Esther Gad – eine aufgeklärte Jüdin als Akteurin der Haskala in Breslau. Feministische Perspektiven

Abstract

The article presents a close reading of a poem which was written by the local Jewish writer Esther Gad for the occasion of the Jewish Wilhelm School’s inauguration in Breslau on March 15, 1791. On this basis, it offers a feminist perspective on the Jewish Enlightenment: Esther Gad was the first Jewish woman who emerged as a writer in the German language, but the Haskalah did not provide her with suitable conditions for her emancipation as a female Jewish author, as it was restricted to learned men proficient in Hebrew.