Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner (; died 1605), was a

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

writer, whose works include a treatise on

Jewish ethics Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western phil ...

in the style of

musar literature Musar literature is didactic Jewish ethical literature which describes virtues and vices and the path towards character improvement. This literature gives the name to the Musar movement, in 19th century Lithuania, but this article considers such ...

as well as a poem about

Simchat Torah Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible ...

Life

She or her father probably resided in the northeast Poland town of Tykocin.Rebecca Tiktiner - The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
/ref> According to the records of the

Old New Synagogue The Old New Synagogue (; ), also called the Altneuschul, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Josefov, Prague, in the Czech Republic. The synagogue is Europe's oldest active synagogue. Completed in 1270, it is also the ...

, she was married to someone with rabbinic training (''ha-rav rabbi''). Her ethical treatise ''Meneket Rivkah'' (Prague, 1609. Cracow, 1618) is 36 folios long and organized by seven gates. The author focuses on the duties of a housewife in various relationships (e.g., to husband or guest) as well as a general ethical approach, dealing with

niddah A niddah (alternative forms: nidda, nida, or nidah; ''nidá''), in traditional Judaism, is a woman who has experienced a uterine discharge of blood (most commonly during menstruation), or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the ...

, health social practices. The treatise includes stories from the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

and

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

ic literature. Tiktiner differentiates between the wisdom of the body and of the soul (''guf'' and ''nefesh''). This practical guidelines "paint a vivid picture of Jewish women's daily lives in the early modern period." Von Rohde claims that this is "probably the first substantive published book in Yiddish written by a Jewish women)". Rebecca also wrote a rhymed Yiddish hymn for the holiday of Simḥat Torah entitled ''Eyn Simkhes-Toyre Lid'', which describes an eschatological, festive banquet for men and women alike. The poem, which survives in two separate undated 17th century printings, consists of 40 rhyming couplets (with acrostic), in which each verse is followed by the refrain hallelujah. She was born before 1550 and died in 1605. She was buried in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

References

Bibliography

*Cooper, Levi. "From the Classics: A Remnant of Tiktin". ''Jewish Educational Leadership'' Vol 4 no. 1 (Fall 2005) pp. 42–46. *Kadari, Tamar. "Rebecca Tiktiner's Simhat Torah Poem" in ''Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues'' Fall 2007, No. 14:233-241 * * * *Shmeruk, Chone, "The First Jewish Authoress in Poland - Rivka Tiktiner and her Works”, Gal Ed 4-5 (1978), pp. 1–11 (in Hebrew). *Zinberg, Israel. ''Old Yiddish Literature from Its Origins to the Haskalah Period''. KTAV, 1975. . ''On Rebecca bat Meir Tiktiner's Simchat Torah poem, see p. 51ff.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiktiner, Rebecca Bat Meir 16th-century Jews 16th-century Polish women writers 16th-century Polish writers Judaism and women People from Tykocin Polish Ashkenazi Jews Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Yiddish-language poets

Life

See also

References

Bibliography