First published in the aftermath of Rabbi Schonfeld's
petiroh.
Although the death of Rabbi Dr. Schonfeld on his 72nd
birthday -- after lying in a coma for some eight weeks -- did
not come entirely as a surprise, the entire Anglo-Jewish
community was stunned and grief-stricken when the news of his
petiroh spread like wildfire.
In every shul and beis hamedrash, baalei batim
of the older generation huddled together in groups,
reminiscing about the personal experiences which they had
with this unique personality, whilst the youngsters strained
their ears and stood by in awe.
"He saved my life," said one man.
"He rescued my nephew from war-torn Poland," said another.
"He brought me my first pair of tefillin in Bergen
Belsen within days of the British driving out the Nazi
butchers" said a third.
When I spoke to Chief Rabbi Jakobovits on the following
morning about Rabbi Schonfeld's death, I remarked, "That's
the end of a chapter."
"You are wrong," he retorted. "It is the end of a book."
How true!
Yet how can one, within the space of a short article, whilst
one's fingers are still numb and one's eyes are filled with
tears and one's heart is trembling with emotions, set out the
achievements, lifestyle, motivations, and ambitions of a man,
whom Rabbi Padua, in his hesped, referred to as a
"chad bedora" -- a personality unique in our
generation.
Rabbi Schonfeld was born into a society which never suited
him.
Anglo-Jewry in the early 1900s was placid, lethargic,
insular, unimaginative, satisfied with its Hebrew classes up
to bar-mitzvah age, and with synagogues adorned by dog-
collared clergy and "beautified" with organ music. The
Orthodox kehillos, such as they existed, were small
and inward-looking.
Rabbi Schonfeld on the other hand was dynamic, forceful,
purposeful, and looked every challenge and challenger
straight in the eye. He stood no nonsense -- or what he
regarded as nonsense -- had an innate disdain for committees
and displayed little love for democracy.
This clash of personality between him and all others set him
on a collision course quite early in his communal career. But
whereas collisions usually lead to destruction, Rabbi
Schonfeld became the architect and initiator of almost every
worthwhile communal asset and endeavor which the Orthodox
community enjoys today.
Jewish Day Schools were frowned upon in those early years by
the communal Establishment. The old argument was rampant:
"How will our children be able to mix with the outside world
in adult life if they are segregated during their formative
years?" And even those who had some sympathy with the concept
of Jewish Day Schools shied away from the challenge, as any
such project required large sums of money.
Rabbi Schonfeld was never daunted by money problems when he
was convinced that a job had to be done. He followed the
teaching and example of his late father, Rabbi Avigdor
Schonfeld zt"l, and with little means and small
beginnings, he fostered the Jewish Secondary Schools.
Here is not the place to record all that the JSS Movement has
achieved during more than half a century of existence. What
must however be recorded is the broad vision and selflessness
which motivated Rabbi Schonfeld.
He was never jealous of "competitors" who entered the realm
of education. On the contrary, he encouraged, fostered and
positively helped everybody else who created Jewish schools
even though they were not fashioned to his pattern or
outlook.
As Rabbi J. H. Dunner recalled in his hesped, he never
fought against the Right. He helped schools like the Yesodey
Hatorah. He helped in the establishment of chadorim
and being cognizant of the trend of the times. He introduced
a yeshiva stream into his own schools' network. All that we
take for granted today in the sphere of Torah education has
its roots in the toil and spade work of this great
pioneer.
And the same can be said of our kehilla institutions.
The Adass Yisroel in North London of which he was the rov,
was his kingdom and power base. He nurtured it, gave regular
shiurim to young and old, developed it, was
responsible for its removal to Queen Elizabeth's Walk, and
was zealous of its status within the overall kehilla
framework.
But his kehilla interests didn't stop there. He
ensured that every Orthodox shul and shtiebel
was associated with the Union of Orthodox Hebrew
Congregations which he created, though never interfering with
the independence of any of its constituents or that of its
rabbonim.
Our children, and indeed we ourselves, take for granted that
one can obtain strictly kosher Kedassia meat, milk, and
scores of other food products. But who still remembers that
it was Rabbi Schonfeld -- and he alone -- who created these
facilities and fought an entire communal establishment, in
law courts, through parliamentary safeguards and in public
debate, so that these facilities shall be available to us,
and that we have our own shechita rights?
Rabbi Schonfeld created the Rabbinate of the Union of
Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, again an act of supreme
selflessness because he knew that this would diminish his own
rabbinical authority.
But he knew also, that with the growth of the kehilla,
a strong Rabbinate was essential and when communal needs
appeared on the horizon, his own interests faded into
insignificance.
If the biography of Rabbi Schonfeld's tempestuous and
creative life will ever be written, his work for hatzoloh
will undoubtedly take up a chapter written in golden
letters.
One does not really know where to start and what to
highlight. But in order to realize the dimension of his
achievements in this sphere, one must try to fathom his
breadth of outlook and depth of feelings. Rabbi Schonfeld,
despite his apparent outward hardness, was imbued with a high
degree of ahavas Yisroel.
A krechts of an almonoh or the loneliness of a
refugee child would activate him no less than a major rescue
operation.
The number of lives which he has saved, by sheer mesirus
hanefesh, before, during and after the war cannot be
quantified.
And here one can only quote headings and snippets rather than
relate details: How he responded to the cry of Vienna's
Orthodox leaders, after Hitler's annexation of Austria, and
immediately arranged, through the Home Office, the transfer
of hundreds of Viennese Jews to England where he housed,
clothed and fed them . . . How he arranged "guarantees" to
salvage the remnant of German Jews just before the outbreak
of the Second World War . . . How he salvaged the souls of
hundreds of Jewish children -- mainly orphaned -- who were
evacuated to Shefford under the auspices of the Jewish
Secondary Schools Movement where he was the source of their
sustenance as well as their physical and spiritual well-
being . . . How after the war he visited the concentration
camps to bring succor, comfort and tangible help to thousands
of destitute survivors . . . How he sent them religious
requisites and had special machzorim printed for them
on newsprint because Hebrew books were difficult to come by
in the postwar period . . . How he risked his life when he
went to Poland soon after the war to bring a transport of
children to England -- and all this and much more without
adequate staff or financial resources and against a
background of a jealous, even at times hostile, communal
establishment that preferred to fault rather than to praise
him.
Rabbi Schonfeld was driven by an iron will and golden heart
and when legal niceties, red tape or bureaucracy became an
obstacle to his determined effort of hatzolas
nefoshos, he usually managed to overcome them.
And even beyond the realms of his energy-consuming activities
Rabbi Schonfeld found time to direct his attention to world
Jewish problems.
He frequently led or participated in deputations to
government departments either under the aegis of the Chief
Rabbi's Religious Emergency Council or Agudas Yisroel to
intercede on behalf of persecuted Jews in countries of
distress. He held strong views in opposition to secular
Zionism and expressed them vociferously and fearlessly at a
time when such views were still very unpopular.
I have just thumbed through the pages of an anthology
published two years ago in honor of Dr. Schonfeld's 70th
birthday.
It contains tributes from many people from different
countries and different walks of life to whom he has been a
pillar of hope and strength.
I will conclude with an apt quotation from one of them:
"Rabbi, educator, rescuer, negotiator, counselor, writer, all
in one, Solomon Schonfeld is one of the most engaging and
forceful personalities to be produced by Anglo-Jewry in the
modern era. The English Rabbinate will not soon see his like
again."
