Wzorce kobiecych ról społecznych w świetle modlitw dla Żydówek (od początku XIX wieku do 1939 roku)
Patterns of Women’s Social Roles in the Light of Prayers for Jewish Women (from the Beginning of the 19th Century to the Year 1939)

Author(s): Agata Rybińska
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Jewish prayer books; Jewish prayer; tkhines; patterns
Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to present the patterns of ideal Jewish women propagated in prayer books for women in Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century. The analysis of the prayers written in Yiddish (tkhines), prayers of petition in German (numerous Gebetbücher) and in Polish (published by Elsenberg and Saulson) shows that the most important tasks and social roles were being a pious Jew, wife, mother and hostess. No attention was paid to secular education and also to preparation of girls for any profession. Only a few prayers can be interpreted as an inspiration to the women’s independence. The common religious patterns were identical in the orthodox, reformed and progressives Jewish communities, both in the big cities (including capitals), and in small towns – eastern Jewish shtetls.

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