Map of Kazimierz / Kraków 1542
In Poland in the 1570s, a young girl grew up in the Jewish community outside Kraków. She didn't fit in.
picture of Jewish woman
At 12, Royzl wanted to study Torah. Even though it was forbidden, Royzl's grandfather, the rabbi, taught her. Trouble ensued. Once Royzl Fishl married, her husband discouraged her from studying.
Hannover Germany, 16th century
After her husband died, Royzl traveled 1,000 miles to Hannover, Germany to rescue a sacred book, facing danger and censure from her own community.
On the river outside Wroclaw (Breslau)
Author Ann Feldman uses her talents as a storyteller and historian to weave together Royzl’s actual words with her imagined life. Ann shadowed Royzl’s 1,000 mile journey from Kazimierz to Hannover, following the waterways and roads that Royzl traveled 450 years ago. Ann has a thirty-year history of creating stories about forgotten or underrepresented women and minorities to create video and radio documentaries.