Beyond the Pale: A Novel (56 page)

SHLEMIL. A fool or a born loser; someone who’s clumsy.

SHLEP. To drag or carry a burden.

SHMALTS. Literally, “rendered fat” (usually chicken); metaphorically, excessive sentimentality; commonly used in both senses.

SHOFAR. A ram’s horn blown during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur.

SHTETL. A small village or town in Russia and Eastern Europe where Jews were either a majority or inhabited significant Jewish quarters.

SHUL. A synagogue.

SHVITS. Sweat.

SIMKHE. A celebration or party.

TALIS (s), TALESIM (pl.). A striped, tasseled shawl, traditionally worn by men during certain prayers (some contemporary women have begun wearing them as well).

TASHLIKH. The symbolic casting away of sins into flowing bodies of water during the first two days of Rosh Hashonah.

TECHINOT. Women’s prayer collections in Yiddish, often written by women.

TFILIN. Phylacteries—small boxes containing passages from Exodus and Deuteronomy, strapped to the left arm and the forehead during weekday morning prayers by observant males.

TREYF. Any non-kosher food; anything unclean or anyone untrustworthy.

TSHATSHKES. Knickknacks.

TSHOLNT. A stew-like main Shabbes dish, kept in a hot oven overnight. Those without their own ovens would bring it to the bakery Thursday and pick it up Friday night before Shabbes. The ingredients vary, but usually include some combination of meat, beans, barley, onions and potatoes.

TSIMES. A sweet vegetable stew, usually containing carrots and potatoes.

VERST. A Russian unit of measurement, approximately two-thirds of a mile.

VOV. Sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet (see lamed vovnik).

WOBBLIES. Nickname for the members of the International Workers of the World, a revolutionary international industrial union founded in 1905 in the United States.

YARMULKE. A skullcap worn by religious Jewish men.

YENTE. A coarse, meddling, gossipy woman.

YESHIVE. Institution of higher Talmudic learning; in the United States, an Orthodox Jewish all-day school.

YESHIVE BOKHER. A yeshive student; a real scholar.

YOM KIPPUR. The last day of the High Holy Days, on which one fasts from sundown to sundown and finishes the process of repentance that began at Rosh Hashonah.

YORTSAYT. The anniversary of a death, on which a memorial candle is traditionally lit.

ZIONISM. A nationalist movement for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Theodore Herzl formulated the theoretical basis for the Zionist movement and convened the first Zionist congress in Basel, Switzerland in1897.

Acknowledgments

It was ten years between the time Chava’s voice first spoke to me and the publication of
Beyond the Pale
. During that time I worked on the novel in fits and starts, researched continuously and spent months concentrating at various writers’ retreats. Although I have worked with words all my life, nothing prepared me for the time and dedication
Beyond the Pale
required. Many people made the work possible, either through their direct help with research and revision or through their forbearance and support along the way.

Dolphin Waletzky, Evelyn Averbuck, Irena Klepfisz, Jo Keroes, Judith Katz, Maxine Chernoff, Myung Mi Kim, Susan Jill Kahn and Susan Levinkind read and commented on various versions of the manuscript. Their thoughtful work contributes to every page, and their time, patience and generosity were true gifts. Working with Barbara Kuhne, Press Gang’s co-publisher, and my talented editor, Nancy Pollak, for the first edition was a real pleasure and the subsequent enthusiasm of Raincoast staff was a gift.

The transliteration of the Yiddish words generally follows the guidelines of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and was provided by Irena Klepfisz, whose help with the glossary and pronunciation guide, which came after the text, was also invaluable. Any inconsistencies or old forms of transliteration are entirely my responsibility.

Adrienne Rich, Alice Malloy, Annelise Orleck, Barbara Ruth, Beth Davidson, Betty Dudley, Brighde Mullins, Casey Fisher, Claire Kinberg, Dan Nachman, Ellen Rifkin, Eva Schocken, Frieda Feen, Gloria Anzaldúa, Hadas Weiss, Harvey Nachman, Hilde Waletzky, Jan Hoffman, Jasmine Marah, Joan Drury, Joan Nestle, Judith Masur, Judy Freespirit, Judy Moore, Laura Munter, Laura Rifkin, Lilian Mohin, Linda Shear, Linnea Almgren, Lisa Edwards, Louise Turcotte, Margaret Sloan Hunter, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Michal Brody, Michelle Cliff, Nancy Nordhoff, Nina Wouk, Rachel Nachman, Red She Bear, Rose Weisberger, Ruth Rischin, Sabena Stark, Sally Goldin, Sally Koplin, Sally Savitz, Samara, Sandy Polishuk, Susan Goldberg, Susan Shulman, Susan Stinson, Terre Hill, Teya Schaffer, Toby Finkelstein, Tova, Tracy Moore, Tryna Hope and Windflower provided me with a variety of resources, research, support, shelter, inspiration and conversation without which I could never have completed this work.

Caryatis Cardea took over the complete operation of
Sinister Wisdom
three times during the period we were co-editors, enabling me to write and do crucial research. Her work on
Sinister Wisdom
, along with that of Jamie Lee Evans and Sauda Burch and a host of volunteers, helped make mine possible.

Helen Mintz has performed a scene from the first half of
Beyond the Pale
since 1993—the first time I saw her bring the characters to life, I cried. I am thankful for the opportunity she gave me to be a member of the audience.

Frances Goldin, my amazing agent, who signed me up after her daughter, Sally, gave her a copy, has been a staunch ally of
Beyond the Pale
and made sure it stayed in print after Press Gang, the original publisher, closed.

Cottages at Hedgebrook, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation and Norcroft Writing Retreat for Women granted me residencies at pivotal moments in the process. My thanks to those who make these writing retreats possible. I hope every lesbian writer can have the privilege of experiencing the demanding solitudes these places offer.

My appreciation to librarians and archivists everywhere, and particularly those who maintain the collections at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Tamiment Archives at New York University, the Jewish Library of San Francisco and the New York Historical Society Library, where much of the research for
Beyond the Pale
was done.

And to my intimate friends, Dolphin Waletzky and Susan Jill Kahn, and my research assistant and beloved partner, Susan Levinkind, who saw me through every step of the way—my heart.

About the Author

Elana Dykewomon has published seven award-winning books foregrounding lesbian heroism, including the classics
Riverfinger Women
(1974),
Beyond the Pale
(1997), and
Risk
(2009). A former editor of the international lesbian feminist journal
Sinister Wisdom
, she is the recipient of the Lambda Literary Award and the Publishing Triangle’s Ferro-Grumley Award. In 2009 she received the Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize, awarded by the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Dykewomon and her partner live in Oakland, California.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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