Hannah Advertiser

Hannah Rachel advertisers makers (also: [V / W] e [r] bermacher , presumably born from 1805 to 1820 in Ludomir ; died probably 1888-1905) was an Eastern European - Hasidic Wunderrabbinerin . She was also known as the Virgin of Ludomir and other names. Most of the details of her life are not exactly known, but were spread through oral tradition and later in hagiographies , edification literature and historical novels.

Life

She was born in the Ludomir shtetl as the only daughter of Monesch Webermacher in Volhynia (at that time for a few years in the Russian Empire ) and raised godly, although possibly not in the strict Hasidic tradition. Her mother's name is not known. Various stories name the father's profession as a merchant or cloth maker. An activity as a rabbi is unlikely, since his family name does not appear in Jewish correspondence. He is said to have been a supporter of one of the nationally active rabbis of his time - Mordechai Twersky in Chernobyl , Jaakow Jizchak Horowitz in Lublin or Zvi Hirsch in Schydatschiw are named .

The reports support an exceptionally good education of the young Hannah, who either attended school or was trained by their educated parents. She is said to have learned Yiddish , Hebrew, Ukrainian and Russian, as well as having a good knowledge of the Torah , and also to have shown interest in the father's business. Various stories claim early abnormalities, including the ability to spot non-kosher food.

After the death of her mother, the girl fell into a serious crisis, allegedly also a febrile illness, which she found out only after a miracle happened to her according to her own statement: God gave her a male soul during the night. She also refused to eat until she was given a prayer shawl, which traditionally was only allowed to be worn by men. After her recovery, she insisted on performing all rituals reserved for men. Her father initially supported this need, but is said to have always consulted intensively with the spiritual authorities.

Reports of her miraculous healing spread throughout the area, and over the years Hannah became an important figure in her Jewish community, which eventually drew pilgrims as well. She fought off the naturalization of the term "virgin" with reference to her self-image as a man, but was unsuccessful. Through sermons and life wisdom, she proved her “male” mind, and she also supposedly caused healing miracles. A compromise is said to have been found with the Orthodox elders in the village that did not completely exclude them from the service with the help of a curtain, even if they were not allowed to actively participate in it. Like some other miracle rabbis, she had received no formal training, and after arguments and questioning, skeptical Hasidic rabbis eventually determined that she was not a true scribe but rather a sinner.

After she had been forced to marry by the authorities, the message spread that her miraculous abilities (which were further increased in retrospect) had now dried up; or that she has since been confused and absent-minded. Her husband, who is not known by name, is said to have not touched her out of fear. The reports disagree on if and when she got divorced and her abilities reappeared. Presumably in the late 1850s, Hannah was persuaded to emigrate to Safed, in the Holy Land , on the pretext that her spiritual skills were better used there. There she is said to have found spiritual followers again, albeit mainly older women, and even to have been a Kabbalist . Her stay in Palestine and Jerusalem can be documented for 1866 and 1875 . She is said to have been around 90 years old. The circumstances of her death and her burial site are unknown. Tradition has it that she was buried in a large procession on the Mount of Olives , but contemporary publications from Jerusalem such as the Havatselet report nothing about such an event. However, a death register names June 29, 1888 as the date of death of a Rochel Hannah asked Monesh .

reception

In 1923/1924 Leyb Malakh, an emigrant in Buenos Aires , published his serialized drama Das Gorn Shtibl , based on oral traditions known to him , which thematized the Virgin of Ludomir. This marked the beginning of a whole series of testimonies to the life of Hannah Werbermacher. Yochanan Twersky wrote The Virgin of Ludmir in 1950 . In 1997 the play The Virgin of Ludmir by Yoseph Even-Shoshan was premiered at the Jerusalem Khan Theater . In 2014 a street in Jerusalem was named after her.

Individual evidence

1. ^ According to German, p. 75: Two documents from Palestine support 1806, oral tradition in Volhynia usually says 1815. According to Hoffer's interpretation: June 3, 1816.
2. ^ This is how German concludes from census registers.

literature

• Nathaniel Deutsch: The Maiden of Ludmir: A Jewish Holy Woman and Her World . University of California Press, 2003, ISBN 0-520-92797-4 .
• Gerda Hoffer : Time of the heroines. Life pictures of extraordinary Jewish women . dtv, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-423-30701-3 , pp. 145–158.
• Gershon Winkler: They called her Rebbe, the Maiden of Ludomir. Judaica Press, New York 1991, ISBN 0-910818-83-5 .