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JUNE 6, 2019 | The Jewish Home
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The Wandering
Jew
B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
JULY 23, 2020
Heritage Journey with the Boys Part II By Hershel Lieber
This article is a continuation of my trip with the boys of Yeshiva Ohr Shraga Veretzsky
I
t was late Wednesday afternoon on August 11, 2004, when our bus arrived in Rzeszow. This fairly sized Polish city once had a large Jewish population before the war and was called in Yiddish Reisha. When we came with the boys, there was truly little left to see of our past heritage except for the bais olam. Since I had a close relationship with the Bluzhever Rebbe, Rav Yisroel, zt”l, I involved myself with building an ohel over the kevorim of his ancestors, the previous Rebbes. I took the boys there to be mispallel at the ohel and to place kvitlach listing their family members’ names and their bakoshes on the kevorim. After davening Mincha, we boarded our bus for the long ride to Krakow. The boys were exhausted, and this was an opportunity to catch up on some well-deserved napping. Arriving late in the evening and settling into our hotel, we did not get to eat before 11 p.m., after which we enthusiastically welcomed a good night’s sleep.
Feeding pigeons at the Main Square in Krakow
We had an early start Thursday morning. After davening at the historic Isaak Jekeles Shul, which was
At the Altneuschul in Prague, the shul of the Maharal
turned into a museum, we ate breakfast and went off for the day. It was not going to be an easy day since it
Pesi davening in the shul of Oswiecim
would include coming face-to-face with the notorious Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau. We had a wonderful Polish guide whose narrative was both educational and moving. Our hearts were filled with agony and tears flowed readily as we witnessed the final destination of millions of our people which included so many members of our own families. As we walked along the barracks, we constantly made stops to say Tehillim whenever our emotions determined the need. Suffice it to say, this day will always remain in our memories. The only synagogue building that remained in the city of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) is the over-one-hundredold Chevra Lomdei Mishnayos Shul, which is now a museum and Jewish center. I took the boys there to overcome the traumatic experience of the death camp. We davened Mincha and leined the Torah, which we could not do in the morning. Being in that shul felt so comforting and gave us chizuk and hope for the future. On the way back to Krakow, we diverted to visit an abandoned castle where the boys had a chance to release their energies
Davening at the kever of the Tosfos Yom Tov in Krakow
