Research Catalog

Title

Sparks amidst the ashes : the spiritual legacy of Polish Jewry / Byron L. Sherwin.

Author

Sherwin, Byron L.

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Sherwin, Byron L.

Description

xii, 176 pages; 25 cm

Summary

• In Sparks Amidst the Ashes, Byron Sherwin demonstrates how the unprecedented works of intellect and spirit produced during the Jewish "Golden Age" in Poland can provide contemporary Jews with the spiritual and intellectual resources required to ensure Jewish continuity in the present and future.
• Sherwin introduces us to the vast range of mystical speculation, evocative stories, talmudic dialectics, theological ideas, and social realities that were muted by the destruction of Polish Jewry during the Holocaust. Sherwin critiques the tendency among contemporary Jews to disregard the precious legacy bequeathed by Polish Jewry, and presents a plan for re-creating contemporary Jewish life that draws from the wisdom of the spiritual maestros and from the rich communal experience characteristic of Jewish life in pre-World War II Poland.
• Sherwin concludes with a controversial proposal for the future of Polish-Jewish relations.

Subject

• Judaism > Poland > History
• Jews > Poland > Intellectual life
• Spiritual life > Judaism
• Rabbis > Poland
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Poland > Influence
• Poland > Intellectual life

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-168) and index.

Contents

1. To Reclaim a Legacy -- 2. Grandmother's Tales -- 3. Sparks in Exile -- 4. Life, Learning, and Luria in Lublin -- 5. The Spiritual Magnates of Cracow -- 6. Transmigrations of a Name -- 7. King for a Night -- 8. Auschwitz -- 9. Jewish Continuity -- 10. Sparks in Ashes -- 11. Inward Journeys -- 12. The Land We Shared.

ISBN

0195106857 (cloth)

LCCN

96022761

OCLC

ocm34767498

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries