A fancy portrait of Bertha Pappenheim wearing 17th-century costume in the persona of Glückel, painted by Leopold Pilichowski.
History books are replete with accounts, real or imaginary, of famous kings, politicians and soldiers, but it is rare that we are afforded a glimpse into the life of ordinary people who lived long ago. The journal of a Jewish woman named Glueckel who lived in 17th century Hamburg is a rare and wonderful treasure, from which we can gain insight into what life was really like in the distant past for a Jewish wife and mother.
The years directly preceding her birth and her early childhood were marked by chaos. The Thirty Years’ War continued on, decimated Europe and created colossal upheaval throughout society. When Glueckel was only three years old, the Jews were expelled from Hamburg. They fled, and relocated to the nearby city of Altona. No sooner had they mended their torn lives, when, only seven years later, they were driven back to Hamburg by the army of Sweden.
Jewish life, however, continued in its time-honored traditions. Young Glueckel was enrolled in a cheder (Jewish school) and there she enjoyed studying the Bible and many other parts of Torah. What emerges from her later diaries is the picture of a bright, educated woman, conversant with the topics of her day and knowledgeable of that literature written in the German dialect which would later emerge as Yiddish that she could have encountered.
Married at the Age of 14
As was the custom then, Glueckel was married at the age of 14 to Chaim, a young scholar and businessman from the small town of Hamelm. The couple spent the first year of marriage there, and Glueckel was already active, teaching the local women what she had learned in her studies.
The following year, Glueckel and Chaim moved to the port city of Hamburg, which was then one of the great centers of world trade. The young couple had a rocky start, filled with difficulties, but within several years, their business became very successful. The energetic and enterprising young couple became quite well-to-do, and they lived a satisfied, comfortable life.
Glueckel was not only a very competent household manager, but with her keen mind, she took an active interest in her husband’s business. As they became more and more successful, Glueckel and Chaim rose in social status; they even developed close contacts with the various German aristocratic courts, which existed in the centuries when there was no unified central government in the region. In those unstable days, it was vitally important to sustain good relations with the rulers, for danger always threatened from the dark halls of power. Jews under attack looked to their co-religionists for helpful intercession in those perilous situations.
Married Six of Their Children with Illustrious German Jewish Families
Because of their wealth and social status, Glueckel and her husband were able to make successful matches for six of their children with the most illustrious families in German Jewish society. At the wedding of their eldest daughter, a number of members of the aristocratic Court of Brandenburg (from which later descended the German Imperial family) were in attendance.
Glueckel’s account of her marriage and child-rearing days is full of adventure and describes the enormous challenges which faced Jews in those dangerous times, when exile and persecution could overtake them at a moment’s notice. In 1689, when Glueckel and Chaim had been happily married for 29 years, Chaim died, leaving his wife with twelve children, eight of them unmarried.
Glueckel responded with the faith and courage that characterized her life. She assumed management of her husband’s business, with all the perils that entailed, and set about raising her children alone. In her diary, she records her plans, writing that after the marriage of her last child, it was her desire to sell her business and move to the Holy Land. There, she envisioned spending the remainder of her life helping the less fortunate.
Unfortunately, her desires were not realized. Her business suffered a decline, and she was forced to reconsider her projected plans. Glueckel married a second time. Her new husband was a wealthy businessman from Metz, a well-established Jewish community, where she set about starting a new life. Sadly, just when life might have become easier for her, her new husband’s business failed. Just two years after their marriage, he lost everything, including whatever Glueckel had brought with her.
Wrote Her Famous Memoirs
Glueckel was suddenly thrust into a life totally bereft of the comforts she had always known. In the face of such obstacles, her innate buoyancy and optimism surfaced, and Glueckel remained the same faithful Jewish woman she had always been.
Her last years were devoted to recording her memoirs, which she left to us as an enduring and fascinating record of life in 17th century Germany, as well as snatches of Torah wisdom and teachings she left to her children. The diary was discovered by one of her sons, Moshe, who was a rabbi. He copied his mother’s records onto parchment, thus providing us with a priceless record through which we meet a remarkable woman whose wisdom and courage enabled her to survive the calamities of life and emerge spiritually and emotionally unscathed, to serve as an inspiration to future generations.
Reprinted from the Parshat Eikev 5782 edition of L’Chaim Weekly, a publication of the Lubavitch Youth Organization in Brooklyn, NY.
