Course Materials LSJS Mini-Series – The Piacetzner Rebbe

‫הגה"צ רבי קלונומוס קלמיש שפירא הי"ד‬

‫האדמו"ר מפיאסעצנא‬

By the grace of God, I respectfully ask the honoured individual or institution that will find these writings:
‘hachsharat ha’avreichim’, ‘mavo hasha’arim’ from ‘chovat ha’avreichim’, ‘tzav veziruz’, ‘chidushey torah’ on
the Torah readings from the years 5700, 5701 and 5702, to be so kind as to send them to the Land of Israel
at the following address: Rabbi Yishaya Shapira, Tel Aviv, Palestine. Please also send this letter. Should
God be merciful and I shall remain alive among the Jews who are left after the War, I ask that all of this is
returned to the Warsaw Rabbinate for Kalonymous. May God have mercy upon us, the remnant of Israel,
wherever they are, and save us, give us life and rescue us in an instant.

With thanks from the depths of my heart, Kalonymous

(RHB translation into English)

Rabbi Harvey Belovski 5770 Page 1

 Course Materials LSJS Mini-Series – The Piacetzner Rebbe

Brief Timeline – Key Events

th
1889 (20 May) Born in Grodzisk, Poland, to Rabbi Elimelech and Chanah Brachah Shapira
1892 Death of Rabbi Elimelech Shapira
1902 Marries Rachel Chayah Miriam, daughter of Rabbi Yerachmiel Moshe of Kozienice
1909 Relocates to Piaseczno
1913 Becomes rabbi of Piaseczno
1918 (approx.) Relocates to Warsaw, but remains rabbi of Piaseczno
1922 Founds Da’as Moshe, a Chassidic Yeshivah
1932 Publication of Chovat ha-Talmidim
st
1939 (1 September) German invasion of Poland
1939 (late September) Death of the Rebbe’s son, daughter-in-law and sister-in-law after aerial bombardment of Warsaw
1939 (October) Death of Chanah Brachah Shapira
1940 (November) Rebbe’s home incorporated within the newly established ghetto
1943 (April) Deported to concentration camp in the Lublin area
nd
1943 (2 November) Dies, probably murdered by the Nazis

Bibliography
Works by Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira
Chovat ha-Talmidim (1932) – ‘The Students’ Responsibility’
Aish Kodesh (1960) – ‘Fire of Holiness’
Hachsharat ha-Avreichim (1962) – ‘The Young Men’s Preparation’
Movo ha-She’arim (1966) – ‘The Entrance to the Gates’
Tzav ve-Ziruz (1966) – ‘Commandment and Alacrity’
Beney Machashavah Tovah (1973) – ‘Fellows of Good Thought’
Derech ha-Melech – ‘The King’s Highway’

Works about Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira

Goldberg, A., The Rabbi of Piaseczno: Hero or Anti-Hero (Hebrew). Available here: http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=16226
Leshem, Z., Between messianism and prophecy: Chassidut according to the Admor of Piacetzner (Hebrew); Ph.D. dissertation, Jewish
Philosophy Department, Hebrew University, 2007
--- The Translation of Chassidic Educational Philosophy into the Current Educational Landscape, project, The Jerusalem Fellows, Jerusalem
2003. Shorter version available here: http://www.nishmat.net/article.php?id=357&heading=0
--- The Spiritual System of the Rebbe of Piaseczneh: Implications for Contemporary Jewish Education, Jerusalem 2002. Available here:
http://www.nishmat.net/article.php?id=198&heading=0
Polen, N., The holy fire: the teachings of Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto; Jason Aronson, 1994
---- Esh Kodesh: the teachings of Rabbi Kalonymos Shapiro in the Warsaw Ghetto; Ph.D. dissertation, Boston Univ. Grad. School, 1983

Translations of works by Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira (from Leshem)

A Student’s Obligation, (Hovat HaTalmidim), Shapira Kalonymus, translated by Micha Odenheimer, New Jersey 1991
Conscious Community, (Bnai Mahshavah Tovah), Shapira Kalonymus, translated by Andrea Cohen-Kiener, New Jersey 1999
Sacred Fire: Torah from the Years of Fury, 1939 - 1942, (Esh Kodesh), Shapira Kalonymus, translated by J. Hershy Worch, NJ, 2000
Experiencing the Divine: A Practical Jewish Guide, (Bnai Mahshava Tova), Shapira Kalonymus, translated by Yaacov Dovid Shulman,
Baltimore, unpublished
Redemptions: Contemporary Chassidic Essays on the Parsha and the Festivals, Leshem (Blobstein) Zvi, Jerusalem 2006
To Heal the Soul, (Tzav VeZeruz), Shapira Kalonymus, translated by Yehoshua Starett, New Jersey 1995

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