Nina Salaman (1877–1925)

Nina Ruth Davis was born to an Anglo-Jewish family in England's industrial heartland. When she was a baby, the family moved to London, where her father embraced Orthodox Judaism and became a published Jewish scholar. He gave Nina and her sister Elsie an intensive Jewish education. While still in her teens, Nina began publishing translations of medieval Hebrew poetry in the Anglo-Jewish press. She also contributed to her father’s works. She received further encouragement from Israel Zangwill, who introduced her to the Jewish Publication Society of America (JPS). The JPS published Nina's collection Songs of Exile by Hebrew Poets in 1901. That same year, Nina married Redcliffe Nathan Salaman, a physician, with whom she had six children. Dr. Salaman contracted tuberculosis, forcing him to stop practicing medicine, and the family moved to a comfortable house in the village of Barley, Hertfordshire. There Nina Davis Salaman continued to pursue her interest in medieval Hebrew poetry, while also running a large household and supervising her children’s Jewish and secular education. As a leading figure in county society, she also entertained local dignitaries, hosted garden parties, and assisted the poor. In 1916, the JPS invited Nina to translate the 11th-century poetry of Judah Halevi. She submitted the manuscript in 1922, but it was not published until 1924, a few months before her death.
Despite her deep attachment to Jewish tradition, Nina David Salaman was not a traditionalist when it came to the position of women. Like Israel Zangwill and her sisters-in-law Isabelle Salaman Davis and Jennie Salaman Cohen, she was active in the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage, which campaigned not only to win the vote for women but to improve the status of women in the Jewish community. She was particularly concerned about teaching Jewish women to become literate in Hebrew. Her writing and lectures shattered what had previously been a male preserve of Jewish scholarship in Britain. Then on Friday, December 5, 1919, Nina Davis Salaman became the first woman to preach in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Britain when she spoke on the weekly Torah portion to the Cambridge Hebrew Congregation. The event caused quite a stir even outside the Jewish community. Nina Salaman was also a passionate Jewish nationalist. In 1916, she published one of the first English translations of "Hatikvah," which later became the Israeli national anthem. In addition to her translations, Nina published her own poetry, historical and critical essays, book reviews, and an anthology of Jewish readings for children.