Dulcea of Worms

Last updated

Dulcea of Worms (died November 1196) was a German-Jewish businesswoman and lender. [1] She was the spouse of a famous Jewish leader. [2]

Contents

Life

She came from the German Jewry's elite. She married the famous theologist Eleazar of Worms, a leader of the Ḥasidei Ashkenaz, the German-Jewish pietist movement. [3] While her spouse devoted his time to his religious pursuits, she took responsibility for the family's economy and business, and she is known in history as the economic support for an extensive household, including children, students, and teachers. She conducted a business in parchment scrolls in order to support the family and enable her spouse to devote all his time to study. [4] [5]

Dulcea also conducted a business in parchment scrolls for extra income. Entrusted with the funds of neighbors, Dulcea made loans at profitable rates of interest on which she received commissions. [4]

Additionally, Dulcea herself was a notable figure in her religious community, teaching and leading women in prayers. [5]

In November 1196, Dulcea and her two daughters Bellette and Hannah were murdered by intruders, while his son was wounded. [6] Legend has painted the murderers as crusaders, but they appear in fact to have been common criminals. [5] The local authorities captured and executed at least one of the men in accordance with the German emperor's mandate to protect the Jews of his realm. [5]

After her death, her husband wrote an elegy honouring and celebrating her character. [7] [8]

Legacy

Among R. Eleazar ben Judah's surviving writings are two Hebrew accounts recounting the murders of Dulcea and their daughters, one in prose and one in poetry. In the elegy, she is described as ḥasidah (pious or saintly) and ẓadeket (righteous); she is praised for her domestic management and business finesse and her needlework, recounting that she prepared thread and gut to sew books and Torah scrolls. She was reportedly unusually learned, and is said to have instructed other women and led them in prayer. [8] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Judaism</span> Role of women in Judaism

Women in Judaism have affected the course of Judaism over millenia. Their role is reflected in the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law, by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature present various female role models, religious law treats women in specific ways. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women account for 52% of the worldwide Jewish population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scribe</span> Person who wrote or copied manuscripts

A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scriptorium</span> Room in medieval European monasteries for writing

A scriptorium was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes.

Eleazar of Worms, or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, also sometimes known today as Eleazar Rokeach from the title of his Book of the Perfumer —where the numerical value of "Perfumer" is equal to Eleazar, was a leading Talmudist and Kabbalist, and the last major member of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, a group of German Jewish pietists.

<i>Zeved habat</i> Jewish naming ceremony for newborn girls

Zeved habat or Simchat Bat is the Jewish naming ceremony for newborn girls. The details of the celebration varies somewhat by Jewish community and will typically feature the recitation of specific biblical verses and a prayer to announce the name of the newborn child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelomo Dov Goitein</span> German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist (1900–1985)

Shelomo Dov Goitein was a German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist known for his research on Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, and particularly on the Cairo Geniza.

The Maiden of Ludmir, Hannah Rachel Vermermacher, also known rarely as the Ludmirer Rebbe, was the only independent female rebbe in the history of Hasidic Judaism.

Dovid Hofshteyn, also transliterated as David Hofstein, was a Yiddish poet. He was one of the 13 Jewish intellectuals executed on the Night of the Murdered Poets.

Judith Margolis is an Israel-based American artist working visually in paintings, drawings, artist's books and multi-media collages. In her art and writing she "explores tensions between consciousness, feminism, and religious ritual tradition".

Sarah Rebecca Rachel Leah Horowitz (1715–1795), known as Leah Horowitz, was a rabbinic and kabbalistic scholar, who wrote in Yiddish. She was the author of Tkhinne imohes. She lived in Bolechów, Poland.

Martyrdom in Judaism is one of the main examples of Jews doing a kiddush Hashem, a Hebrew term which means "sanctification of [the] name". An example of this is public self-sacrifice in accordance with Jewish practice and identity, with the possibility of being killed for no other reason than being Jewish. There are specific conditions in Jewish law that deal with the details of self-sacrifice, be it willing or unwilling.

Evelyn M. Cohen is an American art historian.

Judith Reesa Baskin is a religious studies scholar at the University of Oregon in the United States. She is Associate Dean for Humanities, Director of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, and the Philip H. Knight Professor of Humanities. She held positions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Yale University, and State University of New York at Albany, prior to accepting a faculty position at the University of Oregon in 2000. She was appointed Associate Dean for Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences in July, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firzogerin</span> Historical female religious role in Ashkenazi Jewish synagoogues

A firzogerin,, alternately vorsangerin, foreleiner, zugerin, or zugerke, was a historic role in the synagogue for a learned Jewish woman leading women in prayer from the weibershul as a precentress, parallel to the main service led by a male chazzan.

Jewish women in the early modern period were a crucial part to all Jewish societies, as they made up half of the population. Living in places such as Italy, Poland-Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire had effects on the role Jewish women played in their society. Different customs and regulations were found in various societies around the world.

Objects used in Jewish rituals are known collectively as Judaica. The conservation and restoration of Judaica takes into account the collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the written and oral Torah known as halacha in order to properly care for these materials. This work involves identifying these objects and therefore knowing how any of these objects are traditionally handled, stored, exhibited, and generally cared for based on their use and significance.

al-Wuḥsha al-Dallāla, whose given name was Karīma bint Ammar, was a Jewish-Egyptian businesswoman active in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Bat ha-Levi (12th-century), was an Iraqi Jewish scholar. She gave lessons to male students and had a remarkable position for a Jewish woman in 12th-century Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urania of Worms</span>

Urania bat Abraham of Worms, also known as Orania and Orgiah, was a Jewish precentress in medieval Ashkenaz. Urania's role as a precentress, one of a handful of women known to be serving in this capacity in this region in the 13-14th centuries, is attested on her grave stone.

Miriam bat Benayah was a Jewish Safra (scribe) in Yemen.

References

  1. "Entrepreneurs: From Antiquity Through the Early Modern Period". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  2. J.R. Baskin, "Dolce of Worms: The Lives and Deaths of an Exemplary Medieval Jewish Woman and Her Daughters," in: L. Fine (ed.), Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period (2001), 429–37
  3. Malkiel, David (2005). Biale, David (ed.). "Part Two: Vision and Realization". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 95 (1): 131–141. ISSN   0021-6682. JSTOR   25470041.
  4. 1 2 Riegler, Michael; Baskin, Judith R. (2008). ""May the Writer Be Strong": Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts Copied by and for Women". Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues (16): 9–28. doi:10.2979/nas.2008.-.16.9. ISSN   0793-8934. JSTOR   10.2979/nas.2008.-.16.9.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Bennett, Judith M.; Karras, Ruth Mazo (2013-08-22). The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-166729-9.
  6. "The Jewish Family in the Rhineland in the High Middle Ages: Form and Function". The American Historical Review. December 1987. doi:10.1086/ahr/92.5.1085. ISSN   1937-5239.
  7. Eisenberg, Ronald L. (2014-03-20). Essential Figures in Jewish Scholarship. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-0-7657-0995-0.
  8. 1 2 Weissler, Chava (April 1987). "The Religion of Traditional Ashkenazic Women: Some Methodological Issues". AJS Review. 12 (1): 73–94. doi:10.1017/S0364009400001860. ISSN   1475-4541.