Leper, The.
First Book of Poems on Jewish Themes
Written By An American
[Judaica]. Hyneman, Rebekah. The Leper: and Other Poems. Philadelphia: A. Hart, Late Carey & Hart, 1853.
8vo; 216 pp.; small (1/8 x 1/1/4") ownership stamp on front free endpaper, repeated twice on title page; another owner's name on flyleaf; moderate foxing, somewhat heaver at front and back; original dark brown blind and gilt-stamped cloth; professional restoration to spine ends; about very good in acceptable collectible condition. Housed in custom-made tan cloth and paper clamshell box with black leather gilt-stamped label on spine.
First Edition of the author's first book, her only book of poems, and the first book of poems on Jewish themes written by an American. Rebekah Hyneman (1816-1875), nee Gumpert, was born in Philadelphia, to a Jewish father and a Christian mother. Rebekah was raised in her father's faith and remained a devout orthodox Jew all her life. Largely self-educated, she acquired her literary background by individual study, first mastering French and German and later Hebrew. In 1835 she married Benjamin Hyneman, a Jewish jewelry peddler, and reaffirmed her faith with his. The couple had two children: Elias Leonard and Samuel. Benjamin never returned from a selling trip in Texas, probably having been robbed and killed by Indians or bandits. Rebekah never remarried. Tragically, both her sons also died: one of consumption, the other, Elias, in Andersonville prison during the Civil War.
Rebekah Hyneman contributed religious poems to several publications, including The Occident and Jewish Advocate, a Jewish journal founded and edited by the Rabbi Isaac Leeser (1806-1868), of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia. A number of her secular stories and essays were printed in the Masonic Mirror and Keystone, edited by her brother-in-law, Leon Hyneman. These include a novelette called WOMAN'S STRENGTH, and a story in which a Jewish woman converts her gentile suitor to her own faith. The Leper and Other Poems was issued by the Jewish publisher, congregational and communal leader, Abraham Hart (1810-1885).
The Leper and Other Poems is "The first [American] book of poems on Jewish themes…The love for her faith, its people, its holy days and holy places shines through her words..." according to Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: Nineteenth- Century American Poets. Among the themes pervasive in The Leper and Other Poems is the tragic heroism of the ancient Israelites, as well as the fall of Jerusalem and the special relationship, as the "chosen people," the Jews have with God. “Female Scriptural Characters,” a section of this book, is "a series of [twelve] poems praising or personifying the matriarchs and other biblical women as examples of nineteenth century American ideals of femininity, patriotism, and faith." - Women's Writing in the United States. “Female Scriptural Characters” has been compared to Grace Aguilar's Women of Israel. Among the more than ninety poems are “Holy Land,” “Israel's Future,” “Israel's Trust,” “A Tribute to Grace Aguilar,” “Women 's Rights,” and “Lament of Judah.”
Four Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality, by Umansky & Ashton, Eds., pp. 63-64, 86-87.
Judaic Treasure of the Library of Congress. http://www.us.israel.org/jsource/loc/abe4.html
She Wields a Pen, American Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century, by Gray, pp. 56-59.
Women's Writing in the United States, p. 444.
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