Laura Papo Bohoreta

Laura Papo (Ladino: לָאוּרָה פָּאפּוֹ; born Luna Levi; 15 March 1891–1942) also known by her pseudonym Bohoreta, was a Bosnian Jewish feminist, writer, and translator who devoted her research to the condition of Sephardic women in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With Laura's help, her sisters Nina, Klara, and Blanka (the mother of the famous writer Gordana Kuić) opened a salon called "Chapeau Chic Parisien" in Sarajevo.

Immediately upon returning to Sarajevo at 17, Laura began losing interest in the Sephardi tradition and folklore, instead turning her attention to collecting romance poems, stories, and Sephardic proverbs.

Additionally, she translated and adapted the works of French authors: Jules Verne's "Captain Grant's Children" and Emile de Girardin's "Joy of Fears" ("La joie fait peur – Alegria espanta").

She worked, wrote, collected folklore material, supported local women, and motivated them to be wives, have children, and respect the customs of their mothers and grandmothers while being aware of the age in which they live and adapting to it.

Laura was not a feminist in the sense of advocating for equal rights for men and women; she believed in awakening a woman's awareness of her power, endurance, and perseverance in achieving all her goals.

This angered Laura, and she published the answer, "Die Spanolische," a week later in the same newspaper, with the intention of a more realistic presentation of the Sephardic woman, her role in the family, and her virtues, and defects.

Laura re-entered social engagements in 1924 in response to the nostalgic story of Avram Romano Buki's "The Two Neighbors in the Courtyard" ("Dos vizinas in el cortijo"), published in the journal Jevrejski život (Jewish Life).

Laura was especially angry that one of the neighbors, Lea, claimed that schools were ruining young women, because they want to educate themselves and no longer want to iron, to cook, to wash clothes, to sew, nor to 'tingle' their husbands.

In 1931, upon the encouragement of Vite Kajon, a great Yugoslav and Sarajevo intellectual writer, she wrote the monograph "The Sephardic Woman in Bosnia" (La mužer sefardi de Bosna), based on the 1916 article by Bernadzikowska-Belovic, later translated into Bosnian by Muhamed Nezirovic ("Sefardska žena u Bosni").

In her book, Laura detailed the customs, the way of dressing, cooking, virtue, and the defect of the Sephardic woman, emphasizing traditional values that should not be forgotten, but at the same time encouraging women to adapt to the current situation[clarification needed] and to accept the demands the modern society places on them.

The Levi sisters.
Laura Papo with her sons.