In the 19th century, a roaring monster of iron and steam tore through the pastoral landscapes of Eastern Europe, permanently shattering centuries of isolation. The expansion of the commercial railway system did more than just transport goods; it completely re-engineered the human experience of time, space, and community. For the Jewish world, this industrial revolution sparked a profound internal crisis and an era of unprecedented transformation.
This class explores the tense, beautiful, and sometimes tragic collision between modern infrastructure and ancient tradition.
We look at the halachot of riding the train, and other diverse ways Jewish society responded to the tracks. We examine how some Hasidic masters like the Trisker Maggid fought to keep the trains away to protect spiritual purity, while others, like the Tzemach Tzedek and the Ruzhiner Rebbe, who urged their followers to invest in railroad stocks as a physical preparation for cosmic redemption, and the Gerer and Belzer Courts grew large because they were located in railway cities. The railroad also changed how the world, and Jews, think about time, removed barriers that enabled local customs to flourish, led to mass migration and also to the organized spread of antisemitism.