Gluckel of Halmen (Essay Sample)

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The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln: As a German Jewish merchant woman
Gluckel was born in 1646 in Hamburg. She was the daughter of her father's second wife. Her memoir reveals widowhood and remarriage as frequent occurrences of the period as explained by Galchinsky (92). She noted that all the children in her family, boys, and girls, received both religious and secular training. It comes then as no surprise that Gluckel had a background in both writing and business Galchinsky, (87-93). Her childhood was pleasant; she was betrothed to Chayim Hameln at the age of twelve and taken to Hameln two years later to marry him at the age of fourteen. The couple traveled to Hamburg to live with Gluckel's parents. They lived and worked with relative success, although Gluckel recounted some business difficulties she and Chayim encountered. In 1690, Chayim died when Gluckel was forty-four, and hence she began her memoir at that point. She later remarried Carf levy (Galchinsky, 92). Gluckel presented many examples of the challenges she faced as a Jewish merchants in the seventeenth century that related to her firm belief and faith in the religion.
The role of sin, guilt, and fate played significantly in Gluckel's account of misfortune that occurred beyond her control. In her Jewish faith, she believed that the many deaths she recounted, especially that of her first husband, Chayim, were attributed to the will of God and punishment for her past sins. For Gluckel, there was no other secular explanation for fate except for God's punishment. There was no random chance, or randomness or chaos theory to explain the experiences of her good or bad fortune, except the incomprehensible will of God. This conflict between chance, control, and religion emerges from a close reading of Gluckel's life story. Due to this torture and lamentation, Gluckel had a hard time picking up the pieces to move on since she consistently blamed herself and her past wrongdoings. She then decided on writing her memoir to keep away her mind from the thought, which turned out to be quite helpful as she illustrated.
During her suffering in her marriage to Cerf Levy, a Jewish merchant from Metz, Gluckel never thought of seeking any other solution to leave. As she was an actively religious person and her religion would treat her as an evil woman if she left her then husband to find a better life, she stayed back with her husband and suffered her ‘fate' as she refers to her sufferings in the memoir. She regularly claimed that it was the instrument of God's punishment for any and all of her unaccountable sins.
Gluckel recalled her anxiety upon hearing that Chayim had fallen ill at the Leipzig Fair. This meant trouble for her, mainly because any Jew, who died in Leipzig, forfeited all of his merchandise and money to the city, she has put all her wealth into his name, which meant all she had earned wealth would be indeed surrendered to the city council. Due to her Jewish faith, she had to suffer the consequences. The thought of ever seeking justice to get her property was never in the question. Her loyalty to the religion led her to accept her loss and said it was all in God's plans. She suffered from poverty but lived on hoping and trusting that God would heal her problems.
From her Jewish faith, the value of a person is designed by the material wealth in their possession wealth held considerable importance and thus vital. Other people of the same faith also hold on to the belief. According to Abrahams (275), Gluckel spent considerable time noting the financial worth of various individuals is appearing in her memoir, regularly indicating monetary value, the amounts of dowries and financial details of her business activities. She went further explaining the value of her wealth, and how she had to work hard in business to maintain her family's honor.
Superficially, this illustrated the stereotype of merchant Jews' materialism and concern with the value of everything and person. Glueckel, Lowenthal, Rosen (224) argue that given the high risks involved in seventeenth-century trade, and Jews' inability to own property, it was sign of respect for money was vital for their Jews' physical survival. Nevertheless, this is not to suggest that money was necessary for its sake. Because of the high risks involved in Jewish trade and all the other outside forces of chance threatening them, survival was most important, that and Jewish piety. In her advice to her children, Gluckel emphasized this point. She stressed religious practice and honesty in business. Despite her strong urge for wealth, class, and honor, she always held strong her faith in the religion. At one point, she pitied the wicked that for the sake of enriching their children had lost their possession of the world.
Gluckel like any other Jews was restricted from residing in Saxony and admitted into the city only during the period of the Fair for a huge tax. However, for all of the adversity and limitations facing them, Gluckel had no other choice than to make the most of what was available and, in many cases, she was quite successful although she incurred too many losses in the process. This was a great challenge for her and her business as a merchant.
For all her religious rhetoric and claims to accepting the fate God intended for her, Gluckel occasionally revealed something beyond the standard responses that are more personal and unique to her and her situation. The concern for preserving and maintaining honor appears many times over in Gluckel's writing. It was certainly something she valued highly, as might the rest of her community. Gluckel's memoir confirmed that the fear of financial loss and the loss of honor that came with it were serious concerns for all merchants of the time. Success in commerce was both useful and honorable while failure in business would result in disgrace and shame, whether the loss was due to bad luck or mismanagement. For a merchant to succeed it was necessary to earn the public's trust and his honor should be the one thing she guarded most carefully.
She mentioned the need for patience several times. For instance, At Chayim's death she wrote, said, "God at length brought me patience so that I have taken care of my fatherless children as far as a weak woman can bow with affliction and woe (Rakovsky, Puah, Hyman, & Harshav 167-207). Describing her financial ruin and Cerf Levy's death. According to Gluckel's strong religious beliefs, the need for patience is divinely granted as invoked by an impatient, ambitious woman. The same particular individual writes confidently in the books devoted to her widowhood and the independence it allowed her. In other sections of the memoir, her writing was riddled with self-deprecation and a seemingly conscious effort not to credit herself with any of her successes, but all of her many failures, which was a significant challenge to her and her faith.
As mentioned before by Brakeman (103), Gluckel has presented several instances of the challenges that faced Jewish merchants in the seventeenth century that related to their firm belief and faith in their religion In addition to the above-illustrated points, there was no security in residence and Jewish communities faced the possibility of expulsion at any time. Gluckel recalled during her childhood the deportation of all Jews from Hamburg (Rakovsky, Hyman, & Harshav, 167-207). The community was forced to settle in the nearby town of Altona, but all of their business interests were still in Hamburg. Jewish merchants could only enter the city with a special pass issued by the burgomaster. The acquisition of a pass was possible mainly through influence and money. Gluckel noted the dangers of trying to enter without a pass. The punishment for such an act was not limited to the perpetrator. If the merchant were caught and held in the city, the consequences affected the entire community (Rakovsky, Hyman, & Harshav, 167-207).
The Jewish merchandise, Gluckel always incurred loss but posted it all on God's actions and decisions. With the loss of her pearls and an additional interest, Gluckel calculated their losses at over 1,200 R, and they had to relocate from Hamburg because of bankruptcy. Glueckel, Lowenthal (...