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A Vanished World

By Daniel Lancaster | Comments (5) | Posted on June 28, 2007

When my sons were younger, every Friday night at the Sabbath table I would read them a Chassidic story. They loved the tales of the wonder working rabbis and miraculous reversals that populated the vanished world of pre-war Eastern Europe. With rapt attention, they followed the adventures and struggles of simple peasants faced with hardships, persecutions and challenges quite foreign to our modern American world. My kids could not tell you much of anything about Harry Potter or Shrek, but they could tell you about the amazing Baal Shel Tov, his disciple the Maggid of Mezritch, or the mysterious Seer of Lublin.
As my sons and daughter grew older, we made a rule in our house that they could not read secular books on Sabbath. We did not feel that the Hardy Boys contributed to the kedushah (holiness) of the Shabbat. I was pleased to see my sons turn to the tales of the Chasidim for Sabbath reading material, and I often find them reading Chassidic tales on weekdays as well.
When I read these stories, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of nostalgia for that lost world of the shtetls—a time and place where Torah study was at the center of life and the fear and love of God was all pervading. My brother sent me a link to a photo collection that allows us a glimpse back through time into that vanished world. Enjoy the journey:

Jewish Life in Poland

D. Thomas Lancaster
Tammuz 12, 5767

About the Author: Daniel Lancaster is FFOZ’s Director of Education and regular contributor to messiah magazine. He is the author of Torah Club Volumes Two, Four and Five, and the FFOZ books Mystery of the Gospel, Restoration and more.

Visitor Comments

Now if only someone would publish Tales of the Talmidim and Tales of the Shlichim. ;-)

Posted by: Justin Johnson | June 28, 2007 5:44 PM

I know, I know! I am still collecting the stories from various sources. I have plenty. The problem is I never have time to write.

It’s too late for my children already, but perhaps my collections of “Tales of the Talmidim”, “Tales of the Shlichim”, “Tales of the Notzrim” and “Tales of the Christianos” will be ready and published by the time my grandchildren are sitting at their Sabbath tables. It’s a difficult task because the Church legends are so fanciful and so far removed from reality, but outside of those, we have almost nothing on the end of the Apostolic period. A great deal of it will have to be reconstructions based upon sparse facts and historical notices. I am excited about the prospect, and still hopeful that one day I will be able to produce these collections with FFOZ.

Posted by: D. Thomas Lancaster | June 28, 2007 6:48 PM

I agree with Justin! This needs to be a priority for our kids and grandkids.

Posted by: Toby Janicki | June 28, 2007 9:42 PM

Having the types of books you describe sounds wonderful! May the L-ord direct your vision and grant the time to write! In the meanwhile, can you tell us where we can find the books you read to your children? I looked at some children's books recently but a number of them seemed full of mysticism and I didn't want to take the risk.

REPLY dtl: Thanks. It's all God-willing and with God's help. As for books I read to my children, I wasn't choosey because I'm not really worried about mystical elements. Probably too reckless, but I wasn't looking for theological purity; I was looking for fun stories. We enjoyed things like ArtScroll's children's anthologies.

Posted by: Mary Ellen | June 28, 2007 10:09 PM

Having read and reread "Tales of the Hasidim" and "The Light and Fire of the Bal Shem Tov" I found the photos from Poland to be a real treat.

Sadly, the photos also make me wonder how many, if any, of those pictured survived the Holocaust. What a loss.

Posted by: MJ Belko | June 29, 2007 12:45 PM

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