Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Dancyger (1879-1943)

Now nearly extinct, the Aleksander chasidim (also written as Alexander) were the second largest chasidic group in pre-holocaust Poland. Between the world wars, chasidic Jews from all over flocked to the small village of Aleksandrów Łódzki near Łódź, to spend the holiest days of the year under the presence of their spiritual leader, their rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Dancyger (1879-1943). Their rebbe attempted to remain neutral in political issues while emphasizing communal prayer and the study of Torah. His life ended in the concentration camp of Treblinka. Image File history File links Rav_Danziger. ... Image File history File links Rav_Danziger. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ... Aleksandrów Łódzki is a town in central Poland with 20,400 inhabitants (1995). ... Łódź ((?)) is Polands second largest city (population 776,297 in 2004). ... now. ... now. ... Torah () is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. It is the central and most important document of Judaism revered by Jews through the ages. ... Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Extermination camps like the one at Treblinka were used in the Holocaust for the systematic genocide of sub-humans by the Nazis. ...

History

The founder of the dynasty of Aleksander was Rabbi Yechiel Dancyger (1828-1894), the son of Rabbi Fayvl from Grojec, a disciple of Israel Yitzchok Kalisz of Vurke. 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Grójec is a town in Poland. ... Warka is a town in central Poland, located on the left bank of Pilica river (60 kilometers south of Warsaw), with 11,300 inhabitants. ...

His son, Yerachmiel Yisroel Yitzchok Dancyger (1853-1910), was even more famous, and accumulated a large group of followers. He was the author of Yismach Yisrael (Hebrew: "Be Joyful, Israel" 1911), which he wrote together with his brother, Shmuel Tsvi (1840-1923), who later succeeded him and authored the Tiferes Shmuel. The teachings of the rebbes who followed stressed ethics, mysticism and ecstatic religious forms, putting less emphasis on studying the Talmud. The followers of the rebbes from Aleksander were primarily merchants and artisans, especially from Warsaw, and also in Łódź, where there were approximately 35 houses of prayer. There were also shtiblekh in numerous other towns, including Belchatow ^[1], Opoczno ^[2], Piotrkow ^[3] … In 1914 his brother Betsalel Yoir (1856-1934) began to serve as a rebbe in Lodz, thus starting a second branch of Alexander. After Shmuel Tsvi's death, the dynasty was continued by his son, Yitzchok Menachem Mendel Dancyger (1880-1943), whose accomplishments included the expansion of religious schools in Łódź and in Aleksander. Unlike many chasidic leaders of that period, he was not interested in politics. During the Second World War, he was in the Warsaw Ghetto. Refusing to leave for the Land of Israel, he died along with his family in Treblinka. Nowadays, the community of chasidim of Aleksander exists mainly in Israel, but there are several small synagogues [[shtibl]ekh in Boro Park NY, Monsey NY, Antwerp (Belgium), London (England), and Australia. 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... now. ... The first page of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a The Talmud (Hebrew: תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... Bełchatów is a town in central Poland. ... Opoczno - a town in central Poland with 23,000 inhabitants (2002). ... Piotrków Trybunalski is a town in central Poland with 80,738 inhabitants (2005). ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... now. ... . Łódź (pronunciation: ) is the second-largest city (population 776,297 in 2004) of Poland, located in the centre of the country. ... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Łódź ((?)) is Polands second largest city (population 776,297 in 2004). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Ghetto Heroes Memorial The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany in General Government during the Holocaust in World War II. In the three years of its existence, starvation, disease and deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps dropped the population of the... Satellite image of the Land of Israel in January 2003, including portions of the State of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. ... Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Extermination camps like the one at Treblinka were used in the Holocaust for the systematic genocide of sub-humans by the Nazis. ... Borough Park (sometimes rendered as Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. ... The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady) at the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to several triptychs by Baroque painter Rubens. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and the largest city of England (strangely, England has no constitutional existence within the United Kingdom, and therefore cannot be said to have a capital). ...

Grand Rabbi Avraham Menachem Danziger, the previous Aleksanderer Rebbe in Bnei Brak, Israel

• Grand Rabbi Shraga Fayvel Dancyger of Gritsa (d. 1848), disciple of Grand Rabbi Yisrael Yitzchak Kalisz of Vurka, served as the rebbe of the Vurker Chasidim for the final six months of his life
  • Grand Rabbi Yechiel Dancyger (1828 - 1894), first rebbe of the Aleksander dynasty
    • Grand Rabbi Yerachmiel Yisroel Yitzchok Danziger (1853-1910), author of Yismach Yisroel, son of Rabbi Yechiel
    • Grand Rabbi Shmuel Tzvi (1860 - 1923), author of Tiferes Shmuel, son of Rabbi Yechiel
      • Grand Rabbi Yitzchok Menachem Mendl Dancyger (1880-1943), author of Akeidas Yitzchok, son of the Tiferes Shmuel
      • Rabbi Yitzchok Myer Zynger, Rabbi of Aleksander, son-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Tzvi
        • Rabbi Yaakov Shraga Fayvl Zynger, Rabbi of Ostrów Mazowiecka, son of Rabbi Yitzchok Myer Zynger
          • Rabbi Yechiel Menachem Zynger (1919-1988), Aleksanderer Rebbe of America, son of Rabbi Yaakov Shraga Zynger
            • Rabbi Yoseph Yitschok Myer Singer of Aleksander of America, son of Rabbi Yechiel Menachem Singer
    • Grand Rabbi Betsalel Yoir Dancyger of Lodz (1856-1934), son of Rabbi Yechiel
      • Grand Rabbi Avrohom Yehudo Dancyger of Lodz (d. 1943), son of Rabbi Betsalel Yoir
      • Grand Rabbi Yehudah Moshe Tyberg-Dancyger (1892-1973), author of Emunas Moshe, son-in-law of Rabbi Betsalel Yoir
        • Grand Rabbi Avrohom Menachem Dancyger (1921-2005), son of the Emunas Moshe
          • Grand Rabbi Yisroel Danziger, present Aleksanderer Rebbe of Bnei Brak, son of Rabbi Avrohom Menachem
    • Rabbi Yitschok Yosef Sekula, grandson of Rabbi Fayvl of Gritsa
      • Rabbi Yerachmiel Yisroel Sekula of Sadovna, son of Rabbi Yitschok Yosef; after the Shoah a large number of Aleksanderer Chasidim in America prayed in his shul.

Image File history File links Alexander. ... Image File history File links Alexander. ... Grójec is a town in Poland. ... Ostrów Mazowiecka is a town in northeastern Poland with 22,000 inhabitants (1995). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Holocaust. ...

Alexander Hasidism Today

The present Aleksander Rebbe in Boro Park

Grand Rabbi Israel Danziger, the present Alexanderer Rebbe of Bnei Brak, Israel (wearing a fur hat)

Today there are two Grand Rebbes of Alexander, one in Bnei Brak, E. Israel, and one in America in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, New York. Image File history File links Alexanderusa. ... Image File history File links Alexanderusa. ... Image File history File links Alexanderbneibraktish. ... Image File history File links Alexanderbneibraktish. ... Mentioned as one of the cities in the portion of the Tribe of Dan (Yehoshua 19:45), Bnei Brak is famous in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 32b) as the seat of Rabbi Akivas court, and in the Pesach Haggada as the site of the all-night Pesach Seder of Rabbi... Borough Park (sometimes rendered as Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. ...

Important Alexander Literature

In addition to those books revered by all chasidim, the most important book to the Alexander dynasty is Yismach Yisrael, by the second Aleksander Rebbe, and also the Tiferes Shmiel by the third Aleksander Rebbe, and the Sefer Akeidas Yitzchock by the fourth Rebbe Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Mendel Danziger. The sefer `Emunas Moshe` by the fifth Alexander Rebbe Rabbi Yehuda Moshe Danziger. and now the new sefer of the late Alexander Rebbe Imrei Menachem by Grand Rabbi Avrohom Menachem Danziger of blessed memory.

References

1. ^ http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Belchatow/bel019.html
2. ^ http://web.mit.edu/maz/wolf/65-179/wolf76.txt
3. ^ http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Piotrkow/pit098.html

External links

• Obituary of Grand Rabbi Avrohom Menachem Dancyger of Aleksander

• Buy Alexander Seforim online