Sarah Bas Tovim (lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries) was a Ukrainian Jewish woman, author of ''Shloshe Shearim'' ("Three Portals") the most widely circulated of the ''

tkhine ''Tkhines'' or ''teḥinot'' (, or Hebrew language, Hebrew: ) may refer to Yiddish prayers and devotions, usually personal and from a female viewpoint, or collections of such prayers. They were written for Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Judaism, Jewis ...

s'',

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

-language prayer booklets intended mainly for Jewish women. Liptzin, Sol, ''A History of Yiddish Literature'', Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972. . pp.16-17. Dovid Katz refers to Sarah as Sora bas Toyvim and refers to another of her works that have survived, ''Sheker ha-kheyn''. Born in the small town of

Satanov Sataniv ( uk, Сатанів, russian: Сатанов, pl, Satanów) is an urban-type settlement in Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Sataniv settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Popul ...

in the Podolia region of Ukraine, she claimed descent from

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

Mordechai of Brisk Mordecai (; also Mordechai; , IPA: ) is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is described as being the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was promoted to Vizier after Haman was killed. Biblical acco ...

. ''Shloshe Shearim'', written toward the end of her life, is a cautionary tale based on her own life. She tells of herself as a vain young woman, who came to the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

wearing jewels and gossiping and jesting during services, and of how she spent a sad life as a wanderer. Bas Tovim herself became a figure of Jewish legend, such as the story ''"Der Zivug"'' by

I.L. Peretz Isaac Leib Peretz ( pl, Icchok Lejbusz Perec, yi, יצחק־לייבוש פרץ) (May 18, 1852 – April 3, 1915), also sometimes written Yitskhok Leybush Peretz was a Polish Jewish writer and playwright writing in Yiddish. Payson R. Stevens, Cha ...

, in which Bas Tovim is given hospitality and leaves behind a pair of golden slippers that eventually lead a young man to his proper bride. Because Bas Tovim was so well known, many Maskilim during the 19th century attached her name to tkhines they created.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bas Tovim, Sarah 17th-century births 18th-century deaths Jewish women writers Jewish Ukrainian writers Ukrainian women writers Yiddish-language writers

See also

References