iowawomensarchives:Happy National Jewish Heritage Month, and welcome to Women’s History Wednesday! B
iowawomensarchives:Happy National Jewish Heritage Month, and welcome to Women’s History Wednesday! Bertha Korn Tucker, a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, wrote many short stories and poems in both English and Yiddish. She faced a great deal of prejudice growing up, and her family’s experiences as Jewish immigrants from Lithuania influenced much of her writing: Heard Melodies are SweetWhat little town by river or sea shore,Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? ¹Today other footsteps, other voices, other melodies. But only yesterday in this shtetl, in this little Jewish community in Russia, it was not “emptied of this folk this pious morn”. Only yesterday the narrow mud streets were alive with families making their way to the synagogue. Here coming out of a shabby broken-down wooden frame house is a bearded father, his head covered with a yarmulke and wearing a black caftan reaching to his knees. He is walking a few steps ahead of his wife whose head is veiled in black and her dress is of black silk. She has adorned herself with some jewelry, a gesture of honor for this holy day. The children cluster behind while the boys, small beardless editions of the father, proudly carry the mother’s prayer book and the father’s praying shawl, the tallith. Today is the Sabbath, their beloved Shabbos, the day for which this Jew has driven himself to work at his utmost all week so that he can usher her in as befits a Queen, the age old personification of her. He too is imbued with a feeling of royalty and he walks with kingly step.¹ John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, quoted from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2 (W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1962), p. 373.- Opening paragraph from “Heard Melodies are Sweet” by Bertha Tucker, 1972Guide to the Bertha Korn Tucker PapersIWA Collections Relating to Jewish WomenView all Women’s History Wednesday postsThe IWA is currently seeking a Graduate Research Assistant for its Jewish Women in Iowa project; the application deadline is June 2, more info here. -- source link
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