Ragen charms readers

VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor

Ask novelist Naomi Ragen why she writes and she may take out a little gold charm with the word "essay" inscribed on it.

Ragen won the charm for best essay in the third grade in a contest sponsored by the Hebrew Day School in Far Rockaway, N.Y.

The award opened the door to the world of writing and words for the little girl.

"That's when I learned the lesson that you can turn a piece of paper into a golden charm by writing on it."

For most of her life, that is what Ragen, an American-born novelist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1971, has been doing.

Her four international best sellers, "The Sacrifice of Tamar," "Jepthe's Daughter," "Sotah" and "The Ghost of Hannah Mendes," have charmed legions of devoted readers. They draw on Ragen's Orthodox Jewish background and provide an inside look into the lives of religious Jewish women and their families. Too, they provide a platform for Ragen's strongly held views on gender equity and human rights. More recently, she has used her weekly column in the Jerusalem Post to comment on a raft of provocative issues.

Ragen's latest book, "Chains Around the Grass," is strongly autobiographical, drawing on Ragen's childhood growing up in a low-income housing project in New York.

Following are excerpts from a recent Jewish News interview with Ragen.

What did you find so compelling in the Orthodox community as a young girl? Does it still move you today?

I came to the religious world through schooling. The study of Bible, prophets (and) Jewish history compelled me to make choices based on my belief in God's plan. Keeping a kosher, Sabbath-observant home was an obligation I undertook because philosophically, emotionally (and) intellectually it made sense to me. This automatically made me a part of the Orthodox community. However, with time, my participation in that community has revealed many obstacles and hidden social flaws that have nothing to do with Torah observance. I have fought, and continue to fight, to correct those flaws.

Who do you write for?

In the beginning, when I wrote my first novel, "Jepthe's Daughter," I was writing all the things that so needed to be said, but I, as a religious woman in a traditional community, had no place to say. The podium of the synagogue was off limits. No one really gave women like me a forum in which our opinions about the religious world were taken seriously. So I created my own podium in the novel.

How would you define your own religious affiliation/practice today?

I would say that religion is probably the most important thing in my life. With that, I believe the love of the land and people of Israel comes next and is part of that - the Zionist ideals for working in a Jewish state. And so you may call that what you like. In Israel, we are called Dati Leumi (religious Zionist) or modern Orthodox. I'm not comfortable with those labels, though, since they have political connotations. I would define myself as one who tries with all her heart to keep God's Torah as faithfully as I can.

Tell me about the process of writing "Chains Around the Grass."

Sometimes a writer writes with ink, and sometimes you open a vein and dip your pen in the blood and write. That was "Chains Around the Grass." I've been writing the book for 25 years, looking into my soul, trying to understand the deepest things about my own life.

You've been accused of "airing our dirty laundry" in your columns. Are you impelled by personal conviction? A sense of responsibility as a writer?

I am impelled by religious convictions. You can't love God and ignore injustice. You can't serve God and turn your eyes away when corruption and abuse and evil are right in front of you. To serve God means to have the courage to do what needs to be done, to correct and improve and bring about changes that will bring our society closer to religious ideals. The ones who are always worried about airing dirty laundry should ask themselves: What happens when you don't air dirty laundry? It really begins to stink.

Have you become more opinionated - and more vocal - as you've grown older and become more successful?

No. I've always been the same. Only now, more people are willing to listen.

Details

Who: Naomi Ragen
What: Challenges 2002 sponsored by Women's Department Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix
When: 10:30 a.m. registration, 11:30 a.m. luncheon and program, Thursday, Feb. 28
Where: Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Wrigley Pavilion
Cost: $40 for lunch, minimum $180 commitment to the 2002 Women's Campaign required
Call: Jewish Federation, 602-274-1800 ext. 154

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