A POCKETBOOK OF WONDERS: MAYSES NOYROIM (DEEDS OF AWE, PIETRKOV 1913/1914) AND THE REBBE OF RADZYMIN
A POCKETBOOK OF WONDERS: MAYSES NOYROIM (DEEDS OF AWE, PIETRKOV 1913/1914) AND THE REBBE OF RADZYMIN

Summary/Abstract: Mayses Noyroim is a Yiddish booklet published in the second decade of the twentieth century documenting the wonders performed by Ya’akov Arie Guterman (1792–1874). The path of this renowned figure from Radzymin led him through the courts of the most important Hasidic leaders of Poland. The booklet of only 40 pages presents the protagonist as the rightful successor of the tsaddikim of Lublin, Przysucha and Warka. It is a col- lection of stories gathered almost entirely from oral testimonies of people who participated in the life of his court. Besides a few indications of ritual customs, as well as a handful of Hasidic teachings, the text focuses on the esoteric dimension of Guterman’s multifarious activities. It starts with a testimony, that he was a man of God’s prophecy. Then it briefly recounts the story of his life, to present his figure in supernatural circumstances. The paper discusses the booklet in its most fascinating contexts to analyse the way the tsaddik’s wondrous deeds functioned in the popular imagination. My aim is to elucidate how the reality of early twentieth-century Polish-Jewish society corresponded with esoteric speculations. In other words, how the needs of the people were reflected in narratives of miracles and marvels, regardless of their clearly modern background.

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