From the Editors

Some perspective: In 1989, with $1,500 and long credentials as writer/activists, Adrienne Rich, Elly Bulkin, Ruth Atkin, Clare Kinberg, Sandy Polishuk, Carol Anshien and Rita Falbel launched Bridges. A decade later, operating with a staff of one on a current annual budget of under $50,000, Bridges has achieved international recognition as a premier Jewish feminist periodical.

Various and sometimes opposite factors constitute the fiscal realities of publishing this journal.

Bridges' voice remains unique and independent in part because it is not subsidized by any organization or university; and independence comes at a price. Costs are kept low because editors volunteer their time and the manager works from a home office. However, cash flow is often a problem, and cash-in-hand is required for typesetting/printing/mailing. In spite of our commitment to a regular publication schedule, struggling to raise funds for each issue is time consuming and has caused the delay of numerous publication dates. On the revenue side, income from Bridges' 1,200 (loyal, rowdy, committed) subscribers covers only one third of the costs of publishing the magazine. The balance comes from (often struggling) bookstores, occasional grants, and our annual (we try to keep it only once a year) direct mail appeal.

We enter our second decade of publishing with a determination to turn this around. The goal of Campaign Bridges 2000 is to raise $100,000. With a carefully tended capital base, Bridges will re-establish a regular, biannual publication schedule free from the distractions of ad hoc fundraising. We will be able to afford the relatively small costs called for in our marketing plan to widen our subscriber base to 5,000 and increase bookstore distribution. Time to research and apply for grants will be available.

For a national magazine of the stature of Bridges, $100,000 should sound like an easy goal. In fact, we are very pleased to announce that the Campaign is well on its way. Please read the letter on page ?? from Campaign Chair Tracy Moore to find out how you can get involved in ensuring Bridges' future.

In addition to establishing a sounder financial base, Bridges is re-making itself with an almost completely turned over editorial board. Long time editors tova and Ruth Kraut signed off this past year. Their contributions to Bridges over the past decade are innumerable and they are sorely missed. Ruth Abrams and Jessica Stein have signed on, joining Robin Bernstein and Enid Dame, who've worked on Bridges for several years now, and managing editor Clare Kinberg, who's been here since the Chaos, before the beginning. As with all publications, what we publish in Bridges is shaped by the interests of the editors. Our mission to be a forum for Jewish feminist perspectives on social justice activism, to showcase Jewish women's creativity, and to publish voices from the margins of mainstream Jewish life remains steady. But each editor brings her own particulars, so we thought we'd take this opportunity to tell you about the perspectives we each bring to Bridges.

This issue of Bridges is in many respects a broad survey of contemporary Jewish feminism. With a large cluster on Confronting Text and Tradition (introduced on page 10) many issues on the ragged and uncomfortable edge of feminist Judaism are explored with keen insight. Another group of articles and reviews looks at Jews and multiculturalism. With Monica Szurmuk's interview and excerpt from Argentinian Nora Stejilevich's autobiographical novel One Single Countless Death, we learn more about the ability to bear testimony to a horrible past and yet have the strength to imagine a better future -- a future made possible through organizations like Strejilevich's International Survivor Narrative Archive, as well as the Israeli human rights watch B'stelem, whose work to outlaw torture in Israel is reported on by Jessica Montell. The poetry here considers many aspects of Jewish history, as well as relationships to a spiritual presence, to Lady Shekhina and Rootwumun, and mothers and daughters, and friends.

Take your time with this collection. These writers travel many roads. As they intersect with your own, why not drop us a line with your own thoughts? And please, share this issue with others, encourage them to subscribe, and help us all build an interconnected community.