From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Naomi Ragen
Naomi Ragen
Naomi Ragen (born July 10, 1949) is an American-Israeli Drama
Orthodox Jewish author, playwright and women’s rights
Women’s Minyan, Ragen’s 2001 play, tells the story of an
activist. She has been accused of plagiarism by several
ultra-Orthodox woman who, upon fleeing from her adul-
young writers.
terous and abusive husband, finds that he has manipulat-
ed the rabbinical courts to deprive her of the right to see
Life and work or speak to her twelve children. The story is based on a
true incident.[1]
Ragen (née Terlinsky) was born in New York City and re-
Women’s Minyan ran for six years in Habima (Israel’s
ceived an Orthodox Jewish education before completing
National Theatre) and has been staged in the United
a degree in literature at Brooklyn College in 1971, the
States, Canada and Argentina.
same year she moved to Israel with her husband, whom
she had married in 1969. In 1978 she received a mas-
ter’s degree in literature from the Hebrew University of
Women’s rights
Jerusalem. She has four children and lives in Jerusalem. Ragen, who is a columnist for The Jerusalem Post, has long
been active in the Agunah struggle through attempting
Novels to force rabbinical courts to alter traditional divorce pro-
ceedings, and by trying to prevent men from using the
Ragen’s first three novels, which described the lives of
granting of the "Get" as an instrument of extortion.
ultra-Orthodox Jewish women in Israel and the United
In 2006, Ragen joined several other women in peti-
States, dealt with themes that had not previously been
tioning the courts to force the Israeli government and
addressed in that society’s literature: wife-abuse (Jephte’s
public bus companies to discontinue gender separated
Daughter: 1989), adultery (Sotah: 1992) and rape (The Sacri-
bus lines, in which men and women sit apart. Ragen
fice of Tamar: 1995). Reaction to these novels in the Ortho-
claims that she was once herself harassed after riding in
dox and ultra-Orthodox communities was mixed. Some
the "wrong" section.[2]
hailed her as a pioneer who for the first time exposed and
opened to public discussion problems which the commu-
nities had preferred to pretend did not exist, while oth- Lawsuits
ers criticized her for “hanging out the dirty laundry” for
In 2007, two American-Israeli writers accused Ragen of
everyone to see, thus embarrassing the rabbis who were
plagiarizing their first works. Writer Michal Tal filed a
believed by many to be effectively dealing with these
charge with the Jerusalem District Court of plagiarism
problems “behind the scenes” and also putting “ammu-
against Ragen′s novel The Ghost of Hannah Mendes,[3] and
nition in the hands of the anti-Semites”.
writer Sarah Shapiro claimed, Ragen copied from her
Her next novel (The Ghost of Hannah Mendes: 1998) told
first book Growing with My Children in her novel Sotah.[4]
the story of a Sephardic family brought back from assim-
Ragen denied both accusations,.[5][4] In 2010, the first
ilation by the spirit of their ancestor Gracia Mendes, a
plaintiff, Michal Tal, died. A final decision in the case
16th century Portuguese crypto-Jew.
has not yet been issued.[citation needed] In 2010 a third
Chains Around the Grass (2002) is a semi-autobiograph-
American-Israeli writer, Sudi Rosengarten, filed suit
ical novel of the author’s childhood which dealt with the
against Ragen, claiming that Ragen’s book The Sacrifice of
failure of the American dream for her parents.
Tamar which deals with a black child born to an ultra-
In The Covenant (2004) Ragen dealt with the contem-
Orthodox family as a result of a long-hidden rape of the
porary theme of an ordinary family confronted with Is-
grandmother, was based on her autobiographical short
lamic terrorism.
story A Marriage Made in Heaven. Ragen has denied this al-
The Saturday Wife (2007), the story of a rabbi’s way-
legation as well.[citation needed]
ward wife, is loosely based on Flaubert’s Madame Bovary,
On 11 December 2011, the Jerusalem District Court in
and is a satire of modern Jewish Orthodoxy.
a 92-page opinion by Judge Joseph Shapira partially up-
The Tenth Song (2010), is the story of a family whose
held Shapiro′s plagiarism claim, ruling that Ragen′s “pla-
life is shattered when a false accusation of terrorism is
giarism was tantamount to a premeditated act”, stating
made against the father.
that Ragen knowingly copied from Shapiro’s work in her
novel Sotah which shows “a resemblance in the subjects
and motifs, resemblances in language and terminology,
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Naomi Ragen
similarity and resemblance in dialogue, at times word for [5] Dan Izenberg (2007-03-08). "Second writer accuses
word, and cumulative violations.”[6][7] Shapiro had asked Naomi Ragen, popular novelist, of plagiarism".
for NIS 1 million in damages. The court gave the parties Jerusalem Post. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/
a month to negotiate the size of compensation, and indi- access/
cated it would decide at a later date if copyright infringe- 1230982471.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+8%2C+2007
ment had taken place.[4] According to The Jerusalem Post, Retrieved 2011-12-13.
Ragen claims that there is a campaign being waged to si- [6] ^ Ben Hartman (201-12-13). "Court rules Naomi
lence her, accusing Shapiro of “working out of a desire Ragen plagiarized in best-seller". Jerusalem Post.
to silence my criticism of the Haredi community’s treat- http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/
ment of women”, but did not indicate whether she would Article.aspx?ID=249203. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
appeal the decision, as she had not yet read the verdict.[6] [7] Akiva Novick (2011-12-13). "Naomi Ragen found
guilty of plagiarism". Ynetnews.
References http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/
0,7340,L-4160630,00.html. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
[1] Esther Solomon (2006-11-06). "Sins of the
husbands". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/
print-edition/opinion/sins-of-the-
External links
husbands-1.204182. Retrieved 2011-12-13. • Naomi Ragen’s website
[2] "Israel bus rule sparks religious row". One News Persondata
(New Zealand). 2008-01-15. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/
Name Ragen, Naomi
page/536641/1545926. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
[3] Dan Izenberg (2007-02-23). "Naomi Ragen denies Alternative names
plagiarism". Jerusalem Post. http://fr.jpost.com/ Short description
servlet/ Date of birth 1949-07-10
Satellite?cid=1171894498711&pagename=JPost/
Place of birth
JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
[4] ^ Maya Sela (2011-12-12). "Jerusalem court finds Date of death
author Naomi Ragen guilty of plagiarism". Haaretz. Place of death
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
jerusalem-court-finds-author-naomi-ragen-guilty-
of-plagiarism-1.400891. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naomi_Ragen&oldid=466355299"
Categories:
• Israeli women writers
• American women writers
• Living people
• 1949 births
• American Orthodox Jews
• Israeli Orthodox Jews
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