The Widow: Devorah Romm and the Romm Press (with Prof. Motti Zalkin)
October 11, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readThe Widow: How Devorah Romm Built the Jewish Book World
In 1860, the owner of the Romm printing house in Vilna died suddenly in St. Petersburg. His widow, Devorah Romm, took over the business within months—and in doing so, she became known across the Jewish world simply as "the widow." The title of Professor Motti Zalkin's new Hebrew book, HaAlmanah ("The Widow"), captures this paradox: a woman who ran one of the most influential Jewish publishing enterprises in history was so little known by name that most people who bought her books had no idea what to call her.
From Small Press to Publishing Empire
The Romm press began modestly in the late 18th century, when a Galician Jew named Menashe moved to a small shtetl in northern Belarus and started printing with partners. By the early 1800s, he relocated to Vilna, recognizing the larger market for Jewish books. The press passed from father to son for decades, operating on a simple principle: print whatever is profitable. This meant siddurim, tkhines, and mahzorim sold by the thousands, but also prayer books for local churches and Haskalah literature. The family was, as Zalkin puts it, "a real capitalistic company."
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:05) **Episode Opening & Host Introduction** - Host Nahi Weinstein introduces the episode and sponsor messages.
- 2 (01:14) **Guest Introduction: Professor Motti Zalkin** - Host introduces Professor Zalkin, a professor emeritus at Ben-Gurion University, to discuss his new Hebrew book on Devorah Romm and the Romm Press.
- 3 (04:11) **The Origin of the Romm Press Research** - Zalkin recounts how his research on the Romm Press began with a visit to the press's building in 1993 and a decade-long dedication to the project.
- 4 (06:42) **The Unreliable History: Challenging Feigenson's Memoirs** - Zalkin explains that previous histories of the press relied on the memoirs of Shmuel Shraga Feigenson (Shafan ha-Sofer), which he found to be heavily manipulated and unreliable.
- 5 (07:56) **The Romm Family Origins and the Rise of Devorah Romm** - The family name "Romm" comes from the initials of "Reb Manes," and the press was inherited by Devorah Romm after her husband's sudden death in 1860.
- 6 (13:11) **The Press's Business Model Under Devorah** - Devorah ran the press with a purely capitalist mindset, printing any book that was profitable, from siddurim to church prayer books.
- 7 (15:49) **The Character and Management Style of Devorah Romm** - Devorah was a tough, no-nonsense businesswoman who hired top professionals to compensate for her own lack of printing and business knowledge.
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Show Notes
#528
> To purchase the book: https://www.carmelph.co.il/product/the-widow/
> To pre-order the English edition: https://amzn.to/4y5Drgo
> Sponsored by the Hizkiyas in honor of their daughter, their nieces and all the wonderful ladies in the family. May they continue to blossom into powerful and impactful Jewish women.
> Also sponsored by Moshe Rom in honor of the SeforimChatter podcast and all those working to print and publish seforim.
> This episode is sponsored by KosherKlaf.com, your trusted source for mezuzos, tefillin, Sifrei Torah, and megillos. Expert guidance, transparent pricing, and nationwide shipping. Visit https://kosherklaf.com or call 516-737-5436
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