Kazimierz

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KAZIMIERZ

KAZIMIERZ (Kuzhmir ), ?asidic dynasty, especially known for their development of ?asidic melody. Its founder, ezekiel ben ?evi-hirsch taub of kazimierz (d. 1856), was the disciple of *Jacob Isaac ha-?ozeh of Lublin and of other ?asidic leaders. He began as a merchant in his home town of Plonsk, and eventually settled in Kazimierz, where he established himself as a ?addik. He became celebrated for his musical gifts, and composed numerous ?asidic melodies characterized by joyful lyricism. He used to say: "I do not feel the delight of Sabbath without a new melody." His sermons were collected in Ne?mad mi-Zahav (1909).

david ?evi of neustadt (d. 1882) Ezekiel's eldest son, and one of the outstanding disciples of Menahem Mendel Morgenstern of Kotsk, founded the ?asidic dynasty of Yablonov. His sermons are collected in ?emdat Dodo (1930). His grandson ezekiel of yablonov founded the Na?alat Ya'akov society in 1924, and in the following year settled in Ere? Israel at the head of a group of ?asidim. They established an agricultural settlement, Na?alat Ya'akov, at the western approaches to the Jezreel Valley (later part of *Kefar ?asidim).

samuel elijah taub of zwolen (d. 1888), also a son of Ezekiel, like his father had musical gifts, but as a ?addik suppressed this bent and led the prayers only on rare occasions. He said: "In every melody there is a soul, and a spirit is breathed into it by the singer-creator; within the melody there is both youth and old age; it is like a living being, and therefore whoever subtracts a note from or adds to it is as though he harms, as it were, the 248 organs of the human body." His son, moses aaron taub of nowy dwor (d. 1918), succeeded his father, first at Zwolen and later at Nowy Dwor near Warsaw. ?ayyim jerahmeel taub (d. 1942), son of Moses Aaron, lived in Zwolen, Mlawa, and finally Warsaw; he headed a ?asidic community and composed ?asidic melodies. He perished in *Treblinka. eleazar solomon ben ephraim taub (d. 1938), of Wolomin, the grandson of the first Ezekiel, moved to Warsaw during World War i. He also possessed musical gifts.