Conference taveng::bagels

    Are you interested in traditional Poland in general?  Or are you
    interested in the traditions and customs for Jews in Poland prior
    to WWII?
    
    If it is the latter, there is a remote chance that I can track down
    a book for you.  My husband's parents are Jewish and were born in
    Poland but sent to concentration camps when they were in their teens.
    I'm almost positive that they have all kinds of books relating to the 
    Holocaust and post-war activities in Europe; I'm not sure if they have 
    anything or know of anything that reviews pre-war times. (To be
    honest, I'm not sure if they have anything about Poland at all -
    the country does not hold fond memories for them.)
    
    I'll ask them this weekend.
               

    There is a book of photographs by Roman Vishniack (sp?) that has
    a title something like  "The World That was Lost" which may give
    you a feel for the life and time of pre WWII Poland.  Another source
    could be the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv.  If you were to
    write them and ask for a bibliography, I'm certain that they could
    help.  Do any of our ISOers have the address?
    
    
    Av

    I didn't have a chance to talk with my in-laws this weekend, however,
    I did mention the subject to my husband.  He then walked over to
    the bookshelf and pulled out a book which he bought in Poland two
    years ago.  (He went there with his dad for a few weeks.)
    
    Details are as follows:
    
    Title:  The Polish Jewry
              History and Culture
    
    Authors:  Marian Fuks, Zygmunt Hoffman, Maurycy Horn, Jerzy Tomaszewski
    
    Publisher:  Interpress Publishers, Warsaw  1982
                Printed in English, Polish, and German
    
    ISBN #:  83-223-2002-7
    
    100 pages of print; 96 pages of pictures
    
    Chapters cover:
    
     o Jews in Poland until End of 18th Century
     o Jewish Culture in Poland until End of 18th Century
         - Language and Literature
         - Lay Learning
         - Mysticism
         - Art
         - Education
         - Customs and Family Life
         - Illness and Funerals
     o Polish Jewry in the 19th and 20th Centuries
         - Printers, Publishers and Booksellers
         - Literature
         - Theatre
         - Music
         - Painting
         - The Press
         - Edlucation
      o The Nazi Occupation
    
    I flipped through the book; it doesn't look like any chapters are
    very long so I don't know how indepth they are (then again, quantity
    doesn't necessarily have any impact on quality).
    
    This weekend I was in a bookstore and decided to see if the book
    was listed in Books In Print. (I wasn't sure if a book published
    in Poland would be listed.) I did find the book listed
    in the titles section of Books in Print, along with a few others on 
    Polish Jewry.  (I looked up the words "Polish Jewry".)  You may
    want to visit a bookstore near you and flip through the titles section
    of Books in Print.  These other books listed may be more indepth
    and more aligned with your needs.
    
     
    

If you think you might enjoy reading a novel which tells the
story of a Polish-Jewish family over the course of 2 centuries 
(approx 18th to early 20th) try "The Brothers Ashkenazy" and
"The Family Moskat" by Singer.  They are !excellent! novels and
give a pretty good feel for the traditions and circumstances of
Jewish life in Poland.  I think there is a third book in the series
as well but I forget the title.  The author is not I.B. Singer, but
his brother (whose first name I forget).  

I wouldn't be surprised if the books exist in French translation.

Some other novels which give alot of information and feel for the nature
of East European Jewish life - 

Chaim Grade - "The Yeshivah" is set mostly in Lithuania but has Polish
characters and character portraits.  There's also a collection of Grade's
short stories called something like "My Mother's Sabbath Days" which is good.

S. I. Agnon - "A Simple Story" and "A Guest for the Night" are set in Galicia
(the region where Austria, Poland and Russia meet) before and immediately 
after WWI. "A Guest for the Night" in particular is a memorial-portrait of 
Jewish communal life which Agnon felt had been permanently destroyed by the
events of 1914-1918.  Some Agnon short stories which have a pre-WWI
European setting are "The Crooked Made Straight" and "In the Prime of Her
Days" (titles may not be exact - I'm making them up as I go along and don't
know what the published translations used).

                     <<< Note 621.6 by CSG001::ROSENBLUH >>>
                             -< How about novels? >-

<If you think you might enjoy reading a novel which tells the
<story of a Polish-Jewish family over the course of 2 centuries 
<(approx 18th to early 20th) try "The Brothers Ashkenazy" and
<"The Family Moskat" by Singer.  They are !excellent! novels and
<give a pretty good feel for the traditions and circumstances of
<Jewish life in Poland.  I think there is a third book in the series
<as well but I forget the title.  The author is not I.B. Singer, but
<his brother (whose first name I forget).  


   Slight confusion here.

   "The Brothers Ashkenazy" is by I.J. Singer (the brother of I.B.
   Singer)

   "The Family Moskat" is by I.B. Singer. I don't think it's a series.
   But there are two other books by I.B. Singer set in the same time
   and place (ie. 19th century Poland) which *are* a series - one of
   them is called "The Manor" - I can't remember the name of the
   other.

   I.B. Singer also wrote a book of autobiographical sketches called
   "In My Father's Court" which gives an interesting and moving
   picture of life in a Polish Chasidic community. He's also written
   another autobiographical book more recently, but I can't remember
   its name.


   Marge

    Hello,
    
    I have some of SINGER books and I enjoy it.
    But if you read it you will not find enough details on religious
    way of life for exemple or what did they eat ...;
    You I am looking for a details book.
    May be I should ask the Loubavitch members ? 
    
    Shalom
    
    Serge Rozenblum
    Evry France

    Serge,
    
    I'm a bit confused as to what you are really looking for.
    
    If you want receipes, there are numerous Jewish cookbooks.
    If you want to know how they lived, most of the books that have
    been suggested will give you a taste of what the life of a Jew in
    Poland was like.  
    
    Are you looking for particular Polish Jewish customs?
    Each Chassidic community had their own way of doing things, for
    example, some people lit candles for Shabbos, others used oil and
    wicks.
    The secular Jews of Warsaw were different than the Czjerikah Chassidim
    of Czhenstokowa (my mother's 'hometown'). 
    
    Please define what you want to know, and I'm sure that we can help.
    
    Av
    Both of my parents were from Poland
    	

Hello av,

In fact I am interested by all kind of details. Of course the "Cook" details are
interesting but my wish is certainly to get more informations on religious
customs.
My wife is coming from North-Africa (Tunisia) like many jews in France and they 
still have a lot of tradition habits, customs..
And it's difficult to oppose something to their customs.
I know that for us (Ashkanaze) the WWII made a big break, but I would want to 
catch up my roots (Even if I don't want to live like in Poland because life
change).

Ok each community in Poland had their own customs, but as I said I don't really
want to do what they did, my main goal is to know what they did.

I bought with my grand-mother a book written by a Polish about jewish life.
My grand-mother read it in Poland 50 years ago and she told me that it was 
certainly the only one book non-antisemitism written by polish.
I will give you the title(next week). It's in french but I know that an English traduction
exist.

I am may be confused for some of you, but the process to catch-up his root isn't
a easy process.
I still wait for new title.

Shalom

Serge Rozenblum
Evry France.

    
    The Bible is not only the world's best seller, it is man's best
    purchase.
    
    The book How To Beat Inflation has just gone up from $1.75 to $2.95.
    
    Nowadays it seems that more books are read in laundramats than in
    libraries.
    
    How to get rich books are now filed under FICTION.
    
    The one book that always has a sad ending is a checkbook.
    
                         
                           RM