|
|
| |||
|
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
When this article was published in the Hebrew paper about
two months ago (in the issue of Acharei Mos-Kedoshim)
it elicited a very large the largest reader response, since
it deals with one of the lingering sore issues in Klal
Yisroel: cooperation with the non-religious when life and
death issues are at stake. This is certainly not the last
word, but these are important documents in what is an ongoing
discussion.
Quite frequently, questions sprout up on the way the chareidi
Jews, led by the gedolim of the generation, relate to
the devastating period of the Nazi destruction.
Recently, the Holocaust was discussed from a variety of
angles: There were moving stories of gentiles who saved Jews;
yet another survivor who opened his blocked heart and related
the events of those harrowing times; and, most especially,
report after report about the annual marches of Israeli
students to the concentration camps, and the ceremonies held
on the sites.
But there was one subject which was not in the general
media's agenda, nor will it ever be: The intent of the then
Zionist leaders (including members of the Mizrachi sector who
were fully involved in the Action Committee set up by the
Jewish Agency) to take the slightest action to save the Jews
of Europe. As HaRav Zalman Sorotzkin, the Lutzker Rov, a
member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah and later head of the
Vaad Hayeshivos, stated at a meeting of the Agudas Yisroel
Executive Committee on Tu BeShevat, 5703 (Thursday, January
21, 1943):
"The Agency has no interest in anything except Palestine, and
we have to consider whether, indeed, the time has not come to
publicly condemn them and unmask their true colors."
"Politics Have to be Put Aside"
The two books written by Rabbi Tzvi Weinman, MiKattowitz
ad 5 Iyar (From Kattowitz until the Fifth of Iyar)
and VeDa Ma Shetoshiv (Know How to Answer),
contain astonishing revelations in various spheres, quite a
few concerning the Holocaust era. (VeDa Ma Shetoshiv
is only available directly from the author.)
It is not easy to sit in Rabbi Weinman's office, packed with
tens of thousands of documents, and read about the fate of
chareidi Jews in recent generations. Some of the documents
and research papers may be read only inside the office, for
obvious reasons, and may not be copied or xeroxed.
Recently, we applied to Rabbi Weinman for information on any
possible collaboration between the chareidi rabbis and
activists and the secular Zionists regarding the rescue of
the Jews in Europe. This is a subject to which Rabbi Weinman
has been diligently applying himself in recent days.
Hardly had we opened the conversation before Rabbi Weinman
had placed in front of us a rare and original document signed
by HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, bearing the date Thursday, 18
Adar Sheini, 5700 (1940):
"In reverence to my dear and sublime friend, lover of Torah
and mitzvos, deeply involved in the community as shaliach of
Torah, Morenu HaRav Y. C. Eise, of Zurich . . . That which
was written concerning HaRav Meir Karelitz in Eretz Yisroel I
am not aware of, but it is clear that the yeshivos applied to
Rabbi Herzog on account of the certificates, and they are of
the opinion that he has some influence in this matter. I have
also written to him and to the Agudah several times, since in
a case of pikuach nefesh, politics must be put
aside."
"I am Confident the Answer Will Be
Accepted"
The last sentence, says Rabbi Weinman, is clearly decisive.
However, together with this he cites an article published in
the year 5723 (1963) under the title, "In Your Ways We
Lived," written by one on the rosh yeshivas in Europe, in
which the following words appeared:
"I recall the time when the rumors first came out about the
proposed extermination of the Jews in Europe, Heaven forfend,
and it was apparent that there was hope of rescuing another
remnant, but only through collaboration with the Zionist
Jewish Agency.
"One of the leading chareidi activists brought the
sheilah to the Chazon Ish, and the Rov answered him as
follows: `Are we not commanded to fight to rescue lives in
order to fulfill the mitzvos of Hashem? If we are remiss in
saving lives, will we not have to answer for this on the Day
of Judgment? Yet when Judgment Day comes and you are asked,
"Why did you not save lives?" and you reply, "Your Honor, it
was because it could only be done by joining with the
Zionists and that was out of the question," I am confident
this answer will be accepted.' "
At the time of the publication of this article, says Rabbi
Weinman, there was no mention of the name of the writer and
the one who posed the sheilah to the Chazon Ish.
However, in Tammuz of 5760 (2000), R' Elyokim Schlesinger,
son-in- law of Rabbi Moshe Blau, the leader of Agudas
Yisroel, and grandson of Morenu R' Yaakov Rosenheim, one of
the founders of Agudas Yisroel, came out with a book,
HaDor Vehatekufoh (The Generation and the Era).
In the course of the book, which contains notes about the
conduct of the Chazon Ish and the Brisker Rov, he reveals the
name of the one posing the sheilah as being none other
than Rabbi Moshe Blau (page 211):
"Towards the end of the war, when the reports reached Eretz
Yisroel confirming the destruction of the Jews of Europe, and
the activists wished to make a desperate attempt to rescue
the survivors, my esteemed father- in-law, who was one of the
major activists in hatzoloh matters, went to ask the
following sheilah of the Chazon Ish: `Since all links
with the Jews in the Diaspora are solely in the hands of the
Zionist Agency, and it is almost impossible to take any
action without them, is it permitted, on the grounds of
pikuach nefesh to collaborate with them?'
"To which the Chazon Ish responded: `Why does the rav have to
get involved in hatzoloh matters? After 120 years,
when the rav comes before the Heavenly Court and they argue
that he could have saved Jews and why did he not, and he
replies that the only way he could have saved them was
through an alliance with the Agency and with the Zionists, I
will be the guarantor that they will accept this answer.'
"
A Huge Distinction
Now the question arises of whether there was perhaps a
machlokes between the gedolim on the issue of
collaboration with the Zionists for the purpose of rescuing
the European Jews. Rabbi Weinman is certain that, for all
intents and purposes, there was none.
"HaRav Chaim Ozer's letter referred to a cooperation with
Rabbi Herzog who was a religious Jew, while the
sheilah that Rabbi Moshe Blau asked the Chazon Ish
concerned the irreligious Zionist Jewish Agency. There is a
huge distinction between the two."
The widely accepted opinion throughout the years has been
that the Zionists wanted no part in the rescue of the Jews in
Europe, while from these documents we see that they did get
involved, since the question revolved around whether or not
to join forces with them?
Rabbi Weinman: The answer to that is unequivocal: the
Zionists did not make the slightest move to save the Jews of
Europe. In my book VeDa Ma Shetoshiv I demonstrate
clearly and distinctly that, even after the establishment of
the State, they prevented chareidi Jews from immigrating to
Eretz Yisroel and there are documents and solid evidence to
prove it.
However, if we revert to that pre-State period following the
Holocaust, a detailed document exists on this affair, dated
Tammuz-Av 5705 (1945). It was dispatched to all the Agudas
Yisroel branches worldwide, including the one that existed in
Kobe. It describes the relationship between the Zionists and
the various groups, whether religious or secular, concerning
the issue of hatzoloh.
This fascinating document reads as follows: "Hatzoloh -
- here the World Executive Committee of Agudas Yisroel
invested a huge and extensive effort throughout the whole
period of the war. Rescue was the foremost priority on the
list of the activities and goals of the Executive
Committee.
"The Committee maintained links with all the Hatzoloh
headquarters of Agudas Yisroel in London, Zurich, New York
and Bucharest. It stirred a public outcry in Eretz Yisroel
about the atrocities being perpetrated in Poland. As a result
of its initiative and fierce demands, the Yishuv Vaad
LeHatzoloh was founded in Eretz Yisroel, composed of all the
various groups, with the complete collaboration of, and with
full rights of, Agudas Yisroel.
"Our representatives on the presidium of the Vaad LeHatzoloh,
Rabbi M. Levin and his aide Mr. Binyomin Mintz, performed
wonderful feats, and had a major impact on the Vaad
LeHatzoloh. They managed to attain budgetary provisions and
considerable sums of money to aid our brethren suffering in
the lands of the inferno. The World Executive Committee
worked tirelessly to send out parcels and aid to the refugees
in Russia.
"To our great anguish, the extermination was unspeakably
devastating, and successes were pitifully meager in
proportion to the extent of the calamity. However, the
Executive Committee did not neglect a single opportunity to
send aid and rescue, both in terms of its resources, and its
willingness to join forces with other and more powerful
elements. It did whatever was in its power to rescue our
brethren, dispatching massive sums for this purpose."
"The Hatzoloh Committees Were a Joke"
The sense of that letter is that the Zionists were
involved in the rescue of the Jews of Europe?
Rabbi Weinman: It appears from this description that a
proper collaboration with hatzoloh activists did
exist. Yet let us take as an example the protocol of the
Agudah Executive Committee meeting of the 15th of Shevat,
5703 (1943) in Jerusalem (we only will look at those
sentences relevant to our topic).
Present at that meeting were: HaRav Z. Sorotzkin, Chairman of
the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, of the Vaad Hayeshivos, and of
the Chinuch Atzmai administration, HaRav M. Karelitz, HaRav
Y.H. Sankowitz (rosh yeshiva of Sefas Emes), Rabbi Y.M.
Levin, Rabbi Rephoel Katzenelenbogen, Rabbi Doctor Yitzchok
Breuer, Rabbi M. Levin, Rabbi Avraham Sirkis, Dr. Schlesinger
and the secretary Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Mozes.
The first item on the meeting's agenda was "European
Jewry."
Rabbi Y.M. Levin opened the meeting as follows: "The Chairman
is submitting a detailed report on the steps taken by the
Executive Committee to aid in the rescue of the Jewish
survivors in Europe. We were present at the meeting of the
Jewish Agency's Action Committee, and nothing positive has
yet been accomplished . . . We received information from Mr.
Zilbersheich, who has arrived in the country, that the
situation in occupied Europe has seriously deteriorated, and
that radical countermeasures are called for.
"Nothing concrete has emerged from the meetings of the Jewish
Agency Action Committee. What is beyond comprehension is that
even the proposal to drop pamphlets from the air over the
occupied countries was not implemented. The whole matter of
the Action Committee is a joke (chucho vetelulo). I
had a sharp confrontation with Mr. Greenbaum, in which I
demanded more action and energy.
"An appeal for 50,000 Eretz Yisroel Pounds (EYP) for a rescue
campaign would allow us to send representatives to
Constantinople to work there for our unfortunate brethren.
The Israeli Histadrut in Constantinople has a staff of five
people working there day and night [on their business], while
we have to scrape together all of our resources just to send
a sole representative to work there on the spot. We
discovered that by bribing the Gestapo we can get the murders
converted to forced labor, and that we could save a few Jews
from Rumania and Hungary. A great deal can be done with the
sum of 50,000 EYP."
Rabbi Y.H. Sankowitz: "Can we rely on the Jewish Agency
Executive Committee when they are doing nothing at all? We
must decide on our own how to proceed now. On the issue of
protests, it is clear that the situation is deteriorating
from day to day. As the defeats of that evil person loom
larger, he unleashes his anger on the Jews.
"We must organize large demonstrations all over the country,
and in the synagogues and in street gatherings, with a
general plea to the democratic countries to rescue our
suffering brethren and do whatever is in their power to turn
around public opinion there. Also, Rabbi Blau must make every
effort to attain a visa and go to Constantinople. For the
Hatzoloh campaign, we will be able to amass the financial
means."
Dr. Breuer: "The demonstrations must to be turned towards the
Jewish people, which is not united in a massive and united
effort to rescue those who are drowning in a sea of tragedy
in the Diaspora. It is correct that without the financial
resources nothing can be accomplished. We have to demand that
the Action Committee stop all its other fundraising campaigns
and set up one single Rescue Appeal."
"The Jewish Agency is Interested Solely in
Palestine"
HaRav Sorotzkin: "We have to again create a huge stir in
Eretz Yisroel and the democratic countries. The organization
Al Domi ("Do not Be Silent") came to me recently, saying that
they are convinced that only a convention of rabbis can shake
up the people. I suggest convening a second convention of the
Eretz Yisroel rabbonim and a protest march from all the
cities of Eretz Yisroel to Jerusalem. The Jewish Agency is
interested solely in Palestine, and we have to consider
whether it is not time to publicly condemn the Agency and
unmask them."
Sirkis: "The Jewish Agency won't do a single substantive
thing; it will just keep the public anesthetized. Every
concrete suggestion on our part meets only resistance from
them, and we must disregard their entirely inhuman opinion
altogether. The general public really wants action, but they
put up obstacles in our path at every turn. Therefore, we
have to make sure they don't hinder us. We have to think of a
plan to stir a public outcry in Eretz Yisroel."
Dr. Breuer: "We must unmask the Agency and demand the
establishment of a fund of 50,000 EYP for activities in
Palestine. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants action from us,
not demonstrations, and we have to get down to action and
organize the Torah community in Eretz Yisroel, and all this
time we haven't even taken the slightest step . . . "
HaRav R. Katzenelenbogen: "I join HaRav Z. Sorotzkin of
Lutsk's program. We must organize speeches in all the
shuls."
Dr. Schlesinger: "Although mass demonstrations and a new
protest response by the Yishuv is a good idea, we have to
exercise caution in relation to the Nazis so as not to worsen
the situation [in Europe]. In particular, the demand should
be directed more towards the democracies to open their gates
[rather than against the crimes themselves], but even that is
very complicated. I support Dr. Breuer's motion. We have to
push for the formation of a 50,000 EYP fund from the Jewish
Agency, and if they won't do it, we should not continue to
sit with them."
HaRav Meir Karelitz: "I am in favor of HaRav Sorotzkin's
motion for a second mass gathering: a) The kinus will
turn over the fate of Israel to the Heavens (yimsor din
Yisroel LaShomayim). b) The kinus will again
arouse us to an internal awakening. c) The kinus will
bring the Yishuv's cry for help to the nations. d) This
second kinus along these lines will be much stronger
than the first. Therefore, details of the program have to be
carefully worked on."
Rabbi Levin: "Whenever I participate in the Action Committee,
I protest and raise a storm about why they are doing nothing
for rescue . . . "
"Joint Gatherings with the Nonreligious are a
Dangerous Game"
Towards the end of the meeting on this subject, a committee
was chosen to implement the motion, and when the subject came
up of a possible alliance with the secular elements over the
arrangements for the kinus, Rabbi Levin stated: "Joint
gatherings with the nonreligious are a dangerous game. At any
rate, we will discuss this matter further."
Rabbi Weinman concludes, based on this detailed protocol,
that the Zionists did not take the slightest action to rescue
the Jews in Europe, and all the rallies and marches to
protest this issue fell to deaf ears. As if that were not
enough, they even sabotaged actions that others attempted or
proposed carrying out.
Rabbi Weinman also quotes the position of the Admor, HaRav
Aharon Roth author of Shomer Emunim, on the subject of
collaboration and requests for aid from the Zionists, as
brought down in Rabbi Eliyahu Steinberg's book on the Admor,
Uvda DeAharon (page 263).
"I Will Not Ask Favors from a
Mizrachist"
This is a quote from the book:
In the middle of the World War, when the dreadful rumors
started coming in from overseas about the great calamities
and mass murders and our Rov wanted to save his family and
relatives from the field of slaughter, he needed eleven
Certificates [of Immigration to the British Protectorate in
Palestine].
Now there was a certain person who came and told our Rov that
he could get the Certificates for him, on condition that the
Rov would apply to Moshe Shapira (head of the Aliyah
Department in the Jewish Agency) to ask for his aid. The
person in question was the son of a chossid, but he
had become affiliated with the Mizrachi party. Our Rov
refused, saying, "I would never ask a favor of any
Mizrachist, Heaven forbid. It would be a chilul
Hashem."
This person then suggested that our Rov not go himself, but
write a note to Shapira detailing his request and that would
be sufficient to get the Certificates. Our Rov also vetoed
this, saying he would never consent to such a thing for it,
too, was a chilul Hashem.
But the person persisted, and asked: "Was it not a case of
pikuach nefesh to save someone from certain death?"
To which our Rov responded: "I am sure that if they asked my
brother-in-law, the tzaddik Rav Shmuel, if he would
want to be saved through a chillul Hashem, he would
answer that he is ready to burn in the fires al kiddush
Hashem, but not to cause a chillul Hashem."
The same person then asked our Rov to pay a visit to an
elderly Admor, descendant of a distinguished family, who had
affiliated himself with the Mizrachi party. The Admor had
influence over Shapira which would undoubtedly help in
acquiring the Certificates. This, too, our Rov refused.
Finally, when the man suggested that two talmidim go
and ask for the certificates from Shapira, our Rov did not
object but only remarked: "I don't believe he will merit such
a great mitzvah, to rescue the tzaddikim, my brothers-
in-law, from death."
Indeed, his words came true. Shapira gave the Certificates,
but they did not help to save his family.
"The Protocol is Shocking and Speaks for
Itself"
Once again, we asked Rabbi Weinman the same question: Why was
no action taken to condemn the Zionists for their refusal to
give aid, and even for their sabotaging other efforts to save
the Jews of Europe?
To which he responded: "But that's exactly my point. The
motions raised during that meeting for a public condemnation
of the Zionists never materialized."
Could not the Agudas Yisroel Have Worked Independently to
Rescue the Jews?
Rabbi Weinman: One has to face the facts. It was immensely
difficult to work on our own because, after all, the big
money was in the hands of the secular, and not in ours. If we
look carefully at the report that was dispatched after the
war, it was camouflaged to make it seem as if there was some
cooperation. However, at the time of the war itself, we have
only to look at the protocol to see how shocking the
situation was. It speaks for itself, does it not? Not only
did the secular people do nothing, they even prevented us
from doing anything.
You are dealing with history. But today, since the reality
is different in terms of saving Jews, won't the dilemma of
whether to act together with the Zionists or without them
remain a hypothetical one?
Rabbi Weinman: On this matter I refer you to my book, VeDa
Ma Shetoshiv (page 87, clause 8): "The policy that began
with Max Nordau even prior to the Sixth Zionist Congress --
i.e., there is no need to be concerned about those who do not
wish to return to Palestine -- continues and follows
throughout the period as a scarlet thread. It can be seen in
the libels of Weizmann, who prevented the abridgment of World
War I, in the secular Zionists' behavior during the
Holocaust, and in the behavior of the secular Israelis
today.
"Let us refer to the newspaper Ha'aretz, of 9.18.92:
`A few weeks ago Uri Gordon defended the thesis that the
function of the State of Israel and the Jewish Agency is only
to be involved in the rescue of Jews in distress if they are
willing to make aliyah to Israel. Gordon, head of the
Aliyah and Absorption Department in the Jewish Agency, was
expressing the same stance as that taken by the Jewish Agency
during the period of the Holocaust.' "
"He Holds by the Principle that Rescue is
Aliyah"
Rabbi Weinman stresses that Gordon's statement came as a
response to the complaint by the leader of the Jewish
community in Sarajevo during that period (the year 5752,
during the harsh civil war in Kossova), that Israel was only
willing to rescue Jews who aimed to make aliyah, while the
rest it disregarded. To that, Gordon responded by stating
that he, as an Israeli, a sabra and a Zionist, held by the
principle that `Rescue means aliyah.'
To further elucidate this point, Rabbi Weinman refers us to a
dreadful comment of Ben-Gurion made some time after
Kristallnacht (December 7, '38), when he spoke of the
10,000 Jewish children from Austria and Germany whose parents
had been slaughtered or expelled. The British would not allow
them to enter Palestine, and therefore the suggestion was
raised to send them to Britain. Ben- Gurion, as a member of
the headquarters of the Israeli Labor Council, responded:
"If I would know that it is possible to save all the German
children by transferring them to England, or only half of
them by transferring them to Palestine, I would choose the
latter option -- because our calculation does not only
concern these children's lives, it is a historical
calculation for the Jewish nation."
"The Blood of the Orphans Shrieks to the
Heavens!"
This attitude of the Zionists that "Rescue is aliyah" has far-
reaching implications in terms of the rescue of Torah-
observant Jews. In Rabbi Weinman's book (VeDa Ma
Shetoshiv, page 65, clause 7), he quotes a letter
published in Rumania in the year 5706 (1946):
"With heartfelt anguish and deep regret, we turn to you in
connection with the appalling outrage which makes us all rend
our clothes, what our brethren did to us during the last
aliyah to our Holy Land.
"Our sons and daughters, survivors of murder and captivity,
young boys and girls snatched from the furnaces of Auschwitz,
pitiful young orphan girls and boys, were denied entrance to
the country, and driven from the ship on the grounds of their
being faithful to the Torah of Hashem, and observing Shabbos
and kashrus . . . the blood of these orphans shrieks up to
the Heavens!
"It shrieks to us to wake up and to stand up for our very
lives against those who have lost all vestiges of their
humanity, cruelly blocking out a tribe of Israel, depriving
these little children and orphans, survivors of the sword and
the gola, of their rights."
(The letter refers to a ship of displaced persons that left
Europe after the War for Eretz Yisroel.)
Not only did such incidents occur prior to the founding of
the State, but they continued long after it, as chareidi Jews
were prevented from making aliyah. On the 29th of Iyar, 5710,
then Knesset member of Agudas Yisroel, Rabbi Meir Dovid
Levenstein, submitted the following parliamentary question to
the Minister of Absorption:
"My friends in the Agudas Yisroel in England are complaining
about the Eretz Yisroel office in London, because it refuses
to give aliyah permits to Israel on the grounds that the
applicants are not members of the Zionist Organization . . .
In the annual report that the Eretz Yisroel office presented
to the Zionist Executive Committee on April 19, 1950, the
following was stated, among other things:
"Fifteen requests for aliyah were presented in London last
week and only a third of them were approved. The reason for
such a small number of approvals had to do with the fact that
the majority of the applicants were not Zionists, and not
willing, from a spiritual perspective, to live in the Land of
Israel, nor did they speak Hebrew . . . "
*
Finally, we will bring up another related question, which is
often raised: Why do chareidi Jews not commemorate Yom
HaShoa? Though they obviously cannot mark it the way the
leaders of the State of Israel are accustomed to, surely
there are numerous Jewish-Torah ways to respond to this day.
Upon investigation, we discovered that even Torah
personalities and major senior public figures in chareidi
Judaism thought so.
Furthermore, they went as far as to present detailed
proposals on the subject. On another occasion, we dealt with
this matter more extensively, but here in an accompanying
box, we will introduce just a few quotes from the words of
the Israeli gedolim, as brought by Rabbi Zvi Weinman
in his book, VeDa Ma Shetoshiv.
To the Gaon Hagodol HaRav Chaim Kanievsky shlita,
Recently an article was published in Yated Ne'eman
[Note: This refers to the earlier Hebrew article] which
quoted the opinion of the Chazon Ish in connection with
saving European Jewry during the Holocaust through
cooperation with the Jewish Agency. The material was taken
from the book of R' Elyokim Schlesinger of London who quoted
his father-in-law Rabbi Moshe Blau as follows. [The letter
cites the quote that appears in the article.]
After the material appeared in print, some questioned whether
the Chazon Ish really said this. I would like to know if
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky knows if this was in fact the opinion
of the Chazon Ish in these matters.
Yeyasheir kochacho,
Tzvi Weinman
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky replied (with his characteristic
brevity, reprinted here in its entirety):
I do not know about this but it is reasonable.
| ||
| All material
on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted. |
|||
