The Butzy Project: Jewish Women in the Healing Arts and the Imaginary
Tue, December 17, 1:30 to 3:00pm EST (1:30 to 3:00pm EST), Virtual Zoom Room 03Abstract
Delving into memories of Eastern European Jewish community members, often branded with labels like "town fool" or "village idiot," I encountered a detailed portrait of a local healer, a traditional wise woman, OPSHPREKHERKE or OPSHPREKHERIN (in Yiddish), tasked with warding off the Evil Eye. This revelation collided with my childhood memories, prompting a shift in perspective.
My great-aunt was a witch. At least that’s what my father always said. How many guests over the years were regaled with tales of his wife’s Aunt Butzy? “Butzy stories” became a special genre in my family. Yet to parade the Butzy figure for its mere amusement is a misprision.
With a scholarly lens informed by social history and structural analysis, I contextualize Butzy's beliefs and behaviors, using her story as both a case study and a touchstone. Sparse but rich sources, including Sh. An-ski’s (Shloyme Zaynvl Rapoport’s) ethnographic expeditions across the Ukraine (1912-1914) and YIZKER-BIKHER, collective memorial books compiled after World War II, document the figure of the OPSHPREKHERKE across the Pale of Settlement.
Traditional Jewish rituals against the Evil Eye may seem distant from modern life. But there are some contemporary proposals to renew these practices (e.g., Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute). Butzy immigrated pre-WWI from Galitsia in Eastern Europe to the US. She persisted in traditional practices even as she modified them for her changed circumstances. At a remove of two generations, and now as an adult, I interrogate the consequences. I use a scrapbook format (reminiscent of YIZKER-BIKHER) to navigate the kaleidoscopic conflicts between personal experience, familial dynamics, and the structuring grid of memory as historical artefact.
This performance aligns with the session's overarching theme of embodied Jewish gender histories and feminist reflexive encounters in the archives. By intertwining personal narrative with scholarly analysis, it contributes to a nuanced understanding of Jewish women's history and biography, while also exploring the complexities of identity and memory in historical research. Through creative methodologies like visual arts and storytelling, the session seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and highlight the emotional and psychological nuances of the research process.