{"id":1533,"date":"2008-04-29T10:21:47","date_gmt":"2008-04-29T10:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/29\/there-was-a-tor\/"},"modified":"2008-04-29T10:21:47","modified_gmt":"2008-04-29T10:21:47","slug":"there-was-a-tor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/29\/there-was-a-tor\/","title":{"rendered":"THERE WAS A TORAH IN AUSCHWITZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Torah2_3\"<\/a>
\nOn Sunday, more than a hundred people stood in the aisles of their gathering place, most of them weeping.  It wasn’t a funeral, at least in the usual sense of the word, but it was an event so profoundly moving that few were left untouched.  We all stood, in our synagogue, on the final day of Passover<\/a>, in the presence of a Torah that had been hidden in Auschwitz<\/a> and has only now been recovered and restored.  [First though, it’s important that you know that the Torah is the central road map of Judaism – all traditions and laws, ideals and values, emerge from these five books: Genesis (B’reshit), Exodus (Sh’mot), Leviticus ( Vayyikra), Numbers (Bemidbar) and Deuteronomy (D’varim.)] <\/span>It’s an amazing story and best told by our rabbi, who is responsible for bringing this moment to us. The story, in his words, appears at the bottom of this post.<\/p>\n

Even the most spiritual person – one who easily connects to G-d, needs help sometimes.  Praying, feeling any connection at all, takes work and concentration.  But this day — this day — we were in the presence of something so remarkable that the sense of holiness was everywhere.  I know this sounds way over the top – but stay with me.  Here’s what happened:<\/p>\n

On Sabbath (Saturday), Monday, Thursday and holidays, we always read from the Torah<\/a> during services.  On Regular Sabbaths and weekdays we make our way through the five books; on holidays we re-read selected excerpts that relate to that particular festival.  On this day, closing Passover, we read the prescribed passages, and then, a dear, gentle member of our congregation who is himself a Holocaust survivor took this special Torah, which contained four panels that had been hidden in Auschwitz and began to walk slowly up one aisle and down the other so that everyone who wished to could reach it.  As he walked, another congregant – with an exquisite and soulful voice, sang  Ani Mamin<\/em>, the prayer that, witnesses told his family, his own great-grandfather (as had so many other Shoah<\/a> victims) sang as he marched to his death at the hands of the Nazis.  Orthodox services include no musical instruments, just voices, so only this sole, mournful chant swept our friend along as he made his way through the synagogue.  <\/p>\n

There was no other sound in the room.  Silently, each of us moved to the aisle to touch this sacred representation of so much pain and so much faith.  Silently, we watched as it passed and made its way to the stand where it would rest as it was unrolled, and read.  As its cover was being removed, our rabbi urged us all to "move closer" – leave our seats and, from each side of the mechitza (room divider), gather near.  He was right.  Imagine looking at, seeing before you, a Torah panel that had been smuggled into Auschwitz and hidden there as long as it was a death camp.  It’s such a feeling of reverence, sadness, mourning and privilege that you need to imagine it for yourself; it’s not possible to describe.  I will tell you ,though, that almost everyone was either teary-eyed or weeping openly.  And so it went as the Torah was read, wrapped, silently marched through the congregation one more time and placed in the Ark until it could be returned to those who gave us the privilege of being in its presence.<\/p>\n

This all sounds VERY melodramatic, I know. I myself had often argued that our identity as Jews can’t be built upon the suffering of those murdered six million – that we must feel our faith as a positive force, not only as a continuation that honors their suffering.  But not this day.  This day we all shared a connection with those who died, many who must have been our ancestors, whose grandchildren would have been at our weddings and bar mitzvahs, who really did belong to us – and who read from the thousands of Torahs that, unlike this one, did not survive the pillage and flames.  Every time the Torah is returned to the Ark, the congregation sings a song about it that ends:\n<\/p>\n

It
\nis a tree of life to those who hold it fast and all who cling to it find
\nhappiness.  Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are
\npeace.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\nThis day – we all heard these words in such a different way, understanding what these few pages must have meant to those who had hidden them for so long.\n<\/p>\n

I can’t tell, if you weren’t there – if it’s possible to understand the experience — at least at the hands of my limited skills as a writer.  But I wanted you to know about it — that it’s possible still to find such a moment of clarity and understanding.  That even someone like me, so reluctant to place meaning in things<\/em> — even articles representing faith like prayer books or even Torahs, can be shaken to the bone in the presence of something that bears witness both to the pain of our ancestors and, so powerfully, to the power of the faith we share with them.<\/p>\n

Here’s our Rabbi’<\/a>s story of the history of this Torah (I’ve included links to clarify a couple words):<\/p>\n

The Torah is a Tree of Life The Last Day of Pesach, 5768 
Shmuel Herzfeld, Ohev Sholom, the National Synagogue<\/a>, Washington DC
<\/u><\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
This past Sunday, as we prepared to recite Yizkor*, we first gave honor to a
\nspecial Torah that was visiting with our congregation.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Here is the story of the Torah and how we came to have it with us on this
\none occasion.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Two days before Pesach I stopped in the Silver Spring Jewish Book Store to
\nbuy some gifts for Pesach, when I saw this Torah which said on the mantle,
\n\u201cRescued from Auschwitz.\u201d  <\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The owner of the store is a sofer and a rabbi and a very good friend by the
\nname of Menachem Youlis<\/a>.  Rabbi Youlis told me that the Torah was being given to
\nthe Central Synagogue<\/a> in New York City on Wednesday April 30.  The Torah was
\nbeing donated to them by Alice and David Rubenstein and had been lovingly
\nrestored by Rabbi Youlis through his Save a Torah Foundation<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
I was overwhelmed by being in the presence of this Torah.  I couldn\u2019t stop
\nthinking about it.  Here was living proof that our Torah is eternal.  The Nazis
\ntried to destroy us physically but they could not destroy the Torah.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The next week I mentioned the beauty of this Torah to my friends, Secretary
\nWilliam Cohen and his wife Janet Langhart Cohen<\/a> and they graciously offered to
\nask David Rubenstein to lend us the Torah so that we could read it in our shul
\nbefore it went to New York.  David Rubenstein generously agreed.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
And so we had the honor of reading from the Torah in our synagogue on the
\nlast day of Pesach.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Before Yizkor I told the congregation the story of this Torah. <\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The Torah was recently found in the city of Oswiecim which is where the
\ndeath camp of Auschwitz was located.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
I had learned about this city and its Jewish life from my rebbe, Rabbi Avi
\nWeiss.  He knew this town well because his father lived there till he was 16. 
\nIt is likely that Rabbi Weiss\u2019 father had actually heard this Torah being
\nread.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
There was a tradition amongst the survivors of Oswiecim<\/a> that two days
\nbefore the Nazis came to burn down the synagogue of Oswiecim the Torahs of the
\nsynagogue were taken and buried in separate metal boxes in the Jewish cemetery. 
\nThe Nazis took a perverse pleasure in destroying Sifrei Torah in terrible ways
\nthat purposefully desecrated the Torah.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Many had tried to find these Torahs and indeed, the spot where the
\nsynagogue stood was excavated but no Sifrei Torah were ever found.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
So Rabbi Menachem Youlis thought that perhaps the tradition told over the
\nyears was correct.  Maybe there really was a Torah buried in the cemetery. 
\n<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
He traveled to Oswiecim to check the cemetery but he did not find even one
\nTorah.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
When he returned home he was despondent.  But then his son told him, \u201cMaybe
\nthe cemetery was bigger back then\u2026\u201d  Lo and behold the original cemetery was
\nbuilt over and today it is just twenty-five percent of the size that it once
\nwas.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
So Rabbi Youlis took his metal detector and started searching the original
\ncemetery by looking under the homes where the cemetery originally was.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Lo and behold, he found a metal box.  He opened up the metal box and found
\na Torah scroll.  <\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
There was only one problem\u2026the Torah scroll was missing four panels. 
\nWithout these four panels, the Torah scroll could not be kosher\u2026.  Where could
\nthese panels be?<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
He took out an ad in the local paper and asked if anyone had panels of a
\nTorah from before the war.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The next day he received a call from a Priest who said he had four panels. 
\n<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The panels were an exact match in pagination, style and content.  Obviously
\nthey were originally from the Torah he had found buried in the cemetery.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Rabbi Youlis learned that the Priest was born a Jew\u2014named Zeev\u2014and was sent
\nto Auschwitz.  Before the Torah had been buried in the Oswiecim cemetery these
\nfour panels had been removed and smuggled through Auscwitz by four different
\npeople.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
As each person who had a panel was about to die they passed along the
\npanels.  Eventually the four panels made it into the hands of Zeev who guarded
\nthem as a Priest for over 60 years.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Rabbi Youlis lovingly restored the Torah and made it kosher once again.  He
\nadded these four panels to the entire Torah.  The four panels were all selected
\nfor a good reason:<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The first panel contained the Ten Commandments<\/a> from the book of Exodus. 
\nThe Ten Commandments contain with it the word Zachor\u2014the obligation to always
\nremember.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The second panel spoke about the curses that will befall the Jewish people
\non the day the God hides His face from us.  These curses came true during the
\ndark days of the Holocaust.  But we know that since these curses came true, the
\nblessings that Hashem promises us will also come true.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The third panel contained the section from Parshat Pinchas that spoke about
\nkorbanot\u2014sacrifices, burnt offerings\u2014that were offered to God.  <\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The last panel contained the Shema<\/a> from Deuteronomy.  In that same panel
\nwas also found the Ten Commandments<\/a> from Deuteronomy.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
The Ten Commandments from Exodus say, <\/em>Zakhor et hashabbat, remember
\nthe Shabbat.  <\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Explain the rabbis, <\/em>Zakhor ve-shamor bedibbur echad neemru, at the
\nsame time that remember was said, so was the word <\/em>shamor, to guard.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
At the same time that we have an obligation to remember the past we also
\nhave an obligation to guard the memory of the <\/em>korbanot of the shoah\u2014the
\nvictims of the Holocaust.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
When Rabbi Youlis looked at this Torah he noticed that the word
\n<\/em>shamor (in Deuteronomy) was missing the letter, <\/em>vav.  The Torah
\nhad been originally written without this letter included in it.  The <\/em>vav,
\nhas a numerical value of 6, but it also represents the six million.  Rabbi
\nYoulis added the <\/em>vav to the Torah and thereby made it kosher.  By adding
\nthe <\/em>vav to this Torah he also symbolically made an eternal memorial to
\nthe memory of all those who perished from the town of Oswiecim and in
\nAuschwitz.<\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
Now that the Torah is kosher it will be guarded and watched by the Central
\nSynagogue, where it will be read from every Yom Kippur.  And every other year it
\nwill be taken by 10,000 students as they march through Auschwitz on March of the
\nLiving.  And every time it is used the six million will be guarded (shamor) and
\nremembered (zachor).  <\/em><\/div>\n
 <\/em><\/div>\n
*That’s a memorial prayer for loved ones recited on several holidays each year.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday, more than a hundred people stood in the aisles of their gathering place, most of them weeping.  It wasn’t a funeral, at least in the usual sense of the word, but it was an event so profoundly moving that few were left untouched.  We all stood, in our synagogue, on the final day … Continue reading THERE WAS A TORAH IN AUSCHWITZ<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,98],"tags":[1565,1557,1569,1575,1561,1577,1576,1570,1568,1558,1579,1572,1563,1136,1574,1580,1562,1571,780,1567,1582,1564,1559,1581,602,1560,1573,1578,1566],"class_list":["post-1533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-religion","tag-ani-manim","tag-auschwitz","tag-breshit","tag-bemidbar","tag-central-synagogue","tag-dvarim","tag-deuteronomy","tag-exodus","tag-genesis","tag-holocaust","tag-janet-langhart","tag-leviticus","tag-menachem-youlis","tag-nazis","tag-numbers","tag-oswiecim","tag-save-a-torah-foundation","tag-shmot","tag-shabbat","tag-shamor","tag-shema","tag-shmuel-herzfeld","tag-shoah","tag-ten-commandments","tag-torah","tag-torah-rescued","tag-vayyikra","tag-william-cohen","tag-zakhor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gBq8-oJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}