Teacher and Students in a Heder, Lublin

Alter-Sholem Kacyzne

1920–1929

Photograph of young boys sitting at a long table with books open as teacher leans over them to teach. — This photograph of a heder, a traditional Jewish boys’ elementary school, has become an iconic photograph of pre-World War II Jewish life in Eastern Europe. The heder was often a one-room classroom (heder means “room” in Hebrew) in the home of the melamed (teacher), whose job was to teach his students the Hebrew alphabet, the prayers, and the weekly Torah portion. By the time Kacyzne took this photo, the heder was already seen as a symbol of a traditional past on the point of disappearing. After World War I, Jewish children in Poland had a wide array of educational options for the first time and could attend Polish schools, Yiddish- and Hebrew-language schools, and even modern religious schools. This photograph, taken for the New York Forverts, was meant to be seen by American Jewish immigrants, many of whom personally remembered attending such schools. The rapport between photographer and subject was a hallmark of the work of Kacyzne, who often framed his shots as if they were performance stills from a play.

Credits

Courtesy of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Reseach and the Forward Association.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 8.

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Alter-Sholem Kacyzne

1885–1941

In addition to writing Yiddish fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism, Alter-Sholem Kacyzne was also a photographer of East European Jewish life in the interwar period. Born into a working-class family in Vilna, he opened a photography studio in Warsaw in 1910. In 1921, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of New York commissioned him to photograph the misery of Polish Jews who were seeking to immigrate to the United States. Soon after Abraham Cahan hired him to contribute photographs on a regular basis to the Forverts. Most of his photographic archive was lost during the Holocaust. Kacyzne was murdered by Ukrainians in July 1941.

Details

Teacher and Students in a Heder, Lublin

Credits

You may also like

Engage with this Source

Places:

Categories:

Subjects:

You may also like

Teacher and Students in a Heder, Lublin

Credits

You may also like

Thieves

Children, Onward! (Yeladim, lekhu!)

Mainz Synagogue (Organ and Floorplan)

Engage with this Source

Places:

Categories:

Subjects:

You may also like

Thieves

Children, Onward! (Yeladim, lekhu!)

Mainz Synagogue (Organ and Floorplan)