Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
this Tower class is brought to you by
torahanytime.com just a bit of a back
story to tonight we're never to back who
happens to be you heard his older
brother many of you may know from the
voice of dushu who used to record the
dish recordings that some of you may
have listened to phoned me a few weeks
ago and asked whether we would like to
host Robert Gladstone in Cape Town I was
initially very excited until I realized
that it was the same knot as the World
Cup final at which point I was a little
hesitant and I happen to have also been
away for the last three weeks doing
various things so I wasn't able to put
that much time into promoting this
evening but we decided that there was an
opportunity like this we weren't going
to pass it by and we knew that
capitanians had come to the force a big
skirt to all of you for being here this
evening and for participating in an
event that I think is important at the
time of year that we're in in the nine
days to reflect for a few moments on our
history as a Jewish people on the
challenges that we've faced and on the
fortitude that we have to move forward
and I think tonight's story is going to
be one story that really epitomizes the
story of the Jewish people just a little
bit of a pant for the organization
that's hosting tonight or a Citywide you
may or may not be familiar with you're
on various programs PBM for women which
is a great opportunity for women to
learn on a regular basis a number of the
teachers that you had this evening thank
you for joining us we'll be starting our
next term on the 31st of
July which isn't just uh about 200 weeks
times to look out for the wonderful
courses that you can attend people for
men is a men's learning program which
also beginning this week and some new
offerings look out for that as well we
run a the dealership program a daily
program we have an art color which will
be resuming her at 9 30 this evening and
various other things and one of the
things we try to do is find every
opportunity to bring guests speakers to
Cape Town and tonight is one of those
opportunities about lately as you can
see has come with a camera and
apparently wherever he goes he goes with
a camera
has become somewhat of an online
phenomenon one of the most popular
speakers on an incredible website called
touranytime.com and I encourage you to
go home and to look up to ouranytime.com
to find a speaker that speaks to you
because in the comfort of your home or
in the con way to work you have access
to some of the most dynamic relevant
speakers that speak to our generation
and is one of those speakers I
personally have used many of your
makurot many of your incredible sources
Robert Gladstone's got a very creative
Innovative way of bringing Torah to the
modern generation and making sure that
the camera enables every talk that he
gives to be accessible to even people
that weren't at their talk but obviously
there's nothing like being there
in person meeting the man himself
a whirlwind of a tour into Johannesburg
and he stepped off the plane this
afternoon caught his breath got a bit of
a glimpse of our city but her agletine
is nothing more beautiful in Cape Town
than the people that you don't have cats
on themselves we thank you for making
the efforts to join us this evening and
we look forward to hearing your story
have a Gladstone
foreign
[Applause]
for the warm introduction
I just would like to let you know that
originally the World Cup was scheduled
for 8 P.M this evening but because of
the lecture we actually rescheduled the
game to make it add earlier so that
everybody would be able to attend
um it wasn't easy but for a little Torah
anything could be accomplished
uh we want to thank the Torah
Torah Citywide program for hosting and
sponsoring tonight's event in
conjunction with our samayak and welcome
everyone thank you so much for coming we
just got off the plane they took us to
the top of Table Mountain where we
almost froze luckily we came off in time
to go to some restaurant where the food
came about three minutes ago and then
they said uh come to the class and speak
about the Holocaust so it's been it's
been someday but thank you so much for
coming out
I take you back about 70 years 1946.
it's the first Yom Kippur after the war
they had just finished reading the Torah
in a DP Camp called felderfink which was
a gathering of many of the broken shells
those who had survived the terrible
catastrophe and were groping to put the
shattered pieces of their lives back
together again
and they had just finished reading the
Torah on the holiest day of the year on
yomakipuram
and they had received the word that
General Eisenhower the supreme commander
of the Allied Forces and later the 34th
president of the United States was going
to be coming to visit this camp
a few days earlier they had word that
Eisenhower was coming
and they would have to appoint a
representative to speak to Eisenhower
and there would be a speech maybe a few
speeches
and the representative would have to
give over the message to sort of vent
the feelings and the storm inside these
Survivor Souls
and a big argument broke out who should
speak on behalf of these survivors
many in the camp many of the observant
Jews in the camp said there's only one
individual who could represent us
who knows our feeling who knows our
tradition and that is the closenberger
Reba
although he himself lost his wife and 11
children in the war he would go from one
broken soul to the next
breathing life into the Embers
revigorating their Spirit they said who
can better represent us who could feel
our pain better than the closenberger
Reba the father of all the orphans in
the camp
and then the more Progressive ones the
more enlightened ones the ones who so to
speak had forsaken Torah Mitzvah said
not him
we've forgotten about that type of
Judaism
we don't want to bring back a man of the
past he's an embarrassment to us
he's going to speak to the general we
may we want a man of the present we
don't want someone who we're ashamed of
we can't have this grand rabbi speak on
our behalf and a big argument arose and
they said fine you could have the grand
rabbi speak on three conditions number
one he cannot mention the name of God
number two we don't want to hear any
mussar we don't want to hear any
reprimanding we don't want to hear any
correction
and number three he has to speak very
briefly
because we're going to speak after him
we're going to have the final word
and so Eisenhower came and they set up a
stage and Eisenhower is taken up to the
top of the stage
and this old-fashioned Rabbi begins to
walk up to the stage
and as he's walking up to the podium he
grabs the talus and he wraps himself in
his Talus and he makes the blessing
blessed art thou the Lord
who Sanctified us with his Commandments
vitsivan when he commanded us
so he managed to get in the name of God
he then greeted The General
he thanked him he said General we will
forever be grateful to the part that you
have played
in saving the lives of The Last Remnant
of a people who were hounded who were
persecuted and innocent of any crime
to the United States of America we will
be forever grateful
and then he turns to these broken
survivors
and actually I have just received a
picture of this momentous occasion
where the closenberger Reva is greeting
Eisenhower
and in this picture
[Applause]
you see the closenberger rabbit wrapped
in his Talus addressing thousands of
survivors
immediately after the war
and he says to them my dear brothers and
sisters
we must never forget we are the people
of God
and if God has spared us and if God has
saved Our Lives then we have a purpose
in this world we have a mission in this
world
to sanctify the name of Hashem wherever
we may be and we have to realize God has
picked us selected us to be the torch
bearers of the tradition of the Jewish
people and as this Rabbi is speaking
he's literally pulling on the
heartstrings of these broken Jews Jews
began to cry they said they hadn't cried
in six years
the Wellsprings of Tears they said had
long dried up
and there were thousands of Jews crying
in the crowd rivers of Tears began to
flow in felda Fink 1946.
and general Eisenhower is sitting there
he can't believe it
he's visibly and profoundly moved
and the others who had prepared speeches
they said uh no no no no it's okay we
have nothing nothing left to say
and Eisenhower turns to the closenberger
Reba and he looks them in the eye and he
says holy rabbi
tell me what could I do for you
what can I do for your people
and the closenberger rabbit looks him in
the eye and he says general
today is Yom Kippur
in five days is sukis
we need download meaning we need the
four species we need alula of an S rank
Eisenhower says what's a little Vanessa
said you know
the tall palm branch and the
send the plane to Italy and get us the
four species
that day Eisenhower dispatched a plane
to Italy and procured for all the
survivors dalid meaning to shake five
days after the first Yom Kippur after
liberation
to give over a message to give over the
feelings of the Jewish people
the Triumph of our survival but the
agony of our historic suffering
to give it over to a man like Eisenhower
we need someone as we needed someone as
great as a closenberg rabba
how great do we need to be to give over
this message to our children and
grandchildren
the agony of Jewish survival
the glory of our history
let me tell you about a recent poll that
was taken in America a Gallup poll
American Jews were asked what do you
believe most defines the meaning of
being Jewish
and amazingly the answer that tapped the
list at 73 percent was most American
Jews think
that the definition of being a Jew is
remembering the Holocaust
which is a very heartening statistic
which means Americans use instinctively
recognize the importance of Holocaust
Memorial
but upon further analysis this is a very
depressing statistic because while 73 of
American Jews believe the definition of
being a Jewish Holocaust Memorial
only 19 percent of American Jews feel
that observing the law
is the definition of being Jewish
which puts into very sharp sharp Focus
that Holocaust Memorial is a very
misunderstood subject in Jewish thought
yes 73 of American Jews believe that
being Jewish is remembering the
Holocaust but 73 is almost the
intermarriage rate in the United States
of America today
and I want to tell you something the
Nazis were well aware of what was taking
place to American Jury
there was a Nazi who used to beat my
grandfather in the death camps and he
would say Rabbi why do you pray why do
you continue to hold on to your
tradition we will wipe out the Jewish
people
we will destroy the Jews of Europe
the Jews of Palestine the Arabs will
destroy the Jews of Palestine and my
grandfather overheard
Eichmann tell the Mufti of Jerusalem in
Auschwitz
the Jews in America
the Jews in America will take care of
themselves
unfortunately that was what they were
most correct about
so to deliver this message in the proper
way
what do we need to emphasize what do we
need to give over to the Next Generation
one needs to be very great in Toro
knowledge something that I am sorely
lacking of
but to borrow a famous analogy I stand
before you like a who stands on
the shoulders of a giant
so I'd like to share with you the
experiences and the perspectives
of a giant of spirit
Majestic personality a very great Sonic
I want to share with you some of the
experiences of my grandfather Hashem
should watch over him
may God watch over him for many long
years he is 102 years old
my grandfather has been a rabbi in
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in the United
States of America since 1951.
he was a survivor of all the infamous
death camps radham Auschwitz and in 1945
the Germans had to make a very important
decision they could either dedicate all
their resources at the war front to try
to win the war
or they could use all their abilities to
round up whatever Jews were left in the
camps and exterminate the rest of jewry
in Europe and they chose the latter
so they gathered all the Jews in the
various death camps my grandfather
included
and they packed them onto cattle cars
like animals without food or drink these
cattle cars were headed to the Tyrell
mountains where they would dig their own
Graves and then be shot
so I chanced upon a book
that describes what the conditions were
like on one of these cattle cars and
Incredibly I found the historic treasure
something that our family was not aware
of
I read to you a book from a book called
an artist brush with death
by a Survivor Morris wissigrad
and I read the following
there are more than a hundred men
stuffed into our car
it was so crowded that no one could sit
the doors were shut immediately after
the car was full and the train stood
there in the heat for three hours
finally the train began to move but then
it stopped again at gedansky Terminal
where it stood for an hour and a half
the heat was unbearable we started to
scream people had to take care of their
needs right on the train
but there was no room to sit
the Ukrainian guards were walking back
and forth they had water we said give us
water they said give us your valuables
we offer them our valuables they spilled
the water in our face
the stench became unbearable rights
Morris wizograd I did not react to
anything around me I lost all sense of
fear death was imminent
at about midnight
there was a rabbi on the car Rabbi
Mordecai gladstein Rabbi gladstein
called out Jews let us recite vidoy let
us recite the final prayer before death
somehow Rabbi glad scene and his brother
survived the war
a few years ago I had the opportunity to
visit my grandfather together with my
brother my brother was living in Israel
he came in with his kids
and I was there with my kids and it was
really the first opportunity that my
grandfather had to see all the
grandchildren and great-grandchildren
together and he was so overcome with
emotion that he had the following
flashback from about 70 years earlier
when he was an Auschwitz
he says he remembered that uh when he
first arrived in Auschwitz they They
Carried Away all the old people the old
people were being taken out to be gassed
first
and the old men were crying who's gonna
say God is for us who's gonna say God is
for us
my grandfather remembers thinking who's
gonna say kadish for you
who's going to say cottage for me I'm
not married yet I don't have children
who's gonna say kadish for me and my
grandfather accepted upon himself that
should he survive the death camps he
would for the rest of his life three
times a day say the memorial prayer the
kaddish for the survivors which he's
been doing for the last 75 years three
times a day
and now he sees children grandchildren
I want to read to you a firsthand
account of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
that my grandfather recorded in a book
called theological and halachic
Reflections on the Holocaust
he quotes the person in Lamentations
that we're going to read Saturday night
coming up on Tish above
I am the man that has seen the
Affliction of my people
I am the victim and I am the witness
I saw the war so ghetto with thousands
of skeletons extending their bony arms
as if begging for mercy and life
I saw the Warsaw Ghetto littered with
Corpses
faces distorted swollen
skulls crushed blood everywhere
the blood of our children the blood of
our brothers and sisters are fathers and
mothers
no imagination no matter how daring
could conceive of anything that we have
lived through
no language has ever been created to
describe the enormity of the Holocaust
and the slaughter of European jury
and what was the aftermath of the
uprising like
the hell of all Hells on that day we saw
the men women children being led into
the house of death I shed bitter tears
of despair
we suffered most when we looked at the
children accompanied by their mothers
or walking alone
and within a few moment moments their
lives were snuffed out
the yells of the women the Weeping of
the children the cries of despair
begging for mercy
they ring in my ears until this very day
we must God
let's continue what we'll we'll discuss
I shared with you some experiences
of my grandfather
I want to share with you now
the experiences of a historical
individual someone also very dear to me
she was the daughter of one of the great
Rob bunim one of the great rabbis of
pre-war Europe
the daughter of harab yudhole volman the
rav of sakhachov my grandmother
of blessed memory she passed away at the
beginning of this year
she published her memoirs in a book
entitled flares of memory
which was published by University of
Oxford press
so my grandmother grew up in the house
of the rabbi of sakhachov
and
with your permission I want to read to
you a few short stories
our home was open to everyone
in Europe Jews did not go to a secular
court of law they went to the rabbi so
people came to the rabbi with questions
what is kosher emotional problems
economic problems dream interpretation
you ever get any dream interpretation
and for a din Tyra what's a din Tyra
when the rabbis asked the halach
question he has to apply tamudic law in
order to interpret the law
my father listened carefully patiently
with an open and analytical mind
after which he consulted the talmud
opposite our home lived a Polish
attorney Mr tarnowsky
he was a well-known successful attorney
and he was very interested in my
father's legal work
he sometimes would attend the din Tyra
and my father would explain to him the
rationale behind his decisions
he admired the logic and the humanness
of the torah's teachings
my father considered him a friend
but in 1939 when the Nazis occupied
Poland everything changed one afternoon
Mr tarnovsky storms into the house
followed by an SS officer holding a bowl
of blood with the liver of a pig inside
the SS officer slams it down on the
table the blood spills all over the
white tablecloth
Mr tarnovsky asked my father Rabbi is
the pig's liver kosher or traif
Mr tarnowsky you know I can't answer a
question like that
you must and if you don't we'll be back
for you very soon
and they stormed out of the house
my father was very shaken he knew he had
to leave immediately
let's fast forward to 1942.
the war Still Ghetto
when my family was in the Warsaw Ghetto
in 1942 the Gestapo came took away my 15
year old brother we never saw him again
my father realized the end was near
he turned to me my grandmother writes
and she was together with her sister
tantarukala they were together in the
wars the ghetto
turns to his two little daughters they
were 12 years old
says my dear daughters the golden chain
of Judaism which has existed for
millennia
has to be continued you girls you could
do it
Our Father procured God for us
polish passports but how are we going to
escape
through these sewers was abhorrent
there's only one option at the moment of
The Changing of the Guard
they made a Mad Dash out of the gates an
alarm was sounded powerful lights made
us highly visible and easily targets the
bullets flew overhead
we ran blindly to the forest
only Hashem could guide us
for three years my grandmother
masqueraded as a Polish Christian
peasant
Xmas 1942.
the ear is festive I must not be an
outsider I am not Cena I am luchinka a
Polish Christian peasant I must do
whatever any other Polish Girl would do
it's not easy but Hashem will guide me
like all the other girls I dressed in my
best we're going to Midnight Mass
any difference we would be detected
immediately
the mass is over I passed the hurdle
satisfactorily thanks to Hashem
Xmas day is another stumbling block
we make groups we go from house to house
singing the carols
now the feast food is plentiful liquor
more so
and I drink and I'm forced to drink and
drink and drink I plead a headache I go
outside for some air and I wretch
I return to the party
why was I forced to drink liquor loosens
the tongue
and now the game begins believing me
drunk they question me
lucinka where were you born where was
your farm who's your pastor what church
did you attend
my answers satisfy them
I am safe for the time being
with the help of God
my grandmother found a farm to work on
in the home of Mrs Schultz
Mrs Schultz's husband was a high-ranking
Nazi commandant
who was first returning now after about
a year and a half
he was called the one eye monster
because he wore a black patch on one of
his eyes and he was a very cruel monster
and he finally returns after a year and
a half he's wearing his resplendent
uniform he's covered in medals
he's accompanied by his big German
Shepherd
and he walks into the home together with
his arm his wife arm in arm
and he takes one look at me
and I'm paralyzed he turns to his wife
who is this girl
she has a Jewish nose did you check her
papers
check again check again you know there
are a lot of false papers around
so no she's my best worker lucinka she's
a Polish worker make sure you check her
papers
one evening in pure exhaustion
my grandmother's lying in the field
after milking the cows and she collapses
and complete exhaustion
and she has a dream
and in Her Dream her Holy Father who was
killed in the Warsaw Ghetto comes to her
and says to her my entire attacked her
my dear daughter
the war is almost over
you're not luchinka you're not a Polish
peasant you're at Cena the daughter of
rabbinic royalty
until now maybe you were not able to
find kosher food you're not able to
observe the Shabbos and the yomptif you
are not able to keep the Mitzvahs but
soon the war will be over and it is your
responsibility to continue the golden
chain of Judaism
and it was the image of her Holy Father
that she carried with her for the rest
of the war and the rest of her life
can we offer reasons and explanations
for what happened in Europe
I'm not prepared to do that
but if you're searching for meaning what
do we take out of the Holocaust
what do we learn from it what do we give
over to our children
then I'd like to share with you a very
personal feeling that always
intensifies in my heart this time of the
year as Tish above is coming
let me share with you another story
about my grandfather
about when he was transported from radam
to Dhaka
Dhaka was the emek habakha the valley of
weeping of the Germans Angel of Death my
grandfather writes killings every day
total humiliation in the eyes of the
Germans
who derived their greatest pleasure from
making us suffer my grandfather was
together with his brother
a blessed memory our uncle uncle
and they were on the line to the
crematoria
and the heat in the crematoria it was so
intense that his brother turns to him
and he says my dear breather my dear
brother I'm gonna die even before I get
in please please give me a little water
I'm gonna choke to death inside there
are already tens of thousands convulsing
with the most terrible way
and my grandfather said no we can't
drink now it will delay our death it
will be much more painful
and with one foot in the house of death
one foot in the crematoria at the very
last moment a Heavenly Miracle occurred
an SS officer appears grabbed the Two of
Us by our hair yanked us out and said
you're capable of work get out of here
we don't even know where he came from
this Godly wonder will remain in our
Memories Forever
where was God during the Holocaust
it's hard to answer that question
but if you're searching for meaning
you know our sages teach us
that in the holiest spot on earth in the
basement in the holy of holies on top of
the our own on top of the Holy Ark there
were two cherubs
and when we were fulfilling the will of
God the two cherubs faced each other in
embrace
and when we were not fulfilling the word
of God they were back to back
and yet at the time of the destruction
of the temple when they looked in the
temple at a time when we were angering
God the two cherubs were embracing
which teaches us that even at a moment
of God's Fury
in certain respect in certain vein he is
revealed more than any other time
where was God in the Holocaust he was at
the door of the crematoria he yanked my
grandfather at
he hanged his brother out
he was at the gates of Warsaw when the
bullets Flew Over the heads of my
grandmother
and he saved her life
but I want to share with you a very
simple thought
that God did not just rescue my
grandfather from the crematoria
because had God not saved him
I wouldn't be here today
I wouldn't be
that means God saved my grandfather he
saved my father he saved me he saved my
children
I guess he wanted us
he must have wanted us
and he knows something friends if you're
in this room tonight
God wanted you to
if only you would know how God has been
looking out for you for thousands of
years
you know people say if only I would see
a miracle if I would see the splitting
of the sea then I would really believe
in God
you want to see a miracle
look at the face of another Jew in 2018
that's the greatest Miracle you will
ever see
3 300 years ago our ancestors were in
Egypt
eighty percent of the Jewish people
perished but your ancestors were saved
otherwise you wouldn't be here today
because God wanted you
destruction of the first temple the
death toll was enormous but God saved
your direct ancestors so you could be
here tonight
the destruction of the second temple the
death toll was staggering Josephus
writes the Romans killed 1.1 million
Jews and then they they hunted down
every last year they could find during
the Crusades tens of thousands of Jews
were murdered 1391 200 000 Jews 1492
tens of thousands were killed
kalmaninsky pogroms gas chamber
crematoria
but God's been looking after you for 3
300 years
for you to be here tonight
it's not statistically unlikely
it's not highly improbable
it's downright impossible
it's an open Miracle of the highest
proportions
one of the greatest rabbis of the 70 of
the 18th century
he writes as follows I'll read it to you
in Hebrew and I'll Translate
how can the heretic in God's Providence
not be utterly ashamed
by analyzing the situation of the Jew in
the world
we the exiled people the scattered sheep
commercials
after everything we have endured
foreign
I swear
keep his bunny
sailor then when I contemplate The
Wonder of Jewish existence
God lawyer is much greater to me because
then all the Miracles that God ever
performed in Egypt
If Only God would perform a miracle we
would believe in him
the greatest miracle in the history of
the world is that there are Jews today
the greatest miracle in the history of
the world God performed for us
because God wants us
he wants our prayer
he wants our learning of Torah he wants
our observance of midsize there God has
invested a lot in the Jew of 2018.
there is nothing Hashem has invested
more in
than a Jew today
Hashem saved you from Egypt from
destruction of the first temple
destruction of the second temple
Crusades pogroms Holocaust
so that we can have the opportunity to
learn his Torah today and observe his
misvise
one of the great rabbis today
is a very multi-dimensional individual
Rabbi Barrow line he's a rabbi he's a
historian he's a producer he's a writer
he's a journalist
and in 1946 he was 11 years old
he grew up in Chicago and his father
tells him Beryl
today's a great day
you know who's coming to Chicago today
the first Chief Rabbi of Palestine
Rabbi Isaac Herzog
he's coming and everyone's going to go
greet him all the distinguished rabbis
are gathering to greet him in the
Central shul and all the Yeshiva
students and all the school children
they're all going out to greet this
great rabbi
and Rabbi Herzog was a very aristocratic
personage
and he wore a shiny top hat and he held
a cane and he had a Tanakh in his other
hand
and he aligns from the plane and he's
accompanied by the entire Jewish
community of Chicago to the central
Shore
Rabbi Herzog speaks to the people for 45
minutes and when he's done he says and
now I would like to have a word
with the young boys
and he turns to these young boys
and he says boys
do you know where I just came from
I am now returning from a trip from Rome
I just had audience with the Pope
and I showed the pope a document with
the list of ten thousand names of Jewish
children who their parents delivered
these children into the hell into the
hands and the homes
of
citizens of Poland and Germany to save
the lives of these children during the
war because they didn't think they would
survive
but the parents survived we won our
children back I have the names and
identifying marks of all these children
give us our children back you can kidnap
our children
and the pope flatly refused
I will not even give back one child the
rule is once a child is baptized
we can never return him to a different
religion all these children were
baptized and the door was slammed shut
I don't know the Isaac lady Herzog
and I'm listening to the story and I
know this story
because my grandfather wrote in his
memoirs
then in 1946 in the DP camps of Herzog
visited the camp and of Herzog told my
grandfather personally
that the pope slammed the door on his
face
and this Rabbi Rabbi Herzog was so
overcome with emotion about the Lost
fate
faith faith of all these 10 000 boys
that he's standing at the podium and he
breaks down weeping bitterly says are
they wine I never was so frightened in
my life
and then the great Rabbi raises his head
his face was red like a lion
and he cries out to these young men
these ten thousand children are gone
forever
there's nothing we could do for them
but you children you boys you're still
here
you're still a member of our people
what will you do for the children of
Claus Israel what will you do for the
future of the Jewish people
if you're still here today
and God selected you and he wants you
what are you gonna do for the Jewish
people
and then we all lined up
to shake the hand of this great Rabbi
and he looked each one of us in the eye
and he said you heard what I said
you're still here
what will you do for the Jewish people
says Robbie wine
throughout the course of my life there
were times that I've been discouraged
and disheartened
but then I hear of herzog's cry ringing
in my ears what will you do for the
future of the Jewish people
and that continues to inspire and to
challenge me and to shape many of my
life's decisions
so my grandfather's is in this cattle
car where he's headed to the turtle
mountains but with the help of God the
Americans discovered the plan
and under the direction of Brigadier
General Henning London the U.S Air Force
bombs the railroad track they land the
SS officers realize what's happening and
the first thing they do is they take off
their uniforms and exchange it with the
uniforms of the Jewish inmates
but the Americans were not duped by the
scheme because the Nazis were fat pigs
and the Jewish survivors were walking
cadavers
and my grandfather had studied in
University before the war aside from
being a rabbi she was very well educated
and he was a student of many of the
pre-war Torah Giants
and the American General Henning London
handed my grandfather his pistol he said
rabbi
now's your chance to take revenge here's
my gun shoot the enemy
to which my grandfather responded
Revenge
I leave Revenge to the Almighty
it's been five years since I've had
access to my gamara to my talmud
I was in middle of learning track tape
now I'm reunited with my talmud that's
freedom I leave Revenge to the Almighty
upon liberation
my grandfather was appointed the head of
the jdc the Jewish
Department of the joint
The Joint The Joint distribution
Committee of the American Army
he was given a Jeep and an army uniform
and he acted as a liaison between the
American Army and the Polish survivors
when General Eisenhower visited fell to
think my grandfather was the translator
for Eisenhower to the survivors
and the translator of the closenberger
Reba to General Eisenhower
and when Eisenhower shipped those dollar
minimal of an asteroid into fell to
think those that mean him arrived at my
grandfather's desk
and what I'm telling you now is not
Legend
I'm very proud to show you
pictures
of my grandfather Distributing the
dollar minim in 1946 that arrived from
Italy
to polish survivors right after the war
and this is something we have to
consider very seriously
that if we're still around and we have
the opportunity
to build our Torah education and to
build the foundation of our families and
to strengthen our children
what an opportunity we have
it's not an accident it's not
coincidence it's not even statistically
possible
that means God has hand-picked us
cherry-picked us to be the torchbearers
of our great and glorious tradition and
to pass it on to the next generation
one last item
back to my grandmother's book
the name of this story is Under The
Canopy
are glowing are we really going to have
an honest to goodness wedding here in DP
camp in felda Fink we must life must
continue
we are told that a rabbi will come
officiate at the first wedding here
after the war
the wedding day arrives the canopy is up
the rabbi is waiting the ceremony is
about to begin and suddenly the bride
breaks down crying I want my mother I
want my mother I want my mother and then
all the women are screaming
we want our mother we want our mother
but the rabbi Rabbi Gladstone also a
survivor
he understands
he calms us down
he says today we make a new beginning
let us recite in unison
two months later Rabbi Glaston returns
to the camp
he's representing the American joint
distribution committee
he explained the purpose of this
delegation is to rebuild Jewish life to
the fullest so my grandfather built
Jewish schools and all the DP cams make
those for the women and all the DP cams
he shipped in sits this fill in
did the rabbi notice me
he asked me my name my name is
Romani said I remember a great Rabbi
Rabbi who the lay Bowman
sure
that was my father of blessed memory
a week later I was surprised that
someone in Munich wanted to speak to me
it was Rabbi gladstein he asked if we
could meet
I was excited and nervous
today was Sunday he would be coming on
Tuesday
what would we be talking about
did I dare think he was serious
the talmud teaches us
that it appears in the homage in the
prophets and in the scriptures
that only God
could unite a husband and wife
where was God in the Holocaust
he was uniting these two holy survivors
who with the help of Hashem were married
for over 70 years
foreign
vicious labor camp
the Nazi lager funeral was a Russia
Wicked Man by the name of ficus
my grandfather and his brother managed
to smuggle in appear of philan and
teradum
they would awaken every morning at the
crack of dawn to put on that film first
my grandfather and then his brother
if anyone would have seen them
especially Ficus they would have been
shot instantly
one particular morning my grandfather
awakens at dawn he puts on the tillen
shellyad he then puts on the talent he
hands them to his brother
his brother puts on this tillyad
he then puts on the fill in of the head
suddenly Ficus barges in he sees my
uncle wearing the villain he raises his
gun to shoot
but then he sees the whole eats fill in
perched on the head of this righteous
man he put the gun down and he ran out
shaking in Terror
this is an open statement of our talmud
that when the nations of the world see
that the name of God rests on your head
they will fear you this refers to the
filling of the head
you know I grew up with this story
and I didn't just hear the story from my
grandfather I heard it from his brother
I saw it in writing
to me it's villain were very important
but would I ever have dreamed
that I would have the Merit that in two
weeks time I would be making my first
bar mitzvah for my son
and giving him that fill in
and that at his placing of the tillen on
his head my grandfather will God willing
have the privilege to be there and watch
the continuation of the golden chain of
Judaism
so after the war ended
they asked my grandfather he was
interviewed by the secular media I know
Rabbi you saw The Butchery of your
brothers and sisters the destination of
European jewry did you at any moment in
your life in your experiences lose Faith
lose faith in God lose faith in the
Torah
and my grandfather responded did I lose
faith
of course I lost faith I lost faith in
mankind
I lost faith in humanity
How could a civilized society like
Germany one moment they're listening to
a symphony orchestra and the next moment
they're gassing thousands of Jews
How could a democratic country like the
United States of America
put their head in the sand and make
believe they didn't know what was
happening in Auschwitz while they bombed
right around Auschwitz and they could
have bound the concentration camp
how could Europe turn the other way
so did I lose Faith yes in man but never
for a moment did I lose faith in my God
a Jew never loses faith in God
every moment I was in Dachau I thought
mashiach is coming in a minute
my grandfather waits for the mashiach
like if you would order something on
Amazon and it's coming either today or
tomorrow and every time somebody knocks
on the door you think it's the delivery
that's how he waits for the mashiach not
as a concept as an idea as reality
all of us lucky yiddin all of us
fortunate Jews that are here today have
been handed the opportunity of a
lifetime to be the ambassador of the
creator of the world to give over the
teaching and the light of the most
important information ever imbued to
mankind the holy Torah
there's no end to how great we could
Elevate ourselves our families our
community and the entire Jewish people
friends we're almost there
the mashiach is almost here
don't lose faith
a Jew never loses faith
he's around the corner may we see him
very speedily in our times thank you so
much for listening Hashem should bless
all of you have a good evening thank you
so much
[Applause]
with us which is deeply touching and
just reminds us that these stories
place up to it and only if we can engage
in the sadness can we turn that into
happiness and into goodness and that is
our challenge as the Jewish people has
encouraged us to do not to pretend that
there isn't challenge out there or that
there isn't difficulty or Darkness but
ask ourselves what we can do to shed
light to bring a smile and to bring
goodness back into the world so I'll
certainly have been re-encouraged to go
out then to do my best to make a
difference and as Robert let him say
that as for each and every one of us to
do that with our own spouses with our
families with our friends we're all
placed in a unique position in our world
in the year 2018 because Hashem has
selected us as a regret into it to make
that difference
we can achieve what the say just tell us
that Economist only people that can
mourn over Jerusalem which which means
that can one over the connect between
herself
said that in that in that moment is an
Embrace and embrace is really a personal
embarrassment's rooting he's a
cheerleader on the side saying I believe
in you you can do it let me touch them
as we engage in the challenges we can go
out and make sure to to make a
difference so thank you very much for
the inspiration at this difficult time
there are some refreshments and just uh
to remind those that don't you know
tomorrow morning there is a knight's
minion for teenage boys
um you know he's welcome to join us to
be a breakfast and another talk that's
right I've seen it we have 720 upstairs
and then tomorrow morning around there a
couple times all the women are
encouraged to join for a schmrsa motion
program we know that at this time of
year we acknowledge that it's because of
dissent between Jews and that's often
manifest you know we talk about each
other the way we use our speech to cause
damage it's an important time to to
reconsider how we got our tongues and
and rather than you just guide them to
use that tongue for positivity so it's a
time of year to be customarily focus on
that we'll be having a international
program in 198 coffee time together with
a pack of tools to actually do something
positive without speech so anyone that
would like to join me just like to ask
you to please let my wife know
um so that we can make sure to go to you
please join us for some refreshments and
meditation we should all find our way
forward
[Music]
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very much
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and literally posting issue yeah so
after the plans
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oh my God
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stories
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thank you
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