Hundreds of Hasidic Jews from across Europe, Israel and North America gathered on Mar. 10 in a small southeastern Polish town to honor a 18th century leader of their mystical branch of Judaism.
The pilgrims — the vast majority men sporting beards, side locks, wide-brimmed or fur hats and other traditional black Hasidic garb — assembled for 24 hours of ceremonies marking the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Elimelech in 1787.
The rabbi died in Lezajsk on the 21st day of Adar in the Jewish calendar, which fell this year on March 11.
PHOTO: AFP
The annual event includes a day of prayer which starts at sunset on Saturday — the Jewish Sabbath — marked by the dancing and singing which is the hallmark of Hasidic Jews, whose maxim is "worship God in joy."
The event brings Hasidic Jews back to one of the spiritual homes of their movement more than 60 years after most of its members were wiped out during the Holocaust.
Lezajsk was once a typical part of a swathe of largely Jewish towns and villages across what today are Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.
Before World War II, around half of the town's 6,000-strong population were Jews.
Few survived the German occupation, when the Nazis slaughtered six million Jews, around half of whom were from Poland.
After the war, Poland's Jewish population numbered only 280,000.
Like most of the rest of Lezajsk's Jewish cemetery, Rabbi Elimechel's tomb was destroyed during the war.
It was refurbished in the early 1960s thanks to a rabbi from Vienna, though work continued on it into the 1980s.
(AFP)
數百位來自歐洲、以色列與北美的哈西德派猶太人三月十日齊聚在波蘭東南部一個小鎮，紀念這個猶太神秘教派的一名十八世紀領袖。
朝聖者大多為蓄留鬍鬚與邊髮，戴寬緣帽或毛帽，並穿著傳統哈西德派黑衣的男性。他們為了歷時二十四小時的以利米勒拉比逝世紀念齊聚一堂。以利米勒拉比在一七八七年逝世。
這位拉比於猶太曆亞達月二十一日在列札斯克過世，今年國曆是三月十一日。
年度的活動包括猶太安息日（週六）日落時分展開的禱告日，以格言為「歡喜信奉上帝」的哈西德派猶太人之歌舞為特色。
這個活動帶領哈西德派猶太人重回六十多年前，哈西德運動的心靈歸依處所，當時多數教徒在納粹猶太人大屠殺中慘遭殺害。
列札斯克過去是一長串猶太城鎮與村落中的一個典型小鎮，位於現在的白俄羅斯、波蘭、俄羅斯與烏克蘭一帶。
二次大戰前，這個小鎮的六千人口中，半數為猶太人。
極少數猶太人在德國佔領時倖存。當時納粹屠殺了六百萬猶太人，其中半數來自波蘭。
戰後波蘭的猶太人口只有二十八萬人。
如同列札斯克多數猶太墓園一像，以利米勒拉比的墳墓在戰爭中遭到毀壞。
一名來自維也納的拉比在一九六○年代初期將他的墳墓重新翻修，工程持續到一九八○年代才完工。 （法新社╱翻譯︰賴美君）
Many consumers are guilty of filling drawers or closets with old laptops, cellphones, fitness trackers and other electronic devices once they are no longer needed. It’s hard to know where to recycle such items, or it seems costly and inconvenient to do so. The world generates millions of tons of electronic waste — also called e-waste — each year. According to the UN’s most recent estimate, people worldwide produced 62 million metric tons of e-waste in 2022, and only about 22 percent of it was properly recycled. The US’ Environmental Protection Agency estimates that less than a quarter of e-waste is
You’re sitting in class when a classmate asks to borrow a pencil. It seems like a small favor, so you agree without hesitation. The following week, the same classmate asks to share your notes. Later, they request help with a group project. You agree each time — after all, you helped out the first time — but before you know it, it has become automatic. This scenario demonstrates the “foot-in-the-door technique,” a psychological concept that shows how agreeing to small, acceptable demands makes it easier to accept larger ones later on. The name for this strategy comes from door-to-door
A: The four-day Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend begins Friday and will run until Monday. Are you going to sweep your ancestors’ tombs? B: I did in advance last weekend, so I can go to Kaohsiung to see the musical “The Phantom of the Opera.” A: Wow, is “Phantom” touring Taiwan again? It debuted in 1986, so this year marks the 40th anniversary of the show. B: And it’s not just touring Kaohsiung starting March 31, but also Taipei starting April 21 and Taichung starting May 26. A: “Phantom” is one of the world’s Four Major Musicals. I’ve seen all of them, except “Les
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日） https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Gig Tripping “Gig tripping” combines concerts with travel. People fly to see their favorite artists perform — usually abroad—and spend a few days sightseeing before or after the show. While die-hard fans have done this since the 1960s, the post-pandemic travel boom changed the game. Even people who aren’t superfans are now booking international concert trips because they want to make the most of travel opportunities. This trend exploded in the US, as the math makes sense. Domestic concert tickets are so costly that flying abroad for the show plus tourism expenses often matches or even beats the price
RSS