My friend and colleague Rabbi Laurie Gold has often talked about my mother. She was amazed that my mother never liked a poem prayer that we read on Friday night and is often read at women’s funerals. A Woman of Valor. Eisher Chayil.  

Usually attributed to KIng Solomon because it is in the Book of Proverbs, many say it was the eulogy that Abraham lauded Sarah with. This is the translation in the old Union Prayer Book: 

A woman of valor who can find
For her price is far above rubies.
WShe looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness.
Whe gives food to her household and a portion to her maidens.
She stretches out her hand to the poor, yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.
She opens her mouth with wisdom and the law of kindness is on her tongue.
Stretgh and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also and he praises her.
Many daughters have done valiantly but you excel them all.
Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman that fears the Lord she shall be praised.
Give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates. 

This is model we hold out as to what the ideal woman is.  

My mother did not like it. She was adamant that it reflected her vision of feminism.  

I disagreed with my mother. Not the first and still not the last time. It stood on its own as a paradigm and it gets even stronger in the fuller version when it includes  lines like:  

She seeks out wool and linen, and her hands work willingly. She is like a merchant’s ships; from afar she brings her sustenance. She rises while it is still nighttime,…She considers a field and buys it; from the fruit of her handiwork she plants a vineyard. She girds her loins with might and strengthens her arms. She senses that her enterprise is good, so her lamp is not extinguished at night. She puts her hand to the distaff, and her palms support the spindle. 

Sounds like she is the perfect business woman of her day.  

Recently I purchased a book, Heros with Chutzpah and I have been thinking about these 101 women and men ever since.  It includes such women as Sarah Silverman and Gal Gadot, Golda Meir and Gertrude Elion.  

On this International Women’s Day, I realize that I am standing here tonight because of so many trailblazers, changemakers and rebels.  

Today I stand on the shoulders of so many: 

I stand on the shoulders of so many women. My mom, a research scientist by training who was on a team that invented Metformin, oral insulin, the insulin pump and Ensure. My cousin thought she was the original women’s libber and would never get married. But she did. And it is a good thing. 

Her mom, who I am named for, was a talented seamstress and worked with the Women’s Exchange in Saint Louis which included a sewing room, a tea room and so much more in order to empower other women coming up. As part of her work, she helped resettle Jews escaping from Nazi Germany during those times. 

I stand on the shoulders of Bella Abzug and Golda Meir, 

I stand on the shoulders of Ruth Messinger, Anita Diamant, Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Anat Hoffman.  

I stand on the shoulders of women suffragettes including Gertrude Weil.  

I stand on the shoulders of Rabbi Sally Priesand, Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Rabbi Sandy Sasso. And yes, Rabbi Regina Jonas, the first woman rabbi ordained and who was murdered at Auschwitz.  didn’t realize when I was a college freshman that a woman reading Torah for Jewish Women’s Week was revolutionary, but it was. So I also stand on some women here, people like Blossom Wohl and Adeline Kohlhagen, Ellen Levy and Myra Becker. 

I stand on the shoulders of Rachel Carson, a marine biologist and environmentalist who heeded early warnings and wrote the book Silent Spring. 

I stand on the shoulders of Gluckel of Hamlin, Oznat of Mosul, and Bruiah, wife of Rabbi Meir. 

I stand on the shoulders of Esther, who risked her life and found her voice, to save her people. 

I stand on the shoulders of Ruth, who joined the Jewish people and went wherever we went and showed so much kindness to her mother-in -aw. 

I stand on the shoulders of Deborah, the judge and Ruth Bader Ginsberg too. 

I stand on the shoulders of the daughters of Zelophehad, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah; who argued that they had rights to inherit property and my mother-in-law who understood property law as a real estate agent and social work. 

I stand on the shoulders of Miriam, who took a timbrel in her hand, and Debbie Friedman, Shirley Lewis, and so many women cantors, singer song writers and poets. 

I stand on the shoulders of Rachel and Leah, sisters, then rivals and then friends> don’t have any sisters. But I stand on the shoulders of my cousins, Amy, Meg and Laurie and  and chevruta partners like Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn or my friends that are like sisters, Beryl, Tish and Danise to name just a few. 

I stand on the shoulders of Rebecca who ensured that the covenant continued and all of you who chose to raise your children in the Jewish tradition. 

I stand on the shoulders of Sarah who laughed at G-d and with her son.  

I stand on the shoulders of Hagar who was brave enough to name G-d. 

These are my heroes with chutzpah. One day young girls may write a similar list. I hope that I leave a legacy for them to stand on.

My mother’s favorite prayer wasn’t Eishet Chayil. She had another one. She and my mother-in-law both loved “Grant us Peace” 

Here it is from that same old Union Prayer Book: 

Grant us peace, Thy most precious gift, O Thou eternal source of peace, and enable Israel to be a messenger of peace unto the peoples of the earth. Bless our country that it may ever be a stronghold of peace and be its advocate in the council of nations. May contentment reign within its borders, health, and happiness in its homes. Strengthen the bonds of friendship and fellowship between all the inhabitants of our land. Plant virtue in every soul and may love of Thy name hallow every home and every heart. Inscribe us in the book of life, and grant unto us a year of prosperity and joy. Blessed be Thou, O Lord, Giver of Peace. Amen. 

This was her confirmation speech and she read it at my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. This prayer seems so apt. In a world experiencing so much pain, so much loss, where we have prayed every week for the hostages, 21 Shabbatot since 10/7, we must also pray for all the victims. Our tradition demands it. Often led by the women. Women like my mom and Simon’s mom who were the peacemakers. Seek peace and pursue it.  This does not mean we don’t continue to mourn the unspeakable tragedy that is continuing to unfold. We must. But our hearts have to be big enough to stand with all women.

Recently the ritual committee decided to add a phrase to the end of Kaddish as many congregations have been doing for decades. It is similar to the line I add to comforting the mourners on Friday night. May G-d comfort you together with all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem  and all the world. It is similar to the phrases in our own Siddur Sim Shalom: Sim shalom ba’olam, grant universal peace. And in Shalom Rav, the very prayer that gave birth to Grant us peace. The translation in our siddur says Shalom rav al yisrael amcha v’al kol yoshvei tevel. Grant true and lasting peace to your people Israel and to all who dwell on earth. 

Try it with me: v’al kol yoshvei tevel. That is the phrase we will be adding to Kaddish at the very end of Oseh Shalom. Oseh Shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol yisrael v’al kol yoshvei tevel, v’imru amen. May G-d who makes peace in the high heavens, make peace here for all of Israel and all the world. And let us say amen. May it be so, speedily and in our day. And may we, based on the models of the women that have come before never lose sight of our humanity and our peacemaking.