Those Who Escaped, and Those Who Remained

As the storm clouds gathered, most Hasidim made the fateful decision to stay, fearing the spiritual dangers of liberal, integrated societies more than physical danger. Their fears were reinforced by their rebbes. Nevertheless, once the true scale of the danger became evident, Hasidim were ready to use every possible resource to enable their rebbes to flee. Most rebbes complied. Martyrdom, a subject which both the Hasidic historian Simon Huberband and the renowned Gerer Hasidic scholar Menachem Ziemba wrote about at length, was only to be embraced after attempts at flight, concealment, and aid to love ones.