Essential for those interested in the history of Jews in Russia and Ukraine, Hasidism in Eastern Europe [Chabad, Slonim, Shklov], anti semitism under tzars and communists, Zionist history, matriachal history, Jewish research in Russia particularly in the Saltykov library- Firkovitch collection by (a) librarian Dr. Aryeh Vilsker, and scholars (b) Dr. Gita Gluskin, (c) Dr Lea Gluskin, (d) Joseph David Amusin; Jewish genealogical methods, folkways, Baltimore Jewish history, rabbinic history of Minsk, and religious and cultural studies, etc
http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-b-levy-and-yosef-serebryanski/gluskin-family-history/hardcover/product-24347572.html <http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-b-levy-and-yosef-serebryanski/gluskin-family-history/hardcover/product-24347572.html> Gluskin Family History by David B. Levy (Hardcover) - Lulu<http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-b-levy-and-yosef-serebryanski/gluskin-family-history/hardcover/product-24347572.html> Buy Gluskin Family History by David B. Levy (Hardcover) online at Lulu. Visit the Lulu Marketplace for product details, ratings, and reviews. www.lulu.com<http://www.lulu.com/> Abstract: This unique genealogical research jointly authored by Rabbi Yosef Serebranski and David B Levy sheds light on Eastern European Jewish history, Hasidic dynasties, and modern Zionism. It draws on primary archival sources including oral interviews, memoirs, photos, poems, works of art, maps, hespedim, synagogue pinkasim, demographic statistics, state records, and scholarly secondary sources such as those by Dr. Hillel Zeitilin and Dr. S. Lieberman. The study draws on documents in multiple languages. The testimony is peppered with primary sources including interviews and many secondary sources in languages such as Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, French, German. The project is the summary of over two decades of research visiting family in Israel, Russia, Australia and other countries as well as consulting archives and libraries across the globe. The study also in part describes some of the methods, strategies, and reliance at times on pure luck, Hashgahah Pratit, serendipity, and yad HaShem, to uncover and bring to light the past of family history and place this account in its historical context. As well as revealing of an elite rabbinic dynasty this study is unique in revealing matriachal histories of remarkable family members and draws on archival resources in Jewish womens' history. It notes some individuals who made major impacts in their Jewish community, Judaism, cultural history at large, Zionism, and Eretz Yisrael. Some of the noted Rabbis featured, include: Rabbis Rav Menachem Mendel Gluskin, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, Rabbi Eliezer Rabinowitz (av bet din of Minsk), Rabbi Eliyahu Pearlman (the Minsker Gadol), The Chazon Ish (as Dr. S. Lieberman was his nephew), Rabbi Aaron Ori Gluskin of Paritchi (after Habad luminary Rabbi Hillel of Paritch), Rabbi Yehoshua Gluskin of Lvov who was the grandson of Rabbi Moshe Zev Gluskin who gave a Hesped for the GRA and comrad of The Netziv. Also noted are academic scholars such as (1) Dr. Saul Lieberman (brother in law of Rav Menachem Mendel Gluskin), (2) Dr. Aryeh Vilsker Chief research Judaica Librarian in the Ferkovitch Hebraia Collection of the Saltykov Library in St. Petersbuerg, who amongst many scholarly achievements discovered 18 unknown poem of Rav Yehudah HaLevy that were made more widely known by Dr. Ezra Fleischer of the Medieval Cairo Poetry Unit in Israel founded by German philantrhopist Shocken, Vilsker also published a Samaritan Dictionary; Sefer HaHokmah by a medieval Persian Jew Rabbi Saed ben Babshad; the Medzibuz tombstone inscription of the Besht; unknown letters of Chaim Bialik; bibliography of Mendel Moicher Seforim; Pushkiniana among the Jews; and works of Scholem Aleichem etc, (3) Dr. Joseph David Amusin who published over 50 books and articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls in many languages including Hungarian, Russian, Hebrew, French, and German on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Also featured are Zionist pioneers such as Zev Gluskin who helped develop [as a competitor of Rothschild) the art of Kosher wine making by importing French grapes to Eretz Yisrael for the making of dry wines such as Merlot, Cabernet, and Shiraz, etc. The matriachal history uncovered in part features man remarkable mothers, daughters, and Rebbetzins such as (1) Dr. Gita Gluskin (zl) who amongst an important scholarly output wrote a disertation on an unknown manuscript in St. Petersburg Saltkov Library by Rabbi Yehudah Alharizi and published a mathemetical treatise in Hebrew from the Medieval ages, (2) Dr. Leah Gluskin who was a scholar of 2nd Temple Judaism and expert on the formation of the mishnah, Philo, and Josephus, (3) Esther Gluskin who as a member of Hashomer HaTzair was sent to Siberia and suffered for her Zionist commitments, and (4) Dr. Sonia (Mendelevna) Gluskin, a professor of Russian Literature and philology whose son Sasha Mintz was a world reknown ballet dancer who performed around the world including the NYC MET. Many letters to Rav Menachem Gluskin are preserved in the Iggerot Kodesh of the previous Lubavitch Rebbe dealing with teaching torah under censorship, baking matzah, performing brit milah and shehitah, allowing Jewish students to be excused from secular schools on Shabbos, and keeping Jewish shops open on Sundays. An article by Dr. Hillel Zeitlin on Rav Menachem and Dr. S. Lieberman's entry in the Minsk yizkor books are drawn upon. The unusual interactions of Hasidim and Mitnagdim are discussed quite differently than most flat portaits as one of sinat hinam, rechilut, herem, and antagonism and polemic. For example when Dr. Saul Liberman said to Rav Menachem Gluskin "the Hasidic shtiebelach are superfluous," Rav Menachem did not get angry but responded to the effect that every town, city, and shitebel should have Hasidic shteibelach so Jews not become arrogant with their elaborate synagogue architecture but let us not polemicize, let us go sing a niggun." Dr. Lieberman refers to Rav Menachem as an "exotic plant" amongst the shabbos table of largely litvish Mitnagdim. This Rabbinic history is substantiated with bringing to center stage from the margins the Rebbetzins, female scholars, and devoted wives, mothers, and daughters especially in a chapter titled "the 7 prophetesses." There we see the personal side of the family as when in I interview with David Levy, We learn from such anecdotes little hints of the personal lives of these family members as when Dr Gita in an interview in Givatayim, tells me that "it is no accident that the yahrzeit of Rav Menachem (my father) and Fraidl Rabinowitch Gluskin (my mother 5 years earlier) is both the 13 Kislev- "Because there souls were so mystically bound up with one another... al pi Kabbalah." Thus the overall book is not a Hagigraphic work, but rather recoups the role of womens' history and the exemplary roles of individual women in my family and brings them center stage from the margins. For instance Esther Gluskin was arrested by the kGB and sent to Siberia for her involvement in a Zionist organization HaShomer HaTzair. Gita and Leah achieved doctorates in Hebrew philology and Jewish studies under difficult circumstances. And Sonia Gluskin was a scholar of Russian literature and philology. This book is a decades long journey in search of academi history, but for sacred memory as the Besht, notes, "Bizikranot yesh ha-geulah". We cannot do justice to the present unless we remember and learn from the noble deeds of our ancestors to guide us in the future. Further we cannot know where we are going unless we know "where we have walked" in generations before us. This teaches us to “trust the future, remember the past, and live the present,” informed and guided by the light of the holy souls sparks that shine as glistening "names" in Gan Eden. The book is not so much one in search of yichus, which many hagigraphic works document. It is a journey to reveal the misrat nefesh of our ancestors in usually abject material poverty, who sacrificed to be proud Jews in trying times, accomplishing greatness in Torah learning, for we are mere dwarfs in ruchnius, intellectual virtue, and moral and spiritual middot compared to our forefathers and matriarchs in Eastern Europe. We can only know where we are going if we walk by the light of their inspiring examples. It is an attempt to turn to the past to guide the future, to make us better persons, seeking wisdom from the elders, as parasha Hazinu enjoins: זְכֹר יְמוֹת עוֹלָם, בִּינוּ שְׁנוֹת דֹּר-וָדֹר; שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ, זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ This is vol 7 of a 10 vol set by David b Levy see: https://ischool.umd.edu/news/alumni-spotlight-independent-scholar-who-strives-be-autodidact-%E2%80%93-david-b-levy-mls-%E2%80%9894 Sent from Outlook<http://aka.ms/weboutlook>
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