In the aftermath of World War I, as secularism spread, Hasidic leaders in Poland rapidly reinvented themselves as educators devoted to rescuing the youth by means of world-renowned yeshivas, schools for girls and women, and eventually underground yeshiva bunkers during the Holocaust. Based on newly-discovered archives, diaries, and other testimonies, this talk belies notions of late Hasidic decadence and decline and transforms our understanding of Polish Jewry during its final hour.

This lecture will be given by Glenn Dynner, Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies, director of the Bennett Cente and co-editor of Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Fairfield University.

Sponsored by The Frank and Lois Lautenberg Jewish Lecture Fund