From The Ashes - Short Version

[Music] Russ Shiva besides being one of the great idealists of the world rashash Shiva is a very serious man and he decided to take us to the biggest graveyard in the world Poland is the biggest graveyard in the world and he says to us uh let's get serious let's take you to a place where you can meet death directly in the most horrible horrific Unthinkable conditions and see what it's about and that will make you take your life more seriously and that will make you tell other people to take life seriously and when you do that that's how you're going to change people and change the world Weinberg brought us here in order to activate us he brought us here to think about it he brought us here to plan he brought us here to be more effective he brought us here to get us to become a little more real about the situation of the Jewish people he brought us here to draw parallels of a pre-war period when perhaps there was a lot to be done to save the Jews um comparing that to the current situation specifically with the assimilation of the Jews he brought us here to renew our resolv to save the Jewish people never in my life I since knew what was going on here I never thought that I'd ever visit this place this cursed Place why did we come here why did I bring and ask all the fellow to come all of our rabbis to come to wake us up the time is drawing closer we are losing more nishas every day then we're gaining we're we we're in trouble we kind of wait [Music] Hitler is the guy who writes it already in 1920 a Thousand-Year plan that will save the world kill the Jews to rid the world of the Jews and then finally to get rid of the Slavs and so the GTO themselves is a way of getting them together to get towards the final solution so if you left here and went to chinka your life expect expectancy was 4 and 1/2 hours that's it 4 and 1/2 hours sometimes to longer but 4 and 1/2 hours you were dead the Nazi numbers in their document that they wrote says all 59,000 Jews of wara need to go into the ghetto now look at the map you can see there are many many Ro roads around the ghetto itself we are over onethird of warsaw's population at the time of the ghetto and we are put into 2.8% of the city tried to picture oneir of the largest City's population moving through the streets in an endless stream pushing Wheeling dragging all their belongings from every part of the city to one small section crowding one another more and more as they converged no cars no horses no help of any sort were available to us by order the occupying authorities push guards were only about only our method of conveyance that we had and these were piled high with household goods furnish in much Amusement to the German oners who delighted in overturning the carts and seeing us scrambling for our effects children wandered lost and crying parents ran here and there seeking them their cries drowned out in the tremendous habab of half a million people uprooted people RAB W has always been teaching us that today's situation is not dissimilar to the years prior to the Holocaust when there was a ser serious threat facing the Jewish people the whole mission of the rosesa is to make people real that there's a spiritual Holocaust going on and the more that people can be real with that the more we can do to solve that issue to bring people to the Jewish people back home to be mad sham Shaya have a kesem I just walked out of this building here in now schtz and they said on a good day 24,000 people were murdered that was a day that was productive we're losing thousands of people every day to the Jewish people just disappearing all of our families are being affected when there were so many people who died in the concentration camps literally giving up their lives to be able to keep them MIT there were those who starve to death prematurely because they wouldn't non kosher there were those who suffered terrible beatings and died as a result of that because they ref refused to work at yum Kipper there are those in the camps who gave up their lives to light a Kaneka candle which is not even a a Torah Mitzvah so and when you look around and you see we have all this freedom to do this the tragedy is is is glaring the tragedy is is huge the the tragedy is magnified when one considers that spiritual life is eternal physical life is is a 780 year process it's the it's the short little chunk it's a little opportunity it's the pros door Haba and if somebody misses out on that he's missing out on eternity that's a spiritual Holocaust we fighting to save the Jewish people and we're going to win how I get involved you know I was a Yesa kid AA kid yeah I learned in Yesa all my life I learned inin my father died when I was 15 I learned in the yeah I I never would have seen any of these people yeah I wouldn't have known what was going on but when my father died when I was 15 the Summers I used to work so the one job that you can get money is you were a Salesman and sold peace Goods you went to department stores to manufacturers you sold you gave you your commission you can make money yeah so I went I went to in those days Philadelphia was the bundocks yeah but I went further I went to Toronto to Montreal that's really out I went to Chicago I went to to Miami you know I travel to Texas I remember I went to Texas yeah the Jewish people they were spread all over yeah the Jewish people gave me a warm welcome they like the idea of a Yeshiva B in making a living you know a young guy they they did everything to help me and we got acquainted and I turned to Judaism you know and they were all very proud of being Jewish very proud every one of them was proud of being Jewish yeah and they like the yes yeah so I would ask him what are you proud of you know I try to understand them what are you proud of what do you think a Jew is yeah and they were abysmally ignorant abysmally ignorant and it was seemed obvious to me I was a kid but it seemed obvious to me that they're not going to be able to teach their children what they br that they don't know what it is how are they going to teach their children they're not going to they're not going to be able to transfer it yeah so what do we do yeah as a kid you know you don't look at yourself as the responsible party at least I didn't yeah so I would talk to rashash Shiva I talk to the rabbis I talk to anybody would listen you know assimilation is coming we got to do something we got to do something we got to do something it wasn't until I was 30 years old yeah and nothing was getting done even though I had made efforts yeah I had made efforts to organize and but until I was 30 years old when I realize you know and [Music] says look around nobody's doing the job you make the effort that's what I decide I can't count on anybody else I have to try that's the Riva he believes in people he believes everybody he's created but Sim Hashem the almighty God is infinite he's real with everything rash and one of the realities is if you're created Bim as long as you understand that and you understand it's not you then there's nothing that stands in your way you can you can do anything so if every Jew walked around as a proud upright Jew understanding what our mission is in this world our mission as Jews as as part of clus with such a wonderful history and such a tremendous magnificent future if we would plug into that get rid of our egos and understand that there's nothing that I can do if it's me but there's everything I can do if it's Hashem so if you get you know step aside and allow yourself to be a CLE in hashem's hands as it were then you can do anything ra came to yudes he was the sandic by my son yudas bris it was the first time he came into a and he took a look at all the guys in as he said thaty guy's about Chua that guy's about Chua that guy's about Chua that guy's about Chua I said yeah yeah yeah so went over to him and asked him say a few words say a few words got up and and it's the first time I ever heard him say this and I know that he's repeated it a number of times but I don't think he ever said it before for but he was inspired and he said this vote he said thei says come back you've stumbled in the a so he asked what does one thing I have to do with another what does it have to do so he answered from the you can tell what you can do in MIT and he said my friends he said these words if one man can kill six million Jews one man can can save six million Jews do you hear that speaking in na Tor yeah [Music] I was still learning all the time working in the Summers you know and I was talking to people what do we do what do we do and I even tried to make an organization you know nothing I decided I'll go and ask the Kish the Kish was known as the godor as a real leader a real leader of the of the generation talk to bang thought you know he was he was the leader so I figured I'll go and ask him what do we do I'll tell him this is what's happening and what what do we do what should I do what what should anybody do what you you tell me yeah the only problem was that while I was on the ocean in in the Mediterranean I heard a newscast that died Friday night so here I am coming the whole point of my coming was I never dreamt that my commonality Soul was for anything else yeah once I got here here you know and I and the first night I slept in the M Shiva you know went to sleep to learn I got up in the morning it was so full of joy I can't you can't tell you so I decided I'm going to live in Elisa people didn't know about chinka that's what we asked how come those houses that were outside were here well they thought that look behind you we can't even see the bus anymore don't hear anything can't see see anything around us it's all these F trees which if they could speak would tell us so many Secrets these cares arrived to this area over here franek zabi writes for us as follows there were days where two or three trains stood at trinka station outside the station that we didn't get to stop at with their unfortunate cargo waiting their turn to be sent to the death camp the transport sometimes waited all night but transfer transfer to the camp was not carried out in the darkness the cruelty of the security guards the Germans the latvians and the ukrainians is difficult to describe sadism and torture seem to know no bounds I saw how Gods who were always drunk would open the freight car doors at night and demand money and valuables then they would close the doors and they would fire into the cars during the day the bodies remaining at the station were collect Ed loaded onto a car and sent to the death camp this task was attended to by a group of Jews from the camp under SS and Ukrainian supervision the train moved slowly through a strange and sad Countryside a moment later it came to a stop the door would open noisily The Emptiness and the sad and the sadness of the Sandy Countryside disappeared within seconds a strange fear seized us all get out get out came The Familiar sh outs people began to push we held one another's hand and jumped down into the sand everyone went towards the wall of crowded pine trees suddenly I had a thought these trees aren't growing They're All Dead they planned this the deception they planned it they worked at it to kill us they were United they followed orders they were disciplined how to fool us we believe them that nothing's going to happen we believe them nothing's going to happen now what are we going to do you my he's on ours side but what are we going to do well think about it we going to work together we're going to wake people up how do we wake them up what are we going to do what are what are we going to think of yeah you got 15 minutes we talk about a holocaust we don't feel it anybody who's there we kind of get it into the into our our emotions into anybody there knows what the heck they what they're planning for us yeah we think oh they hate us yeah what John once you go there you realize what's going on well I decided I got to fight this spiritual Holocaust there's nobody else is going to do it but I have to make the effort yeah so I knew that you're got to have an organization so I started five different organization with different principles yeah they all flopped they didn't go anywhere yeah that's when I realized that the problem was apathy nobody believed it could be done that was the real problem people cared much more than they do today but they didn't believe anything could be done so I figured the only ones that know it can be done and that feel the necessity of it being done and that will commit themselves to a longterm a life goal of getting it done which is the core of an organization are the people who become Bal Chua the guys who come from the secular world and realize what the heck they were going through it a holocaust and they see that by learning they can wake up they realize it can do it and they know how necessary it is so I figured they will be the core of an organization that will succeed the beginning of ashur there was one apartment we had the same place that we studied we ate we slept and that sense of very humble beginnings actually played a very important role in everyone's realization that they could build something from the ground up you know there were alog together five fellas came with me to start ASA Torah only five for a milion we had to go down to the CLE and every time you got to go to C and back to the C wasn't very good so we went for a body count anybody that we can drag in we wanted to get a minion but from the beginning I told them we're here to change the world yeah and they would look around and say who's he talking to so I would challenge him and say look you don't believe it can be done if you're willing to sign up for 5 years yeah I will take you a private and I'll show you it can be done yeah but if you if you decide it can be done you got to sign up there only one guy I remember said okay you show me I'll I'll sign up I was a rabbi shom Schwarz there was a sense that if you appreciated that the world was in trouble that there were things that you needed that you wanted to change in the world then it made sense to devote your life with those that saw it the same way to making a difference and here you had someone that was had wisdom had commitment and he said that there was a a way to make that difference that actually stemmed from our tradition as Jews from our heritage it wasn't a new idea that was the power of it it was an old idea but it was the freshness of its commitment the freshness of its touching you deeply on a personal level that this Heritage of a few thousand years old was being offered to you as a means of lifting the world of bringing the world back to back to its own purpose helping people to find themselves helping yourself to fulfill that desire to make a difference not simply because you're looking for meaning but because there actually is some ultimate meaning to existence that's been given to you as a as an offering as something that you can help create help bring closer and when it touched you when you felt that sense of of personal commitment to it and when you were given the opportunity to actually do something about it that combination was for those of us that felt it irresistible [Music] R Weinberg he understood that you know he's got this great model he's got this great idea he's going to create a shur he's going to create tremendous people he's going to send them out to doir of and it's working and it's fine and then he says oh it's wonderful only one problem we're losing the war great system and the guys are fabulous and they and they're becoming leaders in their communities and they got four continents and 26 cities and and each one of them has got success stories the only problem left is that we're losing you know other than that it was a great idea so he says I mean if we wait around and just rely on the RN Weinberg of the world or or the as Torah people of the world or the of the world or all the other great cure of organizations and partners in Torah and everything we just rely on them it'll just be nice ink you know couple of nice articles nice uh memory few neous here and there each one's important don't get me wrong right but uh once you see that the war is going to be long long long over before we can even fight it so he says we got to enlist so then he brings it to the people like we're doing now and says let's go [Music] met an Israeli traveler a 22-year-old kid that was traveling through and he told one of the rabbis on the trip that he was studying World War II not from a Jewish perspective but from its impact on European Society he was alienated from Judaism completely yeah and from the Jewish people he was going out with a non Jew and he was planning to marry her and he was traveling it had nothing to do with Jews he didn't join any Jewish group he just something to see there were other things to see in Europe he went with us from Lublin to to midic and at the the end of midic when when Rabbi Solomon told the story about his father who was a holocaust Survivor and we were there by the ashes and he sang you know to watch him completely fall apart completely fall apart um also dramatized and and brought home you know the the enormity of the Holocaust and what had happened there in a way that you really you really felt [Applause] it he didn't know what he was crying about but that that realization dawned on him his soul was awakened yeah he know he was on the wrong path in 1942 the world knew about this place they've got pictures about this place from 1942 there's a man called Yan Ki who fled from Poland who told the world about what was going on and that was in 1942 FDR Roosevelt who decided not to allow the Jews who were fleeing to come into America at the time and other people like him and the Evan conference where Canada is quoted as saying none is too many and Australia quoted us saying we do not have a refugee problem and we're certainly not desirous of having one and the British who said we're not going to accept not one more Jew the world was silent that's all they did they weren't responsible that's all they did I know that if I was there living at that time I would want to be able to tell my grandchildren and my children that I tried my best to make a difference today when the cries of pain are more subtle I say to myself again I want to be able to tell my children and my grandchildren I was there I saw it happening and I took some action the only reason I started my first Yeshiva or my first organization and all the subsequent was because I believed one thing that if I come to a human father and I say your son is drowning I need your rope would you please give me your rope the guy's going to give me his rope yeah is that right thank going to come to the almighty and say Almighty I need you to help me I want to save your children do you get that that's the only reason I ever started I didn't know what to do how do you make money how do you raise money I me I never ask for money I figured theight will help me I didn't know how to make an organization try it the almighty has to help he's got to help me I'm going for his children he's got to help us we're going for his children ultimately Asia Tor and Rabbi Weinberg are not about Asia Tor and Rabbi Weinberg the issue is the Jewish people the issue is assimilation and the issue is bringing back CLA looking back how can we thank the almighty for all these wonderful Nas and for all of the K I mean we get some some rewards for all of the K of being done all over the world it's amazing amazing the man has showered us with blessings yeah but we're in trouble we haven't even begun we haven't even begun if God forbid they were killing 100,000 Jews in the United States every year everybody would know instantly every Jew would know instantly even secular Jews would know instantly what we got to do we got to get an army we got to get a Defense Force we got to get weapons we got to figure out where the enemy is we got to figure out how to count to them we know it immediately because blood we religious Jews we know this is worse that there's no retreat we got to win [Music] a [Music] a [Music]