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May 1, 2015

Ḥasidic Tales through a Labor-Zionist Lens

"Alcohol, stolen geese, and wives pleading with their husbands to come back home."

Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk (1787–1859), known simply as “the Kotzker,” was one of the leading figures in Polish Ḥasidism in his day. He has been much romanticized by those—among them Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel—wishing to bring ḥasidic ideas to a non-ḥasidic audience. Jonathan Boyarin has recently translated a Yiddish-language collection of stories, compiled (or authored) by one Menashe Unger, in which a very different image of Morgensztern emerges. Alan Brill writes:

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May 1, 2015

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    It's not trying to "polish its tarnished image."

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  4. Ḥasidic Tales through a Labor-Zionist Lens

    "Alcohol, stolen geese, and wives pleading with their husbands to come back home."

  5. A New Exhibit on the Heyday of Jewish Boxing and Wrestling

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