Regina Lilientalowa
Regina Lilientalowa born Gitla née Eiger; 24 November 1875 Zawichost — 4 December 1924, Warsaw) was a Polish ethnographer, translator and journalist of Jewish origin. She is known for her pioneering research on Jewish folk rituals and literature. Life. Gitla Eiger was born to Moses and Bluma Fayga nee Halpern, in a traditional family of moderately Polonized Jews, descendants of rabbi Akiwa Eiger (1761-1837), in Zawichost, at the time a part of the Russian Empire. She attended school at Sandomierz. After her marriage to Nathan Liliental in 1896, (in the Synagogue in Szczebrzeszyn) she moved to Warsaw. Lilientalowa  had three children, Stanisława (born 1897), Jan (who lived only for 7 months in 1900), and Antoni (born 1908). Stanisława became a mathematician, while Antoni joined the Polish army and was murdered in the Katyn Massacre. She died on 4 December 1924 from a failed operation in Warsaw. Career. In Warsaw, Lilientalowa wanted to pursue higher studies, which was difficult for women, especially those from a Jewish background. To earn a living, she taught writing in Yiddish and arithmetics at a cheder in Piaseczno (1903/1904), where she also conducted field study for her book "The Jewish Child" (1904). Later, in  Warsaw, she taught Jewish history at schools for Jewish girls (until 1923), with Polish as the main language of instruction (source- -Piotr Grącikowski, Regina Lilientalowa – uczona, Żydówka, kobieta, [w:] Obserwatorki z wyobraźnią. Etnograficzne i socjologiczne pisarstwo kobiet, red. Grażyna Kubica i Katarzyna Majbrody, Wrocław 2014, s. 107–130. [„Archiwum Etnograficzne”, t. 57].). She began to educate herself privately in Jewish folklore, supplementing her studies by attending the so-called "Flying University", which organised courses for women in secret. Under Ludwik Krzywicki, she expanded her knowledge of Jewish rituals and folk literature, and began to publish in Poland's main journals of  anthropology, "Wisła" and "Lud". Lilientalowa published her first ethnographic works "Przesady żydowskie" ("Jewish superstitions", 1898); "Zaręczyny i wesele żydowskie" ("Jewish betrothal and wedding", 1900); "Wierzenia, przesady i praktyki ludu żydowskiego" ("Beliefs, Superstitions and Practices of the Jews", 1904–1905). Her focus shifted from contemporary Jewish culture to historical customs and rituals, which she studied from German and Russian translations as well as the Yiddish Talmud. She later learned Hebrew and Aramaic to delve deeper into Talmudic traditions, resulting in two well-received books, "Dziecko żydowskie" ("The Jewish Child", 1904, and the second part of „The Jewish Child”, published in 1927, after  her death), and "Święta żydowskie w przeszłości i teraźniejszości" ("Jewish Holidays, in the Past and Present", 1909—1918). Her work included considerable material from field investigations in Lublin, Zawichost, and Radomski, using which she demonstrated the evolution of the rites of the main Jewish pilgrimage days (Pesach, Sabbath and Sukkoth), the religious holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah and Purim, which she linked to events associated with nature. Lilientalowa's interest in Jewish folklore led her to translate I. L. Peretz's Yiddish stories into the Polish language. These were published between 1906–1910. She translated Yiddish folk songs  from the collections of Saul Ginzberg and Peter Marek. She also published her translations of women's "tkhines" prayers, focusing on their moral, magical and healing properties. Selected works. -Piotr Grącikowski, Kobieta żydowska w badaniach Reginy Lilientalowej, [w:] Nieme dusze? Kobiety w kulturze jidysz, Joanna Lisek, Wrocław 2010, s. 379–400. -Piotr Grącikowski, Regina Lilientalowa – uczona, Żydówka, kobieta, [w:] Obserwatorki z wyobraźnią. Etnograficzne i socjologiczne pisarstwo kobiet, red. Grażyna Kubica i Katarzyna Majbrody, Wrocław 2014, s. 107–130. [„Archiwum Etnograficzne”, t. 57].