Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 11 : Focusing on Aspects and Experiences of Religion

Addressing various aspects of Jewish life and religion, particularly in the last two centuries, this book examines different aspects of the Hasidic tradition; present-day contacts between Bobower Hasidism in New York and Bobowa in Poland; and how a rabbi trained in the Lithuanian tradition adapted to the very different conditions of the United States. The modifications of Jewish religious tradition practiced in the modern pre-war synagogues in Warsaw, L dz, and Lw w are considered, as is the attempt by Hillel Zeitlyn to re-interpret Jewish tradition in the interwar years. Frontmatter Note on Transliteration, Names, and Place Names (page xv) Introduction (ANTONY POLONSKY, page xvii) PART I: ON RELIGION: ASPECTS AND EXPERIENCES Hasidic Yeshivot in Inter-War Poland (SHAUL STAMPFER, page 3) Tobacco and the Hasidism (LOUIS JACOBS, page 25) 'A Thread of Blue': Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzyń and his Search for Continuity in Response to Modernity (SHAUL MAGID, page 31) The Tarler rebbe of Łódź and his Medical Practice: Towards a History of Hasidic Life in Pre-First World War Poland (IRA ROBINSON, page 53) Aaron Menahem Mendel Guterman, the rebbe of Radzymin (HARRY RABINOWICZ, page 62) A Pilgrimage from Bobowa to Bobowa (ADAM BARTOSZ, page 66) On the Brink of Disaster: Hillel Zeitlin's Struggle for Jewish Survival in Poland (SHRAGA BAR SELLA, page 77) Ala from the Primer (ALINA MARGOLIS-EDELMAN, page 94) The Congregation of the Great Synagogue in Warsaw: Its Changing Social Composition and Ideological Affiliations (ALEXANDER GUTERMAN, page 112) The Progressive Synagogue in Lwów (JULIAN J. BUSSGANG, page 127) The Synagogues of Łódź (KRZYSZTOF STEFAŃSKI, page 154) PART II: NEW VIEWS Conspiracy Theories and the Reception of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Poland (JANUSZ TAZBIR, page 171) Polish Influences on British Policy Regarding Jewish Rescue Efforts in Poland 1939-1945 (BERNARD WASSERSTEIN, page 183) The Concerns of an Immigrant Rabbi: The Life and Sermons of Rabbi Moshe Shimon Sivitz (KIMMY CAPLAN, page 192) Trunk's Poyln: Its Place in Jewish Polish History (ANNA CLARKE, page 216) Jewish-Ukrainian Relations in Inter-War Poland as Reflected in Some Ukranian Publications (SHIMON REDLICH, page 232) Jewish Martyrdom in the Works of Adolf Rudnicki (JÓZEF WRÓBEL, page 247) The Jewish Question in Poland: Views Expressed in the Catholic Press between the Two World Wars (ANNA LANDAU-CZAJKA, page 263) PART III: REVIEWS REVIEW ESSAYS History, Experience, and Democracy. István Bibó Revisited: The Jewish Question after 1944-Fifty Years Later (ROBERT BRAUN, page 281) The Realm of Shadows: Recent Writing on the Holocaust (MICHAEL BURLEIGH, page 296) Polish History through the Eyes of Three Jewish Popular Historians (JERZY TOMASZEWSKI, page 312) A New Account of the 'March Events' (JÓZEF LEWANDOWSKI, page 319) BOOK REVIEWS Andrzej Żbikowski, Żydzi krakowscy i ich gmina w latach 1869-1919 (HANNA KOZIŃSKA-WITT, page 327) Mojżesz Schorr i jego listy do Ludwika Gumplowicza, ed. Rafał Żebrowski (HANNA KOZIŃSKA-WITT, page 331) Świat pod kontrolą: Wybór materiałów z archiwum cenzury rosyjskiej w Warszawie, ed. Maria Prussak (CHONE SHMERUK, page 334) Andrzej Jezierski (ed.), Historia Polski w liczbach: Ludność, terytorium (JAKUB BASISTA, page 337) Rainer Erb (ed.), Die Legende vom Ritualmord: Zur Geschichte der Blutbeschuldigung gegen Juden (JERZY TOMASZEWSKI, page 338) Milton Shain, The Roots of Antisemitism in South Africa (SANDER L. GILMAN, page 340) Regina Renz, Społeczeństwo małomiasteczkowe w województwie kieleckim 1918-1939 Krzysztof Urbański, Kieleccy Żydzi (SAMUEL D. KASSOW, page 345) Christopher Clark, The Politics of Conversion: Missionary Protestantism and the Jews in Prussia 1728-1941 (ALAN LEVENSON, page 348) Jacek J. Jadacki and Barbara Markiewicz (eds.), A Mądrości zło nie przemoże (JAKUB BASISTA, page 350) Death Books from Auschwitz: Remnants, ed. Jerzy Dębski et al. (JOLANTA AMBROSIEWICZ-JACOBS, page 351) Norman Salsitz, as told to Richard Skolnik, A Jewish Boyhood in Poland: Remembering Kolbuszowa (JERZY TOMASZEWSKI, page 354) Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (JACK NUSAN PORTER, page 355) Barbara and Leszek Amatys and Wiesław Stradomski, Historia filmu polskiego, ii (NATAN GROSS, page 358) Nechama Tec, Defiance: The Bielski Partisans (FRANKLIN LITTEL, page 360) Felicja Karay, Death Comes in Yellow: Skarżysko-Kamienna Slave Labour Camp (FRANK BIALYSTOK, page 361) Tomas Venclova, Aleksander Wat: Life and Art of an Iconoclast (GWIDO ZLATKES, page 365) Irena Kowalska and Ida Merżan, Rottenbergowie znad Buga (ANNA CLARKE, page 371) Fanny Sołomian, Getto i gwiazdy; Pamiętnik Marii Koper, ed. Henryk Grynberg; Natan Gross, Poeci i Szoa (JOANNA ROSTROPOWICZ-CLARK, page 375) Arnost Lustig, Children of the Holocaust (MICHAEL GREENSTEIN, page 378) OBITUARY Julian Strykjkowski (1905-1996) (MONIKA ADAMCZYK-GARBOWSKA, page 381) NOTES The Third Competition of Scholarly Works on Polish Jewish and Israel Themes (ALINA CAŁA, page 385) A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF POLISH JEWISH STUDIES, 1995 (page 391) Notes on the Contributors (page 413) Glossary (page 418) Index (page 423) Jewish life in Poland was marked by a high degree of religious intensity. The core of essays in this volume addresses some aspects of that religious and spiritual life, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Within the sphere of normative Jewish belief and practice, two rival traditions emerged in Poland: that of hasidism, which focused on prayer as a means of direct communication with God and that of its mitnagdic opponents, who placed greater emphasis on learning and the interpretation of canonical texts. Different aspects of the hasidic tradition are here examined by Louis Jacobs, Shaul Magid, Harry Rabinowicz, Ira Robinson, and Shaul Stampfer. Adam Bartosz describes present-day contacts between Bobower hasidism in New York and Bobowa in Poland, while Kimmy Caplan investigates how a rabbi trained in the mitnagdic tradition in Lithuania adapted to the very different conditions of the United States.

Alongside the normative traditions, the nineteenth century saw attempts to modify Jewish religious practice on the lines advocated by the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) in Germany and to adapt it to the spirit of the age. Characteristics of the more modern synagogues in Warsaw, LÃ3dz, and LwÃ3w are investigated by Alexander Guterman, Krzysztof Stefanski, and Julian Bussgang; the attempt by Hillel Zeitlin to reinterpret those traditions in the inter-war years, taking into account the emergence of the Jewish national movement and modern philosophical developments, is described by Shraga Bar Sella.

In the New Views section, Bernard Wasserstein investigates Polish influences on British policy towards Jewish rescue efforts in Poland during the Second World War; Janusz Tazbir examines the reception of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Poland; and Anna Clarke describes the life and work of Jehiel Isaiah Trunk. Other topics in this section include Jewish-Ukrainian relations in interwar Poland as reflected in the Ukrainian press; the work of the Jewish writer Adolf Rudnicki; and views expressed on the Jewish question in the Catholic press in Poland between the two world wars. The volume also contains an extensive Book Review section.

Annotation Addressing various aspects of Jewish life and religion, particularly in the last two centuries, this book examines different aspects of the Hasidic tradition; present-day contacts between Bobower Hasidism in New York and Bobowa in Poland; and how a rabbi trained in the Lithuanian tradition adapted to the very different conditions of the United States. The modifications of Jewish religious tradition practiced in the modern pre-war synagogues in Warsaw, Ldz, and Lww are considered, as is the attempt by Hillel Zeitlyn to re-interpret Jewish tradition in the interwar years Edited By Antony Polonsky. Published For The Institute For Polish Jewish Studies And The American Association For Polish-jewish Studies. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [391]-412) And Index.