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AUGUST 5, 2021 | The Jewish Home AUGUST 5, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The Wandering
Jew
Lodz By Hershel Lieber
With the Mitelman family
W
ho did not hear of Lodz? I mean, who among European Jews did not know about the city with the second-largest Jewish community in the continent? Over a quarter of a million Jews populated Poland’s second largest city on the eve of World War II. Jews from every stripe and shape. From the completely assimilated to the Yiddishist, from the neo-Orthodox to the tens of thousands Gerrer and Aleksander Chassidim. The political spectrum was equally diverse, ranging from those identifying with the Polish national parties to the ultra-Orthodox Agudas Yisroel and every movement in between, including socialists, Communists, Bundists, and Zionists. Economically, Jews were either laborers or peddlers but there was a class of Jews that were multi-millionaire tycoons who brought manufacturing to Poland, especially in the textile trade. There is no way that I can even begin to tackle the complex and varied history of this city and its significant Jew-
Pesi with Alex Hershkowitz at the cemetery in Lodz
ish community. I urge my readers to research the wealth of reading material that is available on this subject. I visited Lodz the first time in 1979 and connected with the Mitelman family. The family was trying to leave Poland and apply for asylum in
low asylum but which would give the family a legal doorway to enter and stay in the States. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, they decided to stay on in Poland. I visited Lodz a few more times in the ‘80s and ‘90s by myself on
We stood at the train station and peered into the empty cattle cars that carried away our people to their certain torture and death
the United States. Accompanied by Rabbi Chaskel Besser, z”l, I went to Washington to meet some congressmen who would advocate on their behalf. With assistance of Nat Lewin, we were able to get them Humanitarian Parole visas, which was a step be-
different missions on behalf of Polish Jews. One journey, though, was sort of a business trip, when I was looking into importing merchandise from the Lodz factories to the Unites States. My quest was to explore what type of goods could turn a profit for
me. Suffice it to say, I returned home empty-handed, and my business dreams ended forever. In October of 2005, while in Warsaw, where I was the shaliach tzibbur for the Yomim Noroim, I made a day trip with Pesi to this important city. Simcha Keller, who was at the time the leader of the Jewish community and functioned as the rabbi of the synagogue, picked us at the train station and took us to the Kehilla complex. This beautiful campus consisted of a shul, a mikveh, a hotel and restaurant, and a café, all within a landscaped garden. This property belonged to the Jewish community before the war, and Simcha was instrumental in having it returned and renovated for the existing Jewish population. While we were there, we met Yankel Mitelman, his daughter Anya, and her husband. Simcha also hooked us up with Alex Hershkowitz, whose grandfather Yankele was a famous Yiddish troubadour. Alex gave us a three-hour guided tour
