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 3)
00:00:23 - Lit menorahs in Horowitz family home. Meyer Horowitz sings nigunim (traditional melodies) and Hanukkah songs.
00:07:49 - Mayer Horowitz and his grandchildren with an illuminated alef-bais (alphabet) sign. Horowitz explains he came to make the toy for use as a pedagogical device for children learning in yeshiva. (Yiddish)
00:10:40 - Horowitz: I'm very happy that I have many children who are in the field of Torah education, teaching children, and that I have children who pass on the Torah from before the war. So I wanted to make a new thing for children in America. So, I made a box for my son who is a teacher in a yeshiva and it turned out really nice. It is very difficult to sell but I made it for my own children. Making this was worthwhile as it helps children want to learn. In my days there never was something like this. Children didn't want to go to khaider. Now, every child runs to yeshiva because you give them what they want.
00:11.55 - Horowitz: I remained alive, so right after the war I wanted to do something for Yiddishkyt. So I worked for a yeshiva, I worked for the Bobover Rebbe, I was a teacher and my wife was also a teacher so I made things for the children to learn. I had the idea to make an electric box that will be very nice for the children and especially for the mothers to teach their children. I worked very hard on this until I learned how to connect the electric wires and I gave it to my son-in-law's yeshiva and the whole yeshiva administration wants to buy it from me to teach the children. The Hebrew alphabet with lights, and I hope to make more of them so that children will learn and enjoy. There's a lot of excitement around it.
00:14:15 - Horowitz: The administration of the yeshiva came to me to my home and thanked me that I made such a beautiful thing for the children to learn and they show this to the parents to demonstrate the new methods they are using.
00:14:43 - Interview with Meyer Horowitz. About the differences between cheder in Poland and yeshivas in America and the appeal of yeshivas for parents and children: Before the war people were very poor in Poland and the khaiders had no lights or heat and the teachers were only those who had nothing else to do, not the best teachers. Here in America they take the best young men, like my children who are great scholars, and they are asked to teach the children Torah and alef-bais.
00:15.30 - There's a big difference between the khaider in the Old Country and here in America. Number one, the buildings weren't made for yeshivas. Each teacher taught in his own home by his kitchen table. The teacher wasn't all that experienced and often hit the children, but here children are not hit. It also happened that not every child had money to pay for khaider. Here everyone's child goes to khaider. In my home not everybody went to yeshiva. If the father didn't have money to pay, it was very difficult. Often, there was not even bread. We had to make collections for bread for the children to eat and and here in America we don't have this problem. Here we have other problems. One problem is that children want a lot because they have much at home so they want even more, so that children get spoiled. So you have to tell them that Torah is more important than anything else or toys. Thank God here in America I was raised in the home of the Bobover Rebbe and he knew how to handle each child and we see what a nice generation we raised. We're all very happy with the education that is provided here in America. For example, Hanukkah at home wasn't like we have here where everyone has their own menorah and everyone has their candles or oil -- it wasn't like this. There were poor people and only the rabbi in the synagogue lit candles. But here every child has their own menorah and every child has their own candles and lights them on their own. And the children also get Hanukkah gelt (gifts of money)and other things so that they should observe the Torah, but at home there was no such thing. In America, thank God, the children want to go to khaider and they want to keep up. Today you pay a teacher properly and you take the best young men and give them the resources so they should be able to teach the children, and the children are growing up in a beautiful generation. We hope that in the future we will have even more energy and the children will put the same energy into their children as we put into them. We see that Torah brings goodness for the whole world. Our children don't use dope or needles or other things so everyone sees how important Torah is. So you can show others how good yeshivas are. There are parents who understand this and are afraid of the influence of the street so they send their children to yeshiva.
00:19:38 - (Partial audio) Horowitz with photo albums of his family before the war in Europe and talks about some of his memories of his family. These are pictures of my family from my home. I got these pictures from an uncle who was in South America. This is my mother in a park. This is my father and sister, my younger brother and I in the country. This is a picture of a sister and a brother, Rekha and Moses. She was a very special girl. She taught piano before the war to many girls in this city. She was well-known. My brother was younger than me. He went with my mother to Auschwitz. My father was a merchant.
A Hanukkah party in the home of the Horowitz family, Bobover Hasidim. (Part 3)
00:00:23 - Lit menorahs in Horowitz family home. Meyer Horowitz sings nigunim (traditional melodies) and Hanukkah songs.
00:07:49 - Mayer Horowitz and his grandchildren with an illuminated alef-bais (alphabet) sign. Horowitz explains he came to make the toy for use as a pedagogical device for children learning in yeshiva. (Yiddish)
00:10:40 - Horowitz: I'm very happy that I have many children who are in the field of Torah education, teaching children, and that I have children who pass on the Torah from before the war. So I wanted to make a new thing for children in America. So, I made a box for my son who is a teacher in a yeshiva and it turned out really nice. It is very difficult to sell but I made it for my own children. Making this was worthwhile as it helps children want to learn. In my days there never was something like this. Children didn't want to go to khaider. Now, every child runs to yeshiva because you give them what they want.
00:11.55 - Horowitz: I remained alive, so right after the war I wanted to do something for Yiddishkyt. So I worked for a yeshiva, I worked for the Bobover Rebbe, I was a teacher and my wife was also a teacher so I made things for the children to learn. I had the idea to make an electric box that will be very nice for the children and especially for the mothers to teach their children. I worked very hard on this until I learned how to connect the electric wires and I gave it to my son-in-law's yeshiva and the whole yeshiva administration wants to buy it from me to teach the children. The Hebrew alphabet with lights, and I hope to make more of them so that children will learn and enjoy. There's a lot of excitement around it.
00:14:15 - Horowitz: The administration of the yeshiva came to me to my home and thanked me that I made such a beautiful thing for the children to learn and they show this to the parents to demonstrate the new methods they are using.
00:14:43 - Interview with Meyer Horowitz. About the differences between cheder in Poland and yeshivas in America and the appeal of yeshivas for parents and children: Before the war people were very poor in Poland and the khaiders had no lights or heat and the teachers were only those who had nothing else to do, not the best teachers. Here in America they take the best young men, like my children who are great scholars, and they are asked to teach the children Torah and alef-bais.
00:15.30 - There's a big difference between the khaider in the Old Country and here in America. Number one, the buildings weren't made for yeshivas. Each teacher taught in his own home by his kitchen table. The teacher wasn't all that experienced and often hit the children, but here children are not hit. It also happened that not every child had money to pay for khaider. Here everyone's child goes to khaider. In my home not everybody went to yeshiva. If the father didn't have money to pay, it was very difficult. Often, there was not even bread. We had to make collections for bread for the children to eat and and here in America we don't have this problem. Here we have other problems. One problem is that children want a lot because they have much at home so they want even more, so that children get spoiled. So you have to tell them that Torah is more important than anything else or toys. Thank God here in America I was raised in the home of the Bobover Rebbe and he knew how to handle each child and we see what a nice generation we raised. We're all very happy with the education that is provided here in America. For example, Hanukkah at home wasn't like we have here where everyone has their own menorah and everyone has their candles or oil -- it wasn't like this. There were poor people and only the rabbi in the synagogue lit candles. But here every child has their own menorah and every child has their own candles and lights them on their own. And the children also get Hanukkah gelt (gifts of money)and other things so that they should observe the Torah, but at home there was no such thing. In America, thank God, the children want to go to khaider and they want to keep up. Today you pay a teacher properly and you take the best young men and give them the resources so they should be able to teach the children, and the children are growing up in a beautiful generation. We hope that in the future we will have even more energy and the children will put the same energy into their children as we put into them. We see that Torah brings goodness for the whole world. Our children don't use dope or needles or other things so everyone sees how important Torah is. So you can show others how good yeshivas are. There are parents who understand this and are afraid of the influence of the street so they send their children to yeshiva.
00:19:38 - (Partial audio) Horowitz with photo albums of his family before the war in Europe and talks about some of his memories of his family. These are pictures of my family from my home. I got these pictures from an uncle who was in South America. This is my mother in a park. This is my father and sister, my younger brother and I in the country. This is a picture of a sister and a brother, Rekha and Moses. She was a very special girl. She taught piano before the war to many girls in this city. She was well-known. My brother was younger than me. He went with my mother to Auschwitz. My father was a merchant.
Collection
Subject
Duration
00:22:55 (HH:MM:SS)
Language:
English
Copyright Date
1997
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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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