Rav Fishel of Strikov & the Spread of the Chassidic Movement

a date which will live in infamy. [music] >> Both of those projects, initiatives got off the ground because of the G. >> The 11 Olympic team members slain [music] in West Germany. to get by Americ who were killed were Americans who had come to learn in the tarant. I say 1 million Jewish children who were made to be cut. [music] Who ever heard such beautiful words? >> It is never too little. It is Yehuda Gabru with Jewish history sound bites and this episode is about Rebeim Fishell of Strick a lesserk known but important historical personality his place in the kidic movement his life and times his family descendants students and this episode is sponsored by Rabitzkahim Wapner in honor of his illustrious ancestor the subject of today's podcaster by Fryan Fishell of Strick. In that context, I do want to put it out there that if there's any one of our listeners who happens to know the lineage the yeas of the descendants of Fishial of Strick and can contribute any knowledge about it, can be in touch with me. We're still trying to put the the whole yeas together, the whole lineage here. We also want to know specifically if the among the descendants of riverry official of strick strick is either someone by the name of Zev Wapner or his wife Sarah Rifka Krell. So if one of those two of you happen to know please be in touch with me and if you have any information or clues about the yeas official of strick then let me know. Now, I've always been curious about him for the last few years since I heard first heard about him because he's this somewhat mysterious figure. He's at this crossroads of the early stages of the kidic movement in the um late 1700s, early 1800s. And he's not very well known, but seems to be very important. So that just led me to thinking in general about how many individuals we have throughout Jewish history like that. Um and I wanted to explore him a little bit more. So I'm very excited that we have the opportunity to do so. Now I just want to mention that last week we did about Chenov. So this is something a little confusing because of chakenov is a student of Rafry Fishell of Strick and the descendants of Rab of Chenov established the strick of dynasty but fry fishel of strick has no connection to that strick of dynasty so it's not really any way to this strick of dynasty except that he was the rebi of whose descendants founded the Strick of Dynasty. So, it just happens to be in the same general area of Poland and people pass through as rabbi of this little town um at different times in of Jewish history. So, one of the interesting questions that isn't completely clear until today that historians grapple with until today is how exactly the Cassidic movement spread during its initial stages. There was obviously a confluence of various factors. many external factors um that have to do with geography and politics and technology and and and wars and borders and all kinds of things like that. But there's [snorts] many internal factors as well. And one of the possible angles to explore is that there were likely not possible angles this is probably one of the most important angles to explore and it's probably the most prominent in the internal Jewish story. In other words, the way we like to tell the story is that there are le likely several key individuals who serve as crossroads who are key figures who are in the right place at the right time who are major students of previous generations who are major teachers of the next generation and through their travels, actions, leadership and choices help facilitate the spread of the new and emerging movement to new regions. Now that's obviously the primary narrative when we tell the story of the movement. This is how we tell it through these individuals, right? It's just that's not the whole story. Now some of these people are quite well-known obviously those are the big famous figures and often they are some of the most renowned sadikim in the history of the movement. Others are either entirely forgotten or not as well known. So who are some of the more well-known ones and what was their role and let's f let's keep it focused today right the cradle of the kasidic movement is in the padoleia region of Ukraine central Ukraine what we would call today today in this the context of this podcast we're not going to focus on Ukraine we're not even going to focus on Galitzia we're going to focus on another area whereas spread not white Russia either we're going to focus on another area where spread and that is central Poland, Congress Poland. How did and that's going to be like our case study of today. So how does it spread in that region? So some of the more famous individuals are of Nicholsburg who's a student of the magaz whose yard site is coming up this week. So he was in Galitzia but he's influential in it getting spread to central Poland because two of his main students are from the early ones who spread it to central Poland the KN rais of KN of KN the Kit Mid he's one of the earliest ones who brings to central Poland and of course the of Lublin who Lublin is kind of like uh the beginning of central Poland not really like the Corsa area it's very near Galitzia but um the of Lublin also is one of the early leaders who brings to central Poland later on of course you have the kadesh of that's also central Poland David Berman of Leelv who's also a student of the naik and several others and this is an important point because these key figures through their travels Through their leadership, through their establishing formal courts, through their charisma, through their students, through their descendants, all these things together they are influential in bringing to a region where it had not been present before. In this the nature of not only but all these movements. Now in a broader sense the movement movement is largely based on charisma. the charisma of these sadikim of these leaders especially in its formative stage. In its early stage is not institutionalized and for the most part during this early stages is operating either outside or on the fringes of the main established Kahila institutions even if it's not in opposition to the Kahila institutions. Sometimes it was, but even when it wasn't, it was either outside of the main established structured Kahil institutions or even if it wasn't exactly completely on the outside, but it was for sure on the fringes. So, it's very informal. There's no institutions attached to it yet. And therefore charisma specifically the charisma of these sadikim play a huge role in bringing the movement together in bringing people in attracting new adherence. What is charisma? What is charisma in this context and especially when viewing it historically to a figure that we're not familiar with today which we're about to get into unlike some of the others we mentioned. How are we to understand the impact of his charisma and how that influenced the spread of the movement? So a person who is a holy man figure a sadic figure someone who's who's who's spreading a new message in a hashem who is the way he prays the way he gives blessings the way he relates to people the way he he connects with people the way he engages his audience the way he is is is willing to pray for them and bless them and even this holy man miracle worker type of figure depending on who some people some of these sadikim were did get that reputation some of them did not right but this this this that's all part of charisma that's all part the way they speak the way they interact the way they and this holy image of them is a major component of their charisma so some of them are more famous throughout history some of them are famous for their tyra for There's some of them have been not completely forgotten but less uh remembered and [snorts] even though in their own time they had this charisma which influenced their surroundings and which hap helped them emerge as a leader and led to their spread of the movement but they've been for one reason or another um less remembered by history and I think that Robert Fry Fishial of Stricka fits in this latter category and for that reason he serves as the perfect case study for the spread of the kasidic movement in his case in the region of central or congress Poland um and because in his own time he was quite prominent so he's born is born in 1745 in central Ukraine not in Poland where he was active later on to Yehud of Balta and he's born in he's not born in Balta either he comes to Balta later Balta is in Muldova it's near Ukraine and he's born he's born in middle of Ukraine which is part man this is 1745 this is still the time of the old Polish kingdom so this is before the partitions of Poland it's not yet Russia this is still the Polish kingdom so Ukraine is part of the Polish kingdom so who was this father of who's this so it turns out so he's he's born in 1715 and it turns out that he was later one of the leading students of bear the magnet of Mizri at this very early stage in Khazidic history. It seems that he was also a student of Ryakf of Palona the told us yak of yv who was one of the leading students of the balm and he also was a student seems of misha who was the son of garg of kitvarshin ket and therefore this was a nephew of the balshv right was a brother-in-law of the balm so here we go we have this father of fishial stricker and yhud the Balta. So he here he is at the apex of the Talmid Balente at this very early stage of the movement and no one ever heard of him. Not no one very few people have ever heard of him. So how come? So let's think about the way people are remembered. very often if they had an institution or a community or a formalidic court etc or the other on the other hand if they authored an influential work a safer of some sort. So on one hand does fill that criteria those criteria he was certainly the former he served as a prominent rabbi and mid of several different communities he also did the latter so it makes it even more perplexing but his safer which was a very very important safer over 400page long work cabalistic work it remained in manuscript it was never published so there we have a partial answer so his very important safer never had the influence influence that it could have had because it was never published. Now this is a super important safer both in its cabalistic side, its very mystical cabalistic commentary on the Torah, but also of its historical importance. He cites in this for many contemporaries of his such as of Rebla Sarasish of Anopul and other students of the mag of Mazri. So that places him in a certain historical and social context, geographical context as well. And what's even more historically important is that in the safer he also describes his life travels. He originated from the town of Gumbin in Poland. Now the old Polish kingdom, right? Gumbin is the central central Poland of the old Polish kingdom. what would later come to be called this region would come to be called Congress Poland, central Poland after the partitions. So the Gumin is near Pnan. So it's actually it's not really Congress Poland. Sorry, it's near Congress Poland. It's near Pnan, which is northwestern Poland. And after the partitions, it would be in Prussia, but um it's right near Congress Poland. It's not far from Lodge. He then travels. That's where he grows up. He's originally from Gumbin for for historical purposes. Um the Mugan was from Gumbin, right? Gumber Gumbiner. In any event, um this vib of Balta, he travels southeast towards today's central Ukraine, but then it was still within the Polish kingdom. And he becomes the rabbi of Bila Chakova. in in in in the Jewish world it was known as loavan the white field which is presumably what it means in Russian and it's in this bilerova where his son Rishell is born in 1745 and it's where his children grew up bunch of other siblings as well in 1768 when Fishell was about 23 years old the hidemak pgrams broke out in the region and these are very this is a very important piece of history which is also overlooked somewhat. We're very familiar with the Kamilniski um massacres or uprising in 1648 1649. That's Geris Takvat. But 120 years later in 1768 another series of pgrams break out in the same region in central Ukraine and also have wre devastating havoc, kill many Jews, thousands of Jewish lives lost. The hideamak pgrams are devastating to the region and it's an important and tragic chapter of Jewish history. Many Jews in central Ukraine are killed during this time and that forces Rab Balta and his family together with her official his son and other children and they go into exile. It forces them into exile. He ends up in Balta which is how he gets his name of Balta which is in Muldova where he was appointed rabbi and Maggid and later on in life he returns to his roots. He returns to central Poland to another town near Ludge where he remains until his passing. So he kind of came full circle because he returns to central Poland where he originated from and he describes his travailes with the H highaidaks kind of like the Casacs and how his life was in danger and how he was rescued. So this is important. Why? Because we're bringing through his son who accompanies him on this tra on these travels to a new region of central Poland. Now he discovered this because he had been appointed a rabbi in southern Poland in Ukraine. He had become a rabbi. He was looking for a rabbi stellar, a rabbi position and he got his rabbi position in Bilerova. Well, central Ukraine in the mid 1700s which was whereas was just becoming a movement. It was gaining traction. So he's attracted to the Madam Misrich as a community rabbi and he becomes a follower of his as a community rabbi. Okay. So he this rabbi from central Poland who's now as a rabbi in souththeastern Poland which is central Ukraine he um is becomes a follower of the movement. Now he doesn't stay in central Ukraine Ukraine. Why not? Because of an external reason because of the hideamak pgrams and he's forced into exile. So first he's in Muldova and then he travels back north back to his roots, back to his home region near Ludge in central Poland. So he returns basically home at the end of his life and he's a rabbi there and he's going with his family the whole time. So his son who's the subject of our podcast is with him this whole time and they end up back in central Poland just at a time when the kidic movement had not yet reached there and these people who are forced into exile because of the hideamak pgrams end up there at this right place at the right time to spread the light and to spread the message and in a social context to to bring this new movement to the for and with their charisma they are the new leaders of this movement. Now by the way why was this book never published? Why is this very important cababalistic safer never published? So it turns out that the manuscript or at least a copy of the manuscript was in the personal possession of the GB of Imra who had one of the most impressive private swarm collections or libraries in the entire Jewish world at the time. people had access to the manuscript over the years and have quoted from it. So people had access to it. Um others for him quote from it but it remained in manuscript the whole time. It seems that the Greb Imra himself supposedly made it a clear directive to never publish this safer because the mystical cababalistic secrets contained within are too lofty to be published and to be accessible to everybody. It's it's too much. So it has to remain in manuscript. That's apparently what the GBA said. Anyways, [snorts] this brings us to Huda his son. It brings us to his son or Bafraim Fishell who grows up in this millu. He's born in 1745 like I said in central Ukraine just as the kasidic movement is coalesing into an actual movement following the passing of the balm in 1760. He also like his father becomes a student of the magis. Following the passing of the mid in 1772 he later was a student of the rebel the melikens and others too. He had a few other teachers as well. Now so so he's a tot of the mag he's a tom of the reb of milik who's in Galitia in Lejansk right and he's not known as one of the famous prominent students of the rebel but he was and he follows his father who's also a mag on his travels throughout the challenges of the haidmak massacres all the way back into central Poland which was the roots of his father so now we have need another piece of the puzzle we Now have to introduce another famousic leader from those early years of Sassov. Rabbish Sassover. He was a contemporary of Fishial of Strick. He was actually born in the same year and he was also a prominent student of the mag of Misrich. Later on he was also a student of Rip Schmool of Nicholsburg and Misha of Sass. We could go on about him as well. He had a whole life story too. Very interesting life story. quite a few interesting stories about him. Maybe we can get back to him another time. But of Sasa for the context of our story, he had a decisive and singular impact on the spread of the kidic movement primarily from his home region of Galitzia, but also extended into other regions such as central Poland. How it seems that of sass was the one who encourages his friend Rabishel of Strick to spread the message ofus in his area. What does that mean to spread the message ofus? Because just because someone is a student of the mag and just because he engages inidic practice andidic teachings teachings it does not mean that he establishes a formal court. It does not mean that he gains adherence and a reputation. He can keep it to himself. He's allowed to keep it himself. He's a community rabbi. He's right. And is the one who encourages him. No, you have to you have to be public about it. You have to encourage others. You have to you have to spread this message. You have to teach others. You have to reach out to others. Right? So [snorts] at this time official stricker was not yet in strick. He was the rabbi of a town of Berjin near Ludge where his father had been rabbi and later on he's appointed the rabbi of Strickov. Now he's a community rabbi. It's relatively nearby. It's the same area. It's smack in the middle of Congress Poland. Um now while he's the rabbi of this town he adheres to the the coaxing of his friend Raishel Sasser and he begins to formally lead aidic court. in addition to his rabbitical responsibilities as community rabbi. So he's likely one of the first ever in Congress Poland to open a formalidic court. His close and dear friend the kajnit surmaged was probably another one of the earliest ones in the regions. The two were quite close. He was known river fry of strick was known as a kadesh as a very holy man a holy rabbi. He was completely cut off from the mundane materialistic pursuits of this world. He allegedly did not even know what money looked like. There are many stories and many legends about his not even knowing what what what a coin what the denomination of different coins were. He did not him involve himself in anything material whatsoever. So he begins to gain renown and fame as a sadic, as a rabbi, as a Torah scholar, as a holy man, as a miracle worker, as a kidic leader. And his charisma drew people to him well beyond the confines of his own community. So this is again a perfect example. He's the rabbi of the community. His community knows who he is. They like him. He's paid by the community. He's he's he's he's head of the best. He pas the the shilas. He's known as a good scholarly community rabbi but that's limited to his kahila his community here he is also slowly gradually these things don't happen overnight obviously they these this he gains fame in the area as a kidic leader as a sadic as a holy man as a miracle worker right and this charismatic aspect of his personality draws people to him well beyond the confines of his community and this outside any formal institutional network and this is an interesting development and provides insight into the spread of theidic movement in its social context and refrain fishial of strick can be just as an example there were probably and we know of others but there are probably many many others that have been lost completely to history um who were like that at the same time he's interacting and he's close with other leaders in the greater Poland Poland area other early pioneers of the kazidic movement in the greater Poland area such as the lublin the knag the kadesh of so he and these are all wellknown right so even though he's not as wellknown as these others he was in close contact with them he worked in tandem with them and it seems that he had quite an impact on his followers just as they did um it just that some achieve more immortal and longlasting fame than others and such as the nature of history and its mysteries. So we have we had his teachers we spoke about his teachers the ma the rebik others his father and now we mentioned his friends his contacts and they network in other words they're people who travel from court to court to bask in the presence of different sadikim these sadikim meet each other know each other are friends with each other and this again in the low tech era before social media these are ways that social, religious, spiritual movements can grow. Um and he's a key um member of this this involvement. Now we move on to the next stage which those who he influenced in other words his students his own descendants and among those who he influenced and who saw themselves as his students include some of the most famous Polish sadikim of the next generation including the rebin um who is also but he's a student of his as well also the schlim of radskranovich who later establishes the radskumidic dynasty and the one who we spoke about last week the subject of last week's episode of and many others as well. Now if we just take those three even if we don't get into some of the others who who considered themselves students of his these these the rebin of all of comes from that right of work katska everything else and of course um the radsk the whole radsk dynasty comes from that these students were extremely influential and taken together we see how decisive his impact is on the history of the kazidic movement. And that is to me a fascinating insight that when we connect the dots, we get this great picture. But if we keep take him in isolation, we are limited in our viewers saying, well, well, this fellow wasn't pretty famous, so I don't know. It's it's I can dismiss it as just a footnote of history, but it's an important crucial piece of the puzzle. His decisive influence continues through his prominent students and his less famous students who spread the kasidic movement across Poland and beyond. So in summary, he serves as a crucial bridge despite his not being that wellknown. He passed away in Strick in 1825. Very long life, right? 80 years old or so. Um and he's buried there in Strick. Um, interesting that he was known for his support for the poor, his complete disconnect from anything material. He would fast very often and he would engage in other aesthetic practices of self-denial which added understandably to his mystique and holy man image among the masses. That of course uh helps. Now the next story reminds me you know we have about to say a story of his supposed meeting with Napoleon. So there's all these famous stories of Jews meeting with Napoleon or Jews meeting with the Zar, right? There's the famous joke even about uh about a Jew meeting the Zar. And someone [snorts] asks you, well, if you're going to meet the Zar, then what braha do you make when you when you meet him? So the answer is may God bless and keep the Zar far away from us. Right? So that was the Zar. Um so those meetings, if they ever happened, didn't turn out too well. But his he had a supposed but there are many supposed meetings between Jews and Napoleon during his invasion of Russia in 1812 and it's among the many miracle stories about Urban Fishell of Strick about his supposed meeting with Napoleon. Of course, the story likely never happened. And in fact, it's one of the many stories in my collection of stories of rabbis Sadikim meeting with Napoleon Breast and the Alterba and many many others. There [snorts] are so many stories of rabbis meeting with Napoleon that I theorized that the reason that Napoleon was defeated in his battles in Russia by Zar Alexander I was because he was so busy meeting with with rabbis that he had no time to fight the war. [snorts] But beyond the legend and of course the legend I'm not going to even get into the details. The legend is is that he, you know, got lost. Napoleon got lost and her official strick was able to help him and find him and it's pretty generic. A lot of the stories go very similar like that. Um, but beyond a legend, I I think legends and folklore are very important because it's almost like a status, right? a a great and famous rabbi at the time. There has to be a legend about him and Napoleon because because that's part of Jewish folklore. So the fact that there is an oral tradition and eventually written about a legend of official stricker meeting Napoleon. So it means he made it he made he made it that you know his if his followers at the time developed a Napoleon story about him too that means he was someone important enough of historical importance enough and influential sadic enough to that we need a story with him and Napoleon. Another more quaint story which probably is true actually involving official strick revolves around his nightly custom of having a glass of vodka before bedtime which sounds like a good idea actually. So for someone who was completely cut off from all material pleasures it was a very curious custom. So his followers would ask him about it and he would always explain as follows. He said when he would every night before he go to sleep he would take a glass of vodka and wish alim to Hashem to God as a good night. Why? So he said very interesting. This is the way lived with with Hashem. He said Hashem acts with an attribute of that heav [snorts] as if that he suffers when humans suffer. He's together with us in our pain and in our challenges and in our suffering. So if he wishes Hashem aim and good night, he wants Hashem to have and good night, then the only way for that to happen is if no humans suffer. Because since Hashem does, then [snorts] the only way for the for the blessing of to Hashem for Hashem to have and good night is if no humans suffer. because if humans do suffer then Hashem has to as it were suffer with them. So that was, you know, I think it says a lot about the way he viewed [snorts] his responsibilities as a leader, as a sadic, as a kidic saddic, um about caring for others and about his relationship with Hashem. It's a very insightful story and um there are many many stories about him. I'm sure some of them are even true. But I want to move on with the history though. I spoke a bit about the students that he had. I want to mention his descendants as well. Excuse me. He had a family. He had at least two boys and two girls. Of interest within our current story is his son Ryakov who could have succeeded his father as either a rabbi or a kidic rabbi but he chose neither. He worked in textiles and he was a follower after his father's passing of the Katskar and ofit so mainstream Polish and in Rabyakov's later years he continued to refuse any official rabbitical position but he lived near one of his sons in pietricov and he informally served as a dian in Petietricov in his later years there and there's another of interest is that there was aidic dynasty that eventually came out of rib official strickver of one of his many descendants one major again pre-war it was major today it pretty much doesn't exist anymore but pre a a major Polish kasidic dynasty which today again is is is almost unheard of is the zikllinidic dynasty and that actually descended directly from his family from her official strick of her several generations later it took a while Abu of zikllin was a great grandchild of Rofficial Stricker and he considered himself his successor and he establishes this Zikllinidic dynasty. Ribshmul Ablinsky was born in 1809. So he was 16 when his illustrious greatgrandfather passed away. So he considered himself a follower of his despite the fact that he was only 16 when his great-grandfather passed away. He also went another number number of times to of the rebinim and he identified as a follower of as well. In [snorts] addition he was close with the affforementioned Rabyakov the son of stricken in other words his great uncle. See he was close with all these. Now in addition [clears throat] to that he was also an accomplished Torah scholar. Uh he was also a student of two of the foremost rabbitical leaders in central Poland in the first half of the 19th century not necessarily leaders rabbitical leaders the marun umarif he's also known as I think I mentioned him last week and zilberg of kutn the zas ranon another famous polish uh rabbitical leader of the 19th century so this mulabo zikllin began to emerge as a kidic leader and he establishes his own court, gains a following. He even faced some opposition as he was viewed as an upstart as an independent um which always is good for branding in the beginning. In 1844, he settled in the Polish town of Zikllin, a midsized town near Ludge, and he established a formal cassidic court, which grew with his popularity and charisma as well. He was quite a character. He held some pretty unconventional views foridic rebas in general and especially for the piska dominated central Poland. Number one, he was a miracle worker in the piska stream. That was very unpopular. And yet following his great-grandfather's tradition, miracle workers was part of his forte. It was part of the way he um was a holy man. He also loved the mikvah. He stayed there for long periods of time. Even though it was a cold mikvah in the middle of the harsh Polish winter, he would sit in the the the cold mikvah for a long long time. He also wrote songs and poetry. He was also very interesting, very again uh know how controversial that would be to be sound to sound today, but maybe in the 19th century it was okay to do this. He was vehemently opposed vocally and vehemently opposed to modern medicine and its practitioners. He was extremely anti-d doctors and he would speak quite often about it and he himself never went to doctors, did not allow anyone in his family to and discouraged his followers from doing that. Very interesting. Um I don't uh uh uh condone such a practice so I hope I'm not sounding controversial just for mentioning it. Um that pald in comparison by the way to his vocal opposition to the Russians Tsarist government. He was very anti- thesar. Now all Jews were anti- thesar, right? Because the zar was not a big friend of Jews. The problem was is that he was vocal about it which is kind of dangerous. Um now he was in central Poland right which is at that time in the first half of the 19th century it is kind of an autonomous area in the Tsarist Russia. It's not in under the you know it's it's under the it's It's officially part of Russia, a part of Zarus Russia, but it had autonomy. [snorts] Now, during this time that Poland had some autonomy, they led the Polish nationalists, the Polish patri patriots, nationalists, they led revolts. That's part of Polish history. They revolted against Thesar. They wanted full independence, right? So, in 1830, I I spoke about it on the podcast a few times, the Polish revolts against Thesar and how it impacted the Jewish community and Jewish history. um which side do the Jews take? Do they support the Polish revolt or do they support the government which is the Zsar, the the Russian government, right? It's a big question. Um and a lot of good stuff. There's a lot of juicy stuff of of the Jewish history in Poland during the time of the Polish revolts against the Zars in the 1830s and the 1860s. There's a series of revolts. So this he because he's so anti- thesar this translates into open support for the Polish revolts against Thesar. He is one of those rabbitical leaders who had a tremendous voc again vocally and actively supported the Polish independence movement. He was a Polish patriot, supported the independence movement, supported the revolts. And he took it a step further though. I've never encountered this form of patriotism anywhere else in Jewish history. If anyone knows of a historical parallel to this, I would love to know about it. This is wild, theologically wild, not practically wild. He declared publicly to his that the final redemption, the ga its arrival, the guula's arrival is dependent on Poland achieving its independence. In other words, Guula and Polish independence are intertwined. That's how far he took it. I don't have any explanation for it. I'm just relating the story. I have no idea what that means, but I [snorts] find it fascinating that he articulated that. Uh, this of course got him in trouble with the Zarist authorities and he was duly arrested and jailed miraculously only for three weeks. He was released later. Unclear how he got out so quickly. He passed away in 1879. He was succeeded by his only son Raishan of Zikl and then in turn following his passing in 1912 by his two sons Rabmanya and Sadya passed away in 1940 just as the town of Zikllin came under Nazi occupation at the beginning of World War II and the Holocaust despite the dangers involved. This is under Nazi occupation. His son Rabul of Ram Abba succeeded him and led his community in the Ziglan ghetto even conducting tish on Shabas in the Ziklin ghetto. On Purim, we just had Porim now. So on Purim 1942, the Ziklland ghetto was liquidated and the Zik reba and his family and his community and his were all gassed at the [snorts] Kelno death camp not far from Zlan. I had an episode about last year. Was the first death camp, the first gas chambers or mobile gas chambers and trucks. So the Zlinba, the last one was gas there together with his followers. Now most of the Ziklinic dynasty like most of theus in central Poland were almost entirely exterminated in the Holocaust. There were of course many other um descendants of Rabicial Stricker. I just mentioned a few of the more prominent ones and I think the conclusion is very simple here. He may not have been the most famous one but he serves as a key player in the formative stages of the kidic movement especially in central Poland and I think his story is very in informative of how spread during those early years through these some of these lesserk known figures. This was Yehudge Gabbra with Jewish history sound bites. You can reach me at yehudyhudiggabra.com for questions, comments, sources, tours, trips, sponsorships, and lectures. You can subscribe to Jewish history sound bites on your favorite podcast platform. And you can help the podcast by leaving a rating or a review. You can also tell your friends and family about the podcast. And I hope you enjoyed