Overview

"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."

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9780197670637

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Reviews

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. * Shaul Magid, Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College * 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. * Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College * 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. * Ora Wiskind, Professor of Jewish Thought, Michlalah College *

"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. * Shaul Magid, Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College * 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."" * Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College * 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."" * Ora Wiskind, Professor of Jewish Thought, Michlalah College * Dynner's book shows that there is ample reason to appreciate the distinctively vibrant forms of Hasidic Judaism that flourished in interwar Poland. * Brian Hillman, Jewish Book Council *"

Author Information

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).

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