Jewish History Soundbites

Sisters of the Revolution Part IV: The Birth of a Movement

Sarah Schenirer (1883-1935) founded the first Bais Yaakov school upon her return to Krakow during the Great War. From its modest beginnings in her living room, it blossomed into a full blown movement and essentially a revolution in traditional Jewish education for girls. 

The local chapter of Agudas Yisroel soon threw its support behind the nascent movement, and was soon followed by the national Agudah. Though she had received a blessing from the Belz Rebbe at the outset, actual rabbinic support arrived a decade later. By the late 1920's it had become a huge network of schools across Poland, with thousands of students, a central office in Warsaw and journal produced in Lodz.

The schools got accreditation from the Polish government, while funding came from the Agudas Yisroel's Keren Hatorah, the Joint and others. With the exponential growth came a need for teachers, and the famed teachers seminary was established in Krakow with Sarah Schenirer at the helm, with additional seminaries established at other locations as well.

 

 

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The Birth of Proto-Zionism: The World of Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer

As a student of both Rav Akiva Eiger and Rav Yaakov Loberbaum (author of the Nesivos Hamishpat), Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874) grew up in the world of the Polish rabbinate, eventually becoming the rabbi of Torun. Yet his life path would bring him to propound new ideas in regards to redemption, national settlement of the Land of Israel and even a radical idea to renew the bringing of korbanos on the Temple Mt.

A man of action more than just theory, he attempted to garner support from rabbis as well as the rising new class of wealthy influential Jews in emancipated western Europe such as Adolphe Cremieux and Moses Montefiore. In 1860 founded an organization to promote the settlement of the Land of Israel, and was successful at prevailing on the Paris based Alliance organization to build an agricultural school there.

Influenced by Messianism and modern nationalism, Rav Kalischer played a decisive role in the development of proto-Zionism.

 

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From Minsk to Monsey: The Life of Rav Reuven Grozovsky

As a sequel to the story of Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz, it would be appropriate to profile the activities of his illustrious son in law and successor Rav Reuven Grozovsky (1886-1958). Growing up in Minsk, he convinced several of the youth to join him in the famed Slabodka Yeshiva. He'd eventually marry the daughter of Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz, assisting him in the running of the Kamenitz Yeshiva.

Escaping the war to the United States, Rav Reuven assumed a position as Rosh Yeshiva in both Torah Vodaath as well as the nascent Bais Medrash Elyon in Monsey. At the national level, he was first an activist in the wartime Vaad Hatzalah, then the chairman of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisroel, as well as heading the new Torah Umesorah efforts in Jewish education. 

As a true leader in tune with the times, he voiced his clear opinion on all issues and challenges facing the Jewish people. In 1952 he sustained a tragic car accident under mysterious circumstances. This greatly inhibited his activities and he passed away six years later.

 

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From Warsaw to Selma: The Complicated Life of Abraham Joshua Heschel

One of the most complex characters of the 20th century, Abraham J. Heschel's (1907-1972) life experience in many ways mirrored the Jewish search for identity in modern times. Born into an aristocratic Polish chassidic family, he shifted over to academic studies in Berlin. Escaping the Nazi regime, he settled in the United States, eventually receiving a position in the Jewish Theological Seminary. 

He lectured and wrote on Jewish mysticism, philosophy and chassidic thought. Leaving the ivory tower in his later years, he became an activist in the Civil Rights Movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr. In all probability, Heschel has the distinction of being the only one to have marched in both the Rabbi's march on Washington in 1943, as well as the third Selma Civil Rights march in Alabama in 1965.

 

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Unfathomable Greatness: The Life & Times of Rav Boruch Ber Part III

His impact on the Yeshiva world was immense. His learning approach continues to have immeasurable influence. His holiness was legendary and his greatness uncontested. Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz (1870-1940) in many ways seemed larger than life. 
Yet the story of his life and the stories about his life, bring out the humanity, the world that he lived and acted in and the context of the times, to bring this great personality alive and paint a fuller picture of his achievements.
From his days in Volozhin to a young Rabbi in Halusk. From Slabodka to Kremenchuk to Vilna to Kamenitz. Rav Baruch Ber had many stops and it also included a long fundraising journey to the United States. As a teacher, as a lover of his fellow Jew, as a fighter for tradition and in many other ways, Rav Baruch Ber's spirit reverberates within the Jewish world to this very day.

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Unfathomable Greatness: The Life & Times of Rav Boruch Ber Part II

Part II in the Rav Boruch Ber mini-series.

His impact on the Yeshiva world was immense. His learning approach continues to have immeasurable influence. His holiness was legendary and his greatness uncontested. Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz (1870-1940) in many ways seemed larger than life. 

Yet the story of his life and the stories about his life, bring out the humanity, the world that he lived and acted in and the context of the times, to bring this great personality alive and paint a fuller picture of his achievements.

From his days in Volozhin to a young Rabbi in Halusk. From Slabodka to Kremenchuk to Vilna to Kamenitz. Rav Baruch Ber had many stops and it also included a long fundraising journey to the United States. As a teacher, as a lover of his fellow Jew, as a fighter for tradition and in many other ways, Rav Baruch Ber's spirit reverberates within the Jewish world to this very day.

 

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Unfathomable Greatness: The Life & Times of Rav Boruch Ber Part I

His impact on the Yeshiva world was immense. His learning approach continues to have immeasurable influence. His holiness was legendary and his greatness uncontested. Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz (1870-1940) in many ways seemed larger than life. 

Yet the story of his life and the stories about his life, bring out the humanity, the world that he lived and acted in and the context of the times, to bring this great personality alive and paint a fuller picture of his achievements.

From his days in Volozhin to a young Rabbi in Halusk. From Slabodka to Kremenchuk to Vilna to Kamenitz. Rav Baruch Ber had many stops and it also included a long fundraising journey to the United States. As a teacher, as a lover of his fellow Jew, as a fighter for tradition and in many other ways, Rav Baruch Ber's spirit reverberates within the Jewish world to this very day.

 

Part II- https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/unfathomable-greatness-the-life-times-of-rav-boruch-ber-part-ii/

 

Part III- https://jsoundbites.podbean.com/e/unfathomable-greatness-the-life-times-of-rav-boruch-ber-part-iii/

 

 

 

 

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Sisters of the Revolution Part III: The Pioneers : Separating Fact from Fiction

For lectures, episode sponsorships and virtual tours, contact Yehuda at yehuda@yehudageberer.com

 

The first World War was to bring sweeping change to Jewish life in Eastern Europe, and one of the manifestations of that change was girls' education. With the German occupation came a new civil administration, and attempts at educational reform. Rabbis and educators serving in the German Army or civil authorities were key players in this turn of events. Rabbis Drs. Emmanuel Carlebach and Pinchos Kohn in Warsaw and Dr. Leo Deutschlander in Lithuania both founded the first formal Torah education schools for girls, as Chavatzeles and Yavneh respectively. 

Further south however, it was to be a native of chassidic Galicia that was influenced and inspired by the world of German Neo-Orthodoxy who would go on to found what would eventually become the most successful network of them all. Her name was Sarah Schenirer. 

In newly independent Poland and Lithuania, formal Torah education for girls slowly became a reality. Initially facing opposition, it slowly gained rabbinic adherents. In other parts of Europe and around the world, the idea slowly caught on as well, as schools began to open up in other locales during the interwar period.

 

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Chassidic Symphony: The Modzitz Dynasty

Renowned in the Chassidic world and beyond for their legacy of song, Modzhitz was a large and important dynasty in the heart of pre war Polish Jewry. Founded by Rav Yechezkal of Kuzmir, it would be his grandson Rav Yisrael of Modzhitz who would give the dynasty its name, as well as developing song as its trademark. 

Rav Shaul Yedidya Taub further expanded the court, moving to Otwock outside of Warsaw. With the arrival of the Second World War, he escaped to Vilna then Japan, before arriving in the United States. He attempted to rebuild his decimated court, passing away a few years later. This was continued by his descendants in Tel Aviv, and later in Bnei Brak and in Brooklyn. 

Read more about the topic in a captivating book by a scion of the Modzhitz dynasty: https://www.amazon.com/Perilous-Escape-Journey-Europe-Freedom/dp/160280351X

 

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Great American Jewish Cities #18: Boro Park Part II

The most Jewish place outside of Israel? The center of the universe? Boro Park seems to be the epicenter of Jewish life in many ways. As it developed pre war, it was an out of town upscale neighborhood for those distancing themselves from Manhattan and Williamsburg. The original shuls like Shomrei Emunah, Temple Beth-El, Anshe Sfard, Bnei Yehuda and others grew at the time. Eitz Chaim Yeshiva and the Shulamis school for girls were the first schools of its kind in the neighborhood, and in the case of the latter in the entire country.

Slowly the neighborhood attracted different kind of crowd. The Chernobyl Rebbe established the first chassidic shtiebel in the 1930's. After the war, Rav Avraham Joffen opened the Novardok Yeshiva, Rav Aharon Kotler became a neighborhood resident and a group of Mir students from Shanghai established the Mir Minyan on 16th Ave & 54th St. Moshe Koussevitzky was the Chazzan at Beth-El during this time. 

It wasn't long before the Chassidim began arriving in ever greater numbers. The Munkatch court was revived there, and the Bobover Rebbe arrived in the late '60's from Crown Heights. Novominsk, Sighet, Ger, Belz, Spinka and dozens of other dynasties had their headquarters, the Rebbe or at least a shtibel in the neighborhood. 

Mendelssohn's Pizza, Biegeleisen's sforim store, Maimonides Hospital and the shopping of 13th Ave all became fixtures of Boro Park and into the realm of legend. Rav Moshe Sherer's efforts to rehabilitate the neighborhood in the late 1970's led to further growth and expansion. Great poskim like Rav Menashe Klein, Rav Moshe Bick, the Debrecen Rov and many others called Boro Park home. A comprehensive list of the people and places in Boro Park's storied history would be too vast, and a small peek into the sights and sounds of the neighborhood will suffice.

 

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