Sunday, January 02, 2011
A grand-daughter of Rabbi Jacob Emden walks into the room . . .
Here's an extremely interesting passage in Joseph Wolff's missionary journal, dated May 16, 1824. The following occurred in Jerusalem. Rabbi Mendel is Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov, one of the leading disciples of the Vilna Gaon, entrusted with publishing many of his works.
18th century Sara Hurwitz..
ReplyDeleteThere are a good number of learned women from the 18th century (and from the 21st century, for that matter). Hurwitz, in specific, is noted for her quasi-ordination. In that regard, I see no comparison.
ReplyDeleteI like how the (male) writer expanded the observation: "how much we love the Lord."
ReplyDeleteIt's significant that the male writer who made that observation was a Christian missionary. As my uncle Nathan Isaacs once observed, Judaism is the only religion that regards study as a mode of worship.
ReplyDelete>I like how the (male) writer expanded the observation: "how much we love the Lord."
ReplyDeleteThat's a Christian reply to Rabbi Mendel. He's negating the intrinsic importance of learning in a way that sounds like he agrees with him.
Bear in mind that this story is much more than a display of chauvinism by a rabbi and a missionary. He describes the entire room as standing up for her out of evident genuine respect for her learning. In my opinion it is unlikely that the sole reason they stood was because of her lineage - if so, that would be pretty amazing in of itself. It also couldn't be only her advanced age, or her age combined with her lineage. Rabbi Mendel was in his 70s himself in 1824. Furthermore, the only way Wolff knew that she was learned was because someone there had told him.
ReplyDeleteIf they respected her learning, why did he say what he did? I get the impression that Rabbi Mendel simply wished to impart his view, which sounds true for the circle of the Vilna Gaon, about what the "principle thing" is for women.
or even to explain why the room doesn't have more learned women.
ReplyDeleteAny genealogists/ early aliyah experts want to take a stab at identifying the woman?
ReplyDeleteR Mendel Mishklov's name seems to be mispronounced in Israel today. E.g., in Har Nof, there's a street called "Mishkelov", which pops the tune into my head of "gimme gimme mishkelovin"
ReplyDeleteTo say nothing of the mi prefix not being a part of a surname at all.
ReplyDelete