Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots (1995)
These collective memories of recovered roots become a driving force for change and a means of articulating new values and ideas.
Medieval Petition from the Cairo Genizah (Judeo-Arabic); Translated in The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages, Mark R. Cohen (2005) (transcription simplified for clarity)
"Happy shall you be who sow by all waters, Who let loose the feet of cattle and asses" (Isaiah 32:20).
"Happy are those who act justly, who do right at all times" (Psalm 106:3).
"Happy is he who is thoughtful of the wretched; in bad times may the L-rd keep him from harm" (Psalm 41:2).
"May the L-rd guard him and preserve him; and may he be thought happy in the land. Do not subject him to the will of his enemies" (Psalm 41:3).
My masters the "courts," may their Rock protect them, and the community, may they be blessed, are aware of the current situation and how difficult it has been for those with means, all the more so for the weak and poor. I am a woman with poor sight. I cannot distinguish night from day and cannot find my way since my husband left me and fled to Alexandria and left me a "widow during his lifetime." In my charge is an infant girl three years old. We are starving, naked, and lacking strength. Were it not for G-d the exalted and the elder Abu Ali, may his Rock protect him, who remembers us occasionally, we would not be in any shape. I call out concerning my situation to G-d and the community, may they be blessed, to look into my situation before I die of starvation and hopefully put together something that I can "cover myself" with, and may your reward from heaven be doubled. May your welfare increase forever.
Margin (docket): The wife of Ma'ani who has fled.
From Glikl: Memoirs (Turniansky 2019) (Book 2) (Yiddish)
My dear children, I write this for you in case your dear children or grandchildren come to you one of these days, knowing nothing of their family. For this reason I have set this down for you here in brief, so that you might know what kind of people you come from.
From Glickl: Memoirs, Book 7 (Turniansky, 2019) (Yiddish)
I cannot refrain from writing about the event that took place in our community of Metz on the holy Sabbath during the Festival of Shavuot, in the year 5475, when we were in the synagogue, men and women; the cantor, Reb Yokele, the great singer from the community of Rayshe in Poland, had just begun praying the yotser prayers and was chanting from "G-d in Your mighty powers . . ." to the blessing "maker of the luminaries." Before he could reach the blessing, many of the men and women heard sounds as of something breaking, and there was a very loud noise. The women in the synagogue's upstairs balcony thought the entire roof was caving in on them. Men and women were seized with fright and terror because of the noise of an awful crash, as of rocks, as though a large building were collapsing; they were terrified. The women in the synagogue's upstairs balcony rushed to get downstairs, each one desperate to be first, to save her own life, one said this, another said that -- men and women. The women, hearing the commotion in the men's section, rushed out in urgent haste, believing that an enemy was upon us, G-d forbid, each one of them, trying only to save her own life and her husband's, all the women in the synagogue, each and every one bravely left their section and reached the stairs. In their haste to precede one another, they toppled over each other, G-d preserve us, trampling each other to death underfoot. In about half an hour, six women were killed and more than thirty injured, some fatally; these remained in the doctors' care for over a quarter of a year. Had they descended in orderly fashion, no one would have been hurt. A blind old woman sitting upstairs in the synagogue, poor thing, could not run and remained seated there until the indignation should pass; she was unharmed and reached home safely. But because of the loud noise the women heard, they were seized with fright that the roof of the synagogue was caving in on them.
What a terrible situation it was -- impossible to tell or write. Most of the women who escaped emerged from the crush with head bared or with clothes torn . . . Heaven have mercy on us in future and remove His wrath from us and all Israel.
Bertha Pappenheim (20th century), posing as her ancestor Glikl, in 17th century garb
From Glickl: Memoirs, Book 1 (Turniansky, 2019) (Yiddish)
For we human beings understand nothing of each other's sorrow; everyone thinks his own sorrow is the greatest.
A philosopher was once walking down the street. He met a good friend of his who began complaining at length of all his worries and troubles. The philosopher says to his friend: "Come, let us go up on the roof." They went up on the roof where they could see the houses of the entire city. The philosopher says to his friend: "Come, my friend, I will show you all the houses of the entire city; see, in this house there is this sorrow and that calamity; in the next house there is this suffering and that affliction." In brief, the philosopher showed his friend that every house in the city, every single one, had its own particular suffering and anguish. "Now my friend, take your own suffering and anguish and fling them among the houses, then take one of these houses for yourself instead of your own suffering." But upon reflection, he realized that those houses too had tribulations equal to, if not greater than, his own. In the end he preferred his own lot. We see the same thing in the well-known proverb "The world is full of suffering; each finds his own."
What can we do? If we turn to G-d, blessed be He, with all our hearts, he will not forsake us; He will come to our assistance and that of all Israel, bringing good tidings and consolation; He will send the Messiah speedily, amen, may it be G-d's will.