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YAHRZEIT FOR THE SEVENTH OF ELUL
REMEMBERING RACHEL LUZZATTO - MORPURGO
POET , MYSTIC , AND SCHOLAR
by Rabbi Leah Novick
My God, my redeeming rock --
Rachel Luzzatto, called “ the Queen of the Hebrew Versifiers” was born in
Trieste, Italy on the eighth day of Pesach 1790 and died on the seventh of
Elul in 1871. She is one of the few Jewish women whose study of the
Zohar.is noted by her biographers. A descendant of the great Kabbalistic
teacher, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto: (1707-1747) she was taught Torah from
childhood. Talmud and commentaries, in Hebrew and Aramaic, were added to her
study curriculum during her adolescence; as well as “The Duties of the
Heart” by Bahya Ibn Pekuda. She is supposed to have begun writing poetry at
the age of eighteen and acquired her first copy of the Zohar in 1817 at the
age of twenty seven..
Both her parents were Luzzattos; whose families emphasized both secular and
sacred study. Her father Baruch was the son of the poet Isaac Luzzato and
her mother was Beracha, sister of the scholarly Hezekiah Luzzatto. The
latter served as tutor to both Rachel, her brother Isaac ,and her first
cousin Samuel David; the renowned educator known as the “Shadal.”(1800-1865)
Rachel was not only prepared for a life of poetry by her distinguished
family; she was also taught to be a lathe turner in the family business.
Like other young women of that period; she was also taught needlework.
Within this family enclave that nourished intellectual and spiritual life;
Rachel and her cousin Samuel David developed an intimacy in childhood which
was continued in friendship and professional collaboration during young
adulthood. Samuel David, who was ten years younger, was early identified as
a prodigy and became a teacher and thinker of great importance in the Jewish
world. He acknowledged being influenced by Rachel whose poetry indicates a
wide range of literary and religious knowledge. It was the "Shadal", with
his advantages as a male scholar, who provided Rachel with opportunities
to publish her poetry in journals which he edited or influenced.
The cousins differed philosophically, with Rachel moving in the direction
of romantic mysticism and Messianic longing - like their Kabbalistic
predecessor while Shadal developed and argued for his own brand of
passionate but rationalistic neo-Orthodoxy. We know that it was Samuel
David who provided her with a copy of the Zohar, which she had requested.
Unfortunately, we do not know the extent of her Kabbalistic study and
whether she had mentors for her reading of Zohar as an adult. While she
wrote of the future redemption, “Shadal”engaged in critique and dialogue
with other great thinkers of the turbulent mid- nineteenth century in a
process which ushered in the Jewish enlightenment movement and contemporary
Zionism.
Rachel married late, at age twenty nine; reputedly disagreeing with her
family’s choices of suitors and holding out for her choice of merchant
Jacob Morpurgo. One can’ thelp wondering if she was in resistance to giving
up her life of study and prayer. Her biographer states that she studied
daily with her cousin Samuel David. After her marriage she was subsumed in a
life of embroidery, lithography and housework plus rearing four children
under difficult financial conditions. She had three sons (who all died
within a few years of her death) and one daughter named Peninah who
collected her Mother’s poems for eventual publication. The daughter, who
lived to the age of sixty seven, portrays Rachel’s life as providing little
time for study and writing except for sleepless late nights and “Rosh
Chodesh”/ New Moon ( which was celebrated by Italian Jewish women as time
off ) when she suspended the needlework she excelled at and presumably sold.
Rachel managed to sustain her professional life as a writer through Samuel
David’s publication “Kochavei Yitzchak” and the exchange of personal letters
with Italian and German scholars, many of whom admired her work. This
admiration is also reflected in the introduction to the collection of her
poems, published in 1890 - 100 years after her birth - by Rabbi Vittorio
Castigilioni, the chief Rabbi of Rome under the title of “Rachels Harp”.
(Ugav Rachel),
In the latter part of her life, Rachel encountered the Montefiores, the
English philanthropists who played a key role in the early development of
Jewish Palestine. When Lord and Lady Montefiore travelled through Trieste on
the way to Israel in 1855, Rachel was deeply affected and dedicated a poem
to commemorate their visit. Her admiration for them and her own longing to
visit Palestine are expressed in her poems of that period, and a story that
she considered accompanying them - as a servant - at age 65! She continued
to write- in Hebrew - expressing her faith in the coming of the Messianic
era and the resettlement of Eretz Yisrael.
As with so many other distinguished women, the biographical information on
Rachel Luzzatto survived in part because it was connected with accomplished
male relatives. . Since the “Shadal” was a famous scholar ,thinker , and
writer there is material about Rachel’s life in biographies written by and
about him. Some of their poetic correspondence has been preserved in the
annals of “Kochavei Yitzchak”, which he edited.
Early in the twentieth century a short biography of Rachel, appeared in
English, the work of biographer, Nina Davis Salamon, More recent and more
available is the research and writings of Prof. Howard Adelman of Smith
College. “See Women of theWord”. Judith Baskin, Ed. Wayne State 1994.
Look and see and hear my voice.
I’ll weep, I’ll cry, I’ll beg.
Oh! Have pity and compassion for a troubled nation.
Help erect my tent. For no one questions, no one helps.
Sons will return to their borders, crowned with the world’s joy.
I beseech Thee, carry the weight of their transgressions.
Hasten and lift up the nations’ chosen one.
O Cry no more. For God is gracious.
Though He tarry, I will hope for Him.
He’ll build the walls of His House
And Rachel will rejoice in a new song
Excerpt from one of Rachel Luzzato Morpurgo’s last poems
I watch the eternal hills, the far, far flying
with glorious flowers even over-run
I take me eagles wings, with vision
and brow upraised to look upon the sun.
Ye skies how fair the paths above your spaces
There freedom shines for ever like a star
The winds are blowing through your loftyplaces
And who, ah who can say how sweet they are
(please don't reproduce this article in print media
without permission from the author.)