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Jewish
Lesbians Down Under has been
conceived and edited by a collective of
Australian Jewish lesbians. The anthology brings
together contributions from Jewish lesbians all
over the continent. It gives voice to our
experiences, encompassing optimism, humour,
sadness, survival and the strength of the
Australian Jewish lesbian spirit.
The idea for this anthology came out of the
monthly meetings of the Jewish Lesbian Group of
Victoria, a group that has been meeting monthly
since 1992. As a group we explored issues of
Jewish and lesbian identity, and realised we had
many commonalities as Jewish lesbians, but also
came from a wide variety of backgrounds with
different experiences of living in Australia .
The group included women from secular and
religious backgrounds, immigrants and Australian
born. We defined and expressed our Jewishness
and our lesbianism in a variety of ways.
Our stories are the untold stories. There are
no lesbians in Australian Jewish anthologies.
There are no Australians in Jewish lesbian
anthologies. There are no Jews, writing as Jews,
in Australian lesbian anthologies. We see a need
to fill that gap. We believe the richness of our
diversity will make excellent reading.
We are a group of Jewish lesbians who came
together to w or k on this anthology, forming
the Jewish Australian Lesbian Anthology
Collective (JALAC) in 1998 as an offshoot of the
Jewish Lesbian Group of Victoria .
Our aims in creating this anthology were:
• To increase visibility and awareness of
lesbian Jews in Australia .
• To preserve our herstory in a written
form.
• To develop a resource about the
diversity of our lives and experiences.
• To facilitate Jewish lesbians in
exploring their creative talents.
• To express our identities as Jewish
lesbians.
• To share our stories with other Jewish
lesbians, Jews and lesbians.
• To give Jewish lesbians a sense of
solidarity and community.
• To educate Jewish and lesbian
communities about who we are.
• To give voice to Jewish lesbians in
Australia .
The richness and diversity of the Australian
Jewish lesbians in this anthology provides
fascinating reading. Topics covered include:
• Finding and creating community.
• Being out as a lesbian in the Jewish
community.
• Being out as a Jew in the lesbian
community.
• Love and lesbian relationships.
• Different journeys Jewish lesbians have
taken to come to Australia .
© Jewish Australian Lesbian Anthology
Collective (JALAC)
kvell
(Yiddish) = beam or glow with pride and
joy
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Jewish Lesbian Group of
Victoria
