Wojciech Tworek
Biographic Data
| ID | 2832579 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wojciech Tworek |
| GIVEN NAMES | Wojciech |
| FAMILY NAME | Tworek |
| SIGNATURE | TWOREK W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wrocław |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0067-9100 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Iconic Hasidic Food
This essay delves into the historical custom observed by Chabad Hasidim, wherein they partake in buckwheat kasha during the festival of 19 Kislev. This tradition made its initial appearance in Chabad sources during the 1930s and, subsequent to its formalization in Chabad books of customs, has experienced a resurgence in recent years. The story of kasha, however, extends beyond the food consumed during Hasidic celebrations. As a case study, it unv…
Education and Formation in an Interwar Hasidic Yeshiva
Hasidic yeshivas rose to prominence in Eastern Europe in the interwar period (1918–1939), as a way of keeping orthodox youth in the fold and of shaping the new generations of Hasidim, enabling them to withstand the allures of non-Orthodox cultures. Using the Chabad–Lubavitch yeshiva Tomkhe Temimim as a case study, this article focuses on the educational and formative strategies employed in interwar Hasidic yeshivas. It examines previously unused …
The Eastern European Problem of Hasidic Studies
The Eastern European Problem of Hasidic Studies Wojciech Tworek (bio) “Karl marx was a German philosopher,” writes Leszek Kołakowski in the introduction to his history of Marxist thought. “This does not sound a particularly enlightening statement, yet it is not so commonplace as it may at first appear.”1 Mimicking the Polish philosopher, I will begin by saying that Hasidism (lehavdil!) was an Eastern European phenomenon. And while this statement …
The Scroll of 19 Kislev and the Construction of an Imagined Habad Lubavitch Community in Interwar Poland
Hasidic Attitudes Toward the Non-Jewish World
This article surveys the spectrum of Hasidic-gentile relations, from Hasidic perceptions of non-Jews to aspects of their everyday interactions as expressed in various Hasidic and non-Hasidic sources. We explore perspectives on non-Jews presented in Hasidic speculative teachings and consider the impact of these theories on the nature of Hasidic-gentile daily relations. We put particular emphasis on the level of egalitarian contacts among rank-and-…
Ada Rapoport-Albert
Writing about Ada Rapoport-Albert is humbling. Ada was a ground-breaking scholar, a devoted teacher, and a generous colleague who was loved by many and respected by all. She was also a person of pr
Mystic, Teacher, Troublemaker
Before the interwar period, yeshivas (rabbinical academies) were unpopular among Polish Hasidim, who preferred a less formal educational paradigm centered on a shtibl (house of study). Following the First World War, however, shtiblekh emptied out and specifically Hasidic yeshivas were designed as an emergency measure to retain the young people within the Hasidic fold. Paradoxically, this educational revolution depended to a great extent on people…
Kabbalah Research in the Wissenschaft des Judentums (1820–1880)
Book review
Eternity Now
Beyond Hagiography with Footnotes
This article discusses the biographies of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe) within the broader context of Chabad historiographic lore, in particular the quasi-historical writings of Yosef Yiẓḥak Schneersohn from the 1930s and 1940s. Described by Ada Rapoport-Albert as “hagiography with footnotes,” these seemingly scholarly and modern texts constituted an alternative narrative to that of academic Jewish history. From this vantage point, I con…
Between hagiography and historiography
The portrait of Shneur Zalman of Liady is one of the most popular images in modern Jewish iconography. Published at the end of the nineteenth century, the portrait has quickly gained popularity both within and without the Chabad community. However, unlike the religious audience, which reveres the portrait as a faithful representation of the founder of Chabad, the secular, academic audience rejects it as fraudulent, together with all the supportin…
Setting Times for Torah Study in R. Shneur Zalman of Liady's Thought
This study presents the ideas about setting times for Torah study in the writings of R. Shneur Zalman of Liady (Rashaz) as one of the elements that formed the inclusive concept of mystical experience in the Ḥabad movement. The article argues that in his teachings Rashaz invested common experiences and the precepts of normative, non-mystical Judaism with mystical meanings, and thus proposed a new, inclusive concept of mystical experience. The rein…
Beyond Hagiography with Footnotes
This article discusses the biographies of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe) within the broader context of Chabad historiographic lore, in particular the quasi-historical writings of Yosef Yiẓḥak Schneersohn from the 1930s and 1940s. Described by Ada Rapoport-Albert as “hagiography with footnotes,” these seemingly scholarly and modern texts constituted an alternative narrative to that of academic Jewish history. From this vantage point, I con…
Setting Times for Torah Study in R. Shneur Zalman of Liady's Thought
This study presents the ideas about setting times for Torah study in the writings of R. Shneur Zalman of Liady (Rashaz) as one of the elements that formed the inclusive concept of mystical experience in the Ḥabad movement. The article argues that in his teachings Rashaz invested common experiences and the precepts of normative, non-mystical Judaism with mystical meanings, and thus proposed a new, inclusive concept of mystical experience. The rein…
Between hagiography and historiography
The portrait of Shneur Zalman of Liady is one of the most popular images in modern Jewish iconography. Published at the end of the nineteenth century, the portrait has quickly gained popularity both within and without the Chabad community. However, unlike the religious audience, which reveres the portrait as a faithful representation of the founder of Chabad, the secular, academic audience rejects it as fraudulent, together with all the supportin…
Kabbalah Research in the Wissenschaft des Judentums (1820–1880)
Book review
Eternity Now
Beyond Hagiography with Footnotes
This article discusses the biographies of Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe) within the broader context of Chabad historiographic lore, in particular the quasi-historical writings of Yosef Yiẓḥak Schneersohn from the 1930s and 1940s. Described by Ada Rapoport-Albert as “hagiography with footnotes,” these seemingly scholarly and modern texts constituted an alternative narrative to that of academic Jewish history. From this vantage point, I con…
Hasidic Attitudes Toward the Non-Jewish World
This article surveys the spectrum of Hasidic-gentile relations, from Hasidic perceptions of non-Jews to aspects of their everyday interactions as expressed in various Hasidic and non-Hasidic sources. We explore perspectives on non-Jews presented in Hasidic speculative teachings and consider the impact of these theories on the nature of Hasidic-gentile daily relations. We put particular emphasis on the level of egalitarian contacts among rank-and-…
Ada Rapoport-Albert
Writing about Ada Rapoport-Albert is humbling. Ada was a ground-breaking scholar, a devoted teacher, and a generous colleague who was loved by many and respected by all. She was also a person of pr
Mystic, Teacher, Troublemaker
Before the interwar period, yeshivas (rabbinical academies) were unpopular among Polish Hasidim, who preferred a less formal educational paradigm centered on a shtibl (house of study). Following the First World War, however, shtiblekh emptied out and specifically Hasidic yeshivas were designed as an emergency measure to retain the young people within the Hasidic fold. Paradoxically, this educational revolution depended to a great extent on people…
The Scroll of 19 Kislev and the Construction of an Imagined Habad Lubavitch Community in Interwar Poland
The Eastern European Problem of Hasidic Studies
The Eastern European Problem of Hasidic Studies Wojciech Tworek (bio) “Karl marx was a German philosopher,” writes Leszek Kołakowski in the introduction to his history of Marxist thought. “This does not sound a particularly enlightening statement, yet it is not so commonplace as it may at first appear.”1 Mimicking the Polish philosopher, I will begin by saying that Hasidism (lehavdil!) was an Eastern European phenomenon. And while this statement …
Education and Formation in an Interwar Hasidic Yeshiva
Hasidic yeshivas rose to prominence in Eastern Europe in the interwar period (1918–1939), as a way of keeping orthodox youth in the fold and of shaping the new generations of Hasidim, enabling them to withstand the allures of non-Orthodox cultures. Using the Chabad–Lubavitch yeshiva Tomkhe Temimim as a case study, this article focuses on the educational and formative strategies employed in interwar Hasidic yeshivas. It examines previously unused …
Iconic Hasidic Food
This essay delves into the historical custom observed by Chabad Hasidim, wherein they partake in buckwheat kasha during the festival of 19 Kislev. This tradition made its initial appearance in Chabad sources during the 1930s and, subsequent to its formalization in Chabad books of customs, has experienced a resurgence in recent years. The story of kasha, however, extends beyond the food consumed during Hasidic celebrations. As a case study, it unv…
Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (9 works) · Art (8 works) · History (8 works) · Jewish Identity and Society (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Judaism (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Archaeology (4 works)