Table Of Content ‒
TheInstituteforPolish–JewishStudiesinOxfordanditssisterorganization,theAmerican
AssociationforPolish–JewishStudies,whichpublishPolin,arelearnedsocietiesthatwere
establishedin,followingtheInternationalConferenceonPolish–JewishStudies,held
in Oxford. The Institute is an associate institute of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and
Jewish Studies, and the American Association is linked with the Department of Near
EasternandJudaicStudiesatBrandeisUniversity.
Both the Institute and the American Association aim to promote understanding of the
PolishJewishpast.Theyhavenobuildingorlibraryoftheirownandnopaidstaff;they
achievetheiraimsbyencouragingscholarlyresearchandfacilitatingitspublication,andby
creatingforumsforpeoplewithascholarlyinterestinPolishJewishtopics,bothpastand
present.
TothisendtheInstituteandtheAmericanAssociationhelporganizelecturesandinter-
national conferences. Venues for these activities have included Brandeis University in
Waltham,Massachusetts,theHebrewUniversityinJerusalem,theInstitutefortheStudy
of Human Sciences in Vienna, King’s College in London, the Jagiellonian University in
Kraków, the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the University of Łódz´,
University College London, and the Polish Cultural Institute and the Polish embassy in
London. They have encouraged academic exchanges between Israel, Poland, the United
States, and western Europe. In particular they seek to help train a new generation of
scholars,inPolandandelsewhere,tostudythecultureandhistoryoftheJewsinPoland.
EachyearsincetheInstitutehaspublishedavolumeofscholarlypapersintheseries
Polin:StudiesinPolishJewryunderthegeneraleditorshipofProfessorAntonyPolonskyof
BrandeisUniversity.SincetheserieshasbeenpublishedonitsbehalfbytheLittman
Library of Jewish Civilization, and since the publication has been linked with the
AmericanAssociationaswell.InMarchtheentireserieswashonouredwithaNational
JewishBookAwardfromtheJewishBookCouncilintheUnitedStates.Morethantwenty
otherworksonPolishJewishtopicshavealsobeenpublishedwiththeInstitute’sassistance.
Further information on the Institute for Polish–Jewish Studies can be found on their
website,<www.polishjewishstudies.pl>.ForthewebsiteoftheAmericanAssociationfor
Polish–JewishStudies,see<www.aapjstudies.org>.
THE LITTMAN LIBRARY OF
JEWISH CIVILIZATION
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L T S L
whofoundedtheLittmanLibraryfortheloveofGod
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J A L
‘Getwisdom,getunderstanding:
Forsakehernotandsheshallpreservethee’
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TheLittmanLibraryofJewishCivilizationisaregisteredUKcharity
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P O L I N
STUDIES IN POLISH JEWRY
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VOLUME ELEVEN
FocusingonAspectsandExperiencesofReligion
Editedby
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Publishedfor
TheInstituteforPolish–JewishStudies
and
TheAmericanAssociationforPolish–JewishStudies
Oxford . Portland,Oregon
TheLittmanLibraryofJewishCivilization
TheLittmanLibraryofJewishCivilization
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ManagingEditor:ConnieWebber
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tothememoryof
(‒)
and
(‒)
whoescapedLwówafterthewarbrokeout
andreachedtheUnitedStatesin
viaRomania,Palestine,andEngland
Editors and Advisers
MonikaAdamczyk-Garbowska,Lublin
IsraelBartal,Jerusalem
AntonyPolonsky(Chair),Waltham,Mass.
MichaelSteinlauf,Philadelphia
JerzyTomaszewski,Warsaw
JonathanWebber,Kraków
DavidAssaf,TelAviv ElchananReiner,TelAviv
WładysławT.Bartoszewski,Warsaw JehudaReinharz,Waltham,Mass.
GlennDynner,Bronxville,NY MosheRosman,TelAviv
DavidEngel,NewYork SzymonRudnicki,Warsaw
DavidFishman,NewYork HenrykSamsonowicz,Warsaw
ChaeRanFreeze,Waltham,Mass. RobertShapiro,NewYork
JacobGoldberg,Jerusalem AdamTeller,Providence,RI
YisraelGutman,Jerusalem MagdalenaTeter,Middletown,Conn.
FrançoisGuesnet,London DanielTollet,Paris
JerzyKłoczowski,Lublin PiotrS.Wandycz,NewHaven,Conn.
EzraMendelsohn,Jerusalem JoshuaZimmerman,NewYork
JoannaMichlic,Bethlehem,Pa. StevenZipperstein,Stanford,Calif.
WładysławBartoszewski,Warsaw Heinz-DietrichLöwe,Heidelberg
AndrzejChojnowski,Warsaw EmanuelMelzer,TelAviv
AndrzejCiechanowiecki,London ShlomoNetzer,TelAviv
NormanDavies,London ZbigniewPełczyn´ski,Oxford
FrankGolczewski,Hamburg AlexanderSchenker,NewHaven,Conn.
OlgaGoldberg,Jerusalem DavidSorkin,Madison,Wis.
FeliksGross,NewYork EdwardStankiewicz,NewHaven,Conn.
CzesławHernas,Wrocław NormanStone,Ankara
JerzyJedlicki,Warsaw ShmuelWerses,Jerusalem
AndrzejKamin´ski,Washington PiotrWróbel,Toronto
HillelLevine,Boston
Preface
Polin is sponsored by the Institute of Polish–Jewish Studies, Oxford and by the
AmericanAssociationforPolish–JewishStudies,whichislinkedwiththeDepart-
ment of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University. As with earlier-
issues,thisvolumecouldnothaveappearedwithouttheuntiringassistanceofmany
individuals.Inparticular,weshouldliketoexpressourgratitudetoDrJonathan
Webber,TreasureroftheInstituteforPolish–JewishStudies,toProfessorJehuda
Reinharz,PresidentofBrandeisUniversity,andMrsIrenePipes,Presidentofthe
American Association for Polish–Jewish Studies. As before, this volume would
never have appeared without the constant assistance and supervision of Connie
Webber, managing editor of the Littman Library, Janet Moth, publishing co-
ordinator,andthetirelesscopy-editingofLaurienBerkeley.Wealsooweadebtto
GwidoZlatkesforkeepingtoaminimumthemistakesinthePolishlanguage.
PlansforfuturevolumesofPolinarewelladvanced.Asweexplainedinvolume
,eachvolumewillnolongerconcentrateonatheme.Theeditorshavecometo
theconclusionthattodevotealargeproportionofeachvolumetoonethemehas
meantthatveryfewotherarticlescouldbepublishedandthatthelengthoftime
betweenthesubmissionofanarticleanditspublicationhadbecomeinordinately
long.Inaddition,therapiddevelopmentofscholarshipinthefieldofPolishJewish
studies has meant that even where the bulk of an issue was devoted to a single
theme, it was impossible to provide a comprehensive treatment of a subject. We
shallstillpresentclustersofarticlesontopicsweregardascentraltooursubject.
This volume includes such a cluster on aspects and experiences of Judaism in
Poland. Volume will highlight the triangular relationship of Poles, Jews, and
UkrainiansinGaliciabetween and,andvolumewillfeatureacluster
ofarticlesontheHolocaustinthePolishlands.Wehopeinvolumetohavesucha
cluster on the history of the Jews in the Polish borderlands, both east and west.
Weshouldwelcomecontributionstothesetopics,aswellasonallotherrelevant
issues.Weshouldalsowelcomeanyothersuggestionsorcriticisms.Inparticular,
weshouldbeverygratefulforassistanceinextendingourcoveragetotheareasof
Ukraine,Belarus,andLithuania,bothintheperiodinwhichthesecountrieswere
partofthePolish–LithuanianCommonwealthandsubsequently.
POLIN
StudiesinPolishJewry
PolesandJews:RenewingtheDialogue()
JewsandtheEmergingPolishState()
TheJewsofWarsaw()
PolesandJews:PerceptionsandMisperceptions()
NewResearch,NewViews()
JewsinŁódz´,–()
JewishLifeinNazi-OccupiedWarsaw()
FromShtetltoSocialism():selectedarticlesfromvolumes–
JewsinIndependentPoland,–()
Jews,Poles,Socialists:TheFailureofanIdeal()
JewsinEarlyModernPoland()
AspectsandExperiencesofReligion()
Galicia:Jews,Poles,andUkrainians,–()
IndextoVolumes–()
TheHolocaustanditsAftermath()
JewsinthePolishBorderlands()
JewishReligiousLife,–()
JewishPopularCultureanditsAfterlife()
TheShtetl:MythandReality()
JewishWomeninEasternEurope()
Polish–JewishRelationsinNorthAmerica()
MemorializingtheHolocaust()
:FortyYearsAfter()
SocialandCulturalBoundariesinPre-ModernPoland()
JewsinKraków ()
JewsandtheirNeighboursinEasternEuropesince ()
JewsintheFormerGrandDuchyofLithuaniasince ()
JewsandUkrainians
JewsandtheKingdomofPoland‒
POLIN
Wedidnotknow,butourfatherstoldushowtheexilesofIsraelcametothelandof
Polin(Poland).
When Israel saw how its sufferings were constantly renewed, oppressions
increased, persecutions multiplied, and how the evil authorities piled decree on
decreeandfollowedexpulsionwithexpulsion,sothattherewasnowaytoescape
the enemies of Israel, they went out on the road and sought an answer from the
paths of the wide world: which is the correct road to traverse to find rest for the
soul?Thenapieceofpaperfellfromheaven,andonitthewords:
GotoPolaniya(Poland)!
SotheycametothelandofPolinandtheygaveamountainofgoldtotheking,
and he received them with great honour. And God had mercy on them, so that
theyfoundfavourfromthekingandthenobles.Andthekinggavethempermis-
siontoresideinallthelandsofhiskingdom,totradeoveritslengthandbreadth,
and to serve God according to the precepts of their religion. And the king pro-
tectedthemagainsteveryfoeandenemy.
And Israel lived in Polin in tranquillity for a long time. They devoted them-
selvestotradeandhandicrafts.AndGodsentablessingonthemsothattheywere
blessed in the land, and their name was exalted among the peoples. And they
tradedwiththesurroundingcountriesandtheyalsostruckcoinswithinscriptions
in the holy language and the language of the country. These are the coins which
have on them a lion rampant from the right facing left. And on the coins are the
words‘Mieszko,KingofPoland’or‘Mieszko,KrólofPoland’.ThePolescalltheir
king‘Król’.
AndthosewhodelveintotheScripturessay:‘ThisiswhyitiscalledPolin.For
thus spoke Israel when they came to the land, “Here rest for the night [Po lin].”
And this means that we shall rest here until we are all gathered into the Land of
Israel.’
Sincethisisthetradition,weacceptitassuch.
. . ,
