Meir ben Eliyahu. Tzava’oth Mahara”m [ethical will for females, with a prayer upon child-birth]

(WOMEN).

Vilna

1838

Yiddish, printed in Wayber-taytsch type.

Bibliographically unrecorded. Written entirely in Yiddish for the author’s daughters. Although Meir ben Eliyahu had previously issued a lengthier last will and testament in Hebrew for his sons and sons-in-law under the title Nachlath Avoth (1836), he felt that his daughters required their own particular ethical instruction in Yiddish which they would more competently understand. He beseeches his family not to conduct themselves as per the common practices of the time, but instead to instill in themselves the constant fear of God. The reason for publication, was for the benefit of all women as a whole. Although the author does not provide his name in full, he identifies himself as the grandson of the Vilna Gaon’s brother, R. Abraham.