Haskel Besser

Rabbi Haskel Besser represents a slice of New York history little understood by most Jews, let alone most New Yorkers. In the 1940s and early `50s more than 50,000 Hasidim immigrated to New York from Poland and Hungary, where their once vibrant communities had been wiped out by the Holocaust. Rabbi Besser escaped from Poland in 1939, after a harrowing encounter where a group of soldiers threatened to throw him from a moving train. His aunts, uncles, cousins and grandfather were killed in concentration camps. In his adopted city, Rabbi Besser has amassed an impressive array of achievements: not only has he succeeded in the commercial real estate world and the diamond district, but he has presided for 40 years over a small synagogue on the Upper West Side and he invented the miniature talmuds often read by devout Jews on New York subways. This extremely engaging character, who has met with world leaders and addressed crowds of thousands at Madison Square Garden, tells his life story with wisdom and wit.

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• Haskel
• Besser
• Orthodox
• Jewish
• Holocaust
• Germany
• Jew
• Jews
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• Hasidism
• Hasidic
• Hassidism
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• Hasid

[SongHeaven]

i also just finished reading the Rabbi's biography and had wanted to visit him in NYC this winter. Now i see the previous posts and have discovered he has passed away.

Beautiful to see him speak in the video and to get a small glimpse of who he was in life and the energy he generated that still remains.

[RabbiYonah]

The world has been devastated spiritually with Rabbi Besser's passing.

[AdamLeventhal]

I just found out that Rabbi Besser passed away today. I am so sad.

Baruch dayan emes.

I encourage anyone to read the biography on this great man. It's called The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser, by Warren Kozak.

He tirelessly worked for klal-Yisroel during his life, and may he continue to do so and be meilitz-yosher to help bring the geulah shlaima, in our days.

[TheRockinCactus]

B'H for posting this : ) ~Dov~

[ufaratzta]

Rabbi Besser is a living legend. Please daven for his speedy recovery - Chaskel ben Frumat

[JewishLibrary]

I really enjoyed hearing more about Rabbi Besser and about the Jewish community in New York City.

[FeivelJay770]

Thanks for this. I read The Rabbi of 84th Street and loved it, so it was good for me to watch film of the man behind that great biography.