Glückel of Hameln

Glückel of Hameln (Template:Langx; also spelled Glückel, Glüeckel, Gllckl Hamel or Glikl of Hamelin; also known as Glikl bas Judah Leib) (Template:Circa – September 19, 1724) was a German Jewish businesswoman and diarist. Written in her native tongue of Western Yiddish over the course of thirty years, her memoirs were originally intended to be an ethical will for her children and future descendants.<ref name="Liptzin">Liptzin, Sol, A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972. Template:ISBN. pp.14-15.</ref> Glückel's diaries are the only known pre-modern Yiddish memoirs written by a woman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln provide an intimate portrait of German-Jewish life between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and have become an important source for historians, philologists, sociologists, literary critics, and linguists.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Background

Naming conventions

Glückel was a popular name in the Middle Ages.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The name “Glückel” is diminutive of "Glück," the German translation of the Hebrew name “Mazal,” meaning “good fortune.”<ref name=":02">Template:Cite book</ref> Mazal was exclusively used by Sephardic Jews, while Ashkenazi Jews used either the German variations of "Glück" and "Glueck" or the Yiddish version "Glick."<ref name=":02" /> The ending "el" is a diminutive which indicates "little" or "little one" and was used in the Yiddish and German variations of Glückel, Glukel, Glukil, Glickel, and Glikel.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The pseudo-aristocratic variation "Glückel von Hameln" was used by the editor of the memoir's first publication in Yiddish.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Despite being referred to by many different variations, her preferred name would have most likely have been "Glikl bas Judah Leib," meaning "Glikl daughter of Judah Leib," in keeping with Jewish naming traditions of her time.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite book</ref>

Life and death

Glückel was born into a wealthy family in the city of Hamburg in 1646 or 1647, one of six children born to Judah Joseph Leib and his second wife Beila.<ref name=":6" /> She had one brother, Wolf, and five sisters: Rebekah, Elkel, Hendele, and Mate. Her father was a successful diamond trader and parnas, a leader in the Jewish community; her mother was also involved in business.<ref name=":6" /> In 1649, when Glückel was less than three years old, her family and the rest of Hamburg's Ashkenazic Jewish community was expelled to Altona.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite book</ref> Her father had been so respected in Hamburg that he was the first German Jew permitted to return.<ref name="The memoirs of Glückel of Hameln">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel's father ensured that all of his children were both pious and well-educated, including his daughters.<ref name=":7" /> Although she was unable to study the Torah, Glückel received a formal education in a Cheder, the traditional Jewish primary school, where she learned Hebrew and the basics of Judaism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

When she was twelve years old, Glückel was betrothed to Hayyim of Hameln, whom she married in 1660 at the age of fourteen.<ref name=":8">Template:Cite book</ref> After the marriage, the couple lived in the groom's parents’ home in Hameln.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A year after their marriage, the couple moved in with Glückel's parents in Hamburg, where Hayyim began dealing in gold and became an affluent businessman.<ref name=":8" /> A year after that, they became parents for the first time. Glückel assisted her husband in trading seed pearls, eventually taking over the family business when he died in 1689.<ref name=":8" /> She was one of few women who traveled by themselves to conduct trade at European markets and fairs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In addition to her business dealings, Glückel also maintained an extremely active social life which often required extensive travel. Her memoirs tell of travels to cities as varied as Amsterdam, Bamberg, Danzig, Hanover, Hildesheim, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Berlin, Vienna, Metz, and Paris.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Glückel and Hayyim had a total of fourteen children, one of whom died as a 2-week old infant, another of whom died as a three-year old.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The names of the 13 children to live beyond infancy are as follows: Zipporah (c. 1661), Nathan (c. 1663), Mata (c. 1666), Mordechai (c. 1670), Hannah (c. 1672), Loeb (c. 1673), Esther (c. 1677), Joseph (c. 1677), Hendelchen (c. 1678), Samuel (c. 1680), Freudchen (c. 1684), Moses (c. 1685), and Miriam (c. 1686).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Glückel took great pride in the fact that many of her children were married into some of the most prominent Jewish families of Europe.<ref name="Liptzin" />

In 1700, eleven years after Hayyim's death, Glückel remarried. Although she had rejected a number of proposals, she finally acquiesced as she believed that remarrying would ultimately benefit her children by protecting their future.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her second husband was Cerf Levy, a successful banker and parnas from Metz.<ref name=":9">Template:Cite book</ref> Two years after their marriage, Levy failed financially, losing not only his own fortune but hers as well. Still deep in the throes of bankruptcy, Levy died in 1712, leaving Glückel a widow for the second time.<ref name="Liptzin" /> Ever fearful of becoming a burden to her children, Glückel lived alone until falling too ill to care for herself in 1715.<ref name=":10" /> At the age of seventy, after much pleading from her children, she moved in with her daughter Esther and her son-in-law Moses.<ref name=":9" />

Glückel died from natural causes on September 19, 1724, in Metz.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln

History of the memoirs

In 1691, two years after the death of her beloved husband, Glückel began writing her memoirs in an attempt to comfort herself during her immense grief.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite book</ref> At the time she was a 46-year-old widow with twelve children, eight of whom remained unmarried.<ref name=":3" /> She initially stopped writing the diaries in 1699, shortly before her second marriage to Cerf Levy, but resumed in 1715 while she was living with her daughter following her second husband's death.<ref name="Liptzin" /> Glückel completed the seventh and final book in 1719.<ref name=":03">Template:Cite book</ref>

Glückel was born two years before the end of the Thirty Years' War. She lived through, and subsequently wrote about, many other notable historical events, including but not limited to Charles X Gustav of Sweden's war on Denmark,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the expulsion of the Jewish population of Hamburg to Altona,<ref name=":7" /> the scandal of the "Messianic pretender" Sabbatai Zevi,<ref name="worldcat.org">Template:Cite book</ref> the Franco-Dutch War,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the War of the Spanish Succession.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel's stories reveal much about the often frightening and precarious situation under which the Jews of northern Germany lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Glückel's diaries, a rare account of an ordinary woman, offer a glimpse into the day-to-day life of Jewish inhabitants in northern Germany during the 17th century. The diaries are the sole pre-modern diary written by a woman in Yiddish.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Glückel tells of how she guided the financial and personal destinies of her children through marriage arrangements, engaged in business travel and trade, and generally spent her life promoting the welfare of her large family. Glückel wrote extensively about both her own and her first husband's families because she wanted her children to be aware of their lineage. She was explicit that the works were to be preserved for future generations, fearing that her children's children or grandchildren would one day know nothing of their family history.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite book</ref>

The memoirs amalgamate several Jewish literary traditions: the Tsava'ah, or ethical will; the tkhines, or women's prayer books; Musar literature, or books of moral instruction; the Mayse bukh, or Yiddish storybook; and the "Family Scroll."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Book One

The opening pages of Glückel's book include details of her reasons for writing, as well as the underlying beliefs that will come to define her entire narrative. She explains that she began writing her memoirs following the death of her husband of nearly thirty years, Hayyim of Hameln. She explicitly states that she does not wish to write a book of morals for her children to follow; she believes that the Torah provides all of the necessary instructions and thus should be studied diligently.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She also states that she intends to complete the memoirs as a series of "seven little books."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Book One provides much of the backstory of Glückel's life. In this book, Glückel tells of her childhood in Hamburg. Though the second chapter begins with her birth, there is almost no reference to her childhood and upbringing except to mention that her father ensured that all of his children, male and female, received both secular and religious education.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She mentions that her mother worked making gold and silver lace.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel recalls experiences of anti-semitism and how her community was severely impacted by the expulsion of Jews to Altona around 1650.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel illustrates her family's importance in the community by noting that her father was the first German Jew allowed to resettle in Hamburg.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She has memories of the so-called "Swedish Winter" when the Swedes went to war with the King of Denmark, a monarch who she remembered as great man and friend to the Jews.<ref name="The memoirs of Glückel of Hameln"/> Glückel also tells of the devastating effect that the plague had on Hamburg's Jewish community, including the death of her grandmother.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Glückel reveals that her father had been a widower when he married her mother.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She remembers the circumstances of her sister Hendele's engagement to the son of Reb Gumpel of Cleves, in which Hendele received 1,800 Reichsthalers as her dowry, the most anyone had ever been dowered in Hamburg.<ref name=":14">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel recalls that the match been the most important in all of Germany and that "the whole world admired its excellence and the size of the dowry."<ref name=":14" />

Book Two

Book Two is one of the shortest of the seven books, and it is also the most joyful. This book begins with Glückel's betrothal to Hayyim of Hameln at age twelve and their marriage two years later; the relationship was arranged by her father.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After Glückel and Hayyim were married in Hameln, they moved in with his parents where she was "alone with strangers in a strange world."<ref name=":15" /> She recalls her first impressions of Hameln being "a dull shabby hole" and "back-country town where lived only two Jews."<ref name=":15">Template:Cite book</ref> She was ultimately not discouraged by her new surroundings, however, because of how well she was treated by her in-laws, especially her father-in-law, Joseph Hameln.

She spends most of the second book giving details about Hayyim's family. She tells the story of Hayyim's eldest brother, Moses, who was shot and killed while being robbed on the way to his own wedding.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Joseph's second son, Abraham, was a brilliant Talmud scholar who faced many hardships in his life, including difficulties conceiving without what was rumored to be mystical intervention.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Hayyim had a sister named Yenta, who experienced great personal turmoil after marrying the son of the wealthy Sussmann Gans of Minden-on-the-Weser.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The fourth child of the family, Samuel, studied in Poland and married the daughter of the prominent Rabbi Sholem of Lemberg.<ref name=":16">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel never met the fifth child, Isaac, who died at age fifty in Frankfort-on-the-Main.<ref name=":16" /> Glückel writes very little about Hayyim's sister Esther, stating instead that "all the world knows the excellent woman she was."<ref name=":13" /> The seventh child, Loeb, lived in Bonn. He died young "but in riches and honor."<ref name=":13" /> Hannah was the eighth child who, like Loeb, also died very young; she, however, was without any wealth.<ref name=":13" /> Hayyim was the ninth child, referred to in this book as "your faithful father."<ref name=":13" /> He is not discussed at length in the chapter, however, as Glückel advises that the details will be found in the coming pages instead.<ref name=":13" />

Book Three

Signs of Glückel's business acumen begin to appear in Book Three. She reveals that her husband took business and financial advice from her and no one else,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> stating that he did nothing in business without her knowledge.<ref name=":11">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel mentions that she drafted a business contract when her husband took ill on a trading trip to Leipzig,<ref name=":11" /> a prime example of her husband's utmost confidence in her business capabilities. Hayyim's illness in Leipzig was particularly stressful for Glückel because of the well-known danger that the city posed to Jews. Although Jews were allowed to do business at the Leipzig Fair due to the high taxes they paid, they had not been allowed to live in Saxony since 1537.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel knew that if Hayyim had died in Leipzig, it would have been difficult to recover his body for a proper Jewish burial and that all of his possessions would be forfeited, resulting in major personal as well as financial damages.<ref name=":11" />

In this book, Glückel tells of the commotion caused by the false prophet Sabbatai Zevi and how it impacted her family.<ref name="worldcat.org"/> As the plague continues, Glückel explains of the difficulty of conducting trade<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and receiving mail,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as well as the strange illness and remarkable recovery of her daughter Zipporah, to whom she refers as the "Virgin of Peinholz."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Over the course of Book Three, Glückel gives birth to two more daughters, Mata and Hannah.<ref name=":17">Template:Cite book</ref> Unfortunately, at age three, Mata contracted a mysterious and painful illness which made her hands and feet swell; she died four weeks later.<ref name=":17" />

Book Four

Glückel has another child in this volume, a son named Mordecai.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel gives more insight into her social and economic status by mentioning that she employs a servant named "Elegant Sam," who had been a replacement for a "Clumsy Sam."<ref name=":0" /> Zipporah follows in her mother's footsteps and is also engaged at age twelve, and the townspeople place bets on her marriage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel tells of her embarrassment when, during the marriage ceremony, it was discovered that the ketubah, or Jewish marriage contract, had not been written; although the wedding proceeded without the official contract, this went against custom and Glückel feared that the community would react negatively.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Zipporah's wedding is the first of many which are described at length in the memoirs. Glückel mentions the attendance of nobility as well as the performance of the "Dance of Death."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel suffers the loss of her beloved sister Hendel, who is buried in Emmerich.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She mentions the dangers of sailing from Wangerooge to Hamburg due to pirates.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By this time, her son Nathan is fifteen and becomes involved in the family business.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel and Hayyim have another daughter, Esther.<ref name=":1" />

Glückel details many economic woes, including the loss of 11,000 Reichsthalers in one year.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In a stroke of bittersweet luck, Glückel's father dies after suffering from gout and she gives birth to her son, Loeb, after sitting shiva.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel details the distribution of her father's will, which left 1,600 Reichsthalers to her mother and about 1,400 Reichsthalers to each of his children; although Glückel's husband and brother-in-law were entitled to a claim of half the share of a son, they insisted that the money be given to Glückel's mother and her children only.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel details the excellent treatment of her mother by her sons-in-law after she became a widow.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel notes that her mother's age at widowhood was forty-four and remarks on the fact that she never remarried.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel also mentions the existence of other female-authored wills, indicating that her memoirs were not an anomaly for the time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

She gives her impressions of the war between the King of France, Holland, and the Emperor.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Hayyim again falls ill on a business trip, this time in Halberstadt.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel's father-in-law had died three years before she began writing the fourth book, and she tells a story about her daughter Hannah's experience with a ghostly presence the night before he died.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She writes of her husband's experience with shneim asar chodesh, the twelve-month period of mourning for one's parent.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> Her mother-in-law died two years later at age eighty-two and was buried next to her husband.<ref name=":2" /> Glückel celebrates her daughter Esther<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and son Nathan<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> both becoming engaged, but she also mourns losing an unnamed child in infancy.<ref name="ReferenceB">Template:Cite book</ref> She describes her experience of giving birth every two years, a period which had begun with her daughter Hendele; two sons, Samuel and Moses, and two daughters, Freudchen and Miriam, followed.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The book ends with the death of Hayyim, the "crown of [her] head,"<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref> in 1689. She laments being left with eight unmarried children and mentions that the four married children also still need help.<ref name=":3" />

Book Five

Book Five deals extensively with the sickness and eventual death of Hayyim. On January 11, 1689, he fell on a sharp stone, agitating his already long-suffering and "badly twisted bowels."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Hayyim initially refused to call for a doctor for want of privacy, but he eventually calls for Abraham Lopez, a physician and "chirurgeon-barber."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel offers her body to console or comfort her dying husband, but he refuses her because she is "unclean" due to menstruation<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and had not visited the mikveh. Hayyim dies on Shabbat while reciting the first lines of the prayer Shema Yisrael: "Hear O'Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!"<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> He is buried January 16, 1689, after which the customary week of mourning commenced.<ref name=":4" /> Glückel describes her grief in great detail and also reveals that she felt that she was forgotten by the community after the mourning period ended.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Hayyim died 20,000 Reichsthalers in debt,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but Glückel's business acumen ensured that the debts were completely cleared within a year.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Life gradually returns to normal as Glückel officially takes over control of the business and family. She describes difficulty with her son Loeb's marriage plans as well as business decisions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After Loeb falls deep into debt after going into business for himself in Berlin, she begins to see the city as cursed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This feeling deepens after her daughter Hendele falls sick and dies there, only seventeen weeks after she got married.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She describes how a trusted Talmud teacher misled her son Joseph at the age of fourteen.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel recalls the murders of Abraham Metz and Aaron ben Moses, a story which illustrates the complicated relationships that existed between Jews and Gentiles in Hamburg.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Book Six

Book Six opens with a sense of deep regret. Glückel describes her second marriage as the "change in life [she] sought to avoid."<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref> She interprets her second marriage as a punishment for her sins, especially for not committing herself to God after Hayyim's death.<ref name=":5" /> She tells of her secret betrothal to Cerf Levy, a widower from Metz, which occurred in June 1699.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She relates the story of King Jedijah from Araby to illustrate how even good intentions, such as her desire to protect her children by remarrying, can sometimes go terribly wrong.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Although Glückel agrees to the marriage with the assurance that her new husband was a wise businessman who would offer her "nothing but abundance,"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> she recalls her extreme hesitation. She details difficulties with both her new step-children and the Levy family's staff which included two manservants, two maids, and "numerous lackeys."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel describes how distraught she was after she learned her troubled son Loeb had died, expressing her grief with the story of King David and his son Absalom.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel ends Book Six by expressing her fears for her family with a desperate plea for God's forgiveness: "May the Almighty God spare us and Israel from further evil, and in His great mercy and grace forgive us sinners all our debts, and lead us back to the Holy Land, that our eyes may see the rebuilding of Thy holy house and our glory restored!"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Book Seven

According to Glückel, the final book "contains both pleasures and pains, as does the world itself."<ref name=":18">Template:Cite book</ref> In this book, both her son Samuel and her second husband die. Samuel dies less than two years after the move to Metz and leaves behind a pregnant widow.<ref name=":18" /> After twelve years of marriage, Cerf dies on July 24, 1712.<ref name="ReferenceC">Template:Cite book</ref> Glückel was unable to recover even her initial dowry because his business was in such a state of ruin at the time of his death.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She recalls the dissatisfaction of living in the home of Jacob Marburg, an otherwise unidentified Metz resident who provided her with a room which featured "neither hearth nor chimney."<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Being old and ill, she had difficulty getting up the twenty-two stairs which led to her bedroom.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Despite her previous protests, Glückel eventually gives in to her son-in-law Moses Krumbach's demands to move in with him and his wife, Esther.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1715, she finally moves in with her daughter and son-in-law and experiences life in a rapidly changing Metz.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The memoirs close with the following passage:

"In the month of Nisan, 5479 [March–April 1719], a woman was kneeling by the bank of the Moselle, washing her dishes. It was about ten o'clock at night, and of a sudden it became as light as day, and the woman looked in the Heavens, and the Heavens were opened, like unto a...[word illegible]...and sparks flew therefrom; and then the Heavens closed, as one closes a curtain, and all was dark again. God grant that it be for our good!"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Translations

The original manuscript was lost, but a copy made by Glückel's son Moses survived. The family copy was used to create the first printed edition entitled Zikhroynes (Yiddish for "Memoirs"), which was edited by David Kaufmann and published in 1896.<ref name=":03" /> Bertha Pappenheim, one of Glückel's great-granddaughters, published the first German translation of the Memoirs in 1910.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1913, an alternate abridged German translation by Alfred Feilchenfeld was published and, due to its immense popularity, went into its fourth edition by 1923.<ref name=":12" /> Feilchenfeld's edition eventually became the basis of the first English translation by Marvin Lowenthal, published in 1932 and reissued in 1960 and 1977.<ref name=":12" /> In 1962, Beth-Zion Abrahams offered a more accurate English translation of the original Kaufmann edition.<ref name=":12" /> An abridged Hebrew translation based on the Feilchenfeld edition was published by A. Z. Rabinowitz in Tel Aviv in 1930.<ref name=":12" /> Joseph Berenfeld completed a full translation of the memoirs into modern Yiddish in 1967.<ref name=":12" />

Legacy and descendants

The permanent exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin) featured Glückel of Hameln from 2001 to 2017. "Two Millennia of German-Jewish History" was broken down into fourteen periods spanning from the Middle Ages to the present, with Glückel representing the Baroque period.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The exhibit has been closed since 2017 for a complete redesign and is expected to re-open on August 23, 2020.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is still unclear if Glückel will be featured in the new redesign.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Her memoirs have been adapted several times. Margoa Winston's fictionalized "Glückel Von Hameln: a Dramatization of Her Autobiography" appeared in print in 1941. Adrienne Cooper and Frank London of the Great Small Works theater troupe brought the memoirs to the stage in the early 2000s. The production combined puppetry with European storytelling traditions and was performed in both Yiddish and English.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, a street in Hamburg was named after Glückel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Glückel-von-Hameln-Straße is located in the borough of Altona, the same place to which her family and all other Hamburg Jews were exiled in 1648.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Because her family lineage is so well documented, it has been possible to identify many of her descendants. Among these are notable figures such as Bertha Pappenheim,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Heinrich Heine,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Rabbi Samson Raphael HirschTemplate:Citation needed.

Her importance further lies in giving a fuller picture of the lives of Jewish women of her time, as we have limited sources that do so. Gluckel's memoirs complicate the idea of Jewish women living entirely domestic lives, instead showing that some Jewish women could display autonomy outside the home and be deeply involved in business, commerce, etc. Her memoirs stand as a testament to the possibilities for independence that Jewish women had, whether with family, religion, business, or more.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Bibliography

• Manuscript in original Yiddish:
  • Ms. hebr. oct. 2 - Zikhronot
• Original publication in Yiddish, with introduction in German:
  • Zikhroynes Glikl Hamel, זיכרונות גליקל האמיל, Die Memoiren der Glückel von Hameln, 1645–1719. Herausg. von David Kaufmann. Frankfurt am Main, J. Kauffmann, 1896.
• German translations:
  • Die Memoiren der Glückel von Hameln. Aus dem Jüdisch-Deutschen von Bertha Pappenheim (Autorisierte Übertragung nach der Ausgabe von Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann, Wien 1910). Mit einem Vorwort von Viola Roggenkamp. Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Verlag, 2005.
  • Denkwürdigkeiten der Glückel von Hameln. Aus dem Jüdisch-Deutschen übersetzt, mit Erläuterungen versehen und hrsg. von Alfred Feilchenfeld. Mit 25 Bildbeigaben. Berlin, Jüdischer Verlag, 1913.
• English translations:
  • Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln. Translated by Marvin Lowenthal, 1977 (Template:ISBN)
  • The Life of Glückel of Hameln 1646–1724, Written by herself. Translated from the original Yiddish and edited by Beth-Zion Abrahams, Yoselof 1963 (1962 Horovitz Publ. Co., London).
  • Glikl. Memoirs. 1691–1719, Edited and Annotated with an Introduction by Chava Turniansky, Translated by Sara Friedman, Brandeis University Press, Waltham, Massachusetts 2019.
• Hebrew translations:
  • Gliḳl : zikhronot 1691-1719, hehedirah ṿe-tirgemah mi-Yiddish Chava Turniansky, Jerusalem 2006. (Eglish title: Glikl. Memoires 1691-1719, Edited and Translated from the Yiddish by Chava Turniansky, The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History and The Ben-Zion Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 2006).(Template:ISBN). (Note: this edition also includes the Yiddish text.)

See also

• Yiddish language
• Yiddish literature

Further reading

• Abrahams, Beth-Zion. The Life of Glückel of Hameln: A Memoir. Access and Diversity, Crane Library, University of British Columbia, 2014.
• Adler, H. G. The Jews in Germany: From the Enlightenment to National Socialism. University of Notre Dame Press, 1969.
• Asensio Merino, Santiago. Arenques, ballenas, perlas y ámbar. Ed. Atlantis. Madrid 2023.
• Cahnman, Werner J. German Jewry: Its History and Sociology. Edited by Joseph Maier, Judith Marcus, and Zoltán Tarr. Transaction Publishers, 1989.
• Davis, Natalie Zemon. Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-century Lives. Harvard University Press, 2003.
• Gold, Doris B., and Lisa Stein. From the Wise Women of Israel: Folklore and Memoirs. Biblio Press, 1995.
• Gorr, Shmuel. Jewish Personal Names: Their Origin, Derivation, and Diminutive Forms. Edited by Chaim Freedman. Avotaynu, 1992.
• Hertz, Deborah. Jewish High Society in Old Regime Berlin. Syracuse Univ. Press, 2005.
• Hertz, Deborah. How Jews Became German. Yale UP, 2006.
• Idelson-Shein, Iris. "What have I to do with Wild Animals?": Glikl Bas Leib and the Other Woman. Eighteenth Century Studies 44.1, 2010.
• Kaganoff, Benzion C. A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History. Jason Aronson, 1996.
• Kaplan, Marion A. Jewish Daily Life in Germany: 1618-1945. Oxford Univ. Press, 2011.
• Kaplan, Marion A. The Jewish Feminist Movement in Germany: The Campaigns of the Jüdischer Frauenbund, 1904-1938. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979.
• Kirsch, Adam. The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature. W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
• Liptzin, Solomon. A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, Template:ISBN.
• Lowenthal, Martin, trans. The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln. Random House, 1989.
• Moseley, Marcus. Being for Myself Alone: Origins of Jewish Autobiography. Stanford University Press, 2006.
• Note, Joris: Vanwege mijn hartepijn, De Brakke Hond, No. 81, 1989.
• Rabinovitz, A.Z., Introduction to the Hebrew Translation of "Memories of Glikl," זכרונות גליקל, Dvir, Tel Aviv, 1929.
• Randall, Ronne, and Mandy Ross, eds. For Generations: Jewish Motherhood. Nottingham: Five Leaves in Association with European Jewish Publication Society, 2005.
• Riemer, Nathanael, Some parallels of stories in Glikls of Hameln "Zikhroynes". In: PaRDeS. Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e.V. (2008) 14, p. 125-148.
• Schechter, Solomon. Studies in Judaism. Second Series. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1938.
• Taitz, Emily. Remarkable Jewish Women: Rebels, Rabbis, and Other Women from Biblical Times to Present. Biblio Press, 2002.
• Teplitsky, Joshua. Messianic Hope in Hamburg, 1666], in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History, February 13, 2018. {{#invoke:CS1 identifiers|main|_template=doi}}
• Turniansky, Chava. "Glueckel of Hameln.", Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. January 4, 2010.
• Umansky, Ellen M. Four Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality: A Sourcebook. Beacon Press, 1992.
• Wiesner, Merry E. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Winston, Margoa. Glückel Von Hameln a Dramatization of Her Autobiography. Behrmans Jewish Book House, 1941.
• Wunder, Heide. He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany. Harvard University Press, 1998.

External links

• This article draws on the corresponding article in the Hebrew Wikipedia, retrieved February 22, 2004. "Glückel of Hameln: Businesswoman," Jewish Heritage Online Magazine
• Glikl Unveiled: Reading the Memoir Through a Master's Lens. Veiled Reference Podcast by Tzipora Weinberg
• Who Was Gluckel of Hameln? by Dr. Henry Abramson
• Glückel von Hameln at "Other Women's Voices"
• Glikl bas Judah Leib (Gluckel of Hameln), excerpt from her memoirs on "Early Modern Notes"