More on Rebbetzin Diskin

A complete discussion of Rebbetzin Diskin's role in Yerushalmi politics can be found in a Touro dissertation, Maharil Diskin, the man and his era (1994) , David Rotloy(?) pg.s 125-133.

In her youth, she was pretty, and dressed in the latest fashions (even with some pritzus), and was fluent in French. She married RYL Diskin at the age of 40,a nd went up with him to Jerusalem. There she is referred to in many newspapers as the commander of the kannoim, with quotes such as this one:

He quotes a source that as her saying "Let a fifth of Yerushalayim be destroyed but I won't send away any of "my" men." when asked to send away some of the kanoim.

Rotloy suggests that the reason the newspapers of the time gave her such an inflated role in the politics, is that Maharil Diskin was too great a figure to attack directly so they preferred to attack his wife. In addition, R Diskin rarely left his house, so it was his wife who asked him questions and transmitted his answers. Many suspected her of doctoring the answers or the questions.

A hesped of her can be found here (although I don't get the tea story), and another report concerning her can be found in Moriah.

(N.B. Her name and that of couple of other women is mentioned here, I don't know of any parallel.)