Journey To Capetown, South Africa: The Miraculous Story Of My Grandparents

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] so everything is cool thank you very much thank you um surface okay um [Music] thank you and literally posting issue yeah so after the plans [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] oh my God [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] um stories is yeah [Music] foreign [Music] thank you today you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com