Tkhine

They were written for Ashkenazi Jewish women who, unlike the men of the time, typically could not read Hebrew, the language of the established synagogue prayer book.

However, the biggest disparity between men's and women's religious roles under Jewish law was unequal access to education.

Additionally, only men were able to attend higher-level institutions called yeshivas that allowed them to study Jewish religious literature in a scholarly setting.

This lack of kavone, or spiritual depth and sincerity,[7] concerned some rabbis in the sixteenth century, who then took it upon themselves to translate some Hebrew prayers and the Bible into Yiddish for the benefit of women and "uneducated men.

[10] Tkhines are supplicatory prayers, written in Yiddish, that illuminate the lives of Jewish women and reflect what they might have been thinking as they performed religious duties and household tasks.

[14] The daily prayers existed as a way for women to fulfil their religious obligation to pray once a day and as an alternative to the weekly synagogue service.

This version added tkhines for domestic chores and personal subjects, such as asking for the safe return of a husband from a journey.

Collections of tkhines also began to be published by central and western European Jewish communities in French, German, and English language editions: Prières D'un Cœur Israélite (Prayers and Meditations for Every Situation and Occasion of Life; Jonas Ennery and Rabbi Arnaud Aron, Strasbourg: 1848), Prayers and Meditations for Every Situation and Occasion of Life (English translation by Hester Rothschild, 1855), and Stunden der Andacht (Fanny Neuda, 1855).

[citation needed] The rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and the concurrent dwindling use of Yiddish by Jewry in the United States led to a decline in the publication of tkhines and their popularity, as the Nazi party murdered their authors and readers in Europe and the demand for Yiddish literature declined in America with the assimilation of Yiddish-speaking immigrants.

They often addressed women's home life, issues related to marriage and childbirth, and her religious responsibilities, including a woman's mitzvot, which pertain to the preparation of challah, niddah, and hadlakah (lighting candles on the eve of the Sabbath and Holy Days).

Authors also referenced Hebrew scripture and Aramaic texts, often naming Biblical characters, usually the matriarchs, and including stories from the Talmud or Midrash.

Many times, the original name attached to the tkhine was either left off or reattributed to either the adaptor or the compiler of the collection, or someone else entirely.