The Wisdom Letter That Grows Into A Book
“A bird once set out to cross a windy sea with its three fledglings. The sea was so wide and the wind so strong, the father bird was forced to carry his young, one by one, in his strong claws.
When he was half way across with the first fledgling the wind turned to a gale, and he said, “My child look how I am struggling risking my life on your behalf. When you are grown up will you do as much for me and provide for my old age?”
The fledgling replied, “Only bring me to safety, and when you are old I shall do everything you ask of me.”
Whereas the father bird dropped his child into the sea and it drowned, and he said, “So shall it be done to such a liar as you.”
Then the father bird returned to shore, set forth with his second fledgling, and asked the same question. Upon receiving the same answer, he drowned the second child with the cry, “You too are a liar!”
Finally he set out with the third fledgling, and when he asked the same question, the third and last fledgling replied, “My dear father it is true you are struggling mightily and risking your life on my behalf, and I shall not be wrong to repay you when you are old, but I cannot bind myself. This though I can promise: when I am grown up and I have children of my own I shall do as much for them as you have done for me.”
Whereupon the father bird said, “Well spoken my child, and wisely, your life I will spare and I will carry you to shore in safety.”
Gluckel of Hamelyn opens her memoir with this fable.
Gluckel of Hameln (1645-1724) had been married to her Hayyim since she was 14 and had given birth to 14 children (yes, you read that number right ). She worked with Hayyim as a partner in their jewel business, travelled widely, founded a sock factory, and organized business deals while arranging marriages for her children. Gluckel eviscerates the myth that women working outside of the home was a 20th century phenomenon. Because she worked as a full partner with her husband in their business, she was well equipped to continue the enterprise after his unexpected death.
She constitutes the only female voice in Hebrew Ethical Wills, the most comprehensive pre-modern collection of these letters, if we define pre-modern as before the French Revolution. She stands alone. She began writing to cope with insomnia from grief after her husband died. The bird fable functions as a prelude, setting the tone of what will follow from a woman with zero patience for platitudes. Close to the beginning she observes that” God says to love your neighbour” but it is more often the case that people take delight in others’ tragedies.
Gluckel tells her children that she is not writing a book of morality. Beware the unreliable narrator! She includes instructions about how to behave in situations large and small, in the world of business, and philanthropy, as well as the religious obligations and opportunities in being part of a Jewish community. One can hear in her voice the articulation of a profound faith despite the sorrows she navigated. She lost two children and her first beloved husband, and survived a challenging second marriage, the loss of her second husband, and catastrophic financial loss. She tackles these difficulties with a profound faith, no matter how bleak the circumstances.
She matters because she pioneered the genre of a wisdom letter that starts out as a letter, looks and smells like a letter, but then evolves into a book. If you have ever written a letter and then discovered you have a lot to say, and the letter starts busting out of the envelope you have experienced this surprise. You sat down to write a letter, but then lo and behold it turned out to be a seed that grew . Because of her keen observations we learn about business strategy, social history, religious customs, as well being invited into on a roller-coaster of powerful joy and frequent catastrophes. In the background, there is ubiquitous mob violence against Jews (including murders), as well as the survival strategies for Jewish European communities. Gluckel longs to travel to the promised land but is, in the end, unable to get there.
Gluckel is part of a genre of mothers and grandmothers writing advice to their children and grandchildren. Throughout time, mothers and grandmothers have yearned to share observations and insights. Sometimes they write letters because they want to articulate what they have not yet spoken, to transmit personal history, to give instructions for living with purpose, or plead for forgiveness. They all write in the quest not to be forgotten and obliterated by time.
There are three women whose work I want to elevate here at L’chaim The Jewish Letters Project. The trifecta begins with Gluckel of Hameln (1645-1724), a German Jewish entrepreneur whose memoir Gluckel of Hamelyn is startling in its honesty. The Canadian Henia Reinhartz (1926-2021), a Polish born Yiddishist and Holocaust survivor wrote a letter to her six grandchildren that evolved into the memoir, Bits and Pieces (2007), is the second of this set. The last post in this trifecta will highlight Sharon Strassfled (1950-) an American feminist, author and community organizer who is the author of Everything I Know: Basic Life Rules From A Jewish Mother (1998).
What Gluckel, Henia Reinhartz and Sharon Strassfled share is a desire to transmit wisdom to the next generation. What they each created illuminates a more nuanced understanding of the texture of their own lives, in their own words.
In their voices, we hear the fullness of their own lives and see them not just as mothers or grandmothers or daughters. These three women—to take but one human trifecta across centuries—were active in defying Nazis, participating in underground political resistance, brokering business deals, creating start ups, encouraging Jewish activism, innovation, feminism, community organizing, philanthropy, writing, translation, and education. If they had not taken the time to share their experiences these histories would have been unknown. Originally their work began as private acts: writing for their children as well as grandchildren. The decision to make it public means that as readers we become the lucky recipients.
Gluckel of Hameln (1645-1724) had been married to her Hayyim since she was 14 and had given birth to 14 children (yes, you read that number right ), 12 of whom had survived. She worked with Hayyim as a partner in their jewel business, travelled widely, founded a sock factory, and organized business deals while arranging marriages for her children and worked as a philanthropist and community leader. Gluckel eviscerates the myth that women working outside of the home was a 20th century phenomenon. She was working like an Olympian both inside and outside of her home. She reports about the eternal wars against the Jews as well as mob violence and seems to take it in stride. Because she had worked as a full partner with her husband in their business, she knew how to continue the enterprise after his death. I wish she had written more about the business negotiations and her strategy which must have been challenging for her as a woman, and as a Jew.
At the beginning of her book, Gluckel tells her children that she is not writing a book of morality. Beware the unreliable narrator! She includes instructions about how to behave in situations large and small, in the world of business, and philanthropy, as well as the religious obligations and opportunities in being part of a Jewish community. One can hear in her voice the articulation of a profound faith despite the sorrows she navigated. She lost two children and her beloved husband, and survived a challenging second marriage, the loss of her second husband, and catastrophic financial loss. She tackles these difficulties-- including what feels like an eternal war against the Jews --with a profound faith, no matter how bleak the circumstances.
What Gluckel, Henia and Sharon share is a desire to transmit wisdom to the next generation and what they wanted to share creates more nuanced understandings of their own experience.
. In their voices, we hear the fullness of their own lives and see them not just as mothers or grandmothers but in more textured complexity. These three women-- to take but one human trifecta across centuries-- were active in defying Nazis, participating in underground political resistance, brokering business deals, philanthropy, start ups, Jewish activism, feminism, social activism, community organizing, philanthropy, innovation, writing, translation, and education. If they had not taken the time to share their experiences these histories would have been unknown. Originally their work began as writing that was private and designed for children or grandchildren but because each chose to publish we are the lucky recipients .