[2] Hane Rokhl Verbermacher was born in the early nineteenth century in the shtetl of Ludmir in the Russian Empire, which is now Volodymyr in Ukraine, to Hasidic parents.
[4] As her fame grew she assumed functions generally reserved for Hasidic rebbes, such as receiving audiences and accepting kvitlach (prayer request notes), and to preside over a tish (the traditional Shabbat meals eaten in the company of one's Hasidim) at which she would offer Torah teachings and pass shirayim (leftovers from a rebbe's meal), although many accounts say that she did so from behind a screen out of modesty.
However, she remained an anomaly and had to withstand strong opposition from the fiercely traditional Hasidic community, who were made ill at ease by this unusual woman.
At some point the pressure for her to refrain from her activities grew strong, and her father asked her to consult with his rebbe, Mordechai Twersky, the Maggid of Chernobyl, on the matter.
The Maggid convinced her to discontinue her unusual behavior, and encouraged her to marry and assume the traditional role for Hasidic women.