Women of Valor |
Those who welcome in the Shabbat each week will recognize the recitation of the Eshet Chayil poem (Proverbs, Chapter 31) as that moment on Friday night when the woman of the house is praised for possessing a “value far beyond pearls.” The heroine in this famous acrostic will stop at nothing to secure her family’s needs – whether that’s buying a field to plant a vineyard or knitting enough bedspreads, so every kid is warm at night. As its author, King Solomon, tells us, she “girds her loins with might, strengthens her arms, and extends her hands to the destitute,” all with “kindness on her tongue.” And while “many daughters have attained valor,” this Eshet Chayil has “surpassed them all.”
I’m a Jewish man, so, of course, there have been many valorous women in my life (starting with my mother, Bracha bat Leib, ע״ה). They include my wife, mother-in-law, neighbors I grew up with, assorted teachers and colleagues, and the list goes on. But when it comes to women in the Diaspora who’ve sewn metaphoric bedspreads for Israelis who’ve suffered (and sacrificed) since October 7th, 2023, I’m proud to single out a few examples (in this first of two blogposts).
Sara Raoof Jacobs, Executive Director, Founder of the L.A.-based Maman Nonprofit, is an uncommon leader, who has, according to Maman Board President (and film and TV producer/director) Sepi Makabi, “brought together professional women and mothers from all walks of to life to help those who have fallen on hard times. Anyone from those in the U.S. to Jews abroad, Christians, Druze, and Muslims across the world.” Jacobs, who was born in Shiraz, Iran, and fled with her family to the U.S. when she was just 15 months old, says that “to be a Persian Jew is to know that Israel is our homeland.” One example: “Persian wedding gifts often will include gold coins,” she describes. “And when I got married, my mom told me to never sell them. If I needed to escape [to Israel] those [coins] would come with me!”
While connected by heart and soul, Jacobs says her relationship to Israel prior to October 7th was not front and center. But helping Jews in her adopted hometown was. While studying Psychology and Social Welfare at UCLA, she co-founded Persian Hillel, served on the board of the Iranian Jewish Women’s........