12 minute read
The Wandering Jew
The Wandering Jew Yomim Noraim in Warsaw 2017
Part II
By Hershel Lieber
Mechel at the kever our great-great-grandmother Malka Pitzeles The plaque for those who perished in our family at the bais olam in Bochnia Leaving the ohel of the Rebbe Reb Meilech
Our train arrived in Krakow at 2 p.m.on Wednesday, September 27. Rosh Hashana at the Nozyk Shul in Warsaw was, baruch Hashem, very nice. I davened well, and the kehilla enthusiastically participated in the “rena and tefilla.” The seudos that we ate alone in our apartment and those that we ate together with the community were enjoyable. Our visits to many of our friends in Warsaw made our experience all the more pleasurable. But the best was still to come.
Our son, Mechel, had expressed a burning desire to spend Yom Kippur with us and to hear me davening on this awesome day, something that he had not experienced in ages. I think he was also motivated by the fact that my grandson, Eli Klein, was planning to join me in Warsaw for Yom Kippur. Pesi and I were thrilled about the prospect of Mechel and Eli being able to appreciate our annual experience of davening with the Polish Jewish kehillah. Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich was likewise encouraging and was excited that both Mechel and Eli would contribute to the davening and to the entire atmosphere at the shul.
Mechel made arrangements to fly into Krakow and meet us that afternoon. He would join us traveling through Galicia, with stops in Bochnia, Lancut and Lezajsk, as we make our way back to Warsaw for Yom Kippur. On Friday morning, erev Yom Kippur, Eli would arrive, and we
The magnificent shul of Lancut
would all be together for Yom Kippur From the train station, we took a taxi to The Klezmer Hois, a small hotel in the former Jewish district of Kazimierz. This boutique hotel celebrates the Yiddish culture that existed in prewar Krakow. They exhibit posters, photos, paintings, and artifacts, mostly in Yiddish, on every
facet of Jewish religious and secular culture. I was there a few years earlier where I sang at a concert for the elderly members of the small Jewish community of Krakow.
We checked in, unpacked, and immediately got a call from Mechel that he had arrived and was in a taxi heading to the hotel. We went down to greet him just as he was arriving. We embraced and kissed, and our excitement was overwhelming. As we were heading back to our hotel, I heard a voice behind me calling, “Excuse me, excuse me.” We turned around and were facing a young woman with a large hat covering much of her face who continued her dialogue with “excuse me, what time is it?” She spoke with an unfamiliar accent which I thought was Hebrew. As I was giving her the time of the day, she removed her hat and quizzically added, “Abba, don’t you recognize me?!” It took me another couple of seconds to realize that this unknown woman was none other than our daughter Chavi!
Pesi and I were stunned and speechless. It took a few more minutes until all of this was absorbed by us. Yes, Chavi, too, joined Mechel in coming to spend this Yom Kippur with us in Poland. She also longed to be with us and to experience the next
few days including Yom Kippur in our company.
All four of us went up to our room and prepared a small lunch. There were not many hours left to the day, so we rushed downstairs to see what we could still accomplish until nightfall. I am quite familiar with the Jewish sights of Krakow and know my way around Kazimierz. Our itinerary began at the Remu Shul and the surrounding bais hachaim. There we said Tehillim and placed kvitlech by the kevorim of the Remu, the Tosfos Yom Tov, the Bach, the Rebbe Rav Heschel, the Megaleh Amukos, and by my great-great-grandmother, Malka Pitzeles, who was buried in that cemetery.
Then we went to the Wisla River to say Tashlich. We continued our tour by visiting the Stare, the Izaak, and the Kupa synagogues with a final stop at the Temple. We passed by the prewar homes of my father, mother,
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e powerful words of Tehillim did their work quickly. Not long after, the parents received a message from a well-known yeshivah that their bachurim would be accepted for the upcoming winter zman.
e mother called the Tehillim Kollel office again with one more request, “During these yemei harachamim, beg with your Tehillim that my precious children should find their place in their new yeshivah, that everything should work out the best possible and that we should constantly see Yiddish nachas from them…”
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Mechel at the kever of the Rebbe Reb Meilech Davening at the kever of the Tosfos Yom Tov At the kever of the Remu
great-grandfather and great-greatgrandmother. We then rushed back to the Izaak shul, which had a pizza and falafel shop in the rear and ate a quick supper.
We davened Mincha-Maariv at the shul with Rabbi Eliezer Gurary, the Chabad shliach whose activities are centered there. The minyan included Chief Galician Rabbi Chaim Baruch Gluck, Rabbi Avi Baumol of the JCC, Kuba Kowalik, Mordechai Tomala, Yakov Gluck and Mechel Mandel, people whom I knew from my previous trips. We topped off the evening by going to the Rynek Glowny (Main Square) and the colorful souvenir shops at the 13th century Sukiennice, where we bought a number of gifts to bring home. It was a long day indeed, but one that will remain in our memories forever.
The next morning after davening Shacharis at the Izaak Shul, we headed to the Miodowa bais hachyim where we said Tehillim by the kevorim of the Maor V’Shomesh, his
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ר''גה םשב שדוק תרדה רפס[ ל''צז טלא באז רזעילא םהרבא ]ףראדסרעבוק ק''דבא
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son Rav Kalman, Rav Shimon Sofer, my great-grandmother Miriam Lieber and my great-aunt Reizel Berger, who was killed in a pogrom that took place in Krakow right after the war.
We returned to our hotel to check out and took our designated driver and traveled for about an hour to Bochnia.
My parents spent time in the Bochnia Ghetto during the war, where my father’s mother and two of his sisters and their children were killed during a Nazi “Aktzia.” My parents managed to bury them all in a mass grave at the Jewish bais olam. Miraculously, my parents were allowed to leave the Ghetto by showing proof that they were born in Czechoslovakia, which was true. Their birth certificates were used as prototypes to forge other documents on behalf of my mother’s parents and for members of the Bobover Rebbe’s family, which allowed them all to get out of the Ghetto. Being outside the Ghetto they managed to smuggle themselves into Slovakia and eventually into Hungary. Unfortunately, my mother’s parents were caught hiding under a false bottom of a coal truck and were killed on the spot. Their bodies were also brought to the bais olam and are buried there. About thirty-five years ago, I put up a plaque commemorating the names of our family that were resting there. I did everything with the guidance of the Bobover Rebbe, Rav Shloma, zt”l. While driving to Bochnia, I retold the entire story in great detail to Chavi and Mechel. It is a saga that my parents would retell year after year during the Seder.
When we arrived, we went over to the area where my plaque was affixed on a mass grave memorial, which was very likely the place where my parents buried their family members. We said Tehillim and I sang the El Moleh. As tears streamed from our eyes, we recalled the tragedies that took place almost eighty years before, at that very place.
We continued on to Lancut where we said more Tehillim in the Ohel of the Ropshitzer Rebbe. We also visited the magnificently decorated synagogue there. I told my children the story of how I took part in the restoration of the two dozen wall frescos consisting of Tehillim and tefillos.
Our next stop was Lezajsk and the kever of the Rebbe Reb Meilech. When we arrived, the bais olam was locked. There was an Israeli cell number on the gate, but no one answered when I called. We went into Hachnosas Orchim building, which was open but deserted. We were nearly ready to leave without entering the Ohel when I got a call from Israel from the person in charge. He immediately made a call to a local Polish man who came running to open up the gate and Ohel. We entered with reverence, lit candles, recited Tehillim, read aloud the famous tefillah that the Rebbe wrote and placed our kvitlech on his kever. It was already late afternoon and we still had about a four-hour drive to Warsaw.
We arrived at 10 o’clock in the evening to our apartment ecstatic, with a sense of fulfillment that our mission was accomplished.
The next day, erev Yom Kippur, Eli arrived. We decided that for the next two nights we all would stay at the Radisson Hotel since we needed a more comfortable place to stay for Yom Kippur. The only thing we all did that day was a short visit to the extraordinary Polin Museum. We returned and rushed to shower and dress for yom tov. While the women
With Rabbi Guary, Mechel, Mordechai Tomala, and Kuba Kowalski Rabbi Schudrich, Pesi and Chavi breaking their fast Motzei Yom Kippur with Eli and Mechel
were getting ready, Mechel, Eli and I went to the mikvah and davened Mincha at the shul. We then went together to eat our seudah at the Community House. After returning to the hotel to pick up all our Yom Kippur paraphernalia, we headed to the Nozyk Synagogue.
The shul was overflowing with people that night. Kol Nidre and Maariv, which I davened, were beautiful and meaningful to all. Mechel and Eli harmonized and sang with gusto, which inspired the congregants and greatly enhanced the level of davening.
After davening, we sat and talked awhile in the hotel lobby before heading to our dark rooms to sleep.
On Yom Kippur day, there were less people in shul, but with the help of Mechel and Eli the tefillos were rousing and extra special. Rabbi Schudrich spoke movingly before the solemn Yizkor prayers. Eli davened Mincha, which was very much appreciated. After blowing the shofar and Rabbi Schudrich’s joyous Havdalah ceremony, spontaneous dancing broke out to the words of “L’shana habah b‘Yerushalayim.” Everyone went over to Kosher Delight restaurant where a full dinner was served to all. Pesi and I were presented an award as “Honorary Lifetime Members” of the Warsaw community, and I thanked the kehillah for giving us the opportunity to serve them for so many years. Having Chavi, Mechel and Eli there was really a source of pride for us as we were able to introduce them to our friends. They, in turn, really began to understand our attachment to this community and our desire to continue to dedicate our time and energy on behalf of Polish Jews.
Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips
to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their
paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting
places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportu-
nities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.
