Voices of the Matriarchs

Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award for 1998

With Voices of the Matriarchs, Chava Weissler restores balance to our knowledge of Judaism by providing the first look at the Yiddish prayers women created during centuries of exclusion from men's observance. In Weissler's hands, these prayers (called thkines) open a new window into early modern European Jewish women's lives, beliefs, devotion, and relationships with God.Reclaims a significant piece of Jewish women's spiritual legacy. --Jewish Woman

"Weissler's breadth of knowledge and command of her extraordinary archive of materials will not be surpassed soon. . . This book, with its insistent acknowledgment of the domestic spirituality of the early modern Jewish world, forces us to ask questions about the circumscription of spirituality in the American Jewish context today." --Scott Mendel, JUF News

"Thoughtful and important. . . . Weissler offers us both a careful examination of the tkhines as well as a meticulous feminist analysis of their meaning for women and their place in Jewish culture." --Dianne Ashton, The Jewish Studies Book Review

"Her study reveals a nearly lost genre of Jewish literature. . . . Weissler deftly blends historic poetry and scholarly text in this look at an important facet of Jewish history." --Publishers Weekly

"An important addition to the field of women's studies." --Idelle Rudman, Library Journal

"Essential reading for all interested in Jewish spirituality." --Paula E. Hyman, editor of Jewish Women in AmericaChava Weissler is professor of religion studies at Lehigh University, where she holds the Philip and Muriel Berman Chair of Jewish Civilization.