Po-Lin,Shmuel Ben Eliezer

Gora Kalawaria is better known to the Jewish people by its Yiddish name of Ger. It is a town 19 mi. (30 km.) S.E. of Warsaw, Poland. The town was known as ?The New Jerusalem? due to the great chasidic dynasty established there by Yitzchak Meir Rothenberg Alter in 1859. The presense of the chasidim helped shape the very nature of the town. Due to the tremendous amount of chasidim who would visit the Rebbe on regular basis, a train was built between Gur and Warsaw. When a dispute occurred over the scheduling of the trains, and a ban was placed on its use by the rabbis, the train line almost went bankrupt and they gave in to the Jewish travelers. At the turn of the century, a sewer system was installed in the town, which at the time was unheard of in a town of its size.<

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Since the time of the first Gerer Rebbe in 1859, there have been six leaders of the Gerer chasidim:Yitzchak Meir Rothenberg Alter (1789-1866); Yehuda Arie Leib Alter (1847-1905); Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866-1948) who in 1940 escaped from Poland and reestblished the dynasty in Jerusalem; Yisrael Alter (1892-1977); Pinchas Menachem Alter (1926-1996); Yaacov Aryeh Alter (1939-).

There are many stories told of each of the great Rebbes of Gur, and many of their teachings are studied in yeshivas around the world.
The old Bais Medrash was destroyed during the Shoah, but rebuilt after the war. It was used as a furniture warehouse, but since the fall of Communism it is empty but for the gathering of Gerer chasidim who visit from time to time. On the second floor of the hall there is a matzah oven.

The apartments in which the Rebbeim lived still exist and today are found in a non-Jewish apartment block. The visitor can still see the balcony from which the Rebbe used to signal the end of Shabbat with the lighting of a cigarette (some people say a pipe, others a candle).

At the Jewish cemetery there is an Ohel over the graves of the earlier Rebbes and surrounding it are the graves of their sons, daughters spouses and important followers. The cemetery was mostly destroyed during the Shoah. The Ohel was built in the early 90?s by chasidim from NY. n

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