The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln [Paperback]

Gluckel (Author), Marvin Lowenthal (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 1987

Begun in 1690, this diary of a forty-four-year-old German Jewish widow, mother of fourteen children, tells how she guided the financial and personal destinies of her children, how she engaged in trade, ran her own factory, and promoted the welfare of her large family. Her memoir, a rare account of an ordinary woman, enlightens not just her children, for whom she wrote it, but all posterity about her life and community. Gluckel speaks to us with determination and humor from the seventeenth century. She tells of war, plague, pirates, soldiers, the hysteria of the false messiah Sabbtai Zevi, murder, bankruptcy, wedding feasts, births, deaths, in fact, of all the human events that befell her during her lifetime. She writes in a matter of fact way of the frightening and precarious situation under which the Jews of northern Germany lived. Accepting this situation as given, she boldly and fearlessly promotes her business, her family and her faith. This memoir is a document in the history of women and of life in the seventeenth century.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Yiddish (translation)

From the Inside Flap

Begun in 1690, this diary of a forty-four-year-old German Jewish widow, mother of fourteen children, tells how she guided the financial and personal destinies of her children, how she engaged in trade, ran her own factory, and promoted the welfare of her large family. Her memoir, a rare account of an ordinary woman, enlightens not just her children, for whom she wrote it, but all posterity about her life and community. Gluckel speaks to us with determination and humor from the seventeenth century. She tells of war, plague, pirates, soldiers, the hysteria of the false messiah Sabbtai Zevi, murder, bankruptcy, wedding feasts, births, deaths, in fact, of all the human events that befell her during her lifetime. She writes in a matter of fact way of the frightening and precarious situation under which the Jews of northern Germany lived. Accepting this situation as given, she boldly and fearlessly promotes her business, her family and her faith. This memoir is a document in the history of women and of life in the seventeenth century.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Schocken Books (December 27, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805205721
• ISBN-13: 978-0805205725
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Very Favorite Book, November 14, 2001

By 

Rivkah Maccaby "Rivkah Maccaby" (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln (Paperback)

This beautiful and electrifying book has, after twenty years, replaced Testament of Youth as my very favorite. I am personally responsible for Schocken Books rising 1 1/4 points on the New York market, in giving every single person I know (and some I do not) this book as a gift. My refrigerator has not been defrosted in over a year, and the rabbi is wondering when I will agree to read Torah again at shul, and my husband is wondering why my paychecks have been on the slender side lately, but I am out there on the streets making sure at least one more person a day learns of this wonderful book.

Gluckel was a Jewish woman who lived in Germany, with enough privilege to be often given permission to travel outside of the shtetl, and see other parts of the country. She traveled sometimes with her husband, a merchant, and at other times to meet and make arrangements with other families for the marriages of her children. More often, though, she stayed home with her fourteen children during the long periods of her husband's absences.

She and her husband were very much in love, albeit undoubtedly had had an arranged marriage, just as the ones she made for her children. In fact, the marriages of her children occupy much of the text.

Some of the rest is given to stories, stories that entertain as well as instruct, and can fairly be call aggadot, midrashim, and parables. But there's quite a lot of history: there is a fascinating first-hand account of the mission of the false messiah, Shabbtai Tzvi. I don't believe there exists another first-hand account of this event in this tenor: Gluckel does not know she is writing of one of the major events of history.

Gluckel's stated intent is to write the story of her family, so that her children will always know what sort of people they came from. This is the rest of the text: anecdotes about grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Gluckel's explanation for her need to compile such a document is that since her husband died, she finds it hard to sleep, and needs something to occupy the night hours, "to drive away the idle melancholy thoughts that torment me."

Nonetheless, with all the recent expulsions and migrations of the Jews, Gluckel saw families split apart, and children growing up separated from cousins and grandparents, confined to different shtetls, in different countries (when the diary was begun, in 1690, less than 150 years had passed since the Catholic Church had consigned Jews to shtetls). So just as Jews in exile had compiled the Talmud, Gluckel may have been driven to keep written records as oral communication became difficult.

Fortunately that never happened. Still, we have Gluckel's wonderful memoir. She is a natural writer: she doesn't waste words, even when gossiping. This book is a page turner.

Gluckel came to life as I read this in a way few characters in books do-- I would swear, as I held it, I could feel a pulse. By the time I turned the last page, I felt as though I'd made a friend.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A window into the past, May 15, 2004

By 

Ladyce West "Ladyce West" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln (Paperback)

I loved this book. Perhaps I should say that I like old memoirs and journals, particularly by women [and there are so few of them!] and that I also enjoy reading historical documents and about history of certain places and certain centuries. That may be one of the biases of these lines. I might also add I am not Jewish.
What is fascinating and intriguing is how this person,living 400 years ago, comes out alive and well, in this text. That we understand her and her motives, her sense of humor. We commune with her preocupations which give or take small differences are preoccupations we have today: the raising of offspring; providing what you can to insure your child's future better than your own; guidance through religious beliefs and wisdom against false new religious leaders; the conduct of ethical and profitable business.
Glückel also reveals surprising details of everyday life. For instance, she required special permissions to travel and to stay within the borders of towns for being Jewish; she travels more frequently than I expected, despite her being a woman, despite the difficulties of lodging, depite her jewishness. Sickness is awful anytime but here we see how absolutely dreadful it could be even for a well to do merchant family. She also comandeers her business decisively and dynamically. Her errors in judgment are few for anyone, in any century! And she loves her husband, and she is loved by him, even though she probably had an arranged marriage just like the ones she provided for her children.
I love this book because Glückel puts me in touch with the 17th century daily life, but more than that, she reminds me of the infinite chain that links us all; and in particular infinite connection that all women share, Jewish or not. Glückel simply reminded me of the universality of our experiences, transcending centuries, religions and cultures. Few books can do that.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historical document, December 8, 2000

By 

Esther Nebenzahl - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln (Paperback)

Very few works were written by women during the first five thousand years of Jewish history, even fewer have survived. "The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln" (1646 - 1724) is the only surviving written memoir by a Jewish woman before the nineteen century. Born in Germany, Gluckel was a dynamic, clever woman. Belonging to the rich stratus of Jewish Askenazi society, she married a merchant and had 14 children. Besides being responsible for the upbringing of her children, she was a partner to her husband's business dealings. After his death she carried on with the business and refused a number of marriage proposals, determined to first marry-off all her children before settling herself into old-age retirement.

The memoirs constitute a rich source of information on Jewish society in 17th/18th century Germany. Glucker's memoirs were not intended for publication, nor was she interested in writing a book of morals. She does however, include all sorts of ethical messages and religious stories with the purpose of reinforcing her Jewish faith and influencing the conduct of her progeny. She touches in a variety of subjects providing an overall social, economic, political, and cultural view of her time. She refers to business dealings, wars, traveling conditions, bankruptcies, marriage proposals and feasts, the plague, and the hysteria brought about by the false messiah Zabbatai Tzvi.

More than pleasure reading, this is a historical document, a passing of cultural heritage from one generation to the next.