A groundbreaking look at the integral role of women in early modern Jewish communal life
In small villages, bustling cities, and crowded ghettos across early modern Europe, Jewish women were increasingly active participants in the daily life of their communities, managing homes and professions, leading institutions and sororities, and crafting objects and texts of exquisite beauty. A Woman Is Responsible for Everything marshals a dazzling array of previously untapped archival sources to tell the stories of these woman for the first time.
Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach focus their lens on the kehillah, a lively and thriving form of communal life that sustained European Jews for three centuries. They paint vibrant portraits of Jewish women of all walks of life, from those who wielded their wealth and influence in and out of their communities to the poorest maidservants and vagrants, from single and married women to the widowed and divorced. We follow them into their homes and learn about the possessions they valued and used, the books they read, and the writings they composed. Speaking to us in their own voices, these women reveal tremendous economic initiative in the rural marketplace and the princely court, and they express their profound spirituality in the home as well as the synagogue.
Beautifully illustrated, A Woman Is Responsible for Everything lifts the veil of silence that has obscured the lives of these women for too long, contributing a new chapter to the history of Jewish women and a new understanding of the Jewish past.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Winner of the Women’s Studies Barbara Dobkin Award, Jewish Book Council”
“Winner of the Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award, Jewish Book Council”
“A prodigiously researched and beautifully illustrated contribution to Jewish and women’s studies.” ―
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“A treasure trove of quirky detail and unexpected stories. . . . [
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything is] an extraordinary work of academic scholarship, uncovering the enormous contribution to building Jewish life over the centuries made by women whose stories would otherwise remain forgotten.”—Jennifer Lipman, The Jewish Chronicle
“The characterizations ’pathbreaking’ and ’field-changing; should be reserved only for scholarly contributions that reorient how a topic is studied.
A Woman is Responsible for Everything merits such acclaim. . . . Although scholarship cannot resurrect the dead, reconstructing the lives of those who have passed is the next best thing; Kaplan and Carlebach have done just that for early modern Jewish women.”—Brian Hillman, Jewish Book Council
“
A Woman is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe by professors Elisheva Carlebach and Debra Kaplan is one of those rare works that reshapes not only what we know, but how we know. The book uncovers the oversized, often unacknowledged role of Jewish women who fashioned communal and religious life in early modern Europe—not only within the home, but in the broader networks of economy, ritual, and prayer.”—David Bashevkin, 18Forty
“A monumental treatise that uncovers fascinating truths about the structure of Jewish life roughly half a millennium ago. . . .
A Woman is Responsible for Everything [is] not just a work of academic history, but also a beautiful book worth owning in hard copy. In addition to the many color images, the book is generously illustrated throughout with reproductions of manuscripts and printed books as well as photographs of material artifacts, such that reading this book is like gaining access both to a library archive and to a museum.”—Ilana Kurshan, Tradition
“[
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything] examines the lived religious, social, and economic experiences of Jewish women in early modern Central Europe. Kaplan and Carlebach’s central claim is that Jewish women were not marginal figures operating on the periphery of communal life, but rather integral participants whose actions and responsibilities were embedded within the functioning of Jewish society and its institutions. . . . The authors show how one can write careful, honest gender history even when almost all sources were written by men, without overstating their conclusions. This title is recommended for all libraries.”—David Tesler, Association of Jewish Libraries
“A milestone in historiography of Jewish communities and Jewish women’s history, and a major contribution to both research fields. . . .
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything will undoubtedly become essential for any future research on Ashkenazi Jewish history and women’s history. It is expertly researched.”—Noa Shashar, Contemporary Jewry
Review
“How to recover the lives of those who left no written record has been a challenge for historians. In this book, Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach confront it by vividly recounting the lives of ordinary Jewish women, who left little of their own to posterity but whose traces are found buried in the archives. We see these women in cities and villages, in positions where few expected them to be, playing vital roles in their communities, homes, and businesses. Kaplan and Carlebach demonstrate the power of the archives, which, despite their shortcomings, are still able to help us reconstruct compelling stories, shed new light on established ideas, and challenge the most deeply rooted stereotypes.”—Magda Teter, author of Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism
“This is one of the best books I have read on Jewish women since the field emerged as a vital area of inquiry. Drawing on meticulous research and an extraordinary range of archival and material sources—and writing with elegance and clarity—Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach offer a history of Jewish women that not only deepens our understanding of the early modern period but also equips us to rewrite that history in a more inclusive way. They have produced a work that will become a foundational resource for all who study early modern European Jewish history and beyond.”
—Elisheva Baumgarten, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“This is a superbly researched, erudite, and extremely well written book about the lives of Jewish women in early modern Ashkenaz. Immensely impressive.”
—Yair Mintzker, author of The Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew
“
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything offers a uniquely compelling perspective on Jewish Ashkenazi women during the early modern period. This is a wonderful book.”—Federica Francesconi, author of Invisible Enlighteners: The Jewish Merchants of Modena, from the Renaissance to the Emancipation
About the Author
Debra Kaplan is the Samuel Braun Chair for the History of the Jews in Germany at Bar-Ilan University. Her books include The Patrons and Their Poor: Jewish Community and Public Charity in Early Modern Germany. Elisheva Carlebach is the Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society at Columbia University. Her books include Palaces of Time: Jewish Calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe.
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