Harrisburg’s Kesher Israel and Chisuk Emuna Congregations are proud to present Howard Langer, winner of the 2025 National Jewish Book Award, Miller Family Book Club Award. Mr. Langer will make an in-person presentation, then will sign books following his talk. Mr. Langer will be in conversation with local author, Joel Burcat.

The fiddler busking in the Columbus Circle subway in 1965 is the last Dekrepitzer Rebbe, sole survivor of his Hasidic sect following the Holocaust. The Last Dekrepitzer follows Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher, who was raised to be a rebbe in Poland. He is smuggled by Black GIs to Mississippi who are impressed with his unique style of playing the fiddle. He lives among the poor Blacks and Black musicians in Mississippi. He marries Lula Curtin, and later flees a Klan attack to Manhattan. Playing street music with Reverend Gary Davis, he searches for his followers playing his mournful Hasidic melodies on his fiddle in street corners and the subways. He seeks G-d, solace, and his people among the poor, Jewish, and Black people of New York.

When: Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 10:30 AM

Where: Kesher Israel Congregation | Harrisburg, PA 

Cost: The program is free.

RSVP: HERE