Glenn Dynner

Short Biography

Glenn Dynner is a scholar of East European Jewry with a focus on the social history of Hasidism and the Polish Jewish modernization process. His additional interests include Polish-Jewish relations, Jewish economic history, and popular religion. Dynner is author of the critically acclaimed book Men of Silk: The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish Society (Oxford University Press, 2006). He received textual training in several Israeli yeshivas, Brandeis University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As a Fulbright scholar, Dynner traveled to Poland and began uncovering hitherto unknown archival sources on nineteenth century Polish Jewry. Currently a Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (CAJS), Dynner is writing a book which explains Polish Jewish modernization by examining Jewish responses to Tsarist decrees. He is co-editing a book on Jewish and Christian Mysticism in Eastern Europe, and a volume of the journal Polin focusing on the Congress Kingdom of Poland. Dynner presently teaches Judaic Studies at Sarah Lawrence College. He holds a B.A. from Brandeis University, an M.A. from McGill University, and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University.