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Revenge, 2002
Levitt, Laura S.
Levitt, Laura S.
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Journal article
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2003
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Religion
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https://doi.org/10.1353/nsh.2004.0011
Abstract
Revenge 1. To inflict punishment in return for (injury or insult). 2. To seek or take vengeance for (oneself or another person); avenge. (American Heritage Dictionary, fourth edition). In part, the piece that follows was written on Yom Kippur; it came gushing out after I listened to a Kol Nidre sermon. It says some of the things I felt at that time, as well as much of what I need and want to say about war, violence, and my own Jewish feminist position. I want to talk about revenge, the desire to inflict punishment in return for injuries that we have suffered, and the wish to make right a wrong. I find myself caught in the gap between these conflicting desires. I want the release of revenge. I want to take justice into my own hands and express my rage and indignation. At the same time, I cannot find justice in these enactments. The injury is never avenged. As a woman who has known bodily harm, as an American Jew who was born well after the Holocaust and has loved Israel, this is the only way I can begin to make sense of the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine. These are not words that I share lightly. I do not feel comfortable saying them in public, yet they are the only things I feel compelled to say. I risk saying them here, in the context of this forum, in the hope that they may help initiate a more honest conversation about the painful and difficult issues they concern.* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Yom Kippur 2002
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Citation
Levitt, Laura. “Revenge, 2002." Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Studies, no. 6 (Fall 5764/2003): 35-39.
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Indiana University Press
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Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues, No. 6, Fall 5764/2003
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