FROM ‘HOME INFLUENCE’ BY GRACE AGUILAR. PUBLISHED BY GROOMBRIDGE & SONS 1885
Grace Aguilar was born at Hackney, June 2nd, 1816. She was the eldest child and only daughter of Emanuel Aguilar, one of those merchants descended from the Jews of Spain who, almost within the memory of man, fled from per-secution in that country, and sought and found an asylum in England.
The delicate frame and feeble health observable in Grace Aguilar throughout her life, displayed itself from infancy; from the age of three years, she was almost constantly under the care of some physicians, and, by their advice, annually spending the summer months by the sea, in the hope of rousing and strengthening a naturally fragile constitution. This want of physical energy was, however, in direct contrast to her mental powers, which developed early, and readily. She learned to read with scarcely any trouble, and when once that knowledge was gained, her answer, when asked what she would like for a present, was invariably "a book," which was read, re-read, and preserved with a care remarkable in so young a child. With the exception of eighteen months passed at school, her mother was her sole instructress, and both parents took equal delight in directing her studies, and facilitating her personal inspection of all that was curious and interesting in the various counties of England, to which they resorted for her health.
From the early age of seven she commenced keeping a journal, which was continued with scarce any intermission throughout her life. In l825 she visited Oxford, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Worcester, Ross, and Bath, and though at that time but nine years old, her father took her to Gloucester and Worcester cathedrals, and also to see a porcelain and pin manufactory, etc., the attention and interest she displayed on these occasions, affording convincing proof that her mind was alive to appreciate and enjoy what was thus presented to her observation. Before she had completed her twelfth year she ventured to try her powers in composition, and wrote a little drama, called Gustavus Vasa, never published, and only here recorded as being the first germ of what was afterwards to become the ruling passion.
In September, 1828, the family went to reside in Devonshire, for the health of Mr. Aguilar, and there a strong admiration for the beauties and wonders of nature manifested itself: she constantly collected shells, stones, seaweed, mosses, etc., in her daily rambles; and not satisfied with admiring their beauty, sedulously procured whatever little catechisms or other books on those subjects she could purchase or borrow, eagerly endeavouring, by their study, to increase her know-ledge of their nature and properties.
When she had attained the age of fourteen, her father commenced a regular course of instruction for his child, by reading aloud, while she was employed in drawing, needle-work, etc. History was selected, that being the study which now most interested her, and the first work chosen was Josephus.
It was while spending a short time at Tavistock, in 1830, that the beauty of the surrounding scenery led her to express her thoughts in verse. Several small pieces soon followed her first essay, and she became extremely fond of this new exercise and enjoyment of her opening powers, yet her mind was so well regulated, that she never permitted herself to indulge in original composition until her duties and her studies were all performed.
Grace Aguilar was extremely fond of music; she had learned the piano from infancy, and in 1831 commenced the harp. She sang pleasingly. Preferring English songs, and invariably selecting them for the beauty or sentiment of the words; she was also passionately fond of dancing, and her cheerful lively manners in the society of her young friends would scarcely have led any to imagine how deeply she felt and pondered upon the serious and solemn subjects, which afterwards formed the labour of her life. She seemed to enjoy all, to enter into all, but a keen observer would detect the hold that sacred and holy principle ever exercised over her lightest act and gayest hour. A sense of duty was apparent in the merest trifle, and her following out of the divine command of obedience to parents, was only equalled by the unbounded affection she felt for them. A wish was once expressed by her mother that she should not waltz, and no solicitation could afterwards tempt her. Her mother also required her to read sermons, and study religion and the Bible regularly; this was readily submitted to first as a task, but afterwards with much delight; for evidence of which we cannot do better than quote her own words in one of her religious works.
"This formed into a habit, and preserved in for a life, would in time, and without labour or weariness, give the comfort and the knowledge that we seek: each year it would become lighter, and more blessed, each year we should discover something we knew not before, and in the valley of the shadow of death, feel to our heart's core that the Lord our God is truth."- Women of Israel, vol. ii. page 43.
Nor did Grace Aguilar only study religion for her own personal observance and profit. she embraced its principles (the principles of all creeds in a widely extended and truly liberal sense. She carried her practice of its holy and benevolent precepts into every minute of her daily life, doing all the good her limited means would allow, finding time in the midst of her own studies, and most varied and continual occupations, to work for and instruct her poor neighbours in the country, and while steadily venerating and adhering to her own faith, neither inquiring nor heeding the religious opinions of the needy whom she succoured or consoled. To be permitted to help and comfort, she considered a privilege and a pleasure; she left the rest to God; and thus bestowing and receiving blessings and smiles from all who had the opportunity of knowing her, her young life flowed on, in an a1most uninterrupted stream of enjoyment, until she had completed her nineteenth year.
Alas! the scene was soon to change, and trials awaited that spirit, which in the midst of sunshine had so beautifully striven to prepare itself a shelter from the storm. The two brothers of Miss Aguilar, whom she tenderly loved, left the paternal roof to be placed far from their family at school. Her mother's health necessitated a painful and dangerous operation, and from that time for several years, alternate hopes and fears, through long and dreary watchings beside the sick bed of that beloved mother, became the portion of her gifted child. But even this depressing and arduous change in the duties of her existence did not suspend her literary pursuits and labours. She profited by all the intervals she could command, and wrote the tale of the "Martyr," the "Spirit of Judaism," and "Israel Defended;" the latter translated from the French, at the earnest request of a friend, and printed only for private circulation. The "Magic Wreath," a little poetical work, and the first our authoress ever published, dedicated to the Right Honourable the Countess of Munster, also appeared about this time.
In the spring of 1835, Grace Aguilar was attacked with measles, and never afterwards recovered her previous state of health, suffering at intervals with such exhausting feelings of weakness, as to become, without any visible disease, really alarming.
The medical attendants recommended entire rest of mind and body; she visited the sea, and seemed a little revived, but anxieties were gathering around her horizon, to which it became evidently impossible her ardent and active mind could remain passive or indifferent, and which recalled every feeling, every energy of her impressible nature into action. Her elder brother, who had long chosen music as his profession, was sent to Germany to pursue his studies; the younger determined upon entering the sea service. The excitement of these changes, and the parting with both, was highly injurious to their affectionate sister, and her delight a few months after, at welcoming the sailor boy returned from his first voyage, with all his tales of danger and adventure, and his keen enjoyment of the path of life he had chosen, together with her struggles to do her utmost to share his walks and companionship, contributed yet more to impair her inadequate strength.
The second parting was scarcely over, when her father, who had long shown symptoms of failing health, became the victim of consumption. He breathed his last in her arms, and the daughter, while sorrowing over all she had lost, roused her self once more to the utmost, feeling that she was the sole comforter beside her remaining parent. Soon after, when her brother again returned, finding the death of his father, he re-solved not to make his third voyage as a midshipman, but endeavour to procure some employment sufficiently lucrative to prevent his remaining a burden upon his widowed mother.
Long and anxiously did he pursue this object, his sister, whose acquaintance with literary and talented persons had greatly increased, using all her energy and influence in his behalf, and concentrating all the enthusiastic feelings of her nature in inspiring him with patience, comfort, and hope, as often as they failed him under his repeated disappointments. At length his application was taken up by a powerful friend, for her , she had the happiness of succeeding, and saw him depart at the very summit of his wishes. Repose, which had been so long necessary, seemed now at hand; but her nerves had been too long and too repeatedly overstrung, and when this task was done, the worn and weary spirit could sustain no more, and sank under the labour that had been imposed upon it.
Severe illness followed, and though it yielded after a time to skilful remedies and tender care, her excessive langour and severe headaches continued to give her family and friends great uneasiness.
During all these demands upon her time, her thoughts, and her health, however, the ruling passion neither slumbered nor
slept. She completed the "Jewish Faith," and also prepared "Home Influence" for the press, though very unfit to have taxed her powers so far. Her medical attendant became urgent for total change of air and scene, and again strongly interdicted al~ mental exertion-a trip to Frankfort, to visit her elder brother, was therefore decided on. In June, 1847, she set out, and bore the journey without suffering nearly so much as might have been expected. Her hopes were high, her spirits raised-the novelty and interest of her first travels on the Continent gave her for a very transient period a gleam, as it were, of strength. For a week or two she appeared to rally, then again every exertion became too much for her, every stimulating remedy to exhaust her. She was ordered from Frankfort to try the baths and mineral waters of Schwalbach, but without success. After a stay of six weeks, and persevering with exemplary patience in the treatment prescribed, she was one night seized with alarming convulsive spasms, so terrible, that her family removed her the next morning with all speed back to Frankfort, to the house of a family of most kind friends, where every attention and care were lavishly bestowed.
In vain. She took to her bed the very day of her arrival, and never rose from it again; she became daily weaker, and in three weeks from that time her sufferings ceased for ever. She was perfectly conscious to within less than two hours before her death, and took an affectionate leave of her mother and brother. Speech had been a matter of difficulty for some time previous, her throat being greatly affected by her malady; but she had, in consequence, learned to use her fingers in the manner of the deaf and dumb, and almost the last time they moved, it was to spell upon them feebly, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
She was buried in the cemetery of Frankfort, one side of which is set apart for the people of her faith. The stone which marks the spot bears upon it a butterfly and five stars, emblematic of the soul in heaven, and beneath appears the inscription-
"Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. Prov. ch.. xxxi. v.31."
And thus, 16th September, 1847, at the early age of thirty one, Grace Aguilar was laid to rest-the bowl was broken, the silver cord was loosed. Her life was short, and chequered with pain and anxiety, but she strove hard to make it useful and valuable, by employing diligently and faithfully the talents with which she had been endowed. Nor did the serious view with which she ever regarded earthly existence induce her to neglect or despise any occasion of enjoyment, advantage, or sociality which presented itself. Her heart was ever open to receive, her hand to give.
Inasmuch as she succeeded to the satisfaction of her fellow-beings, let them be grateful ; inasmuch as she failed, let those who perceive it deny her not the need of praise, for her endeavour to open the path she believed would lead mankind to practical virtue and happiness, and strive to carry out the pure philanthropic principles by which she was actuated, and which she so earnestly endeavoured to diffuse.
The Jewish Encyclopedia
AGUILAR, GRACE: English novelist and writer on Jewish history and religion; born at Hackney London June 2, 1816; died at Frankfort-on-the Main, September 16, 1847, where her remains were to be buried in the Jewish cemetery. She was the oldest child of parents descended from Portuguese Maranos who sought asylum in England in the eighteenth century. To strengthen her constitution, which from infancy had been. feeble, she was taken to the sea-shore and to various rural localities in England. Her love of nature was cultivated by these experiences; and at the age of twelve she devoted herself of her own accord to the study of natural science, augmenting a collection of shells begun by her at Hastings, when only four years old, and supplementing it by mineralogical and botanical collections.
Grace Aguilar was educated mainly by her parents. Her mother, a cultivated woman of strong religious feeling, trained her to read the Scriptures systematically; and when she was fourteen her father read aloud to her regularly, chiefly history, while she was occupied with drawing and needle work. She was an assiduous musician till her health became impaired. Her reading, especially in history, was extensive; her knowledge of foreign literature was wide. She evinced a literary tendency at the age of seven, when she began a diary, which she continued almost uninterruptedly until her death. Before she was twelve she had written a drama, ‘Gustavus Vasa’. Her first verses were evoked two years later by the scenery about Tavistock in Devonshire. The first products of her pen to be published (anonymously in 1835) were her collected poems, which she issued under the title "The Magic Wreath." Her productions are chiefly stories and religious works dealing with Jewish subjects. The former embrace domestic tales, tales founded on Marano history. and a romance of Scottish history.
‘The Days of Bruce’ (1852). The most popular of the Jewish tales is ‘The Vale of Cedars’, or the ‘Martyr: A Story of Spain in the Fifteenth Century’, written before 1835, published in 1850, and twice translated into German and twice into Hebrew. Her other stories founded on Jewish episodes are included in a collection of nineteen tales, ‘Home Scenes and Heart Studies’; ‘The Perez Family’ (1843) and ‘The Edict,’ together with "The Escape," had appeared as two separate volumes; the others were reprinted from magazines. Her domestic tales, of which new editions still appear, are ‘Home Influence’ (1847) and its sequel, "The Mother' Recompense" (1850), both of them written early in 1836, and "Woman's Friendship" (1851). The first of Miss Aguilar's religious works was a translation of the French version of ‘Israel Defended,’ by the Marano Orobio de Castro, printed for private circulation. It was closely followed by ‘The Spirit of Judaism,’ the publication of which was for a time prevented by the loss of the original manuscript. Sermons by Rabbi Isaac Leeser, of Philadelphia, had fallen into her hands and, like all other accessible Jewish works, had been eagerly read. She requested him to revise the manuscript of the ‘Spirit of Judaism,’ which was forwarded to him, but was lost. The authoress rewrote it; and in 1842 it was published in Philadelphia, with notes by Leeser A second edition was issued in 1849 by the first American Jewish Publication Society and a third (Cincinnati, 1864) has an appendix containing thirty two poems (bearing date 1838 1847) all but two reprinted from "The Occident The editor's notes serve mainly to mark dissent from Miss Aguilar's depreciation of Jewish tradition due probably to her Marano ancestry and to her country life, cut off from association with Jews. In 1845 ‘The Women of Israel’ appeared a series of portraits delineated according to the Scriptures and Josephus. This was soon followed by ‘The Jewish Faith: Its Spiritual Consolation, Moral (Guidance, and Immortal Hope,’ in thirty-one letters, the last dated September, 1846. Of this work-addressed to a Jewess under the spell of Christian influence, to demonstrate to her the spirituality of Judaism-the larger part is devoted to immortality in the Old Testament. Miss Aguilar's other religious writings some of them written as early as 183~were collected in a volume of ‘Essays and Miscellanies (1851-52). The first part consists of "Sabbath Thoughts" on Scriptural passages and prophecies; the second, of "Communings" for the family circle.
In her religious writings Miss Aguilar's attitude was defensive. Despite her almost exclusive inter-course with Christians and her utter lack of –prejudice, her purpose, apparently, was to equip English Jewesses with arguments against conversionists. She inveighed against formalism, and laid stress upon knowledge of Jewish history and the Hebrew language. In view of the neglect of the latter by women (to whom she modestly confined her expostulations), she constantly pleaded for the reading of the Scriptures in the English 'version. Her interest in the reform movement was deep; yet, despite her attitude toward tradition, she observed ritual ordinances punctiliously. Her last work was a sketch of the ‘History of the Jews in England,’ written for ‘Chambers's Miscellany.’ In point of style it is the most finished of her productions, free from the exuberances and redundancies that disfigure the tales-published, for the most part, posthumously by her mother. The defects of her style are mainly chargeable to youth. With her extraordinary industry-she rose early and employed the day systematically-and her growing ability of concentration she gave promise of noteworthy productions.
Miss Aguilar's later years were full of family trials. In 1835 she had an attack of illness, from the effect of which she never fully recovered. Finally her in-creasing weakness and suffering necessitated change of air, and in 1847 a Continental trip was arranged. Before her departure some Jewish ladies of London presented her with a gift and a touching address recounting her achievements in behalf of Judaism and Jewish women. She visited her elder brother at Frankfort and at first seemed to benefit by the change, but after a few weeks she had to resort to the baths of Schwalbach. Alarming symptoms necessitated her return to Frankfort, and there she died. Her last words, spelled on her fingers, were, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him,’ her epitaph is the verse Prov. Xxxi.31.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES BY LUCIEN WOLF
ENGLISH AUTHOR OF PORTUGUESE MARRANO EXTRACTION WHO WROTE A NUMBER OF NOVELS ON JEWISH THEMES & SOME RELIGIOUS WORKS ADDRESSED PRIMARILY TO JEWISH WOMEN. HER FIRST BOOK WAS A VOLUME OF POEMS, 'THE MAGIC WREATH' WHICH SHE PUBLISHED ANONYMOUSLY WHEN SHE WAS ONLY 19. HER TRULY CREATIVE PERIOD HOWEVER BEGAN IN 1842 & IN THE FIVE YEARS UNTIL HER DEATH, AT THE AGE OF 31. HER LITERARY OUTPUT WAS REMARKABLE, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE AT THE TIME, ALTHOUGH VERY ILL, SHE WAS HELPING HER MOTHER RUN A PRIVATE SCHOOL IN HACKNEY, LONDON
MOST OF GRACE AGUILAR'S BOOKS WERE NOT PUBLISHED UNTIL AFTER HER DEATH. HER NOVEL 'HOME INFLUENCE' (1847) A TALE FOR MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS' AND ITS SEQUEL 'MOTHERS RECOMPENSE (1851) HAD CONSIDERABLE SUCCESS, BUT IT WAS 'THE DAYS OF BRUCE (1852) A ROMANCE SET IN 14th CENTURY SCOTLAND THAT MADE HER FAMOUS. THE BEST KNOWN OF HER JEWISH NOVELS WAS 'THE VALE OF CEDARS' (1850) A ROMANTIC, HIGHLY IDEALISED PICTURE OF THE MARRANOS IN SPAIN. TWICE TRANSLATED INTO GERMAN AND TWICE INTO HEBREW, IT LONG RETAINED POPULARITY. SHE ALSO WROTE
STORIES AND SKETCHES BASED ON JEWISH LIFE & FAMILY TRADITIONS.
IN A SERIOUS VEIN SHE TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH, THE APOLOGETIC WORK OF EX MARRANO OROBIO DE CASTRO, 'ISRAEL DELUDED' (1838). SHE HERSELF WROTE, 'THE SPIRIT OF JUDAISM' IN DEFENCE OF HER FAITH AND ITS PROFESSORS (1842) & 'THE JEWISH FAITH' (1846), THE LATER TOOK THE FORM OF LETTERS ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND WAVERING IN HER JEWISH CONVICTION. HER 'WOMEN OF ISRAEL' (1845) WAS A
SERIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF BIBLICAL CHARACTERS, INTENDED TO AROUSE THE PRIDE OF YOUNG JEWS IN THEIR HERITAGE.
GRACE AGUILAR WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ENGLISH JEWS TO ATTEMPT TO WRITE A HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ENGLAND; IT APPEARED IN CHAMBERS MISCELLANY (1847). SHE DIED WHILE ON HOLIDAY IN GERMANY. HER COLLECTED WORKS IN 8 VOLUMES APPEARED IN 1861.
BIOG: A.3. ISAACS, 'YOUNG CHAMPIONS, ONE YEAR IN GRACE AGUILAR'S GIRLHOOD' (1933); ABRAHAM,IN: J.H.S.E.T. 16 (1945-51), 137-48; J.C. SUPPLEMENT (JULY 27, 1930); F. KODDER, 'JEW IN THE LITERATURE OF ENGLAND' (1939), 182-7. D.N.B. S.V. S.AGUILAR 'MEMOIR, PREFIXED TO 'HOME INFLUENCE' (1849).
MOSES MOCATTA WAS A GENEROUS PATRON OF GRACE AGUILAR, A NOVELIST & POETESS WHO DIED IN 1847. HER NOVELS WHICH WERE MAINLY HISTORICAL ROMANCES BUILT ROUND THE ORDEALS OF SPANISH JEWRY UNDER THE INQUISITION.
(FROM 'THE COUSINHOOD' BY CHAIM BERMANT. PAGE 166)
QUERY. REFER TO GRACE AGUILAR'S STORY OF 'THE ESCAPE' I FANCY THE PLOT IS DERIVED FROM HER OWN FAMILY HISTORY.
(HAND WRITTEN NOTE IN THE PAPERS OF HISTORIAN LUCIEN WOLF. LUCIEN WOLF PAPERS, B 20 )
GRACE AGUILAR LOST HER SPEECH BEFORE SHE DIED. SHE LEARNT TO USE HER HANDS IN THE DEAF & DUMB METHOD. LAST WORDS, 'THOUGH HE SLAY ME YET WILL I TRUST IN HIM'
VARIOUS BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES -COMPILED BY LUCIEN WOLF (Jewish Archives)
(LUCIEN WOLF PAPERS, B 20 )
END NOTES FROM 'JEWISH WOMANS' FAITH'
1. "With the exception of eighteen months passed at school, her mother was her sole instructress, and both parents took equal delight in directing her studies and facilitating her personal inspection of all that was curious and interesting in the various counties of England to which they resorted for her health." ("Memoir of Grace Aguilar" by Sarah Aguilar, xi in Home Influence: A Tale for Mothers and Daughters.)
2. Many of Aguilar's posthumously published books include moving biographical sketches written by Sarah Aguilar.
3. The terms "crypto-Jew" or "new Christian" refers to Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula, during the Inquisition, and either converted to Catholicism or posed as Catholics in pubic while retaining some level of Jewish identity in secret. In Grace Aguilar's life time, decedents of these crypto-Jews were just beginning to re-educate themselves in Jewish history and practice. Aguilar, in her non-fiction, urges English Jews to shed the remnants of this culture of secrecy and to embrace their Jewish faith and identity.
4. My edition of The Vale of Cedars (1872) contains seven pages of excerpts from reviews of Aguilar's collected works.
5. Aguilar's father's family fled Inquisition Spain and immigrated to England in the eighteenth century. Her mother's family arrived at about the same time from Portugal, via Jamaica. Jewish families, such as Aguilar's, did not emigrate earlier because English law prohibited them from living in England from 1290 to 1656.
An evangelical effort to gather the Jews together in order to convert them and hasten the Second Coming helped motivate the readmission (Endelman, 9-10) and conversion societies such as London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (founded in 1809) and British Society for the Promogation of the Gospel Amongst the Jews (founded in 1842) remained subjects of ongoing public debate and controversy. During the period of 1830-1858, English Jews gradually acquired more legal and social liberties. Aguilar witnessed this Jewish emancipation in England in which Jews had opportunities to establish a new place for themselves in Christian English society and opportunities to reevaluate their own Jewish identity and faith.
A presentation by Ellen White, University of St Michael's College, Toronto.
“Aguilar was celebrated during her lifetime as the champion of her people, ‘the moral governess of the Hebrew family.’ Some of her books sold as well as novels by Dickens. Her death was greeted as a ‘national calamity’ on the pages of Jewish periodicals in England and America. A branch of the New York Public Library was named after her, and a children’s book was written about her life. Copies of The Spirit of Judaism were given as Sunday school prizes in some churches up through the 1950s”
(Galchinsky, pc, 7).
· Born on 2 June 1816 in Hackney, Middlesex.
· She was tall and thin, with dark eyes.
· She struggled with her health all her life. In 1835, she contracted the measles and her health never fully recovered. As a cure the doctors recommended complete rest of body and mind, the later proved impossible. Her condition worsened with the departure of her brothers (2) whom she was close to and continued family drama made things more difficult.
· Described by a friend as gentle, but pervasive and earnest. She was also considered charitable to people regardless of their religious affiliation.
· Aguilar was musically inclined. She played the piano and started learning to play the harp in 1831. Singing and dancing were other favourite pastimes. Get she gave up waltzing because her mother told her to.
· When on vacation in Hastings at four years old, she started a nature collection. While in Devonshire, she continued a love of nature by studying any books she could get on the subject and furthering her collection of samples of things, such as shells, stones, seaweed, and mosses.
· When the family returned to London, Aguilar ran a school for boys.
· She lost her ability to speak, but was able to learn sign-language in order to communicate with others. The last thing she said this way was, “Though he slay me yet will I trust in him.”
· She went to Frankfurt, Germany to stay with her brother because of her declining health. A few moths later at age 31, she died in Frankfurt on September 16, 1847 and was buried in the Jewish part of the cemetery. On her gravestone is a butterfly, the star of David, and Prov. 31:31.
· There is a public library in New York, built in 1886, is named for Aguilar.
· Oldest child of Emanuel Aguilar (1787-1845) whose family fled the Inquisition in Spain and Sarah Fernandez (d. 1854) whose family came from Portugal, via Jamaica.
· She was born in the community of Sephardic Jews (the community of expelled from Spain and Portugal who settled in London).
· Her father died in her arms in 1845 and she was left to care for her mother who had to have dangerous surgery some years before.
· She was educated at home, except for 18 months that were spent in school.
· At 14 her father began to read aloud to her as part of her education. The first work that he read to her was that of Josephus, the Jewish historian.
· She was exposed to Christian culture in 1828 when her father took ill and moved his family to Teignmouth Devon. At this time she wrote an essay about how important it is to experience other religious traditions. Some of her writing from this time was published at a later date.
· Started writing as a child.
· Her favourite gift as a child was a book and she would re-read them several times.
· She started writing her journal at age 7 and except for some small breaks continued to write in it until the end of her life.
· Writing was something that she did to reward herself and would only do it after she had finished her other responsibility.
· In the preface to the American edition of Jewish Faith, her editor, Isaac Leeser, said, “in the few years which elapsed before her untimely decease, (she) obtained a high rank, excelled by few, among the female writers of Great Britain” (p. 1).
· His own personal respect is apparent, as he later states: “No material alteration, however, has been made, even to gratify the editor’s dissenting views; as this would not have been dealing fairly with the literary legacy of his friend, which he wished to preserve, not to disfigure by any additions or changes of his own” (ibid.).
o This was done even though the editor admits to differing with Aguilar on various issues of faith. An interesting point is that he claims their differences come from education and social relations.
o To further this he says: “but, this fact once known, there was no need to call attention to it again and again; for every one can readily distinguish between what is derived from approved authority and what is advanced as the author’s private opinion” (p. 2).
· From this we learn that not only did Aguilar use “approved” sources, she was also willing to critique/add to/alter “approved” ideas based on her own understanding.
· While Aguilar benefited from the emerging spiritual women writers movement, she avoided being called and author because she considered it unholy due to its commercial associations. This is depicted in the short story, The Authoress, which is about a Christian woman because while it was common for Christian women to be writers, it would be exceptional for a Jewish woman to be one.
· She started reading sermons and studying the Bible because her mother required it. Yet what started as an obligation, soon back a passion.
· She was inclined to the reform movement, but continued to actively participate in religious ritual.
· While living in Devonshire she attended Christian services often.
· Being removed from a Jewish community, she likely attended church for social reasons as well as spiritual development.
· She found that attending these services helped to clarify her own Jewish faith.
· When using the prayer book, she would change any passage that was not appropriate for Jewish faith.
· She did not appreciate that people assumed that she was a Christian convert because she attended church services.
· Part of her motivation for her apologetic writing was the emergence of conversion societies such as London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (founded 1809) and British Society for the Promogation of the Gospel Amongst the Jews (founded 1842).
· She is criticized as representing “Jewish Protestantism.”
· Greater legal and social liberties were extended to British Jews in the period between 1830-1858.
· She was interested in trying to end the culture of crypto-Jews who during the Inquisition pretended to convert to Catholicism, but remain part of their Jewish identity in private. There was a movement to rid the English Jews of this culture of secrecy and to publicly embrace their Jewish faith and identity.
· Apologetic for the Jewish Faith
o While not prejudice against Christianity, she wrote mainly to prevent Jewish converts to Christianity and to counter act the overwhelming Christian predominance in Victorian culture.
o “She argues that there must be a Jewish literature that can challenge the dominance of Christian anti-Semitic and anti-Judaic representations, create positive Jewish self-identity, and encourage more accurate theological understandings of Judaism within Victorian culture” (Scheinberg, 149).
o “Because her position as a woman necessarily limited her authority in Jewish theological circles, Aguilar turned to literary forms of hegemonic Christian culture to find a subject position that could escape the “censorious” eye of Rabbinical authority; however, as a devoutly Jewish woman, Aguilar could never lay claim to the title ‘woman poet’ as it was constructed in Victorian England, since, this identity was generally predicated on a Christian religious identification. That Aguilar achieved the incredible success she did while negotiating her complex subject positions is a testament to the literary strategies she instituted” (Scheinberg, 147).
o Theological Focuses:
§ Argued for reforms similar to Eastern European Jewish women tekhinot in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings.
§ Argued that the common language should be used when praying and preaching.
§ Opposed the separation between men and women inside the synagogue.
§ Fought for equal theological education for boys and girls.
§ Claimed that there should be a Jewish translation of the Bible into English and two prominent men responded to her arguments by creating the translations (see Galchinsky, 1996, 75, 130, 141-142, 186).
§ “Aguilar attempted to replace traditional, faith-based standards of authority within her community with a liberal, humanistic, and secularizing individualism.” (Galchinsky, pc, 4).
· Victorian Culture
o “Aguilar understood that the explicit association between true womanhood and Christianity often depicted in the literature of the day could have a particularly detrimental effect on Jewish women’s connection to Jewish spirituality and practice” (Scheinberg, 149).
o The Women of Israel:
§ Sarah as the model of the ideal Victorian woman
§ Miriam is interpreted as a Victorian old maid
§ Deborah is problematic for Aguilar because she does not present Victorian ideals, but she is viewed positively in the biblical text. Therefore, Aguilar is forced to recognize that Deborah excursion outside of accept gender roles is allowed, but should not be emulated by women of her day.
· Separate Sphere Feminism
o Men and women are equal
o They have separate spheres of influence in the temporal plane
o Similar to many Christian women of the time (e.g., Balfour, Crocker, etc).
o In her context (an Anglo-Jew in England), women were being pulled in two directions. They were considered the prime targets of Christian converters, but they were also considered problems by Jewish men.
§ Challenged what women and girls could learn and the ways in which they could obtain this learning in her works of fiction.
§ Set out a “female-centered theology” in The Spirit of Judaism.
§ She also wrote sermons, mediations, and prayers for women to use in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings.
§ She encouraged mothers who were the original source of education.
§ “Overall, these writings provided models of women’s full participation in Jewish life and learning, while remaining within the constrains of Aguilar’s belief of the separation of gender roles into self-contained spheres” (Galchinsky, pc, 7).
o In a move that would be characteristic of the later Jewish feminist movement, Aguilar emphasis a personal spiritual relationship with God over halakha, traditional Rabbinic interpretation of Jewish law. This contributed to the charge of Jewish-Protestantism.
· Theology (exegesis):
· Letter Writing:
· Romanticism Poetry:
· Midrash:
· Other hermeneutical forms used are theology, prayer, sermon, and meditation.
· Engages in ecumenical discourse with Christians.
· Translation of Baltasar Orobio de Castro’s Israel Defended (1838).
· The Spirit of Judaism (1842) published in Philadelphia with notes by Rabbi Isaac Leeser. This went to three editions in the United States.
· The Women of Israel (1845).
· The Jewish Faith: its Spiritual Consolation, Moral Guidance, and Immortal Hope (1846) contains 31 letters written to encourage young women in their faith.
· “History of Jews in England” in Chambers’ Miscellany (1847) originally published anonymously.
· Essays and Miscellanies (1851-1852).
· Home Scenes and Heart Studies (1843).
· The Perez Family (1843).
· The Edict (1843).
· The Escape (1843). It is thought by Lucien Wolf that the plot of The Escape was adapted from her family history.
· Records of Israel (1844).
· Home Influence: a Tale for Mothers and Daughters (1847) which went through almost 30 editions and was written in 1836.
· The Mother’s Response (1851) published posthumously and written in 1836.
· Woman’s Friendship (1850) published posthumously.
· Martyr: A Story of Spain in the Fifteenth Century (1850) published posthumously. Written before 1835, this was twice translated into German and Hebrew.
· The Vale of Cedars (1850) published posthumously. Written before 1835.
· The Days of Bruce: a Story from Scottish History (1852) published posthumously.
· Gustavus Vasa (1828) never published, but her first written work.
· The Magic Wreath (1835) collection of poems published anonymously.
· The Wanderers (1838).
· The Importance of Religion to Genius (1839).
· Sabbath Thoughts IV (1839).
· Ode on Charity (1840).
· The Rocks of Elim (1840).
· Sabbath Thoughts V (1841).
· Past, Present and Future (1842).
· An Infant’s Smile (1842).
· Hymn to Summer (1842).
· The Chamber of Dying (1843).
· Sabbath Thoughts (1843).
· An Hour of Peace (1843).
· Song of the Spanish Jews (1843).
· Sabbath Thoughts II (1844).
· The Hebrew’s Appeal (1844).
· A Vision of Jerusalem (1844).
· Amete and Yafeh.
· Angels (1844).
· Communings With Nature – Night (1844).
· Sabbath Thoughts III (1844).
· Funeral Hymns (1844).
· Communings With Nature – Autumn Leaves (1844).
· “I Never Loved a Flower” (1844).
· Communings With Nature – Ocean (1845).
· Dialogue Stanzas (1845).
· Memory and Hope (1845).
· Communings With Nature – Autumn Winds (1846).
· The Widow (1846).
· Communings With Nature – The Evergreens (1846).
· The Jewish Year: Sabbath Bereshith (1847).
· The Jewish Year: Sabbath Noah (1847).
· Communings With Nature – Address to the Ocean (1847).
· Sabbath Thought VI (1847).
· Sarah Aguilar. “Memoir of Grace Aguilar,” in Home Influence by Grace Aguilar. London. Groomsbridge & Sons, 1885.
· Michael Galchinsky, The Origin of the Modern Jewish Woman Writer: Romance and Reform in Victorian England. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1996.
· Michael Galchinsky ed., Grace Aguilar: Selected Writings. Peterborough: Broadview, 2003.
· Michael Galchinsky. “A Torah for Victorian Women: Grace Aguilar and The Women of Israel.” Pre-publication. Used with the permission of the author.
· Michael Galchinsky. "A Victorian Midrash: Grace Aguilar and Her Book Women of Israel" [Hebrew] Masekhet 2 (2004): 47-60.
· Daniel A. Harris. “Hagar in Christian Britian: Grace Aguilar’s ‘The Wanderers.’” Pages 143-169 in Victorian Literature and Culture. New York: University of Cambridge Press, 1999.
· Abram S. Isaacs, The Young Champion: One Year in Grace Aguilar’s Girlhood. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1913.
· Cynthia Scheinberg. “Judaism rightly reverenced’: Grace Aguilar’s theological poetics,” Pages 146-189 in Women’s Poetry and Religion in Victorian England: Jewish Identity and Christian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
· Henrietta Szold. “Grace Aguilar” in The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Discriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present. 12 volumes. New York: Funk & Wagnells, 1901.
· Biographical Notes by Lucien Wolf. Lucien Wolf Papers B 20. Jewish Achieves.
· Obituary of Grace Aguilar in The Occident and American Jewish Advocate. Vol. 5, No. 8 (November 1847).
· Nadia Valman, “Aguilar, Grace (1816-1847),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.
