Aleksander (Hasidic dynasty)

Aleksander is a Polish Hasidic dynasty originating from the city of Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland, where it was founded by Grand Rabbi Yechiel Danciger (1828-1894). Aleksander is a branch of Vurka, as Shraga Fayvel Danciger was a leading disciple of Rabbi Israel Yitzhak Kalish of Vurka. Prior to the Holocaust, Aleksander was the second largest Hasidic group in Poland, drawing artisans, merchants and water carriers rather than the elite Talmudic scholars and wealthier families attracted to Ger, and almost all of its Hasidim were murdered in the Holocaust along with the rest of Polish Jewry. Its rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Danciger (1879-1942), was murdered by the Germans at Treblinka extermination camp; the dynasty has since re-emerged with small communities in America, Europe and Israel.