Hasidic Warsaw

Reb Zalmen and the Aleksander Shtibl

Yechiel Hofer, Jonathan Boyarin

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350517387
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

This book provides the first English translation of Yechiel Hofer's book, Reb Zalmen.

Centering on a particular denizen of the Aleksander Hasidim's shtibl (prayer house), it offers a unique and intimate portrait of the lives of those who went inside to pray, eat, study, and argue there in the early 20th century. It is hard to imagine that Reb Zalmen was not an actual figure - someone the young Yechiel Hofer actually knew and loved - although finding any trace of him today would be a daunting task. Reb Zalmen was that rare thing, a traditional Jew without a family. His last name is never given; all we are told is that he had originally come to Warsaw from the town of Siedlec.

Regardless of Reb Zalmen's historical existence, Hasidic Warsaw provides rich material for the ethnography of Polish Hasidism in the early 20th century. It reveals what it was like to experience 'Gentile' Warsaw for someone who spends all his time in the Jewish quarter; to confront the new waves of doubt and fashion that threatened the folkways followed there; the rivalries and alliances between different Hasidic courts and their followers; the bitterness of poverty and the struggle to transcend hunger.

Jonathan Boyarin's introduction orients the reader toward the changing demographic and political situation of Polish Hasidim in the early 20th century. It points to the distinct facets of Warsaw Hasidic life and law that structure the chapters of Hasidic Warsaw, guiding the reader towards their own contemplation of the interplay between fiction and memory.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle page
• Dedication
• Series Editors
• Title page
• Copyright page
• CONTENTS
• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
• CONTRIBUTOR
• Figures
• Introduction
• Reb Zalmen
• CHAPTER ONE The Photograph
• CHAPTER TWO Violating Shabbos
• CHAPTER THREE Get Outta Here!
• CHAPTER FOUR Concerning the “Threyter”
• CHAPTER FIVE The Rabbi Studies Yoreh Deah
• CHAPTER SIX Reb Zalmen a Businessman
• CHAPTER SEVEN Reb Zalmen at a Strange Table
• CHAPTER EIGHT The Handshake
• CHAPTER NINE Reb Zalmen’s Worldly Pleasure
• CHAPTER TEN The Story of the Goose
• CHAPTER ELEVEN The Billy Goat’s Yortsayt
• CHAPTER TWELVE Midrash Rabbah
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Inheritance
• NOTES
• GLOSSARY
• BIBLIOGRAPHY