«lost on the Map of the World»

Lost on the Map of the World explores Jewish-American women's enduring quest from ca. 1890 to the present to find a home(land) where they can have a Jewish identity and still enjoy gender equality. Originally, many were torn between obedience to confining patriarchal tradition and the attractions of an upwardly mobile secular lifestyle. Others opposed all traditional patriarchal constraints against women everywhere and engaged in political activism to improve the quality of all lives, not only their own. In contrast, many 'new wave' Jewish-American women have succeeded in integrating feminism into their Jewish identity, although they have so far failed in their quest to do so in Israel.