Weekly Story: Rebuilding

Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon

Being that this Shabbos is Tes Adar Sheini, eighty-two years since the Frierdiker Rebbe first came to America to live and rebuild Judaism, I am posting the draft of a chapter from his upcoming biography on his activities to help rebuild the refugees in the DP camps and elsewhere after WWII. Therefore when we say the Rebbe it is referring to the Frierdiker Rebbe. Our Rebbe is referred as our Rebbe.

Being that it is a draft I left in CAPITAL letters points that I still have to verify. As always your feedback is very much appreciated.

Rebuilding[1]

Almost immediately after the war concluded[2] the Frierdiker Rebbe sent Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel to Europe. He was to see for himself what the religious and financial situation was in the surviving Jewish communities and DP camps, and develop a plan on how to help improve it. He was there[3] for four months, from Elul 5705 until Teves 5706. While there, he established the central committee to help Jews of Europe.

At the same time, the Rebbe requested Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin,[4] who by then had settled in Eretz Yisroel, to travel to Europe and help establish classes in the various DP camps. While he wasn’t able to travel, the Rebbe instructed him to ……

Knowing that it is hard or maybe impossible to learn properly without books, the Rebbe instructed Machne Yisroel to ship out various seforim to the numerous DP camps 

In Kislev of 5706, (while Rabbi Mindel was still in Europe), the Rebbe instructed Rabbis Hodakov, Zalmanov, Katz, Gurary, Chaskind and Ushpaal to come up with concrete ways to help the refugees. One of their resolutions that came to fruition was that Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch established a division to supply kosher Mezuzos, Tzitzis and Tefillin and other religious articles for the refugees.[5] 

They sent numerous packages of seforim and other religious articles to the DP camps in Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and elsewhere. One of the ways this was accomplished was by working in tandem with the Chaplains in the American army who were based in these camps and offering them assistance in providing the necessary religious articles. Knowing that these items would be available, many of the chaplains responded enthusiastically. Merkos then sent educational books for children including the Sifreinu[6] books that were published by Kehot: in addition to the siddurim, chumashim and even some Sifrei Torah. 

Seeing that Machne was willing to assist them encouraged many chaplains to not only make what they received available for the refugees, but they began establishing classes in Jewish studies for adults and children, knowing that if they need additional assistance it would be forthcoming.

A few months later, when our Rebbe went to Paris in Adar 5707 (1947) to pick up his mother, Rebbetzin Chana, and bring her to America, he saw (felt) that it would be more efficient to print the seforim in Poking than to ship them from America.[7] Obviously, this applied to printing siddurim being that there was a tremendous need for large quantities there. But in addition to that, he also instructed them to print the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, the Tanya, and other sifrei chassidus.[8] He appointed Reb Dovid Bravman[9] to head that undertaking.

Other organizations, Rabbonim, public figures, and concerned individuals heard of the Rebbe’s activities and dedication to helping/on behalf of the refugees. Subsequently, the Rebbe began receiving numerous letters asking for advice assistance, and monetary help for their efforts and activities on behalf of the refugees.

Being that helping the refugees was a priority of the Rebbe, and in order that each letter/person receives a prompt response, the Rebbe established a special department to assist them and he appointed Reb Shmuel Zalmanov to head it.

This effort was geared to provide assistance, not only while they were in the DP camps, but even after the individuals were able to obtain visas and settle in a new country, whether it be, in America or elsewhere. 

For some individuals, the Rebbe’s words of encouragement were sufficient; others needed advice and guidance, while some needed financial help/assistance. There were numerous individuals that the Rebbe would send a weekly or monthly stipend to help them pay for their expenses. 

One individual wrote a letter requesting assistance to purchase a shtreimel. He wrote that his entire family was destroyed and he lost all his money. He was somehow managing his daily day-to-day expenses, but he had no way of saving towards the purchase of a shtreimel.

Rabbi Zalmanov thought, that with so many individuals requesting money for Mezuzos and Tefillin, or simply for food in order that they don’t starve, helping an individual buy a shtreimel is a luxury that the fund cannot afford to provide for, as it was struggling to cover the tremendous expenses that are obligatory to live. However, one doesn’t decide on his own; everything is decided by the Rebbe, and he mentioned this request.

The Rebbe instructed him to fulfill this request. He explained: this Jew is obviously also going through financial difficulties and perhaps is also in need of assistance for food, yet his concern was, how can he maintain his custom of wearing a shtreimel. That concern should be validated and taken care of.

The desire and urgency to see how he can help the refugees was so great that although, he didn’t even have money to cover the ticket, the Rebbe sent Rabbi Jacobson in the summer of 5706 (1946), from New York just to assist the refugees in the DP camps and to relay pertinent information to the Lishka that the Rebbe had established in Paris, to help them obtain the entry visas, etc.to France or other countries. To accomplish this Rabbi Jacobson opened up a special office in Prague, Czechkolvakia, which was centrally located.[10]

In Kislev of 5707, the Rebbe established an office in Europe to assist the refugees and appointed Rabbi Binyomin Goredetsky, who was then in France, to head it. He instructed him to first visit the refugees in the DP camps and after seeing it by himself, to inform him of their situation. 

After receiving the reports, the Rebbe sent his son-in-law, the Rashag to Europe, on the sixth of Adar. His mission was to give over certain instructions as well as to find out additional details that the Rebbe needed to know about the situation.[11]  Additionally, he was to make sure that the information needed to apply for American Visas (especially for the students) were filled out properly. WHEN DID HE RETURN

The following year, in 5708 (1948) MONTH the Rebbe sent two American-born bochurim, Reb Menachem Mendel Baumgarten and Reb  Zalman Posner, to visit the Lubavitch community in France the DP Camps, and elsewhere. They were instructed to farbreng in every city/place they came to and to give over the Rebbe’s warm regards.

While no one can say for sure why the Rebbe sent them, it is believed that this was in order to uplift the spirits of the refugees. When they saw American born bochurim, who were learned and as chassidish as them, just that they wore American suits and not long jackets, this uplifted their spirits. The chassidim saw that America is not as treif as they thought, and they have nothing to fear of settling there. Even in America, where most of them were hoping to settle, one can raise chassidishe children.[12]

However, the Rebbe was not satisfied with just helping Anash (his own chassidim), he demanded that all Jews be helped. So when he heard that Anash in Poking created a yeshiva,[13] (as per his instructions to Rabbi Jacobson), while he was happy with that, he asked, how come only our children are enrolled and not children from other communities?[14] 

This letter arrived before Shavuos, so on Shavuos Reb Michoel Teitelbaum and Reb Yisroel Levin went throughout the camp and informed everyone that in the Lubavitch barrack there will be a memorial service, and hundreds of people from throughout the camp attended. Then Rabbi Avrohom Plotkin spoke about the importance of chinuch, and a few hundred additional students began participating, some for a few weeks, others for some months until they were going to move on.

This experience of learning under such prominent chassidim and participating in their farbrengens, convince some of the older students,[15] (especially those that were now on their own), to become Lubavitchers,[16] however, most of the students were with their parents and didn’t. Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience that many of them fondly recalled.

Additionally, one of the women wanted to open up classes for the girls as well. This was something of a phenomenon, as in Russia the chadorim were only for the boys and the leading chassidim didn’t encourage it, as they weren’t aware that the Rebbe was encouraging it. When our Rebbe was in France to bring his mother, he wrote to them, they should know the tremendous efforts the Rebbe is exerting in order to establish classes for the girls [in America and elsewhere]. Once they received this letter, all the daughters of Anash were enrolled in classes.

But it wasn’t only in Poking where they already had a Cheder for their own children where they taught others as well. Reb Yisroel Slavin (who had been a melamed for the Bucharin community, before escaping Russia) began to travel everyday day to the DP camp in Ponkarserne, a three-hour trip each way and opened up a Cheder to teach the Jewish children there, Aleph Beis, how to read a siddur and learn Chumash. He taught the boys in the mornings and the girls in the afternoon. Similarly, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Levin who was in the DP in Bergen Belsen, established a Talmud Torah there, and the response was so overwhelming that he had to make additional classes. 

Rabbi Lazer Silver arrived at the DP camps in Czechoslovakia as a chaplain of the American army and found out that hundreds of young Jewish boys were not circumcised. When he came to the camp in Poking he asked the mohelim to come with him for a few days to Czechoslovakia and do brissen. However, the mohelim were afraid that they won’t be able to return to Poking, as it is a different country and they don’t have the proper transit visas. Rabbi Silver informed the Rebbe of the problem and the Rebbe replied via a telegram that a mohel from Poking would go. Rabbi Silver returned to Poking in an army Jeep and showed the letter to the chassidim there. Rabbi Simon Jacobshvilli (Jacobson) immediately said he would go and after preforming numerous brissen returned to Poking.

Rabbi Yehoshua Moshe Aharonson who was originally the Rov of Sanik, Poland, became the chief rabbi of the DP camps in Austria. He wrote to the Rebbe, “I established in a DP camp a Shul and a yeshiva where there are around twenty students. However, we don’t have any seforim. We desperately need the entire Shulchan Aruch (code of Jewish law) Gemorahs, mezuzos, Talleisim, and Tzitzis. If we would also have seforim on Jewish thought or the Tanya, I would give a class in them as well. His request was promptly fulfilled.

While many other organizations also provided these services/items to refugees in the DP camps, there was a stark difference. In most of the forty-five DP camps that housed (almost exclusively) Jews, the camps were subdivided into sections; each section was for another group. For example, in Poking four adjacent barracks were designated for Lubavitchers, and other groups received adjacent barracks for their members.

So in general each group had its own organization that tried to supplement the support it was receiving from the UNRRA, the JDC, etc. however, the Rebbe wouldn’t consider such a plan. While he was focusing on helping and assisting his own chassidim, he was firm that the same assistance be given to all Jews, no matter their affiliation.

In fact, as will be discussed later on when it came to supplying kosher food, he succeeded in his demand that it to be available even for Jews that didn’t request it.

The Rabbonim from all the communities in the DP camps established a congress and seeing the Rebbe’s activities, appointed him and the Klausenberger Rebbe as honorary chairmen. MONTH/YEAR

Another aspect of the Rebbe’s activities was to supply them with kosher food, but that is a chapter in itself.

Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com

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[1] The bulk of information for this chapter was taken from the book Ha’Yetziah M’Russia by Rabbi Eliyahu Matusof.

[2] While Germany surrendered on May 8^th, 1945 the war with Japan continued until they surrendered on Sept. 2^nd. And Rabbi Mindel was sent immediately after that.

[3] He was based mainly in England.

[4] FIND THE LETTER

[5] Reb Meir Simcha Chazanov told me that he became Bar Mitzvah in a DP camp in Austria, and before his bar mitzvah he received a pair of tefillin from Merkos.

[6] Sifreinu was a book that was used to help teach reading Hebrew.

[7] Author’s note: I believe this decision was based on multiple reasons.

1. It would arrive their faster, as you don’t have to ship it across the Ocean
2. It was cheaper (perhaps it was subsidized by the agencies that ran the camps).
3. It gave the refugees a sense of accomplishment, as until then they were not working.

[8] Some of the seforim that were printed there were; ateres rosh, shaaarei orah, shaar hayichud, piskei dinim of the Tzemach Tzedek and others.

[9] Write something about him.

[10] Our Rebbe often noted that the Frierdiker Rebbe was constantly in debt. He always paid up, but incurred larger debts the following year.

[11] As mentioned in the previous chapter, he was also to see if there is a possibility for additional Jews to leave Russia, and how to free a few chassidim who were caught by the border during the Great Escape.

[12] In fact after they farbrengened in Paris, Reb Hillel Pewzner wrote to Reb Shlomo Matusof this thought,  His letter is printed in its entirety in Hayetzia M’Russia, pp. 55-56.

[13] The Yeshiva was established there on the 15^th of Elul, 5706 (1946). The head of the yeshiva was Reb Nissan Nemanov. In Austria, Anash were in three DP Camps and it was decided to establish one yeshiva for allthree in Holein. That yeshiva was under the guidance of Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman.

The enjoyment of being able to learn in the open and without fear was palpable, and was a beautiful sight to witness.  

In addition to establishing a yeshiva for the teenage boys, and chadorim for the younger boys, being that the fathers, in general, were not working, a mandatory daily learning schedule was also established for them.

However, in addition to classes on nigleh and Chassidus, there was a class in shechita. This served as a review for those who were already shochtim (ritual slaughters) to review the halachos and practice preparing the chalif (knife) as well as for those who were considering becoming a shochet.

As will be related later (in the book) this came into play the following year when the Rebbe sent a large contingent of shochtim and mashgichim (supervisors) to Ireland for a few months.(I was unable to ascertain if they also established classes in safrus (for those who wish to become a scribe and write mezuzos etc.) as well as in milah (circumcision).

[14] Similarly, two months later, on the 11^th of Cheshvan, the Rebbe wrote (Igros Kodesh vol. 9 p. 176) to Reb Yaakov Gripel, an activist who was trying to give a proper chinuch (education) to the young refugees, that if he needs educators he should ask the chassidim in Poking to help him, and if necessary, the Rebbe notes, he would write to the chassidim to help him in his endeavors. 

[15] Such as the brothers, Reb Yechezkel and Reb Yitzchok Shpringer.

[16] Additionally, I heard from others, that when their parents/grandparents were in the DP camps, in general the atmosphere was a somber one. But they saw leibitkeit by the Lubavitchers, and that brought their family to Lubavitch.