The light of learning : Hasidism in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust /
"In the aftermath of World War I, the Hasidic movement appeared to be in shambles. Hasidic rebbes and their followers had dispersed, their courts lay in ruins, and the younger generation seemed lost to secularization. Yet over the course of the interwar period, Hasidic leaders reinvented themse...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2023]
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | "In the aftermath of World War I, the Hasidic movement appeared to be in shambles. Hasidic rebbes and their followers had dispersed, their courts lay in ruins, and the younger generation seemed lost to secularization. Yet over the course of the interwar period, Hasidic leaders reinvented themselves as educators charged with rescuing the youth. During the ensuing pedagogical revolution, the Hasidic yeshiva effectively displaced the Hasidic court, rebbes became known more for scholarship than miracle-working, and Hasidic young men and often women became, above all, students of Torah. By mobilizing devotional Torah study, Hasidic leaders subverted the “civilizing” projects of the Polish state and its perceived secularist Jewish allies and began to win back the youth. Torah study was thus not only a spiritual-intellectual endeavor but a potent political act, and it persisted in underground ghetto bunkers throughout the Holocaust. The revival of Hasidic learning transformed the movement and continues to define Hasidism to this day"--Publisher's description. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (309 pages) : illustrations (some color), color map |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780197670644 0197670644 9780197670668 0197670660 9780197670651 0197670652 |