Women’s prayers are emerging; venturing
out of their confinement within the private domain. They
are slowly seeping into hearts, wafting into souls,
bearing an ancient longing. Men and women alike are
adopting women’s prayers, hearing and feeling their own
supplications resonating in the words. Women’s prayers
are rediscovering their place in private and communal
life; in life-cycle ceremonies, at moments of supreme
joy and in times of grief and loss, in private devotion
and in congregational services. At the same time,
women’s prayers are at the center of a cultural
reawakening: prayers texts are being set to music,
dramatized, performed and recited by leading artists.
Tefilat Nashim,
a mosaic of prayers and the life stories of the women
who composed them, has given rise to a longing for the
world of mothers and grandmothers – even if they never
spoke about it (or perhaps we didn’t want to listen.
Perhaps we were ashamed.) Generations of mothers and
grandmothers kept this world, and their prayers,
carefully guarded. And hence the words arouse an
insistent longing for something out of reach and long
forgotten. The source of our restlessness is impossible
to locate; nowhere in the book can we point to the
source of our longing. But it is there, and it keeps
reminding us of its presence. It is this longing that
inspired the words then, and that continues to smolder
within them, warming so many hearts today.
In the course of my research I came
across prayers, both new and old, encountered unique
customs and ceremonies, and come to know historical
Jewish women who are mostly absent from the pages of our
literature, documentation and tradition. In my book I
sought to restore these women writers to their proper
place in our historical and religious awareness; to show
what liturgical gems were created even during those
periods when, according to the universally accepted
academic assumption, Jewish women did not write at all.
Thus, faces and voices are resurfacing: Freiha, daughter
of Rabbi Avraham; the coverso women of Spain and
Portugal; the 15th century Jewish women in
Italy; Fanny Neuda of Czechoslovakia, and many others.
Their voices are amplified by accounts of rabbinical
leadership that took a favorable view of women’s prayers
and religious customs and acknowledged their validity.
The English edition of my book – “A
Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book” – is due to appear at the
end of 2008. The vigorous public response that has
developed in Israel may now extend outward to the
English-speaking public, injecting a new dimension into
Jewish and gender studies and bearing the hope of
exposing texts and writers yet to be explored.
The book attempts to present the prayers
in such a way as to preserve their authenticity while
appealing to contemporary men and women. I would be glad
to receive reactions, information, and ideas that could
broaden and enrich the discourse on this site and in
other forums, as well as for the purposes of further
research.
The Story
Tefilat Nashim
became an immediate best-seller in Israel and was warmly
embraced by diverse sectors of the public. The book
itself, and its subject, have become the focus of
extensive public discussion, numerous literary reviews,
conferences, and cultural dialogue. This collection of
prayers is the product of academic research, and as such
serves as a bridge between the academic, critical
discourse of Jewish studies and the generally
conservative world of liturgy. In the book, each prayer
text is presented along with explanatory notes as to the
circumstances of its origins, its author, etc. (In the
English edition, “A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book”, prayers
appear in Hebrew and English, side by side.)
Tefilat Nashim
is a collection of prayers written by and/or for Jewish
women from a diverse range of historical and cultural
backgrounds. These prayers transcend the borders of the
Jewish Diaspora and the boundaries of Jewish time,
bringing together texts formulated by Rabbi Yosef Chayim
of Baghdad (the “Ben Ish Chai”) – a giant of Sefardic
Jewry, and prayers inspired by the teachings of Rabbi
Nachman of Breslav – an influential leader of Eastern
European Hassidism. Prayers by Italian Jewish women of
the 16th century appear side by side with
similar prayers originating in 18th century
Hungary. A prayer by an ultra-Orthodox, hassidic
Jerusalemite mother-in-law is quite at home in this
collection, as are contributions by women who grew up on
kibbutzim. The book is thus a mosaic of Jewish
identities, all woven into a tapestry of women’s
devotion.
The book is a collection of prayers of
Jewish women throughout history. It reflects a Jewish
life-story about which little has been told, a world
that has almost disappeared, a narrative that is almost
completely absent from our traditional history and
religious consciousness. The seismic changes effected by
historical processes – persecution and expulsions, the
secular Enlightenment, the Holocaust, the establishment
of the State of Israel and the subsequent mass
immigration of strongly traditional communities, the
replacement of a close-knit community framework and the
extended family with the nuclear family - have all but
erased the feminine world of knowledge, law, prayers,
ritual, customs and ceremonies from contemporary
Judaism. As further factors contributing to this loss we
must also take into consideration the intensive
secularization of Israeli society, on one hand, and mass
assimilation within Diaspora communities, on the other,
both expressions of a conscious desire and aspiration,
among broad sectors of the Jewish nation, to liberate
itself from tradition in general, and from “antiquated”
religious tradition in particular, in favor of a new,
modern identity.
Some of the prayers are unquestionably
pervaded by conservative gender stereotypes that may
offend some modern and politically correct
sensibilities. My aim has been to convey in good faith a
meaningful and compelling heritage. The real life of
real Jewish women throughout the generations is what
gave rise to the prayers that they created. The prayers
reflect their norms and values, and these should not be
distorted to conform with our modern views. Ultimately,
the book and the attention that it has drawn have
redeemed countless women—individuals and the communities
around them—from oblivion, and restored them to their
proper place in Jewish history, consciousness,
tradition, and prayer.
The Chain
The book tells us about the trials and
challenges, joys and celebrations of Jewish women
throughout hundreds of years. The texts reflect their
customs, norms and rituals, and as such represent an
alternative, feminine religious model with the power to
inspire continuity and further development. We cannot
and dare not ignore the Jewish woman and her life
throughout the generations, her activities and
aspirations, her relationship with God and with herself.
It is imperative that we develop research in these areas
and encourage creative thinking aimed at reclaiming and
restoring that which been almost entirely lost.
These women’s prayers are an alternative
model of Jewish being and expression that came into
being alongside - and, to a considerable extent, as a
response to - the male discourse, the foreign language
of formal prayer (Hebrew), and the absence of women from
the public arena and communal activity. Despite the
great diversity of geographical and historical sources
represented inTefilat Nashim, the book
evidences a remarkable degree of unity in the core
perception of existential purpose. In the liturgical and
devotional creativity that blossomed within the private,
parallel world of Jewish women we detect the secret of
the chain of tradition, the mortar that cemented
generation after generation in the edifice of Jewish
existence; the feminine Jewish “D.N.A.” which cannot be
defined but which exists beyond the boundaries of time,
place or language.
The women (and men) who composed these
prayers were well aware of this chain, and they invoke
it explicitly: “As He answered our holy matriarchs –
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and Hannah, and all of
the righteous, pious and upright women – so may He
answer me”; “He Who blessed our matriarchs – Sarah,
Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and Miriam the prophetess, and
Abigail, and Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, may He
bless…”. Fortified with this solid tradition, the
petitioner pours forth her supplication: “that when I
call out to You—You answer me, that I petition You and
You grant my request”; “My God in heaven – listen to the
prayer of a mother’s heart”.
A great many of the women’s prayers of
previous centuries were composed and recited in the
different languages of the Jewish Diaspora. The Hebrew
(and Aramaic) of the canonical prayer book were foreign
to women, since they were generally excluded from formal
Jewish education with its intensive study of Hebrew
texts. Thus, Tefilat Nashim includes prayers that
were originally composed in Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish,
Ladino, Judeo-Italian, Old German, and English. Little
remains today of this diversity: the Holocaust silenced
Yiddish and Ladino almost completely, and mass
immigration to and absorption in Israel soon made Hebrew
the spoken language among Jews from North Africa and the
Middle East. At the same time, the standard prayer book
has largely replaced the unique, personalized,
hand-written books of prayers that were treasured by
Jewish women in the past.
Throughout the generations, there were
women who took upon themselves the responsibility of
promoting Jewish education for girls and seeking ways to
the hearts of the younger generation. In the
introduction to the book of prayers that she wrote and
published in Prague in 1855, Fanny Neuda wrote:
“A genuine sense of feminine religiosity
includes an exalted nationalistic feeling. Our daughters
must learn to bear their Jewish identity with pride and
confidence. They must recognize the true worth of their
nation […]. They must know that they would be
diminishing their own honor if they were ashamed of
belonging to one of the greatest peoples in history, its
chronicles featuring shining heroes, noble men, people
who died for the sanctification of God’s Name [...]
Consolation, conscientiousness, selflessness and
willingness are to be found in the goodness of her heart
and her conduct, allowing her rise up above any
contemptible act and to prove herself as a true daughter
of her people, having succeeded in preserving a blessed
atmosphere of home and noble morality, at the center of
the battle continuing over the course of thousands of
years against many hatreds causing profound pain.”
Concern for the guidance of Jewish women
is similarly evidenced in the works of Sara Bat-Tovim,
one of the best-known writers of “tekhines”
(personal supplications) in Yiddish. She writes, in the
introduction to her book, “Sheker ha-Hen” (Grace
is Deceitful):
“I wrote this book, Sheker ha-Hen,
in Yiddish, as a healing for the soul in this world and
in the next world. Do not be sparing of your money, if
you are able to obtain this book; in reward for this we
shall merit the World to Come…”.
In several places in her books, Sara
Bat-Tovim reproaches women for personal and moral
failings. She held herself to the same high standards:
at the beginning of her book of supplications, “Shelosha
She’arim”, she asks for forgiveness: “May the
blessed God forgive me that in my youth I would chatter
in the women’s gallery during the prayer service and the
reading of the beloved Torah.”
She called for simplicity, asking women
not to visit the synagogue dressed in luxurious style
that would arouse envy, and emphasized the communal and
Jewish responsibility of every individual.
The tekhines of Sara Bat-Tovim are
characterized by their emotion and their honesty, and
the unique way in which they address those precious
moments when a woman senses with full impact the essence
of life. This awareness, along with an impressive
ability to capture it in writing – and apparently aided
by considerable charisma – earned Sara Bat-Tovim
enormous popularity among Jewish women.
Tefilat Nashim
– and now the English edition, “A Jewish Woman’s Prayer
Book” – offers an unmediated introduction to Jewish
women of the past whose message is unquestionably
enriching and empowering – for men and women, Jews and
non-Jews alike, in the third millennium.
Almog Behar, literary critic for the
highly regarded Haaretz newspaper, wrote:
"The essence of
the book ‘Tefillat Nashim’ (Women’s Prayers Throughout
the Ages) isn't realized in the first reading, nor in a
continuous reading. A prayer that is uttered for the
first time is not really 'prayer'; it is a random prayer
like many others. Only the element of repetition
transforms it into real prayer. The power of a
prayer-book lies in its communal acceptance into the
life cycle; its power lies in the ceremony that is
created around it, in being read aloud in public at the
appropriate time and season. The power of the Jewish
prayer book throughout the generations has arisen from
the tension between tradition and innovation, between
the fixed and the transient, between the Divine and the
human. ‘Women's Prayers Throughout the Ages’ is perhaps
one of the most important events in the Jewish religion
in recent years, and it is worthy of many sequels (Almog
Behar, Haaretz, 30/6/ 2006).
The voyage
The book is the result of a three-year
voyage through time and over continents, exposing me to
a fascinating human, feminine mosaic. I discovered
prayers written for recitation by the whole congregation
and others written specifically for women in the women’s
gallery of the synagogue or as a separate prayer group;
I found texts written by women for women and others
written or collated for women by men (in many cases a
father would present a book of prayers to his daughter,
or a groom – to his bride).
I found rare manuscripts preserved in
museums, libraries and archives, and also in private or
family collections. I recorded prayers shared by
“masraniyot” (“conveyors” of tradition), or preserved
with family records, or private prayer books that were
handed down from mother to daughter over generations.
Every prayer, every liturgical poem, had a story. Often
it was the writer who captured my imagination; sometimes
I was struck dumb by the beauty of new prayers, other
times I was brought to tears. The emotional response
that developed within me arose from a vague knowledge
that I have always carried with me – a knowledge that
such prayers existed, even though no-one had ever told
me about them.
I believe that the collection of prayers
that came together to become this book, is not
coincidental. For three years I searched for the sources
of unknown prayers and supplications for those fateful
points in a woman’s life to which the standard
prayerbook gave no attention. I searched for prayers
that would address infertility, childbirth, the loss of
a child, heaven forefend. Such prayers existed, it
turned out; some had even been composed by men for
women.
The
search for prayers drew interest and involvement. Many
people offered information and directed me to sources
and texts. Thus, for example, the “Mother’s Early
Morning Prayer” by Hava Pinhas-Cohen – a startlingly
modern text – was brought to my attention by women’s
prayer groups in Israel, which had incorporated it into
their meetings:
“And grant me courage to soften my
expression
So that each of my children may
See his face within my face
As in a mirror polished for a holiday”
Accessing the prayers was not always so
easy. It took two years of gentle persuasion until I
gained the confidence of Shulamit Eisenbach, an
ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemite woman belonging to the Belz
hassidic sect, who composed a unique prayer (in rhyming
verse, in the Hebrew original) concerning the
mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship:
“…Grant me favor in the eyes of my
sons-in-law and my daughters,
and grace with my sons and
daughters-in-law.
Let me see no flaws in them, nor hear any
faults;
Let me feel no resentment toward them,
nor act in a miserly way;
Let no hint of jealousy be aroused in me,
nor any vice lurk within.”
The prayers, poems, psalms and
supplications are different from one another, but they
share the same themes: dialogue with the Creator, hope
for a better future, and concern for the welfare of the
Jewish nation.
The memories and life stories of the many
women whom I have met have taught me about unique
women’s rituals and customs, forgotten ceremonies,
special prayer formulas. More than anything else,
though, they taught me about a common longing for the
prayers of grandmothers and great-grandmothers; for a
women’s circle that was interrupted and broken. Much has
been lost along the turbulent path of Jewish history;
little was documented, few of the women who were part of
this lost world are still with us to recall and recreate
it.
The acceptance of my book in Israeli
society has led me on another fascinating
anthropological voyage, this time through the various
sectors and groups that comprise Israeli society:
ultra-Orthodox and secular, Ashkenazic and Sefardic,
women and men. I was moved to discover that these
audiences are connected with the book owing to a
powerful longing, a sense of regret at not having
listened to – perhaps having scorned – what our mothers
and grandmothers carried with them from their homes:
that magical knowledge that perhaps we were ashamed to
carry any further, that feminine Jewish DNA, that
cultural mortar and building tools that our mothers
preserved. The warm embrace with which the book was
greeted upon its appearance, and the growing circles
that have come to accept and adopt it, demonstrate that
these prayers are now finding their way home.
Women’s prayers are emerging; venturing
out of their confinement within the private domain. They
are slowly seeping into hearts, wafting into souls,
bearing an ancient longing. Men and women alike are
adopting women’s prayers, hearing and feeling their own
supplications resonating in the words. Women’s prayers
are rediscovering their place in private and communal
life; in life-cycle ceremonies, at moments of supreme
joy and in times of grief and loss, in private devotion
and in congregational services. At the same time,
women’s prayers are at the center of a cultural
reawakening: prayers texts are being set to music,
dramatized, performed and recited by leading artists.
Tefilat Nashim
became an immediate best-seller in Israel and was warmly
embraced by diverse sectors of the public. The book
itself, and its subject, have become the focus of
extensive public discussion, numerous literary reviews,
conferences, and cultural dialogue. This collection of
prayers is the product of academic research, and as such
serves as a bridge between the academic, critical
discourse of Jewish studies and the generally
conservative world of liturgy. In the book, each prayer
text is presented along with explanatory notes as to the
circumstances of its origins, its author, etc. (In the
English edition, “A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book”, prayers
appear in Hebrew and English, side by side.) 
The book tells us about the trials and
challenges, joys and celebrations of Jewish women
throughout hundreds of years. The texts reflect their
customs, norms and rituals, and as such represent an
alternative, feminine religious model with the power to
inspire continuity and further development. We cannot
and dare not ignore the Jewish woman and her life
throughout the generations, her activities and
aspirations, her relationship with God and with herself.
It is imperative that we develop research in these areas
and encourage creative thinking aimed at reclaiming and
restoring that which been almost entirely lost.
The book is the result of a three-year
voyage through time and over continents, exposing me to
a fascinating human, feminine mosaic. I discovered
prayers written for recitation by the whole congregation
and others written specifically for women in the women’s
gallery of the synagogue or as a separate prayer group;
I found texts written by women for women and others
written or collated for women by men (in many cases a
father would present a book of prayers to his daughter,
or a groom – to his bride).