Yanke Hennes, Leah's Father
See Daniel Boyarin, "Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man" (Berkeley, 1997).
Yanke Hennes of Tukums was one of the [town’s] most prominent and outstanding citizens. He enjoyed the reputation of being a good man, for his sterling qualities of character and honesty, strict religious life and prompt observance of all Jewish traditions captured the respect and admiration of all. He owned a large number of houses on the market row front where he had a large corner store, where he conducted a large business in shoemaker's, harness-maker's and cobbler's leather supplies. Peasants frequently visited his shop, for knowledge of his honesty had spread.
Yanke Hennes’ life ran smoothly on well-oiled wheels, methodical and precise. He rose punctiliously every morning at 6 a.m., going to the early service in the synagogue where he was quite a pillar. After prayer service he always devoted half an hour to his reading of the Talmud, coming home by 8 a.m., eating his frugal breakfast and going to his daily business. He was blessed with four rosy-cheeked daughters and one baby boy, to his great delight. Yanke Hennes was very reactionary and set in his ways. He held to the ancient rabbinical injunction, “the one that teaches his daughters the Torah is like teaching her unworthiness.” He did not believe in any book learning whatsoever for girls.
Here David is pointing out the "gender role reversal" which was very common in Jewish families. He uses the terms "strong" and "well-built" to describe the women. Could he mean this literally? Historians of Jewish women have been debating the thesis of the "gender role reversal" very intensely.
Isn’t it fascinating to see that running a dry-goods store, serving the locals, is a tradition that spanned the distance between Lithuania and South Saint Paul and spanned several generations?
Yes, and it is also interesting that David's service to his South St. Paul community would eventually extend far beyond the businesses he owned. David went on to exemplify civic responsibility in a way that really showed the respect he felt for his adopted homeland.
See the classic and very important book by Chava Weissler, "Voices of the Matriarchs."
According to Yanke Hennes’ conception, a woman was only obliged to know the three laws set down by the ancient sages: “physical sanitation, blessing of the dough, and when lighting the Shabbat candles, to cover her face with her hand and to pray that God bless her with sons who will shine with the wisdom of the Torah.”
Kadesh (or kaddish): A prayer found in the Jewish prayer service, often used to refer specifically to "The Mourners' Kaddish," said as part of the mourning rituals in Judaism in all prayer services as well as at funerals and memorials.
Naturally there was no love lost between father and daughters, for each lived in an individual sphere, far removed from the other. All that they had to know was housework, for Yanke Hennes was determined to have a well-learned and well-groomed son as an effective kadesh to lift his soul out of Gehinnon straight up into Paradise by his efficient prayers. Therefore the boy must be given the highest Talmudic learning.
The "blessing of the dough" is an interesting ritual for women. It involved throwing away a small piece of challah dough, in memory of the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D. Here is a ritual in which women in their daily lives commemorate an event of national and historical significance for the Jewish people.
"Individual sphere": This is an interesting section as it relates to the way David describes his wife's greatest gifts later in the Diary, all of which revolve around housework.
Yanke Hennes was proud of his fine home, which was large with spacious rooms. He boasted a large snow-white Prussian glazed tile stove, quite a novelty in those days. As a result of his strict observance of all Jewish traditions, every room in the house had a black band about eight inches wide painted on the walls about a foot from the ceiling, the ancient symbol of Palestinian lamentation, meaning “If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget me.” In the parlor in one corner stood the majestic old walnut grandfather clock with its heavy weights suspended from stout chains. It had a silver-faced dial and the large pendulum swung to and fro, slowly and monotonously marking the ever-onward march of time.
This is absolutely fascinating. David has pointed to gender discrimination...or gender privilege, in the case above of the “strong” Jewish women, twice now within four pages. This sends a strong message of how modern he was, at least in looking back at his own birth family and his father-in-law's family. Do we have a right to expect him to continue to champion the rights of Jewish women in his own family, once he became the paterfamilias? If we move forward into his critique of Lena once they are married, and she turns out to be more traditional than he wants, he wants to hire her a tutor but then she rejects that; he is aware of how women are discriminated against within traditional Judaism, but he thinks that the "slavery" of his own mother Leah working as a baker at two different points is BAD, and Lena is BAD because she is too traditional. So the ideal Jewish woman that emerges here is his daughter Belle?
The customary black walnut sofa and a few armchairs with black haircloth upholstery were a part of the furnishings. In the center of the room on a table lay the family album with all the dear photographs, and a double lens stereoscope with some foreign scenic slides in colors. On the walls hung dreadful yellowed crayon drawings of grandfather and grandmother in heavy gilt frames. These were interspersed with a few Biblical characters, such as Moses holding the tablets of the law and Aaron swinging the censer. A large ornate Italian chandelier was suspended from the ceiling. This was usually lighted on Friday nights and for festivals, the dark tallow candles burning with a shallow flame. On the mantelpiece in the dining room stood the Menorah, and very prominent was the copper samovar with all its highly burnished utensils.
I agree that David’s attitude towards women seems more modern, more evolved, than his grandfather’s Old World conceptions. Certainly, he celebrates Belle’s academic success (later in the Diary) and esteems her intellect. Yet, I still glean from his writing the sense that he feels women have a place, and that this place is behind their husbands, not beside them or other men, acting as engaged participants in discussions or serious endeavors. At one point, David says, in paraphrase, that there is nothing worse than a woman who pushes her way into serious affairs. My reading, then, is that while he bemoans Lena’s limitations, he would most likely not have been able to be married to his intellectual counterpart.
I find this section interesting because it conveys a sense of David's admiration for his grandfather's success.
I had never heard of the black band on the walls, but this is a parallel to the custom of throwing away a section of the challah dough. The point is that Judaism was very much experienced as rituals in the home, which in principle, if not in practice, may have empowered wives.
Shir HaMaalos: An ancient custom to adorn the newborn's home with pieces of parchment or paper are inscribed with holy verses, angelic names, and the Psalm "Shir HaMaalos — A Song of Ascents": "My help will come from the Lord." In some communities the custom takes the form of an amulet worn by the mother. When these verses are hung up prior to the labor, they invoke the blessing that the labor and birth will be easy, and extend their blessings for a good and long life.
The bedroom was furnished in the Napoleonic style. On a three-step dais was the tall four-poster bed with a draped canopy above and heavy silk drapes in front. During a case of confinement every door and window in the room was decorated with shir hamaalos amulets to protect the mother and infant against any attack by Lilith, the queen of devils, who was supposed to prey on all small infants, and with fancy encased mesuses on every doorpost. Yanke Hennes was much disappointed in his wife, Hanna, for the closest wish to his heart was for a large family of fine sons; therefore, he lost no love for his daughters and regarded them passively.
We really have to wonder how rich they would have been to have photographs in 1863.
Presumably these are of Leah’s grandparents rather than David’s.
Mesuse or mezuzah: A piece of parchment (often contained in a decorative case) inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21). These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael," beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One." A mezuzah is affixed to the doorframe in Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9).
Herberig: This may be a misspelling of the German "Herberge," or "hostel."
Leah had no alternative except to go back with her child to her father’s home. There were two younger sisters, Minnie and Deborah, who felt Leah was hindering their social standing as a “poor relative,” and they made her life very unpleasant. Yanke Hennes never had believed in education for women nor any other practical training for his daughters, so he decided that Leah should open a bakery to support herself and her child. He owned a cottage at the rear of his house. It was called the Herberig. It contained two large rooms.
In one there was a classroom, for he had a special private teacher for his dear son Ben Yochid, for higher Talmudic training. In the other room he fitted up a bakery with all the utensils needed. Poor Leah slaved long and hard kneading large trays of dough, making all sorts of bread and selling it every morning. Although she felt her lot was hard and severe, nevertheless she was secretly contented. How much rather would she work for her living than ask her father to supply her daily needs.
Absolutely fascinating. The use of amulets was highly controversial. A century before 1863, German Jewry was convulsed by the charge of Rabbi Jacob Emden that another rabbi and scholar, Jonathan Eybeschütz, had distributed childbirth amulets with secret messages from the false messiah Shabbatei Zevi. Lilith has a very controversial role in Jewish mythology, as the angry woman who is not described in the Hebrew Bible but rather in legend as the predecessor to Eve.
The industriousness of the women in David's life is striking, and David comments regularly upon the strength and diligence of the women in the public world of commerce and industry. His mother Leah exemplifies this tradition—she not only makes the bread for her cottage bakery industry, she also is in charge of the sales. Indeed, when her husband Ben-Zion is unable to provide for the family, she prefers to earn her own living rather than seek financial support from her father. The tradition of women-led businesses seems to have been lost when the family immigrated to the United States; once there it is the men who must lead the family to financial success, while the women turn their talents and energy to the domestic world.
These are the terms and concepts that frame David's worldview, especially when it comes to the struggles for financial security. Hard luck breeds despondency and an "imagined" belief that "obstacles continually lay in her path." The hard work "crushed her spirit" and kept her from achieving the material success that so many others of her same community and stature had achieved. Early on in the narrative we get the sense that David sees the challenges presented to us as circumstantial, not pre-determined; what counts, however, is how we respond to those unlucky events.
Fascinating reference to the intense class consciousness and rank social climbing within the Jewish social structure. State policy of forced recruitment of vulnerable young men into the army (although remember that the policy in the late 1860s was not nearly as draconian as it was before 1856 or so) robbed the young wife and mother Leah of her standing, and her own sisters hate her for it. She actually might be bringing down the chance for the sisters to wed well. But if the father had not been so patriarchal he would have spent what it cost to get Ben Zion freed from the army. David is really tracking the subtleties and pervasiveness of patriarchal sexism so rampant in that setting.
Confusing... a bakery sounds like it was practical.
Investing in the Jewish education of the only son, Leah's brother, made good sense, because a talented yeshivah boy could marry a richer bride. In the geographical space of the home, David is contrasting the unfair circumstances of his mother Leah and her own brother.
Ben-Zion's father-in-law vividly exemplifies the model "citizen" that David aspires to become: prosperous, of good character and honest, but also religiously observant. Perhaps in the traditional world of Latvia one need not put to the side one's religious focus in order to become successful, as David saw as vital to success in the new world.