To Alice Shalvi

We dedicate this twenty-fifth issue of Nashim to Professor Alice Shalvi, who made the dream of a journal devoted to Jewish women's and gender studies possible. When the Nashim initiative was first broached to her, Alice greeted it not only with enthusiasm but with recognition, as an idea she and her friends, pioneers of second-wave Jewish feminism, had raised long before, and whose time had finally come. Subsequently, as Rector of the Schechter Institute (1997-2001), Alice added her voice to the approval process for the first issue's publication. She has remained on Nashim's editorial board ever since, contributing her wise and warm guidance on issues of editorial and academic policy and herself serving as consulting editor for our issue on Women, War and Peace (Fall 2003).

Upon reading the initial proposal for Nashim, which spoke of the potential for new discoveries inherent in the joining of Jewish studies with women's studies (as it was then called) and of the advancement of women's scholarship, Alice added three important words: and their creativity. In shaping each issue of Nashim, we have endeavored to live up to the mandate of that revised proposal. Indeed, it is fitting that an issue dedicated to Alice features work on women writers, filmmakers and an art collector—and also on Doña Gracia Nasi, one of the first Jewish women known to have supported Jewish scholarly publishing, in sixteenth-century Constantinople.

With her practical feminist feel for the truth embodied in the expression "Without flour, there's no Torah" (Avot 3:17), Alice and her friends and supporters became the mainstay of Nashim's funding on the side of the Schechter Institute. If one of her cohorts was unable to continue her support, Alice found a replacement or a contributor who could raise the ante. No one has believed in this journal more consistently and religiously than Alice, and we have done our utmost not to disappoint her or the generous donors who have come to our aid.

We salute you, Alice, for your steadfast and proactive support. As one of the most active "Nashim" in Israeli society, it is only appropriate that this issue belong to you.

The Editors, Deborah Greniman and Renée Levine Melammed

Sadly, as this issue was being prepared for press, Alice lost her life partner, Moshe Shalvi. With his long experience in publishing, Moshe contributed his guidance to the formation of a workable plan for the first issues of Nashim. Then, with Alice at his side, he went on to mount his own feminist scholarly publishing enterprise, the preparation of Jewish Women: A Historical Encyclopedia (now available on the website of the Jewish Women's Archive). He is fondly remembered.