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Chasidim from Aleksandrow
[Yiddish, Aleksander hasidim] - In the years
1866 to 1870, the town of Aleksandrow Lodzki was the center
for Chasidim
from Gora Kalwaria. Henoch Henich Kohen Levin was rabbi
there
(1798-1870), some of whose students became prominent
tzaddikim,
including Yaakov Yitzhak Ha-Levi Horovitz of Lublin and
Menachem Mendel
Morgenstern of Kock. After the death of his friend and
teacher, Yitzhak
Meir Rothenberg Alter, Henoch Henich Cohen Levin became
leader of the
Chasidim from Gora Kalwaria. He introduced many innovations,
such as
accepting requests made by women. The founder of what could
actually be
called the Aleksandrow dynasty was the son of a tzaddik from
Grojec,
Yechiel Danziger (?-1894), the pupil of the tzaddik Israel
Yitzhak
Kalish of Warka.
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-His son, Yerachmiel Israel Yitzhak Danziger
(1853-1910), however, was even more famous, and had a large
group of
followers. He was the author of Yismach Israel (Hebrew, Be
Joyful,
Israel, 1911), which he wrote together with his brother,
Shmuel Tsvi (d.
1923), who later succeeded him. The teachings of the
tzaddikim who
followed stressed ethics, mysticism and ecstatic religious
forms,
putting less emphasis on studying the Talmud. The followers
of the
tzaddikim from Aleksandrow were primarily merchants and
artisans,
especially from Lodz, where there were approximately 35
houses of
prayer. After Shmuel Tsvi's death, the dynasty was continued
by his
brother, Betsalel Yair (1856-1934) and Shmuel Tsvi's son -
Yitzhak
Menachem Mendel Danziger (1880-1943), whose accomplishments
included the
expansion of religious schools in Lodz and in Aleksandrow.
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 Palestine, he died along with his family in
Treblinka. The
Chasidic community from Aleksandrow exists in Israel to this
day.
(H.W./CM)
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