Unsung Women | Asenath Barezani, a 16th-century female sage
Illustration of Asenath Barzani Image by Yehuda Blum
Editor’s note: For Women’s History Month, the Forward presents “Unsung Women,” a special project showcasing Jewish women — from biblical times to our modern moment — whose stories have rarely been told.
Who she was: Asenath Barzani
Where and when: 16th-century Kurdistan
What we know: Asenath Barzani was the daughter, wife, and mother of rabbinic leaders, but she surpassed them all. The brilliant daughter of a prominent rabbi and miracle worker, Barzani was so renown a scholar that in her marriage contract her husband was forbidden from preoccupying her with domestic work, so she could devote herself fully to Torah study. Together with her husband, Barzani took over her father’s yeshiva in Mosul. Her husband was an absent-minded scholar, and Barzani quickly became the public face of the seminary, running the day-to-day business of feeding the young men and lecturing them on the law. When her husband died young, Barzani became the de-facto spiritual leader of the Mosul Jewish community, instructing the community in law and ruling on daily ritual. She emphasized the importance of female knowledge of practical law, leading lectures on Sabbath and family purity to female audiences. Though she never received any formal rabbinic ordination, Barzani was revered as a “Tannait,” the feminine form of “Tanna,” a title bestowed on only the wisest of sages.
What she thought: There is little historical indication that Barzani’s unusually prominent role in leadership opened the public sphere further for women; however, that is more indicative of the reality of the patriarchal system in the 16th century than Barzani’s failure as a pioneer. Her greatest accomplishment was the ease in which she, as a woman, was a religious and communal leader and teacher to the next generation of spiritual leaders.
What else: Barzani was reputed to be a miracle worker, offering blessings to infertile women and children, and in one memorable legend, using the Hidden Name of God to save a vulnerable woman from attempted assault.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
