For a Mother Whose Son Is in Military Service

Fanny Neuda

1855

Almighty ruler of armies, you who reign mightily
In heaven and on earth, I raise my prayer to you
From the depths of a mother’s heart.
Turn your presence toward me
And hear me in your mercy.
Following the call of duty,
My child has entered the ranks
Of those who fight on behalf of our country
To stand for what is right and proper,
To fend off…
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Creator Bio

Fanny Neuda

1819–1894

The German-language writer Fanny Neuda (née Schmiedl) was born into a rabbinic family in Moravia (now the Czech Republic). She married the liberal rabbi Abraham Neuda and moved with him to Loštice, Moravia. After her husband died, Neuda wrote the first Jewish prayer book composed for women by a woman, Stunden der Andacht (Hours of Devotion; 1855), an updated version of the women’s prayers known as tkhines. The book was immensely popular in Eastern Europe and was translated into English in 1866. Neuda also wrote fiction inspired by Jewish domestic life.

Related Guide

Rabbinic Scholarship, 1750–1880

Despite the challenges of the early modern period, rabbinic scholarship flourished in Central and Eastern Europe in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. 

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