Hasidic Jewish trips to Poland

[Bonobo]

Hasidic Jews make Polish pilgrimage
02.03.2016 09:28
About 2500 Hasidic Jews from Europe, the United States, Canada and Israel have been visiting the town of Leżajsk in south-eastern Poland over the past two days as part of an annual pilgrimage.

The pilgrims have come to pray at the tomb of eighteenth century Rabbi Elimelech Weissblum on the 230th anniversary of his death.

Henryk Ślanda of the Leżajsk-Polska Hasidic Foundation told journalists that in view of the shortage of accommodation in Leżajsk, successive groups of Jews leave the town after their prayers to allow others to take part in the commemoration.

Elimelech died in the month of Adar, and in view of the fact that this year, being a leap year, there are two months called Adar in the Jewish calendar, there will be another Hasidic pilgrimage to his grave at the end of March. According to Ślanda, it is likely to attract some 5, 000 Jews.

Hasidic Jews believe that on the anniversary of his death Rabbi Elimelech Weissblum, who is regarded as one of the three fathers of the Hasidic movement, descends from the heavens and answers the prayers of pilgrims.

Their pleas are submitted in written form as ‘kvitels’, paper notes that are placed on the rabbi’s grave, which in this case is located in a specially constructed building within the grounds of the town’s old Jewish cemetery.

Prior to the Second World War, with a Jewish population of about 3,000 Leżajsk was among the most important centres of the Hasidic movement on Polish lands. The vast majority of the Leżajsk Jews did not survive the Holocaust. The tradition of the annual pilgrimages to the grave of Elimelech Weissblum was revived in the 1970s.
- See more at: www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/242926,Hasidic-Jews-make-Polish-pilgrimage#sthash.88ezWRny.dpuf
















See films
aordycz-lezajsk.blogspot.com/2014/03/jorcajt-cadyka-elimelecha-chasydzi-w.html










3.bp.blogspot.com/-GcvTDXsQgUE/UTHxGdiu7gI/AAAAAAAAWxU/NLz91MxeJzc/s1600/P1430766+-+Kopia+%25281024x684%2529.jpg

[jeanne]

Once again, I would not be aware of this if not for this forum!

Thank you for expanding the horizons of my knowledge!

[Bonobo]

Jews hold annual pilgrimage to Poland
04.02.2017 18:46
Several hundred Orthodox Jews from Israel, Western Europe and the United States are in Lelów, near Częstochowa in southern Poland, to pray at the grave of Tzadik Dawid Biderman (1746-1814), the founder of the Lelov Hassidic dynasty.

The annual pilgrimage this year marks the 203rd anniversary of Tzadik Biderman’s death. Believers say that at each anniversary he descends from heaven to earth to collect their requests to God.

The requests are written down on small pieces of paper, which are placed on the Tzadik’s grave. The prayers held at the site are accompanied by traditional dances and the singing of psalms.

Jewish pilgrimages to Lelów started at the end of the 1980s, following the discovery of Tzadik Biderman’s place of burial.

The head of the Lelów commune, Krzysztof Molenda, told the Polish Press Agency that hosting such a large group of visitors in a village of just over 1,000 inhabitants is a challenge.

He added, however, that all arrangements have gone smoothly, with some visitors staying at residents’ homes and some in a local school.

The first written records of Lelów date back to the 12th century. Prior to World War II, Jews accounted for half the locality’s population of 4,000. Most of them were killed by the Germans occupying Poland during the war. (mk/pk)