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Abstract
Footage from the 1997 documentary “A Life Apart: Hasidism in America” (directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky), the first in-depth documentary about Hasidic Jews, members of a distinctive group within Judaism that has roots in pre-World War II Eastern Europe.

A Hanukkah party in the home of the Horowitz family, Bobover Hasidim. (Part 2)

00:00:05 - Horowitz family gathering for Hannukah celebration: Rabbi Horowitz and grandchildren. Each child gets a menorah. View of the room through a window (audio not sync). (Yiddish)

00:04:38 - The menorahs are lit by the men and boys as Rabbi Horowitz leads in chanting the blessing. The menorahs as seen through a window. Hanukkah songs are sung. (Audio not sync). The men dance with the children.

00:14:31 - The lit menorahs. The children eat candies. Interview with Rabbi Horowitz: About the first time he lit Hanukkah candles after the war, in Italy. Sings a song. (Yiddish)

00:16.40 - Interview with Mr. Horowitz: I came to Vienna. From Poland Czechoslovakia and Hungary, I arrived in Vienna. There we lived in barracks preparing to depart to Israel from Italy. There I met a group of 10 Jews who took me in as a child, and one of them was a partisan. I never met a Jew with so much self-sacrifice as this partisan. We lived in one room, a few hundred people, and he was the only one who lit Hanukkah candles, I can't forget how he sat in a corner and he took some potatoes, hollowed them out and he sat for hours watching his candles burn. It made an impression, he wasn't afraid but just did the mitzvah the way it's supposed to be done. Until this day I've never met such a Jew with such self-sacrifice. I just watched how he did the mitzvah the way it's supposed to be done and I'll never forget it. Later he went to Israel, and I lost contact with him but he kept an eye on me and he taught me the alphabet. He once got a suit from UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Organization) and he wasn't sure if it had shatnez (a forbidden mixture of wool and linen) so he tore out all the linings and just walked around with the outside of the suit. Now how many people would do that? Only him. It was the first time I saw candles lit in Vienna after the war. …. Later on we lived on the west side by the Rebbe -- there were not too many people, then. These days on Friday night after the Tish we dance, the Rebbe sings a song for Shabbos and then we start Umenosar Kankanim naseh Nes L’Shoshanim, (from the remaining containers a miracle occurred with the oil) and the Rebbe looks around the crowd and we all know what he means, that from us few survivors a great miracle occurred. (Yiddish)

00:20:42 - Mrs. Horowitz brings latkes to the table and the children eat. She tries to get the children to play with dreydls.
Collection
Duration
00:22:34 (HH:MM:SS)
Language:
English
Copyright Date
1997
Rights Declaration:
This recording is protected by copyright. You are free to view it but not download it. Please contact the Brooklyn College Archives for further information about how you may use this recording.
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