The maiden of Ludmir : a Jewish holy woman and her world / Nathaniel Deutsch ; foreword by Janusz Bardach.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deutsch, Nathaniel.

Series:

The S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Werbermacher, Chana Rochel, 1815-1892.

Werbermacher, Chana Rochel.

Women rabbis--Biography.

Women rabbis.

Zaddikot--Biography.

Zaddikot.

Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Ukraine)--Biography.

Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Ukraine).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (340 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. ; London : University of California Press, 2003.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Hannah Rochel Verbermacher, a Hasidic holy woman known as the Maiden of Ludmir, was born in early-nineteenth-century Russia and became famous as the only woman in the three-hundred-year history of Hasidism to function as a rebbe-or charismatic leader-in her own right. Nathaniel Deutsch follows the traces left by the Maiden in both history and legend to fully explore her fascinating story for the first time. The Maiden of Ludmir offers powerful insights into the Jewish mystical tradition, into the Maiden's place within it, and into the remarkable Jewish community of Ludmir. Her biography ultimately becomes a provocative meditation on the complex relationships between history and memory, Judaism and modernity. History first finds the Maiden in the eastern European town of Ludmir, venerated by her followers as a master of the Kabbalah, teacher, and visionary, and accused by her detractors of being possessed by a dybbuk, or evil spirit. Deutsch traces the Maiden's steps from Ludmir to Ottoman Palestine, where she eventually immigrated and re-established herself as a holy woman. While the Maiden's story-including her adamant refusal to marry-recalls the lives of holy women in other traditions, it also brings to light the largely unwritten history of early-modern Jewish women. To this day, her transgressive behavior, a challenge to traditional Jewish views of gender and sexuality, continues to inspire debate and, sometimes, censorship within the Jewish community.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Ansky Visits Ludmir

1. A Dybbuk Trilogy, or How the Maiden of Ludmir Became a Literary Figure

2. Writing the Maiden

3. Afterlives: Remembering the Maiden

4. The Curse, the Cossacks, and the Messiah: Ludmir Before the Maiden

5. Birth and Childhood

6. Love and Death

7. The Maiden Possessed

8. False Male and Woman Rebbe?

9. The Witch-hunt in Ludmir

10. The Wedding and Its Aftermath

11. In the Holy Land

Conclusion: Tracing the Maiden

Afterword: Journey to Ludmir

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612356230

9780520927971

0520927974

9781282356238

1282356232

9781597347266

1597347264

OCLC:

475929208