AH36 The Piaseczno Rebbe’s Warsaw Sermons

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira’s is best known for the sermons he wrote while in the Warsaw ghetto. A compilation of weekly sermons to his students, Rabbi Shapira wrestles with questions of faith in the face of the mounting suffering of the Jews in the ghetto. When it became apparent to him that the end of the ghetto and all its inhabitants was near, he transferred this book and other manuscripts to the Ringelblum “Oneg Shabbat” Archive. They were buried with other documents in a large milk canister which was found by a construction worker after the end of the war. The book, originally simply entitled Torah Novellae from the years 5700 – 5702, was published in Israel in 1960 under the title Esh Kodesh or “Sacred Fire.” This course will involves close readings of some of these sermons in the context of the ghetto’s history.