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#ngl I am highkey thinking of petitioning to literally play her at renfaire next summer
koshercosplay · 3 years
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PLEASE do go off about one of the coolest jewish women in modern history, i've never heard of her and i want to know
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*evil laughs* I AM HAPPY TO OBLIGE.
it's time for everyone to learn about the incredible, badass, and witty sephardic Jewish woman named Dona Gracia Mendes-Nasi.
the first thing we start with is the spanish inquisition, which nobody ever expects.
she was born into a family of recent conversos in Portugal in 1510. she grows up, marries her rich uncle, and then ten years later he dies and leaves her half of the family business, and leaves the other half to his brother (her other uncle and also brother-in-law? told you this story was interesting)
so then she moves to antwerp with her family (because it's portuguese inquisition time yay) and five years later that guy ALSO dies, leaving her basically in charge of a massive spice trading, precious gems, and banking business empire.
she becomes enormously wealthy, and gains a worthy reputation as a shrewd businesswoman that nobody wants to fuck with. everyone thinks she's going to remarry after losing her husband but nope she's like I don't have time for men I have a business to run and Jews to save.
yeah you read that right! she has popes and sultans and the literal caesar on speed dial. she personally owns and commands a fleet of ships that bring with them wealth and knowledge.
but what does she do with it all?
SHE ORGANIZES A SECRET UNDERGROUND SPY RING TO HELP JEWS ESCAPE PERSECUTION.
yeah you heard me!
she establishes a secret route with safe houses along the way for marranos and conversos and Jewish people seeking a safe haven to practice Judaism. she has numerous scouts who report directly back to her on the nature of foreign politics and affairs, and she arranges houses for Jews to settle in once they reach safer countries.
she singlehandedly saved HUNDREDS of Jewish lives.
and that's not even all!
Dona Gracia becomes the first woman EVER in the Ottoman Empire to own her own printing and publishing company. she commissions and publishes numerous Jewish writings on Torah and the Talmud to purposefully counteract the book burnings and theft happening in Jewish communities around Europe. she was so influential that the ladino version of tanakh (called the Ferrara Bible) is literally dedicated to her.
she ASKED the literal SULTAN to give her the city of Tiberias in then-Palestine to run as she sees fit and he was like sure bestie go for it and then she DID. she sponsored tons of Jewish families to go live there and built it up as a safe haven for Jewish communities.
when she found out that a city in Italy was about to hang a group of Jews for the crime of practicing Judaism she was like fuck no and pulled her ships out of that harbor and sent all those goods to a different city, which had INTERNATIONAL REPERCUSSIONS.
she sponsored yeshivas and synagogues and schools in Italy, in Constantinople, and in Tiberias, and she was a fierce advocate for the Jewish way of life.
and she did all of this while living as a Jewish woman in the 1500s.
in short, she was a BADASS. and everyone should know about her.
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