Vision
My dear friend and orthodox Jewish woman Chany Garelik used this expression describing herself and all the other women within the Crown Heights community. She said that women are like Bat Melech, the daughter of God, the King of the Universe and for this they are considered so precious this is why they are to be covered and act modestly. She also compared the women to the Torah’s rolls that only get uncovered in the holiest of times.
Activity
“Daughters of the King” is a long-time project exploring the deep roots of the Orthodox Jewish women of Brooklyn. Since the summer of 2010, Frederica Valabrega has been focusing on depicting and documenting the women of the Chabad Lubavitch of Crown Heights, shedding light on the common misconception that Jewish Orthodox women’s sole role in society is to make babies and be modest. While Jewish Orthodox women can indeed be righteous, they are more often than not entrepreneurs supporting their own families. As of January 2012 Federica received funding to continue her exploration of Orthodox Jewish women in Israel and Russia. She will be leaving for those two countries in the Spring of 2012 and coming back to New York city in the summer. What she hoped to accomplish giving her project a more international angle is to explain even further is the “spiritual beauty” of these women worldwide and how their role inside orthodox community does make a difference.