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Rebekah Hyneman was born in Pennsylvania in 1816 to Abraham Gumpertz, a Jewish-German
storekeeper, and a Christian mother. Rebekah married Benjamin Hyneman, a jewelry peddler,
in 1835 and had two children, Elias Leon (born in 1837) and Samuel (born in 1839). While
she was pregnant with Samuel, Benjamin went on a peddling expedition to Texas and never
returned. It is thought that he was killed by Indians or by bandits.
Rebekah converted to her husband's faith
in 1845. Her sister Sarah, who was married to Benjamin's brother Leon, had already
converted to Judaism before her marriage in 1834. Within a month of Rebekah's conversion,
her religious poetry began to appear regularly in
The Occident, a Jewish journal edited by
Rev. Isaac Leeser of Philadelphia, the cantor of Congregation Mikveh Israel.
In 1853, a collection of Rebekah's poetry, entitled The Leper and Other Poems was
published by Leon Hyneman's publishing house. She also contributed secular poetry, short
stories, novellas and serial novels to The Masonic Mirror and Keystone, a newspaper edited
by Leon Hyneman.
Much of Rebekah's poetry reflects her affection for her lost husband, Benjamin, and her
loneliness without him. I DREAMED OF THEE and
THE UNFORGOTTEN are about her love for
Benjamin, LIKE SOME LONE BIRD describes her own feelings of desolation and loneliness.
Tragically, Rebekah's son Elias suffered a fate similar to that of Benjamin. A
volunteer in the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War, he was captured and died
at the Andersonville prison camp. His
remains were later recovered and reburied in the
cemetery of Mikveh Israel on Federal Street in Philadelphia. |
