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Around the Community
Arugas Habosem Commemorates 13th Yahrtzeit and Legacy of HaRav Amrom Taub, zt”l
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
AUGUST 13, 2020
By: Margie Pensak
T
o this day, the Brider Rebbe, Rav Shaye Taub, shlit”a, has the crate marked ‘Rabbiner Taub—Chicago’ that belonged to his Czechoslovakianborn father, Rav Amrom Taub, z”l. After the war, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) had planned for Rav Amrom, who earned semicha at 18 and became a dayan in the shtetl of Slatfina, to be a Rav in St. Louis when he came to America. He was supposed to travel on to St. Louis from Chicago, however, his loyalty and dedication to the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Yoel Teitelbaum, zt”l, who insisted that he settle in Baltimore, brought him to our community instead; it meant losing the HIAS stipend. In 1951, Rav Amrom settled in Baltimore and became the founding Rav of Khal Arugas Habosem. On Monday, July 20, the kehilla commemorated Rav Amrom’s 13th yahrzeit – 28th of Tamuz – and the opening of its newly remodeled shul with a Kevias Mezuzos celebration. It was attended by Rabbonim and dignitaries -- Rabbi Heinemann, Rabbi Berger, Rabbi Eichenstein, Rabbi Weiss, Baltimore City Councilman Yitzy Schleifer (whose family donated a mezuzah), and builder Mr. Howard Brown, among others. The “crown jewel” of Arugas Habosum is its new mikveh, the fruition of the dream of Rav Amrom who made mikveh his mission even before moving to Baltimore. It replaces the 40-year-old one that deteriorated from heavy use. After Rav Amrom’s death, the Taubs found the plans for the new shul that he built
which included a new mikvah -- for reasons unknown, that part of the plan never materialized. Rav Shaye notes how fitting a tribute the Kevias Mezuzos was for his father’s memory: “In Kriah Shema, the first parsha begins with the pasuk, ‘V’ahavta’, which is Kabalas Ol Malchus Shamayim and the second parsha which begins with ‘V’haya, im shamoa’im shamoa’ is kabalas ol mitzvos. There are three things that are mentioned in both parshas, but the order changes. The first parsha says teach your children, and then mentions the mitzvos of tefillin and mezuzah – in that order. The second parsha first mentions tefillin and then teach your children and lastly mezuzah. It is brought down that the reason for that is because we wouldn’t know how to be m’kayim the mitzvos of tefillin and mezuzah properly without Torah shel baal peh, which is the mesorah that we received. Similarly, we wouldn’t know how to teach our children without Torah shel baal peh. People remember my father for the Torah shel baal peh – the mesorah that he brought over from Europe that he steadfastly held onto here in Baltimore, as well. The way he brought up his family was the mesorah that he was mekabel from his parents. To be m’kayim Kevias Hamezuzos, which also can only be properly affixed with Torah shel baal peh, it is a very appropriate way of memorializing my father, z”l -- all the mitzvos that he was mikayim had to be consistent with the mesorah that he was mekabel from his parents. To make sure that the mitzvah is fulfilled properly, it has to be done with the mesorah. It is, therefore, very
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appropriate that the Kevias Hamezuzos took place on the day of my father’s yahrtzeit for the beis medresh and the mikveh, which to him was very, very chashuv.” Rav Amram’s love and dedication
for mikveh is illustrated in this story that Rav Shaye heard from his father: ‘One frosty winter day we were forced to build airplane hangars near a river, when one of the beams fell into the river. A Nazi guard announced that he is looking for a volunteer to bring the beam back or he would force somebody to do it. The water was freezing and going into the water was a survival risk, as was not following the guard’s orders. I wasn’t sure if I would survive, but I decided to jump in the river. I reasoned that even if I did not survive, at least I would have toiveled myself and return my neshama with tehara. Before I jumped into the river, I was mispallel to Hashem that if I survived, wherever I lived I would establish a mikveh for everyone to use.’ Rav Amrom is, perhaps, best remembered for his inimitable talent of connecting to each and every Jew regardless of how different they were from him. Before kiruv was in style, he reached out to people. He wasn’t out to change them; he accepted them as they were, embracing them with his warmth. When he came to Baltimore, he was one of just a couple shtreimel wearers in town, but he got along well with the Litvishe crowd and did not push his philosophy on them. In return, the city gave him respect and honor. It was the Satmar Rebbe who also encouraged Rav Amrom to establish and head a Yiddish-speaking cheder, Shearis Hapleita—now known as Torah Institute. The small group of chassidim who settled in Baltimore introduced a European chasidishe flavor to the Baltimore Jewish community and enhanced Baltimore’s Yiddishkeit. The Rav instituted the baking of matzah on erev Pesach, with water drawn from a well. Seventy years after Rav Amrom instituted this practice, it still lives on as being the only erev Pesach matza baking in town. As Rebbetzin Malka Fayga Taub concludes, “My father-in-law‘s mesiras nefesh during the war was a promise to the Ribono shel Olam that, if he survives, this is going to be his goal. In each location he was in, he built a shul and a mikveh. That was his goal—tahara, kedusha and avodas hakodesh.” May Rav Amrom Taub’s neshama have an aliya and may his memory be an inspiration to all.
