Rabbis Of Yesteryear: What Jewish Europe Really Looked Like 80 Years Ago

Banned by Artscroll: More pictures of our 'holy' gedolim as looked when they were young rabbis and yeshiva students in Europe and Palestine just before WW2.

 

Note the shaved faces and the stylish Western European clothing.

Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman:

Yeshiva students from Poland and Lithuania who fled to Switzerland to escape army service just before WW2, Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman standing on the far left:

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Feinstein:

Rabbi Shneiur Kotler:

Rav Schach:

Hebron Yeshiva (Jerusalem) students:

Mir Yeshiva students in a summer camp, Rabbi Shmuel Barenbaum 2nd from right:

More pictures on Henri Rosenberg's Facebook page.

Related Post: What Jewish Europe Really Looked Like 80 Years Ago.

Comments

[Shlomo]

Maybe look like not Jews
Most of the ashknaze ( shknaz) not Jews

[Shlomo]

Viva mizrahe

[Commenter]

Again, what are you trying to prove? Men in Lithuania and the Oberland dressed in westernized fashion? We have always known this! In fact, they still do today. Why don't you be fair in your reporting and show photographs of men in Chassidic towns? Then we might have a truer understanding of what you are trying to tell us all.

[Robert Wisler]

I think that including the photo of Rabbi Schach was a bit misleading since it was taken before he was able to grow a beard.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Commenter | August 28, 2011 at 07:59 AM

Please.

Follow the link to my earlier post and you'll see a picture from Poland that shows teh same thing.

There's also one above that has Polish yeshiva students pictured.

And my earlier post has a video and pictures from Munkatch, where almost everyone around the Munkatcher rebbe except for his assistants and immediate family, are dressed in Western European clothes.

And the Lubavitcher Rebbe also dressed that way, as you can see from that post.

The truth – which your try very hard to deny – is that the current shtick with hasiddishe levushim and Yiddischer levushim is complete and total BS.

[netflix]

Commenter, who cares about chassidim? they didnt change, so that isnt news.

that the very people who today make people dress like fools, themselves looked normal when they were young.

[Shmarya]

I think that including the photo of Rabbi Schach was a bit misleading since it was taken before he was able to grow a beard.

Posted by: Robert Wisler | August 28, 2011 at 08:05 AM

I believe he shaved as a young man.

[dad]

scott has an agenda---- don't bother with him...

[Shmarya]

scott has an agenda---- don't bother with him...

Posted by: dad | August 28, 2011 at 08:11 AM

Yup. Telling the truth.

BTW, 'dad' has an agenda too: hiding the truth.

[ultra haredi lite]

I have dozens of pictures like this at home of yeshiva students from the Mir dressed all spiffy and stylish....much like American yeshiva students (Lakewood for sure) of today.

[larry]

SHACH to me has some features of a black negro. He also is not wearing a yarmulke? Talk about being with it totally my kind of guy.

[Shimon from Jerusalem]

Thanks for the pictures.Does the gangster's grandson(i.e.similar to the person always identified as Rubashkins brother- in -law)Mr Yeshaya Rosenberg have an agenda in showing these interesting photos.They show nothing more than young yeshiva students of their day.Does he imply that there is something wrong with our "holy"gedolim that these pictures seem to dicredit?!

[Haredi and Dressed to Show It]

It is very simple. Those were times of repression from without and within. In free America, Europe and Israel, proud Torah Jews take advantage of the gift of freedom to assert our Jewish identity through the levushim we did not have the freedom or the luxury to wear in olden times.

Jews who loathe themselves and their Jewishness loathe us for wearing this dress that reminds them that they are Jews too and that we survive and hold our heads high whereas they hide like worms and mice and let the world step on them.

Decent non-Jews who are the majority of the world's population respect us Torah Jews for holding to our ways. It is the self-haters who are sad Jewish souls themselves that give us as much trouble if not more than the ignorant anti-Semites of the underclass.

[netflix]

@Haredi and Dressed to Show It -

nope, you just look stupid.

that's pretty much the whole thing.

non-jews dont respect you for the way you dress, they think you are waiters
.

[Yoel Mechanic]

Posted by: Shlomo | August 28, 2011 at 07:46 AM

Tell us a bit about yourself. I would like to understand how you became so hostile towards Jews, or "certain Jews".

[lion]

the rabbi shach picture looks like a mug shot

what police blotter did they get the picture from

[ruthie]

thank you shmarya..
there were so many GOOD jews then....
and they didn't have to shave!
they were better then the !@#$%^& we have today. no doubt.

[Shmarya]

Does he imply that there is something wrong with our "holy"gedolim that these pictures seem to dicredit?!

Posted by: Shimon from Jerusalem | August 28, 2011 at 08:36 AM

No.

He implies there is something wrong with the same gedolim and other rabbis who now tell their followers to dress like Jews in 17th century Poland and to avoid wearing "goyischer" clothing.

And he also notes that both Sholom Rubashkin and his brother-in-law Rabbi Milton Balkany are convicted felons, and that Balkany's first recorded brush with violating federal law pre-dates Rubashkin's.

He also adds that you knew all that, but the truth didn't work very well with your attempt to attack the messenger you hate.

[zach]

Actually R. Shach is lookin' pretty good there. Could pass for Johnny Depp's brother.

[Barry]

I am sure that most decent non-Jews are not interested in these Torah Jews street dress. These non Jews will wish to know why these Torah Jews are not in military uniform fighting Nazism like their fathers and grandfathers served their countries

[Shimon from Jerusalem]

I may be wrong Shmarya buit I am interested to hear where they advocate how to dress?People change .Maybe their thinking changed over the years =Just like yours.
Balkany's crime has nothingf top do with his brfother-in-law.I wonder if you recdeived any benefits through your mother-daughter of a gangster!!

[larry]

this is fabulous. thanks

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Shimon from Jerusalem | August 28, 2011 at 09:14 AM

Please.

Balkany ran interference for Rubashkin and he threatened people who opposed Agriprocessors.

But you don't really care about the truth, and, quite frankly, your obviously not smart enough to understand it.

And before you comment on history, you should actually know it.

You don't.

[WoolSilkCotton]

++Haredi and Dressed to Show It | August 28, 2011 at 08:38 AM ++

Obviously you do not have nonJewish friends, or meaningful interactions with nonJews.

Decent nonJews laugh at your silly Halloween costume behind your back, and consider you a bad stereotype, especially when you open your mouth and start with the lying, the cheating, and the con jobs.

They don't hate you or wish you harm, but they consider you an ass.

[jancsipista]

Shimon from Jerusalem-yes you holly gedoilem are surronded by molesters thiefs and morons like you,youre holloy gedoilems are dictators who love themselfs and their material things more then they love god youre holly gedoilem love to be worshiped instead of god and in their name their followers are commiting the biggest hillel hashem and thievery that not hollu ones are ashamed to be a jew you discuss me with youre hollier then thou attitude di farrikter shoite.

[Maskil]

Interesting, Shteinman now paskens like Rav Shach and Rav Elyashiv and other gedolei ha-misnagdim (Rav Aurback and many more - the majority today) that it is biblically prohibited to cut one's beard even with a scissors. - Although he may have been using powder acid to remove his beard as many Hasidim of the time were doing. Still, phenominal photo. Thanks.

[jancsipista]

Haredi and Dressed to Show It- the self haters are non other then you and youre lookalike when its 90 degrees outside you wear thos heavy clothes youre the self hater you can let youreself to enjoy nature and its sorrundings you are a joke to the gentiles and you are the real hater since it takes one to know one get you act toghether and wake up because youre the ones who are the instigators of much anti semitism with youre shtinkene clothes.

[charlie runkel]

i always wondered how shmarya has the extra scoop how he always knows better then everybody else, then i realized people like him have a agenda so they take something one historian said and turn it into facts not specifically about this article but about most of them

[Maskil]

Hey, why'd you through in a mug shot of John Dillinger? Oh, wait, that's Eliezer Shuchman (later known as to Rav Shach). Wow!

[lion]

the shach satyed a criminal straight thru ruining the lives of thousands of ponovitch boys with his phony stories

[charlie runkel]

lion you mixed me up by your inability to make sense please retype thanks

[A YID]

shmarya.are you or arent you?
are you a left over of der shturmer/ or not?my father zatzal was a chasid who wore a kaften on rosh hashona and yom kippur,but on shabbos a short suit.does it make him a goy?what's is wrong with it/towards the end of his life he wore a kaften every shabbos,so what/ your hatered to everything jewish religious makes you a potential member of neo nazi.hard to believe you were once a lubavicher,fella.

[jancsipista]

a YID- youre anything but a yid you reek of extreeme hate you need to go for help.

[Shmarya]

shmarya.are you or arent you?
are you a left over of der shturmer/ or not?my father zatzal was a chasid who wore a kaften on rosh hashona and yom kippur,but on shabbos a short suit.does it make him a goy?what's is wrong with it/towards the end of his life he wore a kaften every shabbos,so what/ your hatered to everything jewish religious makes you a potential member of neo nazi.hard to believe you were once a lubavicher,fella.

Posted by: A YID | August 28, 2011 at 10:08 AM

Why is historical accuracy and the truth so threatening to you?

[Flatbusher]

This is like comparing Apples to Oranges. That was THEN when they were running for their lives, going to xenophobic Switzerland from Murdering Germans.

Of course they had to look different than today. This is NOW.

Much ado about nothing.

[jancsipista]

Flatbushe- oy are you for real it was way before they had to run from the germans unbeleivable you dont get it much fefore ww2 decades.

[Bugsy]

Everything about these litvaks is a fraud. Their "yeshivishe shprach" and the dress code is all a way to perpetuate some sort of mistaken elitist belief about themselves. In reality they celebrate not having to work.

[Shmarya]

Flatbushe- oy are you for real it was way before they had to run from the germans unbeleivable you dont get it much fefore ww2 decades.

Posted by: jancsipista | August 28, 2011 at 10:49 AM

Even more than that, all the other pictures are taken in Poland, Lithuania or Belarus.

[lol]

Headlines:

ADOLESCENT HASSIDIM WEARING NICE CLOTHING FOR PICTURE DAY

The Holocuast; An Explanation

[timmy]

So, if you took photos from the Warsaw Ghetto, they would all have yellow stars.

Whats your point?

[jancsipista]

Bugsy- and duping the world or stealing by lying and fasifying their working while not working etc. etc. etc.

[Korbendallas72]

Jews who loathe themselves and their Jewishness loathe us for wearing this dress that reminds them that they are Jews too and that we survive and hold our heads high whereas they hide like worms and mice and let the world step on them.
Posted by: Haredi and Dressed to Show It | August 28, 2011 at 08:38 AM

No, it's a way of putting your piousness on display and implying that you're holier than thou for wearing a uniform. It's your way of saying "We're the real Jews because we dress like Chaldeans and bow to an idol. You're not a proud Jew unless you make a big show of what a big macher you are. Because that's what we call modesty."

[Bugsy]

It's the uniform of a people who have a religion of their own that involves rituals without relationships. Where the show is far more important than the intent. Where the outward appearance is far more important than any inner meaning.

[Anon]

Thanks for these photos and digging them up.

[BK]

I saw the same passport picture of Rabbi Shach in "The Brisker Rav Volume 2" published by Feldheim, p. 205.

If you look carefully, even at your version of the picture, the kipa on his head looks like it was photoshopped in.

I find it hard to believe that any government would have allowed a head covering on a passport photo at that time.

[BK]

Just to clarify, the Feldheim book is the source that states that the Rav Shach photo was a 'rare passport photo'.

[catcher50]

A couple of comments:

1. R. Shach looks very up to date. Little 'stash, little soul patch, buzz cut. I think he plays for the L.A. Angels.

2. Shmarya...be careful. You must be having a fairly serious impact. The negative responses are getting more vituperative and violent. Congratulations. I know that it has been very hard work, often probably thankless, but for many of us, there is a very serious appreciation of your efforts.

[Sohn of Schneer]

The fact is that many frumme yidn used to dress like the rest of the European world. It was no big deal for them.

Yes, hasidishe rebbes and some but not all of their entourage dressed like 17th century Polish Jew killers. And these nutsos were the community leaders? Oy, what a Torah education will do to destroy a perfectly decent Jew.

Now, if one dares to dress differently than the moron du jour styles in Meah Shearim, Boro Park and Williamsburg, he is labeled a sheygetz.

My rebbe at Ner Yisroel told me when I said to him that I wanted to learn with his rebbe in J-m. " As long as you dress and talk like them, they will accept you. Otherwise, no."

Do I care about hashem, Torah, etc?

That is absolutely irrelevant for those in the know.

[mordecai]

This is at least the second post on this theme. It is a fascinating subject. Any slice of the orthodox Jewish world as of today can only be put in perspective in context of a series of historical data points to understand the progression.

[mordecai]

Anyway

CLOTHES DO NOT MAKE THE MAN

[Turd degree]

And Shteinman looks like the silent Marx Brother.

[nobody]

Unless there was a rare hasid that got accepted into a Lithuanian yeshiva (happened from time to time), the "mitnagid" Lithuanian yeshiva scholars were all clean shaven before marriage. After marriage I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can chime in.

[nobody]

"Actually R. Shach is lookin' pretty good there. Could pass for Johnny Depp's brother"

heh, I thought he looks friendly, probably a congenial guy in the yeshiva. But now that you mention it, I see some resemblance there!

[nobody]

You can also go to the Jewish community center in Hevron where they have a very small museum dedicated to the Hevron jews who were massacred by Arabs in 1929. Many many pictures there (including a section on the Slabodka bachurim) show scenes, styles, and clothing similar to the ones Shmarya presented above. No one is trying to hide this except the truly ignorant. But knowledge empowers a person. It's out there, it's just a question of do you want to find it.

[R.W.]

What I find so side-splittingly hysterical is the fact that anyone nowadays looking like R' Shneiur Kotler in the photo wouldn't even be accepted as an english principal in any Lakewood-affiliated institution.

[Adam Neira]

The dress sense of many people in the 1920's, 30's and 40's was pretty classic. It also loks like they were not determined to stand out so much from the crowd, but I'm sure they enjoyed dressing up from time to time. The subject of "uniforms" and what constitutes correct dress is interesting.

[Shimon from Jerusalem]

Shmarya (or scott-grandson of a gangster-heir and bneficiary of Jewish mob money )accuses gedolim of cahnging the same way he changed after the Lubavitcher Rebbe did not agree with Scott(Shmarya).I wonder if Scott's teachers of today(whoever they may be) were always the same or did they change over the years

[Yaakov]

I am not sure what the big controversy is.

I distinctly remember that many of my friends who went to Philly, Denver or Long Island were expected to shave. Only kids from chasidishe backgrounds (whose parents did not shave) were allowed to let their beards grow.

My cousins who learned in Ner Yisroel, Telz, The Mir (kind of like The Ohio State University) likewise were not allowed to grow beards.
It wasn't until one went to kollel was one allowed to grow a beard.

SO perhaps this custom of not letting unmarried men grow beards has a long tradition with the "Litvishe Velt."

Anyone with knowledge of this care to chime in???

[batyahgirl@yahoo.com]

Actually R. Shach is lookin' pretty good there. Could pass for Johnny Depp's brother.

Posted by: zach | August 28, 2011 at 08:56 AM

No way! You're crazy. He looks nothing like Johnny Depp! :-)

Shmarya, it seems I also remember hearing that Orthodox women did not always cover their hair in that time period either. Can you dig up some photos of the women? Then maybe I can convince my husband to let me get this rag off my head. Much obliged.

[Mark]

OK folk.

Stupid non-story.

Keep moving.

[Adam Neira]

To Mordecai,

CLOTHES DO NOT MAKE THE MAN

Correct !

Give me a righteous poor tzaddik in rags any day over an Ermenegildo Zegna wearing psychopathic business executive. Of course it is polite to dress a certain way for some places and events. Self respect for how we present ourselves is good, but too much emphasis on the glitz and the surface is unhealthy. Fashion is not a dirty word however. It is all about balance. I'm sure Moses in the desert didn't really care how he looked when he was close to G-d. When he took on the mantle of leadership he may have got some sartorial advice. Adam and Eve were naked in the most divine place of all and were very happy. I'm not advocating nudity. You get my drift I'm sure. Dressing up for special occasions can be fun, but the concept of "power dressing" really annoys me. Obviously some workplaces do with the aid of a uniform. Ceremonial dressing is also ok. The Swiss Guards at the Vatican, the guards at Buckingham Palace and the clothes worn by the Kohanim of the First and Second Temple Eras are cases in point.

[Adam Neira]

To Mark,

Which one of the following jobs do you most identify with...

(a) A world famous Swiss scientist who discovers a new element.

(b) A paid saboteur who works for the Taliban blowing up ISAF personnel.

(c) A bored, rich, LA trophy bride who is a genius at manipulating people.

(d) A bus driver from Ashdod who pays his taxes and likes the idea of Maimonides Golden Mean.

[Shmarya Gets It Wrong]

Amazing how Shmarya and his minions project their self-loathing onto others.

The Jew who stands up gets respect. He is no threat to the non-Jew because he does not want to be a non-Jew.

The miserable little secular Jew who copies the non-Jew and feels embarrassed by Jews is just embarrassing himself and not ingratiating himself with anyone.

The worst Jewish criminals are seculars like Shmarya's grandfather, Bugsy Siegel, Ivan Boesky and Bernie Madoff.

The most respected camera retailer in the WORLD is owned by Satmar.

One of the few honest used car dealers is owned by yeshivaleit from Baltimore.

Every secular leftist in Israel runs to charedim when he needs help both in the country and outside of it.

Sure, we are not perfect. No one is. But when Shmarya finds himself down and out with no one in the world, he'll do tshuva fast in exchange for some hot cholent that he won't be able to afford from his Tip Jar.

[Adam Neira]

To SGIT,

"But when Shmarya finds himself down and out with no one in the world, he'll do tshuva fast in exchange for some hot cholent that he won't be able to afford from his Tip Jar."

Wow !

Wishing poverty on someone and if they do fall into that terrible trap and ask for help you will spit on them. How do you spell "Ahavas Israel" or "Common Human Decency" in modern day Hebrew ?

You are a real class act.

[Shmarya Gets It Wrong]

Shmarya is a rooshe and he will meet a bad end. When he leaves the world, it will be a cause for rejoicing as unlike you, Neira, he is not a shoiteh and does know what he is saying.

Neira, you'll be fine if you just remember to take ALL of your medication as prescribed. Two blue pills, one red pill and a white pill every day, and don't forget your monthly shock treatments.

[R. Wisler]

Hmmm.. SGIW must have delusions about his ability to tell God to give Shmarya a "bad end".

Do you have the gift of prophecy SGIW?

In your childish emotional outbursts, please try to remember that if you want to prove Shmarya "wrong", then just stick to the points!

Don't make a total ass out of yourself by pronouncing your juvenile little "curses" on him.

In truth, no one cares about what you think.

[Shmarya is Dust of the Earth]

There are no points to prove. Shmarya is an evil little man who would not be alive today if some charedim had not fed him at various times in his loser life.

He needs to be denounced for what he is - along with his amen chorus here. We don't bother debating Al Sharpton and there is no reason to debate Shmarya either.

[Shmarya]

There are no points to prove. Shmarya is an evil little man who would not be alive today if some charedim had not fed him at various times in his loser life.

He needs to be denounced for what he is - along with his amen chorus here. We don't bother debating Al Sharpton and there is no reason to debate Shmarya either.

Posted by: Shmarya is Dust of the Earth | August 29, 2011 at 01:12 PM

Yes, no need for you to actually deal with the points I make or know anything.

Far better to demonize and lie about me than to actually know anything.

And, despite those lies of yours and your delusions, no haredim ever kept me alive, gave me charity, or did anything of the sort.

And even if they had, it would in no way falsify or negate my arguments.

[Tikvah]

Shmarya, it seems I also remember hearing that Orthodox women did not always cover their hair in that time period either. Can you dig up some photos of the women?
Posted by: batyahgirl@yahoo.com | August 28, 2011 at 11:25 PM

I know my great grandmothers, both Orthodox, did not wear sheitels. I would also love to see some pictures of the rebbetzins.

[Shmarya]

Shmarya, it seems I also remember hearing that Orthodox women did not always cover their hair in that time period either. Can you dig up some photos of the women?
Posted by: batyahgirl@yahoo.com | August 28, 2011 at 11:25 PM

I know my great grandmothers, both Orthodox, did not wear sheitels. I would also love to see some pictures of the rebbetzins.

Posted by: Tikvah | August 29, 2011 at 03:52 PM

I'll try.

[Moish the spacedout BT]

In old Bobowa (Bobov) my grandparents' and their neighbors were happy to have clothes- any decent clothes. They didn't worry about colors and having white on white shirts. White shirts didn't stay white very long during the muddy season.

[Korbendallas72]

Chabadniks are the xtians of Judaism. They shove their idol in your face and degrade you for not bowing to it. They consider themselves the elevated demigods of the world and think it's your problem for not bowing to the majesty of their idol. Those of us who truly love Hashem can see the pattern. Those of us with weak minds choose to obey their human master for the sake of power and privilege. They too seek to become gods over their fellow man. Your idol will fall in the name of Hashem, speedily and in our days, AMEN V'AMEN.

[Shmarya Gets It Wrong]

LOL these comments are really getting entertaining.

Difference is that I laugh WITH Jackie Mason, or Lipa, or the Pester Roov or any other good Jewish comedian.

I laugh AT you schmucks, knowing that when push comes to shove, you'll be on the doorstep of your local Chabad House begging the shaliach for assistance. And he'll help you even though he probably will suspect that you'll thank him by stabbing him in the back once he gets you up on your feet.

[Michael]

I saw a Chabad produced interview with a lady who claimed that when in the 50's in NYC no one wore a Sheitel - at least not Lubavitchers did not. She said the Rebbe asked her to start wearing one and encourage other women because she was respected in the community.

[Rachel]

In these photos the men look more like respectfully dressed Jews than the men in today's Chareidi neighbourhoods in Israel who prefer to imitate the Polish nobleman fashions.