536) ‘Halachic Fiction’ and ex post facto justification in the modern Halachic process

Introduction

This article—drawing extensively on the research of Professor Marc Shapiro— examines the term ‘Halachic fiction.’ It is used to describe legal constructs in Halacha (Jewish law) that are not literally true, but serve as mechanisms to reconcile the demands of Halacha with the realities of lived experience. In other words, there is a category of Halacha—popular during the post Shulchan Aruch period (from the sixteenth century to this day)—where the “community’s ritual instinct” (Halbertal 2002:166, citing Jacob Katz), as well as custom, determine the law, sometimes to a greater extent than the rabbis.   

479) R. Yitzchak of Warka and the rise of the Chassidic movement in Poland.

  

The Burial place of R. Yitzchak Kalisz in Warka, Poland.

Introduction

R. Yitzchak Kalisz of Warka (or Vorka) (1779-1848) was a friend of the Kotzker Rebbe. Unlike his friend, though, he rose quickly among the ranks of political activists and became the official representative, not just of Chassidim, but of all Polish Jewry in the early nineteenth century. 

This article – based extensively on the research by Professor Marcin Wodzinski[1] − deals with how the Chassidic Rebbe, R. Yitzchak Warka (a student of R. Simcha Bunim of Przysucha) suddenly found himself regarded as the most influential Jewish representative in Poland. In those days, Jewish communal affairs and politics were known as ‘shtadlanut.’ From the mid-1830s, Polish ‘shtatlanut’ was dominated by R. Yitzchak Warka and his hometown, Warka, was regarded as the Chassidic capital of Poland.