Grace Aguilar
Grace Aguilar (1816-1847) was a notable English writer of Jewish heritage, born in London’s Hackney to parents of Spanish descent. She was the eldest child in her family and received a home education, developing a strong foundation in classics and history. Her father, Emanuel Aguilar, was a merchant and a prominent figure in the Sephardic Jewish community, while her mother, Sarah Dias Fernandes, ran a private school for boys. Aguilar's early exposure to Protestantism during her family's time in Devonshire sparked her interest in bridging gaps in understanding between Judaism and Christianity, leading her to become the first woman to write extensively in English about Judaism.
Throughout her life, she published several significant works aimed at explaining Jewish beliefs and values, including her well-received book, *The Women of Israel*. Her writing sought to counter prejudice and promote harmonious relations between Jews and Christians. In addition to her religious texts, Aguilar wrote poetry and novels, such as *Home Influence* and its sequel, *A Mother's Recompense*, which reflect Victorian values on motherhood and women's roles. Despite her literary success, she faced a long struggle with health issues, which ultimately led to her premature death in Frankfurt at the age of thirty-one. Aguilar's contributions to literature and her efforts to enhance the understanding of her faith have left a lasting impact.
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Grace Aguilar
Author
- Born: June 2, 1816
- Birthplace: The Paragon, Hackney, London, England
- Died: September 16, 1847
- Place of death: Frankfurt, Germany
Biography
Born in the Jewish enclave of London’s Hackney to Jewish parents of Spanish origin, Grace Aguilar was her parents’ eldest child. Like her siblings, she was schooled at home. She became proficient in the classics and in history. Her father, Emanuel Aguilar, a merchant, was an erudite man and a leader in London’s Sephardic community. Her mother, Sarah Dias Fernandes ran a private school for boys with her daughter’s help.
Because both parents suffered from ill health, they spent as much time as they could in the countryside of Devonshire, where the young Aguilar was exposed to Protestantism. She visited numerous churches of various denominations and became aware of the considerable ignorance the British people had about Judaism.
By the time Emanuel Aguilar died in 1845, Aguilar had published three books on Judaism, and in the process had become the first woman author to write in English about the religion. Aside from her ventures into Protestant churches in Devonshire, her education was totally acquired at home. With her father’s death, the responsibility of supporting the family fell to Aguilar, and she provided for ger two younger brothers. Her The Women of Israel was widely distributed and read in England and abroad.
Aguilar’s motive in writing religious books was to explain Judaism to readers who had little knowledge of the religion. Her work was quite different from that of her great- grandfather, Benjamin Dias Fernandes, who published widely in Spain during the eighteenth century but whose work was more polemic than didactic. Aguilar hoped that her writing would help eliminate prejudice and strengthen harmonious Jewish-Christian relations.
Economic necessity motivated Aquilar to continue writing books about her faith. She also wrote a great deal of poetry, much of which was published in journals, and several novels, most of which were published posthumously. Home Influence, one of the novels that appeared during her lifetime, is a typical Victorian novel that promotes the value of motherhood and acknowledges the notion that women’s freedom should be limited and essentially determined by men. This novel was followed by its sequel, A Mother’s Recompense, whose main theme is in much the same vein as that of Home Influence.
A Mother’s Recompense was followed by the publication in 1852 of her final work of long fiction, The Days of Bruce. Most of Aguilar’s works on religion and some of her novels were translated into foreign languages even during her abbreviated lifetime. Weakened by a case of measles when she was twenty-one, she endured a decade of ill health and died at thirty-one. Her mother, desperate to save her daughter’s life, took her to Germany for treatment. There Aguilar suffered convulsions that rendered her unable to speak. She died in Frankfurt after using her fingers to sign her final thoughts that indicated her faith in God.