His grandfather, the Admor (Hasidic leader) Haim Meir Yehiel Shapira was a descendant of the Maggid of Kuznitz and the Admor Israel Friedman of
Ruzhin, both disciples of the Great Maggid of Mezeritch (1704-1772) lineage.
They are the illustrated Hasidic Lurianic prayer book; the Kiddish cup of the Maggid Dov Ber of Miedzyrzecz; the
Ruzhin Passover Seder plate; the Lelov Sabbath lamp the Hasidic </Atara/< (prayer shawl ornament); </lyulke/> (long-stemmed pipes) and snuffboxes; </shmire/> (protective talismans); and the chair of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav.
Till 2001, the Macedonian political elite behaved as if there were no internal problems other than those of economic and social nature and it was thus presented in the White Book of the Ministry of Defence, which emphasized that the biggest threat to the Macedonian stability was external, coming from the western borders (Albania) (
Ruzhin, 2013).
In 1912, Edison phonograph in tow, he and a few colleagues organized an ethnographic expedition to the Ukrainian town of
Ruzhin and brought back "44 recordings on 29 cylinders, as well as hundreds of hand-notated transcriptions of klezmer melodies, Hasidic nigunim, and Yiddish folk songs" (91).
This new volume of collected studies by David Assaf, Professor of Jewish History at Tel-Aviv University and a leading scholar of nineteenth-century Hasidism, is an extremely worthy successor to his path-breaking study of Rabbi Yisrael of
Ruzhin, The Regal Way (2002), and his painstakingly researched edition of the memoirs of Yehezkel Kotik, published under the title Journey to a Nineteenth Century Shtetl (2002).
It is said to have come from the court of Rabbi Israel
Ruzhin, a Hassidic leader, who was well-known for his opulent taste.
Assaf, David, The Regal Way: The Life and Times of Rabbi Israel of
Ruzhin. Stanford Series in Jewish History and Culture.
His very bearing inspired respect." Beilis described Heschel's charisma, reflecting
Ruzhin delicacy, as "subtlety, the silk and satin he possessed in his soul." Among these socialists, communists, and avant-garde artists, he was a rebbe - but without a community.