9 minute read
My Israel Home
With kindergarten children in Odessa With Rabbi Shlomo Baksht
I was up at 6 AM on Thursday, May 26, and left from Malaga, Spain, with a direct flight to Kiev. Since I had a few hours to spare, I took a taxi into the city and went to the beautiful Brodsky Synagogue which I had never seen before. I met Rabbi Reuven Azman, the chief Chabad rabbi of Ukraine, and we had a short conversation in his office at the shul. I also went to eat at the King David Restaurant, which is located in the same building.
I then rushed back to board the small Soviet-era dilapidated airplane and flew into Odessa airport. Rabbi Korodovsky picked me up and took me to the cozy Hotel Mozart. After unpacking and finally catching my breath, I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.
Friday was a mostly hectic day. Rabbi Baksht assigned two young men, Motty and Shmulik, to take me around and show me all the institutions that are part of his empire. We began our itinerary by going to daven at the beautiful Choral Shul that was refurbished by him. There, I met Nachman, who is the father of Leibel Simkhovich, who once learned in the Yeshiva of Kishinev and eventually married Leah, one of our students. Nachman does a lot of business in Odessa and comes to the city a number of times during the year.
From there, we went to see the boys’ high school, where I ate breakfast, followed by a visit to the girls’ high school. Then we went to the kindergarten, where I joined in a Hadlakah in honor of Lag B’Omer. Later on, they took me to the grade school, where boys and girls are together in the classrooms. Our next stop was the girls’ dormitory. All of these schools were very impressive, and I was hoping that our Kishinev schools could be taken over by the efficient people who were running these Odessa institutions. theless, I am glad to have seen this major port city which boasts the fifth largest population in Ukraine.
I rushed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbos and still managed to stop at the mikvah. Rav Shlomo
A trip to this major city would not be complete without a stop at the Black Sea. Although this city is renowned as a vacation destination for Russian and Ukrainian tourists, the area where we walked around was quite decrepit looking. Neverpicked me up, and we drove to shul to daven Mincha and Kabbalas Shabbos. I ate the seudah at the home of the Kruskal family and was joined by Rabbi Baksht and Nachman Simkhovich and his wife. The food was delicious, the singing delightful, the divrei Torah insightful, and the company charming. The babel of languages included English, Hebrew, Russian and Yiddish, but we truly understood what we had in common. We were all part of the revival of Jewish life in the former Soviet Union.
Rav Shlomo picked me up from the hotel Shabbos morning for the fifteen-minute walk to shul. There were many people there including boys from the boys’ dormitory. The davening was nice, and as we exited the shul, the street became full of mispallelim – a sight that was rare in the former Soviet Union.
I ate again with the Kruskal family, and our seudah took a long time, as Refael shared with me a lot of information about Jewish life in Odessa. After a mini nap in the hotel, Motti picked me up, and we went to the toddlers’ dormitory which serves abandoned or neglected Jewish chil-
With Nachman Simkhovich at Odessa’s Choral Synagogue
dren. The children were very friendly, showing me their books and their art and craft projects. I did not understand what they were saying, but somehow, they didn’t realize it. After Mincha, shalosh seudos, Maariv and havdalah, I was driven back to my hotel. After a small melava malka snack, I wearily went to bed.
On Sunday, I got up at 5 AM, davened in my room and packed. Rabbi
A classroom in action at the grade school
Baksht and Rabbi Kruskal picked me up, and we drove together for a bit over three hours to Kishinev. There, I showed them our yeshiva building and the dormitory. I also took them to our girls’ school and dormitory as well. They were impressed with everything they saw but were not convinced that our problems could be solved by them taking over our institutions. They needed some time to think it over, and when they left at 3 PM, they promised to get back to me very soon. I spent the rest of the day, as well as Monday, in Kishinev. There were many issues that I had to address, and I could not leave immediately.
Within a few days I heard from Rabbi Baksht, who informed me that they were willing to take over the yeshiva for a one-year trial. They would staff the schools and run the entire project. They would also finance most of the cost, but we would still carry the responsibility to provide some of the funding. I do not remember the percentage that we still had to obligate ourselves for.
They were true to their word and managed the yeshiva for the 2005/2006 school year but decided not to continue afterwards. In a future article, I hope to write about the final years of the Yeshiva of Kishinev, and why we eventually closed it.
At the girls’ school in Kishinev L-R: Rabbi Shlomo Baksht, me, Rabbi Shmuel Koren from Kishinev, Rabbi Refael Kruskal
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 opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
By Gedaliah Borvick
Refugees on the St. Louis being denied entry to Havana, Cuba, on June 1, 1939 Buchenwald survivors aboard an Aliyah Bet ship (WZO)
In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls out on January 27, let’s study the history of the Aliyah Bet, the code name for the illegal operation of refugee ships before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Throughout the dark period enshrouding the Holocaust, refugee ships were used to help Jews escape the Nazis. This operation continued after the war, as ships transported Holocaust survivors to British Mandate Palestine in violation of the infamous White Paper, which Britain had imposed in 1939 to impede Jewish immigration.
Like most important episodes leading up to the country’s establishment, streets in Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Ashkelon, Netanya, Dimona, Lod, Ramla, and Zichron Yaakov were named in honor of the most famous ship, the Exodus 1947. Likewise, streets were named after other refugee ships, such as Pancho Street in Netanya, and streets across the country were named Aliyah Bet.
Over 60,000 illegal immigrants were snuck into Palestine on refugee ships, but many of the rescue efforts were unsuccessful. Let’s focus on three examples, which reflect activities prior to, during, and following World War II.
The St. Louis
In May 1939, 937 Jewish refugees left Hamburg, Germany, en route to Cuba. All of the passengers had landing certificates granting them entry into the country, but when the St. Louis arrived in Havana, Cuba’s president refused to honor the documents.
After leaving Havana, the ship sailed so close to the Florida coast that the passengers could see the lights of Miami. The United States, and then Canada, turned down the captain’s many pleas for humanitarian assistance and prohibited the ship from docking. The St. Louis returned to western Europe, and within a few months, the Germans overran western Europe. Over 250 of the passengers were killed by the Nazi death machine.
The Struma
In December 1941, 767 Jews boarded the Struma in Romania, with plans to travel to Turkey, apply for visas to Palestine, and then continue to Palestine. When the Struma arrived in Istanbul, the passengers were informed that they would neither receive visas to enter Palestine nor be permitted to enter Turkey.
The unsafe and overcrowded ship was confined to Istanbul’s harbor for over two months, as the British would not consent to the Struma’s continued journey to Palestine. On February 23, 1942, the Turkish police towed the Struma out to sea and abandoned it. The very next day, it sank and all but one of the passengers were killed.
The Exodus 1947
The Exodus 1947 is the most famous of all refugee ships, thanks in part to Leon Uris’ bestselling historical novel, which later became a hit movie.
In July 1947, 4,500 Holocaust survivors from displaced persons camps boarded the ship in France and attempted to sail to Palestine. British war ships intercepted the vessel, and a battle ensued between naval forces and the ship’s passengers. A crew member and two passengers were killed, and dozens more suffered injuries.
Attempting to discourage similar future illegal activity, British forces transferred the passengers onto three navy transports, which returned to Europe. When the ships landed in France, the passengers refused to disembark, and the French authorities similarly refused to remove the refugees. Realizing their public relations gaffe, British authorities decided to wait out the passengers, whom they hoped would eventually voluntarily leave the ship. The passengers responded by declaring a hunger strike, which lasted 24 days and made front page headlines worldwide. Mounting public protests across the globe compelled British authorities to find a solution. Exacerbating their blunders, the British government transported the refugees to Hamburg, where they were cruelly detained in British camps, causing international outrage.
This unfortunate incident had a silver lining, as it played a significant role in swaying global policymakers to adopt the UN Partition Plan a few months later on November 29, 1947, which led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
