She was, shockingly, a female hasidic rebbe in what is today Ukraine who actually had followers. She put on tefillin (two pairs daily) and a tallit, studied and taught kabbalah, received female audiences, accepted kvitlach (notes requesting blessings and prayers), held traditional hasidic public tishes (public Shabbat meals), and taught Torah publicly all things not done by women at that time. (Most of those things are still not done by hasidic women.) Her followers would even follow the custom of shirayim (eating a rebbe’s leftovers because it is believed that the blessing made by the rebbe over the food elevates hidden kabbalistic sparks with that food and transforms the food from mundane matter to holiness).
Street Named After Famous Hasidic Virgin Draws Haredi Ire
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The City of Jerusalem decided to name a street after The Maiden of Ludmir, Channah Rachel Verbermacher, at first sparking haredi outrage.
Hannah Rachel Verbermacher (1805–1888) was, shockingly, a female hasidic rebbe in what is today Ukraine who actually had followers. She put on tefillin (two pairs daily) and a tallit, studied and taught kabbalah, received female audiences, accepted kvitlach (notes requesting blessings and prayers), held traditional hasidic public tishes (public Shabbat meals), and taught Torah publicly all things not done by women at that time. (Most of those things are still not done by hasidic women.) Her followers would even follow the custom of shirayim (eating a rebbe’s leftovers because it is believed that the blessing made by the rebbe over the food elevates hidden kabbalistic sparks with that food and transforms the food from mundane matter to holiness).
Verbermacher faced strong opposition from other hasidic rebbes but was protected by her father, himself a hasidic rabbi who was also extremely wealthy. But as pressure from other hasidic rebbes and rabbis mounted, Verbermacher’s father’s rebbe, Mordechai of Chernobyl asked her to stop her public activities.
She did stop for a short period of time but then moved to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim, gained new followers and resumed her public activities.
But haredim aren’t upset because of who Verbermacher was.
Instead, they’re reportedly upset because in Modern Hebrew, her Hebrew title, “HaBetula MeLudmir,” translates as the “The Virgin of Ludmir,” not “The Maiden of Ludmir,” and haredim do not want the word “virgin” to be used in public in any way.
So in order to appease haredim, the city chose to change the name of the street from “The Virgin of Ludmir Street” to “The Virgin of Ludmir – Chana Rachel Vebermacher Street.”
Hareidi members of the city council reportedly accepted that as a compromise – apparently because they felt using Vebermacher’s given name in the street title would make the meaning of the word “betulah” clear to haredim and would remove any sexual connotations – and agreed (at least for now) not to try to block the street naming.