Maiden of Ludmir

Female rebbe

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Munish Verbermacher (father)

BuriedMount of Olives

The Maiden of Ludmir (Yiddish: לודמירער מױד, romanized: Ludmirer Moyd, Hebrew: הבתולה מלודמיר, romanized: HabBeṭulah milLuḏmir), Hannah Rachel Vermermacher (Yiddish: חנה רחל ווערבערמאכער, romanized: Hane Rokhl Verbermakher, 1805–1888),^{[notes 1]} also known rarely as the Ludmirer Rebbe,^[1] was the only independent female rebbe in the history of Hasidic Judaism.^[2]

Biography

Hane Rokhl Verbermacher was born in the early nineteenth century in the shtetl of Ludmir in the Russian Empire, which is now Volodymyr in Ukraine, to Hasidic parents. Her father, Munish Verbermacher,^[3] was a devotee of Mordechai Twersky, known as the "Maggid of Chernobyl", as well as a wealthy businessman. He provided an extensive education for his only daughter, which included many fields of Torah study.

She appears not to have been a remarkable child, but underwent a transformation in her late teens. Declining marriage, she started to fulfill all the commandments, including those not incumbent among women, and increased her Torah study. She gained fame as a scholar and holy woman with powers to perform miracles.^[4]

As her fame grew she assumed functions generally reserved for Hasidic rebbes, such as receiving audiences and accepting kvitlach (prayer request notes), and to preside over a tish (the traditional Shabbat meals eaten in the company of one's Hasidim) at which she would offer Torah teachings and pass shirayim (leftovers from a rebbe's meal), although many accounts say that she did so from behind a screen out of modesty.

However, she remained an anomaly and had to withstand strong opposition from the fiercely traditional Hasidic community, who were made ill at ease by this unusual woman. At some point the pressure for her to refrain from her activities grew strong, and her father asked her to consult with his rebbe, Mordechai Twersky, the Maggid of Chernobyl, on the matter. The Maggid convinced her to discontinue her unusual behavior, and encouraged her to marry and assume the traditional role for Hasidic women.

After the visit to the Rebbe, Hane Rokhl temporarily halted her activities as a Hasidic leader and teacher. She even married, although it is disputed how long the marriage lasted.

Later she immigrated to Ottoman Palestine and settled in Jerusalem. There she attracted a small group of followers. On Shabbat afternoons, they would come to hear her recite words of Torah, and on Rosh Chodesh she would accompany them to Rachel's Tomb for prayer. She died on 22 Tammuz, and is buried on the Mount of Olives.

Notes

^ The Library of Congress authority file gives her dates as 1815–1892

References

^ Bar-Itzhak (2009). "The Legend of the Jewish Holy Virgin of Ludmir: A Folkloristic Perspective". Journal of Folklore Research. 46 (3): 269–292. doi:10.2979/jfr.2009.46.3.269. JSTOR 10.2979/jfr.2009.46.3.269. S2CID 161754482.
^ Deutsch, Nathaniel (June 10, 2010). "Maiden of Ludmir". The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. YIVO. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
^ Deutsch, Nathaniel (2003). The Maiden of Ludmir: A Jewish Holy Woman and Her World. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-520-23191-0.
^ Judith R. Baskin (31 August 2011). The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture. Cambridge University Press. pp. 641–642. ISBN 978-1-316-15426-7.

External links

Khane-Rokhl Webermakher: The Maiden of Ludmir, Video Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson

Women rabbis and Torah scholars

Timeline of women rabbis

Pre-modern
figures

Bible and Talmud	Deborah (1107–1067 BCE) Bruriah (2nd century)
Medieval and early modern era	Rashi's daughters (11th–12th century) Bat ha-Levi (12th century) Paula Dei Mansi (13th century) Miriam Shapira-Luria (14th century) Fioretta of Modena (1522–1580) Bayla Falk (16th century) Eva Bacharach (1580–1651) Asenath Barzani (1590–1670) Frehat Bat Avraham (d. 1756) Maiden of Ludmir (1805–1888)

Modern figures

Ray Frank (1861–1948)
Lily Montagu (1873–1963)
Regina Jonas (1902–1944)
Tehilla Lichtenstein (1893–1973)
Paula Ackerman (1893–1989)
Martha Neumark (1904–1981)
Avis Clamitz (1908-1991)
Helen Levinthal (1910–1989)
Sally Priesand (b. 1946)
Mimi Feigelson (b. 1963)

First ordination by denomination	Regina Jonas (Reform, 1935) Sandy Sasso (Reconstructionist, 1974) Lynn Gottlieb (Renewal, 1981) Amy Eilberg (Conservative, 1985) Tamara Kolton (Humanistic, 1999) Sara Hurwitz (Orthodox, 2009)