The Petitions of Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, With Glenn Dynner
Glenn Dynner joins us to explore the kvitlekh of Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, revealing how these 19th-century petitions offer a window into the personal struggles and spiritual life of Eastern European Jews
Today on Jewish Studies Unscrolled, we dive into the fascinating world of kvitlekh—19th-century petitions addressed to Rabbi Elijah Guttmacher, a misnagdic rabbi whose miracle-working reputation drew thousands of supplicants. Discovered in a Polish attic in 1932 and preserved by the YIVO Institute, these handwritten pleas offer vivid, if fragmentary, snapshots of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, revealing stories of financial struggles, illness, and family crises. Glenn Dynner, historian and author of The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust, joins us to share how he has teased history from these tantalizingly incomplete records..
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