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SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 | The Jewish Home SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 | The Jewish Home
The Wandering
Jew
Yomim Noraim in Warsaw 2017 Part I By Hershel Lieber
The historic “Old Town” in Warsaw
A
lthough my first Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in Warsaw was in 1979, it wasn’t until 1987 that I became a steady baal tefilla for the Yomim Noraim at the Nozyk Synagogue. In fact, for the past twenty years, I missed being there only three times for different reasons. After my children got married or were studying in Israel, Pesi almost always accompanied me. Chavi, our youngest daughter, went with us to Poland in 1995, a year before getting married. Mechel, who was just under bar mitzvah, also joined us that year. Fast forward to Elul of 2017. Mechel, who was already married twelve years, 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 also think he was motivated by the fact that my grandson, Eli Klein, was planning to join me in Warsaw for Yom Kippur. Mechel’s wife, Leah, also persuaded him to make this trip, and she made all the arrangements to make it possible. Pesi and I were thrilled about the prospect of Mechel getting
to know firsthand about our annual experience of davening with the Polish Jewish kehillah. It would be an opportunity for him to get to meet our friends and mispallelim and understand why davening there is so meaningful to us. Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich was likewise encouraging, and he was also excited that both Mechel and Eli could contribute to the tefillos and more so to the entire atmosphere in the shul. Pesi and I arrived on Tuesday, September 19, a day before Rosh Hashana. We usually stay at the Radisson Hotel, a five-minute walk to the shul. This year, Rabbi Schudrich rented a small apartment for us about a ten-minute walk away from the shul. To be honest, the apartment was a far cry from our hotel accommodations, but it provided an extra room for the three days that Mechel would join us in Warsaw. Eli made a booking at a hotel on his own since he was only coming for two days. That very evening, we were invited for dinner to Mati and Margalit Lokietek, whom we know for many years. They have two married children, a
Preparing the tefillos with Oriel Zaretzky
daughter in Passaic and a son in Manchester. They also have a number of grandchildren from both of their children. Like in previous years, Mati requested that I bring them specific English seforim which they both read from cover to cover. The next day, erev Rosh Hashana, I spent time with the assistant Rabbi Uriel Zaretsky re-
