{{short description|American poet (born 1947)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | image = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|10|18}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = Brooklyn College | occupation = {{flatlist| * Writer * poet * educator * activist }} | period = 1980s–present | genre = memoir, poetry, plays | subject = | movement = | notableworks = ''A Spiritual Life'', ''The Gates Are Closing'', "We All Stood Together" | awards = | signature = | website = {{Official URL}} | spouse = Edward Feld }}
'''Merle Feld''' (born October 18, 1947) is an American educator, activist, author, playwright, and poet.<ref name="ZEEK">{{cite web |last=Barenblat |first=Rachel |date=2011-03-09 |title=Merle Feld Finds Her Words |url=http://zeek.forward.com/articles/117210/ |website=ZEEK |publisher=The Forward}}</ref><ref name="UmanskyAshton2009">{{cite book|author1=Ellen M. Umansky|author2=Dianne Ashton|title=Four Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality: A Sourcebook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iF7ZUBDdXTQC&pg=PA277|date=1 January 2009|publisher=UPNE|isbn=978-1-58465-730-9|page=277}}</ref>
==Biography== Merle Feld was born on October 18, 1947, in Brooklyn. In 1968, she graduated from Brooklyn College and moved to Boston, where she became involved with the newly founded Havurat Shalom, the community "often considered a flagship of the havurah movement."<ref>{{cite web |date=August 4, 2014 |title=Countercultural Spirit Lives on at Iconic 1960s Havurah |url=https://www.jta.org/2014/08/04/news-opinion/united-states/countercultural-spirit-lives-on-at-iconic-1960s-havurah |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}</ref> She began writing her first play, ''The Opening'', in 1981, and in 1983 began work on her second, ''The Gates Are Closing''.<ref name="Cohen1997">{{cite book|author1=Sarah Blacher Cohen|title=Making a Scene: The Contemporary Drama of American-Jewish Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J1_xAbmMG-8C&pg=PA332|date=1 April 1997|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0815604044|page=331}}</ref> This play is often read in synagogues in preparation for the High Holidays. In 1984, she joined B'not Esh, a Jewish feminist community, and early on, during one of their annual retreats, shared her first poems.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/bridges_a_jewish_feminists_journal/summary/v016/16.1.brettschneider.html|title=Bridges: A Jewish Feminists Journal Vol 16.1: A Congenial Anarchy: An Affirmation of Jewish Feminist Space|journal=Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal|year=2011 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=176–181 |last1=Brettschneider |first1=Marla |last2=Pegueros |first2=Rosa Maria }}</ref><ref name="Feld1999">{{cite book|author1=Merle Feld|title=A Spiritual Life: Exploring the Heart and Jewish Tradition|date=9 August 2007|publisher=SUNY|isbn=978-0791471883|pages=284–286}}</ref>
In 1989, she went to Israel for a sabbatical, where she facilitated an all-female Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group on the West Bank, and demonstrated with Women in Black.<ref name="jwa.org1">{{cite web |title=Publication of Merle Feld's "A Spiritual Life: A Jewish Feminist Journey" |url=http://jwa.org/thisweek/apr/01/1999/merle-feld |work=Jewish Women's Archive}}</ref> This part of her life was the basis of her third play, ''Across the Jordan'', which was included as part of the first anthology of female Jewish playwrights, ''Making a Scene'' (Syracuse University Press, 1997).<ref name="UmanskyAshton2009"/><ref name="jwa.org">{{cite web |title=Merle Feld |url=http://jwa.org/feminism/feld-merle |work=Jewish Women's Archive}}</ref>
In 2000, she was named a "Woman Who Dared" by the Jewish Women's Archive for her peace activism.<ref name="jwa.org1" />
In 2005, she became the founding director of the Albin Rabbinic Writing Institute, mentoring rabbinical students and recently ordained rabbis across the denominations.<ref name="UmanskyAshton2009" />
She is married to Rabbi Edward Feld, and the two have a daughter, Lisa, and a son, Uri.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rabbi Edward Feld |url=http://www.jtsa.edu/Conservative_Judaism/JTS_Torah_Commentary/Rabbi_Ed_Feld.xml |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328211227/http://jtsa.edu/Conservative_Judaism/JTS_Torah_Commentary/Rabbi_Ed_Feld.xml |archivedate=March 28, 2014 |website=Jewish Theological Seminary |df=mdy-all}}</ref>
=== Writing === In 1999, she published a memoir, ''A Spiritual Life: A Jewish Feminist Journey'', through SUNY Press,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spiritual Solipsism |url=https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/2000/05/spiritual-solipsism.aspx |access-date=2025-06-11 |website=www.beliefnet.com |language=en}}</ref> which has been translated into Russian and published in the former Soviet Union. A revised edition was published in 2007 as ''A Spiritual Life: Exploring the Heart and the Jewish Tradition.''<ref name="jwa.org1" />
In 2010, she published the poetry collection ''Finding Words''.<ref name="ZEEK" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harrison |first=Donald H. |date=2010-12-01 |title=Poems in 'Finding Words' will find your heart |url=https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2010/12/01/poems-in-finding-words-will-find-your-heart/ |access-date=2025-06-11 |website=San Diego Jewish World |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2023, she published ''Longing: Poems of a Life'' with CCAR Press.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Feld |first1=Merle |title=Longing: Poems of a Life |date=2023 |publisher=CCAR Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-88123-626-2 |url=https://www.ccarpress.org/shopping_product_detail.asp?pid=50584}}</ref>
Feld's poem "Let my people go that we may serve You" was commissioned by the Women's Rabbinic Network in honor of Sally Priesand.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ravblog.ccarnet.org/2023/02/let-my-people-go-that-we-may-serve-you-a-poem-in-honor-of-rabbi-sally-j-priesand/|title='Let my people go that we may serve You': A Poem in Honor of Rabbi Sally J. Priesand|first=Merle|last=Feld|date=February 13, 2023|website=RavBlog: Central Conference of American Rabbis}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website}} * [http://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/we-all-stood-together Text of "We All Stood Together," Merle Feld's most famous poem]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Feld, Merle}} Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American Jews Category:20th-century American memoirists Category:20th-century American poets Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American poets Category:American women dramatists and playwrights Category:Brooklyn College alumni Category:Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Category:Jewish American feminists Category:Jewish American poets Category:Jewish American women writers Category:Memoirists from New York (state) Category:Poets from New York City Category:Writers from Brooklyn Category:20th-century American women poets Category:21st-century American women poets