Dear Lactnetters,

     I had to share with you an article from a Hebrew paper in Jerusalem
today. (Kol Ha'Ir, 16 Feb. 1996, p. 25)  It was written by Anat Hoffman.

"Dear Mayor and City Councilors,

     "As you know, I have a small baby.  This baby gets only breastmilk,
as it is written, 'The best of all milks for a baby is his mother's milk.'
Overnight I have become a breastfeeding City Councilor.

     "In three thousand years, there was not such a thing on the City
Council.  As a member of most municipal committees, I have no choice but
to bring my baby to meetings.  Most of the time he sleeps, and we can
argue and fight over money, over appointments, and over salaries.  But
when he wakes up, I have no alternative but to breastfeed him.  I have, on
several occasions, been asked by ultra-Orthodox Councilors to show
'consideration for their feelings' and to breastfeed outside the meeting
room, or, alternatively, to return to activities after the baby weans.
Not only the ultra-Orthodox, but non-religious members of the City
Council, both men and women, have said to me that they prefer the baby
breastfeed in another room near the council room.

     "When I gave in and agreed to breastfeed outside the meeting room, it
turned out that when I am absent from the council room, they didn't
consider my vote.  The law of municipalities states that they [councilors]
must vote from their seats in the meeting room.  A council member who
smokes outside or goes for a walk in the hallway is considered absent from
the vote, and his vote is not counted in the tally.  As a consequence of
this law, a councilor who breastfeeds outside the meeting room is not
counted in the tally, and it is as if she did not participate in the
meeting.

     "The bottom line is 'Go home.'  In the City Council, there is room
for those who have fathered many children (Deputy Mayor Meir Porush has 11
children; Deputy Mayor Uri Lupolianski has 12 children), but there is no
room for someone who is caring for and breastfeeding one infant.  They are
making me choose between my role as mother and my position on the City
Council--an impossible choice which has never been posed to male members.

     "I ask, why is breastfeeding 'injurious to feelings'?  I see City
Councilors chewing and gobbling down food, talking on cellular phones in
the hall, coughing, spitting, blowing their noses, and smoking freely
during hearings about the budget and staffing.  All these are legitimate
and acceptable activities that do not interfere with the normal running of
the meetings.  But the knowledge that a small baby is cuddling up with one
of the female members of the Council under a scarf or sweater enrages
feelings, confuses the desires, and does not allow for an orderly meeting.

     "A healthy City Council is a place in which is heard the voices of
citizens from all sectors and ethnicities.  In a normal city council, they
try to attract people to involvement in the decision-making process.  A
municipality must be friendly to babies and their parents, and not be
afraid of nursing and not send mothers home."

     I apologize for the length of this--I thought this important enough
to send the whole article.  I also apologize if the text above is not
quite fluent.  I translated it quickly and tried to stay very close to the
original Hebrew.

     After reading the article, I called Anat.  She told me that she is
not interested in provocation; she just wants to be able to participate in
normal life while caring for her child.  She is willing to go along with
any reasonable compromise:  sitting in a far corner of the meeting hall
(it is a large room), voting from outside the meeting room, etc.  She also
told me that City Councilor (ultra-Orthodox), Nissim Ze'ev, has gone on
record as saying that if she tries to breastfeed her baby in the meeting
room, he will call the city psychiatrist to take her away.

     Lastly, she told me a funny story related to this.  She is on one
committee that deals with keeping advertising within good taste.  She has
a number of slides that deal with "Breasts as Fruit."  (A few years ago,
there were TV commercials that sold grapefruits and oranges by equating
them with breasts.)  She mentioned that she would be bringing her nursing
baby.  She was told that this is not possible.

     I would appreciate any input on how to react to this situation.
Please answer quickly and privately, as I am on NOMAIL.  TIA.

                                                          Brandel D. Falk
                                                          LLL Leader