Here’s the Object: Hasidism

Here’s the Object: Hasidism

The February meeting of the Here’s the Object series will be an invitation to an in-depth, intimate encounter with Hasidic spirituality, everyday life, and religious aesthetics. It is a rare opportunity to look closer at a world that is usually closed off — told from the inside, through the voice of one of its participants and through authentic objects of religious culture.

Our guide will be Matys Weiser — a Hasid originally from Poland, connected with Hasidic communities in the United States for thirty years.

The meeting will take place as a videoconference and will take the form of a conversation about Hasidic spirituality, customs, and life rhythm, grounded in personal experience and many years of religious practice.

The conversation will be accompanied by a presentation of selected objects from the POLIN Museum collections — items used during daily prayers, Sabbath observance, and holidays. As always in the Here’s the Object series, participants will have the opportunity for direct contact with original artifacts presented outside the display case, in an intimate, studio-style setting.

A special part of the meeting will be a showing of two photography collections by Agnieszka Traczewska, documenting the lives of Hasidim in the USA, Israel, and Europe. The photographs, created thanks to the trust the photographer received from closed communities, allow a close view of this world — without simplifications, exoticism, or distance.

Guest speaker:

• Matys Weiser — born in Oława, lived in Poland until the mid-1990s. A member of a Hasidic congregation for 30 years. Connected with the Cieszanów Hasidic group in Brooklyn and in Kiryas Joel near New York. Lives in the Catskills region. A designer and seller of jewelry, as well as a guide for religious families and Jewish groups to American national parks.

Host:

• Piotr Kowalik — historian-educator, chief specialist for Judaic studies and methodology in the Education Department of the POLIN Museum.

🎟️ Free tickets are required: https://tinyurl.com/chasydyzm-wejsciowki

📅 12.02 | 18:00
Education Center, 1st floor, room 2

The Here’s the Object series consists of one-off, unique meetings — each devoted to a different topic, led by invited specialists and enriched with objects that are normally inaccessible to the public. It is intended for people seeking in-depth knowledge, attentive conversation, and direct material experience of heritage.