Do you any influential Jewish women from medieval times? Or any influential historical Jewish women.
Influential Jewish Women from Medieval Times:
This is complicated by two factors: (1) Records of medieval women are relatively scarce in general thanks to the sexism of the era, and were mostly written by men and thus have to be filtered through said sexism even when they do exist, and (2) being openly Jewish in medieval Europe was often impossible thanks to forced expulsions, conversions, and laws against openly practicing Judaism. For example, Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and not permitted back until 1657.
So there are probably a lot of awesome medieval Jewish women who we simply don’t have records of, either because sexist historians chose not to acknowledge their achievements, or because they weren’t able to openly live as Jews thanks to the anti-Semitic laws of the time.
That said, what we do know is pretty cool, and indicates that there were Jewish women in roles of religious leadership and business. When it comes to notable individuals, the main example that comes to mind is the daughters of Biblical commentator Rashi, who were literate and well-educated in a time when that was extremely unusual for women, and seem to have assisted their father with writing his commentary (in one place, he mentions dictating to his daughter as he was too sick to write).
I’d also add Gluckel of Hameln, although she lived after the medieval era (she lived from 1646 - 1724), whose diary is one of the fullest surviving accounts of any woman of her era, and a major source of information about German Jewish life at that time. She also single-handedly ran the family business while raising and marrying off 12 children(!!) after her husband died in 1689.
There are probably lots of others, but, I am far from an expert about this! These are just the examples I could come up with off the top of my head. I’m sure someone with more expertise here could point you toward more.
Influential Historical Jewish Women in General:
The short answer: There are tons! This is honestly way too general for me to do the topic any kind of justice, so I’m just going to give you some quick links to get you started:
The whole Jewish Women’s Archive exists for exactly this purpose. You can find records of thousands of influential Jewish women there, but if you’re looking for a place to start, their Women of Valor section highlights sixteen Jewish women who fought for social justice.
10 Jewish Women Every Person Should Know (Huffington Post)
The Top 10 Jewish Women in History* (The Jewish Chronicle)
*I don’t necessarily agree that these are the Top 10, but it’s definitely a list worth checking out.
Now, if it comes to some personal favorites and role models of mine?
In the first place, the Torah/Bible is actually full of inspiring and powerful Jewish women. (Whether you consider the Bible history is up for debate, but from where I stand, I do consider it a historical source.) The four Matriarchs, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Naomi, Esther, etc. etc. are all examples of varied and interesting women who show strength and character in different ways. It’s also notable that the Bible has multiple examples of women in roles of leadership (Deborah was even a war leader), which is something pretty unusual for that era.
Another early example of a hugely powerful and influential Jewish woman, who doesn’t get nearly the recognition she deserves? Queen Shlom Tzion, aka Salome Alexandra, one of only two women who ruled ancient Judea in her own right (and the only one who didn’t get there through, ah, mass murder). According to both Josephus and Talmudic sources, she was an extremely successful ruler and Judea was restored to both peace and prosperity under her reign.
Some early Jewish female poets and writers: Rachel Luzzatto Morpurgo, Emma Lazarus, Else Lasker-Schuler. (Lazarus was also an outspoken social activist!)
Sarah Schenirer, founder of the Bais Yaakov movement which basically pioneered organized education for Orthodox Jewish girls.
Anna Freud, a groundbreaking psychologist and psychoanalyst, considered to be the founder of child psychology. (And yes, her father was that Freud.)
The many, many, many Jewish women who played major roles (often leadership roles) in resisting the Nazis. Ala Gertner and Marthe Cohn are two I find particularly interesting.
Hedy Lamarr, who was both a major star of the Golden Age of Hollywood and a brilliant scientist who developed a radio guidance system for torpedoes during WW2 that laid the groundwork for the technology still used by the military to this day.
Deborah Lipstadt, Holocaust historian most well known for debunking the claims made by prominent Holocaust denier David Irving in the libel case Irving v Penguin Books Ltd.
These are just some examples I personally find particularly interesting, some who aren’t so well known, some I think generally don’t get their due. But there are so, so many examples, you can’t just really ask about “influential historical Jewish women” and get anything close to a comprehensive answer. So this is just to get you started!
