“One would have to listen with another ear, as if hearing another meaning, always in the process of weaving itself...”: A Female Trail in Polish Jewish Studies

This publication is the opening lecture to the conference The Jewish Woman: New Research and Research Perspectives that took place in Kraków in April 2021. The author attempts to answer the questions how the female perspective contributes to Jewish studies in Poland and why it requires a specific research approach. Looking for answers to these questions, the author refers, among other matters, to her personal experience while researching women’s poetry in Yiddish.

Women’s Mitzvot: The Role and Position of Women in the Light of the Jewish Religious Law

Word and Image: Texts and Related Iconic Motifs on Women’s Gravestones in Jewish Cemeteries in the Historical Areas of The Republic of Poland

The research material in the article covers the period from the earliest gravestones from the fourteenth century to contemporary ones of the twenty-first century. Among iconic motifs taken into account are those which are specific for women’s gravestones, and from texts in inscriptions—those corresponding to artistic motifs.

The aims of this study are the following: to distinguish thematic groups, determine the range of iconic motifs used and the chronology and frequency of their occurrence, as well as to juxtapose them with normative content from religious writings of Judaism and with rites and customs.

The following conclusions emerge from the research: In the early period (until the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century), there was no differentiation on tombstones between separate motifs ascribed to men (except for the Kohanim and Levites) and separate motifs ascribed to women. Among the common motifs, the bird motif dominated on women’s gravestones, while the crown motif acquired its specific character. In the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century, the  motif of a candlestick appeared on women’s gravestones; it spread very quickly and became a visual identification feature. In the nineteenth century, with the introduction of vanitas motifs on gravestones, they began to be used on women’s gravestones. The connection of motifs with the names of the deceased is also noticeable (e.g. Feigl–bird, Rachel–fairy, Royza–rose, or scenes related to biblical namesakes). The contents of women’s epitaphs presented as praise or description of virtues largely concern traditional female duties toward the home, husband, and children. Women’s gravestones contain no attributes or references to the study of Torah and scholarship, or else to activities in the public sphere—to professions, both religious and later secular—which obviously results from the position and role of women in the patriarchal community. Such information does not appear until the interwar period on the tombstones of women from families assimilated into the surrounding culture which is also evidenced by non-traditional tombstone forms and inscriptions in non-Jewish languages.

Prayer Books for Jewish Women in Polish, Their Authors and Users: The Case of Jews in Warsaw in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

In the nineteenth century, only two prayer books for Jewish women and girls were published in the Polish language: one written by Jakub Elsenberg (Warsaw 1855) and the other by Rozalia Saulson (Warsaw 1861). This small numer contrasts with the numerous editions of tkhines in Yiddish and Andachts- and Gebetbücher in German. The aim of the paper is to discuss the circumstances of the creation of both books and specificity of these editions. The origins of the users of the Warsaw’s prayer books according to the list of subscribers (and using the data of genealogical sources) are also considered.

The Gender Dimension of Yiddish Popular Literature in Shomer’s Writings

The article explores a model of construing gender in Yiddish shund (trash) literature. The author focuses on three aspects—womanhood, manhood, and relationships—comparing both cultural ideals and historical reality of Ashkenazic Jewry at the end of the nineteenth century with the gender roles constructed in the novels. The focus is placed on the stories of Nokhem Meir Shaykevitch (Shomer), the most popular shund writer of that time. The author of the article emphasizes the gender ideals in Shomer’s novels and investigates possible ideological inspirations that led the writer to bring the ideals to a textual level.

Between Camouflage and Stereotype: The Portrayal of a Jewish Woman in Gabriela Zapolska’s Drama “Nerwowa awantura” [The Nervous Row]

The article is an attempt to analyze Gabriela Zapolska’s drama entitled Nerwowa awantura [The Nervous Row], first published in 2012. The aim of the study is to answer the question whether Zapolska, while adding Peruwianka to other figures of Jewish women in her literary output, succumbed to popular opinions and provided her with stereotypical features. Or, on the contrary, perhaps she created her protagonist in an innovative, unprecedented way? The author is trying to answer the question whether the ideas of emancipation and feminist movements, so close to the writer, an attempt to fight the existing patriarchal order and Victorian bourgeois customs, also resonate in Nerwowa awantura. The analysis shows that there are no figures of Jewish women in Zapolska’s oeuvre who are clearly burdened with stereotypical traits or are completely free of them. However, none of the Jewish female characters created by the playwright is so independent, liberated and able to achieve her goals as Peruwianka, and as a result she can be perceived as a new figure on the literary and theatrical map.

Artists and Art Lovers: Women in the Jewish Artistic Life of Interwar Warsaw. In the Circle of The Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts

Research on Jewish artistic life in interwar Warsaw, especially in the context of the activities of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts  (Żydowskie Towarzystwo Krzewienia Sztuk Pięknych), reveals active and numerousparticipation of women, both artists and art lovers (by and large a group of professionals, bourgeois, political and social activists, Jewish art collectors). In the article, special attention is paid to Tea Arciszewska and Diana Eigerowa, a collector and philanthropist, the founder of the Samuel Hirszenberg scholarship for students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The author, using selected examples, discusses the role of artists in the artistic community, their individual exhibitions in the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (Stanisława Centnerszwerowa, Regina Mundlak), a group of young artists living in Paris (Alicja Hohermann, Zofia Bornstein, Pola Lindenfeld, Estera Karp), as well as a circle of art lovers and patrons, some of whom—such as Tea Arciszewska and Paulina Apenszlak—also dealt with art criticism.

Between the Ideal Model and Reality: Socialization of Jewish Girls in Polish-Language Magazines for Children, 1925–1930

This article compares the patterns passed on in the years 1925–1930 by children’s magazines to Jewish girls with how they actually assessed themselves, what they considered important, what plans they had for the future. The author conducted an analysis of three Polish-language magazines for children: Chwilka, Dzienniczek, and Mały Przegląd. The first two contained texts by adult authors who showed children the accepted models of behavior and expectations from them. However, the patterns were divergent. On the one hand, girls were taught to be obedient and polite, and on the other hand as future inhabitants of Palestine they were supposed to be rebellious and courageous. These contrasting demands could not be reconciled. In Mały Przegląd, which published texts written by children, we find information about how young girls assessed themselves and what they were striving for. It seems that the contradictory requirements that could not be met led to far-reaching emancipation, perception of discrimination against women, and the choice of one’s own way of life.

The Image of Jewish Women on the Eastern Front of World War II in Contemporary Russian-Language Jewish Media: The Example of the Online Edition of the American Newspaper Yevreiski Mir

Marian Turski, XI Nie bądź obojętny. XI Thou Shalt Not Be Indifferent, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Stowarzyszenie Żydowski Instytut Historyczny w Polsce, Wołowiec–Warszawa 2021, ss. 253.