Gluekel of Hamelin

Few Jewish women ever made a name for themselves as writers of Jewish literature, because scholarship and learning was something belonging to the man's world.

Glueckel of Hameln, a plain, simple, but very wise woman, was an exception. Not that she had any intention of becoming a writer. But she wrote an autobiography, a description of her life, and it was found and printed by her son. It has ever since been admired as an interesting record of an orthodox Jewish woman's life and experiences in Germany of 300 years ago.

Glueckel of Hameln, whose diary became so famous, was born in Hamburg, one of the three sister-cities, Altona, Hamburg, Wandsbeck, that played an important role in Jewish life and were the seat of famous rabbis. Glueckel was born at a time when Europe was torn by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).Only three years after her birth in 1646, all Jews were driven from Hamburg and they settled in nearby Altona. When Glueckel was only eleven years old, the Swedish army came down from the north, and, drove the Jews back to Hamburg. For three years Glueckel attended a "Cheder" and became well acquainted with the Torah. She was well-read also in the literature written in a special dialect of German, which later developed into the "Yiddish" language, but in her days it was more German than the present language spoken by Jews the world over.

As was the custom in those days, Glueckel was married when she was barely fourteen years old. But she was then already a mature, serious and practical young girl, who could carry on the customs and ways of a good Jewish home, which she had learnt in her parents' house. Her husband, Chaim, was a pious young scholar and businessman from the small town of Hameln. Glueckel spent there the first year of her married life, happy and satisfied, and teaching the young Jews of that community what she had learned in Cheder.

A year later, Glueckel and her husband moved to Hamburg, then a world center of trade, and one of the most important harbors. It offered many more opportunities for hard working young people like Glueckel and her husband to earn a living. At first, they had to overcome quite a few hardships, but then G-d blessed them, and in a few short years they became quite well-to-do. Glueckel, in addition to taking care of the house and the small children, helped her husband in business. Soon they became part of the wealthier Jews of Hamburg, who had good connections with the German courts and used these connections for the welfare of their Jewish brethren who then had to suffer a great deal of persecution and economic difficulties. As a matter of fact, Glueckel and her husband were so successful and became so respected, that six of their children married into the very best Jewish families of Germany. At the wedding of their oldest daughter, members of the princely court of Brandenburg, later on the German imperial dynasty, participated.

Having been married happily for twenty-nine years, Glueckel's husband, Chaim, died in 1689 and left her with eight of her twelve children still unmarried, and a large business to be taken care of. Glueckel, a woman full of bitachon (trust in G-d), did not despair. She managed to bring up her children, give them a good Jewish education, marrying them into equally good Jewish families, and at the same time successfully handling her husband's business. As, she writes in her diary, her plan was to wait until her last child was married. Then she planned to sell her business and settle in the Holy Land to devote the rest of her days to helping her people and doing other good deeds. Unfortunately, her business suffered serious setbacks and she was forced to change her plans. She married again, her second husband being a wealthy Jewish businessman of Metz a city in Alsace-Lorrain, where many great Jewish­scholars had lived and taught. She could have been happy, but Providence wanted it that Glueckel, who had always been blessed with success, should suffer in her later years. Only a year after her second marriage, her husband lost not only his own great wealth, but all that Glueckel had brought into their marriage. Yet without despairing, Glueckel kept on living the life of a pious and faithful Jewess who dedicated her efforts to helping the Jewish community in which she lived, though she lacked the comforts and means which had made her life easy before.

During her last years Glueckel spent writing her memoirs, which are a valuable record about the life of the Jews in Germany, and of the Jewish world in general, in those difficult days after the Thirty Years' War. But her book is more than that. Glueckel discusses all the important events of that time. She gives mussar to her children, and many times she adorns her story with a Midrash, a quotation from the Holy Scriptures, or even quotations from the Talmud. Thus her diary shows that she was quite an outstanding woman in her days, a woman of deep wisdom and faith, who could take things in her stride as they came, and be an inspiration to others.

Glueckel's son Mosheh, who was a well-known rabbi, found the manuscript of Glueckel's diary, copied it on parchment and thus preserved it for generations. It serves as a shining example of a pious, good and wise Jewish woman, a true Mother in the midst of her people Israel.