It’s Mine!

Today has been designated as Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – which marks the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I would like to focus on how Jews in Auschwitz and in other concentration camps displayed their devotion to G-d, to their religion, and their fellow Jews.

Zalman Kleinman, an Auschwitz survivor, testified at the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem:

“I was in my bunk in the children’s block at Auschwitz, when I saw an SS officer approaching with a thick rubber strap to administer a brutal beating to one of the camp inmates.

“The lad – a boy fourteen – obviously knew he was going to be viciously beaten. We counted the blows silently…25…40. But not a cry, not a groan, not even a whimper. The Nazi then turned him over and began to beat him on his head and feet. At fifty blows the beating stopped. The lad had still not uttered a sound.

“When the Nazi left, we picked the boy up gently and placed him on his cot.

“We asked the boy why he was beaten. He replied, “It was worth it. I brought my friends a number of Siddurim – prayer books for them to Daven. It was all worth it.”

Rabbi Tzvi Meisels, an Auschwitz survivor recalled: Fifty Jewish young men were selected to satisfy the sadistic impulse of the German ‘supermen’ on Simchas Torah.

They were led to the gas chambers where they were told to take ‘showers.’ When the doors were shut, one of the boys called out, “We have been selected to sanctify G-d’s name with our death. Tonight is Simchas Torah. Let us sing and rejoice.” Whereupon they began to sing, ‘Ashreinu Ma Tov Chelkainu – How fortunate – how good is our portion, how pleasant our lot, and how beautiful our heritage,’ at the top of their lungs while they danced excitedly.

Their singing pierced the walls of the crematorium. Bewildered, the Germans open the doors and were astounded at the sight that met their eyes. “Why are you dancing?” the officer in charge demanded.

They replied, “We are happy to be leaving a world led by such wild dogs as you. We will soon be reunited with the souls of our fathers and mothers whom you slew so ruthlessly.”

The German officer was overcome with rage. “This death is too good for you. I will hold you until I can devise a slow painful death for each of you.”

The next day a large group was sent from Auschwitz to a labor camp. Somehow, these young men were included in the group. Not one of these fifty youths died in Auschwitz.

Mr. Joseph Friedenson recalled the remarkable Kiddush Hashem – sanctification of G-d’s name – of the pupils of the famed teacher, Sarah Schenirer, the founder of the Beth Jacob School movement.

“The group of girls that I saw in the Birkenau women’s camp in Auschwitz were the ones who remembered when it was Shabbos and Yom Tov. Several candles were somehow lit every Friday evening in Auschwitz. They gathered and lit Chanukah candles in a dark horse stable, and hundreds of Jewish women sang Maoz Tzur Yeshuasi, together.”

On the fiftieth Yahrtzait of Sarah Scheneirer, a group of her students made a trip back to Europe to visit and rekindle the memories of their youth. My aunt, Mrs. Shoshana Lefkowitz o.b.m., related to me an incident she heard that occurred on that trip.

Two women went back to the Shtetel where they were raised. They came to one of their houses and when the one whose house it was looked in through the open door she noticed her mother’s Shabbos candle sticks sitting on the table. She knocked and a woman answered. The woman whose house it had been introduced herself saying that her parents owned the home before the war. She then offered to purchase the candle sticks, but the woman refused, claiming that she takes them to church every week. Understandably, the daughter felt bad.

Her friend looked at her and said, “Here you are staring at your family’s possession, a link to your family that perished in the war; we cannot leave without it. We are two against one; let’s go in and take them.” They proceeded to walk inside and took her mother’s candle sticks without any confrontation. She brought them back home, where they belonged!

We can just imagine how many millions upon millions of stories of the devotion of Jews under the most dire conditions were left untold and are unknown to us.

One thing is for sure, G-d knows all the devotion and dedication that each person displays and feels, and He reward them, sometimes in this limited world, or at times to our souls in eternal existence.

This week’s Parsha begins with detailing the High Priest’s elaborate service in the Temple on Yom Kippur. A highlight was when the Kohain Godol entered the Holy of Holies to perform an incense offering and sprinkling the blood of the sacrifices. The Torah relates that only the Kohain Godol alone, was allowed to be in the Holies during this atonement service.

Commentators expound on how the Kohain Godol’s private mode can be a lesson as to how one can effectively proceed when wishing to forge a deeper relationship with the Almighty. He is to perform Mitzvos and refrain from that which is prohibited while in his own privacy, without anyone else noticing or commenting.

The spiritual uplift that the Mitzvah affords, gradually creates an energy and provides the confidence for one to advance further!

 

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