Aleksander (Yiddish: אלעקסאנדער) is a Polish Hasidic dynasty originating from the city of Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland, where it was founded by Shraga Fayvel Danciger (d. 1848). 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 to largest Hasidic group in Poland. They attracted artisans, merchants and water carriers rather than elite Talmudic scholars and richer people who were attracted to Ger. Like the rest of Polish Jewry, almost all of Aleksander hasidim were murdered in the Holocaust. Between the world wars, Hasidic Jews from all over flocked to the small village of Aleksander to spend the holiest days of the Jewish year in the presence of their spiritual leader, their rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Danciger (1879–1942). The Rebbe of Aleksander attempted to remain neutral in political issues while emphasizing communal prayer and the study of Torah. He was murdered by the Germans on September 5, 1942, eight days before Rosh Hashana, at Treblinka extermination camp. Today, Aleksander has emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust and continues growing in numbers in small communities in America, Europe and Israel (including a small, but growing community in Melbourne, Australia). History The founder of the dynasty of Aleksander was Rabbi Yechiel Dancyger (1828–1894), son of Rabbi Fayvl from Gritse, a disciple of Israel Yitzhak Kalish of Vurke. His son, Yerachmiel Yisroel Yitzchok Dancyger (1853–1910), was even more famous, and accumulated a large group of followers. He was the author of Yismach Yisrael (Hebrew: "Israel will Rejoice", 1911), which he wrote together with his brother, Shmuel Tsvi (1860–1923), who later succeeded him and authored the Tiferes Shmuel. The teachings of the rebbes who followed stressed ethics, mysticism and ecstatic religious forms, putting less emphasis on studying the Talmud. The followers of the rebbes from Aleksander were primarily merchants and artisans, especially from Warsaw, and also in Łódź, where there were approximately 35 houses of prayer and study. There were also shtiblekh in numerous other towns, including Bełchatów, Opoczno, and Piotrków. In 1914 his brother Betsalel Yoir (1856–1934) began to serve as a rebbe in Łódź, thus starting a second branch of Alexander. After Shmuel Tsvi's death, the dynasty was continued by his son, Yitzchok Menachem Mendel Dancyger (1880–1943), whose accomplishments included the expansion of religious schools in Łódź and in Aleksander. Unlike many chasidic