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Are there any examples of songs, poems, piyyutim or kinnot from the time of the first temple until the 1700's (c.e.) which were authored by women and were adopted by traditional/orthodox communities.

By adopted I mean either sung, or included in a standard edition bentcher or song/prayer books.

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    You explicitly exclude it by your time frame, but it's impossible not to mention sefaria.org/Judges.5.1. And they arguably contributed to Az Yashir depending how you understand sefaria.org/Exodus.15.21. ותען and the order in Chumash implies the men were first, שירו implies the women were first. The final product could have come from both groups.
    – Heshy
    Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 16:11
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    the timeframe is not arbitrary, I am aware of shirat devorah and other songs/poems in tanach which is why I chose the 1st temple period to start. I chose the 1700's to avoid confusion with any female poetry composed during the haskala or other movements thereafter Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 17:51
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    These don't meet your criteria for being included in a standard edition, but apparently (from Wikipedia) there are only three known female Jewish medieval poets: Qasmuna, Sarah of Yemen, and Dunash ben Labrat's wife (only the last of whom wrote in Hebrew)
    – b a
    Commented Aug 9, 2018 at 10:26
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    @ba Mrs. Dunash’s poem was first published by Aluny here. On the basis of additional mss. Ezra Fleischer subsequently republished it. FWIW, Fleischer entertains the possibility that it, and a different poem of her husband, were both authored by the latter, though he seems convinced it was indeed authored by Mrs. Dunash. (I can’t locate Fleischer’s article online; t’was printed in מחקרי ירושלים בספרות עברית 1984.)
    – Oliver
    Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 15:01
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    About poems/poetry not adopted and standardized in prayer [books], Habermann (Mi’pri Ha’et VeHa’eth p. 93) lists a few that are attributed to various women, among them R. Yehudah HaLevi’s daughter - the wife of Ibn Ezra.
    – Oliver
    Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 15:19

1 Answer 1

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A fifteenth-century Spanish poet, Merecina of Gerona, composed a piyyut called מי ברוך נורא ואדיר. Unlike other Hebrew poetry by Jewish women prior to the 18th century, this work was discovered in a Sephardic machzor, and thus likely used communally. In addition to her name appearing as an acrostic, the poem in the medieval machzor contains the following preface:

זמר זה עשתה אשת חיל הגבירה מרת מרזנא הרבנית מגירונה

The song was composed by a woman of valor, the lady Merecina, the Rabbanit from Gerona.

Today, the piyyut appears in Aliza Lavie's Tefillat Nashim, p. 197, a very popular bestseller in Israel celebrated by a spectrum of religious and secular communities. The book, which contains a few other prayers from before the 1700s, was also published in English as A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book, but doesn't contain Merecina's poem there.

I can't speak to the piyyut's widespread acceptance specifically, but to add that Lavie's book has become a cross-cultural hit in Israel. As this 2009 article from The Forward mentioned:

Lavie...has been invited to speak across the religious spectrum, from Jerusalem’s most fervently Orthodox precinct, Mea Shearim (where her hosts asked her to wear a wig, which she promptly went out and purchased), to a fervently secular kibbutz (where she gave a talk to prepare members for their first Yom Kippur worship).

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    Link to the words of the song and an English translation: books.google.co.il/…
    – Harel13
    Commented Dec 5, 2022 at 15:49
  • The Forward must be making up that Aliza Lavie was asked to speak in Meah Shearim and other such places. She was a MK for Yesh Atid and a a member of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality so she would be as popular as the plague there. Plus in Meah Shearim women don't wear wigs! They cover their hair with cloth coverings. So why did they tell her to get a wig?
    – Schmerel
    Commented Dec 6, 2022 at 12:36
  • @Schmerel She wasn't a politician, nor did Yesh Atid exist, when she published the book. She was a lecturer at Bar Ilan then.
    – Aryeh
    Commented Dec 6, 2022 at 17:54

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