Tkhines were Yiddish-language prayer booklets, intended mainly for use by Jewish women who, unlike the men of the time, typically could not read Hebrew. Typically, they invoked God's blessings, asked for purification from evil thoughts, and mentioned the biblical matriarchs as models of righteousness. [Liptzin, 1972, 15]

Many Tkhines dealt with daily, weekly, monthly, or annual events; others dealt with life passages, such as marriage, birth, one's son's bar mitzvah, or bereavement; still others were meant to ward off the evil eye, or to call down God's blessing on a husband who was an itinerant merchant, and so forth. [Liptzin, 1972, 15-16]

The most widespread Tkhine was the Schloshe Shearim ("Three Portals"), ascribed to Sarah Bas Tovim, circa 1700. [Liptzin, 1972, 16]

References

• Liptzin, Sol, A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, ISBN 0-8246-0124-6.