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 JfaAiA eta (Puvmji 
 
L 
 
 NAHIDA REMY'S 
 
 The Jewish Woman 
 
 AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION BY 
 
 LOUISE MANNHEIMER. 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY 
 
 PROF. DR. LAZARUS. 
 
 CINCINNATI : 
 }3rrss of <£. $. Brrlifcicl & ffiomqpant). 
 
 248-250 WALNUT STREET. 
 I895. 
 
J and inn house, lue serve the %ou\. 
 
 — -Joshua xxiv. 15. 
 
 lis house, thai is his urijfe. 
 
 — Talmud. 
 
 Copyright, 1895, 
 
 by Louise Mannheimer. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
PREFACE TO THE 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 THE same spirit of enthusiasm which animated 
 the organizers of the National Council of Jew- 
 ish Women is manifested in the writings of Nahida 
 Remy. It is a spirit of renaissance which strives 
 to reestablish the lofty, pure, and beautiful ideals of 
 humanity as found in the oldest document of Mono- 
 theism — the Mosaic L,aw. 
 
 The scholarly researches, the cogent reasoning, the 
 fervent pleading of the German authoress can not 
 but arouse the attention and awaken a responsive 
 zeal. 
 
 In my attempt to bring this work of intrinsic 
 merit before the English reading public I have en- 
 deavored to convey the ideas of the writer rather 
 than to give a literal translation. 
 
 Some chapters of this work deal largely with the 
 various occupations of women, and there I met with 
 a peculiar difficulty, originating in the fact that in 
 contradistinction from other modern tongues the 
 English language in some cases does not possess, 
 in other cases does not admit the use of, feminine 
 endings in the designation of female practitioners of 
 the different professions. How cumbersome appears, 
 e.g., the term "female teacher," or "lady teacher," in 
 comparison with the German designation " lehrerin," 
 
 7 
 
8 PREFACE TO TRANSLATION. 
 
 etc. This deficiency of the otherwise so rich and 
 ample English language should be supplied by some 
 creative and authoritative mind. 
 
 Dr. Isaac M. Wise was the first to call my attention 
 to Nahida Remy's work; to him, to Dr. M. Mielziner, 
 to Dr. David Philipson, and, above all, to my husband, 
 I am indebted for many valuable suggestions, and for 
 kind encouragement. The published works of these 
 scholars, and Grace Aguilar's writings, I used for ref- 
 erence in emphasizing some historical and some ethical 
 facts. 
 
 May the voice of the authoress be heard reechoing 
 in the English version ; may it thus, with the help of 
 the Eternal, be instrumental in bringing still wider 
 circles under the influence of all that is good and 
 noble. 
 
 IvOUISE Mannheimer. 
 
 Cincinnati., May, 1895. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ICOMPL,Y most willingly with the request of the 
 publisher to say a few words, by way of intro- 
 duction, in bringing this book before the public ; not 
 to praise it, for it will gain the favor of the reader 
 by its own merit, but in order to dispel prejudice. 
 
 The book should be received alike by non-Jewish 
 and by Jewish readers in that impartial spirit in which 
 it was written, and which is one of its absolute merits. 
 
 Disquisitions about Jews are rarely written without 
 prejudice ; disquisitions written by women are seldom 
 thorough. This book, though written by a Christian 
 woman, is most thorough, and at the same time free 
 from all prejudice. 
 
 A woman will undoubtedly penetrate deeper into the 
 peculiar disposition, the sensibilities and tendencies of 
 her own sex, and will more readily gain insight into 
 the character of a people of another race, different re- 
 ligion, and of former times, if she regard them without 
 prejudice, if she direct her thoughts candidly upon true 
 cognition. 
 
 It can be clearly seen that the work originated in the 
 desire to obtain a true picture of the idiosyncrasies of 
 the nature, character, and history of the Jewish woman. 
 This result the author obtained by observation of the 
 present time, and the study of the past. How well she 
 has succeeded, almost every chapter, aye, even the table 
 
 9 
 
IO PREFACE. 
 
 of contents, bears witness. The extensive historical 
 studies do not impart to the work any marked effort, 
 but are seen in the good result only. 
 
 Nahida Remy's keen observations are not so much 
 the result of microscopic investigation as of a hearty 
 devotion to the cause. The author does not analyze 
 her subject by means of dry reflections ; nor does she 
 try to disclose, in a merely abstract manner, the spe- 
 cific inborn propensities of Jewish women and their 
 historical development. She does not dissect, she 
 rather delineates in abundant and well-chosen exam- 
 ples the historical reality and activity of the Jewish 
 woman . 
 
 At one time she shows the highest efforts of the 
 Jewess as prophetess, or as a mother ; at another, she 
 presents excellent characters, Biblical and Talmudical, 
 a Copia Sullam, the daughters of Daniel Itzig. Again, 
 she discloses the mainsprings of their efforts : the 
 Hebrew language, religion and poetry, those deep 
 sources, which, in the course of history, either flow 
 freely or ebb away. 
 
 Some of the given details can not be considered per- 
 fectly reliable, and still less so their correct interpreta- 
 tion, for here the material could not always be gathered 
 from trustworthy sources ; but one finds rich compen- 
 sation in the exquisite treatment of the subject. 
 
 Regarding the Biblical characters, Nahida Remy was 
 not merely able to get her information from original 
 sources, but even from the original text, a rare accom- 
 plishment indeed for a woman. 
 
 Those conversant with the Hebrew language will be 
 pleased and astonished at the sovereign boldness of her 
 interpretations of Hebrew phrases. It is as if her ab- 
 sorbing interest in the subject had imbued her with the 
 
PREFACE. II 
 
 spirit of absolute freedom, which characterizes the 
 Midrash in treating the Biblical text. 
 
 It was certainly difficult to guard a presentation of 
 entirely historical facts against two opposite dangers : 
 The one, a merely chronological enumeration of the 
 historical personages, which would lack logical order 
 and poetical attractiveness ; the other, a grouping ac- 
 cording to coherence and exclusively esthetical laws, 
 where historical evolution of the actual facts would be 
 missing, or at least be obscured. With wonderful tact, 
 and wise consideration of antagonistic psychological 
 conditions, and with a firm hand, the skiff of character- 
 ization is guided between the Scylla and Charybdis of 
 accurate but unattractive forms. 
 
 It seems to me that the author fell somewhat in 
 love with the culture studies about Jewish women, as 
 often happens with persons who fix their attention 
 earnestly, for a long period, on one subject. However, 
 it is not a love that makes blind, but rather renders the 
 perception clearer, in regard to the excellencies, as well 
 as the shortcomings, of the beloved subject. 
 
 Her judgment of Jewish women is candid, and with- 
 out bias, and if her growing admiration finds its climax 
 in contemplation of their virtues in the olden times, her 
 keen criticism is aroused by the observation of their 
 failings in our own period. 
 
 If today a work is published about the Jews, it is 
 a polemic either for or against them. The book under 
 consideration is not of this nature. The Jewish ques- 
 tion does not exist for the author; she does not liti- 
 gate against them, nor in their behalf. She does, how- 
 ever, litigate ; that is, she contends for all that ever 
 ennobled Jewish women; she contends for her in- 
 herited endowments ; for her gentleness, for her mod- 
 
12. PREFACE. 
 
 esty, for the statutes and laws, for all the lofty heir- 
 looms of the true, faithful Jewess; but she likewise 
 contends strongly and openly, and always justly, 
 against her failings at the present time. She con- 
 tends against her neglect of her sacred inheritance, 
 against her eager pursuit of frivolities instead of living 
 in accordance with the spirit of her wonderful history. 
 
 With the harvest of recent advantages of modern 
 education and modern freedom, have ripened, simul- 
 taneously, moral disadvantages, which, though easily 
 understood, are not pardonable. These disadvantages 
 prevail more among women than among men. If, in 
 this regard, a severe judgment is pronounced, it is but 
 the severity of love and sympathy. 
 
 The author does not raise her own voice in re- 
 proach : it is the voice of history which is resounding, 
 the voice of the deeply understood, clearly set forth, and 
 perspicuously illustrated history of Jewish women. 
 
 Oh, that the modern Jewess would listen to the ad- 
 monition of the voice ! That she would take to heart 
 the duty to preserve intact her noble inheritance ! I 
 hope that this book will be largely read by Jewish women. 
 If they should gain by it nothing but the comprehen- 
 sion of the delight and elevation which a diligent read- 
 ing in the Bible is sure to impart, and reverence for the 
 sacred language, and the treasures enshrined therein, it 
 would be sufficient to prove a rich blessing to them. 
 
 This book, drawn from the deep well of a race his- 
 tory covering three thousand years, will most assuredly 
 prove, not only a mirror to proud consciousness of 
 Jewish women, but also become an incentive to self- 
 conscious improvement and elevation. 
 
 May God grant it ! 
 
 LAZARUS. 
 Berlin, 1891. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface, 7 
 
 Chapter I. — Antiquity, . . . . 15 
 Chap. II. — Christian Idea about Wom- 
 an and Marriage, . . 29 
 Chap. III. — Ish and Ishah, ... 42 
 Chap. IV. — Temperament and Talmud, . 54 
 Chap. V. — Biblical Women, . . 63 
 Chap. VI. — Jewish Queens, ... 78 
 Chap. VII. — In the dark Middle Ages, 91 
 Chap. VIII. — More Light, ... 105 
 Chap. IX. — Practical Culture Work, . 120 
 Chap. X. — Sarah Copia Sullam, . 137 
 Chap. XI. — The Mother, . . . .153 
 Chap. XII. — The Sacred Language, . 165 
 Chap. XIII. — Apostates, . . . .178 
 
 Chap. XIV. — The Daughters of Daniel 
 
 Itzig, .... 192 
 
 Chap. XV. — Art among Jewish Women, 203 
 
 Chap. XVI. — Jewish Literary Women, . 213 
 
 Chap. XVII. — Jewish Benefactresses, . 233 
 
 Chap. XVIII. — The Modern Jewess, . . 242 
 
 Register of Names 259 
 
 Works of Reference, 264 
 
 13 
 
THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANTIQUITY. 
 
 IN order to comprehend woman, one must study the 
 history of her slavery ; to correctly judge the Jew- 
 ish woman, one must compare her with the women of 
 other nations. 
 
 From the beginning, and everywhere among the 
 nations of antiquity, there prevailed an absolute dis- 
 regard in the treatment of woman, and a complete 
 misunderstanding of her disposition. From her very 
 birth, woman was weighted down by the most atro- 
 cious irrationality, and, consequently, by unnatural in- 
 justice. 
 
 Woman appeared as a domestic animal, destined for 
 work and propagation ; a low creature, of whom no 
 morality was required, from whom obedience only was 
 demanded, and who, if rebelling against man, be it the 
 father or the husband, was punished with blows or 
 starvation. 
 
 Often she was mutilated, as a sign of her slavery, 
 as is done among the Australians, who shorten a finger 
 on the left hand of every girl. 
 
 15 
 
16 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Of more importance than the maiming of the body 
 was the maiming of the mind. Her natural weakness 
 induced- her to believe that she could not claim any 
 right, and with brutish, nay, with imbecile dullness — 
 for the brute will defend itself — she endured her suf- 
 ferings. She perceived in herself nothing but the 
 slave of man. 
 
 As she could not defend herself, she was despised, 
 and when she became too weak to work, she was driv- 
 en away or killed. 
 
 Thus, if despair did not drive her to suicide, the 
 unhappy being submitted to the hardest drudgery. 
 Infanticide, however, was freely practiced ; /'. e., the 
 killing of new-born girls. Hottentot as well as Indian 
 and Australian women killed their new-born daugh- 
 ters to prevent them from becoming slaves like their 
 mothers. 
 
 At the very time when the ill-treated woman needed 
 the most tender care, in the time she was with child, 
 she was most hateful to man, and most repulsive to 
 him. 
 
 Many old precepts and customs of the Oriental na- 
 tions, of Indians, Persians, Turks, Egyptians, Negroes, 
 and, later on, also of the Greeks, can be traced back 
 to this antipathy. The most wonderful phenomenon 
 of physical life, the mysterious creation of a new be- 
 ing, was stigmatized by religious precepts as"unclean- 
 liness." 
 
 A remnant of this old barbaric view is still existing. 
 One need only call to mind the Catholic Feast of Pu- 
 rification, and the churching after childbed. Natur- 
 ally, nowadays, the churching is considered a thank- 
 offering, and not a sin-offering. 
 
ANTIQUITY. 17 
 
 Woman was considered unclean, and hated by the 
 gods. She was not permitted to partake of the food 
 of the husband ; to rest on his chair ; to touch any 
 vessel he had in use. 
 
 Even the Christian Marlakk never mentioned his 
 wife before superiors without adding, " With due re- 
 spect." 
 
 "A woman who had given birth was not permitted 
 to come to the side of the fireplace where the husband 
 had his seat, even among the less barbaric North- 
 American races," says G. Jung. 
 
 The following picture is characteristic : " The young 
 barbarian chooses one among the women of the hos- 
 tile tribes. He awaits an opportunity when the one 
 he has singled out is alone and unprotected. Unob- 
 served he steals near, stuns her by strokes of his club 
 or sword of hard wood. He strikes her head, her 
 shoulders, her back, with such vigor that blood flows 
 freely. Afterwards he carries her through the forest, 
 to the camps of his tribe. There, after many barbaric 
 acts, she is pronounced his property, and only in rare 
 cases does she afterwards leave her new master. 
 
 " The relatives of the woman do not avenge the in- 
 sult, but retaliate, on their part, by stealing the women 
 of their enemies." * 
 
 As woman was the property of the husband he 
 could barter her out ; he could give her away, as is 
 the. case with the somewhat civilized Kamchadales. 
 
 The negroes likewise hire out, or give as pledge, 
 their women. 
 
 A trifle better was the position of women among 
 the shepherd tribes, whose customs and conditions 
 
 * Collins : Description de la nouvelle Galles-Meridional. 
 2 
 
1 8 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 led to gentler habits than those of the hunting tribes. 
 With them the girl was not felled like a wild beast, 
 and robbed, but she was bought, or, rather, bartered 
 away. Therefore, one finds with them a certain ap- 
 preciation and education of woman ; for she was mer- 
 chandise, dependent on her attractiveness to custom- 
 ers. She was counted among the possessions of her 
 husband, and, after his death, she became the prop- 
 erty of his heir. 
 
 So the usurper, Smerdis, as Herodotus relates, took 
 to himself all the wives of Cambyses, and, after him, 
 Darius takes them. 
 
 By degrees the merchandise became more valuable ; 
 less and less frequently she was cast away and de- 
 stroyed ; she became polished, and was decked with 
 finery. Still, she was considered a being of the low- 
 est degree. Her husband, be he ever so base, was 
 still held by far the superior, so that she was in duty 
 bound, under all circumstances, " to revere him as a 
 god." So it was decreed to the Hindoos by the laws 
 of Manau since thousands of years ; and this law is 
 in force today, and not alone with the Hindoos. This 
 bondage of woman explains the custom of burning the 
 widow, with other favorite objects and effects of the 
 dead husband. 
 
 Colonel Sleeman, an English traveler, in his " Ram- 
 bles and Recollections of an Indian Official," relates: 
 " I employed all available means in order to prevent 
 a widow in Jabalpor from burning herself with her 
 dead husband. But when, after many days of resist- 
 ance to all persuasion, she enthusiastically exclaimed, 
 ' I see, already, my soul united, there above, with the 
 soul of Omed Sing Opuddea ! ' I gave up all opposi- 
 
ANTIQUITY. 19 
 
 tion, for, by daring to pronounce the name of her 
 husband, she proved that she had broken all ties 
 binding her to this life, and no more recognized its 
 statutes ; because, in India, the reverence for the hus- 
 band forbids the wife to pronounce his name." This 
 happened not in olden times, but in times so modern 
 as November 24, 1829. 
 
 As to the great number of suffering sisters in China, 
 G. Klemm, in his sketches, " Women," cites the words 
 of the Chinese authoress Pan-hoei-pan, which are char- 
 acteristic enough. She says : " We women hold the 
 lowest position in human society. We are its weak 
 portion. The lowest occupations should be, and are, 
 our destiny. This is a truth of which we must be 
 fully aware. We should not wait until sad experience 
 teaches us what we really are. When, centuries ago, 
 a girl was born, no one took care of her for three 
 days ; she was laid on a few rags, next to the bed of 
 the mother, and the household routine went on as if 
 nothing had happened. 
 
 " The silence with which the birth of a girl was 
 passed over, in comparison with the loud joy at the 
 birth of a boy, proved her inferiority. Her lair of 
 rags on the floor indicated that hers was the lowest 
 place in her father's household, and that she could 
 expect nothing in this life but disdain. 
 
 " Mothers who fear the future lot of a new-born 
 daughter expose them. For this contingency there 
 are, in all larger cities, special foundling homes, in 
 which the exposed girls are reared. Every morning, 
 wagons drawn by oxen pass through the streets. 
 Their signals are well known, and the parents hasten 
 to deliver up their children." 
 
20 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Ill China, woman has also to labor hard, and is re- 
 warded by scorn. In spite of all these facts, the Chi- 
 nese poets, as well as those of India, Arabia, Persia, 
 etc., sing songs of praise to woman, and extol her to 
 the skies in legends and verses. 
 
 It is thought the different nations, and especially 
 the older ones, had attempted, by idealism, a mode of 
 compensation for the wrongs and shortcomings of real 
 life. However, reality and fiction are, in this way, not 
 only not reconciled, but the gap is made even more 
 conspicuous. 
 
 How is it possible that a Sacuntala could arise 
 among such an enslaved womankind? And what dig- 
 nity and power of pathetic woman's love in " Nala 
 and Damayanti ! " This contradiction between poetry 
 and reality is found, likewise, among other nations. 
 
 It is true that women like Semiramis or Tamyris, 
 even as the Queen of Sheba, stood high above their 
 sisters. But did they exercise a practical or libera- 
 ting influence upon the fate of the downtrodden sex? 
 And Arete, Penelope, and Helena, did they not, also, 
 remain unattainable exceptions, legendary prototypes 
 of womanly power and womanly charm, despite the 
 high culture of the Greeks? 
 
 Greeks and Romans treated women, apparently, less 
 rudely than the aforementioned barbarous, semi- and 
 three-fourth-barbarous races. The prevailing culture 
 of the men had subdued the manners, and refined the 
 taste. 
 
 The eye and the heart of man had learned to see 
 in woman more than a chattel. But, just because of 
 this development of a more human view of the other 
 sex, the conduct of man towards woman, viz.: towards 
 
ANTIQUITY. 21 
 
 the wife, appears, after deeper examination, almost 
 lower than that of the savage. 
 
 The artless savage, who gained a wife by felling 
 her with his club, and dragging her home, did not 
 know better, but the refined, cultivated Greek, who 
 regarded the wife but as a " spinner of wool," and a 
 " preserver of gain," appears still colder and unjust 
 than the uncivilized swain in the primeval woods. 
 
 The modern man of education, who is brought up 
 in the customary admiration of "the old Greeks," and 
 who knows that the end and aim of renowned con- 
 temporaries is to foster the love and enthusiasm for 
 Hellenism, and to propagate it with pen and speech, 
 can not imagine that the classic Greek led his glori- 
 fied life of enjoyment and refined intellectuality only 
 at the cost of his slaves and his wife. The purpose 
 of marriage was not a God-pleasing communion be- 
 tween man and wife, and the increase of the general 
 welfare by means of the happiness of the individual ; 
 the purpose of marriage was the raising of children 
 for the State, not more and not less than appeared 
 necessary for the wants of the State. 
 
 According to this want, marriage was, or was not, 
 favored, and if the children became too numerous the 
 number was decreased by the exposure of the weak 
 and uncomely ones. 
 
 The manner of educating the girls in Sparta was, 
 according to our views, unchaste. Their public gym- 
 nastics and wrestling with boys, and their manner of 
 marriage are known. Not as well known as this 
 Spartan method of education is the spiritual bondage 
 in which the Athenian wife dragged on her existence. 
 Family, wife, child were, more or less, abstract con- 
 ceptions with the Athenian. 
 
22 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 By setting aside every ethical interest of the indi- 
 vidual, in deference to the state, whole generations of 
 egotists were reared, who, after the fulfillment of their 
 duties as citizens, gave themselves up to pleasure, out- 
 side of their houses; for their houses were to them 
 no homes. The wife, imprisoned in the house, seemed 
 to them personified prose, the legitimate bore, the 
 stalest dullness. 
 
 According to especially prescribed laws, the dwell- 
 ing place was more than unpretending; often inad- 
 equate and defective. The husband remained, most 
 of the time, outside of the prescribed narrow and lim- 
 ited rooms, and stayed in the cheerful halls and peri- 
 styles, as they, in almost all Greek cities, were to be 
 found, especially at the market places, gates, etc. 
 
 These halls and peristyles offered soul-animating 
 and eye-enchanting retreats for walks, disputatious 
 and social amusement. In these open and beautiful 
 places the men enjoyed the pleasures of social life, 
 esthetical and philosophical discourses, merry feasts 
 and other amusements. The wife was kept in the 
 house, barred in by latticed windows, alone, or with 
 servants, sleeping, dreaming, cooking, spinning; the 
 prototype of the future wearied, dull, "good house- 
 wife," who more and more disappears in our days of 
 cheerful, vigorous, liberating enlightenment. 
 
 Some readers will ask, "What! were there not in 
 Athens those renowned, beautiful, interesting women, 
 sought and loved by men as congenial friends — com- 
 panions of Aspasia?" Even so, companions of As- 
 pasia; i. <?., public women; these enjoyed full liberty, 
 and received a homage which was not granted to the 
 housewife. The housewife had been married for the 
 
ANTIQUITY. 23 
 
 sake of duty, and had to fulfill her obligations in the 
 house ; but the public woman held the affection of the 
 Athenian, and entered into social intercourse with him. 
 Her natural and acquired charms, her knowledge of 
 the world and her versatility, her obliging devotedness, 
 her refined and often rare culture, made her a valued 
 companion of man. Her whole being and bearing was 
 superior to that of the duty-bound housewife. 
 
 " Indeed, is not the courtesan superior in wit 
 To the wife that is wedded ? Surely she is so ! 
 The one, howe'er contrary, she is protected by law ; 
 Aware is the other, captivate she must the man 
 By pleasing manners — or go." 
 
 — Amphis. 
 
 History tells us how these women were petted and 
 flattered, how they acquired renown and riches, how 
 the best and noblest of the nation, philosophers and 
 statesmen, sat at their feet, and poets devoted to them 
 immortal songs. On the other hand, the vulgarities of 
 the married women, their loud screaming, their intem- 
 perate eating and drinking, their ugly gesticulations 
 were satirized. 
 
 The Satires of Aristophanes vividly illustrate these 
 incongruities. The following example shows how an 
 Athenian expatiates on his relations to his wife and 
 household. This Athenian is spoken of as a model 
 master and husband in the " CEconomicus " of Xeno- 
 phon. Interrogated by Socrates about these matters, 
 he answers: "First of all, I insist that my wife should, 
 as much as possible, spin wool, and that she should 
 leave off excessive eating and drinking. Furthermore, 
 I rarely remain at home ; but, after the wedding, after 
 she had overcome her shyness so far as to answer my 
 
24 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 questions, I asked her : ' Tell me, dear wife, have you 
 already meditated on the reasons why I have taken you, 
 and why your parents have given you to me?' " He 
 answers the question himself, and emphatically dwells 
 upon the utility of married life. " By children, man 
 obtains a prop for his old age ; and then, man does not 
 live like the animal in the open air, but requires a 
 shelter — a house. The wife should be busy in the 
 house; the man, outside ot it. God has, therefore, 
 implanted in the heart of the wife more love to the 
 children and more timidity than in that of man, in 
 order that she should take better care of the acquired 
 property in the house." This pitiable conception of 
 wedlock inspires Socrates with warm praise. 
 
 It is true, Xenophon puts aside the regard for the 
 state, and considers marriage as an establishment for 
 the individual, but also he finds the institution only 
 of economical utility. Pythagoras and his disciples 
 formed a more ideal theory about woman and matri- 
 mony, but with rare exceptions, which only confirm 
 the rule, in practical life the wife remained but a chat- 
 tel, and was mentally neglected ; more a prisoner than 
 mistress of the house. One finds this condition, even 
 in our time, in the center of Sicily and elsewhere. 
 
 Pythagoras had renowned female scholars, who em- 
 ulated Theano, his wife, whom he himself instructed. 
 Yet Theano's conception of womanly dignit) T seems 
 not to be very much elevated above the prevailing 
 views of the time, for, when asked in what way she 
 expected to acquire renown, she answers with Homer: 
 "Weaving the loom and preparing my couch." At 
 least, to be able to answer thus, she must have read 
 Homer. Or, does this answer originate with Theano, 
 
ANTIQUITY. 25 
 
 the poetess of Lokris, or the younger Theano ? But it 
 does not matter. The quotation remains characteris- 
 tic, whether uttered by a younger or an older woman's 
 lips. 
 
 Phintys, likewise a Pythagoriau, philosophizes on 
 the highly important question whether a wife should be 
 permitted to go out of the house ; and, if so, how many 
 female attendants are required to maintain decorum. 
 Moreover, she declares the will of man to be the in- 
 fallible law of woman. 
 
 It is with Aristotle with whom originates the eu- 
 phonious and very convenient saying, " Man has the 
 courage to command, woman the courage to serve." 
 Naturally, nothing is more befitting woman's mouth 
 than silence; of course, to the mouth of the wedded 
 wife only; for the mistress was allowed, yea, was 
 forced, to speak as beautifully, as intellectually, as wit- 
 tily as possible. 
 
 It is a woman, the priestess Diotina, who, in Plato's 
 Symposium, by her clever speech, interprets truth 
 divine to the prince of philosophers. Socrates himself 
 confesses that the comprehension of God and life 
 dawned in him only while discoursing with Theo- 
 pompa. 
 
 Still, through one of his fictitious characters, in his 
 essay on Love, Plutarch asserts that true love is im- 
 possible between man and woman. 
 
 Greeks and Germans, who ascribed prophetical wis- 
 dom to women, reserved their love for their own sex. 
 
 While, then, the Greeks enjoyed life and art at the 
 sacrifice of their slaves and wives, the Romans treated 
 the women as minors. Whether of age or not of age, 
 married or not married, mother or childless, woman 
 
26 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 was always kept under the guardianship of some man. 
 The young girl was the ward of the father, the wife 
 of the husband; after their death she became the ward 
 of the nearest male relative. In case she lost all male 
 relations, the local authorities had to appoint for her a 
 guardian. 
 
 If she became a mother, she acquired some liberties 
 for her person, but it was strictly denied to her to 
 direct or guide independently her children. 
 
 The rights of the father were explained and secured 
 everywhere in the laws, but not a word is to be found 
 about the rights of the mother — women had no rights. 
 L,ittle by little, however, they gained some advan- 
 tages. 
 
 Not like the Greek wife was the Roman matron 
 considered a sort of prisoner. She was permitted on 
 fit occasions to come and go at her will, to be present 
 at festivities, to participate in banquets. Whereas, 
 already, I,. Piso Frugi, in his Annals, c. 133, A. D., 
 complains that in Rome all decency and morals were 
 destroyed. The dissolute life and deterioration of the 
 Romans rendered them incapable of becoming educa- 
 tors of their wives, or prototypes for their children. 
 
 An immorality more shameless than in Rome under 
 the emperors has later been seen only under certain 
 popes, of whom, as an example, Alexander VI. can be 
 mentioned. 
 
 The descriptions of the satirists and historians are 
 filled with amazing examples of human depravity. 
 Properz, Horaz, of course, also Ovid and Juvenal, Sen- 
 eca the earlier and the later, Sueton, Persius, all agree 
 in stigmatizing the immorality of the Roman women. 
 
ANTIQUITY. 27 
 
 Well known is the great influence of some Roman 
 women over their husbands and their fellow citizens. 
 
 The renowned mother of the Grachii will ever remain 
 a prototype of a commanding, honored matron, and 
 educator of children ; but Cornelia appears entirely 
 as an exceptional character. In spite of the prevail- 
 ing prejudice, she indulged in the intercourse of the 
 Greeks and wits, and ignored the men of her surround- 
 ings. 
 
 Under Sulla, and still more so under Caesar, Pom- 
 pejus and Antoninus, the women gained more and 
 more independence, but they also provoked more and 
 more the hatred and contempt of the citizens. Female 
 character appeared to grow, step by step, more un- 
 natural. 
 
 If Pliny, in his letters, speaks of noble women, his- 
 tory brings examples of a passion for revenge and 
 murder in women which is hideous. 
 
 There is a peculiar humor in the fact that moraliz- 
 ing Cicero, who so fervently speaks against the inde- 
 pendence of woman, finally complains of his own wife, 
 Terentia, that she does not pay attention to household 
 affairs, and even ill-treats him, her master. 
 
 Gradually marriage fell into discredit, and wedlock 
 was considered a heavy burden. Vice and immorality 
 spread more and more. 
 
 There is a wide gap between the wool-spinning 
 Lucretia and the commanding Cornelia, but a deeper 
 abyss opens between Cornelia and Messalina. The 
 latter is, indeed, the incarnation of Roman depravity 
 of that time. 
 
 The investigator asks himself how it was possible 
 
38 
 
 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 for that period to produce such degenerate women. 
 Was it Nemesis who revenged the enormous aberra- 
 tion from the laws of nature, an aberration that robbed 
 marriage of its sacredness, which love alone can im- 
 part; and debased love, outside of lawful bounds, to 
 a mere toy of the senses ? 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF WOMAN AND 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 IN order to be able to give an uninterrupted delinea- 
 tion of the position and progression of Jewish 
 woman, from biblical times up to the present period, I 
 shall first attempt to give a brief sketch of the early 
 Christian view of woman and marriage. 
 
 The early emperors encouraged marriage by rewards 
 and punished single life by fines. Under the Chris- 
 tian emperors all the privileges for matrimony and 
 punishments for celibacy were abolished. Christianity 
 did not favor marriage, and matrimony was no longer 
 held in esteem after Christ had said, " There are, how- 
 ever, some who are circumcised for heaven's sake." 
 Mary and Christ, i. c, virginity and celibacy, were the 
 destination of the chosen. 
 
 Apostles and Christian teachers of morality agree 
 with Greek philosophers in the opinion that it is vir- 
 tuous, as well as advantageous, to live in celibacy for 
 the sake of heaven. The Greeks, however, looked for 
 heaven in this life ; the Christians in a future life. 
 
 Woman and matrimony were to be considered at 
 best a necessary evil. " Whosoever gives his daugh- 
 
 29 
 
30 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 ter in marriage, commits not exactly a sin," says Paul, 
 "but he who does not give her in marriage does a 
 good deed." The main idea of the hoi}- man is : 
 " Matrimony is not the most perfect state of man and 
 woman, but it is an expedient, on account of the in- 
 stincts of crude nature." Nevertheless, Paul desired, 
 on his zigzag journies, the company of women, as sis- 
 ters in the Holy Spirit, as brides of Christ. 
 
 He knew human nature well, and was perfectly 
 aware that woman's mind, inspired by an idea, pos- 
 sesses a marvelous power to convert unbelieving or 
 doubtful hearts and to incite indifferent souls. 
 
 He infused into the women a certain esprit de corps, 
 and granted to them some favors and some freedom. 
 The widow, especially, enjoyed various privileges if 
 she did not marry again. The Christian law did not 
 command her, like the law of Manou did, to die when 
 her husband had died ; it did not force her to marry her 
 brother-in-law, as the Mosaic law prescribed. The 
 widow could no longer be left as an inheritance like 
 any other property — she had gained an individuality. 
 
 Paul is indefatigable in recommending to widows 
 the abstaining from a second marriage. He projects 
 the ideal of a "true " widow in this way: The widow 
 is a forsaken being on this earth. Night and day she 
 passes in prayer. With the ashes of her husband she 
 has interred every human longing. If she still wished 
 to enjoy life, she would be a living corpse {vivens mor- 
 tua est). What Paul says in the Epistles to the Corin- 
 thians, Chapter VII., divests marriage of every ideal 
 and moral aspect. Thus considered, what becomes of 
 the most sacred tie, of the godliest community, of ter- 
 restrial life ! 
 
WOMAN AND MARRIAGE. 3 1 
 
 In so far as Christ and the Apostles regarded mar- 
 riage as a necessary evil, and continually commended 
 and pointed out the beatitude of celibacy, the Church 
 is not to blame for going still further in the indicated 
 direction. 
 
 At first, a second marriage was stigmatized and in- 
 terdicted to priests ; then, even laymen, who acted in 
 opposition, were punished and publicly put to shame. 
 
 A Patriarch of Constantinople dared even to excom- 
 municate Emperor Leo, the philosopher, who married 
 a fourth time on account of childlessness. 
 
 The farther we proceed, the more we find marriage 
 defamed and disdained. 
 
 The Saints Hieronymus, Justinus, Augustinus, 
 Chrysostomus, and many others, declared matrimony 
 an impure state, caused by the inborn perversity of 
 human nature. They did not perceive how mon- 
 strously they violated the reverence for nature's divine 
 law. 
 
 Marriage of priests, more and more, met with op- 
 position; many of them now resolved to unite with 
 their sisters in Christ in " spiritual " wedlock. But 
 nature, decried and discarded, revenged herself. 
 
 First, a system of hypocrisy was brought about, and 
 later on a stubborn licentiousness, which was the cause 
 of so much mischief that the Emperors Honorius, 
 Theodosius and Justinius were forced to suppress it by 
 severe laws. 
 
 Despite the dissolute life of the unmarried priests, 
 Gregory VII. made celibacy of priests a law, and it 
 has remained a law up to this day, in the Roman 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 The subjection of woman was preached, now, in 
 
32 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 such coarse terms that, in comparison, Plutarch ap- 
 pears refined. The hatred of Saint Tertullian is al- 
 most touching. In his treatise on " Ornaments of 
 Woman," he exclaims, "O woman! thou shouldst al- 
 ways wear mourning or rags, in order to show thy 
 penitence, weeping and atoning for the crime of hav- 
 ing corrupted humanity ! Thou art the one who has 
 first tasted of the forbidden fruit, and transgressed the 
 law of God ; thou hast seduced man, whom the devil 
 himself did not dare to approach. For thy sake, O 
 woman, Jesus had to die." 
 
 A demon is woman to Tertullian ; with a sort of 
 horror he throws the veil over her face. She shall 
 hide her cheek everywhere, at all times, and in all 
 places — the daughter, the wife, the sister, the mother. 
 
 The last utterance makes the impression of a blas- 
 phemy. In the tenth chapter I shall endeavor to 
 show how mothers were honored among the Jews. 
 
 Jesus, approached by his mother with a question, 
 said : " Woman, what have I to do with thee ? " These 
 words are just as strange as his cursing of the fig 
 tree, which, as it was not yet time to bear, figs (Mark 
 ii : 13), could not yield him any. 
 
 Jesus continues thus : " If any man come to me, 
 and hate not his father, his mother, ... he can 
 not be my disciple." (Luke 14: 26.) Certainly, this 
 is meant only symbolically ; however, the boldness of 
 this sentence is characteristic of the want of apprecia- 
 tion of family ties, and of the effort to break up all 
 bonds of relationship and love, in order to further 
 purely abstract teachings. Mary, his mother, proves 
 to be a true Jewess. Quietly she buries his words in 
 her loving: heart, bearing no grudee on account of 
 
WOMAN AND MARRIAGE. 33 
 
 them, although he nearly denies her by the question : 
 " Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" and, 
 pointing to his disciples, continues : " These are my 
 mother, and these are my brothers." 
 
 The greater the desire to exalt the mother of Jesus, 
 the greater can be the gratification of the Jews that 
 the gentle, quiet Mary is a descendant of the Jewish 
 people. It is true, history knows surprisingly little 
 about her. All that is told is, that she was a hair- 
 braider, and the wife of Joseph, the carpenter. In the 
 absence of a pronounced individuality, or distinctive 
 activity, her deification appears absolutely enigmatical, 
 even if, in honor of the Saviour, " virginity " was im- 
 puted to her; for other nations, the Indians, Persians, 
 etc., also had their " Virgins." Mary was not, like the 
 prophetesses, glorified, and later on exalted for her own 
 sake, but for the sake of the prophesied and fervently 
 looked-for Messiah. In this way the gradually de- 
 veloping lady-worship was combined with the ten- 
 dency of the Church. 
 
 The necessity of interesting the masses of the wom- 
 en for the Church gave rise to the worship of Mary, 
 which, up to our time, constitutes the most powerful 
 attraction of the Catholic Church. 
 
 The skeptical Southerner, who doubts nearly every- 
 thing, still prays, if he prays, and does homage to the 
 Madonna ! Even the cool, critical Protestants entirely 
 forget that the " Mother of God " was a plain, poor 
 Jewess. 
 
 Renan himself, who possesses a rare ability for de- 
 lineation, has nothing, or nearly nothing, to say about 
 her. With an unhesitating assurance, as if he had 
 seen him, and spoken to him, Renan tells of the sur- 
 
 3 
 
34 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 passing beauty of Jesus, the " meekest of rabbis," of 
 the exceeding charm of his personality, of the beam- 
 ing light in his eyes, of the strange sweetness of his 
 voice. Even the donkey on which Jesus traveled is 
 found worthy of a description as " an animal whose 
 large, dark eyes, shaded by long lashes, were expres- 
 sive of gentleness." But in regard to the mother of 
 the Divine Man, Renan loses his intuitive power. 
 Even A. H. Niemeyer, in his " Characteristics of the 
 Bible," which is written with earnest devotion, is only 
 able to devote three pages, out of the five volumes, 
 to the unassuming Mary of Bethlehem, and even 
 these three pages contain but reverential supposi- 
 tions. Here, as in other instances, one is puzzled by 
 the question, Where was Mary during the execution 
 of her son? He was followed by other women to 
 Jerusalem ; in the hour of his crucifixion they stood 
 at a distance and " never turned their eyes from him." 
 
 It seems that during his lifetime, Jesus had suc- 
 ceeded in gaining faithful followers among the women. 
 It is a fact that women were very much prepossessed 
 in his favor. His intercourse with them was marked 
 by a certain reserve, which renders possible a sweet 
 mental communion between the sexes. 
 
 The barriers which, in the Orient, confine the inter- 
 course of the sexes, and doubtlessly stifle many a deli- 
 cate blossom of soul-life, were not so insurmountable 
 in the country and smaller villages as in the larger 
 cities. The young Master was always accompanied by 
 three or four faithful women of Galilee, who vied with 
 one another for the pleasure of listening to him and 
 waiting upon him. 
 
 These women introduced into the new sect that 
 
WOMAN AND MARRIAGE. 35 
 
 element of enthusiasm and belief in miracles, the im- 
 portance of which is easily understood. It seems that 
 one of these women, Mary of Magdala, was especially 
 enthusiastic. As it was expressed in those times, she 
 was possessed by seven devils; i.e., she must have 
 been afflicted with as many nervous diseases, which, 
 in those days, were very difficult to cure. The pure 
 and gentle beauty of Jesus calmed her disturbed mind. 
 Magdalene was faithful to him even up to Golgotha, 
 and played a prominent part the day after his death ; 
 for she was the main instrument in establishing the 
 belief in his resurrection. 
 
 " Joan, the wife of Chuza, steward of Antipas, 
 Susana and other women, continually followed Jesus 
 and waited on him. Some of them were rich, and by 
 their means enabled the young prophet to live without 
 exercising the trade by which he had formerly gained 
 his subsistence." — Renan. 
 
 Besides those already mentioned, there are three 
 other women conspicuous in the surroundings of Jesus, 
 Salome, the mother of James and John, who was pres- 
 ent at his death and burial, and the sisters Martha and 
 Mary; the one industriously active, the other sitting 
 and listening at the Master's feet. Luke first mentions 
 them in a few but characteristic words; then John 
 speaks of them in his account of the coming back to 
 life of their dead brother. Later on, when sitting with 
 Jesus and the sisters at the table, Martha waited on 
 them, " while Mary took a pound of pure, precious oint- 
 ment and annointed the feet of Jesus, and dried them 
 with her hair, but the house was filled with the odor 
 of the ointment." (Ev. John, 12.) 
 
 Both situations have become favorite subjects of art. 
 
36 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 These are the women who were the friends of Jesus; 
 these are the women who adhered to the new sect. 
 They were hardly conscious of the fact that not a per- 
 son, but a principle, was in question. The inferior in- 
 tellectuality of these women is proven by their mute 
 obedience and yielding conduct. 
 
 All of them appear to be good and gentle, devoted 
 and docile ; nevertheless, the Evangelists do not cease 
 to decry women as a dangerous and low element in 
 nature's household. Their disparagement of matri- 
 mony is easily understood if we consider that they 
 glorified the j'oys of a future life, the bliss of heaven, 
 and promulgated the despondent and disheartening 
 view that this earth was a vale of misery, and life not 
 worth living. " Whosoever loveth the world, he has 
 no love for the heavenly father." (I. John 2 : 15.) 
 
 How could such men be gratified to see that so 
 many human beings found happiness and peace in a 
 loving, perfect union while on this earth, and thus 
 contradicting their gloomy assertions? 
 
 As regards divorce, Christ said to the Pharisees: 
 " What God has joined together, let no man put 
 asunder." Theological dialectics made these words 
 popular in the opposite sense, namely, that it meant 
 lovers should be united. These words, however, do not 
 refer to lovers, but, on the contrary, to those who wished 
 to separate themselves. Theological dialectics has often 
 intentional^ effected wrong interpretations, and only 
 the unprejudiced reader will be capable of recognizing 
 the true meaning of the text. 
 
 Nothing at all can be found in the New Testament 
 to warrant the widespread and repeatedly emphasized 
 phrase: "Christianity has liberated woman," or, 
 
WOMAN AND MARRIAGE. T)7 
 
 "Christianity has ennobled marriage," etc. The re- 
 verse is true. Love, woman and marriage are constantly 
 censured and decried as derogatory to the "love of 
 God," as if love of God would not be especially and 
 preeminently fostered in a loving wedded life. Who- 
 soever is of the opinion that Christianity has " liberated " 
 woman, will be greatly edified by Dr. A. Wuensche's 
 "Jesus and the Women." 
 
 " If you love those who love you, what reward could 
 you expect ? Do not the Publicans likewise ? " " Who- 
 soever leaves home, or brothers or sisters, or father 
 and mother, or wife and children, or acres, for the 
 sake of my name, he will receive a hundredfold and 
 gain the eternal life." Happily, all ecclesiastical palli- 
 ation can not prevent the law from punishing such 
 deeds. 
 
 " The children of this world take in marriage, and 
 are taken in marriage, but those who will be deemed 
 worthy of gaining the other world, and of resurrec- 
 tion, they will not take in marriage, nor permit them- 
 selves to be given in marriage." " Those who marry 
 will be subjected to trouble, but I would rather spare 
 you." — Paul. 
 
 This depreciation of the most momentous and most 
 sacred relation of humanity appears but natural in a 
 system which maintains that, in spite of all his innate 
 faculties of mind and heart, man can only become 
 happy and perfect in a future life, 
 
 Still there were always but a few abstinent Saints, 
 and these pious souls took revenge for the inevitable 
 institution of wedlock, on the weaker sex, on woman. 
 
 " Man's destiny is the state, woman's destiny is the 
 house. God, in His care for peace, and considering the 
 
38 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 correct order, has separated life into these two divis- 
 ions. The more necessary and more useful He gave to 
 man ; the lesser, the more imperfect, to woman." — Saint 
 Chrysosiomus. 
 
 Thus, woman, "Cinderella" has merely to take care 
 of the house ; this is then the lesser, the more im- 
 perfect, part ! As if the welfare of the state were not 
 dependent on the welfare of each individual house. 
 
 This depreciation of matrimony is also seen in the 
 peculiar injustice of the Christian laws of heritage, in 
 accordance to which the surviving spouse has the right 
 of inheritance only after relations up to the seventh 
 degree, who might have been entire strangers or even 
 at enmity with the married couple. As far as I know, 
 this law is still valid. It is, likewise, a shrewd device 
 impeding matrimony that obstacles to divorce were 
 raised, not only in the New Testament, but still more 
 so in the legislation of Christian emperors. They en- 
 forced severe penalties for the guilty one, determined 
 the causes for which alone divorce was allowable, and 
 even abolished the right of separation by mutual free 
 consent. 
 
 A heathenish successor, who, of course, was not 
 troubled by dogmatical scruples, abolished this law, 
 justly admitting that " hate and antipathy often prove 
 stronger than human reasoning." Still the Roman 
 Catholic legislation proclaimed: " Marriage is a union 
 of man and wife, a mingling of their entire life by 
 human and divine law." 
 
 In closely scrutinizing this assertion, one is tempted 
 to distrust one's own eyes. Is really the entire life of 
 husband and wife a communion ? 
 
 Then the wife may, even as the husband, hold an 
 
WOMAN AND MARRIAGE. 39 
 
 office and participate in the duties of citizenship? If 
 she happens to be childless, or if the children be mar- 
 ried, or have acquired positions, then the wife might 
 devote her powers to the public welfare ? 
 
 By no means ! That can not be permitted ; the 
 powers of the wife must be made subservient to the 
 household. 
 
 In this case, she has then the right to decide on the 
 education of the children, and to wield an independ- 
 ent authority in the house ? 
 
 Not at all ; the husband alone has rights and author- 
 ity. 
 
 Well, at least she has the management of the money 
 matters and of the property ? 
 
 Heaven forbid ; that is out of the question. The 
 husband has the management of all the property. 
 
 Now, what remains to her ? 
 
 And, despite the fact that she is debarred from all 
 rights, from all independence and equality at the side 
 of the husband, one dares to speak of a" mingling 
 of their entire life." 
 
 It is but an unmeaning phrase, like a thousand simi- 
 lar ones which are afloat in the world. 
 
 Are her human rights, perhaps, better secured? 
 
 Alas ! she can not be guardian, nor witness, nor 
 judge ; she can not adopt ; in short, she remains the 
 ward of her husband. 
 
 And what is the meaning of the " mingling of their 
 divine rights"? Was woman permitted to fill the 
 office of a priest? 
 
 No ! Formerly, even her devotional exercises were 
 considered inferior, unholy, and excluded from those 
 of the husband. 
 
40 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Never was woman permitted to assist at the altar, as 
 the most stupid boy can do. 
 
 Notwithstanding these facts, it is maintained in every 
 pulpit, and in all writings of the ecclesiastics, that 
 "Christianity has liberated and raised woman, for it 
 has introduced the mingling of the entire life of hus- 
 band and wife, by human and divine law." 
 
 " Let the wives be subject to their husbands, in 
 everything ; for ' the husband is the head of the wife, 
 even as Christ is the head of the church.' Let every 
 man love his wife, but the wife reverenceher husband." 
 (Ephes. 5.) 
 
 " Let the women learn in silence, with all subjection." 
 " I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority 
 over the husband, but to be silent." " For Adam was 
 first formed, then Eve." " And Adam was not deceived, 
 but the woman being deceived, was in the transgres- 
 sion." (Paul to Tim. 2.) 
 
 " Let your women keep silent in the churches, for it 
 is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are com- 
 manded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 
 And if they will learn anything, let them ask their hus- 
 bands at home, for it is a shame for woman to speak in 
 the church." (Corinth. 14.) It is true this is followed 
 by " If a man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." 
 
 These citations suffice. It is clearly said : " Man was 
 not created for the woman, but the woman for the man." 
 (Corinth. 11: 9.) Woman shall be virtuous to become 
 worthy of man — not worthy of God — but the main 
 thing is, that she should be obedient to man. She is 
 praised and cherished, only in so far as she gains the 
 approval of man. 
 
 It is in vain to look in the New Testament for a sen- 
 
WOMAN AND MARRIAGE. • 41 
 
 tence which entails on man the duty to gain the ap- 
 proval of woman. Such a demand seems out of ques- 
 tion, or even ridiculous. Poor woman ! Even the most 
 righteous, obedient, and devoted one still remained 
 under the ban of disdain and manifest scorn. Even 
 motherhood was a vexation to the pious. Tertullian, 
 exasperated by the sight of a mother and child, ex- 
 claimed: "No children! The children will drag us 
 down like plummets, on the day when we ought to be 
 unencumbered." 
 
 " When the angel will sound the trumpet, on the day 
 of resurrection, the virgins will rise and soar fre-ely 
 aloft, for no maternal burden will impede them ! " 
 
 But nothing can more strikingly show the early 
 Christians' disregard for woman than Tertullian's trea- 
 tise, " De Resurrectione," (about resurrection), (Chap. 
 57.) He asserts that " the resurrected will lose all 
 their blemishes and defects, the blind wilL see, the lame 
 will walk, and the women will arise from the dead as 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ish (man), ishah (woman). 
 
 MODERN research, which continually discloses 
 the remotest mementoes of all civilized peo- 
 ples, has, proportionally, brought to light only a few 
 of the treasures of Jewish lore, which, however, have 
 influenced, though unnoticed, the rise and develop- 
 ment of civilization. 
 
 The investigator will be astonished to find how 
 much old Jewish thought and custom have contrib- 
 uted to the amelioration of family life, and the social 
 standing of woman. 
 
 It is the Bible which, from the very beginning, 
 shows that man and woman were alike created in the 
 image of God. Even the formation of the term in 
 Hebrew, &$ man, and Hl^^ woman, are alike, with 
 only the necessary difference of the feminine ending, 
 " ah." 
 
 Among nearly all the ancient nations woman was 
 considered a dependent, enslaved creature, or an ob- 
 ject of luxury and amusement. L,et us turn to the 
 Bible and the Talmud to find how woman was treated 
 among the Jews. Both these books are replete with 
 the most important laws and statutes which, developed 
 by a thousand years of experience, are still valid in 
 modern legislation. 
 42 
 
ISH AND ISHAH. 43 
 
 The regulations and rules for the position and treat- 
 ment of woman are found to be the most original 
 ones. Before entering into a detailed examination of 
 the same, one is induced to ask : Have the ancient 
 Jews been so much ahead of their time, or did mod- 
 ern legislators retrograde so far behind the ancient 
 Jews ? 
 
 The special care for woman and the reverential re- 
 gard for her are remarkable, and fall nothing short of 
 homage. A striking difference prevails in the very 
 way in which the birth of a child was greeted among 
 the Jews, in comparison with other nations. The new- 
 born human being, whether a girl or a boy, was re- 
 ceived with all the love and tender care which its 
 touching helplessness required. 
 
 There are no rules to be found in old Jewish legis- 
 lation concerning how the children should be brought 
 up, how they should be cared for and treated — for it 
 seemed self-evident to them that it should be done. 
 This question is discussed the first time in the Mish- 
 nah, and the Jewish scholars agreed that children of 
 either sex, without distinction, had the same right to 
 parental care. 
 
 The grown-up girl is given in marriage by the par- 
 ents, or put into a home where the master, or the son 
 of the master, wishes to marry her later. Even where 
 there is question of a "sale," the father, it is true, re- 
 ceives a compensation, and the girl "serves" in the 
 house of the " master," but when the master, or the 
 son, has not married her within six years, she is free, 
 and no one, not even her own father, can prevent her 
 from going, for she is protected by the law. 
 
 What a vast difference between this independence 
 
44 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 gained in a few years, and the condition of slavery to 
 which girls and women of other nations were subjected 
 during their entire lives. 
 
 Her master, who was not permitted to send her to 
 any other place during the six years, was bound, if 
 the marriage did not take place, to indemnify her for 
 the work she had done in his house. Under all cir- 
 cumstances, there was not only care taken of her 
 physical wants, but also of her moral development. 
 Many a proverb and Talmudical saying illustrate this 
 seemingly dependent, but really self-directed, relation 
 of the girl in the house of the master who would, 
 in all probability, become her husband. 
 
 Strange and hazardous seems the custom that the 
 father was permitted to promise the daughter, not 3-et 
 of age, and even as a mere child, in marriage; but 
 the Mishnah and the Talmud have in such cases pre- 
 vented an abuse of parental authority. On the da} T 
 the daughter becomes of age, she is at liberty to re- 
 ject, before witnesses, the intended, and is then free 
 to choose another husband. In case the wife becomes 
 a widow, she enjoys, besides all the rights of majority, 
 also the right of minors, to return to the parental 
 home, and to receive the prescribed support. 
 
 A very essential question is that of the dowry of the 
 young wife. As she could not inherit in case there 
 were brothers, the dowry included a compensation. 
 The Talmud, which refers, wherever feasible, to the 
 authority of the Bible, cites the example of Caleb, who 
 gave his daughter, Achsah, in marriage to the young 
 hero, Othniel : " And it came to pass, when she came 
 to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field, 
 and she alighted from her ass, and Caleb said unto her, 
 
ISH AND ISHAH. 45 
 
 ' What wilt thou ? ' And she said unto him, ' Give me 
 a blessing, for thou hast given me a south land ; give 
 me also springs of water.' And Caleb gave her the 
 upper springs and the nether springs." (Judges 1 : 
 
 14. I5-) 
 
 In case the father is too poor to give a dowry to his 
 daughter, the community assumes this charitable duty. 
 Up to this day there exist Jewish societies, mostly 
 composed of women, which provide dowries for poor 
 brides. ^ 
 
 The dowry of daughters is generally set aside before 
 any inheritance is settled on sons or other relatives ; 
 similar care is taken in behalf of the wife. 
 
 According to the old formula — the Ketubah— the 
 document wherein the husband enumerates his obliga- 
 tons towards his wife, begins thus: " Be my wife ac- 
 cording to the laws of Moses and Israel, and I will 
 work for thee, honor thee, support thee, and provide 
 for thee according to the custom of Jewish husbands, 
 who work for, honor and support their wives and pro- 
 vide for them in verity." 
 
 The husband was obliged to support the wife and 
 to protect her property, to leave it to her children, 
 and not to his children from another wife. A wise 
 provision in the interest of the wife was the law by 
 which a part of the husband's fortune was secured for 
 her. As the husband could divorce his wife without 
 her consent, the law forcing him to deliver to her the 
 stipulated portion beforehand often proved an effect- 
 ive means of protecting her against a rash act, and in- 
 duced him to consideration. 
 
 Touching, indeed, are the repeated admonitions of 
 the Bible to protect the widows and orphans, and it is 
 
46 THE JEWISH WOMAiN. 
 
 a proof of a grand and lofty moral conception that 
 provisions were made, first of all, for the "stranger." 
 " Ye shall not. afflict any widow or fatherless child. If 
 thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto 
 me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath shall 
 wax hot." (Exodus 22; Deuto. 24; Isaiah 10; Jere- 
 miah 7 ; 6, etc.) 
 
 By the agricultural laws, certain portions of each 
 field were reserved, among the Jews, for the stranger, 
 the widow and the orphan. The widow was, not only 
 permitted to remain in the house of the deceased hus- 
 band, but she could claim the right to be supported 
 and to be waited on by the servants of the house. 
 "The heirs could not sell the house as long as she 
 wished to dwell in it." — E. Weil, Rabbi in Versailles. 
 Rabbi Jehuda Hanassi, the compiler of the Mishna, 
 was the originator of this privilege. Before he died he 
 called his sons and admonished them to honor their 
 stepmother, his second wife, and to let her enjoy all 
 advantages and privileges which she had enjoyed dur- 
 ing his lifetime. It can be surmised that the habit- 
 ually industrious Jewish woman, in return, helped 
 actively to further the welfare of the family also dur- 
 ing her widowhood. 
 
 It is remarkable that the wife had the right to select 
 the first dwelling place after the marriage. In case of 
 a refusal by the husband, they could be divorced, with- 
 out any detrimental consequences to the wife in any 
 respect, either morally or pecuniarily. Of what con- 
 sequence such a rule was, opposing a certain roaming 
 disposition in some men, is obvious. 
 
 All these rules and precepts make it clear that the 
 Jewish people found the expression of being the 
 
o ISH AND ISHAH. 47 
 
 "chosen people" preeminently in the sanctification 
 of life. And where could this sanctification find a 
 truer expression than in family life ? On the preserv- 
 ing of a pure and spotless family life depended the 
 preservation of the Jewish people. Not to keep fam- 
 ily life intact, meant to stop up the source of the godly 
 life of the true Jew. And to whom was entrusted the 
 immediate care, on whom rested the greatest responsi- 
 bility for the sanctification of the home? On woman, 
 on the wife, on the mother. 
 
 The greatest responsibility rested on her, but she 
 was also invested with the greatest dignity in the 
 home. The husband being actively engaged in his 
 office, or at his trade, or becoming so absorbed by his 
 studies that often his eyes rested but dreamily on his 
 nearest surroundings, the eye of the wife had to be 
 keener and clearer for his sake, for her sake, for the 
 sake of the whole family. She, the guardian, whom 
 nature herself had appointed to watch over the purity 
 in the home, was also punished most severely if she 
 forgot her duty. Pleading availed nothing, forgiveness 
 was out of question, death appeared the only expedient 
 to prevent the demoralization of the sanctuary of fam- 
 ily life. 
 
 Unfaithfulness on the part of the wife was sternly 
 and fearfully punished. In doubtful cases, however, 
 the Jewish law was very merciful. This is illustrated 
 by the following description of the proceedings. 
 
 The long chapter of the Bible (Numbers 5 : 12-31), 
 which refers to this matter, is supplemented by the 
 Mishnah as follows : 
 
 "To accuse a wife of adultery, and in order to be 
 permitted to bring her before the judge, it is necessary 
 
48 THE JEWISH WOMAN/ 
 
 that the husband has previously, in presence of wit- 
 nesses, admonished the suspected wife to have no in- 
 tercourse whatever with the man of whom he is jeal- 
 ous. But if, in spite of this warning, the wife con- 
 tinues to secret herself with the other man, and this is 
 noticed by the husband or other witnesses, then all 
 matrimonial relations between the married couple cease 
 at once, and the husband brings his wife before the 
 tribunal in Jerusalem." 
 
 Here it was the task of the judge, first to try by 
 persuasion to induce her to a free confession. In 
 order to make this task as easy as possible every 
 means was resorted to, and various excuses were sug- 
 gested to her. If, moved by these exhortations and 
 an evil conscience, she confessed her trespass, then on 
 account of her confession she was permitted to live, 
 and was only condemned to separation from her hus- 
 band and to the loss of her marriage portion. If 
 she, however, persistently denied, then the ceremony 
 with the "curse-bringing" waters began. The accused 
 was conveyed under the oriental porticus of the Tem- 
 ple in Jerusalem, called " Nikanor." In case she was 
 attired in a white garment, it w r as replaced by a black 
 one, which the priest rent, after having divested her of 
 every ornament, giving her a rope to tie around her 
 waist, in order to fasten it together. Thus, w r ith bared 
 head, torn garment, streaming hair, under the full 
 weight of the ignominious accusation, she was exposed 
 to the view of the gathering multitude. 
 
 A small, but characteristic, proof of delicacy and 
 thoughtful consideration for the unfortunate is found 
 in all this seeming harshness and severity. All could 
 see her in this humiliation. Strangers were allowed to 
 
ISH AND ISHAH. 49 
 
 look at her, but not a person belonging to the house- 
 hold, nor one of the servants ; these were not permitted 
 to see their former mistress in her disgrace. How 
 much delicacy and psychological insight are contained 
 in this simple decision ! 
 
 Now followed the proceedings accurately prescribed 
 in the Bible. The whole act is shrouded in mystery, 
 but it is not difficult to explain the effect. Superstition 
 and a bad conscience can carry terror to the stoutest 
 heart, and the most obstinate culprit would hesitate in 
 fear before the last trial, and make a confession. In 
 case, however, she made no confession, the " accursed 
 bitter waters" proved efficacious in establishing her 
 guilt. The innocent wife took the fatal beverage in 
 the joyful consciousness of her purity. Her innocence 
 spoke for her, and one familiar with human nature 
 could not be deceived. 
 
 The fifth chapter of Numbers, verse 28, contains a 
 rare jewel of deep insight into the human heart. How 
 often has it come to pass, and how often shall it yet 
 come to pass, that after anger and provocation hus- 
 band and wife, by reconciliation, will grow nearer and 
 dearer to each other. 
 
 The jealous husband, however, could desist from the 
 test, just as the wife was free to reject it. Her sen- 
 tence then was separation from her husband and loss 
 of her marriage portion, the marriage being annulled 
 in all cases, as no guilty wife was allowed to preside 
 over the violated household. 
 
 Rigorous punishment was inflicted on the husband 
 
 who knowingly brought false accusations against his 
 
 wife. Seduction of a girl was likewise subject to the 
 
 full severity of the law ; besides being liable to pen- 
 
 4 
 
50 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 alties, it could be atoned for only by marriage, which 
 was indissoluble in contradistinction of a marriage by 
 free consent, but the girl had the right of refusal. He 
 who had misled a married woman was sentenced to 
 die ; his transgression could not be atoned for by mar- 
 riage ; he was deemed equal to a murderer, and was 
 put to death. All these precepts and laws are an evi- 
 dence of the elevated position Jewish woman held in 
 the old Mosaic legislation. 
 
 Somewhat strange seem the biblical regulations of 
 divorce. According to them, only the husband can 
 demand a divorce, and often for apparently trifling 
 causes. (Deut. 24 : 1-5.) 
 
 The Talmud, so often defamed by ignorance and 
 malevolence, is always found interceding for the weak 
 and helpless. In this book the incomplete Bible text 
 is supplemented in favor of woman. 
 
 The Talmud grants also to the wife the right to 
 demand a divorce, and if her claim is deemed valid, 
 the husband is forced to a separation by the judges; 
 finally, at the Synod in Metz (1020) Rabbi Gersou 
 passed an interdiction against seeking a divorce with- 
 out the acquiescence of the wife. In case the wife 
 claimed and obtained the divorce, she naturally re- 
 mained in the possession of all her property and mar- 
 riage portion. The small children were entrusted to 
 her care, while the father had to provide for their 
 support. If the child was a boy, the father could 
 claim him at the age of six years; the daughters 
 stayed with the mother, who, independently, conduct- 
 ed their education. 
 
 The levirate, according to which a woman whose 
 husband died without leaving children was to be 
 married to the husband's brother, is evidently the re- 
 
ISH AND ISHAH. 5 1 
 
 suit of the endeavor to secure, as soon as possible, a 
 protector for the widow. Here the regard for the 
 sanctity and integrity of the family was carried to the 
 extreme, to the very last consequence. 
 
 Where the daughter's or the widow's rights seem 
 curtailed, as in the laws of inheritance, etc., ample pro- 
 visions were made, often securing for her even more 
 than the full value of the property in question. 
 
 When a woman had brought punishment upon her- 
 self, then special care was taken not to violate her 
 modesty. Scourging of women, as it is practiced in 
 Russia even today, would have been considered atro- 
 cious among the ancient Jews. 
 
 The Mosaic laws are not only more humane and 
 show a deeper insight into human nature than those 
 of any other nation of that time, but the unwritten 
 statutes even are more refined and on a higher plane. 
 
 The Jewish view of marriage is loftier than that of 
 an)' other nation. The main quest is not submission 
 and blind obedience on the part of the wife ; what is 
 required of her are morals and morality. There is 
 no question of a gloomy, silent subjection, but of a 
 loving alliance ; of a union of purpose and aspira- 
 tions. The wife is not the slave of her husband, but, 
 as God himself calls her, his " helpmate." Her place 
 is at his side ; love and peace she shall spread around 
 him, like a sheltering canopy. "His house," says the 
 Talmud, "that is, his wife." The same book tells, 
 further, if an important proposition was made to the 
 husband, he would say, " I will go and consult my 
 wife." With the Greeks, however, all that the hus- 
 band undertook in accordance with the counsel of 
 his wife could be annulled and declared as not bind- 
 ing. It is one of the moral laws of the Talmud that 
 
52 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 man should marry, but only when he is able to sup- 
 port a family adequately. In choosing a wife, man 
 should not be guided by outward charms and riches, 
 but by her moral qualities. " First, build a house and 
 plant a vineyard (z. <?., provide for the necessaries of 
 the household), and then take a wife." (Prov. 24: 27.) 
 " House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, but 
 a prudent wife is from the L,ord." (Prov. 19: 14.) "A 
 woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." 
 (Prov. 30: 31.) 
 
 A covenant of God is called the marriage contract, 
 which requires not mere outward fidelity, but the fidel- 
 ity of the heart. Husband and wife, each of them 
 performing his or her duty, each of them invested with 
 equal authority, shall share faithfully the joys and the 
 sorrows of life. To forsake the wife " covereth the 
 altar of God with tears and with crying out," says 
 the Prophet. (Malachi 2: 13.) The Jewish sages com- 
 manded the husband to honor the wife more than him- 
 self, to love her as himself, and in proportion to his 
 fortune to supply her with the comforts of life. He 
 should not excite fear in her (contradictory to the 
 Christian precept, " But the wife shall fear the hus- 
 band"), but commune with her quietly and gently, 
 and not be gloomy nor angry with her. — Maimonides. 
 
 The following characteristic maxims and proverbs 
 are found in the Talmud : " Every man shall eat and 
 drink less than his means permit ; he shall dress ac- 
 cording to his means, but his wife he shall supply 
 above his means." " Let a man be careful to honor 
 his wife, for to her alone he owes the blessings of his 
 house." "The husband shall beware of vexing his 
 wife, for easily flow her tears." " If thy wife is small, 
 
ISH AND ISHAH. 53 
 
 bend down to her to take counsel from her." " He 
 who sees his wife die, has, as it were, been present at 
 the destruction of the temple." " The whole world is 
 darkened for him whose wife died in his lifetime." " A 
 husband's death is felt by no one as much as by his 
 wife ; a wife's death is felt by no one as much as by her 
 husband." " It is the wife through whose efforts the 
 blessings of the Lord come to the house ; she teaches 
 the children, encourages the husband to visit the house 
 of God and the school, and welcomes his coming 
 home ; she fills the house with godliness and purity ; 
 on all her doings rests the blessing of the Lord." 
 These quotations suffice. The work of E. Deutsch, 
 " The Talmud," may be recommended to those who 
 would like to drink deeper from this fountain of wisdom. 
 By this book one is enabled to learn approximately 
 of what importance the Talmud is. Among the in- 
 numerable anecdotes and narrations of the Talmud 
 there is found a very characteristic one about the wife 
 of Rabbi Akiba. She is a typical "helpmate" of the 
 husband ; she relieves him of all domestic toil and 
 trouble, in order to enable him to apply himself undis- 
 turbed to his studies. She, the spoiled child of the 
 rich Kalba Sebua, whom she exasperated and estranged 
 from herself by following the poor, but beloved hus- 
 band — she even sold her wonderful hair to support her 
 husband in a time of distress. 
 
 It is an ever-recurring phenomenon, the taking care 
 by Jewish women of all domestic and even business 
 affairs which are essential for the support of a family, 
 in order that the husband might gain leisure for study 
 — a fact hardly to be met with among any other nation. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 a 
 
 B 
 
 TEMPER AND THE TALMUD. 
 
 E FRUITFUL, and multiply and replenish the 
 earth." (Genesis i: 25.) Is a trace to be found 
 in these words of the Christian pessimistic ideas about 
 matrimony and an " original sin " ? By the Jews, chil- 
 dren always were considered a blessing, but when in- 
 numerable human lives had been sacrificed in wars, 
 insurrections and persecutions, then rabbinical wisdom 
 formulated many a precept favoring the double pur- 
 pose of marriage, viz.: the welfare of the individual 
 and the preservation of the human race. So, for in- 
 stance, the husband should divorce his wife if during 
 ten years of married life no child was born to them. 
 This precept serves also as a proof that the Bible did 
 not favor bigamy. 
 
 The devotion of woman, however, is shown in the 
 narrative about a wife who became the prototype of 
 the famous wives of Weinsberg. The husband, though 
 attached to her, had to divorce her according to the 
 rabbinical precept, for after ten years of wedlock they 
 were still without the blessing of a child. Before they 
 separated, the husband, to prove his kindly feelings 
 towards his wife, allowed her to take along all that 
 she cherished most in the house. She took nothing ; 
 but while her husband was asleep she had him car- 
 54 
 
TEMPER AND THE TALMUD. 55 
 
 ried, on the couch on which he rested, into her pa- 
 rental home. He was so touched by her attachment 
 that he did not separate from her, and afterwards they 
 were blessed with children. 
 
 The whole tendency of the Talmud is in favor of 
 matrimony. The learned Talmudist, Dr. M. Mielziner, 
 in his book on" The Jewish L,aw of Marriage and Di- 
 vorce," says: " Marriage has at all times been regarded 
 among the Jews as the most important and sacred of 
 all domestic relations. It is the origin of all other 
 relations of life, and forms the foundation of human 
 society. Besides, it is a relation in which man's hap- 
 piness for life is materially involved, and which serves 
 to protect and promote moral purity. Many chapters 
 and innumerable passages of Scripture speak of this 
 relation, and no less than five treatises of the Talmud 
 are almost exclusively devoted to regulations concern- 
 ing husband and wife." 
 
 The hero, Israel, after whom the whole people was 
 named, served seven years, and seven years more, to 
 obtain his beloved wife. With the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans this would have seemed preposterous and ridic- 
 ulous. 
 
 The Talmud agrees with the physiologists of our 
 time in the opinion, which, however, is by no means 
 conclusively established, that the passion of woman is 
 stronger than that of man. In consequence thereof 
 the Talmud is exceedingly precautious to save her 
 from all temptations. 
 
 Talmud Kidduschin 82, a. prohibited women from 
 becoming public teachers, simply because they would 
 have to come, too often, in contact with the fathers 
 of the children. 
 
56 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Woman is always suspected of being passionate. 
 Why specially woman? one could ask, in astonish- 
 ment. But one asks thus only if one forgets that in 
 this, as in all other jurisdiction, men were the law- 
 makers, and that self-knowledge is a rare virtue. A 
 perfect equality of right, however, was established in 
 all important points of law for man and woman alike. 
 
 If one finds in the Talmud, on one hand, numer- 
 ous precepts guarding morals and chastity, then, on 
 the other hand, human nature and the right of the 
 sex are fully recognized and provided for by various 
 statutes in favor of woman. In troublous and tumult- 
 uous times Jewish wives were often in danger of being 
 supplanted by women of other nations. Therefore one 
 must consider it natural, even moral, that the teach- 
 ers of the people deemed it worthy of special care to 
 supply Jewish women with every means which tended 
 to enhance their attractiveness. 
 
 We can not but admire the deep insight into human 
 nature and the wise precaution of the rabbis who ad- 
 vocated fineries and ornaments for the attire of Jewish 
 women to add to their charms. The " Jewish Woman 
 at her Toilet Table " is a favorite subject of art and 
 poetry. 
 
 We have already learned that the husband had to 
 dress according to his means, but his wife above his 
 means. This providing care for woman finds expres- 
 sion even in the trade laws of the Talmud. 
 
 In order to protect the home trade, foreign trades- 
 men were not permitted to go about and sell goods, 
 except with ornaments and fineries for women, " in 
 order that the daughters of Israel might easily obtain 
 ornaments." If, perchance, a woman went too far in 
 
TEMPER AND THE TALMUD. 57 
 
 this respect, as it sometimes happens even in our days, 
 the rabbis were willing to overlook a little vanity if 
 only the main object was attained — the fostering of 
 morality. The husband remained attached to the 
 neatly and attractively dressed wife, and through her 
 to the home. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah already enumerates the orna- 
 ments of the daughters of Israel. They wore earrings, 
 bracelets, veils, belts, costly rings, satchels, silk gar- 
 ments, dainty ankle-chains, which softly rang at every 
 movement like silver bells. 
 
 The retiring disposition of woman received also due 
 consideration. If an orphan girl and an orphan boy 
 were to be married, the girl should be first cared for on 
 account of her greater modesty. — Maimonides. " Who 
 guides his children in the right way, and gives them in 
 marriage in the right time, of him it is written, ' peace 
 will be in thy tent.' " " Virtuous is he who educates 
 his children well, and also takes orphans into his house, 
 instructs them, and helps them to establish a family." 
 
 In the choice of a husband, the daughters of Israel 
 were not so dependent on their parents as were the 
 daughters of other nations, because with them mere 
 outward considerations were not so decisive. 
 
 According to the Mishnah (Taanith 4, 8) the follow- 
 ing pretty custom prevailed in Judea. On the 15th 
 of Av, and on the evening of the Kippur day, the 
 young girls gathered, clad in festive white garments, 
 and proceeded from all sides to the vineyards. There 
 they gaily amused themselves with games and dancing, 
 singing songs of love and of the happiness of wedlock. 
 The young men soon followed and joined in the chorus, 
 while the girls were artlessly singing of their good 
 
58 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 qualities, warning the listeners not to choose a bride 
 for the sake of her riches, but for the sake of her vir- 
 tues. " A virtuous wife is the happiness of her hus- 
 band." " His is a double life who has a beautiful 
 wife." "He who has no wife has no blessing, no joy, 
 no love, no wisdom, no protection, and no peace." 
 
 It is easily to be imagined that on these occasions 
 many a lasting attachment was formed. What a lovely 
 scene it must have been : the blooming throng of young 
 people festively attired, their joyous songs re-echoing 
 in the vineyards ! Who would not like to see this 
 picture restored to life? And, indeed, there is a trace 
 of it found in the harvest-homes and vintages. 
 
 But the sweetest feature of these festive gatherings 
 was the thoughtful charity exercised toward the poor. 
 Every young girl had to borrow the white garment 
 from another one, in order that no one should find out 
 by the attire which of them was poorer or richer. 
 
 It would lead too far to enter into the details of 
 the interesting statutes in regard to engagements and 
 marriages, but some of the precepts in behalf of newly 
 married couples shall be mentioned. 
 
 For the first year after his marriage the young groom 
 was exempt from military duty. (Deut. 20 : 7.) The 
 young couple did not visit graveyards nor perform any 
 severe or sad duties, which, otherwise, were strictly 
 required of everyone. They should enjoy life, and 
 everyone was expected to contribute as much as pos- 
 sible toward their happiness. The office of the bride's 
 man, who had to entertain the young couple, as well as 
 the guests, during the whole week of marriage fes- 
 tivities, was considered of so great an importance that 
 the incumbent was released from all other ceremonial 
 
TEMPER AND THE TALMUD. 59 
 
 duties. Even the most prominent men were not al- 
 lowed to refuse the election to this office. 
 
 Many Talmudical sayings refer to the obligation of 
 the husband to deal gently with his wife. He shall 
 treat her with great consideration, since woman's tears 
 easily flow. 
 
 A beautiful saying is this: "If thy left hand re- 
 moveth thy wife in anger, let thy right hand bring her 
 back." The following proverb is today as valid as of 
 yore : " The husband should always endeavor to pro- 
 vide bread for his house, for quarreling begins mostly 
 on account of improvidence." The marriage laws and 
 the laws of divorce contain wise provisions in regard to 
 ill humor, rashness, and other faults of disposition. 
 The divorced couple could be reunited, for those who 
 separated in anger may become reconciled by repent- 
 ance and better understanding ; yea, by the very sep- 
 aration they may have become aware how dear they 
 are to one another, and that, according to the words of 
 the Bible, they had become " one " without having 
 been fully conscious of it before. But a man was not 
 permitted to remarry his divorced wife, if, in the mean- 
 time, she had been married to another man and become 
 a widow, or had been divorced from her second hus- 
 band. 
 
 Strangely enough, a passing illicit relation was not 
 considered an obstacle to remarriage after divorce. 
 Surprising as at first this may appear, the Talmudists, 
 nevertheless, prove to be thorough thinkers, and there- 
 fore men of just and kindly feelings for humanity. 
 They show forbearance toward weakness and strict- 
 ness toward coldness. 
 
 The history of Thamar, the daughter-in-law of Ju- 
 
60 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 dah, and some similar incidents related in the Bible, 
 give occasion to the following remarks of Niemeyer, 
 one of the most prominent Bible scholars: "She has 
 been more righteous than I." " A queer contrast of 
 ideas about rightful and unrightful dealings. In 
 Thamar's case, however, they are founded partly on 
 the customs of those times, and partly on human rea- 
 soning in general. Furthermore, the faithful fulfill- 
 ment of promises was considered a paramount duty. 
 Where a promise was broken, the other contracting 
 party was fully entitled to indemnity. In this case the 
 more so, as the custom prevailed that when the older 
 brother died without children, the other brothers were 
 in duty bound to take care of the widow. Customs 
 easily become fundamental principles. With Thamar 
 it is the custom, and as the brother of her first husband 
 is not given to her in marriage, she resorts to cunning 
 to obtain a right which was hers by the law of the 
 land." 
 
 But let us return to the Talmudic times. Sirach 
 says, a daughter is to her father a treasure which he 
 has to guard with anxious care. " He can not sleep 
 for fear she might perpetrate some error in youthful 
 giddiness. He is uneasy about her also in regard to 
 other matters. He ponders about it whether the hus- 
 band of her choice will prove worthy of her or not ; 
 whether she will walk in modesty and fear of the L,ord 
 and be an honor to him, or whether she will be ad- 
 dicted to secret artifices and be cross-tempered." 
 
 Rabbi Chis-dai solved the problem how to treat a 
 fretful wife. He had the misfortune to be wedded to a 
 very capricious wife ; nevertheless he treated her with 
 utmost tenderness and affection. 
 
TEMPER AND THE TALMUD. 6 1 
 
 He was in the habit of surprising her with the most 
 beautiful presents. To heighten her pleasure he used 
 to tie up the gift in one of the ends of his garment, so 
 that she might guess what it was. Being asked for the 
 reason of his unusual devotion to her he answered : 
 " Whatever the qualities of wives might be, they still 
 are worthy of our special esteem and attention, for 
 they educate our children in virtue and the fear of the 
 Lord, and by their company keep us from sinful pas- 
 sions. It is family devotion which alone is conducive 
 to our happiness and brings us blessings and salvation 
 in a future life." 
 
 The following summary remarks of my highly es- 
 teemed friend, Dr. L,azarus, will fitly conclude this 
 chapter : 
 
 " Productive Talmudical wisdom flourished and 
 reached its highest development in the time of the 
 lowest abasement and severest misfortune of the peo- 
 ple. After the destruction of the state, amidst oppres- 
 sion and unrelenting religious persecution, the study 
 of the law was pursued with greatest fervor, though 
 liable to punishment of death. 
 
 " The oral law was supplemented, and numerous 
 institutions and regulations were added. 
 
 " Family life was severely menaced in these times. 
 The men either were dispersed by becoming prisoners 
 of war, by betrayal, and all kinds of persecution, or they 
 became destitute, and were forced to go abroad in 
 order to gain the necessaries of life. Many of them 
 disappeared, for news was difficult to obtain, on ac- 
 count of the wars raging in the lands around the Med- 
 iterranean Sea and lower Asia in the first centuries. 
 
 " At this time many ordinances were passed in favor 
 
62 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 of women, for they suffered most by these misfortunes. 
 Especial regulations were established which made it 
 easier to form new matrimonial bonds. These regula- 
 tions were mostly passed in order that the wife should 
 not remain lonely. 
 
 " It is due to Talmudical wisdom, to the clear insight 
 into, and regard for, the demands of human nature by 
 the Jewish sages, that morals and chastity were pre- 
 served among the Jews, even during those times of 
 horror in the eastern and western Roman Empire, and 
 in the time of the migration of nations ; while many 
 other nations and tribes were destroyed not by the 
 wars alone, but rather by the ensuing demoralization 
 of private life. It was not war that destroyed and 
 annihilated all those nations of which, despite their 
 former world-governing greatness, nothing remains but 
 their names. This is proven — it "can not be repeated 
 too often — by the Jews ; for they suffered more se- 
 verely and more cruelly by wars than any other na- 
 tion ; but, among them, the inmost living germ of 
 morality, strict discipline and family devotion was at 
 all times preserved. It was woman who fostered and 
 kept intact this living germ of morality. 
 
 "The wonderful and mysterious preservation of the. 
 fewish people is due to the Jewish woman. This is her 
 glory, not alone in the history of her ownpcople> but in 
 the history of the world." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 AND now, after I have endeavored to give a general 
 characterization, and am about to describe indi- 
 viduals — now I well-nigh feel overwhelmed by the 
 grandeur of the problem to delineate the noble and 
 glorious characters of the women of the Bible. 
 
 To thee alone, mother of mankind, I would gladly 
 dedicate a volume, every page of it an attempt to ren- 
 der justice to thy immaculate purity and loveliness, as 
 a token of homage to thee from a woman of the nine- 
 teenth century. Shame and sorrow fill my heart at 
 the thought to what a degree sanctimonious absurdity 
 has disfigured thy image, O Eve ! Thou, it is said, 
 hast introduced sin into the world. Thou — but it is 
 repulsive to me to repeat all that stupidity. 
 
 Come, thou marvelous book, which I revere and 
 cherish ; come, my dearly beloved Bible, and teach me. 
 
 God created woman, and joyfully man exclaims : 
 " This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh ; 
 she shall be called woman, because she was taken out 
 of man." (Gen. 2: 23). "And they were naked, and 
 they were not ashamed." What does that mean? 
 That means perfect innocence. Eve is in the state of 
 complete artless naturality, a state which, of course, 
 can hardly be imagined by modern man. It is said 
 
 63 
 
64 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 she was disobedient. What did she know of becoming 
 disobedient? One voice says, "Do not," the other 
 voice, " Do." And in divine simplicity she follows the 
 last-heard voice. Her complete ignorance of falsehood 
 and deceit, her pure, childish mind made doubt and 
 distrust impossible for her. 
 
 She is implicit faith and trust personified. Neither 
 the history nor the poetry of all times and i?i all zones 
 have produced such an incar nation of immaculate purity 
 of mind. 
 
 But Eve, in obeying the second voice, is not only 
 pure, she is also noble ; it is her first deed, and this deed 
 is directed toward the loftiest and most sacred aim of 
 humanity, the knowledge of good and evil. 
 
 It is an old tragic problem, that knowledge is not 
 attained without error; this problem is splendidly 
 symbolized in Eve's conduct. It is by her innocence 
 that Eve falls into sin. She commits an error which 
 throws her immediately into confusion; now only does 
 she become aware of what it is to disobey, and she is 
 ashamed. 
 
 The committed fault is punished. God says: "In 
 sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire 
 shall be to thy husband, and he shall be like unto 
 thee."* 
 
 We meet in the Bible after Eve — separated from 
 her, perhaps, by thousands of years — two remarkable 
 female characters who already show the impress of an 
 advanced civilization in its bright as well as in its dark 
 aspects. What a marked dramatic contrast is Sarah, 
 the princess, and Hagar, the slave. 
 
 *I translate this in agreement with Gesenius. For Gesenius 
 gives as first meaning of Tp~T£tt' 1 Nim — "to be like," and 
 onry as second meaning " to rule." 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 65 
 
 How often was unjust derision heaped upon Abra- 
 ham's wife and himself. What warped judgments are 
 pronounced time and again because those who are 
 always ready to give their opinion are too superficial 
 to consider the spirit of the time, which is the first 
 requisite to enable anyone to pass a sound judgment. 
 Sarah was Abraham's stepsister. The scoffers forget 
 (or do not know) that among ancient nations inter- 
 marriage of brothers and sisters was not prohibited. 
 
 One of the facts related by the Bible, which appears 
 ambiguous and strange, is that the great and noble- 
 minded Abraham, on going to Egypt, and later on, also, 
 in Gerar (Gen. 12 and 20), conceals the fact that Sarah 
 is his wife, in order that she should be taken for his 
 sister. As she was very beautiful, he hoped that in 
 this way he, a stranger, would find a better welcome ; 
 yea, perhaps, even avoid death. The consequence is 
 that Sarah is taken into Abimelech's harem. 
 
 This proceeding of Abraham gives cause to severe 
 criticism, and perplexes those who are not well versed 
 in Scripture. In the book of Esther, as well as in 
 other parts of the Bible, one finds in descriptions of 
 wedding ceremonies the direction that the elected bride 
 "according to old custom " had to be annointed with 
 oil of myrrh for six months, and with balm and per- 
 fumes for six further months. There was, then, a 
 whole year before them, and they hoped that God 
 would help them this time, as He so often had done 
 before. Abimelech, indeed, is warned in a dream, and 
 he dismisses Sarah long before the given time. 
 
 Sarah appears independent, self-conscious, even im- 
 perious. She gives Hagar to her husband to receive a 
 son. It seems that Abraham acceded against his in- 
 5 
 
66 tup: JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 clinations to Sarah's wish, for he remained devoted to 
 her as before. 
 
 Hagar differs entirely from Sarah. She is modest, 
 silent, timorous, full of submission without being slav- 
 ish, for when a son is granted to her, she feels enno- 
 bled ; the timid servant raises her head and Sarah com- 
 plains : " Now I am despised in her eye." When 
 Abraham finally dismisses Hagar and the boy, it is 
 only after the promise of the Lord that the boy will 
 become the forefather of a nation. 
 
 The poetical narrative about Rebeccah is well known. 
 Beautiful in its simplicity is Rebeccah's consent to go 
 with Eliezer. "And they called Rebeccah and said, 
 ' Wilt thou go with this man ? ' and she said, ' I will 
 
 go-' " 
 
 With all this energy, what graceful dignity of de- 
 portment ! Approaching her future home, Rebeccah 
 asks Bliezer who it is that comes to meet them ; hear- 
 ing that it is her future husband, she takes her veil and 
 modestly covers herself. And " Isaac loved her." 
 She remained his only wife. 
 
 Her deception of the blind husband, by substituting 
 Jacob in the place of Esau, though not excusable, still 
 is easily explained, if the custom of those times is 
 taken into consideration. According to this custom, 
 the son became the guardian of the mother after the 
 death of the father. Rebeccah is afraid of rude Esau 
 and his " foreign " wives, and naturally prefers to be 
 dependent on the gentler Jacob. It was, in fact, only 
 logical that she did not deem worthy of the blessing 
 the son who so readily bartered away his birthright. 
 
 Jacab's flight to Laban brings us to L,eah and Rachel. 
 Rachel must have been of rather a hasty temper. It 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBEE. 6j 
 
 is not quite clear for what purpose she takes the idols 
 of her father, but the fact that she does it, and how 
 she conceals them, and the odd exchange with her sis- 
 ter for the possession of the husband, show an almost 
 modern vivacity and giddiness of disposition. Many 
 a scholar has racked his brains to find out for what 
 purpose she needed the " mandrakes." Some are of 
 the opinion that she prepared a cosmetic of them, for, 
 presumably, she must have been vain. 
 
 "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they 
 seemed unto him as a few days on account of the love 
 he had for her." The lyrics of all times surpass 
 neither in truth nor in depth these few simple lines : 
 " The years were unto him as days because of the love 
 he had for her." These words weave an unfading 
 charm around the name of Rachel. 
 
 Leah is of quite a different disposition. She, the 
 older one, is also the homely one, but her feelings are 
 more intensified. She is capable of greater devotion, 
 and of a deeper passion than her younger and more 
 favored sister. That she is " hated by Jacob " she 
 calls her " affliction," and on giving birth to the first 
 son she exclaims: "Now my husband will love me." 
 
 Time passed on and the descendants of Abraham, 
 Isaac and Jacob were in Egypt. They were called 
 " Children of Israel." The yoke of servitude lay 
 heavily on them, yet Pharaoh intended to destroy them 
 utterly, and commanded to kill all their male children 
 immediately after birth. 
 
 There occurs to me an anecdote which is related 
 in the Midrash, and Dr. Mielziner, in his " Sleepy Au- 
 diences," tells thus : " It is related in the Midrash that 
 the patriarch, Rabbi Jehuda, while lecturing one day 
 
68 THE JEWISH v;OMAN. 
 
 on the merits of the greatest prophet in Israel, was 
 amazed by discovering that many of his hearers were 
 quietly dozing. He at once exclaimed, ' Did you never 
 hear of that remarkable woman in Egypt who at one 
 time gave birth to six hundred thousand children ? ' 
 Aroused and startled, the sleepers wonderingly turned 
 their eyes towards the speaker, as if to say, ' Is it pos- 
 sible ? Who was that woman ? ' But the Rabbi con- 
 tinued, ' Her name was Jochebed; she bore Moses, 
 who, alone, was certainly ecpial to the 600,000 chil- 
 dren of Israel whom he delivered from the Egyptian 
 bondage.' " 
 
 For those who are able to read between the lines, 
 Jochebed is an impressive and interesting figure. Im- 
 bued with faithful, motherly love, she dares to defy 
 the command of the king. For three months she 
 conceals her new-born boy. Day by day, and night 
 by night, she trembles in mortal fear of discovery. 
 Finally the growing child can not be concealed any 
 longer. During sleepless nights Jochebed has con- 
 trived a plan which she now carries out. She takes a 
 basket made of bullrushes, daubs it with pitch, lays 
 her child therein, and puts it in the flags by the riv- 
 er's brink. Her daughter stands not far off, to see 
 what will happen, while Jochebed, prostrated before 
 the Lord, calls on Him to guard her son, her dearly 
 beloved son. And, behold! The king's daughter goes 
 to take her bath in the river ; she sees the child, and 
 sends her maid to fetch it. 
 
 The beautiful, weeping babe rouses the compassion 
 of Pharaoh's daughter, and the sister, who now ap- 
 proaches, is sent by the princess to get one of the 
 Hebrew women to nurse the babe. 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 69 
 
 Miriam brings the happy mother, who now openly, 
 and securely, is permitted to take care of her rescued 
 boy. Surely, never ascended to the Lord a more 
 fervent prayer of thanksgiving than that now offered 
 by Jochebed. 
 
 Miriam, the judicious sister, who showed, in great- 
 est danger, the greatest presence of mind, is " Miriam 
 the Prophetess," who, when Moses effected the depar- 
 ture of the Hebrews from Egypt, went out, at the head 
 of the women, and, with timbrel in hand, sang, " Sing 
 ye to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously." 
 
 Another, more prominent, prophetess is Deborah. 
 An excellent characteristic of Deborah's renowned 
 " Song of Triumph" is given by A. G. Niemeyer. He 
 says : " I hardly know of any other oriental song in 
 which one finds such an abundance of thought. No 
 circumstance of the whole battle is omitted by the 
 sublime poetess. The condition of the people before 
 this victory, the overwhelming power of the enemy, 
 the cause of the weakness of the Israelites, the cour- 
 age of some heroes, the battle itself, the part each 
 tribe took in the great drama, the heat of the com- 
 bat, the storms helping to rout the enemy, the dis- 
 loyalty of the men at Meros, the victory of a woman 
 over proud Sissera— all this one finds condensed in 
 the song. 
 
 Equally remarkable is the great vividness of the 
 ideas, the rich coloring by which everything is clearly 
 brought before the eye, while the delineation always 
 remains true to nature. So we see the picture of the 
 country made insecure by the enemy. The highway 
 is unfrequented, while the wanderer seeks crooked, 
 unknown paths. We see the disastrous defeat of the 
 
JO THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 enemy, Sissera killed, and the anxiety of his mother 
 on account of his tardiness. The last trait is com- 
 pletely original. The mother is anxiously awaiting 
 Sissera's return ; then she is calmed by deluding con- 
 solation ; thinks of the booty before she is certain of 
 victory, and counts already, in her mind, the treas- 
 ures which the hero will bring home. Some stanzas 
 may here be cited : 
 
 Hear, O ye kings ! give ear, O ye princes, 
 
 I — unto the Lord will I sing. 
 
 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel ! 
 
 Lord ! at Thy going forth from SeTr, 
 
 At Thy walking out of the field of Edom, 
 
 The earth trembled, the heavens dropped, 
 
 The clouds dropped water. 
 
 The mountains melted in the presence of the Lord, 
 
 Yonder Sinai before the Lord God of Israel. 
 
 In the days of Shamgar, the son of 'Anath, 
 
 In the days of Ja'el, the highways were empty, 
 
 Those who traveled walked through crooked by-roads. 
 
 Was there a shield seen, or spear, 
 Among forty thousand in Israel ? 
 My heart is with the governors in Israel 
 That offered themselves among the people. 
 
 Praise ye the Lord ! 
 Ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, 
 Ye who walk in the way, utter praise ! 
 
 Then obtained dominion a few that remained, 
 
 The nobles of the people. 
 
 The Lord gave me dominion over the mighty. 
 
 They whose root is out of Ephraim were against Amalek ; 
 
 After thee, Benjamin, with thy armies, 
 
 Out of Machir came down thy law-givers, 
 
 Out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. 
 
 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah ; 
 
 Yea, Issachar, the support of Barak ; 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. J I 
 
 into the valley he hastened down. 
 
 At the stream of Reuben were great thoughts of heart, 
 
 Why didst thou sit among the sheep-folds, 
 
 To hear the bleating of the flock ? 
 
 At the streams of Reuben were great searchings of heart. 
 
 Gil'ad abode beyond the Jordan ; 
 
 Dan, why would he tarry in ships ? 
 
 Asher on the sea-shore, abode near his bays. 
 
 Zebulun, a people jeoparding its life, 
 
 Naphtali on the high places of the battle-field. 
 
 Out of the window looked, and moaned the mother of 
 
 Sissera. 
 Why tarrieth his chariot in coming ? 
 Why lag the wheels of his chariot ? 
 Among her ladies the wise they answer 
 Yea, she answereth to herself, 
 Will they not find, divide booty ? 
 One damsel, two damsels for every man, 
 A booty of colored garments for Sissera, 
 A booty of colored embroidered garments 
 Around the necks of the captives ? 
 
 Chorus. 
 Thus, O Lord, may perish Thy enemies all, 
 But those that love Thee may be 
 Glorious as the sun at its rising. 
 
 This song of triumph includes the deed of Ja'el, 
 who slew Sissera; as it was done treacherously, the 
 deed is repulsive, like that of Judith. The people, 
 however, regarded both of them as liberators, and 
 held them high. 
 
 Rachab is conspicuous among the minor female 
 characters of the Bible. She is a Canaanitish wom- 
 an, but as she believed in the One and Only God, 
 Jehovah, she can be counted a Jewess. The two men 
 who were sent by Joshua to reconnoitre the city, 
 
72 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 were saved, by her prudence and presence of mind, 
 from falling into the hand of the hostile inhabitants 
 of Jericho. She asks, in return, their forbearance to- 
 wards her father's house, in case the city should be 
 taken by the victor. 
 
 They swear to her to fulfill her request, and Joshua 
 faithfully keeps the oath. He first has the family and 
 property of Rachab brought into safety before he at- 
 tacks the city. This narrative is characteristic of the 
 sacredness of the oath among the Jewish people. 
 
 Quite a different phase of soul-life presents the 
 daughter of Jephtha. Many a poet has sung about her. 
 The events of her short life likewise go to prove the 
 sacredness of the oath among the Jews. Jeptha goes 
 with his inexperienced warriors to meet a mighty 
 enemy ; in his anxiety about the final issue he vows to 
 the Lord, " If Thou givest victory unto me, then the 
 first thing that will meet me out of the door of my 
 house, I will sacrifice unto Thee." Unexpectedly his 
 daughter, his only child, comes to meet him first, and 
 at her sight he breaks out into despairing lamentations. 
 She, however, the prototype of Iphigeuia, says at once, 
 " My father, if thou hast vowed to Jehovah, then do 
 accordingly, for He has delivered thee from thy ene- 
 mies, the Ammonites." 
 
 What a character ! Imagine a girl in her first bloom, 
 cheerful of mind, warm-hearted and enthusiastic. As 
 soon as she hears that her father returns victoriously, 
 she, in the joy of her heart, calls her companions with 
 her to meet him with gladsome song and dance. How- 
 ever, instead of a joyful greeting, she receives from her 
 father the sentence of death. 
 
 Well might she have been overwhelmed, but hardly 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBEE. J$ 
 
 has the unhappy father finished speaking, when she, 
 already calmed and composed, not only expresses her 
 submission, but even with admirable terseness points 
 out the religious obligation of fulfilling an oath, and 
 tries to alleviate the anguish of her father by referring 
 to the victory granted to him by the Lord. What a 
 generosity and resignation — and not a trace of pathos. 
 
 She makes but one request — an entirely girlish re- 
 quest : Two months shall be granted to her, during 
 which time she wishes to go up to the mountains with 
 her companions, with them to lament her virginity. 
 "To lament her virginity " ; this is a characteristic 
 trait of the Jewess of olden times. Jewish women 
 knew of no greater calamity, of no deeper grief, than to 
 remain childless — not to contribute to a new genera- 
 tion. 
 
 Barrenness was deemed a misfortune, yea, even a 
 punishment of the L,ord (entirely in contrast to Chris- 
 tian views). To have many children, and to bring 
 them up in the love of God, was the greatest pride of 
 every Jewess. Naturally, the grown-up young woman 
 cherished the same hope to become in time a " Mother 
 in Israel." 
 
 " Thus the intention of Jephtha's daughter to" lament 
 her virginity " can be well understood, even by non- 
 Jews. " And it came to pass, after two months she 
 returned to her father, and he did with her as he had 
 vowed." 
 
 It is recorded that it became a custom of young Jew- 
 ish girls to go every year for some days to her grave 
 " to sing of the daughter of Jephtha." This prevailing 
 custom of the Jews to dedicate to dear departed ones 
 "songs of lamentation,'' shows a deep sense of grati- 
 tude and a reverential spirit. 
 
74 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, presents a similar 
 character of submission and love for God. She is un- 
 happy, though tenderly loved by her husband. The 
 grief of Jewish women weighs her down ; she is child- 
 less. The gentle woman quietly bears her misfortune, 
 yet the husband becomes aware of her secret tears. 
 " Hannah, why wilt thou weep? Why wilt thou not 
 eat ? Why should thy heart be so grieved ? Am I not 
 better to thee than ten sons? " A kind word, indeed. 
 But the greater the kindness of the husband, the deeper 
 the grief of Hannah that she does not bring to him the 
 blessing of children. 
 
 The most amiable qualities of human nature, the 
 tenderest connubial love, finds expression in this de- 
 voted couple. Once, as at a certain time they went to 
 Shiloh, to bring their yearly offering to the Lord in 
 the temple, Hannah's long concealed grief broke forth. 
 She wept bitterly while her lips moved in silent, fer- 
 vent prayer, and she made a vow : " Lord of hosts, if 
 Thou wilt look upon the affliction of Thy hand-maid 
 and remember me to give me a male child, then will I 
 give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and no 
 razor shall come upon his head.* 
 
 God grants her desire. A son is given unto her, 
 and after she has weaned the child, she brings him, 
 faithful to her vow, to the Temple of Shiloh, that he 
 should there serve the Lord. 
 
 Her glorious prayer of thanks contains many sen- 
 tences which later on, somewhat altered, found a place 
 in the New Testament: " The bow of the mighty is 
 broken, and those that stumbled are girded with 
 
 * That is, he should be consecrated to the Lord. Mark the 
 independence of the Jewess with which she determines the 
 future of her son. 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBEE. 75 
 
 strength." " The Lord killeth, and niaketh alive ; He 
 bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. He 
 raiseth up out of the dust the poor, He lifteth up the 
 needy, to set them among the nobles, and He assigneth 
 them the throne of glory. He ever guardeth tne feet 
 of the pious ones, and the wicked ones shall be made 
 silent in darkness ; for not by strength can man pre- 
 vail." 
 
 Every year Hannah came up with her husband to 
 offer her sacrifice, and at the same time she brought to 
 her boy Samuel a little overcoat. She had three sons 
 and two daughters besides Samuel. 
 
 Abigail, the wife of Nabal, must not be omitted in 
 this series of prominent Biblical women. David asks 
 of rich but mean Nabal, who celebrates a feast, for 
 some food for his exhausted men, which request Nabal 
 insultingly refuses. David determines to take revenge 
 for the insult ; a faithful servant, however, informs 
 Abigail of his intention. She at once sends rich pres- 
 ents to David, and she herself goes to meet him. She 
 addresses him fearlessly, and yet so modestly, that 
 David answers her: " Blessed be the L,ord, the God of 
 Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, and blessed 
 be thy intelligence, and blessed be thou, who has pre- 
 vented me this day from coming unto blood-guiltiness." 
 
 The further one proceeds reading the Bible, the 
 more one becomes aware of the candor of the scribes ; 
 they never palliate, but give the simple facts. 
 
 This is seen very obviously in the narrative about 
 Ruth. The heroine of this lovely idyll is a Moabitish 
 woman. The intermarriage with the daughters of 
 Moab was not expressly interdicted to the Jews. Ruth 
 became the daughter-in-law of Naomi, who had come 
 
y6 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 to Moab with her husband and two sons during a fam- 
 ine in tl e land of Judea. 
 
 After years of sojourning there, her husband and 
 both the sons died, and she longed to return home to 
 Judea. The two young wives accompany her, but at 
 the border she tries to persuade them to remain with 
 their people. " Go, return each one to her mother's 
 house ; may the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have 
 dealt with the dead and with me. May the Lord grant 
 unto you that ye may find rest, each one in the house 
 of her husband." 
 
 Both of them lovingly refuse to go, but she persists. 
 " Turn back, my daughters — even if I will miss you — 
 but the Eternal will be with me." Orpah returns, but 
 Ruth does not leave her. 
 
 Ruth's surpassingly tender words are an everlasting 
 testimony of faithful devotion: " Urge me not to leave 
 thee, to return from following thee ; for whither thou 
 goest, zvill I go, and where thou lodgesl, will I lodge ; 
 thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. 
 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried ; 
 may the Lord do so to me, and may He so continue, 
 if aught but death shall part me from thee." 
 
 Ruth and Naomi are so destitute that Ruth has to 
 take advantage of the privilege of the Jewish poor to 
 glean in the fields what is left for them there after the 
 harvest. She brings home to her mother-in-law the 
 gleanings, as well as part of the food which she re- 
 ceived in the field of Boaz. 
 
 A book could be written about the delicate psycho- 
 logical traits manifested by these three so different 
 characters, Boaz, Ruth and Naomi, in their relations to 
 each other. Naomi, truly great in her uprightness of 
 
WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. J? 
 
 thought and of dealing, is convinced that the noble, 
 virtuous Boaz and her beloved Ruth, if they were 
 united, would become a blessed and blessing-bestow- 
 ing couple. The wish of her heart is realized. Ruth 
 becomes the wife of Boaz and the foremother of King 
 David. At the birth of their first son, the women of 
 Bethlehem hasten to Naomi to wish her joy : " She 
 who is better to thee than seven sons, has born a son ! 
 He will be unto thee one who refresheth thy soul and 
 nourisheth thy old age. Blessed be the Lord, who 
 hath not allowed to be wanting unto thee a kinsman 
 this day; blessed be the name of the Lord forever- 
 more! " 
 
 "Blessed be the name of the Lord for evermore /" 
 This ever-recurring praising and calling to the Lord, 
 and this continual thinking of the Eternal, this refer- 
 ring to Him the great and the small, the joyful and the 
 sorrowful events, this is a characteristic trait of Biblical 
 woman — nay, of all the Jeivish people. This trait can 
 be traced from the earliest times up into our own 
 period, for it is still found in God-fearing Jewish fam- 
 ilies. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JEWISH QUEENS. 
 
 WOMEN who swayed the sceptre often displayed 
 a wonderful power of personality. They gave 
 proof of a will-power and dignity, an energy and ac- 
 tivity, which many a man might have envied. 
 
 Still, sovereigns are enabled to govern only in so far 
 as their intellect and mind are developed and culti- 
 tivated ; without self-knowledge, or any knowledge of 
 the means by which to exert a beneficial influence on 
 the destiny of nations, they can but rule, rule justly 
 or unjustly, according to their unrestrained passions. 
 The Bible, however, teaches the solemn lesson : In- 
 justice, by whomsoever committed, is an offense pun- 
 ished by Jehovah. Amos, the prophet, declares in the 
 name of Jehovah right is right everywhere, wrong 
 always wrong, even though perpetrated against Israel's 
 worst enemies. " Let justice roll along like water, 
 and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Amos 5 : 24.) 
 
 In the first Book of Kings we find an awe-inspiring 
 instance of Jehovah's punishment of atrocious injus- 
 tice committed on the throne : " Ahab, the King over 
 Israel, did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord. And 
 it came to pass, as if it had been too light a thing 
 for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of 
 Neboth, that he took for a wife Jezebel, the daughter of 
 78 
 
JEWISH QUEENS. 79 
 
 Ethbaal, the King of the Zidonians, and went and 
 served Baal, and worshiped him." 
 
 Jezebel, the Phoenician princess, although wedded to 
 the King of Israel, never became a Jewess, but even 
 introduced the worship of Baal in the dominion of her 
 husband. Ahab himself built a Baal's temple, and 
 in it erected an altar to this idol. 
 
 Not satisfied with this, Jezebel stained her hands with 
 the blood of the prophets, who remained faithful to 
 Jehovah. She even stretched out her hand against 
 Elijah, who, however, was wonderfully saved. 
 
 Jezebel's wickedness of heart was fully displayed in 
 the grossly vile murder of Naboth, who was not will- 
 ing to part with the vineyard, the inheritance of his 
 fathers, which Ahab desired for an herb garden. 
 
 Jezebel misused her royal power, employed false wit- 
 nesses, and had the innocent Naboth stoned to satisfy 
 the whim of her husband. 
 
 One is forced to admire the impartiality of the 
 scribes, who, without palliating, relate all the facts as 
 they transpired. 
 
 Jezebel's horrid deeds kindled the wrath of the Eter- 
 nal, and His just retribution is manifested by her ig- 
 nominious death. "And they went to bury her, but 
 they found nothing of her but the skull, and the feet, 
 and the palms of the hands, for in the fields of Jezreel 
 the dogs ate the flesh of Jezebel." This was her end, 
 an awful memento mori for all those who abuse imperial 
 power. 
 
 The strange narrative of Esther, so " beautiful of 
 form and handsome of appearance," who was made 
 Queen after the banishment of the dignified and modest 
 Vashti by despotic Ahasuerus (others say Xerxes, or 
 
So THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Artaxerxes Longimanus), is well-nigh too nnhistorical 
 to deserve special mention. 
 
 Interesting are the various attempts to prove that 
 this is not at all a Jewish script. Firstly on account 
 of the fact that the incident of slaying a multitude of 
 men with their wives and children is wholly un-Jew- 
 ish, and, furthermore, because in the whole Book of 
 Esther there is not once mentioned the name of God. 
 The last fact is indeed convincing that the author was 
 no Jew.* 
 
 After the ghastly death of Jezebel, the "Brunhild of 
 the Bible," as a modern author calls her, there is for a 
 long time no mention of any Jewish queen. Many of 
 the passages are obscure and legendary. A number 
 of kings of very doubtful merit succeeded one another, 
 under whose reign idolatry and immorality became 
 more and more prevalent. 
 
 At last the name of Athaliah occurs. She was the 
 mother of Ahaziah, of whom it is written: "Also 
 he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his 
 mother was his counselor to act wickedly." (II. Chron. 
 22: 3.) 
 
 After Ahaziah was slain by Jehu, and Athaliah 
 saw that her son was dead, "she arose and destroyed 
 
 - :: 'Zunz, in his collection of essays, says: "All difficulties 
 disappear if one accedes to the theory of the Persian origin of 
 the Purim Feast, and considers the narrative a poetical crea- 
 tion. The Persians celebrated a feast in the seventh month, 
 at which occasion presents were sent around, and the poor 
 richly remembered. The Jews, sojourning for a long period 
 in these countries, became used to the custom, as is even now 
 the case in Germany with the presents on Christmas. The 
 Elders, who could not abolish the custom, took care to pro- 
 vide a Jewish origin for the feast by the story of Esther. 
 
JEWISH QUEENS. 8l 
 
 all the seed royal." That is all that history records 
 of her reign. 
 
 Also to her was meted out just retribution. By vio- 
 lence she ascended the throne, and by violence she 
 lost throne and life. 
 
 One son of Ahaziah, a young boy, had been se- 
 cretly saved, and was proclaimed king in the sixth 
 year of her reign, and she was executed by the op- 
 posing faction. 
 
 Also under the new king, and his descendants, irre- 
 ligion and depravity steadily increased. The most 
 remarkable phenomenon of these times of demorali- 
 zation is the advent of the prophets, among whom also 
 a woman, the prophetess Hulda, acquired great au- 
 thority, and whose counsel was sought in important 
 questions. 
 
 During the period of Jewish wars against their op- 
 pressors, until the time of their independence, we find 
 no names of women mentioned, although there were 
 thousands who gave proof of that wonderful hero- 
 ism, that strong and fervid patriotism of the Jews, of 
 which later on will be spoken. 
 
 John Hyrcanos, a noble and God-fearing sover- 
 eign, bequeathed to his wife, (name unknown), his 
 entire authority; he "left her to be mistress of 
 all." This proves, very forcibly, in what high esteem 
 she must have been held by Hyrcanos as well as by 
 the people. Aristobolus, her ambitious son, however, 
 is said to have committed the monstrously barbaric 
 act of casting her into prison, where she died from 
 hunger. 
 
 " However, this appears to be an invention. If this 
 had been true, why should he have not disposed in 
 6 
 
82 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 a similar manner of his brothers?" — Isaac M. Wise, 
 " History of the Hebrew Second Commonwealth." 
 
 Salome, the wife of Aristobolus, must have been his 
 superior in every respect. After his death she did not 
 retain the regal power for herself, but released the 
 three brothers of her dead husband, who had been im- 
 prisoned by him, and proclaimed one of them, Alex- 
 ander Jannaeus, king. 
 
 Alexander Jannaeus married Salome, as the Law of 
 Moses ordained, and reigned successfully for twenty- 
 seven years, securing peace by severe measures. A 
 mortal sickness befalling him, he summoned his wife 
 to his bedside, and gave her such advice as would 
 secure the kingdom to her, although she had two 
 grown-up sons. She must have been a judicious, 
 God-fearing woman, for she succeeded in maintain- 
 ing peace among the sorely-tried subjects, and in 
 gaining the friendship and assistance of the Phari- 
 sees, who had obtained a powerful ascendenc)^. 
 
 Herod, the son of Antipater, a convert to Judaism, 
 who later on won great renown, was born in the sev- 
 enth year of her administration. 
 
 Salome, who assumed the name of Alexandra, kept 
 the kingdom free from invasions of enemies, and her 
 subjects enjoyed prosperity and peace. She died at 
 the age of seventy-three years, at a time when her 
 wisdom was most needed by her country. The elders 
 of the nation came to seek her counsel even on her 
 death-bed. 
 
 The difficulty in question was, that her elder son 
 and rightful heir to the throne, Hyrcanos, was com- 
 pletely deficient in all the qualities required by a suc- 
 cessful ruler, while Aristobolus, the younger but more 
 
JEWISH QUEENS. 83 
 
 energetic brother, had stolen away from Jerusalem, 
 and had secretly secured the allegiance of his friends 
 in the different fortresses. 
 
 Amid this confusion Alexandra died. The perni- 
 cious quarrels of the brothers, their appeal and final 
 subjection to Rome, destroyed all bonds of peace and 
 allegiance which womanly precaution had secured by 
 years of patient endeavor. 
 
 After Roman minions had poisoned Aristobolus, 
 had put to death his son, Alexander, and after they 
 had perpetrated other atrocities, Herod was pro- 
 claimed King of Judea, through the intervention of 
 Antonius and Octavius, of the Roman Senate. 
 
 Herod had no right to this title, for he was a for 
 eigner, and a very doubtful proselyte, as he showed 
 by his deeds. He united himself, by an act of policy, 
 with Mariamne, the youthful representative of the 
 Asmonseans. Mariamne could not have been more 
 than fourteen or fifteen years old when she became 
 the wife of Herod, whose sister, Salome, bore her a 
 deadly hatred. 
 
 The fate of the beautiful and lovely daughter of 
 Alexander is, indeed, of utmost pathos and tragic. 
 From the poet Chalderon to the keen-witted Vol- 
 taire, and passionate Hebbel, her touching relations 
 to Herod have been effectively dramatized. 
 
 During the siege of Jerusalem Herod returned to 
 Samaria to wed Mariamne, four years after their be- 
 trothal. 
 
 It was ambition, as much as love, which induced 
 Herod to seek this marriage. Forced to go to Rome 
 without his wife, Herod invested his uncle, Joseph, 
 with the power of command, and at the same time 
 
84 the Jewish woman. 
 
 gave him the secret order to slay Mariarnne instantly, 
 if he should be condemned to death by Anthony. 
 
 The reason that Herod gave for this cruelty was, 
 that he loved Mariarnne so intensely that he could 
 not bear the thought of her becoming the wife of an- 
 other man after his death. Besides this given reason, 
 however, there was another one, not revealed by Her- 
 od's words, but by his deeds — he could not bear the 
 thought that the Asmonseans should regain their legal 
 inheritance, in case of his death. 
 
 Joseph, wishing to awaken a warmer interest in 
 Mariarnne for her husband— for her affection had died 
 away since her brother's murder — intrusted to her the 
 command he had received from Herod at his parting, 
 in order to prove to her how deep a love he bore for 
 her. 
 
 What must the young queen have felt at the revela- 
 tion of the cruel selfishness of her husband ! 
 
 Salome, the sister of Herod, and the bitter enemy of 
 his wife, met Herod on his return to Judea, and charged 
 Mariarnne and Joseph with dishonorable relations. She, 
 the unbeloved and neglected princess, sought to re- 
 venge herself on her, who was honored and cherished 
 by everyone, who, as if by a charm, won all hearts. 
 
 Mariamue's purity and truthfulness, however, had 
 impressed Herod so deeply that with him her word 
 outweighed the accusation of Salome, and he asked 
 Mariamne's pardon for his suspicion. Touched by his 
 confidence, she, in the same confiding spirit, appealed 
 to him whether the command to slay her, in case of his 
 execution by the Romans, was a just one. Herod, in- 
 furiated by her question, which seemed to imply an 
 understanding with Joseph, rushed at her with his 
 
JEWISH QUEENS. 85 
 
 drawn sword, but her calmness and beauty disarmed 
 him. Joseph, however, was executed without even a 
 trial. 
 
 Five years later Herod went on another expedition, 
 and again he gave the cruel command to his treasurer 
 that in case of his death, not only Mariamne, but also 
 her mother, Alexandra, should be executed. As on 
 the previous occasion, Sohemus, the treasurer, dis- 
 closed the barbarous command to Mariamne. 
 
 On Herod's return he was received by Mariamne 
 with coldness. After all that had passed, how could 
 she receive him differently? She was too noble- 
 minded to stoop to deceit; she, a true Asmonaean, 
 could not dissemble, even in the face of the danger of 
 death. 
 
 Herod, enraged at her indifference, and incited by 
 the scheming Salome, who again accused Mariamne of 
 dishonorable conduct, at once ordered the execution 
 of Sohemus. Mariamne was summoned before a tri- 
 bunal, which, on false accusations, proffered by false 
 witnesses, condemned her for attempting the life of 
 Herod by poison. 
 
 Mariamne met her death with quiet dignity, sur- 
 rounded by a vast multitude of people, who, in awed 
 silence, pitied her youth and surpassing beauty. She 
 was twenty-five years old when she was executed. 
 
 Even Josephus, who does not render full justice to 
 her character, is forced to say : " And thus died Mari- 
 amne, a woman of excellent character, both for chastity 
 and greatness of soul." 
 
 After years of machinations and intrigues of the 
 scheming Salome, Mariamne's two sons, Alexander and 
 Aristobulus, " noble in mind and handsome in appear- 
 
86 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 ance," had to share the fearful fate of their unhappy- 
 mother. 
 
 Thus ended the last scions of an illustrious family, 
 who had given a series of righteous and renowned 
 rulers to the people of Israel. Herod's tyrannical 
 cruelty, bordering on insanity, is well known. To 
 him was imputed the so-called " Bethlehemic " child- 
 slaughter. Under his disastrous government the peo- 
 ple grew more and more disheartened, and the teach- 
 ers and leaders became dejected. 
 
 In order to be able to take for second wife Mariamne, 
 the daughter of the priest, Simon ben Boeth, Herod, 
 with self-assumed power, deprived the high-priest, 
 Joshua, of his office, and gave it to Simon. By this 
 arbitrary proceeding he divested high-priesthood of all 
 its dignity and inviolableness. Out of the ensuing 
 confusion of opinions, three different factions gradu- 
 ally formed. One of them, the Pharisees, faithfully 
 adhered to the teachings of Judaism, Hillel presiding 
 over their schools. He advanced the old Jewish 
 maxim, "Love thy neighbor as thyself.'''' The Sad- 
 ducees formed the second party ; they endeavored to 
 reestablish the independence of the Jewish state ; out 
 of the third party, the Essenes, came forth Jesus of 
 Nazareth, who sought to fuse new ideas with the old 
 Jewish laws. 
 
 After the Asmonaeans, among whom are found 
 some of the most estimable and lovely female charac- 
 ters, the group of Herodotians appear. Besides the 
 intriguing Salome, there are mentioned Glaphyra, the 
 daughter of King Archelaus, of Cappadocia, who was 
 wedded to the ill-fated Alexander ; and the daughter of 
 Salome, Bernice, the wife of young Aristobulus. Besides 
 
JEWISH QUEENS. 87 
 
 these, Herodias, Drusilla, and another Salome (the 
 dancer), are named. All of these sovereigns show the 
 influence of the Greco-Roman licentiousness and de- 
 pravity more or less in their deeds. 
 
 The last Jewish queen, Cypros, was the faithful, up- 
 right wife of the prodigal, inconsiderate Herod Agrippa. 
 Courageously she stood by him in his various exigen- 
 cies, and at last had the satisfaction of seeing him 
 honored and beloved by the people. 
 
 Strange and changeful as was Agrippa's life, so 
 singular was also his death. At a national festival, 
 where he appeared in a mantle entirely embroidered 
 with silver, he suddenly perceived an owl hovering 
 above him; and remembering a prediction, he became 
 so frightened that he fell sick, and within five days 
 died. He left, besides a son seventeen years old, three 
 daughters, Bernice, Mariamne and Drusilla. 
 
 Roman satirists and historians speak slightingly of 
 these Jewish princesses. The cause of their dislike 
 was the fact that they were Jewesses. 
 
 " A glance over the appendix of the fifth book of 
 Tacitus's history will show the unfavorable light in 
 which the Romans were accustomed to regard the be- 
 lief, customs and ordinances of Judaism ; and, there- 
 fore, it is more than likely that the very fact of Ber- 
 nice's being a Jewish woman, unusually beautiful and 
 gifted, admired by Vespasian, and actually beloved and 
 nearly wedded by Titus, should have excited the ex- 
 treme jealousy of the Romans ; from such a predisposi- 
 tion, calumny and suspicion, however base and un- 
 founded, are sure to proceed. 
 
 " Josephus, whose history favors the Romans, and 
 who adopts their views as much as possible, of course 
 
88 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 brings forward the same reproaches, which, however, 
 he never attempts to prove." — G. Aguilar. 
 
 With the end of Agrippa the end of the Jewish" 
 kingdom was at hand. For a short time Judea re- 
 mained a Roman province, but this short intermission 
 was soon followed by its entire destruction. 
 
 Jost, in his " History of Judaism," gives a graphical 
 picture of this period : " The curtain had dropped; the 
 scene of those memorable events which glorify the 
 last days of Jerusalem — this scene had been destroyed, 
 the whole land was covered with ruins. The banner- 
 bearers of religion had fallen by the sword ; the pris- 
 oners were either driven into the arena, a prey for 
 wild beasts, or sold into servitude. Fugitives sought 
 security and shelter in distant lands. The dwelling 
 places of the people, who, for the sake of their sacred 
 trust, had entered the lists against the mightiest among 
 the nations, offered the sad spectacle of desolation — 
 widows and orphans, without protectors, vainly seek- 
 ing for bread, weaklings whom war had disregardingly 
 passed by, acres unploughed, plantations neglected, 
 produce of the soil a spoil of wild hordes overrunning 
 the desolated fields. What hope was left there ? What 
 remained for the despairing few, for the rest of the 
 fearfully tried people, bu': to subject themselves to 
 the victor, to renounce ad independence, and without 
 power to resist the disintegrating influences, gradually 
 to pass away? 
 
 " The effect, however, was a different one ; an entirely 
 opposed one. The weapons of the enemy had sub- 
 dued the insurrection, but not the spirit which ani- 
 mated it. The victors had devastated the land, de- 
 stroyed the wealth, cut off all means of subsistence, 
 
JEWISH QUEENS. 89 
 
 crushed and dispersed the combatants, but in the weak 
 few who escaped — in them lived on unshaken hope; 
 hope, the constant companion and consolation of 
 Israel. The Romans had fought the Jews who had 
 opposed their might, but not their Judaism. 
 
 "Jewish communities still existed, which did not pro- 
 voke persecution ; there remained quiet inhabitants 
 who gave no cause for suspicion, and from the scholars 
 who naturally looked unfavorably on war; from them 
 only a quieting influence on the minds could be ex- 
 pected. Religion revived.''' Yea, it gained adherents 
 in distant countries. Jews had settled in Adiabene, 
 a kingdom in Assyria, and the Queen, Helena, ac- 
 cepted their faith. Izates, her son, had been educated 
 at the Court of Abenering, King of Characene, and 
 there, by a strange coincidence, turned a convert to 
 Judaism at the same time. Both remained zealous 
 adherents to the faith of the Only God. 
 
 Helena journeyed to Jerusalem to worship at the 
 holy shrine, though a famine was raging there. She 
 and her son relieved the suffering in Jerusalem, as 
 much as it was in their powers. They distributed 
 large quantities of corn, dried figs and money. They 
 reigned twenty-four years in peace and security, always 
 intent on the welfare of the people. 
 
 After the death of Helena and of her son, Izates,, 
 their remains were transported, according to their 
 wish, to Jerusalem, and there interred. Their succes- 
 sors also embraced Judaism. 
 
 Empress Poppea was likewise kindly inclined to- 
 wards the Jews, and tried to palliate the injustice in- 
 flicted on them. Aures Damia, who was honored by 
 
9<D THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 the title " Cahena " (Priestess), was the Queen of a 
 
 Jewish tribe on the African coast. She fought cour- 
 ts 
 ageously at the head of her army against an over- 
 whelming enemy. Judith, a Queen of the Fellahs, 
 made Judaism the national religion. Her dynasty 
 reigned up to the tenth century, at which time Chris- 
 tianity was enforced in her realm by the Crusaders. 
 
 All the foregoing facts go to prove that "the woman 
 of Israel enjoyed a temporal power and privileges 
 peculiarly her own, and that she was debarred in not a 
 single instance of the spiritual privileges and solemn 
 responsibilities which had been bestowed upon her by 
 the law of God." — G. Agui/ar. Some of the last 
 princesses of the Idumaean line, who never faithfully 
 followed the laws of Jehovah, but remained addicted to 
 idolatrous customs, show in their character how wom- 
 an's nature, if not controlled by self-criticism, turns to 
 extremes. With them the inborn womanly gentle- 
 ness changed into cruelty, humility into haughtiness, 
 modesty into frivolity. 
 
 The peculiar inmost nature of woman is liable to 
 become perverted by a station of power and publicity, 
 if her easily excitable sensibilities are not subdued by 
 the harmonious education of mind and heart, if she 
 does not learn self-control. 
 
 However, if some women became presumptuous in 
 fortune, others showed their true nobility in trials. 
 
 We will learn in the following chapters that Jewish 
 woman proved an elevation of mind and greatness of 
 soul in affliction and calamities, before which every 
 other heroism fades. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 " My mother's sons were angry with me." 
 
 So/omon's Song. 
 
 JERUSALEM had been destroyed. The temple 
 lay in ashes. The city was leveled to the ground. 
 i.ioo.ooo Israelites perished during the siege; 
 97,000 languished in Roman captivity; 2,000, despair- 
 ing, committed suicide ; nearly 3,000 were cast as prey 
 to wild beasts, or burnt for the amusement of the 
 public ; and 230,000 fell in other places as victims of 
 this war. The remaining few, who dared to cling to 
 the belief in the One and Only God, were threatened 
 constantly with death. 
 
 Strange that the heroism of the one, the inhuman 
 bloodthirst of the other, was not finally exhausted ; 
 that it continued .through centuries, even until our 
 age. 
 
 Was there ever written a history of the persecu- 
 tions of the Jews ? One is led to the belief that such 
 a history could never be completed. The writer could 
 not but be overwhelmed with shame and horror. The 
 compilations of the accounts are blood-curdling. 
 
 It is related in the Talmud that at the conquest 
 of the fortress Bethar the blood of the slain women 
 
 9i 
 
92 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 and children flowed like a stream into the sea a mile 
 distant. 
 
 The dispersed Jews found everywhere smaller or 
 larger Jewish settlements, for many of their forefathers 
 had emigrated, centuries ago, on account of persecu- 
 tion. The Jews became cosmopolitan. They remem- 
 bered the words of Jeremiah : " Promote the welfare 
 of the city where thou dwelleth." L,ater teachers en- 
 joined on them to uphold the laws of the land which 
 they inhabited as faithfully as their own laws. Al- 
 ready during the sway of the Romans Jews had set- 
 tled in Cologne. By inherited habits they cultivated 
 vineyards, became farmers and craftsmen — only a few 
 of them turned to trade. I. M. Schleiden remarks : 
 " The Jews were farmers until the Christians deprived 
 them of their possessions." 
 
 The dexterity, industry and quiet habits of the Jews 
 gradually dispelled the prejudice of their enemies, and 
 finally they would have been permitted to live in un- 
 disturbed peace if now the Christians had not arisen 
 against them. 
 
 "All persecutions by the heathens and Mohamme- 
 dans were now of rare occurrence, and of short dura- 
 tion. The really atrocious persecutions of the Jews, 
 which have now lasted 800 years, commenced only 
 wtth the Christians." — /. M. Schleiden. 
 
 Manslaughter became canonically sanctioned by the 
 crusades. More than seven millions of men were slain, 
 " to the glory of God," and just as many were reduced 
 to beggary. 
 
 It was the women who encouraged the men fear- 
 lessly to meet death. When, during the first crusade, 
 the Jews in Mayence were threatened by the rabble 
 
IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. 93 
 
 with death, in case they did not submit to baptism, 
 then the wives with their children assembled, request- 
 ing the husbands first to slay them, and then to com- 
 mit suicide. 
 
 Where the choice was left to them between death 
 and baptism, there thousands threw themselves into 
 the flames, or drowned themselves, with the old sacred 
 exclamation on their lips, " The Lord is the God of 
 Israel, the Lord is One ! " 
 
 Suffering the most appalling cruelties, the Jew and 
 the Jewess remained faithful to their God. The whole 
 contents of the collection of " Poetry in the Synagogue 
 During the Middle Ages," compiled by L. Zunz, speaks 
 of their fear of the L,ord and their fearlessness of death. 
 Scarcely had those who survived recovered from 
 the horrors of the first crusade, when, already, the fore- 
 bodings of the second one could be perceived. Whole 
 families were slaughtered, false accusations being 
 brought against them. Jewish books and scrolls even 
 were burned. At Paris, besides the works of Maimo- 
 nides, twelve hundred volumes of Talmudic books and 
 commentaries were consigned to the flames. 
 
 The year 1391 was a year of mourning for the Jews 
 of Spain. The inquisition had been established, and 
 Thomas Torquemado, a monk of the order of St. Do- 
 minic, was appointed chief inquisitor. In a few months 
 more than ten thousand human beings fell victims to 
 fierce fanaticism. The clergy, which exercised a great 
 influence, roused the prejudice of the people against 
 the Jews. The kings became imbued with the same 
 fanatic spirit, and favored the conversion of Jews, and 
 still more so the confiscation of the possessions of the 
 unconverted ones. 
 
94 TH E JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 In order to save life some Jews submitted to bap- 
 tism, but remained Jews at heart. These converts 
 were called Marannos. As they were prosperous, they 
 roused the envy of the populace, and never were safe 
 from the spies of the fearful inquisition. 
 
 Finally, in the year 1492, the Jews were expelled 
 from Spain. It was left to their choice either to ac- 
 cept Christianity or to become exiles. 
 
 Ferdinand and Queen Isabella made good use of the 
 Jews as long as they needed them, then they offered 
 them the alternative of baptism or death ; at last, after 
 having deprived them of their possessions, they drove 
 them into exile. But with the expulsion of these 
 thrifty and industrious people the resources of the 
 land were diminished and it became destitute. The 
 impartial historian, I. M. Schleiden, writes : " The 
 exclusive managers of the persecutions of the Jews 
 were the bishops. They, among the Christians, proved 
 to be the incarnation of ignorance and licentiousness. 
 With few exceptions, they spent their lives in idleness 
 and revelry. For this they needed money, much money. 
 As far as it was feasible this was procured by taxes 
 and begging for the church. But their own congrega- 
 tions had to be somewhat spared, so they turned to the 
 heretic Jews, whom they found convenient, defenseless 
 objects for plunder. That this was the real motive and 
 object of the persecutions of the Jews is proven by the 
 decrees of the councils, by the laws, and by the very 
 proceedings. All this was aggravated by envious 
 hatred, provoked by the intellectual as well as moral 
 superiority of the Jews. Every Jew with whom they 
 came in contact proved a confounding satire on their 
 ignorance and stupidity. 
 
IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. 95 
 
 " In the frequent disputations of the clergy and the 
 Jewish teachers, the former were every time ignomin- 
 iously worsted. 
 
 "Most of the priests were not even conversant with 
 the Bible, the knowledge of which had become part 
 and parcel of the inner life of the Jew." 
 
 Bishop Agobard, of L,yons, complained " that the 
 sermons of the Jews in their synagogues were pro- 
 nounced, even by Christians, as better and more edify- 
 ing than those of the Christian priests." 
 
 It is well known how the ridiculous accusations of 
 the killing of Christian children, and of poisoning the 
 wells were circulated among the populace, how they 
 were credited, and of what endless misery they were 
 the cause. The priestly slaughterers gradually became 
 aware that the steadfast adherence of the Jews to their 
 faith had to be ascribed, in most cases, to the heroism 
 of Jewish women. As a consequence, the persecution 
 of women increased. In the year 1501 sixty-seven 
 Jewesses were burned. A number of women drowned 
 themselves in despair; in other places they were driven 
 away. We read repeatedly of women who sought 
 death in the floods. 
 
 Their prototype is Esther, the daughter of the magis- 
 trate of a synagogue, who, in the eleventh century, 
 with a number of companions, all weighted down with 
 stones, threw themselves into the Moselle. Nearly 
 one hundred thousand women and girls sought death 
 in this manner in order that they should not be forced 
 to be faithless to the God of Israel, to the One and 
 Only God. 
 
 A touching incident is related which occurred in 
 those days. Some Rabbis, sailing on the Mediterranean 
 
96 THK JEWISH WOMAN 
 
 Sea, fell into the hands of pirates. One of them, 
 Rabbi Moses, was accompanied by his wife and child. 
 The captain fell in love with the Rabbi's wife, and 
 pursued her with his attentions. 
 
 Vainly seeking to avoid his advances, she asked her 
 husband in Hebrew whether those who perish in the 
 sea could hope for resurrection? He answered her 
 with the words of the Bible : " The Lord hath said, 
 from Basham I will bring back, I will bring back from 
 the depths of the sea. " Without further hesitation she 
 threw herself into the sea and was drowned. 
 
 Esther, a Grecian Jewess, wife of Jacob Cohen, met 
 a similar fate on her flight from Italy in the year 1532. 
 
 More fortunate was a Jewess by the name of Maria 
 Nunnes Pereyra. On her flight from Holland she was 
 made a captive by an English ship. Her charming 
 ways and the dignity of her deportment made such a 
 ,deep impression on the owner of the vessel, who was 
 an English duke, that he wooed her with passionate 
 eagerness. He offered her his hand, and although she 
 refused his offer, because in order to become his wife 
 she would have had to renounce her faith, he still 
 hoped to win her. 
 
 He remained near her at their arrival in London, 
 and introduced her to Queen Elizabeth. The Queen 
 herself soon felt so deep an interest in the beautiful 
 and highly educated Jewess that she asked her to 
 accept Christianity and to become the wife of the duke. 
 The favor of the Queen could not fail to impress the 
 fugitive, who needed protection in the foreign land; 
 nevertheless, she remained faithful to the Eternal, and 
 declined conversion. Finally the Queen dismissed her, 
 not ungraciously, and she went to Holland. In Am- 
 
IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. 97 
 
 sterdam she gathered around herself a number of faith- 
 ful adherents of the Mosaic law. This was the begin- 
 ning of the later-on large and influential Jewish com- 
 munity.* 
 
 Another interesting Jewess of superior attainments 
 ought likewise to be mentioned here: Donna Grazia 
 Nasi, who was born in Portugal in the year 1501. She 
 was left a widow in her twenty-fifth year, and had to 
 face most trying circumstances. 
 
 The establishment of the Inquisition, which from 
 year to year exacted enormous sums from the Jews 
 on the most trivial pretenses, forced Donna Grazia to 
 flee to Holland, in order to save her life and fortune. 
 Here she had to deny her belief; but she could not 
 endure this dissimulation, and was anxious to move 
 to a place where she could openly acknowledge her 
 faith. Only after enormous sacrifices and sufferings 
 did she find a refuge in Venice. From there she 
 went to Ferrara, and finally to Constantinople. Here, 
 among the Turks, she obtained what Christians had 
 refused her — the freedom to live without falsehood 
 and hypocrisy. She openly confessed Judaism, as- 
 sumed the name of Hannah, and evinced her deep 
 religiousness by her love for her coreligionists and b)^ 
 works of charity. 
 
 She founded synagogues and schools, promoted 
 learning and science in every way, and assisted the 
 poor and persecuted. 
 
 At that time, when the Pope, Pius IV., committed 
 horrible atrocities against peaceful Jews, Grazia-Han- 
 nah obtained the assistance of the Sultan. He gave 
 
 * The Pereyras form even today a widespread family ; some 
 of them occupy high and influential positions. 
 
 7 
 
98 THK JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 them his protection and granted them refuge. She 
 died deeply deplored by a host of friends in the year 
 1569.* 
 
 Her daughter, Donna Reyna, was far more favored 
 by fortune. Out of love to her, and out of respect for 
 her mother, her husband accepted the Jewish faith. 
 At the side of her husband Donna Reyna rose higher 
 and higher, till at last she became Duchess of Naxos. 
 Sultan Suleiman gave to her husband the City of 
 Tiberias, which the latter settled with Jews. Selim, a 
 friend of the Sultan, made him Duke of Naxos, and 
 of the other Cyclades. Donna Reyna resembled her 
 mother in unwavering faithfulness to her inherited 
 belief. She used her riches in promoting science, and 
 she established several printing-houses. 
 
 In 1348, after the crusades, the Black Pestilence be- 
 gan to rage in Europe. The frightful disease afflicted 
 rich and poor, 3 T oung and old, but spared the Jewish 
 communities. This fact roused the suspicion and the 
 hate of the fanatics against the Jews. They were 
 not reasonable enough to understand that the frugal- 
 ity, moral conduct and clean habitsf of the Jews were 
 
 s Samuel Usque, in Ferrara, dedicated his work, " Consola- 
 tion for the Afflictions of Israel," to her. He praises her as 
 the " heart " of her people. His brother, Abraham, is indebted 
 to her for the publication of his Spanish Bible, which after- 
 wards became famous. 
 
 t There is a great deal of material at hand to prove the 
 sober habits and health-promoting ways of the Jews. 
 
 " The Jew, avoided and shunned, always left by himself, be- 
 came introspective, and thus the powers of his mind in- 
 creased. The peculiarity of the matter taught in the Rabbin- 
 ical schools, as well as the method of teaching, deadened the 
 senses for the outside world, but awakened the intellect even 
 
IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. 99 
 
 sufficient to explain the phenomenon. The Jews were 
 accused of poisoning the wells — as if they would not 
 have had to drink the same water ! The cry was 
 raised: " The Jews have poisoned the wells ! put them 
 to the rack ! " Accordingly the Jews were tortured, 
 burned, or killed by the sword. 
 
 Of the many martyrs, only one young heroine shall 
 be mentioned, Cataljna Terongi, sister of Raphael 
 Benito Terongi. On the 6th of May, 1691, she, with 
 twenty-five other sufferers, was led to the stake. All 
 their crime was the firm belief in the One and Only 
 God. Catalina, enveloped by the flames, screamed 
 with terror and pain, and piteously asked to be re- 
 leased. Questioned as to her willingness to be bapT 
 tized, she firmly refused, and dying, consoled her broth- 
 er expiring at her side. 
 
 Poets immortalized her in their songs, which the 
 women of the isle sing at their work even today. One 
 stanza of it reads : 
 
 " Com es foch li va arriba, 
 
 A ses riias des calsons, 
 Li deya : " Falet, not dons ; 
 
 Que te earn nos cremera." 
 
 (Encompassed by the scorching flame, 
 
 Dear brother, whom I cherish, 
 Trust in the Lord, O bless His name, 
 
 Our souls, they can not perish.) 
 
 in the dullest mind. This deadening of the senses is naturally 
 accompanied with utmost frugality, love of justice, and a moral 
 conduct, confined within religious bounds." — Dr. L. Philipp- 
 son. 
 
 When all these elements combine, bodily health will natur- 
 ally be promoted. 
 
IOO THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 These atrocities were perpetrated at the same time 
 when Bayle was completing his dictionary, when 
 Christian Thomasius* founded the first German news- 
 paper, Leibnitz stood in the full vigor of his creative 
 power, when Pascal's letters against the Jesuits had 
 been read during three decades, and his "Thoughts 
 About Religion " were published, when Fenlon's Tele- 
 mach had appeared in a great number of editions, 
 when Locke had written about " Religious Toleration," 
 and Newton lived and worked in the full power of his 
 great intellect ! 
 
 In the times of the first most cruel persecution the 
 Jewish women were possessed of an enthusiasm which 
 nearly verged upon frenzy, but the next generation, 
 born amidst anguish and trembling, gradually became 
 faint-hearted. They possessed no more the courageous 
 fearlessness of death ; they begged for their miserable 
 lives. The hierarchy continued to foster and propa- 
 gate fanaticism and superstition as bars against the 
 victorious, onward-pressing march of enlightenment. 
 
 The artificially developed fear of witchcraft made the 
 people look around suspiciously for persons whom 
 they might accuse. Jewish women, so different from 
 the others in their exterior as well as in their mode of 
 living, and especially the old and unprepossessing 
 ones, fell most frequently victims to the absurd accusa- 
 tion of beinar sorceresses. 
 
 * In his essay, " De crimine Magiae," he energetically and 
 vehemently fought the horrid witch trials, so that the tribu- 
 nals gradually became ashamed of putting in scene such blas- 
 phemous and inhuman proceedings. He was not quite as 
 successful as regards the stopping of torture, as will be seen 
 in the following pages. 
 
IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. IOI 
 
 But the theme is too sad. The reader who wishes 
 further information will find abundant sources of in- 
 formation. A Family-Megillah * dating from the year 
 1738, which came into the possession of Dr. J. M. Jost, 
 does not give the proceedings against a witch, but fur- 
 nishes an accurate picture of how, on false accusations, 
 Jewish people were repeatedly subjected, during five 
 years, to the same exceedingly cruel torture, followed 
 by the acquittal of the tortured on account of proofs 
 of their perfect innocence. 
 
 The account of these cruelties by one of the suffer- 
 ers is characteristic. No reproach, no complaint is to 
 be found; only gratitude for the kindness of the 
 Eternal is expressed. " Blessed be He who giveth 
 strength to the weak " — so begins the account, and 
 it ends, " The Lord save us in distress, and guard 
 us in times of trouble; make us glad, and satisfy our 
 wishes in His bountiful kindness and infinite mercy. 
 Amen!" 
 
 If in the year 1643 Tortenson's Swedes, on their 
 robbing expeditions, acted so brutally that, on their 
 approach, Jewish women and girls drowned them- 
 selves; if scholars, teachers, and rabbis, with their 
 wives and daughters were killed by the pillaging sol- 
 diery, then the excuse can be pleaded that the fury 
 of war had brutalized the people. If in 1680, at a court 
 festivity, for the enjoyment of the guests, Jews were 
 burned, with the exception of one of the accused, a 
 beautiful fifteen-year-old girl.BLANKA NoGUEiRA.who, 
 instead, was favored with a sentence of life-long im- 
 
 *In the "Year-book of History of the Jews ami Judaism." 
 (Vol. II., S. 39, ff.) 
 
102 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 prisonment, then this took place in Spain,* where, per- 
 haps, everything was possible. But imagine : torture 
 exercised during five years against innocent people, in 
 Germany in the eighteenth century, in the beginning 
 of the era of enlightenment, of humanitarianism, of 
 the sciences ! 
 
 Ten years later — 1748 — the Jews were excluded 
 from Posen, and a Jewess was executed as a witch in 
 Wiirzburg at the very time when Franklin invented 
 the lightning-rod, Pereyra, a Jew, perfected the art of 
 instructing the deaf and dumb, Montesquieus wrote his 
 essay, " The Spirit of the Law," by which the Inquisi- 
 tion was condemned, and I^essing depicted Jewish Cul- 
 ture in his "Jews." In 1751 Pope Benedict renewed 
 an old decree prohibiting all intercourse between 
 Christians and Jews. In 1753, on the Feast of Booths, 
 Feige, the daughter of Joseph of Balechow, and wife 
 of Dr. Israel, though innocent, was beheaded. 
 
 But enough of examples. If a hundredfold larger 
 space, than this chapter affords, were at my disposal, it 
 would not suffice to give an adequate picture of the 
 sufferings and of the heroism of Jewish women. 
 
 " As if all the powers of the world were conspiring 
 to exterminate the Jewish race, or to reduce them to a 
 brutalized hord, so fiercely were they beset," says 
 Gratz, " but their allegiance to their laws grew only 
 firmer." This fact is easily understood. The merci- 
 less brutality of their persecutors could not but raise 
 the suspicion of the Jews towards the Christian creed. f 
 
 * Madame de Villars, wife of the French Ambassador, who 
 was present, writes: " The atrocities perpetrated against those 
 unfortunate Jews beggar description." 
 
 t Luther declared, " Had I been a Jew, and had witnessed 
 
IN THE DARK MIDDLE AGES. IO3 
 
 Furthermore, the whole belief in the Trinity, the 
 worship of Saints, the deification of Mary, all these 
 customs recalling idolatry, were in direct opposition to 
 the pure Monotheism of Jewish teachings, that the 
 Jews, as God-fearing and honest men, could not but 
 choose death, rather than violate their first and most 
 sacred command, " Thou shall have no other gods be- 
 sides me /" 
 
 The gigantic injustice which was perpetrated against 
 them on account of their firm attachment to the pure 
 faith in One God gradually paralyzed their mental 
 powers. It is infinitely touching to see how the Jew- 
 ish people, to whom Jehovah, as the Just and Merci- 
 ful, was ever present, searched for some offense, some 
 demerit of their own, in order to explain to themselves 
 their misfortune. ' " We have trespassed " is the con- 
 stant refrain of their prayers, their songs and hymns — 
 D^l^nr' 1^0 UlJ?3 (" on account of our many trans- 
 gressions ! ") Frequently the opinion is met, " The Jews 
 must be more wicked than the other nations are, for 
 their prophets, their orators, their leaders, all reproach 
 them with their failings." Our faults might not have 
 been greater than those of other nations, but they met 
 with open and more severe rebuke. At all events, this 
 criticism was not only exercised by the prophets and 
 leaders, but likewise by the people. If calamity be- 
 fell our ancestors, if they had to bear any grievous 
 fate, at any accident, or even at a manifest injustice 
 done to them, the first word on narrating or hearing 
 the same was, " On account of our many transgres- 
 sions." They always searched in their own conduct 
 
 the ruling and teaching of Christianity by such dolts, I would 
 rather have become a swine than a Christian." 
 
104 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 for the cause of their afflictions. I could prove it by 
 innumerable quotations that the Jews, in accordance 
 with the prototype of the prophets, were proud of their 
 ideals, but modest in regard to their actual achievements. 
 Nearly all other nations were eulogists of their past ; 
 the Jews alone uttered on decisive occasions, " We and 
 our fathers have sinned ! " — Lazarus, " Free and Faith- 
 ful," p. 109. 
 
 D^VI l^nUl^O — " On account of our trans- 
 gressions ! " Only by this ever-recurring exclamation 
 one learns to understand the meek patience which the 
 Jews evinced through centuries — a patience that could 
 be scorned if it would not compel our admiration. They 
 were slaughtered with their wives and children with- 
 out offering any resistance, in the conviction thus to 
 atone for their transgressions, but by their resignation 
 they heightened the prejudice and insane presumption 
 of their tormentors. 
 
 How strange ! What Jesus commanded, they did 
 not obey, and what he never preached, they taught : 
 Trinity, iconolatry, celebration of Sunday (an arbi- 
 trary transference of the Sabbath which Jews and 
 Christians jointly celebrated during the first five cen- 
 turies), and persecution of the Jews. Thou gentle 
 Rabbi of Nazareth, Thou didst not anticipate that to 
 Thy words of love and kindness the lie would be given 
 by those who call themselves after Thee — Christians. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 MORE LIGHT. 
 
 HOW could Jewish women resist such harrassing 
 tribulations? Had they not to succumb to dull 
 despair? 
 
 No. The belief in the Only One was their staff 
 and support. Undismayed they stood at the side of 
 their sorely beset husbands, laboring, managing, ex- 
 tending their activity as far as their fetters permitted, 
 and educating their children in the fear of the L,ord. 
 
 Innumerable martyrs are found among Jewish wom- 
 en, but very few favorites. We hear of beautiful, 
 charming and intelligent Jewesses, who gained influ- 
 ence over princes and over kings, but they used this 
 influence well, advancing knowledge and science, and 
 seeking to improve themselves. Some names are 
 mythically mentioned in Poland and Spain. One of 
 them is called Rachel, another Magdalene, and a third 
 one, who is better known, was Esterka (Esther), whom 
 Kasimir the Great, the noble King of the Poles, in- 
 tended to marry. History relates also of a charmingly 
 beautiful Jewish girl, who was married to the Czar 
 Alexander. She received the name Theodora. How- 
 ever, the quick change of fortune turned her head 
 and spoiled her naturally amiable disposition. 
 
 More favorably and better known are Jewish women 
 
 105 
 
106 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 who, by their energy and intelligence, exercised a ben- 
 eficial influence in their families, as well as among 
 their people, and thus became an honor to them. 
 
 Donna Grazia (Hannah) Nasi, and her daugh- 
 ter, Donna Reyna Nasi, Duchess of Naxos, have 
 been mentioned before. Besides these, Marion, from 
 Palmyra, one named Hannah, and others are spoken 
 of as having raised themselves high above the enslaved 
 position of their coreligionists by their superior en- 
 dowments and sound judgment. 
 
 Zaynab and Cafya, the two Jewish wives of Ma- 
 homet, are said to have been possessed of great origin- 
 ality of character. 
 
 The former, an enthusiast of great temerity, became, 
 only after long resistance, by compulsion, the wife of 
 Mahomet. This coercion turned her antipathy into 
 hatred, and she sought to revenge herself by attempt- 
 ing to poison the prophet. But instead, a companion 
 of Mahomet accidentally ate the poisoned food and 
 died. Mahomet delivered the passionate woman to the 
 relations of the poisoned man, and she fell a victim of 
 their revenge. Mahomet was not favorably inclined 
 toward the Jews on account of their firm adherence to 
 the old faith, but he liked their women. He pursued the 
 beautiful Cafya with uncontrolled passion, until she 
 had to yield, and became his wife. She survived him 
 and left her considerable fortune to her Jewish fellow 
 believers. This ignoble lack of self-control in Ma- 
 homet, coupled with his cruelty, incited a woman of 
 genius, the poetess Acma, to write satirical poems 
 against him, which, however, proved fatal to her. She 
 felt the more instigated to attack Mahomet as she per- 
 ceived that quite a number of her coreligionists were 
 
MORE LIGHT. TO7 
 
 ready to follow him. Her bitter satires did not fail to 
 make a deep impression on account of their truth 
 and the wit displayed in them. Mahomet became so 
 enraged at her temerity that he publicly asserted it 
 would be meritorious to kill her. One of his followers 
 committed the dreadful deed. Jewish women were 
 acknowledged good managers and circumspect coun- 
 selors. The influence they gained they exercised for the 
 benefit of religion and humanity. 
 
 Martha, a rich widow, who was married to Joshua 
 ben Gamla, enabled him to establish numerous acade- 
 mies. In recognition thereof she was named " The 
 foundress of schools." As for the rest, she was a pleas- 
 ure-loving, luxurious, pampered woman. 
 
 The horrible conditions during the first half of the 
 Middle Ages did not permit of any independent activ- 
 ity or any manifestation of talent of Jewish women. 
 One hardly finds any names of them mentioned, ex- 
 cept in connection with torture and auto-de-fe. 
 
 Dina, the wife of Rabbi David Ibn Zachia, is re- 
 corded as one of the persecuted Jewesses who was 
 fortunate enough to make her escape to Naples. Half 
 a century later we meet, in history, one of the noblest 
 women of her time, Donna Bienvenida Abrava- 
 NEEA. She was imbued with a fervent faith in the 
 Eternal, and with loving sympathy for the suffering 
 and distressed. She freely could follow her inclina- 
 tion to assist the unfortunate, for she stood under 
 the protection of her friend, the wife of Cosmos de 
 Medici. 
 
 Bienvenida, who was as charming as she was kind- 
 hearted, gathered around herself, in her house at Fer- 
 rara, the most renowned scholars of her country. 
 
108 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Chavah and Esther Fishel, the former the moth- 
 er, the latter the wife of the physician Moses Fishel, 
 in Krakau, enjoyed a similar distinguished position, 
 as companions of the Princess Bona Sforza, of Milan. 
 Esther Chiera appears to have possessed a real 
 genius for administration. She was highly honored 
 by the Sultans Murad III. and Mahomet IV. Her 
 great influence provoked the envy of the Mahome- 
 tans, by whom she was finally killed. 
 
 EspERANZA Maechi was at the same time super- 
 intendent in the house of the mother of the Sultana. 
 There is an original letter of hers still extant, ad- 
 dressed to the "Virgin Queen," Elizabeth of England. 
 This letter was sent with some presents, and is replete 
 with questions of toilet which sound quite modern. 
 
 Jewish women were not permitted to study the law. 
 This strange and seemingly unjust precept finds the 
 following explanation : All the interest and the entire 
 energy of women should be solely devoted to the 
 family — a field of activity, which, indeed, requires a 
 continual and uninterrupted attention on the part of 
 the wife. 
 
 The Jews had no knowledge of that class of lonely, 
 desolate women, old maids, who are met with so fre- 
 quently in modern society. They were not aware that 
 there could be women without husbands, without chil- 
 dren, without parents, without sisters or brothers; 
 women sound in body and mind, who are trying to 
 forget their loneliness in outside occupation, as they 
 have no homes. Happy are those among them who 
 find some earnest study to fill their mind, and who 
 are able, by propagation of knowledge, to make them- 
 selves useful. 
 
MORE LIGHT. 
 
 IO9 
 
 " Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and 
 subdue it," can be applied also to them only in a spir- 
 itual sense. Still there have been also among the Jews 
 some poetesses and female philosophers, who rose high 
 above the narrow compass of domestic routine in past 
 ages. Even before the exile we find Miryam, Debo- 
 rah and Hueda. 
 
 Also in the Talmud are recorded women of lofty as- 
 pirations who distinguished themselves by their knowl- 
 edge and wisdom ; but their activity was mostly con- 
 fined to the family circle ; rarely was it exercised out- 
 side of it. They were, according to the beautiful 
 precept of the Bible, the " helpmates " of their husbands. 
 Ima Salom, the wife of the learned Rabbi Elieser, 
 who established schools in L-ydda, and later on in 
 Csesarea, was an intelligent, clever woman, well versed 
 in Jewish law. Her sister must also have been very 
 bright. An answer, which the latter once gave to a 
 Jew-Christian, is well known and often cited. He 
 expressed the opinion that God actually committed a 
 theft in taking Adam's rib away in order to form Eve 
 out of it. Whereon she replied : " There was a rob- 
 bery committed in my house. The thieves have taken 
 
 a silver cup, but left a gold one instead So God 
 
 took away a bone from Adam and gave him a compan- 
 ion for life instead." 
 
 Also Choma, wife of the rich Raba in Machuza, is 
 mentioned as a clever, energetic woman. Most likely 
 it is due to her interest for study that Raba discontin- 
 ued the traditional dry way of expounding the law, 
 and began to treat the subject in a rational, clear 
 manner, which made his method of discussing the law 
 very attractive. 
 
HO THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 His friend and fellow scholar, Abaje, had gained 
 much of his medical and chirurgical knowledge, and 
 many a pedagogical precept from his nurse and foster- 
 mother. He called her " Em" (cS), which means 
 mother. Whether he gave her this name of endear- 
 ment, or whether she was named so indeed, can not be 
 ascertained, and is of no importance. But she must 
 have been a woman of experience and of great ability. 
 One of her pedagogical maxims was : The child should 
 not be treated to too great an extent as a helpless 
 being, but he or she should be given occasion and the 
 freedom to exercise and develop his or her faculties 
 independently. 
 
 Raba was the representative of several communities 
 at the court of the Persian King, Dhulaktaf (Shabur), 
 whose mother, Ifrar, held the regency for a long time, 
 as the prince had been born shortly after the death of 
 his father. 
 
 Independent as Ifrar was, nothing debarred her from 
 free intercourse with Choma and the Rabbis. The 
 queen's residence was only at a distance of four hours 
 from Machuza, the place of the rabbinical schools. Her 
 favor towards them constantly increased. Once she sent 
 200 denares to Raba, who distributed them among the 
 poor. She protected the Rabbis and their disciples on 
 all occasions, and sought to impress also her son with 
 their superior knowledge. To this end, she once sent 
 to them blood of different animals, to test whether 
 they could at once recognize from what animals it was 
 taken. The son still doubted them and treated them 
 coldly, so she admonished him to esteem the Jews and 
 treat them kindly, as they were "The favorites of 
 heaven." Raba died about the year 351. 
 
MORE LIGHT. Ill 
 
 The daughter of the martyr. Rabbi Chanina ben 
 Theradion Beruria,* acquired renown by her great 
 learning at a still earlier date. She participated, when 
 quite young, in the learned discussions in her father's 
 house. In the intercourse with the most distinguished 
 scholars her mind developed early. She heard about 
 300 various rabbinical commentaries on Bible passages 
 by the different teachers. By impressing these in her 
 memory, and by commenting on them herself, she ac- 
 quired such a comprehension of talmudical knowledge 
 that afterwards she, in her turn, was frequently con- 
 sulted by the scholars. As wife of Rabbi Meir she 
 continued her studies with indefatigable zeal. 
 
 Once Rabbi MeTr, exasperated by some evil-doers, 
 cursed them with the words of the Psalmist (104: 35). 
 Beruria reproached him, and declared, " David in- 
 tended to say, not the sinners, but the sin should be 
 extirpated by God from the earth ; for if sin would 
 vanish, there would be no more sinners." Beruria 
 acquired fame not only as a scholar, but also as a wit. 
 In spite of the trials which befell her family (her father 
 died as a martyr to his faith) she preserved her cheer- 
 ful disposition and a truly philosophic spirit and humor. 
 Her life is rich in anecdotes of jokes and witty answers. 
 A touching proof of her meek submission to the will 
 of the Lord is preserved, and is related in poetry and 
 prose. Rabbi Me'ir lectured once on a Saturday, as he 
 was in the habit of doing. During his absence two 
 
 * Beruria must not be mistaken for the convert Beturia or 
 Veluria, who, with all her household, accepted Judaism. She 
 was so well versed in sacred scripture that Rabbi Gamliel was 
 pleased to carry on discussions with her. After her conversion 
 she was called Sarah. 
 
112 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 of his sons died, handsome, talented boys. Beruria 
 had the corpses brought to the bedroom and covered 
 them up. Coming home, the husband inquired after 
 the boys, whom he had already missed. She answered : 
 " They went to the academy." After a short time, being 
 asked again where the boys could be, she said signifi- 
 cantly : "They can not be far." Only after the bless- 
 ing was pronounced and supper taken, when Rabbi 
 Mei'r felt rested and refreshed, Beruria said: "Rabbi, 
 I have a question to ask you. Years ago someone en- 
 trusted to me a treasure ; he now claims his jewels. 
 Shall I return them ? " Rabbi Me'ir, greatly astonished, 
 exclaimed: " How can you ask? certainly, you must 
 give them up! " At these words Beruria led her hus- 
 band to the room where the corpses lay, and uncovered 
 them. As now, at the sight of his dead sons, the 
 Rabbi stood as benumbed, and then gave vent to his 
 grief and woe in lamentations, Beruria took hold of his 
 hand and addressed him : " Master, hast thou not 
 taught that one must return entrusted treasures? The 
 Lord has reclaimed the jewels, our boys, whom he had 
 entrusted to us. The name of the Lord be praised ! " 
 " The name of the Lord be praised ! " repeated Rabbi 
 Mei'r, taking an example in the noble conduct of his 
 wife, and, by a strong effort, subduing his grief. 
 
 During the following centuries Jewish energy and 
 Jewish intelligence had to hide themselves in obscurity 
 before the despotic oppression of the Roman emperors. 
 Only in the domains of heathenish rulers could they 
 dare to assert themselves. 
 
 There is no mention made of Jewish women, but 
 this fact by no means warrants the assumption that 
 they lived in ignorance and inactivity, for their relig- 
 
MORE LIGHT. 113 
 
 ious customs and home duties offered a continual 
 stimulus and incentive to their minds. 
 
 In the middle of the fifth century, it is said, there 
 lived a Jewess, Marie, well versed in philosophy. 
 She was praised, 011 account of her wisdom by Otronos 
 the Mede. 
 
 The learned wife of Rabbi Joseph Ibn Magdila, and 
 likewise El Muallina, are cited as authorities in the- 
 ology, and as examples of earnest studiousness. These 
 women were conspicuous because of their knowledge 
 of Holy Scripture. The daughter of the poet Abul- 
 hassan (Yehuda Halevi), however, won great fame 
 as a poetess. Her husband, Abraham Ben Me'i'r, Ibn 
 Ezra, from Toledo (born 1120, died 1195), was also 
 one of the foremost poets of the Jewish people. His 
 wife, who was as beautiful as she was bright, enabled 
 him, by her means, to devote himself entirely to 
 poetry. How this couple, so well mated, found each 
 other, is related as follows : Yehuda Halevi longed to 
 visit Palestine. In his fiftieth year he made himself 
 ready for the long, perilous journey. His wife, anxious 
 to see her beautiful daughter married before her hus- 
 band set out for the journey, annoyed him in his stud- 
 ies by continually referring to the matter. One day, 
 vexed beyond control by her incessant admonitions, 
 he exclaimed : " The first single Jewish man who will 
 enter this house shall have her ! " The next morning 
 a poorly clad youth entered the house. The mother, 
 dismayed by his beggarly appearance, hastened to her 
 husband and begged him to take back his word. 
 Yehuda Halevi, constantly interrupted in his work, 
 was not able to finish a poem that he was writing. 
 He entered into a conversation with the modest guest, 
 
3 14 TH£; JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 and found a bright intellect in the needy-looking 
 stranger. Meanwhile the unfinished poem happened 
 to be seen by Ibn Ezra. He improved it, and added 
 the conclusion to the same. Yehuda Halevi read it, 
 and by the style and spirit recognized his renowned 
 though poor relation. Joyfully he embraced him, with 
 the words : " Thou art Ibn Ezra ! " The latter ac- 
 knowledged his identity, and a short time afterwards 
 the young couple was married. 
 
 Among the learned women Paula de Mansi de- 
 serves special mention. It is true that only few reports 
 of her life are found, but the one fact is certain, that 
 she was well versed in the Hebrew language, and was 
 able to read the rabbinical literature. She assisted 
 her father in his studies, and in the year 1288 copied, 
 so accurately and so beautifully, two quarto volumes 
 of commentaries to the Sacred Scriptures, that this 
 gigantic work of her hand evokes admiration even 
 today. In the month of March, 1293, sne finished an 
 equally large work — a copy of the "Halachoth" of 
 Rabbi Jesaiah, from Trani. 
 
 The reports about the daughter of Rabbi Samuel 
 ben Ali, from Bagdad, who, we are told, assembled 
 more than a thousand scholars around himself, sound 
 rather romantic. It is recorded that she was perfectly 
 familiar with the Bible and the Talmud, and that she 
 even lectured publicly. She took the precaution, 
 however, to sit in a case of dark glass on such occa- 
 sions, in order that her beauty should not divert the 
 attention of the students. 
 
 This precaution to screen herself from the looks of 
 her hearers was also exercised a century later by 
 Miriam Schapira, the foremother of the family 
 TAiria, who became famous in Biblical literature. 
 
MORE LIGHT. 115 
 
 A sympathetic figure is Dolze, wife of Eliezer, of 
 Worms, one of the most distinguished Talmudists. 
 She was exceptionally well informed about all reli- 
 gious observances and duties, and held public lectures 
 on Sabbath days. Besides, she was so sweet and 
 gentle in all her ways that her husband, after her 
 death, said that he had never seen her angry, and that 
 she had not provoked him a single time. 
 
 This charming and noble woman, and her daugh- 
 ters, Belette and Anna, were killed by Crusaders in 
 December, 12 14. 
 
 She was one of the victims who was slaughtered for 
 the " Glory of God," by those who claimed their re- 
 ligion to be " The Religion of Love." 
 
 There is yet a considerable number of women who 
 showed themselves well versed in rabbinical literature. 
 One of them, Dinah Wahl, won the man whom she 
 loved, for her husband, by her own proposal, a pro- 
 ceeding never heard of at that time ; but she couched 
 her proposal in the talmudical sentence : " Descend a 
 step in choosing a wife." (Yebamoth 63.) 
 
 Xkmosa was an Arabic poetess. She, an Andalusian 
 by birth, received a very careful education from her 
 father. 
 
 Very little is known about her, but a full account is 
 given of a singular enthusiast, who gained the title of 
 a " Messiah's bride." H. M. Jost gives the following 
 information about her: 
 
 In the year 1641 a daughter was born to Isai b. 
 Yuda in the Ukraine. She received the name of 
 Sarah. Her parents were killed in the insurrection 
 of 1648. Fugitives saved Sarah, and brought her to 
 Amsterdam. A few years later she had a dream, in 
 
Il6 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 which she was hailed as the wife of the Messiah. 
 In the year 1657 the collectors of contributions from 
 Palestine came to Amsterdam and related that Sab- 
 bathai Zwi had stepped forth as the Messiah. 
 
 Sarah, hearing these reports, gained by them the 
 assurance that her dream would be fulfilled. From 
 this time she rejected every proposal of marriage, and 
 was therefore considered deranged in mind. A man 
 from Liverno took her to his home, but also there she 
 remained steadfast to her resolution. 
 
 Meanwhile Zwi created an immense sensation, and 
 awoke the grandest expectation by his rare beauty, 
 his enthusiasm, and by his power over the minds of 
 others, bordering on the miraculous. He gained con- 
 tinually new followers, in spite of the fact that the 
 more cautious rabbis had pronounced an anathema 
 against him and his school. 
 
 One day he sent twelve of his rich disciples, hand- 
 some and gorgeously clad young men, besides his sister 
 and two venerable matrons, to Iyiverno, with a letter 
 to Sarah, daughter of Isai, asking her for her hand. 
 Splendid gifts and rich jewels accompanied the letter. 
 Sarah accepted the offer, and some of the women in 
 the community made all the necessary arrangements. 
 All the people of I^iverno took a lively interest in 
 the singular event. On all sides blessings were show- 
 ered on them as the bride with her attendants em- 
 barked. The wedding was celebrated immediately 
 upon their arrival in Alexandria. 
 
 The number of spectators is said to have been nearly 
 seventeen thousand, all of whom brought along stores 
 of gifts. 
 
 A counsel was held in order to organize the state of 
 
MORE LIGHT. 117 
 
 the new king of the Jews. In the fall of the year 
 1662, letters were sent to Persia, India, Arabia, etc. 
 By and by answers came, expressing willingness to 
 join the movement; others promised assistance in 
 times of peace as well as in times of war. It is said 
 that, already in the spring, 199 scholars, 430 aged men 
 (the number of men in middle years is missing), 21,580 
 elderly women, 28,700 young women, 15,000 youths, 
 7,800 virgins, 575 boys, 620 little girls, 15,000 babes, 
 81 non-Jewish servants, altogether 102,000 beings, 
 were counted among those who had joined the move- 
 ment. 
 
 On the first day of the Pesach feast it was decided 
 to inaugurate the new Jewish state, and the rebuilding 
 of the temple fourteen months later. Indescribable 
 joy reigned everywhere. Many people sold their 
 property and their goods in order to obtain the means 
 for the journey to Palestine. 
 
 But the project to reestablish a Jewish kingdom 
 proved a failure. The movement was successfully 
 fought by the government, as well as by some oppos- 
 ing Jewish communities. 
 
 How Sarah spent the rest of her life, or when and 
 where she died, is not known. 
 
 About a century later there appeared another 
 " Apostle " of the kabbalistic sect. It was Jacob Frank 
 and his daughter Eve. He lived for a long time in 
 Bruen. Driven away from there, he went to Vienna. 
 His adherents provided so richly for him that he and 
 his daughter were enabled to live in a princely style. 
 By and by, however, his resources failed, so that, at 
 his death (he lived to be nearly 80 years), he left so 
 many debts that on their account his daughter was to 
 
Il8 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 be arrested. But she disappeared, and the report was 
 spread that she had suddenly died. She must have 
 been an interesting and very attractive woman, for it 
 is said the noble Emperor Joseph II. became so at- 
 tached to her as to offer her his hand. This, of course, 
 did not at all agree with the views of his mother, Mary 
 Therasia. 
 
 Jewish women prove of a singular attractiveness to 
 every unbiased observer. Their peculiar beauty was 
 the theme of songs in all centuries. Many passages 
 of the Bible and the Talmud indicate their physical 
 strength. Tacitus, who, as is well known, is by no 
 means a friend of this people, commends their health 
 and their ability to bear "severe toil" (which ability, 
 often enough, they were called upon to exercise by the 
 charitable love shown to them by other nations). 
 
 The proverb says : 
 
 " Who wishes for a handsome wife 
 Shall choose her on a Sabbath da)-." 
 
 Heine, who was a good judge of womanly beauty, 
 says in his "Rabbi of Bacharach": "The beauty of 
 the Jewess is of a peculiar, touching s\yle. The con- 
 sciousness of the deep misery, of the bitter indignities 
 which are forced upon her relatives and friends, marks 
 her lovely features with a certain sadness, a loving 
 anxiety, which lend to them a singular charm." 
 
 This " sadness" and" loving anxiety" have of course 
 vanished from the features of the modern Jewess, 
 because, thank God, the cause of it has disappeared. 
 
 Do her features now show perhaps the opposite sen- 
 sations of a certain self-complacency and unconcerned- 
 ness ? This can be asked only in regard to some of 
 
MORE LIGHT. 119 
 
 the modern Jewesses who live in easy circumstances 
 among civilized nations. But as to those millions of 
 unfortunate beings in the neighboring gigantic eastern 
 realm, who, having obtained possessions and wealth 
 by their own, and by their husbands' industry, are 
 from time to time driven away by hatred and greedi- 
 ness — these unfortunate beings represent in their 
 misery a remnant of the barbarism of the Middle Ages, 
 to retain which seems to be Russia's wretched prerog- 
 ative. 
 
 The anxious features, the despairing look, the ej^es, 
 red and swollen from crying, of the Russian Jewess, 
 tell plainly that hers is not an existence in accordance 
 with the inborn dignity and inalienable rights of man. 
 
 Perhaps her children will find " More Light " in new 
 and more cheerful surroundings. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 
 
 JEWISH woman, though never the object of hom- 
 age of knight errant or troubadour, still gained 
 recognition by the wealth of her inner life. The 
 depth of feeling, the gentleness of mind, the richness of 
 intellect, the never- failing motherly faithfulness of the 
 Jewess were fully appreciated. What is the homage of 
 the tournaments, paid to the outward charms and 
 beauty of woman in the Middle Ages, in comparison to 
 the reverential deference shown to Jewish woman by 
 the prophets, who speak of God himself as " comfort- 
 ing His people as a mother comforts her son, " and 
 who encourage the persecuted by assuring them that 
 " God will not forget them, even as a mother can not 
 forget her child "? 
 
 The chivalric worship of woman has vanished, like a 
 withered blossom ; nothing is left of it but a few empty 
 conventionalities. What today is honored in woman 
 are those nobler traits and subtle charms by which the 
 Jewish race was ever distinguished. 
 
 The mental sphere of woman, among the Jews, was 
 
 never narrowed by the superciliousness of men. Jewish 
 
 woman becomes a judge and conducts public affairs. 
 
 In times of great danger she st&ppeth forth as a proph- 
 
 120 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 121 
 
 etess and " openeth her mouth with wisdom, and the 
 law of kindness is on her tongue." (Prov. 31: 26.) 
 
 Also in literature, at the writing-desk, as well as at 
 the printing press, and among physicians, the Jewess 
 gained an honored position. The predilection of 
 Jewish women for these two professions was brought 
 about by the very persecutions and dangers to which 
 she and her kindred were exposed. 
 
 The new invention of book-printing w r as subservient 
 to the preservation of the sacred and revered Scriptures, 
 which were threatened by destruction on all sides. 
 These sacred treasures, thus saved by Jewish woman, 
 became, in the hands of men like Reuchlin, powerful 
 levers in removing pernicious prejudices held against 
 her race and religion'; and by her medical knowledge 
 she was enabled to allay the pains, and heal the wounds, 
 which so often were w T antonly inflicted on her dear 
 ones. Jewish women took not only an interest in the 
 art of printing, but also took an active part in it. 
 
 The wife of the physician Abraham ben Salomon 
 Konat, Estellina Konat, established in the year 
 1476 a printing house in Mantua, whence many He- 
 brew books of great importance were issued. Other 
 Jewish women, who were prominently engaged in the 
 art of printing, are GuTEL Cohn in Eemberg, Czerna 
 Meisels in Krakau, Sarah Jafu in Dublin, and 
 Rachel Judels, who came of a family of printers, 
 her father and her grandfather having been engaged in 
 printing books. 
 
 The daughters of Moses ben Abraham, Ella and 
 Gela, were industrious printresses. Gela, when yet 
 in her teens, printed a whole prayer-book by herself, 
 and put the following naive and touching verse on the 
 
122 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 last page : * Ein Johr geht dahin und das andere thut 
 kommen, und wir hoben von keiner Erloesung noch 
 nicks vernommen." Gela's niece, Rebeccah, chose 
 the same occupation. Fiola, born in Bavaria, lived 
 at the same time ; she was wedded in second marriage 
 to a printer by the name of Jacob Hirsh. In the year 
 1727 she and her husband jointly set and printed the 
 great Work of Josef Caro, " Turim," the most exhaust- 
 ive codex of the Jewish law. 
 
 The following remarks of J. M. Jost are highly inter- 
 esting : " No religious community has, proportionately, 
 made such an extensive use of the printing press, im- 
 mediately after its invention, as the Jewish communi- 
 ty. From the time of the advent of the printing press, 
 the possession of the religious sources was no more 
 dependent upon riches, their faultlessness no more con- 
 ditioned by the skill, the knowledge and reliableness 
 of the copyist, and their existence no more hazarded 
 by the casualties of water and fire, or by malicious 
 destruction. No more were the creations of mind ac- 
 cessible to a few only, and in certain places only, but 
 they accompanied almost every Jewish wanderer to his 
 destination, for now they were even in reach of the 
 poorer classes. 
 
 "On every Jew devolved the duty, not only to listen 
 to the reading of the law, and to practice the same, 
 but to read it himself and to be conversant with its 
 sources. This had been possible, till then, only at a 
 great expense, but now almost everyone could enjoy 
 the reading of the Scriptures. The sacred books be- 
 came the links of connection among the dispersed 
 Jews. 
 
 ;;: " One year does vanish, another one is near, 
 Still of a redemption we nothing did hear." 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 123 
 
 " A period of 250 years was sufficient for the spread- 
 ing of more than 600 printed books, some of them 
 voluminous works, among a scattered community 
 counting no more than three to four millions of souls, 
 most of them poor, despised, eking out a scanty sub- 
 sistence, and surrounded by entirely ignorant people. 
 This untiring zeal and devotion deserve just recogni- 
 tion." 
 
 One must remember that this was done under the 
 constant oppression and persecution of the other 
 nations. Religious wars among these nations them- 
 selves turned, at times, their attention from the Jews. 
 In such periods the Jews could give full vent to their 
 interest in the inherited spiritual treasures, and gained 
 time to increase more and more the number of printed 
 books and to improve older works. Thus, by collect- 
 ing and rearranging the Scriptures, they erected a solid 
 foundation for their religious belief, while the other 
 nations slaughtered each other in the name of religion. 
 
 At the end of the fifteenth century the German lan- 
 guage began to be used by Jewish writers, although, 
 at the beginning, only in a mingled form of Jewish- 
 German. Dating from this period, we find German 
 translations* of the Bible, of prayer-books, religious 
 tracts, compilations of legends and narratives, etc. ; 
 also German books of folk-lore and poetry. One of 
 the first attempts to compile a readable and entertain- 
 ing book for women was made by a Mrs. Litte, from 
 Regensburg. 
 
 Instruction was considered the highest duty among 
 Jews since the earliest times. It is said, " The schools 
 should not be neglected, even for the sake of building 
 
 1 With Hebrew letters. 
 
124 TH E JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 the Temple."* For the sake of instruction, Jewish 
 women now enthusiastically embraced the opportuni- 
 ty to make printed books accessible also to their sex. 
 Rebecca Tiktiner, who held the position of a 
 preacher, gained special distinction by her writings for 
 women. She lived in Poland in the year 1520, and 
 published a book in Hebrew-German, " The Duties of 
 Women." Another female preacher was Hannah, 
 whose Derashah's (sermons) were printed in Amster- 
 dam (1609). Taube Kan, and other learned wives of 
 learned men, wrote on religious and instructive sub- 
 j'ects. 
 
 The wife of Rabbi Moses Hamel, Glickel,, wrote an 
 historical work of great importance, which was copied, 
 word for word, by a young girl. This copy, by a studi- 
 ous young Jewess, can still be found in the National 
 Library at Paris. A remark made by her in the in- 
 troduction to this work is characteristic of the hospi- 
 tality and charitable disposition of the family. It 
 reads : 
 
 " Wer hungrig gegangen in meines Vaters Haus, 
 1st satt wieder gekommen lieraus." 
 
 (" In my father's house whosoever hungry came, 
 Satisfied he left the same.") 
 
 Characteristic is the simple account of the distress 
 and oppressions to which the Jews were exposed, who 
 were not allowed to live in Hamburg, but only in Al- 
 tona. 
 
 "Before me is a statistical notice, which says that in the 
 year 1S75, in Prussia, among each hundred persons who could 
 neither write nor read, were: Catholics — men, 15.1 ; women, 
 21.8. Protestants — men, 6.6; women, 11.4. Jews — men, 3.9; 
 women, 5.9. 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 125 
 
 In Italy they were treated with greater justice, and 
 there they could cultivate their gifts and talents un- 
 molested. 
 
 It is still not universally known that the Jews had 
 the least predilection for money business, in contradic- 
 tion to the continual reproach made to them, a re- 
 proach which forms one of the main accusations 
 against them by their adversaries. They preferred 
 agriculture, handicraft, study, and the medical and law 
 professions, for, in their eyes, there was something un- 
 holy attached to money business, as the Bible and the 
 Talmud speak against the taking of interest, etc. Jew- 
 ish law always laid stress on the duty to assist the 
 struggling fellowman and not. to render his struggle 
 for subsistence harder. * 
 
 To the majority it is equally unknown that for a 
 thousand 3'ears the Jews were prohibited from pursu- 
 ing any other occupation but trading, with the excep- 
 tion of the medical profession. Everyone preferred 
 to be cured from sickness by the physician of acknowl- 
 edged skill, even if the physician happened to be a 
 Jew. The extremely ignorant Christians of those 
 times entertained the absurd superstition that the Jews 
 alone were endowed by nature w T ith medical skill. 
 
 Princes and priests who persecuted and exiled the 
 Jews in the most atrocious way, still obstinately refused 
 to take a Christian as body physician. One of these 
 rulers was " Francis I. of France." 
 
 Wherever the Jews enjoyed freedom they developed 
 their talents and, chose divers occupations. We find 
 them as farmers, craftsmen, cultivators of silkworms — 
 wherein they were diligently assisted by their patient 
 
 * Exodus, chap. 23; Exodus, 19 : verses 9-15. 
 
126 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 and circumspect wives. We find them further as 
 dyers, as weavers, as furtherers of industry and science. 
 "They were the only people among whom perfect free- 
 dom of philosophical reasoning (and especially in phi- 
 losophy of religion) was permitted. They perfected 
 ethic as no other people did. They advanced astron- 
 oni)- ; they established the famous academies at Mont- 
 pellier and at Salerno, and essentially contributed to 
 the flourishing condition of that at Padua." 
 
 We have seen how earnestly they furthered book- 
 printing. The}' likewise gained and perpetuated the 
 first knowledge of astronomy, botany, medical knowl- 
 edge, cosmography and grammar. The women nat- 
 urally favored accomplishments, especially in Italy, 
 where the daughters of Israel were permitted to breathe 
 freely, though only in the narrow Jewry. Music and 
 the art of singing were diligently cultivated by them. 
 Their colleges of music became so famous that even 
 Christians laid aside their prejudice, at least for a 
 while, and asked for admittance to these schools. 
 
 Later on we will see that in more enlightened times, 
 when the certificate of baptism was no more demanded 
 in order to be permitted to exercise God-given powers, 
 Jewish women gained prominence among the inter- 
 preters of art. 
 
 Meantime we must remember the brave, courageous 
 women who, in spite of all prejudice, in order to serve 
 the cause of philanthropy, and instigated by one of the 
 most womanly virtues — chastity, devoted themselves 
 to medical studies and obstetrics. 
 
 To whom would not here occur the touching inci- 
 dent of the two midwives in the Bible? (Exodus, 
 15:21.) It is the narrative about Shiphrah and Puah, 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 127 
 
 the noble-minded women who dared to defy the un- 
 natural command of the King to kill all new-born 
 boys of the Jews. " But the midwives feared God, 
 and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them, 
 but saved the male children alive." This narrative 
 is further noteworthy on account of the remark made 
 by the two midwives when they excused themselves 
 before the angry King. They say : " The Hebrew 
 women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are 
 of great vitality, and are delivered ere the midwives 
 come in unto them." What an ancient, venerable 
 testimony of the vigor and health of Jewish woman ! 
 In the short remark, what a deep criticism of the 
 pampered, languid Egyptian woman ! And what a con- 
 trast to her, the vigorous Jewish woman, made strong 
 by hard work ! 
 
 For the sake of this beautiful and ennobling vigor 
 of life, the Talmud commands : " Even if the matron 
 has a hundred servants at her command, she has still 
 the duty to work, for idleness leads to enervation." 
 
 Also Em (cn), the foster-mother of one of the most 
 learned rabbis of the academy of Pumpaditha, pos- 
 sessed great medical knowledge and experience. At 
 first she was a simple midwife and nurse, but she knew 
 of a great many medicinal herbs, and prepared heal- 
 ing salves. • She successfully treated fainting spells, 
 melancholy, fever, asthma, and other pathological con- 
 ditions. She was thought to possess miraculous med- 
 ical gifts, and her example instigated many another 
 woman to seek medical knowledge. 
 
 Among Jewish women it was something unheard of 
 to accept the assistance of a physician ; the midwife 
 only was called in the hour of need. These Jewish 
 
I'28 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 mid wives were also admitted at the Turkish Court, 
 and into the harem. They were highly esteemed and 
 richly rewarded by the Sultaness. 
 
 Among Jewish women who gained great renown 
 for medical knowledge is also mentioned the widow 
 of the famous doctor and statesman, Salomon Ash- 
 kenasi, who died 1602. She cured the young Sultan 
 Achmed I. of smallpox. Still earlier, in the middle 
 of the thirteenth century, a woman by the name of 
 Sarah gained such renown, and was so much sought, 
 even by Gentile women, that the magistrate thought 
 it a good plan to levy a tax upon her and the other 
 midvvives. By this tax the pious episcopate of Wiirz- 
 burg gained quite a nice income. At the same time 
 (about 1420) there lived a Jewess in Fraukfort-on-the- 
 Main who was highly esteemed as an oculist, but her 
 name was not transmitted to our times. 
 
 Not only did women of the poorer classes devote 
 themselves to obstetrics, but likewise the wives and 
 daughters of prominent men. The wife of Jehuda 
 Hendrix, the daughter of Chajim Halcvi, studied mid- 
 wifery. Ilka Belkind, a Russian, was such an en- 
 thusiastic medical student that in a letter to one of 
 her protectors, by whose assistance she was enabled to 
 devote herself to study, she recommends warmly to 
 Jewish women to embrace the medical profession as a 
 vocation. 
 
 In Russia the women formerly enjoyed a greater 
 freedom than in Germany, where petty rules and cus- 
 toms did not permit the unfolding of their various 
 talents. In Russia, Jewish woman could attempt more, 
 and therefore succeeded better. 
 
 Buckle, in his " History of Civilization in England," 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 1 29 
 
 remarks, with great truth: "In countries where man 
 is permitted to develop more self-consciousness, he is 
 more ingenious and more enterprising ; reason pre- 
 vails and leads him to highest civilization." This 
 truth is especially applicable in the case of woman. 
 
 The aforementioned Rosa Hendrix had a book 
 of obstetrics, copied and augmented, which had al- 
 ready been copied many times before. 
 
 When printing was invented, and books could be 
 multiplied more easily, the number of women who 
 tried to obtain medical knowledge also grew larger. 
 
 In our period the prejudice which formerly existed 
 against the medical practice of woman* is gradually 
 vanishing. 
 
 In this respect America took the lead. Man and 
 woman stood there shoulder to shoulder in the battle 
 of life nearly from the beginning. American women 
 have wrestled for and have won many an advantage, 
 which, with the exception of Switzerland, would be 
 impossible in the " old " world, with its antiquated 
 traditions and pedantries. Here, only lately, women 
 can practice dentistry, while in America women are 
 admitted not only into medical and law colleges, but 
 even into the Hebrew Union College of Cincinnati, 
 irrespective of creed. 
 
 Miss Emily Bloch, the niece of Dr. Isaac M. Wise, 
 the founder and President of the College, was gradu- 
 ated at this institution with the title of " Bachelor of 
 Hebrew Literature." She now holds a position in the 
 " Manual Training School" at Chicago. Miss Jennie 
 
 * Even Herr von Sybel is of the opinion that woman is 
 better adapted to the medical profession than to any other 
 one. 
 
 9 
 
130 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 MannhEimER, Principal of the "Cincinnati School of 
 Expression," is another graduate of the College who 
 received the same degree. Miss Edith Andrews, a 
 highly gifted non-Jewess, is now enrolled, and counts 
 among the most earnest students of this institution. 
 Miss Ray Frank, of whom we will speak in another 
 chapter, entered the College, but was prevented from 
 continuing her studies by sickness. A Miss Elson 
 acquired fame by her lecturing in public on Psychol- 
 ogy, and Miss Susanna Rubinstein has given proof 
 of her ability by her learned writings on Philosophy. 
 Miss Esther Hagen, who obtained the degree of 
 Bachelor of Science at the University of Cincinnati, 
 promises fair to make her mark in mathematics. 
 Miss Selina Bloom, after having received her diplo- 
 ma in Cincinnati at the Presbyterian Medical College, 
 pursued higher studies in Zurich and Paris. She is 
 now assistant in the Ophthalmic Institution of Dr. 
 Kirchbseumer in Austria. Miss Claribel Cohn, of 
 Baltimore, now at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is re- 
 puted a very fine physician. Mrs. Caroline Ans- 
 pacher is a graduate of a St. Louis medical college. 
 Her specialty is obstetrics. 
 
 In the times of persecution and all kinds of prohi- 
 bitions, it often happened that the Jewess, at the side 
 of her husband, or as widow, had to exert her prac- 
 tical endowments for her own benefit, or for the bene- 
 fit of persons who entrusted her with the transaction 
 of commissions. 
 
 Esther Shulhoff, in Berlin, can be taken as exam- 
 ple. Her husband, Joel Ljebmann, enjoyed the esteem 
 of Frederick I. of Prussia. After the death of Joel Eieb- 
 mann, his widow took his place at court, and had free 
 access, at all times, to the presence of the Queen. 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. I31 
 
 From her earnings she built a large new Synagogue 
 in the " Heidereuter" street. This privilege, which 
 she had obtained from the Queen, created many ene- 
 mies for her, but she did not swerve from her purpose. 
 A modern writer propounds the question, so often 
 heard in our own days : " What is the proper sphere 
 of activity for woman?" He continues to say: "This 
 question has been practically solved by the Jewish 
 people long ago. Jewish woman has attempted, and 
 succeeded in the most diverse occupations. In the 
 village, in the absence of the husband, she attended to 
 all business. She bought and sold grain, wool and 
 produce ; she paid and collected debts, she superin- 
 tended the manufacturing, etc. In the city she was 
 the connoisseur of merchandise, she led the correspon- 
 dence and kept the books. 
 
 In olden times even "she considereth a field, and 
 buyetk it with the fruit of her hands." (Prov. 31: 16.) 
 There is many a prominent Jewish man who, in his 
 childhood, had been supported by the labor of his 
 widowed mother. 
 
 Two decades ago those who wished to extend the 
 activity of woman beyond the limits of the household 
 were accused of indelicacy towards the sex. Today 
 " Woman's L,abor " constitutes an important factor in 
 economics. 
 
 Among the Jews, "work" was considered an orna- 
 ment of the virtuous woman. 
 
 This holds good not alone for Jewish women but 
 for the able women of all nations, all of whom, in the 
 process of time, sought and found opportunity to de- 
 vote their powers to the weal of the family, as well as 
 of the community at large. 
 
132 THK JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 In the Proverbs (Sol. chap. 31) is found the ideal of 
 the true working, winning, and providing women. It 
 is clear that Schiller was influenced by this Biblical 
 characterization in his "Glocke," where he depicts the 
 active housewife. Schiller, however, much as his de- 
 lineation reminds of the " virtuous wife " of the Prov- 
 erbs, has omitted one trait, but this is exactly the trait 
 which is characteristic of Jewish woman, and this is 
 charity. 
 
 Schiller's "active housewife" cares and provides for 
 her own family only ; the Jewish housewife reserves a 
 share also for others. Dr. Lazarus, in his delightful 
 culture study, " A Jewish Community Fifty Years 
 Ago," speaks of Jewish hospitality. He describes 
 how, at the beginning of the year, every family reports 
 to the magistrate of the community at how many set 
 days they wish to see at their table traveling strangers, 
 the singers of the synagogue, or students of the Tal- 
 mud. Even families in straitened circumstances, 
 where the housewife could set only a meager table, in- 
 sisted on having a guest at least sometimes. When, 
 however, by some happy chance, she could provide a 
 richer dish for the Sabbath day, then someone was 
 quickly dispatched to the magistrate to ask for a guest, 
 if possible a Talmud student, for that brought joy and 
 honor to the house. 
 
 Money was also collected in a box, which circulated 
 from house to house on the day of new moon. This 
 money was distributed among poor students. 
 
 Woman associations for the nursing of the sick and 
 the outfitting of poor brides entailed active coopera- 
 tion. "No limit and no fatigue was known in personal 
 service." 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 133 
 
 The same culture study contains the following pas- 
 sage: "Bobe* Zortelchen had lived in our house; I 
 had not known her, but the report of her holiness and 
 her charitable deeds survived long after her death. The 
 room where she had dwelt was entered by us only with 
 an inherited feeling of reverence. Her memory was 
 recalled by many anecdotes, one of which I will relate : 
 " Her only daughter, who had died early, had left an 
 only son, who lived in one of the suburbs. After 
 many years a daughter was born to him, who, as was 
 customary, was named after her father's mother. To 
 visit this child was the sweetest joy of Bobe Zor- 
 telchen, but she never permitted herself to go to see 
 her on weekdays ; these were all devoted to personal 
 service." 
 
 As counterpart of this venerable matron, Dr. Laza- 
 rus cites a plain woman of the people. The picture 
 of vigor, she walked with firm, courageous stride, 
 like a man. Indeed she was sorely in need of cour- 
 age. Bereft of her husband, she had to sustain her- 
 self, with six children and her aged mother. How her 
 eyes flashed with indignation when, after some acci- 
 dent, she declined to accept the heartily offered help. 
 "Yet have I none accepted," she said proudly. Dur- 
 ing the day she peddled in the country, but early in 
 the morning before she went, and late in the evening, 
 when she returned and had provided for the children, 
 she acted as messenger of the different societies. Be- 
 sides this, in order to increase her small income, she 
 used to watch the sick and the women in childbed at 
 night. 
 
 Dr. Lazarus relates further : " We had no female 
 
 * Grandmother. 
 
134 TH E JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 teachers nor schools for girls. But I must mention 
 one woman who lived and labored in the community. 
 She taught the servant girls who were engaged to be 
 married, and who had neglected to learn, or had for- 
 gotten, to read the Hebrew prayers. In the cold season, 
 at evening, she wandered, armed with a small lantern, 
 through the streets, intent on unraveling the mysteries 
 of the A B C to the future housewives, for a remuner- 
 ation of one "guten Groschen," about six cents of our 
 money. 
 
 Jewish women could not, of course, unfold their 
 activity and energy at large until after the promulga- 
 tion of equal civil rights. One of the first women 
 who took advantage of the dawn of the new era of 
 liberating justice was Fanny Nathan, born 1803, who 
 selected as a prototype the noble Francke, the founder 
 of the Orphan Asylum at Halle. 
 
 She traveled from city to city lecturing, inciting, 
 inspiring with her enthusiasm. At last she could open 
 an institution with two orphan children. Out of this 
 small beginning developed, forty-nine years later, " The 
 Jewish Orphan Asylum for Westphalia and the Rhine 
 countries." 
 
 Contemporaneously with Fanny Nathan lived Ra- 
 chel Meyer, whose maiden name was Weiss. Her 
 strict education had early ripened independent thought 
 and action in her. Imbued with ideal aspirations, she de- 
 voted her whole energy to works of benevolence. She 
 was wedded to an upright and well-educated merchant, 
 who, being a man who had traveled a great deal, was 
 well able to widen her mental horizon. Although she 
 attended zealously to her duties as mother and mis- 
 tress of a household, she still found time for philan- 
 
PRACTICAL CULTURE WORK. 135 
 
 thropical endeavors. She established a school for poor 
 children, where she herself taught several hours daily. 
 Through the children she sought to influence the 
 families. Her efforts were crowned with success — 
 visible in the greater cleanliness of the surroundings 
 and the better moral conduct of the beneficiaries. 
 
 The intercourse with men and women of ripe under- 
 standing broadened her views, and her growing intel- 
 lect found expression in literary activity, which will be 
 mentioned later. 
 
 Who would be able to name all the Jewish women 
 that, without public, attainments, quietly and unosten- 
 tatiously exercised the most benign influence? Even 
 as thinking and striving helpmates merely of their hus- 
 bands, devoted to the service of science, they added 
 their share to the progress of culture, for how many 
 renowned men have publicly acknowledged and thank- 
 fully confessed that they owed the best of their thoughts 
 and achievements to the impulse received from their 
 wives ! 
 
 Judith Montefiore will be spoken of later on. 
 Here, in closing, we will mention only a modest wife 
 of a scholar, who can be taken as a type of the quiet 
 influence of the wife on the activity of the husband, 
 Mrs. Adelheid Zunz, the wife of the far-famed 
 scholar, Leopold Zunz. 
 
 We will not enter here into the details of the life of 
 this intellectual and unassuming woman. We will 
 only recall the fact that she had a long interview with 
 Queen Victoria of England in the year 1854, when 
 many weighty words were interchanged between these 
 two women, so different in other respects, bat so alike 
 in the love for humanity. 
 
136 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 All the foregoing facts go to confirm the deep family 
 devotion, the religions faithfulness, and the ardor for 
 practical culture work of the Jewish woman. 
 
 From the moment that the Jewess had no more to 
 tremble for her own welfare and the welfare of her 
 family, she directed her attention to the welfare of 
 others. 
 
 After the duties in the home were faithfully and en- 
 tirely performed, she found time and opportunities to 
 work for the interests of the less fortunate. 
 
 A large number of charitable establishments and 
 philanthropic institutions bear witness to the benevo- 
 lence of Jewish woman. 
 
 These establishments and institutions are generally 
 of an entirely unsectarian character. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 
 
 " There are many dwellings in my father's 
 house." .... 
 
 JEWISH woman distinguished herself not only as 
 wife, mother, heroine, martyr, and benefactress, 
 but also as independent thinker and poetess. 
 
 When, in the middle of the sixteenth century, in 
 special regard to the eagerness for learning and read- 
 ing of the female sex, collections of prayers and of 
 legends were printed and rapidly spread, there ap- 
 peared simultaneously Italian, Spanish and Portuguese 
 translations. These translations proved a powerful in- 
 centive to original poetical creations. 
 
 The hosts of immigrating Spanish fugitives roused 
 anew the taste for poetical art. They brought the 
 romance and poetry of the sunny South to the misty 
 North in sonnets and stanzas, in popular verses and 
 songs. The glorious glow of poetry sent its bright, 
 luminous rays into every nook and corner. 
 
 Many names of foreign Jewish poetesses are re- 
 corded, who exercised a great influence on their north- 
 ern sisters. Some of these were Isabella Correa, 
 Isabella Henriquez, Sarah de Fonseca, Donna 
 
 i37 
 
I38 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Y. PlEMENTEL, MANUELA NUNNES ALMEIDA, BEN- 
 
 venuta Cohen, and Belmonte. Some of these had 
 come to Germany with their fugitive families, and there 
 personally influenced the art of poetry. 
 
 Since the times of the persecution and degradation of 
 the Jews, there prevailed a great lack of taste among 
 them in their poetical creations, as well as in their 
 prose writings. 
 
 Hebrew poetry, once so sonorous and sublime, now, 
 alas ! spoke in depressed, dull tones, or, still worse, in 
 forced attempts at witticism. Now a refreshing, sweet 
 breeze wafted songs and lays from the Spanish and 
 Portuguese, although they were likewise songs of lam- 
 entation, but quick with the spirit of beauty and grace. 
 
 The Spanish fugitives, who had settled in Amster- 
 dam, organized literary associations and academies. 
 One of the most prominent members of these societies 
 was Isabella Correa. Here, in the land where she 
 could freely acknowledge her Jewish religion, she ac- 
 cepted the name of Rebeccah. Distinguished by in- 
 tellect and beauty, she was greatly honored. But she 
 had higher aspirations ; she began to study languages, 
 and it was claimed that she soon mastered nearly all 
 the European tongues. Among her literary works is 
 also a translation of Guarinis' " Pastor Fido." She 
 made a good many alterations and additions in this 
 translation, which were so much admired that the book 
 had to be reprinted in several editions. 
 
 Donna Isabella Henriouez was a friend of the 
 beautiful Correa. In her youth she lived in Madrid. 
 Driven away from there, she fled to Amsterdam, where 
 she won many friends and protectors by her amiability. 
 She was of a less creative mind than Correa, and was 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 1 39 
 
 satisfied to assist her abler friend in her lite-rary work 
 by nice suggestions, and, when there was occasion for 
 it, by open criticism. 
 
 Sarah de Fonseca, Y. Piementel, Manuela 
 Nunnes Almeida, her daughter, Benvenuta, and 
 other Jewesses of Spanish descent, in later years set- 
 tled in London, where their families spread and were 
 much respected. 
 
 Rachel Ackermann, a German Jewess, acquired 
 great renown at that time in Vienna. She combined 
 poetical talent with courage and a sarcastic turn of 
 mind, which finally proved fatal to her. She wrote a 
 trenchant satire, " The Secret of the Court," in conse- 
 quence of which she was banished from Vienna, and 
 died of grief and homesickness, in exile, at the age of 
 twenty-two }-ears. 
 
 While in Germany esthetical taste in Hebrew poetry 
 slowly began to develop, there flourished Jewish poet- 
 esses of great renown, even before this time, in Italy, 
 the land of art and beauty. 
 
 As early as the fourteenth century a Jewess, Guis- 
 Tina Lewi-Perotti, won fame by her poetical talent 
 at Venice. In the year 1350 she addressed Petrarca 
 in a beautiful sonnet, and received in answer a son- 
 net from him, which found a place in his publica- 
 tions. 
 
 Another poetess, by the name of Rosa Levi, lived 
 in Venice in the year 1571. 
 
 It is strange that Shakespeare chose Venice for the 
 scene of Shylock's trial and defeat, for in this city 
 the Jews were treated with less prejudice than else- 
 where; accordingly, they lived there quietly and con- 
 tentedly, and contributed a large share to the flour- 
 ishing condition of the Venetian Republic. 
 
140 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Graetz, in his " History of the Jews," states that 
 four thousand Christian operatives were at work in 
 Jewish manufacturing establishments at Venice. They 
 liked to work there, as they were promptly paid and 
 kindly treated by the proprietors. 
 
 One of the manufacturers was Joseph Askarelli, who 
 was counted among the most prominent men among 
 them. His wife, Deborah Askarelli, gave evidence 
 of such exceptional talent and originality that even 
 J. M. Jost speaks of her, in spite of his well-known 
 reserve, in his writings, in regard to persons belonging 
 to the female sex. 
 
 She wrote poetry in the Hebrew and Italian lan- 
 guages, translated the poems of Moses Riidi (1602), 
 and likewise Hebrew hymns, in exquisite Italian verse. 
 Her writings are marked by a dignified but simple, clear 
 language. She also left original writings which were 
 highly commended by her contemporaries. A poet, 
 who dedicated to her one of his works, addressed her 
 thus : 
 
 " Deborah, if others in triumphs rejoice, 
 But for Israel's glory thou raiseth thy voice." 
 
 It would be a grateful task for an historical writer 
 to delineate the life of this gifted woman. He would 
 find not only an abundance of highly interesting facts 
 in regard to the period in which she lived, but also in 
 regard to the peculiar circumstances and social rela- 
 tions which formed the basis of her intellectual life. 
 But the most important and most interesting author- 
 ess among Jewish women, at the close of the middle 
 ages, is, without doubt, Sarah Copia Sullam. She 
 was born in Venice about 1590. Her father, Simon 
 Coppia, was one of the aforementioned manufacturers. 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLA M. 141 
 
 Even as a child she showed extraordinary talents. 
 Her father, a noble, enlightened man, gave her a liber- 
 al education, and she attempted original writing when 
 quite young. She devoted herself to the study of sci- 
 ence and art, acquainted herself with the Greek and 
 Latin poets, and soon could read them fluently in the 
 original ; but the history of her own people awoke her 
 deepest interest. The towering forms of the prophets 
 roused her admiration and enthusiasm. She was deep- 
 ly impressed by the vast difference between the glori- 
 ous past of her people, and their present humiliation. 
 Her bitter tears often flowed on account of the deplor- 
 able fate of Judah. She also showed a great talent for 
 music when young. Everyone who heard her sing 
 was enchanted by her sweet voice. She improvised 
 words to original melodies, and her improvisations 
 were so wonderful that people were at a loss which 
 to admire most — her musical talent, her sweet voice, 
 her poetry, or her beauty. 
 
 Colleges of music had been formed in the Jewish 
 communities, but Christians were restricted by severe 
 penalties from joining them. As the Jews were per- 
 mitted only to inhabit the Isle Eunga Spina,* so Sa- 
 rah's talents were exercised but in the limits of the 
 Ghetto. Nevertheless, Sarah's fame spread, and the 
 beautiful and gifted Jewish girl was the object of in- 
 tense curiosity and exceptional attention far and near. 
 
 Prominent men and women of Venice, renowned 
 travelers, even the members of the high, aristocratic 
 circles, did not disdain to visit her, and, enchanted by 
 her charms, they contributed, by their reports, to the 
 spreading of her renown. 
 
 * Full information about the Jewish quarters, called Ghet- 
 tos, are found in Dr. D. Philipson's ''Old European Jewries" 
 
142 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 The attention of the clergy was roused, and open 
 and secret attempts were made to convert the beautiful 
 Jewess. Tracts and missionary treatises were written 
 on her account ; the most distinguished women sought 
 her and tried, by flattery and promises of a brilliant 
 future, to induce her to embrace Christianity. But 
 Sarah had penetrated too deeply into the spirit of 
 Judaism, and was too well acquainted with the funda- 
 mental principles of her belief; she was too familiar 
 with the history of her people. What would have been 
 perhaps possible in the case of an ignorant Jewess, for 
 only an ignorant Jewess is not aware of what she loses 
 with her religious belief, was impossible for a well-in- 
 formed fewess like Sarah. She considered it no merit 
 in herself that she resisted all allurements ; she re- 
 mained faithful, as every noble mind will remain faith- 
 ful, to that which it has learned to know to be superior. 
 
 According to the wish of her mother she was mar- 
 ried at the age of twenty-one to Jacob Sullam, an 
 amiable, well-educated young man. 
 
 She joined the name of her husband to her maiden 
 name, and called herself Sarah Copia Sullam. 
 
 From the poems written in praise of her beauty an 
 approximate idea of her personal appearance can be 
 formed. A graceful form, hair of a golden hue, and 
 wonderful eyes, must have been her main charms. In 
 reading the description, one is involuntarily reminded 
 of the pictures of Titian. 
 
 This beautiful, gifted and charming woman was also 
 endowed with a soul full of enthusiasm for all the 
 noble and the good, and with a glowing imagination. 
 Only in this way can it be explained that, on reading a 
 poem about the biblical Queen Esther by a contempo- 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 143 
 
 raneous author, she was so carried away with ecstasy 
 as to write a letter to the man, although personally 
 unacquainted with him, in which she said that the 
 book was with her day and night ; that she kept it 
 under her pillow in order to read in it immediately at 
 the dawn of the morning. 
 
 This truly effeminate exaltation proved fatal to her. 
 Certainly she never swerved for a moment from her 
 lofty aspirations, and always remained true to her faith 
 and true to herself, a pure and noble woman, but the 
 spiritual enjoyment she gained by that step could not 
 outweigh the heartache she experienced, and, still more 
 so, inflicted. 
 
 The author of "Esther" was Ansaldo Ceba. A 
 scion of a patrician family, he was very talented, well 
 educated, a man of the world, though a member of the 
 clergy. His early poetical attempts show a tendency 
 to frivolity, but he soon became disgusted with this 
 course, and aspired to become a kind of reformer. 
 
 He turned to earnest studies, and also learned the 
 Hebrew language, in order to be able to read the Bible 
 in the original text. In this way he was led to the 
 conception of the poem " Esther," of which he hoped 
 that it would be classed with the masterworks of Tasso 
 and Ariosto. 
 
 The public, however, did not respond to his antici- 
 pations. Only one woman, the most beautiful woman of 
 her time, in faith a sister of the biblical heroine, was 
 moved with enthusiasm on reading the poem, and 
 wrote to him in terms of naive, glowing thankfulness. 
 No wonder, under such circumstances, that a passion 
 not entirely spiritual was kindled in the heart of An- 
 saldo Ceba. for his fair correspondent. 
 
144 TH E JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Meanwhile, as a good Christian, and son of the 
 " only Church of Salvation," he but sought her eon- 
 version, and insisted on the continuation of the cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 Sarah consented, not without a hint, however, that 
 finally he would, perhaps, feel disappointed. 
 
 " Chi il vecchio cammin pel nuovo lascia, 
 Spesso singanna e poi tie sente ambascia." 
 
 (" Who turns from old ways to the new, 
 May go astray and then will rue.") 
 
 The correspondence lasted four years. His letters 
 were preserved, and later on published. Her letters 
 fell into the hands of the Inquisition. 
 
 The first letters are but the expressions of a warm 
 friendship. Sarah even sends a case, a toilet case, 
 which she herself has painted, to her ecclesiastical 
 friend. Gradually the letters become more glowing, 
 more fervent, and the calmness of his mind is lost. 
 
 His urgent endeavors for her conversion prove, time 
 and again, fruitless, but still he hopes on, and the pious 
 expressions of Christian love are intermingled with 
 sentences aglow with secret passion. 
 
 He did not dare to meet her personally, but he sent 
 to her from Genoa, where he lived, his old faithful serv- 
 ant, Marco, with a basket of the rarest and most de- 
 licious fruit, a Spanish book, and some Latin mission- 
 ary treatises, which he earnestly requested her to read. 
 She was conversant with the Spanish, Greek, Italian, 
 Hebrew, and Latin languages. She willingly complied 
 with his request, without, however, changing her opin- 
 ions in the least. 
 
 Marco was warmly welcomed by Sarah, who ex- 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 145 
 
 tended to him not only her usual hospitality, but also 
 sang to him parts of the poem of his master, which she 
 had composed. The old man returned to Genoa, intox- 
 icated with the beauty and charm of his hostess. With 
 glowing enthusiasm he spoke to Ceba. of Sarah's per- 
 sonal appearance, of her kindness and grace. Ceba, 
 deeply moved, still was not satisfied with her letter, 
 which Marco had brought with him. The letter 
 seemed to him even more reserved than usual. He 
 wrote to her, asking her permission to pray to the Vir- 
 gin Mary for her conversion. Sarah replied that she 
 would permit him to do so if in return he would allow 
 her to pray to God for his conversion to Judaism. 
 
 The correspondence between these two so opposed 
 minds is of great interest. 
 
 Sarah's arguments show a greater versatility and 
 profoundness than even those of her proselytizing 
 friend and opponent. Her knowledge often perplexes 
 him, her scrutiny is quick in detecting his weak points. 
 From his citations one is led to deduce that her replies 
 must have been of a pitilessly trenchant logic. 
 
 She refers also, on proper occasions, to the authority 
 of the philosophers. Especially is it Aristotle whom 
 she quotes, though it may seem strange that the Stagi- 
 rite should be made to intercede for Judaism in a con 
 troversy against Catholicism. 
 
 The Jewess had still another advantage over her 
 Christian opponent. She was more familiar with the 
 sacred Scriptures and the Hebrew language than he 
 was. When he quoted passages which he thought 
 must bring conviction to her, she proved to him that 
 the translation was faulty, or that he himself had mis- 
 understood the true meaning of the words. 
 10 
 
146 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 At this time Ceba lost a brother in the Turkish war. 
 
 Their written arguments had already several times 
 reverberated with harsh tones. Now these were 
 hushed, and only the sweet cadences of womanly sym- 
 pathetic consolations were heard. 
 
 Sarah speaks in the most tender accents to the grief- 
 stricken friend. He was grief-stricken indeed, for sud- 
 denly the presentiment had taken hold of him that 
 also he would die, and Sarah, unconverted, would be 
 lost to him forever. A meeting here on earth he re- 
 nounced in the hope of a meeting in Paradise. More 
 pressingly, ardently, passionately, he urged her to ac- 
 cept Christianity ; but the more he urged her, the more 
 steadfastly she declined. Hard and bitter remarks were 
 uttered, wounding the deeper, as each one designed 
 only the best for the other. 
 
 He who has not gone through such a conflict him- 
 self can not understand how the health of body and 
 soul are undermined by it. Sarah had become sickly, 
 and Ceba. felt the hour of death approach. 
 
 He wrote to her at the close of a touching letter : 
 " After my death, and during the short time I have yet 
 to live, I conjure you to think of me as of a devoted and 
 loyal servant . . . but pray do not answer me. 
 Adieu." But he loved her too well to be able to dis- 
 pense with her letters for the time he had yet to live. 
 The correspondence was begun anew, and anew they 
 tasted its pleasures and pangs. 
 
 It is a sad spectacle to see how these two noble 
 minds embittered for one another this scant source of 
 pleasure in the firm belief of fulfilling a duty. Ceba 
 has now recourse to new means. He has a picture 
 taken of himself, and sends it to Sarah. She is over- 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 147 
 
 joyed; she calls the friend " My sun." He now makes 
 bold to ask her to pray, if even only once a day : 
 " Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for me !" She could not 
 but refuse even this. He is in despair. " Why do 
 you insist on bringing bitter tears into my eyes and on 
 hastening the hour of my death, while all my aim and 
 endeavor is to save you?" 
 
 As he failed to persuade Sarah, he tried to persuade 
 her husband, but Jacob Sullam remained as steadfast 
 as his wife. 
 
 Another shadow fell on Ceba's life. His dearly be- 
 loved sister died. With a tenderness deeper even 
 than before, Sarah consoles him and sends her picture 
 with the letter. What an impression the picture 
 made on him, one can guess by his words : 
 
 " . . . It is not good that I see you . . . nei- 
 ther you nor your picture ; my mind ought to be com- 
 posed and calm so near the final hour of my life . 
 . but you — you have vanquished me on all sides ; 
 I can not escape. 
 
 "I am not master of myself ; for, standing before 
 your picture, such delight takes hold of my soul that 
 I blush." 
 
 Despite his resolution he would have finally gone 
 to Venice, but the lingering sickness made such in- 
 roads that he felt the shadow of death upon him. 
 
 In his letters he now speaks frequently of his dread- 
 ful sufferings, and of the approaching end, and with 
 cruel persistence he depicts to her how much easier 
 death would be to him if she would become a Chris- 
 tian ! He counts upon her pity. She, the tortured 
 friend, again and again has to assure him that she 
 would have to despise herself if she would succumb 
 to a weakness and deny her inmost convictions. 
 
148 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Meanwhile clouds began to gather on Sarah's hori- 
 zon. Her fame, her beauty, her superior poems which, 
 though not published, still circulated from hand to 
 hand, her steadfast refusal to accept Christianity— all 
 this made her a conspicuous personality who could 
 not escape public observation. 
 
 As the purity of her life was above all suspicion, 
 some calumniators spread the report that the corre- 
 spondence with Ceba. was only a preliminary to her 
 conversion. While she suffered for Judaism, and vin- 
 dicated it, her own coreligionists were incited against 
 her as being an apostate. She felt deeply wounded. 
 It never was learned how this accusation had been 
 spread, or who the accusers were. Perhaps it was 
 hoped to alienate Sarah from Jews and Judaism by 
 these means, but also this proved of no avail — her 
 strong soul never swerved. 
 
 But graver trials were in store for her. 
 
 A Catholic priest, who became Bishop of Capodis- 
 tria, in the year 1621, published a treatise on the 
 immortality of the soul., in which he accused Sarah 
 Copia Sullam of denying this common doctrine of 
 Judaism and Christianity. 
 
 Such an accusation could lead to very serious con- 
 sequences. The Inquisition had the right of criminal 
 prosecution and the decision of life and death in such 
 cases. 
 
 It was the time of enforced conversions ; those un- 
 willing to be baptized were tortured and killed, in 
 Spain, Germany, Bohemia and Hungary. One unfor- 
 tunate in Ispahan was condemned to be torn to pieces 
 by dogs. 
 
 Everywhere were publications circulated which in- 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 1 49 
 
 flamed the minds of the Christians against the Jews, 
 and where the Jews had attained wealth by industry 
 and frugality, in spite ot all obstacles, there the hy- 
 dra of jealousy lifted its venomous head. 
 
 Dangers lurked everywhere, and well might have 
 reigned deep anxiety at that time in the peaceful 
 home of the beautiful Sarah. 
 
 But she did not lose courage. Within two days 
 she dashed off a written defense which vindicated her 
 entirely, while it confounded the fanatical priest. This 
 defense was written with such a dialectic keenness and 
 clearness that it carried conviction unto her very op- 
 ponents. Besides this, the fair writer displayed the 
 most amiable womanliness. 
 
 With gentle modesty, though tinged with roguish- 
 ness, she excused herself, in the preface, for daring 
 to appear before the public. "But," says she, " I 
 was forced to do it." She dedicated her " Manifesto " 
 to the soul of her dear, departed father. One can not 
 read the words she addressed to him without being 
 deeply moved. This address proves immortality better 
 than all discussions. Some passages of her lucid pro- 
 fession of faith, and powerful defense against the ag- 
 gressor, may give an idea how keen-edged and power- 
 ful her dialectic weapons were. 
 
 " Indeed, if the doctrine of immortality of the soul 
 could not be sustained by any other grounds than 
 those cited by you, surely, materialism would be vic- 
 torious and poor humanity would have to be pitied. 
 You might, perhaps, reply that God often employs 
 mean and wretched tools to accomplish great ends. 
 Yes ; but then the results were godly. This differ- 
 ence deprives you of every claim to the assertion that 
 you are a prophet. 
 
150 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 " I do not speak to you in order to pose as a scholar 
 or philosopher ; on the contrary, I confess that I am 
 fully aware how little I know 
 
 "I can forgive you for having, apparently, neither 
 read the Holy Scriptures nor the historical writings 
 of Joseph Flavius, who speaks of all the different 
 opinions held by the Jewish people. But I can not 
 forgive you for not being familiar with the gospel of 
 your own creed — for if this would not be the case you 
 would have remembered that in St. Matthew (Chap. 
 22) the Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the 
 soul, went to Christ for information, who silenced 
 them by a wise reply. 
 
 " Furthermore, you affirm that I am even without 
 belief in the infallible autograph of God's own writ- 
 ing. I have no knowledge of the existence of any 
 autograph of God besides the Ten Commandments, 
 and my belief in these I try to prove with every ac- 
 tion of my life. . . . 
 
 " Are you in possession of other of God's com- 
 mandments besides these? If so, I would be happy 
 to hear of them." 
 
 It is impossible to gain an adequate idea of the 
 grace and wit displayed in the defense in these few 
 passages. The whole is like a dainty but firmly 
 welded chainlet, of which every link fits perfectly. 
 
 At the close she addressed him thus: 
 
 " And now, adieu ! You will obtain immortality, 
 which you so eloquently preach, as well as myself, if 
 you adhere as faithfully to the Christian teachings 
 as I adhere to the Jewish law." 
 
 Pater Bonifazius — this is the name of her valiant 
 assailant — a name little in accord with his mode of 
 
SARAH COPIA SULLAM. 151 
 
 action. Pater Bonifazius published a second mena- 
 cing and inciting charge against Sarah, but she dis- 
 dained to answer a second time, nor was this needed. 
 
 Sarah's manifesto fell like a thunderbolt and aroused 
 general attention and interest. Bonifazius's second 
 charge was not even noticed. An impudent poem, ad- 
 dressed to her, elicited a sonnet from her, which is 
 counted among the most beautiful poetical creations 
 of the Italian language. 
 
 We are indebted to Bonifazius in so far that he 
 was the cause of Sarah's stepping for once out of her 
 literary seclusion. It was one of her principles never 
 to publish any of her writings, consequently only few 
 of her literary works have been preserved. 
 
 It is perhaps a still greater loss that her letters to 
 Ceba. were destroyed. What a source of encourage- 
 ment and elevation could these letters have become 
 for the faint-hearted and the wavering in their be- 
 lief! 
 
 What evidence of an independently thinking mind 
 and of a fearless soul, full of exaltation, yet ever dis- 
 creet and conscious of duty, was lost with them. 
 
 Ceba, who died in April, 1623, published all his let- 
 ters to Sarah — there were fifty-three of them — and 
 dedicated them to his friend, Marcantonia Doria, of 
 Genoa. To this friend he had also bequeathed his 
 missionary work. The letters of Sarah, most prob- 
 ably, fell into the hands of the Inquisition. It would 
 have been, of course, not to the interest of this in- 
 stitution to publish the letters of a Jewess strong in 
 her faith and yet liberal. 
 
 Of Sarah's fate little is known. 
 
 She quietly devoted herself to her family and to 
 
152 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 literary work, without being molested by the Inquisi- 
 tion. The mission of Marcantonio Doria was as un- 
 successful as that of Ceba. Sarah remained a faithful 
 Jewess. She died in May, 1641, as the following lines 
 of a more modern Italian scholar, Moise Soave, testify : 
 ". . . In the year 1868 I acquired some Hebrew 
 manuscripts. Studying the same, I found a number 
 of epitaphs of rabbis, famous physicians, and other 
 prominent persons. This manuscript contains 200 
 pages, and on folio 25 the epitaph of Sarah Copia 
 Sullam is found. The beautiful verses,* in which she 
 is called "the wise and virtuous," " the crown of the 
 poor," "the guardian angel of the unfortunate," con- 
 clude with the appeal : 
 
 "Return, return, Shulamite!" 
 
 — Song of Solomon, 6:13. 
 
 * E. David comes to the conclusion that these verses were 
 written by the poet and rabbi Leone di Modena. Most of my 
 references were taken from the biography of Sarah Copia 
 Sullam, written by Leone di Modena, and published in Paris 
 1877. It is really astonishing that with such a thorough work 
 at hand so many errors are perpetrated in regard to Sarah's 
 life by literary men as well as by historians ; e. g., the}- speak of 
 her as a "maiden," while the very name Sullam is the name 
 of her husband. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE MOTHER. 
 
 DR. LAZiVRUS, in his first essay on " Psychology 
 of Nations," has referred to the typic-symbolical 
 fact that with all civilized nations their founders came 
 near losing their lives during childhood. They are 
 saved: among the gentler Greeks, Zeus, by a goat; 
 among the more rude Romans, Romulus by a she 
 wolf; among the Jews, Moses by Jochebed, the ow?i 
 mother. In this fact is pictured the family devotion, 
 which has distinguished the Jewish race from so many 
 other nations since the earliest times. This family 
 devotion especially characterizes the relation of the 
 mother to her children. 
 
 The devotion of the Jewish mother is limited only 
 by her faithfulness to the law. 
 
 The seventh chapter of the second book of the 
 Maccabees tells of an heroic mother who was imitated 
 by thousands of other persecuted sisters during the 
 middle ages. They chose martyrdom in preference to 
 baptism. But if permitted to live, the Jewish mother 
 so tenderly cared for her children, and nursed them 
 with a faithfulness which characterize her the most 
 loving among loving mothers. 
 
 It is well known how highly motherhood is esti- 
 
 153 
 
154 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 mated among the Jews. To be a mother was the 
 crown of the Jewish wife. The Bible brings many 
 an example of the childless wife approaching the 
 very limit of the permitted in order to obtain the 
 dignity of a mother. The fervent, tearful prayer of 
 Hannah, wife of Elkanah ; the strange barter of Rachel 
 with her sister L,eah, were only the results of this mo- 
 tive. Hannah, blest by the birth of her little Samuel, 
 discontinued her pilgrimages with her husband, and 
 devoted herself entirely to her boy till she, true to 
 her vow, could bring him to the priest for the serv- 
 ice of Jehovah. Then she again traveled every year 
 to the temple to bring her little boy " a coat of many 
 colors." How many thousands of stitches Hannah had 
 to make to accomplish the task ! thousands of stitches, 
 and every stitch accompanied by sweet joy and pray- 
 ers for the welfare of the little one. 
 
 Of course the modern young mother, who buys the 
 baby's outfit ready-made, knows nothing of the joy of 
 those thousand stitches ! 
 
 It was but natural that Jewish mothers nursed their 
 babes themselves, while among other nations the moth- 
 ers frequently avoided this sacred and sweet duty on 
 account of trifling excuses, and often were sustained 
 in this derogatory habit by a too obliging house phy- 
 sician. 
 
 From the first unsteady step the child made, until 
 the hour when he, at the hand of the father, entered 
 the "Schul," the Jewish mother was the boy's only 
 attendant and teacher. 
 
 The most valued treasure of the house was entrust- 
 ed to no strange, paid nurse. 
 
 The mother reared her boy with indefatigable but 
 also well-repaid patience. 
 
THE MOTHER. 155 
 
 Nothing but perhaps the too great leniency exer 
 cised by the Jewish mother toward her boy could be 
 reproached. 
 
 The Jewish proverb says: 
 
 "The mother gives more than the boy asks for." 
 If the growing boy advanced in his studies so as to be 
 capable of framing his wishes in talmudical phrases 
 and wit, then he became irresistible to a true Jewish 
 mother's heart ! For her boy showed that he had 
 learned something, and that, with the help of God, he 
 might become a " L,amden " (a scholar), to the glory 
 of Israel ! 
 
 By the Talmud the women are exempt from the 
 regular and more severe studies of the schools, part- 
 ly, perhaps, because the wise men and rabbis had the 
 example of the well-instructed but licentious and im- 
 moral Greek Hetare before their eyes. 
 
 Instruction in science seemed, to them, the way to 
 coquetry. Knowledge appeared to them— as it appears 
 to some very young or very old, pedantical masters 
 even today — as a degradation of womanliness. 
 
 Furthermore, as Judaism is a religion of deed rather 
 than of dogma and sentimentality, women were not 
 only exemp'. from ceremonial duties (functions in the 
 church), but were not even permitted to perform the 
 same. This was by no means decreed out of disre- 
 gard for woman — as many too zealous defenders of 
 the female sex with superfluous indignation assert — 
 but out of regard for woman. Bible and Talmud say, 
 " The home is the real temple of woman, the educa- 
 tion of her children her divine service, and the family 
 her congregation." For these reasons, and for sanitary 
 reasons, women were not permitted to take part in the 
 
I56 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 pilgrimages to Jerusalem, etc. But they were not ex- 
 cluded from religious instruction. (Deut. 31 : 12.) At 
 the time of Ezra they took part in the public reading 
 of the law. 
 
 The same reasons on account of which women were 
 excluded from pilgrimages seem to have given rise to 
 the queer precepts in regard to the so-called " unclean" 
 conditions. By these precepts the old teachers proved 
 to be not superstitious Orientals, but, on the contrary, 
 enlightened men. The strict se'clusion in which woman 
 had to remain during the "unclean conditions" gave 
 her the necessary quiet and rest ; after which she had 
 to bring a sacrifice and had to take a bath. The bath 
 was certainly the main object, the sacrifice only an ad- 
 dition similar to the prescription of an embrocation to 
 a peasant by a physician, the salve being prescribed 
 only to impose reverence, the rubbing is that which 
 heals. Just on account of it, that Jewish woman was 
 exempt from the purely ceremonial observances, did 
 she gain freedom and time to develop the inner reli- 
 gious life. 
 
 Characteristic is the difference which is found in the 
 Talmud in regard to unscrupulous parents. Only the 
 father is mentioned. If a father refused to act ac- 
 cording to his duty towards the children, then he was 
 forced to do it by various means, and where this was 
 impossible he was publicly punished and put to shame. 
 
 Nowhere is there a question concerning the mother. 
 Surely this was not an oversight. The sages of the 
 Talmud know and take into consideration everything, 
 and bring it into the fine and firm meshes of their 
 jurisdiction, but Bible and Talmud start from the con- 
 viction that a mother can not possibly neglect, and still 
 less violate, her duties. 
 
THE MOTHER. 157 
 
 There is no need of a higher testimony of the re- 
 spect for woman within the pale of Judaism. Numer- 
 ous are the Biblical laws to honor the mother : " Honor 
 thy father and thy mother." (Exodus : 20, 12.) " Every- 
 one shall fear his mother and his father." (Leviticus 
 19 : 3.) Interesting is the explanation to these laws in 
 a paragraph of the Tractate Kiduschin. The rabbi 
 says : " The All-knowing One is aware of the fact that 
 the child is liable to honor and love the mother more 
 than the father, because she treats it more gently; 
 therefore, in the command to honor the parents, the 
 father is mentioned before the mother, in order to 
 emphasize the fact that the duty of the child is to 
 honor the father as much as the mother." 
 
 But the child fears the father more than the moth- 
 er, because the father keeps him more strictly to his 
 duties. Therefore, in the command to fear the parents, 
 the mother is mentioned before the father, thus to em- 
 phasize the fact that the mother should be feared even 
 as the father. 
 
 The heaviest curses are those pronounced upon un- 
 natural children who do not honor their parents. 
 
 " Cursed be he who despiseth his father and his 
 mother, and the whole people say Amen." (Deut. 27: 
 16.) " Heed, oh, my son, the command of thy father, 
 and do not depart from the advice of thy mother." 
 (Prov. 6 : 20.) " Do not scorn thy mother in her old 
 age." (Prov. 22 : 23.) A wise discernment is in the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " A wise son is the joy of the father, a foolish one 
 is the vexation of his mother." (Prov. 10: 1.) 
 
 For it is the mother who attends to the first educa- 
 tion. If this is successful, then the clever boy enters 
 
158 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 the school and the society of men, where he becomes 
 the joy of his father ; if the education is not success- 
 ful, then the boy remains in the house tied to the 
 apronstrings of his mother. 
 
 The simple title " Mother " is used as a distinguish- 
 ing term of honor. In order to especially honor the 
 prophetess Deborah, she is called " Mother in Israel." 
 (Judges, chap. 5 : 7.) 
 
 Time and again the Jewish poets use motherly 
 love and motherly dignity allegorically. 
 
 The highest possession of the Jews, the place where 
 the Temple of Jehovah stood, the " Holy City," Jerusa- 
 lem, is frequently likened unto a mother who calls 
 her children, or weeps for the lost ones. 
 
 " To spy out how my scattered children fare, 
 To East and West, to North and South I turn. 
 One thought but soothes now my pangs, my care : 
 As I for them, so they for me do mourn. 
 Bowed down with grief I am, and bitter woe. 
 Why dost thou urge me to disclose my name? 
 Ah ! listen to my voice, then thou shalt know 
 The daughter Ziou's I, Jerusalem." 
 
 Rachel is called the " most motherly of women," not 
 on account of the number of her children, as she had 
 only tzco, but on account of her boundless love. 
 
 A Jewish mother denies herself everything for the 
 sake of her children. She never tires in striving and 
 working for the one aim, either to establish, indepen- 
 dently, her son, or to give him the means to study. 
 
 In case she is a widow she overcomes her natural 
 shyness and seeks a teacher and protector for her 
 boy. No sacrifice is too hard for her when it is for 
 the welfare of her child. But owing to the energy 
 
THE MOTHER. 159 
 
 and Intellect of her offspring, the Jewish mother is 
 soon cared for and maintained by them. She could 
 then rest, but she can not rest. Soon there comes one 
 grandchild, then another, and there grows up around 
 her a wreath of young blossoms which shed the glow 
 of thankfulness and love on her old age. 
 
 Mother and grandmother never were obliged to ask, 
 "If I am alone, what am I?" for Jewish mothers are 
 never alone ; they are always surrounded by thankful 
 sons and daughters who ask themselves, " If not now, 
 when then?" (Prov. of the Fathers.) 
 
 Of course, there are mothers — but not Jewish moth- 
 ers — who, if they are in good circumstances, try to 
 get rid of their children as soon as possible, and if 
 they are poor they send them into factories or let 
 them wander in the streets selling matches, flowers, 
 oranges, etc. Once I accosted a little girl, who, ap- 
 parently, was no more than ten years ot age, and 
 whom I met one evening in the Leipzigerstrasse. 
 Crying, she begged me to buy something from her. 
 
 I asked her, "Why do you cry?" 
 
 " Because I am cold and hungry." 
 
 "Why, then, don't you go home?" 
 
 " I dare not." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because I have not yet enough money." 
 
 "How much money must you have?" 
 
 " One mark." 
 
 " And if you can not get so much ? " 
 
 " Then my mother whips me, and does not give me 
 anything to eat." 
 
l6o THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Before me is today's paper, out of which I take the 
 following account : 
 
 Court Proceedings. 
 
 Before the Court stood a small, prim woman, with finely- 
 cut features and a gentle expression on her face. Who could 
 have suspected her of such barbaric cruelty as the proceed- 
 ings disclosed? She was Maria Bertha Bohms, the wife of 
 a laborer. Her maiden name was Nacke. She was accused 
 of frequent ill-treatment of Anna Nacke, her six-year-old 
 daughter, by which treatment the life of the child was en- 
 dangered. The accused had the year before married a man 
 who found her little daughter no obstacle to the marriage. 
 
 With the marriage, however, a time of dreadful suffering 
 began for little Anna. 
 
 The witnesses all testified that at the least provocation the 
 child was most cruelly punished. The examination of the 
 physician, Dr. Mittenzweig, showed that the head and body 
 of little Anna were covered with swellings and sores. 
 
 Shortly before the proceedings the accused had strangled 
 the child so that the finger-marks could be seen for several 
 days. 
 
 These atrocities were accompanied by very vile language. 
 
 The accused had been heard frequently to remark to her 
 husband, " I wish the child would be run over ; then we would 
 be rid of her." 
 
 I can safely assert that no Jewish mother would be 
 guilty of such unnatural conduct. I do not believe 
 that a Jewish mother would even send her child into 
 a factory. 
 
 If she is utterly destitute, then she consents, with 
 a bleeding heart, to a separation, and sends her child 
 to the Jewish Orphan Asylum, where, under compe- 
 tent supervision, it receives a good education. I vis- 
 ited the Jewish Orphan Asylum on the Weinbergsweg, 
 and was there informed that occasionally children were 
 
THE MOTHER. l6l 
 
 accepted who had not lost their parents, but whose 
 parents were unable to educate the children on ac- 
 count of poverty or sickness. The one predominant 
 thought of Jewish parents is to educate their children 
 to become useful men and women. 
 
 The Jewish proverb says of a little child : 
 
 "It is the precious stone in the house." 
 
 And should this precious stone be thrown away, or 
 remain unpolished? 
 
 If one would attempt to name some Jewish mothers 
 of former times, distinguished by their faithfulness 
 and devotion, one would, I suppose, have to name 
 them all, but in our period they begin to imitate 
 the bad habit of some non-Jewish women : they 
 leave their children too much in the care of unedu- 
 cated paid women. 
 
 The playgrounds of the Zoological Garden are 
 crowded with children, but where are the mothers? 
 Instead of the mother (of whom one finds only a few, 
 mostly those living in moderate circumstances) one 
 sees only talkative, forward, indifferent, often even un- 
 couth females, who are left alone with the children for 
 hours. These persons frequently have not the slight- 
 est idea or regard for what is or is not wholesome 
 for the children. 
 
 Many a mother who at home dotes on her darling 
 would be horror-stricken if she knew how her child 
 was treated when alone with the nurse, and what con- 
 versations it hears when Lena and Susie exchange 
 their opinions on returning from the parks. 
 
 Poor children ! Is it, then, a wonder that they be- 
 come so forward, and often impudent ? 
 
 Jewish mothers ! If you want to deserve this title, 
 ii 
 
l62 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 which until now was a title of honor, then take care 
 of your children and play with them YOURSELVES. 
 Your husbands will not object, and the seamstress is 
 not of paramount importance. 
 
 Bogumil Goltz, in his charming book, " Man and 
 People," describes a Jewish peddling-woman of War- 
 saw, who, though seventy years old, still provides for 
 a large family of children and grandchildren, while 
 she .scantily sustains herself on bread and porridge. 
 At every season, despite bad weather, she waded 
 through the mud and slush, and breathing asthmatic- 
 ally, she ascended all the flights of stairs to the attics, 
 dragging along bundles of garments and all kinds of 
 heavy houseware. 
 
 The humorist proceeds to depict the home of this 
 poor woman and her couch, where the feathers of the 
 coverlet fly around so freely that if they are not trained 
 to assemble again in their proper places it remains in- 
 comprehensible how that coverlet retains its integrity 
 even for a week. 
 
 And this poor old woman, who has to be on her 
 feet every day for twelve hours, is happy that she can 
 gain the daily bread for her offspring, and is pleased 
 when her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, barely 
 covered with rags, run to meet her ; and when she is 
 able to prepare for the "Shabbes" with a few hard- 
 earned " Groshen," the seven-penny candles on the old- 
 fashioned lamp of brass. This septuagenarian, who w r as 
 familiar with hunger and want from childhood on, one 
 day deliberately set out for a three-mile journey. She 
 did not shrink from any hardship, rain, snow, or slip- 
 pery walks, for one thought, one sensation, filled her 
 with satisfaction and soothed every pain : it was the 
 
THE MOTHER. 163 
 
 fact that she carried in her market-basket a goose, 
 which she brought, as a gift, to her favorite daughter 
 and this daughter's ragged husband. 
 
 Another poor old Jewess fell down the narrow rick- 
 ety garret stairs into the cellar. Her neighbors thought 
 that she was dead. The news of the accident reached 
 her son, who was a scholar, also in destitute circum- 
 stances, and who lived in a far distant village. He set 
 out at once, grief-stricken, to be present at the funeral, 
 but upon his arrival found his old mother hale and 
 hearty ! In the happiness of his heart he remained 
 with his overjoyed mother ; he cared for her and took 
 her out ; everywhere they were welcome guests, and 
 the seat of honor was offered to the aged mother. But 
 she, who had bravely endured privation, loneliness and 
 longing, was overwhelmed by the unwonted happiness, 
 and her faithful heart stood still on account of joy ! 
 
 Bogumil Goltz takes these characters from real life. 
 
 It seems remarkable — or, am I mistaken ? — that how- 
 ever freely the poets draw on their imagination in their 
 delineations of other sentiments, if they depict mother's 
 love, they generally give facts from real life or from 
 their own experience. 
 
 As real affliction can be described only by him who 
 has experienced it, so also can he alone represent 
 mother's love who has been blessed by it, therefore 
 Jewish authors speak so frequently of their mothers. 
 
 Even in his " Pilgrimage to Kevlaar," Heinrich 
 Heine took the facts from real life, as can be seen in 
 the annotations to his biography by A. Strodtmann. 
 
 Heine, the much defamed and likewise the much be- 
 loved, has set an imperishable monument to his mother 
 in his songs and sonnets. Strodtman calls her an "ex- 
 
164 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 cellent, tender, and highly sensible woman," who exer- 
 cised the greatest influence on the development of the 
 heart and mind of her children, who showed her the 
 greatest devotion through all her life. 
 
 Heine, in speaking of the mother of one of his 
 friends, says : " No day passes without her helping 
 some poor person. Apparently she can not go quietly 
 to sleep until she has accomplished a noble deed. She 
 bestows her charities upon persons of any denomina- 
 tion : Jews, Christians, Turks, and even upon unbe- 
 lievers. She is indefatigable in doing good, and seems 
 to consider this her highest aim in life." 
 
 The Jewess thus depicted was the mother of Meyer- 
 beer. 
 
 One incident especially characterizes the typical de- 
 votion and fear of the Lord of this Jewish mother. 
 On the evening when Meyerbeer's " Robert the Devil" 
 was played for the first time at Paris, and was greeted 
 with a storm of applause, a letter from his mother was 
 delivered to the excited composer. He tore it open 
 and found the following words (Numbers 6, 24-26) : 
 
 The Lord bless thee and preserve thee ; 
 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious to 
 
 thee; 
 The Lord lift up his countenance unto thee and give thee 
 
 peace. 
 
 THY MOTHER. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SACRED LANGUAGE. 
 
 THE inquiring spirit of our time has, it seems, 
 not yet perceptibly influenced Jewish women, 
 for they manifest no desire to form independent opin- 
 ions by their own investigation. Thus only can be 
 explained the ignorance of the Hebrew language pre- 
 vailing among them. This ignorance also explains 
 their indifference towards it. If they would be aware 
 of the treasures which their ancestors have left to 
 them in the Hebrew language — what depth and power, 
 what sweetness and sublimity is found in it ; how all 
 that is noble and glorious in the Bible sounds even 
 nobler and more glorious in the original text ; and all 
 that sounds rugged and harsh in the translation is 
 mellowed by the sacred language ; how the obscure 
 becomes clear, and seeming contradictions are found 
 to be but pearls of thought— if all this were but known 
 to the women, surely they would select the Hebrew 
 language as their favorite study. Doubtless, they 
 would then deem it important that their children 
 should acquire a thorough knowledge of Hebrew. 
 
 However, how shall the women be aware of the 
 value of the sacred language if even the men hardly 
 know of it, and only the scholars are familiar with it? 
 We may add, as a consolation, that it was not always 
 
 165 
 
1 66 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 so ; that the women were formerly not wanting in the 
 knowledge and appreciation of the Hebrew. In former 
 centuries the holy language, in which the Ten Com- 
 mandments and the Genesis of humanity were given 
 to the nation, had found enthusiastic admirers among 
 women. 
 
 Not to go too far back, we will mention here the 
 talented daughter of Rabbi Samson Cohen, Eva Bach- 
 arach. 
 
 Eva was born in Prague, in 1585. She was excep- 
 tionally well versed in rabbinical and biblical writ- 
 ings, and mastered the Hebrew language so completely 
 that even scholars in her surroundings asked her opin- 
 ion regarding obscure passages or ambiguous expres- 
 sions. By various misfortunes and by expulsion from 
 their home the family lost everything. The hardest 
 trial for the sorely-tried wife, however, was the loss 
 of her dearly-beloved husband. But also on this oc- 
 casion she manifested the noble fortitude of her mind. 
 
 She returned with her son to her mother, the schol- 
 arly VogelE Cohen. Eva was still young and charm- 
 ing, though not beautiful, and numerous new suitors 
 claimed her hand ; but she remained faithful to her 
 husband, even in death, and did not marry again. 
 
 Her son being elected Rabbi in Moravia, she fol- 
 lowed him thither, and later on enjoyed the happiness 
 of seeing him wedded to a bright and charming wom- 
 an. In the year 1652 she set cut for a much -longed- 
 for pilgrimage to Palestine. But she died at Sofia, 
 and was buried there with great honor. 
 
 About the same time Bella Falk Cohen, a learned 
 and God-fearing woman, wielded a great influence in 
 Jewish circles. When }'et quite young she was united 
 
THE .SACRED LANGUAGE. 167 
 
 in marriage with one of the most renowned rabbis of 
 that time, R. Joshua Falk Cohen. As in her hospitable 
 father's house, so also at the side of her husband, she 
 received much intellectual incentive ; but the distress- 
 ing consequences of the continual hostilities and wars 
 waged in those times were felt in every household, 
 and very likely prevented her from original work. 
 
 Also the following women are mentioned as thorough 
 scholars of Hebrew: Laza (in the year 1689), Sarah 
 Oppenheim, and' Sprinza Kempner. 
 
 A peculiarity of ancient rabbinical scholarship were 
 the hair-splitting explanations of various precepts in 
 regard to religious formalities and ceremonies. Some- 
 times the learned women gave the final decision ; e.g., 
 whether the blessing over the festive lights should 
 be pronounced before or after lighting them. 
 
 Of more importance and greater wit were the an- 
 swers given on such occasions by Krendee Stein- 
 hardT. She was a descendant of a family of rabbis, 
 married a rabbi, and she herself was called " Die Reb- 
 becin" (the rabbiess) by her admirers. She was so well 
 versed in Hebrew that even the rabbis abided by her 
 decision in explanations of obscure and difficult pas- 
 sages. One example of such casuistry may here be 
 given. In the Midrash is found the following passage : 
 " Ten years were taken from Joseph's life,* on account 
 of his listening to the words of his brothers: 'Thy 
 servant, our father,' regardless of the due reverence 
 for parents." 
 
 The difficult}' in the passage is, that in reality the 
 brothers uttered these words onlv five times. 
 
 * Another evidence of the typical reverence required of 
 Jewish children towards their parents. 
 
l68 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Krendel explained the difficulty thus : Joseph, pre- 
 tending that he did not understand Hebrew, the lan- 
 guage of his brothers, had the words repeated to him 
 by the interpreter, and thus listened to them actually 
 ten times. 
 
 Well known for their great knowledge of the Scrip- 
 tures were Bienvenida Chirondi and Miriam L,u- 
 ria. Both these women were from Padua, and the latter 
 belonged to a large and prominent family of scholars. 
 
 The Talmudical disputations of Miriam L,uria with 
 distinguished scholars of her time created a great sen- 
 sation. 
 
 Her favorite occupation was the study of the Talmud 
 and the Bible, and she instructed herself, her son, and 
 one of his playmates in Bible explanations and He- 
 brew grammar. 
 
 Her annotations to different synagogical poems and 
 difficult passages of the Bible have been preserved. 
 
 Sara Oser, a Polish woman, was so familiar with 
 the Hebrew language that she could read fluently the 
 Bible, the Talmud, and the Midrash. 
 
 Whosoever has once grasped the spirit of the 
 Hebrew language is irresistibly captivated b)' its 
 charms. 
 
 This is the case w T ith Jewesses as well as with non- 
 Jewesses. Saint Pauline, the Swedish Queen 
 Christine, the clever Anna Maria Shurman, all 
 non-Jewesses, loved, studied, and practiced the He- 
 brew language. George Eliot doubtlessly belonged 
 to the same class; at least some of her most impor- 
 tant works show that she had fully penetrated into 
 the spirit and idiosyncrasies of the Hebrew language. 
 Dorothea More, and Antonia, the Princess of 
 
THE SACRED LANGUAGE. 169 
 
 WurTEmberg, are also said to have excelled in the 
 knowledge of the sacred language. Another promi- 
 nent Hebrew scholar was Rahee Morpurgo, daugh- 
 ter of Benetto and Benetta L,uzzatta. She was born 
 at Triest the 8th of April, 1790. An aunt of hers, 
 a cripple, who remained unmarried, Consoea L,uz- 
 zatta, found her only consolation in the stud}' of 
 the Hebrew works, and could even read the Talmud. 
 Her example probably incited her young and beau- 
 tiful niece likewise to become a Hebrew scholar. 
 
 She first learned wood-carving from an uncle, then 
 dress-making, but, nevertheless, continued her study 
 of Hebrew. She read the Bible in the original lan- 
 guage, and also made herself familiar with the com- 
 mentaries, especially with Rashi. She read a good 
 deal, but only the best selections, as she used espe- 
 cially the excellent library of her brother. 
 
 Courted by many young men on account of her 
 various talents, she rejected, for years, all suitors, to 
 the astonishment of her relatives and friends, until 
 finally it was found that she was secretly engaged 
 to a young man living in another city. 
 
 He was in every respect her inferior, still she 
 remained faithful to him and married him at last. 
 
 The union proved an unhappy one. Her house- 
 hold, consisting of her husband, a daughter, and 
 three sons, who remained unmarried, took too much 
 of her time and strength. Only during sleepless 
 nights could she devote herself to Hebrew poetry. 
 In the year 1890 Professor Castiglione published a 
 volume of her collected Hebrew poems. The form 
 of these poems is faultless, but sometimes at the cost 
 of the poetical contents. 
 
I70 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Her large correspondence with the most distin- 
 guished coreligionists, conducted mostly in Hebrew, 
 is very interesting. This God-fearing and modest wom- 
 an died in Triest in the year 1871. 
 
 Thamar Luzzatto and Deborah Ephrosi like- 
 wise acquired renown as learned women. 
 
 A very sympathetic figure is that of Miriam 
 Mosessohn, born in Zobolk, a small place in Lith- 
 uania in the } T ear 1841. From her early childhood 
 she displayed an almost passionate eagerness for 
 learning the Hebrew language, which to her pious 
 mind was, in truth, sacred. Her parents and teachers 
 yielding to her urgent entreaties, permitted her to 
 take part in the instruction of the Bible translation 
 generally given to boys only. 
 
 Astonished at her quick understanding and rapid 
 advance, no one dared to interfere with her further 
 studies. 
 
 Later on her parents engaged a teacher for her 
 alone, who perfected her knowledge of the Hebrew 
 to such a degree that at fifteen years she had read 
 the whole of the Holy Scriptures in the original, with 
 grammatical and ethical explanations. During her 
 whole life, often clouded by care and distress, she 
 never neglected the study of Hebrew. She read and 
 wrote this language daily, and translated good and 
 valuable novels and other works from the German 
 into Hebrew. 
 
 Critics laud these translations just as much for their 
 faithfulness in the rendition as for the beauty of form. 
 
 A personality peculiarly interesting on account of 
 her 5'outh and her tragical fate is Bertha Rabbin o- 
 wiz-Kreidmann. She committed suicide when only 
 
THE SACRED LANGUAGE. 171 
 
 twenty-two years old, by throwing herself ont of a 
 window. She published, in new Hebrew, poems and 
 letters which testify to no mean talent. 
 
 Other female students of Hebrew, though known 
 only in smaller circles, are Leah Bramson, Mrs. 
 Levy in Trier, and Amelia Epstein in Brody. 
 Furthermore, Hendel Bassevi, Tscharna Rosen- 
 thal,* and Abigail L,indo. The latter gave evi- 
 dence of an uncommon perseverance and energy by 
 compiling a Hebrew-English and English-Hebrew 
 dictionary in the year 1SS6. Her father, the author, 
 E. H. Eindo, probably assisted her in her undertaking. 
 
 The very interesting Yetta Wohllerner, from 
 Eemberg, is still to be mentioned. Her father was a 
 poor merchant. She had to assist him in business, 
 and consequently her education was very deficient. 
 
 While listening to the instruction in Hebrew, which 
 her brother received, her attention was aroused and 
 she was seized with a burning desire for intellectual 
 development. She became so fond of the Hebrew 
 language that she employed every moment, of leisure, 
 especially the Sabbath-day and the festivals, in read- 
 ing the Bible, and in comparing the Hebrew text with 
 Mendelssohn's translation. At this time she became 
 acquainted with the Hebrew writings of the scholar- 
 ly Christian authoress, Anna Marie Schurmann. 
 Charmed with the remarkably wide range of her 
 knowledge, and amazed that a non-Jewess was capa- 
 ble of mastering so thoroughly the Hebrew language, 
 she resolved to attempt to study it herself. 
 
 A young Polish physician of her acquaintance, who 
 
 * She was the wife of the rich and well-educated Naph- 
 thali Rosenthal, a friend of Moses Mendelssohn. 
 
172 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 was familiar with Hebrew, taught her, and induced 
 her to translate from German into Hebrew, and from 
 Hebrew into German. 
 
 So eager a pupil was she that even her engage- 
 ment with Iy. Rosanes, from Brody, served her as an 
 opportunity for practice in Hebrew. She exchanged 
 love letters in the language of the " Song of Songs." 
 
 These letters, which, to later possessors, must have 
 appeared valuable, as they were carefully kept, were 
 finally destroyed by fire by some ignorant bigots. 
 
 A bitter grief befell the young bride when her in- 
 tended died. In order to divert her mind her father 
 let her learn music and singing, but the sound of 
 music only aroused her grief the more. Time slowly 
 healed her deep wound, and, after long years, she gave 
 her hand to a good and clever man, Samson Wohl- 
 lerner. But he also was soon taken from her by 
 death. 
 
 Although continually active in the house and in 
 the business, still, in her few moments of leisure, she 
 found the .greatest enjoyment in the exercise of her 
 acquirements. 
 
 She published Hebrew poems and essays in differ- 
 ent journals. In her letters to her friends she never 
 tired of recommending study as the best source of 
 consolation, and as an ever-flowing fountain of pure 
 joy. 
 
 It remains only to remember the women of the 
 house of Rothschild. Their lives and their endeav- 
 ors were devoted to the idea that riches are best 
 employed in the cause of enlightenment. 
 
 Several of the daughters of this family became 
 noble prototypes for their Jewish sisters. Besides 
 
THE SACRED LANGUAGE. 1 73 
 
 being distinguished by their earnest application to 
 study, they are also shining examples of faithfulness 
 and devotion to Judaism. 
 
 In this they emulated their noble ancestress, the 
 pious Gedula, of whom a contemporaneous poet 
 says that " like a good Genius, she kept constant 
 watch over her children." 
 
 Adelheid von Rothschild was not only clever 
 and highly accomplished, but, what is more, she was 
 good. Her whole being .was marked by that har- 
 mony which springs only from true peace of soul. 
 Above all, she was a good Jezcess. It is well known 
 that .she had an audience with the Pope Pio Nono, 
 with whom she interceded in behalf of the Jews of 
 the Ghetto, who were persecuted by the Cardinal 
 della Gengha. She was but fifty-three years old when, 
 in the midst of her benevolent endeavors, she was 
 taken away by relentless death. 
 
 Her husband erected a Children's Home in Naples, 
 as an everlasting monument to her memor) 7 . 
 
 The most interesting woman in this family is the 
 authoress Charlotte von Rothschild, wife of Li- 
 onel von Rothschild, in London. Great credit is due to 
 her on account of her efforts in behalf of the education 
 of poor girls. She founded, at Bell Lane, in London, 
 a Girls' School, where she herself lectured on reli- 
 gious topics on the Sabbath and holidays. These 
 lectures were published in 1864, and were so well 
 received by the public that a second edition had to 
 be issued, and afterwards they were translated into 
 French and German. 
 
 She possessed a rare knowledge of the Bible, and 
 by this knowledge her love for Judaism grew ever 
 
174 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 firmer and stronger. At the same time she had a 
 clear insight into the requirements of modern times 
 in regard to the position of the Jews. Her mind 
 being free from prejudice, she was well fitted to ad- 
 vocate, as she did in her lectures, true reform. 
 
 The themes of her lectures were mostly popular 
 subjects, with a special regard for the requirements 
 of the female sex; e. g., " Beauty is Vain" "Keep 
 thy Tongue from Evil." She spoke likewise about 
 "Hygiene," "True Worship," "Toleration," etc. She 
 also published " Contemplations and Daily Prayers " 
 for the families. 
 
 Once she had to enter publicly the lists to defend 
 her people. It was in the open but anonymous let- 
 ter, "Lord Chelsia and the Jews." 
 
 Louise von Rothschild published in 1856 a book 
 entitled " Thoughts about Bible Texts" and " Words 
 Addressed to My Children." 
 
 Constance and Anna von Rothschild, daugh- 
 ters of Louise, were earnest students of the Bible 
 and the history of their people. They published a 
 book in two volumes, "History and Literature of the 
 fews" hi 1 87 1. The work received much attention. 
 The historical part was written by Constance, the 
 literary part by Anna. Both showed great insight 
 in their respective departments. 
 
 Louise von Rothschild ( Frankfort-on-the-Main) 
 and her daughter, Clementine (who died when 
 young) wrote "Letters to a Christian Friend o?i the 
 Fundamental Truths of Judaism." 
 
 Emma von Rothschild is spoken of as a talented 
 artist, and has published several compositions. Well 
 known is Betty von Rothschild, widow of James 
 
THE SACRED LANGUAGE. 1 75 
 
 von Rothschild. She was an exceptionally gifted 
 woman, and of unbounded charity. Always endeav- 
 oring to further the study of Judaism, she instituted, 
 in the year 1849, a prize of 5,000 francs for Jewish 
 girls, who, at a public examination, would prove to 
 possess the greatest knowledge of Hebrew. 
 
 A French girl and a German girl — Miss Alex- 
 andre, from Nancy, and Miss Blume, from Strass- 
 burg, both won the prize, which, on that account, 
 was doubled by L,ady Rothschild. The two young 
 girls translated, under the public supervision of some 
 scholars, Chapter 34 of Prophet Ezekiel, from French 
 into Hebrew, and vice versa. Then they translated 
 some chapters of the Bible, and some of the most 
 beautiful, and, at the same time, most difficult Psalms, 
 with grammatical explanations. 
 
 Bettina and Mathilda von Rothschild are 
 yet deserving of special mention on account of their 
 brilliant attainments and philanthropic activity. 
 
 When people hear the name " Rothschild," they 
 think generally only of the millions gained by the 
 family. But what charitable use is made of these 
 millions by them, in comparison to other millionaires, 
 is never taken into consideration. 
 
 It is not so much the wealth of earthly possessions 
 by which these women have gained distinction, but 
 by the wealth of charitable deeds, and by their nobil- 
 ity of heart and mind, which shed beneficent and ani- 
 mating rays on all their surroundings. 
 
 Many another Jewish woman of our time has the 
 means and the leisure to enlarge the narrow circle 
 of unessential problems, and to acquire by study a 
 liberal and cheerful view of the universe. A liberal 
 
176 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 and cheerful view of the universe! Who, if not the 
 Jewish mind ; who, if not the Jewish woman, should 
 be imbued with them by the very grandeur and lofti- 
 ness of their own history? If she scans this history 
 she will find the grandest deeds recorded in it ; deeds 
 without a parallel in the history of other races, a fact 
 which must fill her with pride on account of it that 
 she is a Jewess. If she then draws a comparison be- 
 tween past and present, between the slavery during 
 centuries and the newly-gained freedom, when she 
 considers all the opportunities offered to her, which 
 to emulate lies in her own hand, how can she then 
 but be imbued with liberal and cheerful views ? 
 
 But of course she must know the Jewish history ; 
 she must be acquainted with the sacred Scriptures. 
 
 Abraham Geiger says, ' ' As long as Jewish woman 
 is not able to deliver these sacred treasures to her 
 children ; as long as she can not impart to them THE 
 vivid consciousness of the great mission of 
 Judaism, so long they will not acquire their 
 full individuality ; a powerful incentive to 
 uprightness and true nobility will be dulled 
 in them, an inspiring emotion deadened. 
 
 An INSPIRING EMOTION! — that is what is 
 needed. 
 
 On account of the importance of the subject I shall 
 add a brief characteristic of the copiousness of terms 
 which express abstract ideas in the Hebrew language. 
 For " speech," " word," there are twenty-one different 
 expressions ; for " thinking," twelve ; " to speak," " to 
 think " have one and the same expression ; for " pow- 
 er," "might," "strength," "energy," "determination" 
 there are thirty six; for "honor" and "distinction" 
 
THE SACRED LANGUAGE. 1 77 
 
 there are fifty-seven terms. For " to see " — an act which 
 requires by far more subjectivity than "to hear" — 
 the Hebrew has eighteen forms, but for " to hear " 
 only four. For "to seek," "to search," and also for 
 "to separate," "to disunite," there are thirty-four 
 words; for " to join," "to unite," "to combine," fif- 
 teen; for "to hasten," eight expressions. 
 
 It is a proof of Jewish enthusiasm and its pathos 
 that there are, for " anger," fifteen ; for " to scream," 
 twenty-five ; for " to break," thirty different forms. 
 The strong subjectivity of the Jewish race, the ener- 
 getic acting of its ego, explain why a copula was not 
 essential to them, and why their language is poor in 
 conjunctions. 
 
 Who wishes to understand Hebrew must rouse his 
 subjectivity ; must think and pay attention ; must get 
 used to search for the subtleties of thought and phrase 
 by his own individual exertion. 
 
 "The study of Hebrew, therefore, is an excellent peda- 
 gogical means of arousing and stimulating thinking; 
 to whet and to strengthen the intellect ; to keep the 
 mind fresh a?id awaked — A. Jellinek. 
 
 The daughter of the people of Israel, a people which 
 alone has brought forth among all the poets and think- 
 ers the sublime and unparalleled Prophets, should she 
 not learn to cherish and foster the language which 
 these prophets have bequeathed as a sacred inherit- 
 ance? 
 
 12 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 APOSTATES. 
 
 IT has been told in the sixth chapter that the be- 
 lievers in the One and Only God were slaughtered 
 by the thousands in those times of inhuman cruelty. 
 Other thousands, who, weakened in mind and body 
 by long suffering and martyrdom, no more possessed 
 the strength of soul and the courage of deed to meet 
 death with their dear ones rather than to be defiled 
 by a falsehood, submitted to baptism, and conformed 
 outwardly to the customs of their persecutors. It is 
 doubtful whether this could have been done sincerely, 
 for compulsion creates aversion. 
 
 Most of the baptized Jews could not resist the 
 impulse to cling secretly to the customs of their in- 
 herited traditions. These aroused suspicion, and were 
 exposed to a fate even more cruel than that of their 
 slaughtered brethren, who had remained faithful unto 
 death. 
 
 Others succeeded better in dissimulating their sen- 
 timents, and observed the rites of Judaism only in 
 strictest seclusion. These were often greatly honored, 
 and held distinguished positions of great responsi- 
 bility at the courts of kings, prelates, and nobles. 
 
 There was still another group of apostates, who, by 
 178 
 
APOSTATES. 179 
 
 long exposure to all kinds oi cruelties, had become 
 so weakminded and indifferent that they would have 
 just as well accepted Islam, Buddhism, or any belief 
 thrust upon them, if they were only finally left alone. 
 They were the most unfortunate ones, for without God 
 and without faith they did not find a compensation 
 for their degradation, even in the consecration of grief 
 and anguish. 
 
 A fourth group of proselytes has yet to be men- 
 tioned : those who, actuated by mean, selfish reasons, 
 posed as stricter Christians than even the Christians 
 themselves, and emulated them by denouncing, perse- 
 cuting, and abusing their former coreligionists, even 
 more vehemently than did the Christian oppressors. 
 
 The women were dragged to the baptismal font 
 with the men and children. 
 
 Only rarely did it happen now that a new Hannah 
 arose, wdio implored her husband rather to kill her 
 and their children than to submit to baptism. 
 
 Gradually the oppressors succeeded in abasing and 
 degrading the remainder of a generation of heroes 
 into weaklings who did not resist any wrong inflicted 
 upon them, not even the laws* which excluded them 
 from ever}' other occupation except money-exchange 
 and borrowing on interest, driving them to usury in 
 order to gain the monstrous taxes which were im- 
 posed on them. 
 
 In this way the character of the Jews could not 
 but become stunted. Unfortunately, the most liberal 
 prince who contributed so much to the amelioration 
 of his land, Frederick the Great, had no comprehen- 
 
 * Luther said : "As the Jews are forced into usury, how can 
 this influence them for the better?" 
 
l8o THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 sion of this marvelous people; of the people who 
 gave to us the Ten Commandments, the writings 
 of whose prophets we delight to read, whose psalms 
 we sing in our churches and cathedrals. The people 
 who had written the Sacred Scriptures did not in- 
 terest the Great King.* 
 
 In the year 1750 the Jews obtained the "General 
 Privileges," but for the promised " Protection " they 
 had to pay an enormous tax, besides the restrictions 
 imposed upon them They were excluded from the 
 professions ; from the arts and sciences ; legally, noth- 
 ing was left to them but to become merchants and 
 money-lenders. 
 
 Mendelssohn lived already. The gentle, timid 
 son of the poor copyist of the Ten Commandments, 
 Mendel, from Dessow, became the banner-bearer of en- 
 lightenment for the Jews. 
 
 The first instruction in Hebrew and the Talmud he 
 received from his father, who, during the severe win- 
 ters, carried the sickly child wrapped in an old fur 
 cloak to school. 
 
 Little Mendelssohn, by his eager thirst for knowl- 
 edge, contracted a nervous disease which was the 
 cause of his deformed spine. It is touching to read 
 
 * Von Kaestner wrote the following epigram, when Frederick 
 the Great crossed off the name of Mendelssohn from the list 
 of academic philosophers : 
 
 Ein neuer Dionys rief von der Seine Strande 
 Sophistenschwarme hei, fur seinen Unterricht; 
 Ein Plato lebt in seinem Lande, 
 Und diesen kennt er nicht. 
 
 (A new Dionysius called, from the Seine's green shore, 
 A throng of sophists to teach him their lore. 
 The Plato, rich with wisdom's store, 
 In his own land he did ignore.) 
 
APOSTATES. IOI 
 
 how the poor Talmud student made his way to Berlin, 
 and finally was permitted to live there under the pro- 
 tection of a merchant. 
 
 A young girl from Hamburg, who was neither 
 good-looking nor highly educated, but whose manners 
 were of a charming simplicity, Frommet Gugen- 
 heim, was destined to become the star of light of the 
 modest but scholarly life of Mendelssohn. "A blue- 
 eyed lassie " he called her, who became his faithful 
 and devoted " helpmate." 
 
 Ei°kt children were born unto them, who could be 
 proud of their parents — who could be proud to bear 
 the name of Mendelssohn. 
 
 What a strange fate ! nearly all these children aban- 
 doned the principles of their father. He had done 
 everything to give them a good education ; he wanted 
 them to become liberal but religious men and wom- 
 en ; for them he undertook the gigantic work of the 
 translation of the Bible into clear and beautiful Ger- 
 man. Day and night he was concerned about their 
 welfare, and his best hopes were centered in them. 
 One of his daughters died while young, another one, 
 Recha, married the court banker Meyer, in Hanover. 
 She seems to have given least cause for trouble to 
 her father ; but Dorothea, who, before her baptism, 
 signed herself Brendee, and Henrietta (Jentel), 
 were talked about very much. Dorothea particularly 
 became famous in the so-called " period of genius." 
 
 She was a glaring example of frivolous apostacy. 
 Born in the Jewish faith, she first became a Protest- 
 ant and afterwards turned Catholic. All her outward 
 enthusiasm for her new confession could not hide the 
 want of inner truth in her way of acting. 
 
l82 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 All those women who, during the last centuries, 
 were weakminded enough to give up the best that 
 was in their possession — their faith — did so, forced by 
 bitter compulsion, death being before their eyes. 
 
 Those others who changed their creed out of in- 
 difference or selfishness, as one changes a pair of 
 gloves, did well to step out of a creed which, for them, 
 was but an empty name. It is true, the other relig- 
 ious community does not gain much by such apos- 
 tates, but for the Jewish congregational organism it is 
 better to discard such decayed and dead members. 
 
 But how can we explain the giving up of the in- 
 herited religion and the acceptance of a new, till now 
 hostile, creed, when not forced to it by actual or moral 
 compulsion ? 
 
 With the daughters of Mendelssohn no such com- 
 pulsion was exercised. They grew up in modest cir- 
 cumstances, but free from care. 
 
 They had no more to tremble before outbursts of 
 hate and disdain, as their sisters in former genera- 
 tions. The house of their father was a highly hon- 
 ored one. 
 
 They were educated among the most favorable con- 
 ditions, surrounded by motherly love, paternal care, 
 and the friendship of distinguished men and women. 
 The parental home was the gathering-place of the 
 most cultivated and noble minds. 
 
 Intercourse and example pointed out the way of 
 true morality to the daughters of Mendelssohn — still 
 they deviated from it, especially Dorothea. 
 
 She was married when young, to the banker Veit, 
 who was a highly-respected man and citizen. But 
 the mind of the young wife was already influenced 
 
APOSTATES. 183 
 
 by the prevailing emancipation theories. She turned, 
 more and more, from the religious ways of her parents, 
 and embraced the new romantic doctrines. Grad- 
 ually the idea that she was "not understood" by 
 her husband, and that this union made her unhappy, 
 took possession of her. Among other literary men 
 she made the acquaintance, also, of Friedrich von 
 Schlegel, and became the prototype of his well-known 
 " Lucinde." Twelve ) r ears after the death of her father ; 
 fourteen years after her marriage with Veit, the father 
 of her children, she obtained a divorce from him and 
 followed Friedrich von Schlegel in bonds of " free 
 love." Veit, with true Jewish benevolence, supported 
 the faithless one ; for in spite of Friedrich's glowing 
 love, Dorothea continually had to fight with the cares 
 of life on account of her Friedrich's improvidence and 
 heedlessness. 
 
 But Dorothea impressed on her life and aims the 
 seal of ignobility by her double apostacy. Her sister 
 Henrietta was less gifted with outward charms, but of 
 better character. She lived later in Paris as gover- 
 ness. She took motherly care of General Sebastiani's 
 only daughter, who became, in after years, the un- 
 happy Duchess of Praslin. 
 
 Henrietta enjoyed an existence free from troubles 
 and cares, highly esteemed by everyone. Suddenly 
 she determined to change her religion — not from inner 
 conviction, or out of deep love for a non-Jew, but from 
 mere consideration for her Catholic pupil. She died in 
 Berlin in the year 1831. 
 
 It was Schleiermacher, the refined-sensitive and re- 
 fined-sensual theologian, who exercised a pernicious 
 influence in the intellectual society of Berlin ; he was 
 
184 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 so fond of Jewish circles, and their beautiful women, 
 that he incurred by it the reprimand of the superior 
 clergy. 
 
 A prominent figure in these circles was Rachei, 
 IyEViN Markus. She was the brightest of the bright 
 women in Berlin. She, the admiring friend of Goethe 
 and Fichte, was considered a " modern saint." 
 
 The somewhat intricate, oracular apothegms of this 
 "Pythia" have been collected by her husband, Varn- 
 hagen von Ense, in the well-known book, " Memories 
 for her Friends." 
 
 In 1808 Varnhagen von Ense made the acquaint- 
 ance of Rachel, who was older than he, and a few 
 months later married her. In his frequent travels, 
 which he, as a diplomat, had to make, Rachel always 
 accompanied him. By this traveling, her insight into 
 human nature, and perception of things, grew keener 
 and more accurate. In 18 19 they settled in the cap- 
 ital of Prussia ; there she opened a salon, where the 
 most distinguished men soon gathered, all of whom 
 paid to her, on account of her extreme originality, 
 the most flattering homage. 
 
 This exceptionally gifted woman was also good 
 and benevolent. Numberless poor praised her gen- 
 erous kindness. In the times of war she proved her 
 zealous patriotism by her courageous assistance in 
 the transport and aid of the wounded, and where 
 she could not be present personally, she was inde- 
 fatigable in inciting others to the philanthropic 
 work. 
 
 This woman, whose social position was high and 
 well established, by her merits as well as by outer 
 circumstances, did not resist the inducement offered 
 by a change of religion, and suffered herself to be 
 
APOSTATES. 185 
 
 baptized. Neither in her letters, her diaries, nor 
 later in her biographies, are sufficient reasons to be 
 found which would fully explain her change of re- 
 ligion. She herself, on proper occasions, speaks se- 
 verely and sharply on " The dissembling new love for 
 the Christian belief." 
 
 Perhaps it was a certain capriciousness which mani- 
 fested itself in Rachel's disposition, to which her apos- 
 tacy may, to a great extent, be attributed. 
 
 Still the whimsical, interesting Rachel was by no 
 means indifferent in religious matters; on the con- 
 trary, she was religiously inclined, and some of her 
 most beautiful aphorisms are those which treat of 
 the relation between man and God. 
 
 This woman acknowledged on her death-bed that 
 she still belonged fully and entirely to Judaism. Re- 
 markable and very interesting is her confession : that 
 Judaism, which was once her "degradation," and the 
 "misfortune" (?) of her life, this Judaism, now in 
 
 HER EAST MOMENTS, SHE WOULD NOT MISS " FOR 
 ANY PRICE IN THE WORLD." 
 
 This deep feeling of connection with the religion 
 of the fathers marks this kind of apostacy as espe- 
 cially unprincipled. 
 
 Henrietta Herz, at least, had so much consider- 
 ation as to wait till after the death of her strictly 
 orthodox mother before she denied Judaism, and, per- 
 suaded by Schleiermacher, became baptized in 181 7. 
 
 Besides her beauty, the quiet dignity of Henrietta 
 was much commended. How many men were charmed 
 by her ! W. von Humboldt, both the Schlegels, Hein- 
 rich Heine, and B. Boerne were, in spite of the differ- 
 ence in years, very enthusiastic in their admiration 
 for her. 
 
1 86 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Goethe was very much pleased with Henrietta's 
 enthusiasm for him. Alexander von Humboldt, when 
 still a very young man, was frequently a guest in the 
 house of Marcus Herz, the husband of Henrietta. 
 Humboldt was taught by her to write Jewish-German 
 characters, which he afterwards used in corresponding 
 with her. 
 
 Kant was a friend of Henrietta's husband, who was 
 a warm-hearted, able physician, and philosopher. He 
 loved his beautiful wife dearly, but she seemed to 
 have no understanding for the superiority of her 
 husband ; she possessed no love for religion, and 
 therefore was also wanting in the religion of love. 
 It is true she never proved faithless to her husband, 
 but she found pleasure in the homage of other men, 
 and was thus open to misleading influences. 
 
 Among her friends it was just the most gifted one 
 who dimmed her naturally pure sentiments by mottled 
 and perverse ideas. Schleiennacher being a theolo- 
 gian, she, with true feminine naivete, did not hesitate 
 to put implicit faith in him, even after he disclosed 
 to her his passion for Blenore Grunow, the wife of 
 a colleague. He who thus learned to disregard the 
 sacred ties of marriage, prepared himself to disregard 
 all things sacred. 
 
 Marcus Herz once wrote : "/« our day, the study of 
 sacred truth is avoided as an unfruitful spec2ilation, 
 and is believed to be entirely dispensable ; all that 
 is sought ... is the approval of the world." How 
 well these words of the philosopher applied to his 
 own wife ! 
 
 How well they apply to others ! 
 
 Henrietta Herz, the much-beloved and nearly idol- 
 
APOSTATES. 187 
 
 ized woman — what an influence could she, as a good 
 Jewess, have exercised in the widest circles ! 
 
 Henrietta, who ruled all hearts ; the stately and 
 thoughtful Dorothea ; the witty, original, energetic Ra- 
 chel — what could they have attained in favor of reli- 
 gious toleration, in combatting old prejudices, in paving 
 the way for equal rights for their coreligionists with 
 the confessors of the religion of " universal brotherly 
 love ! " Of all this, Rachel, Henrietta, and Dorothea 
 knew nothing. Henrietta and Dorothea had no idea of 
 a mission to continue the work of their fathers. They 
 did not remember his words, that, deep in his heart 
 he was convinced of the truth of his religion, that he was 
 strengthened by this inheritance of his fathers, and that 
 he thus quietly pursiied his way, without any need of 
 giving a?i account of his conviction to the world. Hen- 
 rietta's beauty, Rachel's genius, and Dorothea's liber- 
 ality only gained for them a deplorable renown, where 
 they could have attained glorious fame and the bless- 
 ings of posterity, if they had promoted liberal ideas and 
 faithfulness to conviction. 
 
 The beautiful words of a good Jewess of our period 
 may here be quoted: "Jews and Jewesses, who are 
 called ' the chosen people,' how could they allow them- 
 selves to be swept along with the stream of irreligiou, 
 where they could not but arrive at dissension with 
 the sacred traditions of their faith? The Jews, are 
 they not the more duty bound to prove how well- 
 deserving they are of the rights unjustly kept from 
 them through centuries — not by striving after worldly 
 gain, after passing pleasures and problematical enjoy- 
 ments, but by holding aloft the banner of ideality ? 
 
 " The Jewish women, so richly endowed by nature, 
 should they not exert themselves and endeavor that 
 
l88 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 now, as of yore, should be awarded to them the crown 
 of true womanliness and chastity?" — Ottilie Bach,i?i 
 Ztg. d. Judcnth. 
 
 In the midst of the frivolities and meaningless 
 conventionalities of our days, does there not exist, in 
 the heart of Jewish woman, a deep longing for a safe 
 and sacred retreat for the soul? for a rock of sup- 
 port ? And where could she find a better support 
 than in the venerable, sublime religion of her fathers ? 
 Is it possible that she fails to understand their reli- 
 gion? Is it possible that she deserts their faith? 
 fails to understand it and deserts it, instead of rejoic- 
 ing in the thought that it is her own? 
 
 The unbiased observer will have to confess, " No, 
 this deep longing after a rock of support is not always 
 present. The religion is frequently denied and de- 
 serted by its confessors, often, yea, most frequently, on 
 account of trivial reasons." The clever Fanny I^e- 
 wald, e. g., who was so superior in all other respects, 
 submitted when seventeen years old to baptism, be- 
 cause of her love for a young theologian. The rash 
 and foolish step was immediately repented by her, and 
 she declared, to everyone who wished to listen, that 
 she never could become a good Christian. How could 
 she, indeed, do so ? " She herself had to elaborate her 
 declaration of faith, and she became aware that she 
 was not ready to accept scarcely any of the Christian 
 dogmas. Several days were accorded to her for the 
 writing, but every passing day added only to her per- 
 plexity. She was terrified at the thought of solemnly 
 idiering an untruth and of committing perjury at her 
 baptism. But the fear of being misunderstood by 
 parents and friends determined her to write the dec- 
 laration of faith, which was, as she herself said in an 
 
APOSTATES. 189 
 
 autobiography, a model of fanciful Jesuitism. She 
 avoided in the same every positive declaration. In 
 later years she was so disgusted with it that she 
 burned it up." — Women of the Nineteenth Century, by 
 Lena Morgenstern. 
 
 She married Adolph Stahr. Having no children, 
 she found time for literary work. Her writings are 
 commended for their judiciousness and practical good 
 sense, but at the same time they are marked by a sober 
 coolness and absence of inspiration and enthusiasm. 
 How could she be imbued with these sentiments, char- 
 acteristic of the true poet? Had not the source of 
 these sentiments ebbed away in her? 
 
 In the so-called " Genialitatsperiode " Sarah and 
 Mariamne Meyer created a certain sensation by 
 their beauty, their riches, their good education, and 
 refined surroundings. They also submitted to bap- 
 tism in spite of the fact that their excellent parents 
 were strict and faithful adherents of Judaism. 
 
 The sisters Saling likewise were distinguished in 
 society by their charms and gifts. The most beau- 
 tiful of them played quite a prominent part during 
 the session of Congress in Vienna. She excited the 
 passionate love of a Spanish prince, and became en- 
 gaged to him. He, however, met death in a battle, 
 but she remained faithful to him and never married. 
 She had been baptized in the Catholic Church, while 
 her sister, Julie, turned to Protestantism. The latter 
 retained, in a large measure, the inherited mode of 
 thinking and of expression. So she would ask, "Have 
 we not Pesach, tomorrow ? " or, "Will you send me 
 some Matzos?" She married the Professor of Lan- 
 guages, Heyse, and became the mother of Paul Hey;e. 
 Regina (Frohberg), the third sister, likewise became 
 
190 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 a Protestant ; only Clara (Mrs. Herz, of Frankfort- 
 on-the-Main), "an energetic and truthful nature," re- 
 mained a strict, conservative Jewess. Her daughter 
 married Willie von Rothschild, likewise a faithful con- 
 fessor of Judaism. 
 
 The psychologist vainly seeks for any deeper rea- 
 sons which might have actuated those highly en- 
 dowed and independently situated women to disloy- 
 alty towards their faith. Was there ever any con- 
 version brought about by ethical necessity, by an 
 urgent need of the soul? Was there ever a pros- 
 elyte who abandoned his religion as inadequate, 
 and accepted another creed as the truer one out of 
 pure conviction ? This is possible, even probable, 
 where idolatry had to yield to a pure belief in Deity ; 
 but not in the case where the purest worship already 
 prevailed, and where this worship could meet the 
 loftiest religious requirements.* 
 
 It can not be the case there where religion or- 
 dains " Thou shalt have no other gods besides Me; 
 where it is daily repeated that " Thou shalt love the 
 Lord with all thy heart, zvith all thy soul, and with 
 all thy might;" where Moses, the law-giver, commanded 
 that " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'" 
 
 Do Jewish women wish something more holy than 
 this? Do they find in other creeds anything nobler 
 than, at best, a repetition of these teachings ?f Why 
 
 * Judaism was and is chosen to propagate pure Monothe- 
 ism.— Prof. A. Bcrner, in his lecture "Judaism and Christen- 
 dom.' 1 '' 
 
 t Isaiah was the actual founder of Christendom, 725 B. C. — 
 Renan. 
 
 Without Jeremiah there never would have existed Chris- 
 tendom. — Renan. 
 
APOSTATES. 19I 
 
 do they ask for an imitation when the}' already pos- 
 sess the original ? Why ? Because they are ignorant 
 in regard to the treasure which was entrusted to their 
 people. If they will again learn to know Judaism, 
 then they will love it, and there will be no more 
 apostates. Renan says : " Judaism, which has ren- 
 dered such great services to humanity in times past, 
 will also render them in the future. The pure reli- 
 gion, which can unify all humanity, will be the reli- 
 gion of Isaiah, the ideal Jewish religion, purified of 
 all drossy Archbishop Gibbons writes : " Christen- 
 dom owes a great debt to Judaism ; it is indebted 
 to Judaism for the greatest benefit ever bestowed 
 upon Christianity ; for the inspired Scriptures of the 
 Old Testament. The unsurpassed, sublime wisdom 
 found in these Scriptures have ever been the conso- 
 lation of all nations. The founder of our religion 
 was a Jew by descent, as was also his mother, and 
 as were all the Apostles." 
 
 These are the historical and philosophical concep- 
 tions of Judaism, and they are the determinative and 
 eternal ones. May, therefore, Jewish women unfurl 
 the banner of idealism, undeterred by temporary and 
 exterior considerations ! They, the guardians of the 
 homes where the rising generatio?i receives its first 
 impressions and its first education — they OUGHT, and 
 MUST kindle the sacred fire of enthusiasm, fan the 
 flames of love for the loftiest that they inherited from 
 their fathers, the tinwavering love for pure Mono- 
 theism." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE DAUGHTERS OF DANIEL ITZIG. 
 
 DANIEL ITZIG was a banker in Berlin, whom 
 Frederic the Great appointed Chief Elder of 
 all the Jewish congregations in Prussia. Many anec- 
 dotes are related about him, two of which I will men- 
 tion, as they serve to illustrate his character. 
 
 His charitable disposition is well known. So, e.g., 
 he used to send the best wine to the sick poor, at the 
 same time requesting them to save the bottles for 
 him. He did not disdain even small savings, but gave 
 plentifully. Among other charitable acts he succes- 
 sively gave dowry to fifty poor girls. To each of them 
 he gave 3,000 Thaler — quite a considerable sum for 
 those times. He was also the founder of the Society 
 for Outfitting Poor Brides. 
 
 The other characteristic anecdote is the following : 
 Itzig was on friendly terms with many a distinguished 
 man. Dr. Gans, a man of refinement and great clev- 
 erness, was also a frequent guest in Itzig's house. 
 In their conversations Gans always agreed with him 
 in the opinion that apostacy was contemptible ; nev- 
 ertheless, Gans became an apostate. Upon hearing 
 this fact Itzig declared: "He shall never enter my 
 house again." And he kept his word. A man of such 
 192 
 
DAUGHTERS OF DANIEL ITZIG. 1 93 
 
 principles could not but be an excellent father also. 
 He did all that was in his power to secure a good 
 education for his children. He spared no effort and 
 no money in procuring for them the best teachers 
 and the best means of instruction. In this way he 
 laid the foundation to the exceptionally good educa- 
 tion of his nine daughters, by which some of them 
 gained great renown and an influence superior to 
 that of any other lady in society at that period. They 
 gave the noblest example of how position and fortune 
 should be made to serve the cause of humanity, and 
 how the seeming contradiction of society, gayety, and 
 pleasures can be combined with thoughtfulness and 
 charitable activity. 
 
 The eldest daughter, the kind and modest Bluem- 
 Chen, was born in May, 1752. She became the wife 
 of Dave Friedlander. At the side of this highly cul- 
 tivated and philanthropic man she found opportunity 
 to exercise every faculty of mind and heart. Both the 
 brothers Humboldt were their friends. What a rich 
 source of soul-animating pleasure must this inter- 
 course have afforded them ! David Friedlander be- 
 came the first Jewish senator in Berlin, and filled the 
 position very creditably, being indefatigable in his 
 activity for the welfare of the community. 
 
 The next sister was Rebeccah, who married the 
 son of the mint-master Ephraim. She is reported to 
 have " spoken and written like a poet." 
 
 Jettchen (Harriet), the youngest daughter, the 
 wife of the banker Oppenfeld, was not so well known. 
 
 Of more importance was Ceciela, or, rather, Zippo- 
 rah, as she was named by her pious parents. She was 
 married to the banker Von Eskeles, of whom Rachel 
 13 
 
194 THI < JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 wrote, " I like Kskeles very much — he is so clever. 
 He eats cleverly ; he keeps silent cleverly ; he laughs 
 cleverly, and what he says is original." Cecilia was 
 well worthy of such a husband ; in one respect only 
 was .she deficient: her children were well educated, 
 and acquired all accomplishments, but lacked the reli- 
 gious foundation. They grew up without reverence 
 for Judaism, and the many occupations of the father 
 did not leave him time to implant the love for their 
 religion into the hearts of his children. This exam- 
 ple goes to show that it is particularly the mother 
 upon whom the first religious impressions of the chil- 
 dren depend. If the mother is indifferent and igno- 
 rant in regard to the sacred teachings, which are the 
 stronghold of man in joy and sorrow all the days of 
 his life, then these teachings will also be lost for 
 the younger generation. Cecilia's charity, however, 
 knew no limits. She freely distributed gifts without 
 making any distinction as to denomination. So she 
 gave to the convent of St. Elizabeth 7,000 Gulden, 
 in aid of the sick, and her husband left to the same 
 institution 100,000 Gulden. Cecilia died in 1839, 
 deeply mourned by her friends and by the poor. 
 
 Fanny, another sister, became the wife of the 
 banker Arnstein, in Vienna. Richly endowed by na- 
 ture with beauty, grace, and the gifts of mind, she 
 soon gained a prominent position in the society cir- 
 cles at Vienna. The drawing-room of Lady Eskeles 
 was the gathering-place of gay society ; of people 
 fond of pleasure and light pastime ; but in the 
 princely house of Arnstein there assembled, besides 
 these, also earnest, thoughtful minds. Not the riches 
 formed there the main attraction, but the lambent 
 
DAUGHTERS OF DANIEL ITZIG. 195 
 
 flames of genius, and the scintillating sparks of wit. 
 There the best music was enjoyed, literature dis- 
 cussed, the highest interests of humanity debated. 
 
 The political situation was extremely exciting, for 
 it was the period just before the downfall of Napo- 
 leon, and all shades of opinions found their exponents 
 at the receptions in the house of Arnstein. The pa- 
 triotic consciousness was, at that time, agitated by 
 the most contradictory emotions. 
 
 The battles for liberty were followed by denunci- 
 ations, and by the strictest measures of the police. 
 Revolutionary ideas were suppressed, democratic agi- 
 tations persecuted ; there was a retrogression towards 
 the former coercion. Metternich was triumphant ; 
 the Jesuits returned, gained ascendancy in the schools, 
 the old prejudices against the people of Israel threat- 
 ened to revive ! Now the efforts had to be concen- 
 trated in the endeavor to smother the seeds of hy- 
 pocrisy and discord — and woman, Jewish woman, used 
 her own weapons. She charmed as " society lady " 
 by her amiability, and as " housewife " by deeds of 
 kindness. Fanny was specially called upon to keep, 
 by her tact and discretion, the minds in a pleasant and 
 reconciliatory mood. Fanny Arnstein often showed 
 a surprisingly ripe judgment. Her patriotism and 
 her interest in the welfare of the nation ennobled 
 her whole being. In conversing with her one forgot 
 the rich banker's wife, and perceived only the warm- 
 hearted woman, with her keen interest for humanity. 
 All this elevated the tone and intercourse in her par- 
 lors above the usual shallow emptiness which, up to 
 this day, is generally found in certain circles in Vi- 
 enna. Even if the author appears a little too opti- 
 
196 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 mistic who, in characterizing the receptions of the 
 Eskeleses and Arnsteins, traces back to them the 
 high and esteemed positions which Jews and Jew- 
 esses occupy in Vienna, still it can not be denied 
 that Fanny Arnstein succeeded in one respect where 
 her coreligionists are not always successful : she re- 
 ceived not only the homage of men, but won also 
 the friendship of her own sex. 
 
 Fanny gained the faithful devotion of prominent 
 women. She was a member of women's societies, 
 whose members were ladies of the highest aristo- 
 cratic circles. 
 
 Many a prejudice was thus, in the most natural 
 and simple manner, dispelled ; many a good work 
 furthered ; many a good seed of fruitful efforts im- 
 planted. 
 
 The increasing seriousness of the political situa- 
 tion increased also the activity of Fanny von Arn- 
 stein. Not only had she ample occasion to adjust 
 unpleasant and inimical elements, but she devoted 
 herself more and more to works of benevolence and 
 charity. Clever and discreet as she was, she inter- 
 ceded for the suffering and needy without regard as 
 to their confession, only bent on the amelioration of 
 their condition. Especially during and after the wars, 
 which raged in the interior of Europe, she turned 
 her powers and her full attention to the needs of 
 the unfortunate. Ever ready to lend a hand, she in- 
 cited others to the same noble work. Numberless 
 societies of women were established and were joined 
 by the women of the aristocracy, carried away by the 
 enthusiasm, the example, and the eloquence of the 
 Jewess. No one f hought any more of the fact that 
 
DAUGHTERS OF DANIEL ITZIG. K)J 
 
 she was a Jewess, but perceived in her only the zeal- 
 ous championess of universal philanthropy, the inde- 
 fatigable benefactress. 
 
 When the worst times were passed, and the wounds 
 began to heal ; when the joyful, brilliant, festive weeks 
 of the Vienna Congress infused the whole capital with 
 new life and cheerfulness, Fanny also was transformed 
 from a good Samaritan into a society lady, and showed 
 by her example how to combine hospitality with re- 
 finement and taste, and luxury with the furthering of 
 industry. One of her favorite aims was to make 
 fortune subservient to art and the trades. Thus she 
 endeared herself to artists as well as philanthropists. 
 The most prominent men who, at that time, met in 
 Vienna — Wellington, Humboldt, Prince Hardenberg, 
 Prince de Ligne, Cardinal Consalvi, the Counts Berns- 
 dorf, Munster, Neipperg, and many other well-known 
 men of distinction, rendered homage to this beautiful 
 and excellent woman. She died in 1S17. 
 
 Her sister Sarah, whose husband was the banker 
 L,evy in Berlin, differed entirely from Fanny, although 
 their house likewise was the gathering-place of all 
 persons of note who came to Berlin. She had re- 
 ceived a French education, was exceedingly well 
 versed in French literature, and had such a prefer- 
 ence for French manners and language that she de- 
 lighted in receiving representatives of the French 
 nation as visitors. This preference proved of great 
 benefit to her fellow citizens. Among the notables 
 who enjoyed her hospitality during the invasion was, 
 also, the French ambassador. Out of regard for the 
 noble woman, whose superior character had gained 
 his highest respect, his treatment of the citizens was 
 
I98 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 by far kinder than would have been the ease if he, 
 thus influenced, would not have curbed the wanton- 
 ness of the French at that time. One of her younger 
 acquaintances gives a vivid picture of her in a letter. 
 First, he describes the house behind the Packhof 
 No. 3. This house, which King Frederick William IV. 
 very urgently wished to obtain, she never sold as long 
 as she lived, but at her death she gave it to him as 
 a present. 
 
 " House and garden have disappeared, long ago, to 
 make room for the new buildings of the Museum. I 
 well remember when, in the year 1843, I entered there 
 with a letter of introduction from your father. The 
 butler directed me upstairs. In a large, high room 
 with stucco ornaments in the manner of the time of 
 Frederick the Great I found, in lonely grandeur, an 
 old servant in canary-colored dress-coat with a blue 
 collar. Ludwig was his name. L,ater I learned to 
 esteem him for his touching, incessant solicitude for 
 his elderly mistress. ' Madame can not be seen,' he 
 growled at me ; but recognizing the handwriting on 
 the address of the letter, the sober old face lit up. 
 ' I will see, anyhow,' he said, disappeared, and, in the 
 next moment ushered me into the sanctum. There 
 the old lady was sitting, the sweet, spiritualized face 
 framed by an old-fashioned lace cap. With her two 
 companions she was reading 'The Summernight's 
 Dream,' with distributed parts. Mendelssohn's beauti- 
 ful composition of this drama at that time enchanted 
 all hearts. At the excellent performance in the thea- 
 ter Carl von Hagen took the part of ' Puck.' I was 
 pleasantly received ; a chair was offered me and I had 
 to read along immediately. From that day on, the 
 
DAUGHTERS OF DANIEL ITZIG. 1 99 
 
 house of Madame Levy became a place of cheerful 
 edification for me, for as often as I went there I never 
 left without having received some intellectual incite- 
 ment or some friendly advice from that wonderful 
 old lady. The very next day she drove to my dwell- 
 ing-place, sent up her card, and invited me to dinner. 
 She received every evening at eight, and generally 
 had guests for dinner on Sundays and Thursdays. 
 In her house I met the most prominent men — artists 
 as well as scholars. Madame Levy exercised a won- 
 derful attraction upon young people, and was no less 
 revered by the older ones. She knew how to ques- 
 tion with kind interest, invited communication, and 
 incited in us young people an interest for all the 
 good, and a desire for knowledge. We felt happy when 
 one of us was able to bring, in return, some new in- 
 formation to her, and she rewarded it by kind and 
 intelligent attention. She was very charitable, and 
 also in this was original, refined and tender. For a 
 poor student, who, on account of sickness, was pre- 
 vented from continuing his studies, she procured a 
 small circulating library. The man became a book- 
 binder and kept a small store. At Christmas-time she 
 placed his merchandise in her rooms to dispose of it. 
 "At her evenings 'at home' she sat next to a big 
 teakettle, and prepared the tea herself. She was very 
 much pleased if asked for a second cup. Several 
 times on these occasions I met Prof. Ackerman, who 
 had received a call from Frederick William IV. to 
 translate the works of Frederick the Great into Ger- 
 man. Prof. Ackerman said of Madame Levy that he 
 had never met a lady who spoke the French language 
 as fluently and excellently as she did. You can not 
 
200 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 imagine how dearly we all loved and esteemed this 
 exceptional old lad} 7 ." 
 
 She was deeply grieved by the apostaey, from the 
 religion of their fathers, of some of her relations. " I 
 am like a tree without leaves, so many of my relations 
 are estranged from me by apostaey," she wrote to a 
 friend. Nothing was so dear to her as her religion and 
 her people. With the renowned Jewish philosopher, 
 who had so much to suffer from fanatically prose- 
 lytizing friends, she said, at proper occasions, "As the 
 Jewish belief is, even according to the judgment of good 
 Christians, the foundation upon which the whole struct- 
 ure of Christianity is erected, and by which it is propped 
 up, how can one demand of me to break down the base- 
 ment in order to live in the first floor."' She lived 
 according to the principle to which Dr. M. Joel gave 
 expression in the following statement : " He who 
 wishes to gain the esteem of the world, and at the 
 same time wants to secure self-esteem, but above 
 all cherishes a peaceful conscience, must endeavor 
 to do his utmost in the position 'where his birth 
 has placed him, but not by giving up his natural 
 place, on account of appearances, and out of vain mo- 
 tives, begging elsewhere for a place, where at best 
 he is only suffered." 
 
 Sarah L,evy knew that apostaey originated in in- 
 difference, and this in its turn grew out of ignorance 
 or out of misunderstanding the teachings. She there- 
 fore attached the greatest value to instruction and to 
 a continual practice of the Mosaic teachings during 
 her whole life. I could not ascertain whether she 
 was familiar with the Hebrew language, but she read 
 the sacred Scriptures with devotion and with child- 
 
DAUGHTERS OF DANIEL ITZIG. 201 
 
 like piety, and kept up the religious customs until 
 her old age. With deep emotion she recalled the 
 memories of youth, and was fond of relating with 
 what imposing ceremonies the " Seder " was given 
 in her parental home — how the Friday eve, with the 
 lighting of the candles, the floral decorations of the 
 table, the pronouncing of the blessing, never failed to 
 impress the assembled family with a joyful elevation. 
 In the same way the Sabbath was celebrated. In the 
 house of Sarah's parents the consciousness was still 
 vivid that the recreation from the days of work, of 
 the Jewish family, consisted in worship and sanc- 
 tificatiou of the soul. " From the beginning of the 
 feast in the evening until its close on the following 
 evening, it was as if every movement and every word 
 were sanctified." This manner of Sabbath sanctifica- 
 tion was, of course, a joyful one, and according to the 
 old custom was a heightened joyfulness expressed 
 even as by the festive attire and ornaments of the 
 women, so by the whole atmosphere in the house, 
 which was reverberating with Sabbath joys and Sab- 
 bath blessings. By such influences Sarah's mind was 
 impressed and ennobled so as to be able to combat 
 the hostile prejudices among the ignorant of other 
 creeds, and to struggle successfully against the indiffer- 
 ence of her own coreligionists. As this exceptional 
 woman was quick in detecting every opportunity of 
 activity for noble womanhood, so she was also ever 
 ready with assistance for the needy. Among other do- 
 nations she gave 90,000 Thaler to the Jewish Orphan 
 Asylum in Berlin. Thus, in humanitarian endeavors 
 and gentle refinement, Sarah spent her life: a life 
 sweetened by the esteem of all those who became ac- 
 
202 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 quainted with her. One of my friends in speaking of 
 her, said : " Mrs. Sarah Levy was nearly ninety years 
 old when I became accidentally acquainted with her ; 
 she frequently invited me to visit her, and to report 
 to her about the latest literary products, especially 
 about poets and poetrj', and she listened with atten- 
 tion and an astonishingly clear understanding. She 
 punctually returned my calls, that is, in the following 
 manner : She drove up to my house in her old-fash- 
 ioned, well-known carriage, and had herself announced 
 to me by her old servant. Then I went into her car- 
 riage, and, after a brief conversation, I was pleasantly 
 dismissed, and she went on calling or driving." She 
 had no children, and left her fortune to public institu- 
 tions of various creeds. 
 
 Veilchen, or Bella, Itzig shall yet be mentioned. 
 She resembled Sarah in thought and sentiment more 
 than did the other sisters. Her son, Jacob, misled 
 by free-thinkers and wits, became a Christian ; his 
 mother, deeply wounded, turned from him. One of 
 her grandchildren, Fanny Hensel, once receiving 
 from her the grant of any favor, asked her to par- 
 don " Uncle Bartholdy." Bella complied with the 
 request, and became reconciled to her son. With all 
 her strictness, her heart was still that of a true Jewish 
 mother. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ART AMONG JEWISH WOMEN. 
 
 THROUGH centuries the Jewish mind had been 
 fettered by tyrannical persecution. From art 
 and art industries the Jews had been entirely ex- 
 cluded. Would it be astonishing if every gift of 
 Jewish mind had become stunted and had withered 
 away? But — what a remarkable phenomenon! — as 
 soon as the excluding barriers fell, the Jews displayed 
 talents and gifts as if they had exercised them all 
 along these fifteen hundred years. In every depart- 
 ment of art now also are met the names of Jewish 
 women. 
 
 Brentgen Markus is recorded as earl}- as 1690. 
 Her voice and art of singing were so admired that 
 she was called to Berlin, where she sang at the court 
 of the " Great Elector." Her example was soon em- 
 ulated by a great number of Jewesses, who gained 
 admiration and fame by vocal or instrumental music. 
 
 It must be admitted that precisely the world of 
 melody is most adapted to the sensitive, movable, and 
 pathetic nature of the Jew. It is exactly in this art 
 where the efforts of Jewish men and women were 
 crowned with their first and most lasting success. 
 Prominent among the women was Karoline Stern, 
 
 203 
 
204 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 who was born in April, 1800, in Mentz. She received 
 her musical education from her father, who was an 
 excellent violinist. She was but sixteen years old 
 when she gained a complete success at the National 
 Theater in Trier, in the part of Myrr/ia, in " The In- 
 terrupted Sacrifice." One of Heine's early poems was 
 written in her praise. She sang later at the royal 
 theater in Stuttgart and in Munich. In spite of her 
 success she left the theater at the age of forty-one 
 years to devote herself entirely to the education of 
 her children. She carefully superintended the reli- 
 gious and the musical education of her sou Julius. A 
 number of times she had been requested to accept 
 Christianity, but she firmly refused, and remained 
 steadfast and faithful to her belief. 
 
 An Italian Jewess, Rahel, lived about the same 
 time in Venice. It is related that she was invited at 
 all solemn and festive occasions to the houses of 
 the nobles, and the palaces of the princes, to charm 
 the society by her sweet songs. So many names of 
 Jewish singers and talented exponents of music now 
 follow in quick succession that space does not per- 
 mit us to speak of them. 
 
 At the time of the Congress in Vienna, Sofia 
 von Wertheimstein, who was a pupil of Hummel, 
 created a sensation by her beautiful alto voice. She 
 was likewise an excellent performer on the piano. 
 With all her various duties she still remained a de- 
 voted wife and mother. Her death occurred in Sep- 
 tember, 1877. Kleonore Neumann, from Ijssa, in 
 Lithuania, fell the victim of an adverse fate when 
 quite young. She was born in 181 9. Her parents 
 were suddenly obliged to flee from persecution. The 
 
ART AMONG JEWISH WOMEN. 205 
 
 family, exposed to dangers and distress, had to seek 
 refuge in foreign countries. The young girl finally 
 found a scant subsistence as a singer in Italy. By 
 and by she gained such a success in public that a 
 bright future opened for her. But during the wan- 
 dering life, and by the want she had suffered, a malig- 
 nant disease had taken hold of her, which caused her 
 death when she was only twenty-one years of age. 
 
 The sisters Eichberg were favorably known in wide 
 circles. Pauline Eichberg was successful as a pian- 
 ist. Bertha, her sister, played well on the harp, and 
 Julie became a singer. She also had great talent 
 for languages, which made it possible for her to sing 
 in four of them. Her father was a chanter in the 
 synagogue. 
 
 Talented daughters of another distinguished chanter 
 were Marie and Henrietta Sulzer in Vienna. 
 Mathilde Ries and both her sisters ; Rosa Csil- 
 LAG, who won great distinction, in the part of Fides, 
 in " The Prophet " ; Fortuna Tedeschi, who also 
 sang in the German language; Miss Wertheimer, 
 daughter of a pious and well-read man ; Marie 
 Heilbronn, the far-famed Guiditta Pasta, Car- 
 rie Goldsticker, from St. Eouis, and many other 
 Jewish artists were distinguished by their talent as 
 well as esteemed for their excellent character. 
 
 Mile. Bloch, a Parisian, who, born in lowly cir- 
 cumstances, made her way by perseverance and deter- 
 mination, and finally became prima donna at the Grand 
 Opera in Paris. Giacomo Meyerbeer was her most 
 faithful friend and protector. Mrs. Karoune Gom- 
 PERZ Betteeheim enjoyed great renown. Born in 
 Hungary, in the year 1S45, it is related that when 
 
2o6 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 she was but eight years old she accompanied her 
 music-teacher on the piano, at a violin concert. She 
 had an exquisite voice, and her parents provided for 
 her the best singing teachers. She made extraoidi- 
 nary progress in the art, and when but fifteen years 
 old sang at the Imperial Opera in Vienna. From 
 this time on she was counted among the most bril- 
 liant impersonators of dramatic passionate parts. In 
 1867 the young, celebrated prima donna became the 
 wife of Dr. Gomperz, Professor of Philology at the 
 University in Vienna. Henceforth she sang only at 
 charity concerts, and for her friends, in her hospitable 
 home. There are many other names worthy of being 
 remembered. 
 
 Among the younger talent of great promise is 
 Clotjlde Kleeberg, of Paris. After her first con- 
 certs in Berlin she was pronounced a second Clara 
 Schumann. She belongs to those sympathetic char- 
 acters who prove that a public career by no means 
 can be pursued only at the cost of modest woman- 
 liness. On her concert tours, always accompanied by 
 her religious father, she never neglects the teachings 
 of her inherited faith. Sophia Kaskel, the pianist, 
 has written some fine compositions. Flora Fried- 
 
 ENTHAL, lLONA ElBENSHUTZ, ANNA BlLKE GROSSER, 
 
 Yettka Finkenstein, Martha Seelman hold dis- 
 tinguished positions in musical circles. The famous 
 and greatly admired Pauline Lucca belongs to a 
 well-known Jewish family ; her uncle, Dr. Samuel 
 Lucca, was a much-sought-for Jewish physician. The 
 charming Lola Beeth, formerly at the Berlin Opera, 
 is now a member of the Imperial Opera, in Vienna. 
 vShe and her amiable sister cling with childlike faith- 
 fulness to the teachings of Judaism. 
 
ART AMONG JEWISH WOMEN. 207 
 
 Louise Heyman made her debut in Hague as 
 Rosine in " The Barber of Seville " ; later she sang 
 in Rome and Milan, where she was called "The Hol- 
 land Nightingale." A pianist of great talent was Miss 
 Margareth Herr, in Dresden, who is now married 
 to the poet and historian of literature, Dr. Adolph 
 Stern. A young, rising star in the musical world is 
 Miss Minna WetzlER, of Cincinnati. 
 
 Among dramatic actresses the gifted Rahee Felix 
 has to be mentioned. She was the daughter of a poor 
 peddler, in Argow, who wandered about until he finally 
 settled in Paris ; there he gave lessons in German, which 
 were very poorly paid. Forced by necessity, the two 
 little girls, Sarah, and the younger (about ten years 
 old) Rahel, sang in coffee-houses. They did so well 
 that they gained the interest and good-will of their 
 hearers ; among these was also the Director of the 
 School for Sacred Music, in Paris. He was so favor- 
 ably impressed by their singing that he admitted Rahel 
 to the school. Her debut at the opera proved a failure, 
 and brought Rahel nearly to despair, but her protector 
 encouraged her, and it was soon perceived that hers 
 was a dramatic talent. She learned several parts, and 
 at sixteen she played Hermione, afterwards the soubrette 
 in "The Married Philosopher," by Moliere. It hap- 
 pened that the cashier of the Theatre Francais, who 
 was acquainted with her, was present at the perform- 
 ance. He was so charmed by her playing that he ran to 
 get the Director of the Theatre Francais, in order 
 that he should see the young star. The director, 
 convinced at once of the dramatic power slumbering 
 in this young girl, without hesitating, took charge of 
 her further education. In a short time she was of- 
 
208 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 fered an engagement at the Gymnase Theatre, with 
 a remuneration of 3,000 francs, and accepted it. Fi- 
 nally, after much trouble and disappointment, which 
 embittered her mind, she was admitted, when 18 years 
 old, to the Theatre Francais. She took a part in 
 " The Horatians " with such success that her talent 
 could no more be doubted. Her growing self-con- 
 ciousness imparted to her acting new power and 
 new inspiration. Unsurpassed was her pathos in 
 biblical impersonations, and in the parts of classic 
 French tragedies. The dignity of her appearance ; 
 the majesty of her posing; the originality of her 
 conceptions; her pure, melodious voice; her perfect 
 facial expression ; the sparkling eyes in that face 
 which seemed cut out of alabaster ; all this combined 
 in producing an exquisite, intoxicating effect upon 
 the spectators. She had not yet reached her twen- 
 tieth year when her yearly income, as member of the 
 Theatre Francais, was 60,000 francs. She spent her 
 vacation of several months in playing in other cities, 
 and extended her tours as far as America. Thus she 
 accumulated a considerable fortune, but the constant 
 strain on her nerves, combined with a passionate 
 temper, broke down her health and engendered a 
 lingering lung disease to which she finally fell a vic- 
 tim. At an age when artists but reach the culmi- 
 nating point of their power, she, in her thirty-seventh 
 year, had to abandon the scene of her triumphs. She 
 sought relief in the South, but her disease had ad- 
 vanced too far, She still lived a year in a villa at 
 Canet, near Toulon, and died January 4, 1858. The 
 contemplation of this so exceptional life can not but 
 fill the mind with sadness. Gifted with phenomenal 
 
ART AMONG JEWISH WOMEN. 209 
 
 powers, combined with energy and indefatigable assi- 
 duity, she seemed predestined for a most glorious, glad- 
 some life ; but the bitter want and distress in which 
 she had to spend her childhood cast their ominous 
 shades over her whole life. He who once has felt 
 the gnawing of hunger will be inclined to overesti- 
 mate the value of possessions, and will be unable to 
 fully enjoy, without restraint, the pleasures of life — 
 even if he should, like Rahel, gain and leave millions. 
 And he who feels the inroads of slowly-approaching 
 death, trembles at every triumph of new stars in the 
 ascent, while his own star slowly fades on the horizon. 
 Other actresses appeared and gained success, which 
 wounded the sore heart of Rahel. In spite of fame and 
 fortune, she felt extremely unhappy. She could at 
 least have bettered her social position, and spared her- 
 self the overpoweringly sad feeling of loneliness, in 
 the most natural way, by marrying. However, to form 
 a union according to her inclination, it would have 
 been absolutely necessary to renounce her religion. 
 But she remained faithful to the teachings of her an- 
 cestors. 
 
 Rahel's sisters, Sarah and Rebeccah, also held 
 positions at the Theatre Francais ; the other sisters, 
 Dinah and Leah, had engagements at the Odeon 
 Theatre. Judith Bernat, a distant relative of Rahel, 
 also went on the stage. All of them were inspired 
 by Rahel's art, and tried to emulate it, but fell short of 
 her powers and, therefore, also of her success. 
 
 Among the now living actresses Charlotte Wol- 
 TER is probably the one exhibiting most traits of gen- 
 ius and originality, reminding of Rahel. It is often 
 claimed that Charlotte Wolter and Sarah Bern- 
 14 
 
2IO THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 hardt are Jewesses, but this may be a mistake. It 
 is a fact that a great number of interpreters of dra- 
 matic art, as well as exponents of vocal and instru- 
 mental music, are Jews and Jewesses by birth, but 
 who, by a false conception of "honor," alter their 
 names, or assume entirely different ones ; these would 
 scarcely desire to be named here. Others, however, as 
 the beautiful and popular Katharine Frank, the 
 interesting Toni Link, the humorist Mrs. Schoen- 
 FEiyD, and several others, have not been influenced 
 by petty considerations and antiquated prejudices, but 
 openly adhere to Judaism. 
 
 Of an especially attractive appearance was Jose- 
 phine Wessely, a gentle and modest actress, who, 
 about a decade ago, came from the province to Berlin. 
 Everyone was charmed by her timid sweetness and 
 her judicious acting. She was such a graceful inter- 
 preter of Goethe's female characters that it was gen- 
 erally expected that she would develop into a new 
 IviNA Fuhr. The Royal Theatre, however, which 
 alone would have been the appropriate place for the 
 distinguished young girl, did not engage her. She 
 went to Vienna, where she, however, died shortly 
 afterwards. She had told me herself that she was a 
 Jewess, and that she faithfully adhered to the Mosaic 
 laws. She might have kept this from strangers. 
 
 Of greater number than actresses and singers are 
 Jewish teachers in vocal and instrumental music. By 
 their diligence, perseverance, and judiciousness they 
 are especially adapted to this calling. The activity 
 of Jewish women in painting and the plastic art is 
 less extensive. Among the Jewish women who devot- 
 ed themselves to painting are Wolff, L,obach, Ro- 
 
ART AMONG JEWISH WOMEN. 211 
 
 SRNBERG, R.OSENWAED, BLOCK, DEPERMANN, FrIED- 
 
 LAnder, etc. Only two, I must confess, seemed to 
 give proof of superior attainments by their works; 
 these two are the artists Meta Aronson and Marta 
 Aronson. The latter, especially, has frequently ex- 
 hibited studies of old people, which, by characteristic 
 design and masterly execution and coloring, must be 
 counted with the best works in this branch of art. 
 
 Henrietta Manchiewicz, wife of the president 
 of the Jewish community in Dresden, obtains charm- 
 ing effects by harmonious and technically perfect 
 combinations of painting and embroidery. Her large 
 paintings were exhibited at Berlin, in the rooms of 
 the Art Association. They depict the element of water, 
 in a grand poetical conception, by a circle of seven 
 paintings. At the Paris Exhibition these paintings 
 found a place of honor, and were greatly admired by 
 connoisseurs as well as by laymen. The talented artist 
 was elected member of the French Academy. At the 
 World's Fair, in Chicago, a bust of the " Nestor of 
 American Judaism," Dr. Isaac M. Wise, was much ad- 
 mired. It was the work of the talented sculptor, Miss 
 Florence Strasburger, of Cincinnati. Art carving 
 has also found its devotees among Jewish women. 
 The beautiful designs of Mrs. S. B. Sachs, of Cin- 
 cinnati, have elicited many favorable comments, but 
 the best efforts of her noble mind are directed towards 
 humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors. 
 
 A revival of art embroidery has been brought about 
 by Mrs. EmieiE Bach, Superintendent of the National 
 School of Art, in Vienna. She made her work such a 
 success that other cities established similar schools, 
 which are frequented by a great number of students. 
 
212 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Mrs. Bach has also written and published treatises 
 on art embroidery, which were translated into several 
 other languages. A few years before she died — she did 
 not reach her fiftieth birthday — she and her daughter, 
 who was counted among her best pupils, renovated a 
 number of rare historical treasures of art embroidery 
 at the Imperial Court — among these, also, the famous 
 bed-room set of Maria TherESIa. She was treated 
 with much distinction, and also received the golden 
 " Cross of Merit." 
 
 Thus we see, among Jewish women, the spirit of 
 genius shine forth in new brilliancy — that spirit which 
 seems, by the darkness and persecution of a thousand 
 years, if not extinguished, at least dimmed. It is the 
 spirit which the Jews of antiquity even called the 
 " Spirit of God." 
 
 " See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, 
 the son of Chur, of the tribe of fudah ; and I have 
 filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, and in 
 understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner 
 of art workmanship." (Exodus, chap. 31:2, 3.) 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter, " More Light," it has been 
 seen that from the start Jewish women took the 
 deepest interest in the art of printing as well as in 
 literature. They printed the works of others, and 
 they themselves wrote poetry as well as prose, the 
 latter generally treating of religious or didactic top- 
 ics. They were fully aware of the great importance 
 of good literature for educational purposes, for the 
 stimulation of religious sentiments as well as for the 
 inciting of every civic virtue in man or woman. They 
 gave, therefore, much of their attention to writing and 
 printing of biographies of great men, of moral nar- 
 ratives, of legends, fairy tales for children, and stories 
 for youths. 
 
 Mrs. L,itte, from Regenburg, has been already 
 mentioned. Among other works, she also wrote 
 "The History of King David," which was much 
 read at that time. Bella Hurwitz, in her " His- 
 tory of the First Jewish Settlements in Prague," gave 
 evidence of a remarkable knowledge of historical 
 facts of the period. Hannah Katz, from Prague, 
 showed much talent and taste in poetry. 
 
 At the time, when bigotry had to recede before 
 
 213 
 
214 TH E JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 toleration; when Jews were driven, not by sword or 
 flame, but by thirst of knowledge into foreign lands, 
 then descriptions of travels, of distant countries and 
 people, began to appear. Many a Jewish woman 
 gave proof of the power of keen observation by her 
 clear and accurate narratives of the impressions she 
 had received when abroad. Spanish and Italian poet- 
 esses have left to posterity some charming poetical 
 as well as prose writings. In England and America, 
 where women always enjoyed more freedom and, there- 
 fore, also developed more self-consciousness, the wives 
 and daughters of Jewish merchants and scholars evinced 
 a great predilection for literary work. It is true their 
 writings were intended for the family, or a circle of 
 friends alone, and if, indeed, they ventured to step 
 before the public, they did so under cover of an as- 
 sumed name; for, half a century ago, literary work 
 was considered beyond the sphere of woman, and 
 any attempt in that direction was censured and con- 
 demned even from the pulpit. These scruples, how- 
 ever, gradually disappeared, and were replaced by the 
 more reasonable view — that every faculty perfected 
 in the soul of an individual becomes a new factor 
 in the growing perfection of the soul of the nation. 
 
 In this sense L,ady Judith Montefiore is de- 
 serving of the foremost place ; she was an authoress 
 of noblest aspirations. By the position of her hus- 
 band, and by her own superior personality, she was 
 enabled to exercise a greater influence than other 
 women less favored by fortune and circumstances. 
 Judith was born in London in the year 1784. She 
 was the daughter of the Baron L,. Cohen, sister of 
 Baroness Hannah von Rothschild, and she her- 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 215 
 
 self became the wife of the renowned philanthropist, 
 Moses Montefiore, who died a few years ago a cen- 
 tenarian. Lady Judith is an example of the fact, that 
 in our time, a person of any creed, by her character 
 and refinement, can rise to the most distinguished 
 position in society. In her intercourse with queens 
 and princes she never yielded her dignity. She 
 was the recognized spiritual originator of all the 
 generous acts of Sir Moses Montefiore, whose philan- 
 thropy extended all over the world. She accompanied 
 her husband in all his travels. They were together 
 in Rome, St. Petersburg, Morocco, Damascus, and Je- 
 rusalem. Of the latter place, the goal of every pious 
 pilgrim of all times, she writes sorrowfully : " No 
 place has been so devastated as Jerusalem ; it is 
 more than probable that nothing is remaining of the 
 ancient buildings ; but there is no need of the ruins 
 of temples or of crumbling walls of palaces to arouse 
 reverential feelings. Even if there was less proba- 
 bility of ascertaining the former sites of edifices, Je- 
 rusalem would still remain the city for which every 
 pious, thoughtful mind is deeply longing. Jerusalem 
 is dear to us, as is the home of our childhood. If this 
 were to be entirely swept away, and, returning after 
 long years of absence, we would find in its place 
 but a plowed field or an empty desert, still the same 
 thoughts would rise in our mind as if every building 
 stood in its place. We would feel even more deeph' 
 impressed on account of the devastation by which 
 everything had been leveled to the ground." Lady 
 Montefiore's second vo5 T age to the Holy City was 
 undertaken on account of the sad events of the 
 year 1840. She wrote about it in a work not des- 
 
2l6 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 tined for the public. In these writings we see the 
 reflection of the pure mind of this excellent woman 
 and wife. Most of her traveling sketches, partly 
 published anonymously, her extensive diaries and 
 collections of letters, were written on voyages un- 
 dertaken for the benefit and protection of her op- 
 pressed coreligionists. In foreign countries, as in her 
 English home, she exercised a charity without limits. 
 She is the founder of some philanthropic institutions 
 and the promoter of others. This noble woman died 
 in London on the eve of the Jewish New Year, the 
 24th of September, 1862. She had been a faithful 
 helpmate of her husband for more than fifty years. 
 In honor of her, Moses Montefiore built " The Ju- 
 dith Montefiore Theological College," at Ramsgate, 
 near London. 
 
 The humanitarian activity of this noble woman 
 nearly puts in shade her various accomplishments. 
 She spoke, besides the English language, also French, 
 Italian, and German. Gifted with a beautiful voice, 
 she, as a good Jewess, was fond of singing the hymns 
 on vSabbath and feast days ; a lovely religious custom 
 which vanishes more and more among Jewish women, 
 even though they study music and take singing 
 lessons. 
 
 Charlotte Montefiore, a niece of Lady Judith, 
 was unostentatiously active, and emulated the ex- 
 ample of her distinguished aunt. She turned her 
 attention towards furthering literary attempts. So, 
 for example, she, together with Miss Miriam Mendes 
 Belisario, published some of Grace Aguilar's 
 works. She herself wrote various articles, of which 
 "Some Words to the Jews" became most popular. 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 217 
 
 One of the most poetical figures, as authoress, and 
 as prototype of pure womankind, is Grace Aguilar. 
 She was born in June, 18 16, at Hackney, in England, 
 and was the only child of Emanuel Aguilar, whose an- 
 cestors had been Spanish fugitives who came to Eng- 
 land during the persecutions in the Middle Ages. Grace 
 was from her birth an extremely frail child, who had 
 to be anxiously guarded. She was therefore not sent 
 to school, but received instruction at home. All the 
 precautions against overexertion did not prevent her 
 from developing a remarkable ardor for study and ex- 
 ceptional talents. There was nothing that gave the 
 child more pleasure than books. Voluntarily she ob- 
 served a systematic division of time, in order to employ 
 it to best advantage. The impulse for original compo- 
 sition was irresistible in her. When but seven years 
 of age she began to write a diary. When twelve years 
 old she wrote a drama, " Gustav Vasa." Shortly after- 
 wards she wrote, anonymously, a collection of poems. 
 Her thorough knowledge of Jewish teachings, accord- 
 ing to which she was brought up, and her deep rev- 
 erence for the Mosaic law, made it possible for her to 
 write " The Cedar Valley," a novel treating of the 
 fate of the Jews in Spain. This work was regarded 
 as one of her best efforts — no less than thirty-six 
 editions of it have been published until now. She 
 also wrote " The Spirit of Judaism," and " The De- 
 fense of Israel," by which the young authoress aroused 
 the attention of larger circles. Eater, she published 
 " The Days of Bruce." The incidents of this story she 
 had gathered from the history of Scotland. The Mo- 
 saic moral code was clearly set forth by her in her 
 book, "The Jewish Faith." "Home Scenes" and 
 
2l8 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 " Heart Studies " are characteristic of the earnest 
 thoughtfulness of the writer. This predominant dis- 
 position is likewise apparent in " Home Influence," 
 " The Mother's Recompense," and " Woman's Friend- 
 ship." By many a reader who was but familiar with 
 "Home Influence," she was thought to be a devout 
 Christian. Despite her youthfulness she possessed the 
 mature objectivity which delineates a Christian and 
 a Jew, according to their respective idiosyncrasies. 
 Her astonishing ability to trace the sutble emotions 
 of the heart, to unravel the secrets of the soul, seemed 
 to foretell even still higher literary achievements. 
 These expectations, however, were never fulfilled — 
 the life of so much promise was cut off in its bloom. 
 Free from all egotism and vain ambition, inspired 
 only by reverence for the inherited faith, and love of 
 humanity, actuated by an irresistible impulse, she was 
 eager to write, and still was frequently compelled to 
 desist from work on account of her failing health. In 
 the year 1835, after a lingering sickness, she lost her 
 father ; two dearly beloved brothers had to leave home 
 in pursuit of their professions ; thus all the duties 
 of the household devolved upon her, besides the care 
 of the invalid mother. A sad fate awaited the latter. 
 She who herself needed careful nursing, had, in her 
 turn, soon to nurse her daughter, who was fading 
 away day by day. She took her to Schwalbach, but 
 also there no cure could be effected. Grace was 
 scarcely able to talk any more ; only her beautiful 
 eyes turned often significantly towards the sky, 
 while she seemed already transfigured. She fell 
 peacefully asleep on the 16th of September, 1847, in 
 Frank fort-ou-the-Main, where also she was interred. 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 219 
 
 Her last words were : " Though He slay me, still I 
 will trust in Him." (Job 13: 15.) 
 
 Her mother, Sarah Aguilar, has written a biog- 
 raphy of her daughter, and also explanatory prefaces 
 to some of her works. Only in this way the man}' 
 talents of Grace were ascertained. She was very fond 
 of music, and played on the piano as well as on the 
 harp. No records have been found of the last years 
 of the unhappy mother.* 
 
 Many other English Jewesses became renowned by 
 their contributions to literature. Some of these are 
 Jenny Lucas, Rose and Annette Saeomon, Mrs. 
 Marion Hortig, whose " Romance in Jewish History," 
 "The Siege of Jotapata," and "The Daughter of the 
 Prophet," are well known ; Mrs. LEVETUS, Emma 
 Lyons, the joy and prop of her blind father ; Mrs. 
 Werthheimer, Mrs. Lewis Franklin, Mrs. Ema- 
 nine Cohen, Abigail Lindo, who has been before 
 mentioned as a linguist; Sarah Davids, and many 
 others exercised a beneficial influence by their writ- 
 ings and by their examples. Another eminent au- 
 thoress was Anna M. Goldsmith. To her father, 
 Isaac Lyon Goldsmith, the Jews of England are 
 greatly indebted for their final emancipation. Her 
 brother, Sir Francis Goldsmith, who died in the year 
 1878, was a member of Parliament. 
 
 Miss Goldsmith, whose mind was broadened by 
 travel, and by association with scholarly men, became 
 an eager student of popular science. By the care- 
 ful education in her childhood, and by her continual, 
 
 :; 'The items of this sketch are mostly taken from the 
 book, " Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century," by 
 H. S. Morais. 
 
220 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 earnest studies, she was well prepared for literary 
 work. In order to arouse new interest among Jewish 
 women for their religion, she translated into English 
 twelve sermons by Gotthold Salomon, a pulpit orator 
 at Hamburg. In the preface she remarks very appro- 
 priately : " If the members of the different religious co7n- 
 munities, in their discussions, would dwell less on the dif- 
 ferences, but would rather emphasize the agreemoits of 
 the various creeds, how much enmity, how much suffering 
 zvould vanish which now disgrace and deface the beauti- 
 ful world of God." She published also a translation of 
 L,. Philippson's lectures on " The Development of the 
 Religious Idea in Judaism, Christendom, and Islam." 
 The numerous historical and explanatory notes which 
 accompany the text show her vast erudition. 
 
 Adelheid Goedsmith was a highly educated and 
 charming writer. Lady Phiup Magnus, whose hus- 
 band is the General Superintendent of the Technical 
 Schools in London, is an energetic little woman and 
 a great authoress. Her " Outlines of Jewish History" 
 have been republished in America by the Jewish Pub- 
 lication Society. She takes a great interest in the 
 instruction and education of the children of the poorer 
 classes, the greatest number of which belong to Rus- 
 sian emigrants driven from their homes. 
 
 A woman of great attainments is Esther Gad. 
 She is well read, and has acquired much knowledge, 
 deepened and perfected in the intercourse with emi- 
 nent minds. Her first marriage was an unhappy one. 
 Her second husband was a physician, whom she ac- 
 companied on all his journeys. Full of animation, 
 deeply impressed by all the good and beautiful, in- 
 clined to philosophical reflection by her own sad 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 221 
 
 experiences, all her efforts center in the attempts to 
 dispel prejudices against the Jews, and to liberate 
 woman. 
 
 In America, where the female sex enters into the 
 discussions of the questions of the day with by far 
 greater freedom than is the case in Europe, a greater 
 number of women exert their talents and literary gifts 
 for religious toleration and for the emancipation of 
 their sex. 
 
 It was Mrs. Ernestine L,. Rose who sent the first 
 petition to the Legislature of New York in behalf of 
 Woman's Rights. She was no less distinguished as 
 an orator and writer than she was for her zeal and en- 
 thusiasm which she brought to bear on her ideas and 
 claims. She was an active and prominent member in 
 the woman's first congress in Worcester, Mass., in 1850, 
 and ever thereafter was present at every meeting for 
 this purpose. Mrs. Rebeccah Hynemann, who was 
 born a Christian, was led by her earnest, inquiring mind 
 to the study of the history of the Jews, and became 
 so impressed with the Jewish teachings that she ac- 
 cepted Judaism. She married a distinguished author 
 and Free Mason, Benjamin Hynemann. After five 
 years of a happy union her husband died ; she lost 
 one of her sons in the war, another one died in cap- 
 tivity, and a beloved sister was likewise taken away 
 by death. In all this sorrow and trouble she found 
 consolation in the study of the Bible, and contrib- 
 uted by her writings towards the elevation of others. 
 She published poems full of religious devotion. She 
 was particularly fond of delineating the character of 
 biblical women. She also wrote fairy tales and stories 
 for children, which, by a brightness of their own, cap- 
 
222 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 tivated the youthful readers. This peculiar bright- 
 ness was also one of the charms of Mrs. Hynemann's 
 personality. She died deeply deplored by all her 
 friends in the year 1875. Emma Lazarus, who 
 passed away in the bloom of her life, combined a 
 heart full of tender sympathy with an energetic 
 mind. She was born in New York the 22d of July, 
 1849. Her earliest poems even give proof of unmis- 
 takable talent of a remarkable maturity, of great 
 powers of imagination, and of a perfect mastery of 
 language. Her second volume of poems, published 
 in 1 87 1, was received in England with a warmth 
 that fell nothing short of enthusiasm. Important 
 journals, as Westminster Review, Atheneum, Illustrated 
 London News, etc., prophesied a glorious future for 
 the poetess. Her success encouraged her muse to 
 soar still higher. She selected now legendary and 
 mythological subjects, viz.," Orpheus," " Tannhauser," 
 " The Adonis-Garden," " Remorse." Later she trans- 
 lated from Spanish authors synagogal poetry in an 
 excellent manner. Her essays about these authors 
 are very interesting. Of great originality are her 
 patriotic poems. The restoration of the Union kin- 
 dled her enthusiasm, and she celebrated the ensuing 
 peace with the noblest efforts of her genius. After 
 this the poetess turned to more contemplative sub- 
 jects, and the desire awoke in her mind to read the 
 sacred Scriptures, especially the Psalms, in the orig- 
 inal. She learned the Hebrew language with eager 
 zeal, and within four months was able to read the 
 original text. What could have been expected of 
 such a gifted and energetic mind if a greater num- 
 ber of years would have been granted to her. A 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 223 
 
 younger poetess, Cora Wilburn, of Marshfield, 
 Mass., wrote a beautiful poem in her memory, from 
 which the following stanzas are taken : 
 
 Singer of the Truth ! transcending 
 
 All of fiction's wildest flight, 
 Wresting from the darkened ages 
 
 Glowing secrets of the light ; 
 In the depth of Irael's heart-break 
 
 Found God's watchword of the Right ! 
 
 Singer of the Truth ! resplendent 
 
 Hope, and dream, and thought of thee ! 
 
 In far lands thy name exalted, 
 And where Israel dwelleth free. 
 
 Thine is world-wide veneration, 
 Crowned of Immortality ! 
 
 Josephine Lazarus, a sister of Emma, has writ- 
 ten many a beautiful essay full of enthusiasm. 
 
 Peninah Moise gained the admiration of all who 
 knew her by her religious poems, which were the natu- 
 ral expression of a pious and poetical mind. Her 
 hymns, composed for the synagogue at Charleston, did 
 not fail to make a deep impression, and were highly 
 praised by distinguished scholars. Ella Levy, born 
 on a plantation of her father's in the West Indies, re- 
 ceived her education from her excellent mother. Ella's 
 " Jewish Novels " are the best known of her works. 
 Mrs. Hart, in New York, edited the literary part of 
 the Hebrew Leader since 1875. Anna Ottendorfer, 
 who came to America in 1836, bought the weekly 
 Staats-Zeitung, and changed it into the daily paper, 
 Die New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, which she edited, to- 
 gether with her husband. She was indefatigable in 
 establishing and furthering institutions for the benefit 
 
224 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 of the public, such as German schools, hospitals, etc., 
 in New York, Jersey City, Brooklyn, Hoboken, and 
 Milwaukee. Besides this, she assisted unostentatiously 
 the poor, the suffering, and the sick, so that her death, 
 which occurred in the year 1884, was deeply la- 
 mented by a host of grateful people and admiring 
 friends. 
 
 Emma Wolf, of San Francisco, has published sev- 
 eral novels which have gained a large circle of readers. 
 Mrs. Ruth Ward Kahn is a young poetess of great 
 promise. Mrs. Rosa Sonneschein is an energetic 
 mind. Among her literary contributions the quaint 
 story entitled "The Three Kisses" has been several 
 times reprinted. She publishes and edits very ably an 
 illustrated magazine, "The American Jewess." Mir- 
 iam Del Banco has gained great renown as a sweet 
 singer in Israel. She wrote one of her most inspired 
 poems, "White Day of Peace," for the " Jewish Wom- 
 en's Congress" at Chicago. Pauline Skrenka Wise 
 writes frequently for the Jewish press. Her keen wit 
 and remarkable mental grasp promise well for the 
 future. Miss Fanny Levy is associate editor of a 
 weekly paper in New Orleans. Other capable Jewish 
 authoresses in America whose names I was able to 
 ascertain are Mary Cohen, in Philadelphia, Caroline 
 Harby, Miss Manaham, and Rebeccah Levy. The 
 alloted space does not permit even to mention the 
 names of the numerous literary women among the 
 younger generation in America. 
 
 In Paris, Julienne and Pauline Bloch (Pereyra), 
 daughters of Samson Bloch, the editor of the Univers 
 Israelite, were regular contributors to this journal. 
 Julienne's witty and graceful " Letters d'une Parisi- 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 225 
 
 enne " became quite popular. Among those in Italy 
 (Venice) was Eugenia Pavia-Gentiluomo, who con- 
 tributed largely to the home press, as well as to foreign 
 journals. In Venice there lived also another interest- 
 ing literary personality : Flora S. C. Randegger, of 
 whom there will yet be mention. 
 
 Everywhere Jewish women of our period unfold 
 their talents and activity in the different professions. 
 In America they are successful on the platform and 
 even in the pulpit (Ray Frank*), and edit journals, 
 while in Germany they limit themselves, at present, to 
 literary efforts, which, though written in the seclusion 
 of the home, still discuss universal social questions. 
 One of these writings bears the title of " Rebecca and 
 Amalia; A Correspondence about Important Social 
 Questions between a Jewess and a Christian Countess" 
 (Leipzig, 1847). The authoress of this book was 
 Jenny Goldschmidt, mother of Otto Goldschmidt, 
 mother-in-law of the " Swedish Nightingale," Jenny 
 Lind. Every word that she uttered, every line that 
 she wrote, stamps Jenny Goldschmidt as one of the 
 noblest advocates of woman's emancipation. She is 
 the authoress of " Mother's Joys and Mother's Cares," 
 a book in two volumes, with a preface by Diesterweg 
 (1894). She also propagated Froebel's ideas, and es- 
 tablished and superintended several Froebel associa- 
 tions in Hamburg. TherESE Warendoff lived in 
 the same city. She wrote many beautiful Jewish 
 hymns. Yet of two Jewish authoresses a more de- 
 tailed account shall be given, as their writings be- 
 
 " Though not a graduate of any theological college or sem- 
 inary. 
 
 15 
 
226 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 longed, in their time, to the most popular ones. Both 
 of them possessed a remarkable talent and displayed 
 an astonishing diligence. Regina Frohberg kept 
 the interest and close attention of her readers for a 
 considerable time. She was born in Berlin in 1783. 
 Her father was B. Salomon. She published almost 
 every year a novel, frequently in several volumes. She 
 was gifted with a decided talent for delineation, and 
 never failed to make an impression on the mind of the 
 reader. Her books were very popular, but she did not 
 take time to perfect her talent. Of greater importance 
 is the aforementioned Rahee Meyer. Her maiden 
 name was Weiss. After several literary attempts she 
 published at Berlin in the year 1S53 a novel in three 
 volumes, "Two Sisters." About this book Alex. Jung 
 wrote : "It is one of the most beautiful creations in 
 this branch of modern literature." In this novel she 
 presented characters taken from actual life. The main 
 figures are two sisters, who, though of entirely opposed 
 dispositions, experience the most touching psycholog- 
 ical impressions, sometimes of sympathy and again of 
 antagonism. It was her own relation to a dearly be- 
 loved sister, whose character was entirely at variance 
 with her own, which furnished her with abundant sug- 
 gestions for literary delineations. After this novel she 
 published "Against Nature," "Rachel," a biographical 
 sketch, and other novels and sketches. She finally 
 wrote " Free in Fetters," a memorial of her friend 
 L,ina Davidson, a clever woman, whose earnest mind 
 was bent toward the ideal. L,ina had, in so far, a part 
 in the novel, " Free in Fetters," as in conversation she 
 had imparted to Rachel some of the most beautiful and 
 most profound thoughts found in the book. These 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 227 
 
 utterances ot a judicious mind Rachel had put down 
 for her own elevation as well as for the elevation of 
 others. These aphorisms are scattered throughout the 
 novel " Free in Fetters," and constitute one of its main 
 charms. In this book proof is given of the fact that a 
 firm adherence to the traditions of the old covenant 
 brings the adherent in no manner into conflict with 
 the highest claims of modern political or social life. 
 Men like John Jacoby, Fr. Hebbel, H. Lorm, Kompert, 
 Mosenthal, Mundt, Miigge, Gutzkom, Zunz, Bernstein, 
 and other distinguished personages were correspond- 
 ing with the authoress of " Free in Fetters," or as- 
 sembled in her hospitable house. Rachel humorously 
 relates how many a time she was mortified at school 
 because the teachers doubted whether she really had 
 written the compositions which showed so much tal- 
 ent and such a wide range of knowledge. Her married 
 life was very happy. She watched carefully over the 
 education of her children, but still found time to teach 
 several hours daily at a school for poor children, which 
 she herself had established. But her life was not ex- 
 empt from trials. The death of a dearly beloved sister, 
 the loss of a promising son, brought deep sorrow to 
 her heart. But intercourse with her friend L,ina, and 
 the sympathy of so many people, who esteemed her 
 most highly, were a source of consolation to her. She 
 was an excellent wife, mother, friend, and Jewess. She 
 died at Berlin in 1874. 
 
 The same spiritual ideals which actuated Rachel 
 Meyer, were also pursued by Henrietta Oppen- 
 heimer. Her active interest was given to her co- 
 religionists, and she bravely fought prejudices of the 
 ignorant and the enmity of the malevolent. While 
 
228 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 the mental life of these two noble women was in a 
 great measure similar, their outward career was quite 
 different. Henrietta was born in Stuttgart, in the year 
 1807. She was a frail, sickly child, and, from her sixth 
 year on, was partially lame ; later she became entirely 
 so. However, carefully nursed by her excellent parents, 
 endowed with a cheerful disposition, combined with a 
 childlike religious devotion, it was made possible for her 
 to bear her suffering with placid resignation. She found 
 her best consolation in the acquiring of knowledge, 
 and felt great satisfaction in reading to her blind fath- 
 er. Soon she developed a great poetical activity. By 
 earnest study of universal history, and particularly of 
 the history of her own people, she made observations 
 which often filled her heart with a deep sadness. In 
 her twentieth year she wrote the beautiful poem, " Be 
 True unto Death." Clinging to the faith of her ances- 
 tors with her whole heart, she proved herself a fervent 
 Jewess, and an earnest, inquiring mind, throughout her 
 whole life. In the year 1832 she published a volume 
 of poems ; a year later, " Images and Songs " ; then, 
 "The Chain-Smith," a fairy dream; another collection 
 of poems in 1835 ; later on, " Stories," of which a new 
 edition appeared in 1841. She possessed the friend- 
 ship of noble minds, like Uhland, Rueckert, Michael 
 Beer, Gabriel Riesser, and others. She died in the 
 year 1881, at Regensburg. 
 
 Henrietta's niece, Mrs. EuSE Levy, sister of the 
 renowned physiologist, Professor Henle, is the author 
 of the well-known prize comedy, " Durch die Inten- 
 danz." Some of Henrietta's poetry read like folk-lore 
 songs. One of her short poems runs thus : 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 229 
 
 DER QUELL DER LIEDER. 
 
 Horst du das Lied der Vogelein 
 Die Waldnacht hell durchdringeu ? 
 
 Wie froh muss doch ihr Herze sein, 
 Dass sie so lieblich singen ! 
 
 Vielleicht ! doch lieblich auch, und hell, 
 Singt oft ein Herz voll Wundeu ; 
 
 Schmerz ist der reichste Liederquell 
 Der Waldesnacht hier unten. 
 
 THE FOUNT OF SONGS. 
 
 "List to the bird's sweet song of glee, 
 Through dusky glade still ringing ; 
 His heart, how happy must it be, 
 That tells its joyful singing. 
 
 " Perhaps, but oft with sweetest force 
 Sing hearts with burning pangs sear ; 
 Woe is of song the richest source 
 In dusky glade below here." 
 
 The only true lyric poetess of which Germany can 
 now boast is Elisabeth Glueck (Betty Paoly), 
 also a Jewess. Elisabeth is the daughter of a Jewish 
 physician. She was born December 30, 1815, in Vi- 
 enna. For a time she was the companion of the 
 Princess of Schwarzenberg. She was soon acknowl- 
 edged the foremost poetess in Austria. A second edi- 
 tion of her " Poems " appeared as early as the year 
 1845. Another collection, bearing the title " After the 
 Storm," is expressive of the tender and sad disposition 
 of the poetess. In the course of time she published a 
 great many lyrics and epics, also " Romanzero," " The 
 Universe and My Eye," a novel replete with descrip- 
 
230 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 tions, disclosing her deep appreciation of the beauties 
 of nature. She also wrote narratives and literary re- 
 views. An imperishable monument of the gifted Jueie 
 Rettich is her biography written by Miss Glueck. 
 Her great and varied store of learning enabled her 
 to write articles, like " Vienna's Art Gallery and its 
 Historical Significance," in 1865. Ten years later she 
 reviewed Grillparzer's works. One of her most beauti- 
 ful poems begins "Esgeht in Israel die Sage," ("In 
 Israel the Legend Lingers"), which she wrote for the 
 benefit of the sufferers from a flood in Bohemia, in 
 the year 1845. 
 
 Fanny Neuda published lyric and religious po- 
 ems. Most favorably known is her " Prayer Book 
 for Jewish People," of which the fourth edition has 
 already been published. How many Jewish author- 
 esses would still have to be mentioned, if it would 
 be possible to know all of them and their writings. 
 Some names can only be given, as the space does 
 not permit speaking of them at length : Jenny Cohn, 
 Rebeccah Woef, Dorothea Eesasser, Rebeccah 
 Friedlander, Friederike Kempner, Rosa Arn- 
 stein, Karoline Deutsch, Rosa Warrens, and 
 at an earlier period Mrs. HaeeE, Anna Forsten- 
 heim. These and many others have distinguished 
 themselves by their knowledge and ability, or by 
 both. 
 
 More modern authoresses are Jenny Wilder, Rosa 
 Bacharach, Mrs. Seeig, Ottieie Bach, Jenny 
 Bach, Ottieie Bondy, Martha Woefenstein, 
 Minna Neuer, Harriet Liber Cohen, Rosa 
 schuehoefer, rebekah kohut, laura jacob- 
 son, Carrie Benjamin, Henrietta Szoed, Minna 
 
JEWISH AUTHORESSES. 23 1 
 
 D. Lewis, and Julia Richman. Some of these will 
 be mentioned in another chapter. 
 
 Meta Bonfey edited the posthumous papers of 
 her father, and writes critical essays. Lola Kirsch- 
 NER (Ossip Schubin) is fond of presenting piquant 
 subjects in a piquant Style. It is a deplorable fact 
 that among the younger Jewish authoresses there are 
 some who believe tbat they have to write in accord- 
 ance with the prevailing unrestrained "Naturalism" 
 and "Realism'' 1 forgetful of the fact that but the 
 noblest Idealism of form and contents should be the 
 end and aim of poets — of Jewish poets still more so, 
 and of Jewish poetesses in particular. This chapter 
 shall, therefore, close with a few remarks about a 
 poetess who wrote interestingly and attractively with- 
 out resorting to sensationalism. Minna KlEEberg 
 is a German poetess who lived in America, where 
 her father was a physician. She was born in Elms- 
 horn, Holstein, in 1841. She showed a special talent 
 for patriotic and political poems. Her " Song of the 
 Salt," written against the tax on salt, became known 
 in the widest circles by the following incident : In 
 a literary society at Frankfort-on-the-Main the con- 
 versation turned to the Jews. An opinion was ex- 
 pressed that the Jews lacked poetical genius. Rit- 
 terhouse, who was present, read aloud the " Song of 
 the Salt," which was greatly admired. What was the 
 surprise of all present on hearing that it was written 
 by a Jewess. During the French war Minna Klee- 
 berg was the inspired interpreter of the patriotic 
 feelings of the Germans living in America. In re- 
 cognition thereof Bismarck himself wrote a letter 
 of warm approval to her. Some of the most beau- 
 
232 
 
 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 tiful among her poems are : " The Western Wall ot 
 the Temple." "In the Name of the Lord," "In the 
 Image of God," and, furthermore, "Checkmate," " The 
 Poet's Consecration." 
 
 Zealous in the cause of Judaism, she frequently 
 wrote against anti-Semitism, which, by her clear judg- 
 ment, was recognized as the most ignominious 
 and vicious aberration of some contemporaneous 
 fanatics. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 JKWISH BENEFACTRESSES. 
 
 PRINCES, counts and barons without number have 
 married Jewesses, and thus gained beautiful vir- 
 gins for wives, besides the means to regild their time- 
 worn escutcheons ; whether the young wives gained 
 the hoped-for happiness by such a marriage is, in many 
 cases, at least, doubtful. This is a sore point — but the 
 time is approaching when the childish idea that aris- 
 tocracy is an especially exalted kind of humanity will 
 give place to the more rational view that noble deeds, 
 alone, constitute the true nobility of man or woman. 
 Of this nobility a large number of representatives are 
 found among Jewish women. 
 
 The late Baroness Juliana von Rothschild, like 
 all the members of this family, was imbued with a deep 
 interest for humanity and humanitarian endeavor, and 
 her daughter, L,ady Jane Roseberry, inherited this 
 noble disposition. She gave her full support to the 
 "Institution for the Deaf and Dumb," founded by her 
 mother. Dike her parents, she took an active part 
 in the attempt to furnish pure and better food for the 
 poor. Oueen Victoria, in acknowledgment of her 
 noble endeavors, made her president of the royal 
 "Training School for Nurses." 
 
 233 
 
234 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 It is well known that the wives of rich financiers 
 employ a large part of the acquired fortune in alleviat- 
 ing poverty and distress. Every year the late Baron- 
 ess Von OppEnheim gave the interest of 50,000 mk. 
 to the poor. Besides money, she distributed six double 
 carloads of coal, and the needy received warm meals 
 from the hospital during the whole winter. This ac- 
 commodation is of especial benefit to the working 
 women, who hardly can gain time to properly prepare 
 their meals. Besides the relief of the poor, the care of 
 the sick receives a great deal of attention from Jewish 
 women. Baroness Adelaide Rothschild established 
 a hospital at Safed, and Mrs. Bliden is exerting herself 
 to found and maintain an orphan asylum there, while 
 Mrs. IyOUiSE Ashkenasi founded a hospital for chil- 
 dren at Odessa. But truly charitable women will do 
 much good work even if their husbands do not possess 
 large fortunes ; they have often proven how quick 
 and ingenious they are in devising means for carrying 
 out a noble aim. In this regard America, so often de- 
 cried as "cool" and "egotistical," takes the lead. Be- 
 fore Germany ever thought of the now so imposingly 
 developed charitable societies, there grew up in Phila- 
 delphia, in the 3 T ear 1782, a winsome, winning child, 
 who, developing into noblest womanhood, began to 
 establish associations for furthering educational as 
 well as charitable work. Rebecca Gratz came from 
 a family not distinguished by riches but by learning. 
 She received a very careful education from her parents. 
 With all her accomplishments and her large store of 
 knowledge she was of such exceeding modesty and 
 natural grace that she gained hosts of faithful friends. 
 She was early stimulated to practical philanthropic 
 
JEWISH BENEFACTRESSES. 235 
 
 activity by her surroundings, and by her intercourse 
 with excellent minds. Fervently attached, as she was, 
 to the belief of her ancestors, she took a deep interest 
 in spreading the knowledge of Judaism and its teach- 
 ings. For this purpose she established a Jewish Sab- 
 bath-school at Philadelphia, the first of its kind in 
 America, and conducted the same independently and 
 successfully for thirty-two years. She further assisted 
 in establishing the " Benevolent Society of Women," 
 "The Foster Home," "The Fuel Association," etc. 
 For ten years she faithfully filled the office of secretary 
 at the "Sewing School," and at the " Charity Kitchen." 
 Her active sympathy was extended to every sufferer, 
 irrespective of creed or sect ; she worked as zealously 
 for the " Widows' and Orphans' Home" at Philadel- 
 phia as for any of the Jewish benevolent institutions. 
 Still she manifested, even outwardly, her devotion for 
 her inherited faith by regular attendance at the Syna- 
 gogue, and by strict observance of the religious 
 customs. 
 
 Emma Mordecai, although timid by nature, devel- 
 oped a great energy and persistence in humanitarian 
 endeavors, and gained recognition as directress of the 
 Jewish Sabbath-school in Richmond. She, as well as 
 Alice Dalsheimer, directress of a Jewish Girls' 
 Home at New Orleans, Mrs. Rosa Aufrecht, and 
 after her the late lamented Mrs. Wolfenstein, who 
 devoted their best energies to the Orphan Asylum at 
 Cleveland, and a great number of women similarly dis- 
 posed, in both continents, prove what diligence and 
 energy can accomplish, even without the gift of genius. 
 Fanny Reichenheim, Caroline Hirschfeld, Ju- 
 lie Schlesinger, Therese Meyer, all in Vienna ; 
 
236 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Mrs. Hirsch-Kollish, who established an "Institution 
 for the Deaf and Dumb," in the year 1844, at Nikols- 
 burg, with her own means ; Mrs. JuuE SchlESINGER, 
 who devoted her best energies for thirty-five years to 
 this institution, and who, in recognition of her merit, 
 received a gold medal from the Emperor of Austria ; 
 the wife of the poet, S. H. Mosenthal, L,ina Mosen- 
 Thal, who was beloved by rich and poor on account 
 of her kindness of heart, and who established a hospital 
 for poor women, are only a few of a host of noble 
 workers for the elevation of the lowly and for the 
 alleviation of their distress. 
 
 The propensities of woman are, apparently, in the 
 direction of philanthropy and of the inciting of moral 
 and religious impulses. 
 
 The yearly reports of Jewish philanthropic institu- 
 tions from all parts of Enrope, America, and Pales- 
 tine show that besides amelioration of the conditions 
 of the poor and the care of the sick, great attention 
 is paid to the education of the poor. The lists of the 
 paying members show, indeed, an astonishing readi- 
 ness to make personal sacrifices. There is no room 
 here to enter into details, but I must confess that I 
 was surprised and touched by them. If one learns 
 nothing else of the character of Jewish women but 
 what those heaps of } T early reports disclose, one is 
 forced to sincere and deep respect. 
 
 Besides, there are numberless nonsectarian insti- 
 tutions where Jewesses unite with Christian women, 
 of the same benevolent and liberal disposition, in 
 active cooperation. Here also they evince the great- 
 est generosity, and no one was in the least astonished 
 to hear that, e. g., Mrs. Furdato-Heine contributed 
 
JEWISH BENEFACTRESSES. 237 
 
 sixty thousand francs for the establishment of a Pas- 
 teur Institute. Naturally, the most successful work of 
 Jewish women is done in the departments of children's 
 education and woman's culture. Northern Germany 
 alone, without mentioning other countries, counts a 
 very considerable number of diligent, indefatigable 
 workers in these fields. Authoresses like the clever 
 and judicious Bertha Meyer, the zealous Bertha 
 Jacobi, and Mrs. Henrietta Goedschmidt, wife of 
 the late Rabbi Goldschmidt, in Iyeipsic, devoted all 
 their energies to humanitarian aims. Mrs. Gold- 
 schmidt published pedagogical writings and essays on 
 woman's emancipation and woman's education, etc. 
 Her activity, however, centered in the "Association 
 for the Education in the Family and for the Welfare 
 of the People." This association, which she herself 
 established, is nonsectarian ; it maintains a technical 
 school for boys, a seminary for kindergarten teachers, 
 a lyceum for girls, where they also receive instruc- 
 tions in modelling and drawing, etc. Another able 
 worker was the late Susanna Landau. For a num- 
 ber of years she taught in the Jewish school at Ber- 
 lin, where she inspired the young minds with a deep 
 reverence for Judaism. L,ater, she followed her hus- 
 band to Zurich, where he had accepted a position as 
 preacher. Here also she assisted in educating and in- 
 structing the pupils of her husband, until a fatal ill- 
 ness cut short her faithful activity. 
 
 A woman, ever ready and doing, who possessed the 
 friendship of the Empress Augusta, is Lina Morgen- 
 STERN. At first she wrote mostly juvenile stories, 
 fairy tales, and novels, in which she sought to bring 
 pedagogical principles in a pleasant form before the 
 
238 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 public ; later, she turned to biography and sociology, 
 until, finally, she devoted her entire attention to pop- 
 ular hygiene. She founded the " Association of House- 
 keepers," established the Berlin " Peoples' Kitchen," 
 and edited the " German Journal for Housekeepers." 
 
 After writing many useful essays on nourishment 
 and cooking, she published two volumes of a bio- 
 graphical work, " Women of the Nineteenth Century," 
 of which a third volume will soon be issued. Her 
 energy had to overcome many an unpleasant experi- 
 ence, but her persistent efforts conquered all obstacles, 
 and the esteem of all thoughtful minds is her reward. 
 
 One of the most helpful women in the German cap- 
 ital is the Widow Mathixde Stettiner. With a 
 full comprehension of the necessity of a broader edu- 
 cation, and better conditions and positions for women, 
 she is one of the most zealous members of the " Let- 
 tevcrein" and of the "Victoria Lyceum." After the 
 death of her husband she donated 10,000 marks to 
 these institutions and established at the " L,etteverein " 
 a school of photography for women. The well-known 
 authoress, Jenny Hirsch, is the secretary of the As- 
 sociation. She is one of the most fearless and most 
 untiring champions of the nobler issues of emanci- 
 pation. 
 
 A decided contrast to these practical women is the 
 imaginative Flora Raudegger, who has been briefly 
 mentioned in the last chapter. She was born in Triest. 
 Here at the boundary of the two, so diverse, nations, 
 perceiving the causes which tend to separate or to 
 bring into closer union different peoples, her mind 
 learned to soar higher. She felt the old longing of 
 Judah's daughters, and Palestine became the dream 
 of her nights and the vision of her days. Poor and 
 
JEWISH BENEFACTRESSES. 239 
 
 distressed as she was, a kind of a second " Karsckin" 
 she set out for Jerusalem in spite of all obstacles. 
 She cherished the idea of establishing a school of 
 agriculture for women there, and tried all means in 
 her power, but did not succeed. Her religious mind 
 was deeply touched by the ruin of the land, and the 
 degraded position of the Jews. On her return she, 
 like so many others, sought and found solace in po- 
 etry. She translated the Psalms, the Book of Joshua, 
 and other parts of the Bible ; she also wrote descrip- 
 tions of travels, novels, sketches, etc. Another active 
 and thoughtful Jewess, Sophie Weil, Schott, lived 
 in Venice. Her husband was, for many years, the 
 friend of the noble, self-sacrificing Garibaldi, the cham- 
 pion of the young reestablished kingdom of Italy. 
 She took a deep interest in the political situation, 
 and contributed largely to the enlightenment of the 
 people by her clever writings. Mrs. Caroline Coen- 
 Euzzatto likewise acquired renown by her literary 
 as well as philanthropic efforts. 
 
 Everywhere, in England and America, in Germany, 
 France, and Italy, Jewish women are earnest workers 
 for the welfare of humanity. In Holland and Hun- 
 gary there seems yet to prevail a certain timidity 
 against publicity, while it is in America where arise 
 the most fearless promoters of Woman's Rights, who 
 at the same time are the most faithful pioneers for 
 philanthropical endeavors. Out of the profuse rec- 
 ords of Jewish benevolent societies I mention, c. g., 
 the "A. C. Sisterhood," of New York, of which the 
 gifted and noble Rebeccah Kohut, wife of the late 
 Dr. Alexander Kohut, is the presiding officer, since 
 its foundation. The Sisterhood supports a kinder- 
 garten, day nursery, a relief bureau, and an employ- 
 
240 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 ment bureau. Mrs. William Maas is a most con- 
 scientious and active guide of the kindergarten. The 
 important branch of the relief section was conducted 
 in a most able manner by Mrs. Hermine Pollak 
 for many years. Her premature death was deeply 
 lamented. Mrs. H. Elster now fills the place very 
 creditably. The secretary is Mrs. Helen Kohut 
 LoewenThal. All entertainments are planned by 
 Mrs. A. Kohut, the president, and are managed so 
 successfully that the Sisterhood is enabled to spend 
 from $3,000 to $4,000 every year for practical char- 
 ity. Family feasts, and particularly wedding days, are 
 according to old Jewish custom, a special occasion 
 for acts of charity. Before me is a clipping from a 
 journal of the year 1882, which I cite as an illustra- 
 tion : "A generous and kind act, well worthy of imi- 
 tation, is that of Mr. and Mrs. E. Kirstein, of Roch- 
 ester, New York. They celebrated their silver wed- 
 ding in a unique wa3^. They did not invite guests, 
 they did not set a sumptuous table, but sent abun- 
 dant gifts of money to the Orphan Asylum, to the 
 Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and to several 
 other philanthropic institutions." 
 
 A clipping of quite recent date states : " The wed- 
 ding of Miss F. Shifp was also celebrated in the 
 kindergartens at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, at the 
 Hebrew Technical Institute, and at the L,ouis down- 
 town school, while the Montefiore Country Home 
 received $25,000 as a contribution from Mr. Jacob 
 Shiff, the father of the bride, in honor of the wedding." 
 
 In the same generous way the wedding of Miss 
 Eda Kuhn with Prof. M. L,oeb, of Columbia College, 
 was commemorated in the different philanthropic in- 
 stitutions of Cincinnati. 
 
JKWISH BENEFACTRESSES. 2/j.I 
 
 111 all civilized Europe there is found today a many- 
 sided and far-branching activity of associations for the 
 alleviation of distress and for the spreading of en- 
 lightenment. During the last generation this beau- 
 tiful blossom of humanitarianism has unfolded petal 
 by petal, and is sending forth its tendrils to higher 
 levels and broader circles. But, with the Jews, this 
 was so since centuries. With them it is an old, well- 
 established institution. Generations ago, even in the 
 smallest communities, they had women's societies for 
 the visiting of the sick, for the burying of the dead, 
 for the support of poor students, for the care of or- 
 phans, etc. In every Jewish congregation human 
 suffering found sympathy ready to act, ready to help. 
 While the propagation of charitable work is one of 
 the most beautiful later acquirements of non-Jewish 
 refined society in Europe, it is an old heritage with 
 the Jews. 
 
 Like a poetical exposition of this indisputable his- 
 torical fact sounds the stanza of a modern Christian 
 poet, who repeats, almost literally, what Moses com- 
 manded three thousand years ago: 
 
 Lass' nicht auf Deinen Tisch vergebens 
 
 Den Hungrigen church's Fenster sehen ; 
 
 Verscheuche nicht die wilde Taube, 
 
 Lass' hinter Dir noch Aehren stehen, 
 
 Und nimm dem Weinstock nicht die letzte Traube. 
 
 Hermann Lingg. 
 
 ("Let not thy viands tempt but vainly 
 
 The hungry, on thy doorpost leaning; 
 The wild dove feed ; thy acres mowing, 
 
 Leave corners for the stranger's gleaning ; 
 Take not last clusters on thy grapevine glowing.") 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 the; modern jewess. 
 
 WB have, so far, studied the individuality and 
 position of Jewish woman, as mirrored not 
 during hundreds, but during thousands, of years in 
 history. We saw her, in biblical times, in her own 
 promised and inherited land, living a happy and holy 
 life in the sacred precincts of the home, as the help- 
 mate of her husband, and as a devoted mother to 
 her children. 
 
 Afterwards, driven away and repudiated by the other 
 nations, Jewish woman has given proof of a heroism 
 unsurpassed in history. At last, tolerated, and now 
 emancipated, she developed abilities which, after a 
 thralldom of a thousand years, appear enigmatical ; 
 for it is well known what influence the mode of life 
 has on physical as well as on mental development. 
 Their abilities would, indeed, be enigmatical if one 
 would not know that they always found a staff and 
 a stay in their religion ; by this support their souls 
 remained self-conscious in all exterior humiliation, 
 and their bodies were kept sound by conforming to 
 the sanitary precepts of their Law-giver, Moses. 
 
 Their mental soundness and self-consciousness made 
 it possible for them to use, without embarrassment, 
 242 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 243 
 
 every means offered to cultivate their endowments, as 
 soon as they were permitted to do so, and their phys- 
 ical vigor enabled them to accomplish remarkable, 
 and even extraordinary, achievements in the fields 
 newly opened to them.* 
 
 * Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century, chair- 
 man of the " Tenement House Commission" in New York, 
 has submitted his report, from which the following is an ex- 
 tract, and is interesting as bearing upon the preceding state- 
 ments. "With an average density of 57.2 — i.e., an average of 
 57.2 tenants to the house, the highest in the city — the death- 
 rate in the Tenth Ward is 17.14. This means that, while the 
 Tenth W 7 ard is first in the list of density of population in its 
 tenement houses, it ranks twenty-second among the wards 
 in its death rate, there being but two wards (the Third and 
 Twenty-fourth) with a lower rate. While other factors may 
 tend slightly to affect this, it is in the main due to the na- 
 tionality of its population, which is largely composed of He- 
 brews. These people are a hardy, long-lived race; nor is the 
 cause of their wonderful vitality difficult to find. The pre- 
 cepts of their religion afford one of the best sanitary codes in 
 existence, and the precepts are religiously observed. More- 
 over, the Hebrews are an abstemious race in the use of alco- 
 holic beverages. 
 
 "It is safe to say that since the time of the settlement of 
 Palestine by the Hebrews, until a recent period, the Hebrew 
 has been the only race on earth which has been guarded to 
 a considerable extent by sanitary laws, and we obtain, thus, 
 soxne idea as to the reason why the race has developed such 
 phenomenal strength. The history of the great epidemics 
 during the Middle Ages shows that the inhabitants of the 
 Hebrew quarters in towns were singularly exempt from con- 
 tagion. This was remarkable during the outbreak of the 
 plague in France in the twelfth century, and during the 
 prevalence of the so-called ' Black Death ' in England. 
 
 " The low death rate in the Tenth Ward was, therefore, to 
 have been expected. The rules of life, which orthodox He- 
 brews so unflinchingly obey, as laid down in the Mosaic law 
 — which seems to be full of the most vexatiously minute reg- 
 
244 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 And now, the modern Jewess. What position is 
 hers, in comparison with that of her ancestors? The 
 preceding chapters prove that energy and activity, 
 zealous endeavor and high aspirations were always 
 the characteristic of Jewish women, and certainly not 
 alone among the so-called "educated" classes. In 
 agricultural pursuits, as in handicraft, the Jewish wom- 
 en always faithfully assisted their husbands.* How 
 quickly they again took hold of farming and the pro- 
 fessions, from which they were excluded for centuries ! 
 In Berlin alone there were, six or seven years ago, 
 twelve hundred Jewish artisans. The one hundred 
 thousand Jewish farmers who until now tilled the 
 hard and poor soil in Russia,f found their wives their 
 best helpmates. In Jaffy, Roumania, there are, among 
 9,500 Jewish families, 6,000 men who follow a profes- 
 sion which is just as well understood and exercised 
 
 ulations — are designed to maintain health. These rules are 
 applied to the daily life of the individuals as no other sani- 
 tary laws can be." 
 
 * When, at the close of the fifteenth century, Ferdinand 
 the Catholic commanded the expulsion of the Jews from 
 Sicily, the State counsellors asked for a delay on account of 
 the following reasons: 
 
 ". . . Another difficulty is, that nearly all the artisans in 
 the realm are Jews. In case all these are expelled at once, 
 we will lack craftsmen capable of supplying mechanical uten- 
 sils, and especially those made of iron — as, horse-shoes, agri- 
 cultural implements, and equipments for ships and other 
 conveyances." — Ztg. d.Judcntli. 
 
 t More than half of them were recently forced to sell 
 their farms within a few months, weeks, or even days — i. t\, 
 to undersell them ! Then the impoverished ones will again 
 be reproached that they do not engage in agriculture. 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 245 
 
 by their wives and daughters. In Amsterdam and 
 Rotterdam, where most, aye, nearly all of the porters 
 and ship-loaders are Jews, the lot of their women i ; 
 very hard ; but indefatigably they share the hardships 
 of their husbands, who coming home in the evening 
 are tired and dirty, but never drunk! In western 
 Prussia, in Poland, I often had the opportunity to 
 quietly admire the untiring cheerful industry of poor 
 Jewish seamstresses, laundresses, cooks and women 
 messengers. The latter I have known to walk many 
 a mile, often with a heavy package, in all kinds of 
 weather, and in spite of evident exhaustion to be too 
 modest to accept the offered chair without hesitation. 
 
 Paul Ljndau, traveling in the Orient, visited also 
 Saloniki, where the Jews- form the majority of the 
 population. There are counted eighty or ninet}^ thou- 
 sand souls. He gives the following description of 
 them : " They are generally of a very prepossessing 
 appearance ; being diligent and industrious, they do 
 not shun the hardest bodily exertions. The}' are the 
 porters, the dock-workers, and boat-men ; and one 
 finds among them men of Herculean muscle. They 
 are the craftsmen and laborers, while the Greeks 
 practice only the lighter trades ; and the Turks, here, 
 as everywhere else, spend their lives as much as pos- 
 sible in laziness." 
 
 In Poland, Lithuania, Roumania, and Galicia, the 
 hardest labors are done by Jews and Jewesses. On 
 account of their sobriety most of the taverns are kept 
 by them; for the non-Jews engaged in this business 
 generally succumb to drunkenness. The same is true 
 in regard to thriftiness. The hare-skin, that is care- 
 lessly thrown away by the farmer's wife, is picked up 
 
246 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 by the poor Jewish woman and turned to good ac- 
 count. 
 
 Although there is no question of woman in the fol- 
 lowing brief scene of Jewish life, still, I think, the 
 reader will be grateful if I repeat it here, as it is 
 characteristic of Jewish industry. In his work, " Treu 
 uud Frei," Dr. L,azarus says : " One of the scholars 
 from whom I received instruction in Talmudical 
 studies, was by trade a tobacco spinner ; i. c, he spun 
 into rolls, and shipped and sold, home-grown tobacco. 
 In order to carry on the business, two assistants were 
 needed to hand to the spinner the ' filling ' and the 
 ' wrappers.' But the gain was not large enough to pay 
 two assistants, besides providing for the family, and he 
 was too scholarly to make a mercenary business of in- 
 struction in the Talmud. By what means these diffi- 
 culties were overcome, the following sketch will show. 
 Four of us Talmud pupils, boys between thirteen and 
 fifteen years of age, took our places in the spinning- 
 room. Two of us stood near the spinning-table, hand- 
 ing the ' filling ' and the ' wrappers ' as they were need- 
 ed, the two others sitting on low stools, the large 
 folio volumes of the Talmud on their knees. These 
 two read aloud, the other two listened, while the 
 master explained, asked, and answered according to 
 the requirements of the subject at hand. Thus the 
 old and the young united in the rough work of spin- 
 ning tobacco rolls for the use of the Polish peasants, 
 and at the same time for spinning rolls for fine webs of 
 wisdom of an intellectual growth which had sprouted 
 and blossomed at the streams of Babylon." 
 
 I myself know many a " study head " among Jewish 
 women. There is a proprietress of a small grocery; 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 247 
 
 she is busy in her store from morning until evening ; 
 on Sunday she puts her small room in perfect order, 
 and mends and cleans her garments ; in the evening 
 she reads some good book, and on holidays visits her 
 relatives. Thus she works on, year after year. An- 
 other one, in restless activity, divides her time in tak- 
 ing care of the household of a near relative, and in 
 the nursing of a sick woman. A third gains her daily 
 bread and that of a sickly brother by sewing. A 
 fourth superintends a printing office, besides her large 
 household. A fifth reads to a lady hard of hearing; 
 for three hours daily she taxes her weak lungs for a 
 trifling remuneration, and still is thankful for having 
 her own small dwelling and some potted plants in 
 the window. I shall never forget the small, slim 
 wife of a butcher, who used to come with her basket 
 heavily laden to my aunt in Flatow. The cheerful- 
 ness with which she bore our sometimes rather rough 
 jokes won my childish affections, and had, perhaps, 
 already at that time, unconsciously awakened my 
 sympathies for Jewish ways and manners. 
 
 All these meek heroines of simple duty form bnt 
 a diminutive part of a multitude of similar live-s, 
 who pass away unobserved, as the drops flow into 
 the ocean. It is but natural that the modest, retir- 
 ing superiority remains unnoticed, while obtrusive, 
 unrefined loudness makes itself conspicuous. Now 
 it happens that everyone passes judgment on that 
 only which he sees; that which one does not see is 
 out of the question. I refrain from speaking about 
 the Jewish women who make themselves conspicu- 
 ous. I leave this task to one who has a better 
 knowledge of human nature than myselt. It is Bogu- 
 
248 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 mil Goltz who says: " They dazzle by various means; 
 by cleverness, by wit, by fineries, by comfortable do- 
 mestic arrangement ; by every manner of enjoyment. 
 It seems as if they were eager to taste of the pleas- 
 ures from which their ancestors were excluded, and 
 which were unknown to them." However, Dr. Emil 
 G. Hirsch, whose scholarly writings are admired in 
 both continents, and who is well known as never 
 shirking the unpleasant duty of calling attention to 
 existing failings and foibles, pronounces the follow- 
 ing impartial judgment : " Often is the Jewish woman 
 held by prejudice to be under the spell of Eastern 
 fancies. Upon this mistaken conclusion rests the as- 
 cription to her of a love for fineries, gems, and loud 
 colors. But a more serious purpose runs through the 
 modern woman's life, and the Jewess has sacrificed, 
 with no greater zest than her non-Jewish sister, at 
 the shrine of frivolity." 
 
 Another modern author says: "Ostentation in riches 
 is a characteristic of the newly rich, whether Jew or 
 Gentile, Christian or Mohammedan. People accus- 
 tomed to wealth are not accustomed to a vulgar dis- 
 play of wealth, and that is true without reference to 
 race or creed. There are exceptions, but, as in other 
 cases, the exceptions prove the rule." 
 
 Bogumil Goltz, in reproaching Jewish women, con- 
 tinues : " They are the children of our period, and 
 therefore quick in accepting modern ideas, whether 
 good or bad. 
 
 " The women are no longer plain housewives, but 
 ladies of ease. The husbands, tired and dulled by 
 business troubles, combined with a certain thought- 
 less carelessness, are inclined to let the children pur- 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 249 
 
 sue their own ways, which they erroneously think 
 to be the same ways which they went, not taking 
 into account that the times have changed. Too late 
 for amends they perceive their mistake. Modern views 
 have undermined the religiousness of many a Jewish 
 heart to such a degree that the children frequently re- 
 ceive no religious foundation. With the abandonment 
 of the religious forms, the religious sentiment like- 
 wise is vanishing. They have relinquished the old, 
 but have gained nothing new in exchange. Thought- 
 lessness, in regard to the most sacred possessions, 
 prevails there where once the heroism of conviction 
 reigned supreme, a conviction by which the wife be- 
 came the priestess of the home, the vigorous and 
 active helpmate of the husband, the luminous star 
 on the horizon of her children." 
 
 During many centuries non-Jews persecuted, with 
 cruelty, their Jewish fellowmen. All at once, within 
 a few decades, the latter were emancipated. Ify this 
 quick change the Jewish character seems to have lost 
 its self-possession. It had grown accustomed to per- 
 secution and affliction — it was not used to happy, 
 bright conditions. The newly-gained freedom intox- 
 icates their mind; the new light dazzles them. Es- 
 pecially is this the case with the women ; the staff 
 of religion has slipped out of their hands; they have 
 lost their hold. They strive no more for the lofty 
 ideals of their foremothers, their ambitions are luxu- 
 rious dwellings, costly garments, extravagant recep- 
 tions, and festivities. They aim at distinction, but 
 only make themselves conspicuous. They are not 
 aware that the only way to an honored and promi- 
 nent position is the practice of the virtues of their 
 foremothers. 
 
250 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Vain, coquettish women are to be found everywhere, 
 among all classes and creeds ; rarely, however, a woman 
 beautiful, but chaste ; rich, but plain ; a woman intel- 
 lectual and gifted who does not delight in the abnor- 
 mal creations of a sickly literature, but fully appreci- 
 ates the poetry of home life ; who strives only for the 
 admiration and ever-renewed love of her own husband, 
 and whose deepest sympathies are stirred by the inter- 
 esting and touching dramas in the nursery; dramas 
 in which destiny has decreed her to take the most 
 prominent and loftiest part, and has given this part 
 to her as her highest calling ; as her supremest joy. 
 
 Jewish woman appeared to the observer, in former 
 times, as the most faithful wife, the most devoted 
 mother, and the chastest woman. Is it still so ? In 
 general, perhaps ; but no more as a rule without ex- 
 ceptions, as it was formerly the case. The ladies of 
 our period seem to exist more for society than for 
 the home; to dress attractively, more for the sake 
 of strangers than for the sake of the husband. The 
 work in the household is exceedingly simplified, 
 while the pretensions are exceedingly multipled. But 
 all this is only the shell, not the kernel of life, which 
 is found only in religion. Of course, one for whom 
 this word is meaningless will throw this kernel away 
 like an empty nutshell. However, there is reason to 
 believe that in the heart of the Jewess is still glow- 
 ing a spark of that lofty integrity and devotion to 
 her faith by which her ancestors were inspired. She 
 will shake off the fetters of indifference and rise 
 above the prevailing shallowness to higher levels. 
 She will resist the restless rush and turmoil of mod- 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 251 
 
 ern life ; she will not go astray in the labyrinths 
 of realism ; she will not imagine that she acts wisely 
 and well if she imitates in everything the non-Jewess, 
 and obliterates every distinction between the latter 
 and herself. Is she not aware that every individual 
 trait adds to the beauty and perfection of the uni- 
 versal life ? Why are the venerable customs of the 
 Sabbath neglected and discarded ? The excuse is giv- 
 en, we have not the necessary time ; the disposition 
 is lacking ; the surroundings are different. Formerly, 
 certainly, it was possible, but now the husband comes 
 home from business exhausted and out of humor; 
 the wife is also tired out ; the children have to do 
 lessons for school. Under such circumstances how 
 can be found the sanctification of mind for a Sab- 
 bath celebration? One might be led to believe that 
 once a week the husband would be able to close 
 his business an hour earlier. One sees, often enough, 
 that he has time for concerts, theaters, and other places 
 of amusement, or for card-playing, when one hardly 
 can know when he begins, and still less so when he 
 stops. If there is time for all this, then surely there 
 should be time (once a week) to lift himself and his 
 children out of the common rut of life to the cheer- 
 ful celebration of one day, which, in former times, shed 
 its rays over the whole week ! 
 
 But, granted that the overzealous business man 
 comes home after six o'clock, what hinders him to 
 celebrate solemnly the rest of the evening? Can 
 the smoky card-room, the noisy club, the dazzling 
 theater, afford him more restful quiet and cheer his 
 troubled mind better than his own comfortable home 
 
252 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 with the peculiarly bright Sabbath lights,* the festive 
 table with the gladsome and expectant-looking little 
 host of children around it? What hinders the wife 
 from making the necessary preparations, from attir- 
 ing herself and the children festively ; from adorning 
 the home, and from implanting into their hearts the 
 symbol of consecration and joy by the significant cere- 
 mony of the lighting of the candles ? The education 
 of the children to piety and love of religion, to de- 
 votion and earnestness, is dependent thereon ; could 
 she, for the sake of this, not make the necessary ar- 
 rangements once a week ? 
 
 The complaint is frequently heard that the child 
 evinces little interest for religious teachings. How 
 should it become imbued with them? The child finds 
 in religion but one task more, added by a stranger to 
 his other school lessons, instead of becoming imper- 
 ceptibly imbued with religious feeling by the influ- 
 ences of the home. The Sabbath celebration is such 
 an influence ! It is of even greater significance for 
 the child than for the parents. If the child learns to 
 look forward with anticipating joy to the coming Sab- 
 bath ; if it observes how the festively-dressed mother 
 makes the preparations for the feast ; sees her light- 
 ting the candles ; hears her pronounce the benedic- 
 tion ; runs to meet the father, who places his hands 
 on the child's head and blesses it — and all assemble 
 around the festive table — then the child's heart feels 
 the influence of religion, and becomes prepared for 
 its teachings. Without this feeling, religious observ- 
 
 " Sabbath-lights have their own peculiar brightness." 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 253 
 
 ances will remain but empty formalities, performed 
 with indifference, even reluctance, and thus, perhaps, 
 soon will be entirely discarded. The mother herself 
 must be imbued with the feeling of consecration, and 
 she will be imbued with it if she only will learn again 
 to know, and thus learn to love, her Judaism. Or, 
 does the effort of the study seem to her too great ? 
 George Eliot was a very busy woman — the more so 
 as she was a distinguished authoress — but her mani- 
 fold tasks did not prevent her from closely studying 
 the history of Judaism. And how many others have 
 found an inexhaustible source of inspiring incitation 
 for mind and heart in this study ! 
 
 Ought not this history of Judaism, which awakens 
 the most ardent interest in the non-Jewess, find a 
 ready sympathy in the Jewess? In past centuries the 
 Jewess could but timidly and tremblingly, in fear of 
 death, devote herself to her religion and to the learn- 
 ing of the sacred language; today the daughter of 
 Israel can do it freely and openly, without any hesi- 
 tation. If, in pursuing the study of the historical 
 progress of her people, she will be deeply grieved and 
 touched by the misery and persecutions her people 
 had to suffer, then she also will be elevated and in- 
 spired by Israel's heroism and trust in the Eternal ; 
 and as she, in her study, approaches modern times, 
 the outlook becomes brighter and more promising ; 
 for what change, what advance, is perceivable in every 
 direction, even when, up to this time, but for the mi- 
 nority — for the countries where most Jewish people 
 dwell, Poland and Russia, in this regard, do not come 
 into consideration. The five or six millions of Jews 
 
254 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 existing there, still are leading a very sad life, under 
 more or less heavy oppression. 
 
 The lately published stenographic report of the 
 Guildhall meetings in London, in favor of the Rus- 
 sian Jews, the compilation of the special edicts, and 
 restrictive laws concerning all the Jews living in 
 Russia, prove beyond question the unjust and mer- 
 ciless severity with which Jews and Judaism are 
 persecuted in official Russia. They are not per- 
 mitted to take any active part in the community. 
 It is America where equality of rights is not only 
 proclaimed, but fully enjoyed. There the poetess 
 can truly exclaim : 
 
 " America ! thy grateful Israel gave 
 Her lifeblood, equal with 'thy free and brave';* 
 For the safe-keeping of thy holy stars 
 Thy Jewish soldiers wear the battle-scars. 
 
 " Greeting to Israel still in captive chains ! 
 Greeting to all in Freedom's wide domains! 
 Not Toleration, but Fraternal Love, 
 Be the New Era's olive-bearing dove ! " 
 
 Dr. Adolph Moses, the eminent scholar, beautifully 
 expresses this idea in the following statement : "The 
 great principle which animates the American com- 
 monwealth is the belief that every human being 
 possesses, by the grace of his god-like nature, the 
 right and the duty to develop all his powers, and to 
 use them for the attainment of his happiness. It is 
 
 *Cora Wilburn. 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 255 
 
 this conviction, firmly rooted in the heart of the whole 
 people, that personal freedom of action is vouchsafed 
 to every individual by the eternal laws of justice, 
 which has freed woman in America from the state 
 of mental inferiority in which she had been kept 
 through centuries." 
 
 What woman can not attempt in Europe she 
 has successfully done in America; she has stepped 
 on the platform and even into the pulpit — e. g., 
 at Spokane Falls, U. S. A., Miss Ray Frank 
 preached on the Day of Atonement. Moved by 
 her earnest eloquence, the hearers formed a perma- 
 nent congregation. She received and accepted a call 
 from a congregation in San Francisco. In Chicago, 
 at the Jewish Women's Congress, of which Mrs. Han- 
 nah B. Solomon was the efficient chairman and Miss 
 Sadie American the able and zealous secretary, pa- 
 pers were read and discussed which created an enthu- 
 siasm culminating in the organization of the " Nation- 
 al Council of Jewish Women," an Association which 
 bids fair to become a power in the propagation of 
 enlightenment, philanthropy and social reform. 
 
 The Association received and accepted an invitation 
 to join the "National Council of Women of the United 
 States." At the second triennial session, held in Wash- 
 ington, D. C, one of the leading journals said : " There 
 are few organizations of women composing the Nation- 
 al Council that attract as much interest, and as well 
 repay study, as does the ' National Council of Jewish 
 Women.' There is no country in the world where 
 Jewish women have taken such a high stand as they 
 have in the United States. Their work in all kinds 
 
256 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 of societies, especially charitable and philanthropic, 
 has entitled them to a high degree of esteem for 
 executive ability. Miss Frances Willard, presi- 
 dent of the W. C. T. U., expressed the opinion that 
 the papers read by the Jewish women were a rev- 
 elation and a message in themselves, stirring new 
 thoughts. 
 
 Dr. A. Moses, in his article on " The Position of 
 Woman in America," published in the American 
 Jewess, pays the following glowing tribute to Amer- 
 ican women : " The American people are being rich- 
 ly rewarded for having opened all the avenues of 
 knowledge to women ; for putting them on a footing 
 of absolute equality with men, as regards education. 
 The arduous and ?^remunerative work of educating 
 the young is almost exclusively carried on by women 
 in our public schools. The kindness and generosity 
 of the American character is largely to be traced back 
 to the softening and humanizing influence exercised 
 by the female teacher on the plastic mind and im- 
 pressionable heart of the children. The American 
 woman looks upon herself as the chosen adversary 
 of evil, and fights it with all her characteristic earn- 
 estness and tenacity of purpose. She has declared 
 war upon intemperance, and will yet root it out of 
 the land. Two thirds of the charities of our land 
 would languish and die were she to refuse to lend 
 them her energy, time and influence. The women 
 of America are found among the foremost champions 
 of social justice and political purity. Two great re- 
 forms which recently took place in the administra- 
 tion of New York were effected solely by the moral 
 courage, the unconquerable persistence and the irre- 
 
THE MODERN JEWESS. 257 
 
 sistible eloquence of a noble woman. L,et the cause 
 of humanity, in whatever guise, cry out for defenders, 
 and you will see the women fighting in the front 
 ranks, bearing the brunt of the battle. . . . Such 
 are the ethical, educational, and intellectual services 
 which woman is rendering the American people in 
 return for the redemption wrought for her." 
 
 Another eminent leader and orator, Dr. E. Hirsh, 
 asserts: " Woman, by entering the lists of public hon- 
 ors and responsibilities, did not sacrifice her woman- 
 liness. Perhaps she gained in all the essentials that 
 make up the true woman. Her self-reliance and self- 
 consciousness heightened, she herself learned to put 
 a new and better value on herself. As an equal she 
 could meet father, husband, and brother; and where 
 the responsibilities of motherhood had fallen to her 
 lot, her broadened horizon conferred on her a rational 
 understanding of the sanctity and importance of her 
 opportunity. 
 
 " . . . The Jewish woman has felt, with her non- 
 Jewish sister, the breath of a new sky. 
 
 " . . . The opportunities for the Jewish woman 
 today to reform her own religious home are many. 
 What the Synagogue now needs is intelligent enthu- 
 siasm. It is woman who possesses this gift. L,et 
 her place her new culture into the service of her 
 old faith and the winters of indifference will yield to 
 springtides of young and hopeful life. At home let 
 her be the priestess of the ideal, abroad the prophet- 
 ess of purity and refinement, and through her will 
 Judaism and the Jewish name be exalted to heights 
 never before attained." 
 17 
 
258 THE JEWISH WOMAN. 
 
 Thus, as in numbers the Jewish race is still the 
 smallest among all the nations, the biblical word re- 
 mains verified : 
 
 " The Lord, thy God, hath chosen thee to be a spe- 
 cial people imto himself, above all the people that are 
 upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his 
 loye upon you, nor choose yon, because you were more 
 in number than any people — for ye were the fewest of 
 all people — but because 
 
 u The Lord loved you." 
 
 — Deuteronomy, chap. 7 : 6, 7. 
 
REGISTER OF NAMES. 
 
 Abigail 75 
 
 Abigail Lindo 219 
 
 Acina .... 106 
 
 Adelheid Goldsmith . . . 220 
 Adelheid Zunz . . . 135 
 
 Achsah 44 
 
 Alexandra 82 
 
 Adelheid von Rothschild . 173 
 
 Alexandre, Miss 175 
 
 Alice Dalsheinier .... 235 
 
 Amelia Epstein 171 
 
 Anna Forstenheim .... 230 
 
 Anna Grosser 206 
 
 Anna Goldsmith 219 
 
 Anna Ottendorfer 223 
 
 (Anna Maria Shurman) . . 16S 
 (Antonia, Princess) .... 168 
 
 Antonia Link 210 
 
 (Arete) 20 
 
 (Aspasia) 22 
 
 Athalia 80 
 
 Aures Damia 89 
 
 Baroness von Oppenheim 234 
 Bella Falk Cohen . . . .166 
 
 Bella Itzig 202 
 
 Bella Hurwitz 213 
 
 Belmonte 138 
 
 Benvenuta Cohen 138 
 
 Bernice 86 
 
 Bertha Meyer 237 
 
 Bertha Jacobi 237 
 
 Beruria 111 
 
 Bienvenida Abravanela . . 107 
 
 Bienvenida Chirond 
 Blanka Nogueira 
 Bloch, Mile. . . 
 Block, Miss . . . 
 Blume, Miss . . 
 Bluemchen Itzig 
 Bertha Kreidmann 
 Brentgen Markus 
 Bliden, Mrs. . . 
 Bertha Eichberg 
 Cecilia von Eskeles 
 
 Cafja 
 
 Caroline Luzzatto 
 Caroline Bettelheim 
 Caroline Hirschfeld 
 Caroline Stern . - 
 Caroline Anspacher 
 Caroline Harby . . 
 Caroline Deutsch 
 Carrie Benjamin . 
 Carrie Goldsticker 
 Catalina Terongi . 
 Charlotte Montefiore 
 Charlotte Wolter 
 Chavah Fishel . 
 Choma . . 
 Christine (Queen) 
 Clotilde Kleeberg 
 Consola Luzzatta 
 Cappadocia . . . 
 Claribel Cohn 
 (Cornelia) . . . 
 Cora Wilburn 
 
 259 
 
260 
 
 REGISTER OF NAMES. 
 
 Cypros S7 
 
 Czerna Meisels 121 
 
 (Damayanti) .20 
 
 Deborah 69 
 
 Deborah Askarelli .... 140 
 
 Deborah Ephrosi 170 
 
 Depermann, Miss 211 
 
 Dina 107 
 
 Dinah Wahl 115 
 
 Dinah Felix ....... 209 
 
 (Diotina) 25 
 
 Dolze 115 
 
 Dorothea Elsasser .... 230 
 
 Dorethea Veit 182 
 
 Dorothea More 16S 
 
 Drusilla 87 
 
 El Muallina 113 
 
 Eleonore Neuman .... 204 
 Elizabeth (Queen) . . . . 96 
 
 Elisabeth Glueck 229 
 
 Elise Levy 22S 
 
 Ella Levy 223 
 
 Ella and Gella 121 
 
 Elson, Miss 130 
 
 Em no 
 
 Emilie Bach, Mrs 211 
 
 Emma Wolf 224 
 
 Emma Lazarus 222 
 
 Emma Lyons . ... 219 
 
 Emma Mordecai 235 
 
 Emanine Cohen 219 
 
 Eda Kuhn 240 
 
 Edith Andrews 130 
 
 Emily Bloch 129 
 
 E. Kirstein, Mrs 240 
 
 Ernestine L. Rose . . • .221 
 Esperanza Malchi .... 108 
 
 Estellina Kouat 121 
 
 Esther, Queen 79 
 
 Esther Chiera 108 
 
 Esther Cohen 96 
 
 Esther Fishel 108 
 
 Esther Gad 22c 
 
 Esther Hagan 130 
 
 Esther Shulhoff 130 
 
 Eugenia Gentiluomo . . . 225 
 
 Eva Bacharach 166 
 
 Eva Frank 117 
 
 Eve . . 63 
 
 Fannj' von Arnstein . . . 193 
 
 Fanny Lewald 188 
 
 Fanny Neuda 230 
 
 Fanny Nathan ... 134 
 
 Fanny Reichenheim . . . 235 
 
 Fanny Levy 224 
 
 Flora Friedenthal .... 206 
 
 Flora Raudegger 225 
 
 Florenze Strasburger . . .211 
 Fortuna Tedeschi .... 205 
 Furdato-Heine, Mrs. . . . 236 
 Friedlander, Miss . . . .211 
 Friederike Kempner . . 230 
 Frommet Gugenheim . . 181 
 
 Frances Willard 256 
 
 F. Shiff, Miss 240 
 
 Gedula 173 
 
 (George Eliot) 168 
 
 Guiditta Pasta 205 
 
 Guistina Levi-Perotti . . . 139 
 
 Glaphyra 86 
 
 Glickel 124 
 
 Grace Aguilar 216 
 
 GraciaNasi 97 
 
 Gutel Cohn 121 
 
 Hagar 64 
 
 Hannah 74, 124 
 
 Hannah Katz .... 213 
 
 Hart, Mrs. . . . • 223 
 
REGISTER OF NAMES. 
 
 26l 
 
 Halle, Mrs 230 
 
 Helena 20 
 
 Helene (Queen) 89 
 
 Hendei Bassevi 171 
 
 H. Elster, Mrs 240 
 
 Henrietta Goldschmidt . . 237 
 
 Henrietta Herz 185 
 
 Henrietta Manchiewicz . .211 
 Henrietta Mendelssohn . . 1S2 
 Henrietta Oppenlieimer . . 227 
 Henrietta Sulzer .... 205 
 
 Henrietta Szold 230 
 
 Helen Lowenthal 240 
 
 Hermine Pollak 240 
 
 Hannah B. Solomon . . . 255 
 
 Harriet L. Cohen 230 
 
 Herodias 87 
 
 Hirsch-Kollish, Mrs. . . . 236 
 Hulda, the Prophetess . . 81 
 
 Ifrar no 
 
 Ilona Eibenshutz 206 
 
 Inia Saloni 109 
 
 Isabella (Queen) 94 
 
 Isabella Correa 137 
 
 Isabella Henriquez .... 137 
 
 Ilka Belkind 128 
 
 Jephtha 72 
 
 Jael 71 
 
 Jenny Bach 230 
 
 Jenny Lucas 219 
 
 Jennie Mannheimer . . . 130 
 
 Jenny Cohn 230 
 
 Jenny Goldsmidt .... 225 
 
 Jenny Hirsch 23S 
 
 Jenny Lind 225 
 
 Jenny Wilder 230 
 
 Jettchen Oppenfeld .... 193 
 
 Jezebel 78 
 
 Jochebed 7S 
 
 (Joan), wife of Chuza 
 Josephine Lazarus 
 Josephine Wessely 
 Judith .... 
 Judith (Queen) ■ 
 Judith Montefiore 
 Judith Montefiore 
 Judith Beruat . . 
 Julie Eichberg . 
 Julie Schlesinger 
 Julie Saling . . 
 Julie Rettig . . . 
 Julia Richman 
 Julienne Bloch . . 
 Katherine Frank 
 Krendel Steinhardt 
 Lady Philip Magnus 
 Lady Jane Roseberry 
 Laza .... 
 Leah .... 
 Leah Bramson 
 Levetus, Mrs. 
 Levy, Mrs. . , 
 Lewis Franklin, Mrs 
 Lina Morgenstern 
 Liua Mosenthal 
 Lina Davidson 
 Litte, Mrs. . . 
 Lobach, Miss . 
 Laura Jacobson 
 Lola Beeth 
 Lola Kirchner 
 Lucretia . . . 
 Louise Heyman 
 Louise Ashkenasi 
 (Mary), Mother of Jesus 
 ( Mary of Magdala) 
 (Messalina) . . . 
 Martha and Mary 
 
262 
 
 REGISTER OF NAMES. 
 
 Mary 113 
 
 Mariainue 1 83 
 
 Mariainue II 86 
 
 Miriam 69 
 
 Maria Nunnes Pereyra . . 96 
 
 Mary Heilbron 205 
 
 Mary S^ulzer 205 
 
 Marion 106 
 
 Marion Hortig 219 
 
 Manaham, Miss 224 
 
 Manuela Nunnes Almeida . 138 
 
 Martha 107 
 
 Martha Aronson ... .211 
 Martha Wolfen stein . . . 230 
 Martha Seelman .... 206 
 
 Miriam Sehapira 114 
 
 Mariainue Meyer 189 
 
 Miriam Luria 168 
 
 Miriam Mendes 216 
 
 Mathilde Ries 205 
 
 Margareth Herr 207 
 
 Mathilde Stettiuer .... 238 
 
 Meta Aronson 211 
 
 Meta Bonfey 231 
 
 Miriam Mosessohn . . . .170 
 Miriam Del Banco .... 224 
 
 Minna Wetzler 207 
 
 Minna Neuer 230 
 
 Minna Kleeberg 231 
 
 Minna D. Lewis 231 
 
 Naomi 75 
 
 Ottilie Bondy 230 
 
 Ottilie Bach 230 
 
 Orpha 7 6 
 
 (Pan Hoei-Pan) 19 
 
 (Pauline, Saint) 168 
 
 Paula DeMansi 114 
 
 Pauline Bloch 224 
 
 Pauline Eichberg 205 
 
 Pauline Lucca 206 
 
 Pauline Skrenka Wise . . . 224 
 
 (Penelope) 20 
 
 Peninah Moise 223 
 
 (Phintys) 25 
 
 Piementel, Donna 138 
 
 Poppea 89 
 
 Rachab 71 
 
 Rachel 66 
 
 Rachel Ackermann . . .139 
 
 Rahel Felix 207 
 
 Rahel Meyer 226 
 
 Rahel Morpurgo .... 169 
 Rachel Markus v. Varuha- 
 
 gen 184 
 
 Rachel Meyer 134 
 
 Rachel Judels 121 
 
 Ray Frank ........ 130 
 
 Rebeccah 166 
 
 Rebeccah Friedlander . . 230 
 
 Rebecca Gratz 234 
 
 Rebeccah Hyneman . . . 221 
 
 Rebeccah Levy 224 
 
 Rebecca Tiktiner 124 
 
 Rebeccah Wolf 230 
 
 Rebeccah Kohut 230 
 
 Recha Meyer 181 
 
 Regina Frohberg 226 
 
 Donna Reyna Nasi, Duch- 
 ess of Naxos 98 
 
 Rebeccah Ephraim . . . .193 
 
 Regina Frohberg 189 
 
 Rosa Arnstein 230 
 
 Rosa Aufrecht 235 
 
 Rosa Bacharach 230 
 
 Rosa Hendrix 129 
 
 Rosa Levi 139 
 
 Rose Salomon 219 
 
 Rosa Warrens . . • . 230 
 
REGISTER OF NAMES. 
 
 263 
 
 Rosa Schulhofer 230 
 
 Rosa Csillag 205 
 
 Rosa Sonneschein .... 224 
 
 Rosenberg, Miss 211 
 
 Ruth 75 
 
 Ruth Ward Kahn .... 224 
 
 (Sacuntala) 20 
 
 Salome 82 
 
 Salome 84 
 
 Sarah Copia Sullam . . .140 
 
 Sadie American 255 
 
 Sarah 64 
 
 Sarah Aguilar 219 
 
 Sarah 128 
 
 Sarah (Messiah's bride) . . 115 
 
 Sarah Bernhardt 209 
 
 Sarah Davis 219 
 
 Sarah De Fonseca .... 137 
 
 Sarah Jafu 121 
 
 Sarah Meyer 1S9 
 
 Sarah Oppenheim .... 167 
 
 Sarah Oser 16S 
 
 Sarah Levy 197 
 
 (Semiramis) 20 
 
 Sheba (Queen) 20 
 
 Seelig, Mrs 230 
 
 Selina Bloom 130 
 
 Sophie Schott 239 
 
 Shiphrah and Puah . . .126 
 Sprinza Kempner . . . 167 
 
 Sophia Kaskel 206 
 
 Schoenfeld, Mrs 210 
 
 S. B. Sachs, Mrs 211 
 
 Sofia von Wertheimstein . 204 
 Susana 35 
 
 Susanna Rubinstein . . .130 
 
 Susanna Landau 237 
 
 Taube Kahn 124 
 
 Thamar 60 
 
 (Theano) 24 
 
 Theodora 105 
 
 (Theopompa) 25 
 
 Therese Meyer 235 
 
 Therese Warendorf . . . 225 
 Thamar Luzzatto .... 107 
 Tscharna Rosenthal . . .171 
 
 Vashti 79 
 
 Vogele Cohen 166 
 
 Von Rothschild, Charlotte, 173 
 Von Rothschild, Louise . . 173 
 Von Rothschild, Constance, 174 
 Von Rothschild, Anna 174 
 Von Rothschild, Clemen- 
 tine 174 
 
 Von Rothschild, Emma ■ . 174 
 Von Rothschild, Betty . . 174 
 Von Rothschild, Adelaide 234 
 Von Rothschild, Juliana 233 
 Von Rothschild, Bettina 175 
 Von Rothschild, Mathilda 175 
 
 Wertheimer, Mrs 219 
 
 W. Maas, Mrs 240 
 
 Wolff, Miss 210 
 
 Wolfenstein, Mrs 235 
 
 Xemosa 115 
 
 Yetta Wohllerner 171 
 
 Yetka Finkenstein ... 206 
 
 Zaynab 106 
 
 Zortelchen 133 
 
WORKS OF REFERENCE. 
 
 " Babylonian Talmud " (Haggada), translated by Dr. 
 A. Wuensche. — " Charakteristik der Bibel," A. H. Nie- 
 meyer. — "Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Centu- 
 ry," H. S. Morrais. — Ersch u. Gruber, " Encyclopadie." 
 — " Die Frau im Jiidischen Volk," A. Kurrein. — " Ge- 
 sammelte Schrifteu," Dr. Zunz. — "Geschichte des Vol- 
 kes Israel," J. M. Jost. — " Geschichte der Israeliten," 
 Dessauer.— " Geschichte der Frauen," A. Jung. — " Ge- 
 schichte der Frauen," G.A. Klemm. — "Jiidische Frauen 
 in der Geschichte," M. Kayserling. — "Der Jiidische 
 Stamm," Dr. A. Jellineck. — "Jiidische Spriichworter," 
 Dr. A. Jellineck. — " The Life of Jesus," E. Renan. — "La 
 Femme Juive," E. Weil. — " Le Donne piu celebre d. s. 
 Nazione," Conte Giuliari. — " Der Mensch und die Leu- 
 te," Bogumil Golz.— " Palastina," S. Munk.— " Rache- 
 lis Citharse Cantus," etc., V. Castiglione. — " Regesten 
 zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland," herausge- 
 geben von der Historischen Commission. — " Roman- 
 tik des Martyriums der Juden im Mittelalter," M. J. 
 Schleiden. — " Bedeutung der Juden fur Erhaltung und 
 Wiederbelebung der Wissenschaften im Mittelalter," 
 M.J. Schleiden.— " Sarah Copia Sullam," E. David — 
 "Darstellung aus der Sittengeschichte Roms," L- Fried- 
 lander. — "Treu und Frei," M. Lazarus. — "Wiener 
 Jahrbuch fiir Jiidische Geschichte," I., II., III. Baud. 
 — "Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fiir Jiidische Theolo- 
 gie." — " Zeitung des Judeuthums." 
 264 
 
I