Streisand to Chair Center for Study of Jewish Women

Actress, singer and movie director Barbra Streisand will lend her name to a newly founded center for the study of Jewish women.

Streisand is honorary chairwoman of the International Research Institute on Jewish Women, which is to be underwritten by the organization Hadassah and located at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

“I have always been bothered by negative stereotypes about us, and in my films I have always tried to show Jewish women in a positive light,” said Streisand, who is Jewish.

She said she was delighted that the arts would be among the areas studied by the institute.

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, has committed at least $1.5 million over the next six years to establish and endow the first-of-its kind institute.

“Barbra Streisand’s participation in the institute is a clear indication of its magnitude, as she lends her time and energy only to those projects that can have a real impact on people’s lives,” said Marlene Post, national president.

The institute will sponsor a conference next spring at Brandeis about conflicts between Jewish families and Jewish organizations. A second conference, scheduled to be held next summer in Jerusalem, will cover the roles of women in founding the state of Israel.