Eden, our youngest daughter got up early this Friday morning to go run at the Jerusalem Marathon. I still don’t know whether she made it on time to the school bus scheduled to drive schoolkids to the starting point. But of one thing I am certain, that she did make it to the starting point as Eden mentioned she was resolved to walk to it, in case she would be missing the bus.
I “get” my twelve- year- old- daughter’s determination in running the beginners’ marathon in Jerusalem and another type of marathon runner comes to mind: a type we witnessed at the special International Women’s Day event organized by the Jerusalem Wizo headed by Sarah Kovarsky. At the event men and women came together to honor two women who have done their share of Marathon work in Jerusalem: the journalist, commentator and blogger Linda Menuhin and the doctor Dr. Donna Zfat Director of the Linda Joy Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Center for Women at Hadassah.
At the event which was hosted yet again at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, Dr. Noa Regev the Jerusalem Cinematheque CEO said in her greetings that she would be short and let the film screened “On the Basis of Sex” speak to us. The Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon, greeted us too, saying that he saw in women partners at work, within the municipality and beyond and urged us women to lead and raise issues we care for in the city.
And indeed the film “On the Basis of Sex” spoke tons; It spoke of a real woman living among us, Ruth Badder Ginsburg, a legal “marathon runner” in her own right who had the strength, stamina, endurance and perseverance to fight in court for what she believed in. Ginsburg advanced women’s rights to include women from places where they were previously excluded, where doors were shut before them, opening those doors for women and becoming U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice in the process.
Three days ago a poster featuring Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s face was vandalized in a Brooklyn subway with the words “Die, Jew, Bitch” and an image of a swastika. The poster was advertising the book “The Unstoppable Ruth Bader Ginsburg: American Icon.”
In this case of vandalism, the perpetrator’s message was to get rid of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her contributions. The violator wants Ruth’s voice silenced, her vitality shut, her contributions unoffered. Why? On the basis of her being what the offender calls a “Jew,” and a “Bitch.” A public outcry against the offender has burst out, which to our merriment will promote the sales of the book and its message.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the title of the book suggests is Unstoppable. Let us all run our marathons inspired by her! Let us endure, persevere and persist in our causes. Let us resist fatigue and recover from falls like Jews. Live and prosper ladies and girls and yes let us all endorse, embrace and sustain the bitchy force in us, as women who run their marathons with their wolf selves too!
From Jerusalem with love,