R. Joseph Zvi b. R. Simon Kalish (1886-1957), Rebbe of Skierniewice, is a descendent of the Worky Chassidic dynesty, who emigrated to Israel after the Holocaust. Skierniewice, is a town in the Lodz province, central Poland where Jews settled at the end of the 18th century. An organized community was established in 1850, and some years later a large synagogue was erected (in 1970 the building was in use as a municipal club). Jews engaged in small trade and crafts, such as weaving, shoemaking, and tailoring, in transportation, horse dealing, and services to the local Russian army garrisons. In the second half of the 19th century the influence of Hasidism, mainly of Gur and Aleksandrow, grew among the Jews of Skierniewice. In 1886 the admor of Worky (Warka), R. Simon Kalish, moved his "court" to Skierniewice.