Kaalov

Kalev is the name of a small town in the North-Eastern part of Hungary, yet it is most famous as a Chasidic dynasty. According to a Chasidic tradition, the Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760) visited the town of Serentch, Hungary and blessed a childless couple that they would have a child. In 1751 a son was born to them, who would later grow up to be the Grand Rabbi Yitzchak Eizek Taub (1751-1821) Famous as renowned Torah Sage, Kabbalist, and miracle worker, he became the Chief Rabbi of Kalev in 1781, thus founding an illustrious Chasidic dynasty that flourishes to this very day. Reb Eizekel as he was lovingly known, was the first to introduce Chasidism to Hungary, and his enormous impact on eastern-European Jewry is felt to this very day. His blessed memory is especially evoked in connection with old Yiddish-Hungarian language songs like