I met Melanie at a women’s studies gathering in Portland, Oregon, in the late ’70s; I was new to Portland and heard good things about her as a teacher and an activist. I recall her telling us that attending grad school was worth it only if one got funding; this struck me as wise advice. Later I recall reading her excellent book, co-authored with Irena Klepfisz, The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women’s Anthology (1986). This held special meaning for me as I learned more about my paternal roots as the daughter of a Jewish father, who left temple as a young man but passed on our ancestral values of justice and scholarship, and a lapsed Protestant mother. My sister and I were raised Unitarian-Universalist, which taught us to make our own decisions about our spiritual beliefs. I was saddened to learn about Melanie’s struggle with Parkinson’s, the same debilitating illness which claimed my father at 84.
The Tribe of Dina offered fascinating stories from a wide variety of perspectives; I knew little about Sephardim before reading the fine anthology. I may return to its pages for inspiration in the near future as I work with a consultant on getting my paternal great-grandmother’s diary of life in Ukraine as a young woman in the late 1860s-1870s into an illustrated and enhanced book.
Blessings to Leslie, Beth and Steve, Melanie’s family, and their family of friends.
Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Presente!
—Natasha Beck, teacher/writer/activist, Portland, Oregon