Hours of Devotion: Fanny Neuda’s Book of Prayers for Jewish Women

In 1855, Fanny Neuda, widow of a Moravian rabbi, published a collection of prayers and devotions in German for women, in the tradition of the Yiddsh tekhine literature. She wrote in German because, by the end of the 18th century, women in German lands under the influence of the Enlightenment no longer understood Yiddish. Neuda was, in fact, the first woman to write a complete book of prayers and devotions for women. While there had been women writers of individual tekhines, particularly in Eastern Europe, we know that most were composed by men. Neuda’s publication Stunden Der Andacht was enormously successful and was reprinted at least 28 times until the 1930’s. Parts were also translated into English and the English versions, too, enjoyed great popularity. Women would often receive a copy from their mothers on their wedding day. Berland, a poet living in California, selected 88 prayers out of the original 117 and has presented them in a new verse translation. They include a prayer for a mother for the success of her children, a prayer for an unhappy wife and a prayer for a mother whose child is abroad. Berland also gives an excellent introduction to the life of Fanny Neuda, who herself came from a rabbinical background, and includes a translation of Neuda’s original preface and her afterword – an essay on the importance of providing a religious education to young Jewish girls and women. Berland explains how she happened to find a copy of an old English translation of the book and how she felt it spoke to her directly. It also gave her an opportunity for a deeper engagement with her Judaism as she revised the book for modern audiences. The prayers and devotions, even in Berland’s fine verse renditions, retain the formality of the 19th century. Yet, through the formal language, one gets a feeling of the hopes and fears of the women for whom they were written. In her preface, Neuda states: “A man however learned and great he may be cannot capture the essential quality of a woman’s experience. A woman however need only gaze into her own heart to read the hearts of her sisters.” Entwined with the personal story of what the book meant to her, Berland’s edition of this important book is valuable for bringing to life the world of the 19th century Jewish woman and is a fitting tribute to the contribution of Fanny Neuda to the history of Jewish women and to women’s devotional literature.