Background
Penina Moise was born on 23 April 1797, in Charleston, South Carolina. She was the daughter of Abraham and Sarah Moise.
(This little volume is compiled by the undersigned members...)
This little volume is compiled by the undersigned members of the Charleston Section, of the Council of Jewish Women, who were personally acquainted with the beloved and revered authoress, either as relatives, pupils, or children of dear friends. It has been a work of love, and though containing but few of her prose writings, and not all of her poems, it is as complete as was possible, considering lapse of time, condition of manuscripts, and the difficulty of thorough research. They were composed between 1820 and 1880 and are published in the order in which they were written, or as nearly so as can be determined. Much assistance has been found through the old files of The Charleston Courier. The publication has been a voluntary tribute from the Section to one of the three Jewish women whose lives and works fitted them for positions of distinction in the world. Rebecca Gratz, Emma Lazarus and Penina Moise represent much in Jewish womanhood. The two first had beauty, wealth and social prestige; the last had the social position by birth but owing to poverty from childhood, and ill health, followed by years of blindness, she lived the life of a martyr. Not withstanding this, she became through her character and mind, the nucleus of a coterie of refined and cultivated people scarcely credible under the circumstances. She was a poetess of the heart and soul. No claim is laid that the literature of the world will be augmented by this little book. Somewhere among her poems, will be found something to fit almost any human emotion. Nowhere will be found anything but Faith, Submission, Affection, Cheerfulness and a passionate love for nature and her works. Can any more be asked? Penina Moise left behind her, the incense of a purely religious life.
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(Excerpt from Fancy's Sketch Book Why do you continue thi...)
Excerpt from Fancy's Sketch Book Why do you continue this senseless raillery? In truth I know not how to propitiate those formidable oracles, and therefore presumed not to lift my eyes to wards them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Penina Moise was born on 23 April 1797, in Charleston, South Carolina. She was the daughter of Abraham and Sarah Moise.
The death of her father, an Alsatian Jew who had first emigrated to Santo Domingo and had then fled to Charleston during the negro uprising in 1791, compelled Penina to leave school when she was twelve years old in order to help support the large family. Being very studious, she gave her spare time to study and attained a high degree of scholarship, at the same time cultivating her own literary talents.
Moise's early years were filled with self-sacrificing endeavor, for she devoted herself during the early part of her life to her home and community interests, being especially active in religious and welfare work, teaching, nursing, and writing hymns. In the latter years of her life, although handicapped by failing eyesight and finally total blindness, she conducted a small but exceptionally fine school for the young girls of her race. By 1830, she had begun writing poetry voluminously. In 1833, she published Fancy's Sketch Book and thereafter contributed many poems to the Occident and American Jewish Advocate, Godey's Lady's Book, the Home Journal, and the Boston Daily Times, the Washington Union, and Heriot's Magazine, besides many occasional pieces in New Orleans and Charleston papers. Her best-loved and most characteristic work is contained in the volume of Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations (1856), especially compiled for the use of the congregation of Beth Elohim, the synagogue of which she was a member. The quality of these poems and hymns is, in the main, not above the average, although some of them are beautiful and stately. The predominant note is reminiscent of eighteenth-century English classicism, but occasionally there is interspersed a hint of romanticism.
(This little volume is compiled by the undersigned members...)
(Excerpt from Fancy's Sketch Book Why do you continue thi...)
Perhaps Moise was never married.