On this day, the 21st of Shevat, in 1775, Jewish homes that were located on the outskirts of Warsaw, in a settlement called "New Jerusalem", were demolished and the Jews of Warsaw were expelled.
This is what one traveling historian recalls about the New Jerusalem town in Poland:
"If you make a trip to Czersk, it’s worth stopping en route in Góra Kalwaria (Mount Calvary), located a little closer to Warsaw. Formerly this town was called Nowa Jerozolima (New Jerusalem). Its history is closely connected to the history of the Jews in Poland. New Jerusalem was built in the first half of the 17th c. as a little town where numerous monks lived. There were Bernardines, Dominicans, Piarists, Philipines and Marists.
Little by little more and more Jews settled in New Jerusalem, encouraged by its closeness to Warsaw. After the Napoleonic war, at the beginning of the 19th c., the little town began to fall into decay because the victorious Russians liquidated the majority of the monasteries. They also changed the name to Góra Kalwaria. The Jewish population called this town Ger.
At that time the Jewish mystical religious movement Hasidism was developing. The leaders of this movement were tzaddiks, who gathered around them thousands of disciples, creating an entire dynastic family. The first tzaddik in Góra Kalwaria was Izak Meir Alter, founder of the famous dynasty of tzaddiks from Ger.
Not only at Yom Kipper, but also on every Jewish Sabbath, crowds of Orthodox Jews in fox fur hats and ceremonial garberdines, surrounded the house of the tzaddik Alter, who was famous all over Poland. They came here in order to be near the „holy man”. Thanks to the Jewish pilgrimages, Góra Kalwaria developed and flourished up to the time when the war started. The Germans gathered all the Jews in a ghetto, which was liquidated in 1941 and its inhabitants were deported to the death camp in Sobibór. They also destroyed their cemetery, blew up the tomb of the Alter family and with the gravestones, they built roads.
Today there are no longer Jews in Góra Kalwaria. A specially established foundation has rebuilt the cemetery and the tombs of the Alters, thanks to which numerous excursions and pilgrimages of Jews from all over the world come to this town."
Judaica Passover Corner
With Passover fast approaching it should be noted that Passover Seder Plates are fast moving out of the store shelves. Since every Jew is in need for a Passover Seder Plate. Seder Plates serves as a good Passover Gift. One should note that there are many different styles of Seder Plates, some contain sections for the Matzohs and others not. The fact that it contains also a section for the Matzos is not something that has to be that way, in fact many Seder Plates do not contain any section for the Matzos, and the Matzos are kept in a separate Matzah Cover. Matzah Covers Typically come in square and round shapes depending if it's made for Hand Matzos or Machine Matzos
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