to inspire the actions of our next generation by inspiring the confidence of the current one at the same time."
-Marilyn Herbert
Creator of BOOKCLUB-IN-A-BOX
www.bookclubinabox.com
"The authors of Living Legacies inspire, encourage and envision a world where Jewish girls and women can do anything they set their minds to."
-Pnina Adelman
Author of The JGirl's Guide: A Handbook for Young Jewish Women Coming of Age
www.padelman.com
"Living Legacies is a wonderful book that will help inspire and teach about communal involvement and leadership. In today's fast paced society Living Legacies is a welcome contribution to teach the importance of family, community, tikun olam, tzedakah, chesed and to provide tangible examples of role models that we can emulate"
-Daniel Rothner
Founder & Director, Areyvut: Enhancing Jewish Education with Jewish Values
www.areyvut.org
"It is incumbent upon each generation to renew the legacy of the Jewish past by transmitting it in the voice and vocabulary of its own time and place. Thank you, Liz Pearl, for collecting the wisdom of today's Canadian Jewish women, through whom our grandmothers speak to our granddaughters."
-Lori Hope Lefkovitz, PhD
Director, Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women's and Gender Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
www.kolot.org
"In this poignant collection, 50 Jewish women in Canada most of whom are middle-aged or older, reflect on their lives with an eye to helping the next generation. They do find meaning in their lives, but they are also concerned about the future. In this collection of heartfelt essays, letters and poems, we have a vivid record of their feelings - about their immigration, their upbringing, their relation to Israel and to Judaism."
-Shulamit Reinharz, PhD
Jacob Potofosky Professor of Sociology
Founding Director, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute
www.brandeis.edu/hbi
Founding Director, Women's Studies Research Center
www.brandeis.edu/centers/wsrc
"A Jewish mother hands down much more than the Jewish lineage to her daughter. She passes down the traditions and lessons taught to her by her mother and her mother's mother and so on and so forth. Living Legacies offers us a sense of that heritage handed down l'dor v'dor, and gives us the precious gift of those lessons and stories as they are passed on from a mother to a daughter, a woman to a friend, a writer to a reader, and a wise soul to another soul ready to receive that wisdom."
-Nina Amir
President, Pure Spirit Creations
www.purespiritcreations.com
Author of Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation and The Priestess Practice
"So much of Jewish women's oral Torah and wisdom has been lost through the centuries because it wasn't taken it seriously. Living Legacies assures us that that these women and their ideas will not be abandoned in the cosmic void of history, but rather treasured and cherished as sacred legacy"
-Rabbi G. Rayzel Raphael
Singer, Songwriter, Ritual-Maker and Spirituality Consultant
www.shechinah.com
www.mirajtrio.com
"The beauty of legacy writing is that it never differentiates between religion or denominations. As a Christian, I love the ethical will concept and truly appreciate its Jewish heritage. What a simple gift it is but what an impact it can transmit as one's `love letter' to future generations!"
-Linda J. Lipinski
Creator of A Legacy To Remember® ethical will album
www.alegacytoremember.com
"The experience of recording one's spiritual legacy is a way to communicate one's values, beliefs and important messages to future generations, and also enabled these women to reflect on and gain valuable insight into their own lives. This sample of Canadian women's writings will hopefully inspire all who read Living Legacies to somehow record their own life reflections as a meaningful gift for loved ones."
-Iris E. Wagner
Founder, President and Executive Producer, Memoirs Productions
An Ethical Will and Video Biography Company
www.memoirs.ca
www.ethical-will.ca
"Living Legacies - about Jewish Canadian Women, really touched my heart because it gives voice to Jewish women all over the world. Liz Pearl has brought our culture into the 21st century and beyond! The most important wisdom we can pass on to our children and future generations are life lessons: the people that made a difference in our lives, how they influenced our thoughts and dreams, what events impacted our way of being ... all these happenings shaping and changing our beliefs and values. The wealth of our life lies within and this book gives women an opportunity to share their greatness with others and generations to come. Living Legacies is an impressive collection of Ethical Wills. Thank you for this creative forum."
-Madeline Binder
Professional Counselor
Author of Your Ethical Will
www.spiritual-ethical-will.com
"In my work with elders sharing their personal life legacies, I've been blessed to listen to the wisdom of hundreds of wise women. What a joy to read the Living Legacies of Canadian Jewish women who contributed to this new anthology! May future generations of daughters and sons of Canadian and Jewish heritage be inspired by the powerful wisdom of women as they create their own life legacies."
-Todd O. Peterson
Educator & Advisor, Lasting Legacies
www.ethicalwilladvisor.com