A Woman Is Responsible for Everything

"Winner of the Women’s Stud­ies Bar­bara Dobkin Award, Jewish Book Council"
"Winner of the ­Nahum M. Sar­na Memo­r­i­al Award, Jewish Book Council"
"A prodigiously researched and beautifully illustrated contribution to Jewish and women’s studies." * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *
"A treasure trove of quirky detail and unexpected stories. . . . [A Woman Is Responsible for Everything is] an extraordinary work of academic scholarship, uncovering the enormous contribution to building Jewish life over the centuries made by women whose stories would otherwise remain forgotten."---Jennifer Lipman, The Jewish Chronicle
"The char­ac­ter­i­za­tions ​'path­break­ing' and ​'field-chang­ing; should be reserved only for schol­ar­ly con­tri­bu­tions that reori­ent how a top­ic is stud­ied. A Woman is Respon­si­ble for Every­thing mer­its such acclaim. . . . Although schol­ar­ship can­not res­ur­rect the dead, recon­struct­ing the lives of those who have passed is the next best thing; Kaplan and Car­lebach have done just that for ear­ly mod­ern Jew­ish women."---Bri­an Hill­man, Jewish Book Council
"A Woman is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe by professors Elisheva Carlebach and Debra Kaplan is one of those rare works that reshapes not only what we know, but how we know. The book uncovers the oversized, often unacknowledged role of Jewish women who fashioned communal and religious life in early modern Europe—not only within the home, but in the broader networks of economy, ritual, and prayer."---David Bashevkin, 18Forty
"A monumental treatise that uncovers fascinating truths about the structure of Jewish life roughly half a millennium ago. . . . A Woman is Responsible for Everything [is] not just a work of academic history, but also a beautiful book worth owning in hard copy. In addition to the many color images, the book is generously illustrated throughout with reproductions of manuscripts and printed books as well as photographs of material artifacts, such that reading this book is like gaining access both to a library archive and to a museum."---Ilana Kurshan, Tradition
"[A Woman Is Responsible for Everything] examines the lived religious, social, and economic experiences of Jewish women in early modern Central Europe. Kaplan and Carlebach’s central claim is that Jewish women were not marginal figures operating on the periphery of communal life, but rather integral participants whose actions and responsibilities were embedded within the functioning of Jewish society and its institutions. . . . The authors show how one can write careful, honest gender history even when almost all sources were written by men, without overstating their conclusions. This title is recommended for all libraries."---David Tesler, Association of Jewish Libraries
"A milestone in historiog­raphy of Jewish communities and Jewish women's history, and a major contri­bution to both research fields. . . . A Woman Is Responsible for Everything will undoubtedly become essential for any future research on Ashkenazi Jewish history and women's history. It is expertly researched."---Noa Shashar, Contemporary Jewry
"[An] impressive work of scholarship. . . . This work is highly recommended for anyone interested in Jewish history."---Rachel Esserman, The Reporter