The Distinctive Life Of East European Jewry 1st Edition Samuel Kassow by Samuel Kassow instant download after payment.

It was the autumn of 1943, and the Germans were about to liquidate the Vilna ghetto. For close to five centuries, Vilna had been a center of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe, and Vilna Jews had proudly called their city the “Jerusalem of Lithuania.” It was in Vilna that the great 18th century Talmud scholar Reb Eliyahu - the Vilna Goen - had dazzled the entire Jewish world with his commentaries and scholarship.
Not far from the small synagogue where Vilna Goen prayed, an enterprising Jewish widow founded the famous Romm Press, which supplied the entire Jewish world with beautiful editions of the T almud. For generations, middle class Jewish fathers of young brides would give their sons-in-law a dowry that included the  bound volumes of the
“Vilna Shas” — the popular name for the Romm Talmud. Jews came from all over the world to marvel at the beautiful city synagogue, which i mpressed even Napoleon. They loved to tell the story of how a rival sect, the Karaites, had tried to steal the synagogue from the Jews. When the Jews had finished building the synagogue in the early 17 century, the Karaites appeared and said: yo, we’re the real Jews, not you. So the synagogue belongs to us! Since the Jews told them to get lost, both sides had to go to the Polish Governor to get a final decision on the ownership of the synagogue. As they came into his house the Karaites took off their shoes and left them in the front hall. The Jew arrived and also took off his shoes. But instead of leaving them in the front hall, he hung them around his neck and went in.
And the Karaites asked: what are you coming in with your shoes for?
And the Jew answered: you know , when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to get the Torah from God, he left his shoes at the foot of the mountain: and some Karaite came and stole his shoes.  So I’m scared: If I leave my shoes in the front hall, the Karaites will filch them! The Karaites had a good laugh. “You idiot, what are you talking about?,”
they said. ..