Hasidic Warsaw: Reb Zalmen and the Aleksander Shtibl

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 offersa unique and intimate portrait of the lives of those who went inside to pray, eat, study, andargue there in the early 20th century. It is hard to imagine that Reb Zalmen was not anactual figure - someone the young Yechiel Hofer actually knew and loved - although findingany trace of him today would be a daunting task. Reb Zalmen was that rare thing, atraditional Jew without a family. His last name is never given; all we are told is that he hadoriginally come to Warsaw from the town of Siedlec.Regardless of Reb Zalmen's historical existence, Hasidic Warsaw provides rich material forthe ethnography of Polish Hasidism in the early 20th century. It reveals what it was like toexperience 'Gentile' Warsaw for someone who spends all his time in the Jewish quarter; toconfront the new waves of doubt and fashion that threatened the folkways followed there;the rivalries and alliances between different Hasidic courts and their followers; thebitterness of poverty and the struggle to transcend hunger.Jonathan Boyarin's introduction orients the reader toward the changing demographic andpolitical situation of Polish Hasidim in the early 20th century. It points to the distinct facetsof Warsaw Hasidic life and law that structure the chapters of Hasidic Warsaw, guiding thereader towards their own contemplation of the interplay between fiction and memory.