Modern science, philosophy, thought and reason owe a great debt to the Jewish ghettos that comprised shtetl life in Europe. Contrary to popular belief, the shtetl was not a place where fiddlers on the roof watched the world pass them by. Quite the contrary. The author presents clear, historical data to show that many great minds which grew out of the shtetl refused to shed their Jewishness in order to achieve fame in the world at large.
In his cogent analysis, the author reveals the great personalities that blossomed in the cauldron of shtetl life, greats like The Baal Shem Tov, Y.I Peretz, Franz Rosenzweig, Januz Korczak, and many others.
Heszel Klepfisz was born in 1910 into a rabbinical family that lived near Warsaw. He studied philosophy, history and literature at universities in Warsaw, Brussels and Zurich earning a Ph.D. in Philosophy. By the age of 19, he began writing articles in the Jewish newspapers attacking anti-Semitism in Poland. In 1933, he was one of the first to warn of the menace of fascism.
During World War II, Dr. Klepfisz served as a military chaplain, with the rank of Major, in the Polish army. He trained in England and was part of the Normandy invasion. After the War, Dr. Klepfisz was invited to become Chief Rabbi of Panama. There, he was appointed Professor of Judaic Studies and History at the University of Panama. He also helped negotiate the return of the Panama Canal Zone by the United States to Panama. Dr. Klepfisz has published a dozen titles in Spanish and several in Yiddish. He recently completed a five volume work on the cultural history of the Ashkenazi Jews.
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