Chęciny is a town in
Kielce CountyKielce County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of Kielce, although the...
,
Świętokrzyskie VoivodeshipŚwiętokrzyskie Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is presently divided. It is situated in south-central Poland, in the historical province of Lesser Poland, and takes its name from the Świętokrzyskie mountain range...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, with 4,252 inhabitants (2006).
Chęciny is a town in
Kielce CountyKielce County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of Kielce, although the...
,
Świętokrzyskie VoivodeshipŚwiętokrzyskie Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is presently divided. It is situated in south-central Poland, in the historical province of Lesser Poland, and takes its name from the Świętokrzyskie mountain range...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, with 4,252 inhabitants (2006).
The town is first mentioned in historical documents from 1275. It obtained its city charter in 1325. The most important sight in the town is
the royal castleChęciny Castle was built in the late 13th or early 14th century. It fell into ruin in the 18th century and remains in that state to this day....
built in the late 13th or early 14th century. It fell into ruin in the 18th century and remains in that state to this day.
The town had a
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish community and it had been the center of the
HasidicHasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew: , Hasidut, meaning "piety") is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith. The majority of Hasidic Jews are ultra-orthodox....
Chentshin dynasty Chentshin is the name of a Hasidic dynasty founded by the Rebbe Chayim Shmuel Szternfeld. Chentshin is the Yiddish name of Chęciny, a town in present-day Poland....
, (Chęciny being pronounced as "Chentshin" in
YiddishYiddish is a non-territorial High German language of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world...
.) The notable
HarediHaredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism, sometimes referred to as Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, though the term is considered pejorative by some, is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism...
leader and scholar in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman's family originated in Chentshin.
See also
- Nearby Jaskinia Raj
Jaskinia Raj is a horizontal limestone cave in Poland located in the hill Malik, to the south of Kielce, Świętokrzyskie Voivodship....