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The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust

Autor Glenn Dynner
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 20 noi 2024

Ne-a atras atenția modul în care The Light of Learning recalibrează înțelegerea noastră asupra iudaismului polonez în pragul distrugerii sale. Glenn Dynner explorează capitolul fascinant al renașterii hasidice interbelice, o perioadă în care mișcarea, deși considerată în declin sub presiunea sionismului și a socialismului, s-a reinventat spectaculos prin educație. Autorul documentează trecerea de la „curțile” hasidice tradiționale, centrate pe miracole, la o rețea vastă de instituții de învățământ: școli heder, școli Bais Yaakov pentru fete și ieșiva-uri de renume mondial.

Reținem teza centrală a cărții: studiul Torei nu a fost doar un demers intelectual-spiritual, ci o practică politică deliberată. Prin aceste rețele pedagogice, liderii hasidici au reușit să subvertească proiectele de „civilizare” ale statului polonez și să creeze, ulterior, buncăre clandestine de studiu chiar și în ghetourile din timpul Holocaustului. Stilul lui Dynner este unul precis, ancorat în cercetare arhivistică profundă, oferind o perspectivă nuanțată asupra rezistenței culturale evreiești. Lucrarea completează perspectiva oferită de Haskalah and Hasidism in the Kingdom of Poland de Wodzinski, adăugând o analiză vitală asupra modului în care hasidismul a supraviețuit modernității nu prin izolare, ci prin competiție pedagogică activă.

În contextul operei sale, The Light of Learning reprezintă o continuare firească a studiilor sale anterioare, precum Men of Silk, unde Glenn Dynner analiza ascensiunea mișcării în secolul al XIX-lea. Dacă în lucrările precedente se concentra pe formarea elitei hasidice, aici el investighează maturizarea acesteia într-o forță socială capabilă de o rezistență organizată în fața catastrofei iminente. Cele 35 de fotografii și harta incluse oferă o dimensiune vizuală esențială acestui peisaj educațional dispărut.

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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780197670637
ISBN-10: 0197670636
Pagini: 320
Ilustrații: 35 b/w photos; 1 map
Dimensiuni: 163 x 243 x 19 mm
Greutate: 0.6 kg
Editura: Oxford University Press
Colecția OUP USA
Locul publicării:New York, United States

De ce să citești această carte

Această carte este esențială pentru cei interesați de istoria modernă a iudaismului și de mecanismele rezistenței culturale. Cititorul va descoperi cum o mișcare religioasă tradiționalistă a folosit educația ca instrument de supraviețuire politică în fața presiunilor statale și a genocidului. Este o lectură care schimbă percepția asupra Hasidismului polonez, prezentându-l nu ca pe o relicvă a trecutului, ci ca pe o mișcare dinamică și adaptabilă.


Despre autor

Glenn Dynner este profesor de studii iudaice la Sarah Lawrence College și o autoritate recunoscută în istoria evreilor din Europa de Est. Cu un doctorat obținut la Brandeis University, Dynner s-a specializat în evoluția mișcărilor religioase și sociale poloneze. Lucrările sale, printre care se numără Men of Silk și contribuțiile în volume precum Polin, explorează intersecția dintre spiritualitate, putere politică și structuri sociale. Expertiza sa în arhivele poloneze și limbile idiș și ebraică îi permite să ofere o perspectivă autentică asupra lumii hasidice.


Descriere

The Light of Learning tells the story of an unexpected Hasidic revival in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust. In the aftermath of World War I, the Jewish mystical movement appeared to be in shambles. Hasidic leaders had dispersed, Hasidic courts lay in ruins, and the youth seemed swept up in secularist trends as a result of mandatory public schooling and new Jewish movements like Zionism and Socialism. Author Glenn Dynner shows that in response to this, Hasidic leaders reinvented themselves as educators devoted to rescuing the youth by means of thriving networks of heders (primary schools), Bais Yaakov schools for girls and women, and world-renowned yeshivas. During the ensuing pedagogical revolution, Hasidic yeshivas soon overshadowed courts, and Hasidic leaders became known more for scholarship than miracle-working. By mobilizing Torah study, Hasidic leaders were able to subvert the "civilizing" projects of the Polish state, successfully rival Zionists and Socialists, and create clandestine yeshiva bunkers in ghettos during the Holocaust. Torah study was thus not only a spiritual-intellectual endeavor but a political practice that fueled a formidable culture of resistance. The Light of Learning belies notions of late Hasidic decadence and decline and transforms our understanding of Polish Jewry during its final hour.

Recenzii

Glenn Dynner's book is an eye-opening account of Hasidic life in Poland immediately before World War II. It expertly challenges regnant theories of Hasidic isolationism and exhibits the extent to which Hasidic circles and leaders were deeply engaged in educational reform, including women's education, as well as politics and the collapsing world around them. Drawing from published works, archival materials, and memoirs in numerous languages, Dynner changes the way we will look at Hasidic life in interwar Poland. A must-read for those interested in Eastern European Jewry's engagement with modernity.
The great eighteenth-century pietist movement of Hasidism infused Jews with a passion for God, prayer, and the integrity of the individual. Historian Glenn Dynner demonstrates Hasidism's ability to cope with modernity's radical changes, political and cultural, without losing its religious integrity. In his new book, he shows us the vitality of Hasidism in interwar Poland, despite physical and spiritual pogroms, and how Hasidic teachings brought spiritual strength to Jews during the horrors of the Holocaust."
A paradigm shift in the study of Hasidism, Polish Jewry, and gender. Dynner offers a gracious and nuanced reading of modern Hasidic revival and resistance, one that humanizes the movement and deepens our understanding of Jewish modernity. This is a masterpiece of historical writing."
Dynner's book shows that there is ample reason to appreciate the distinctively vibrant forms of Hasidic Judaism that flourished in interwar Poland.
Dynner's volume, which I wholeheartedly recommend, serves as an important model for the type of balanced, scholarly corrective we require in order to properly study and understand Hasidism, and will hopefully serve as a model for future historians to create their own synthesis between the two methodological approaches that we have discussed.
Dynner's excellent, insightful, enjoyable book is a most positive contribution to collections on Hasidism, drawing on primary archival sources such as diaries, letters, Hasidic discourses, business documents, photos, and secondary sources.
The book's meticulous research makes it a valuable resource for scholars and students across various fields, including Jewish studies, Hasidic studies,eastern European history, and gender studies. Beyond Jewish studies, the book's interdisciplinary approach and exploration of broader themes, such as the interplay between religion, education, and politics, make it relevant to scholars in fields such as religious studies, education, and social history. Its accessible writing style and comprehensive coverage, alongside eye-catching photos, also make it appealingto a broader readership interested in learning about the complexities of Jewish life in interwar Poland.
In addition to presenting a careful study of a significant portion of Polish Jewish society, this work should be of interest to historians of East Central Europe and scholars of Hasidism. Dynner's work importantly presents an argument for the central role of religion in this drama otherwise staged as one of political nationalism and modern, secular culture. For scholars of Hasidism, this work provides an example of how to integrate sources by and about women. This book also offers something of interest to that elusive general, educated reader: a case study of how a society values education.
The Light of Learning deserves to be read not only as a contribution to Hasidic studies but as a model of how to combine archival depth, theoretical insight, andnarrative clarity. It is, quite fittingly, a work that lives up to its title, sheddingenduring light on modern Jewish history.

Notă biografică

Glenn Dynner is the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies at Fairfield University, editor of the journal Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, and a recent Guggenheim Fellow. He is author of Men of Silk: The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish Society (OUP, 2006), and Yankel's Tavern: Jews, Liquor, and Life in the Kingdom of Poland (OUP, 2013).