Mr. Eugene (Aryeh
Leib) Lebovitz of Aventura, Florida (adjacent to N. Miami Beach) and Mr. Yisroel Starck have much in common. Mr. Starck was born in 1929 in a town just
outside of Munkacz, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). Mr. Lebovitz was born in 1928
in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). These two towns are less than 40 KM
apart.
Both were deported
to Auschwitz in the spring of 1944 but they went separate places from there.
Mr. Starck was eventually liberated in Ebensee, Austria by the allies. Mr.
Lebovitz was liberated in Landshut, Czechoslovakia by the Russians. Both men
aspired to make their way to Eretz Yisrael but Mr. Starck never made it (at
that point). Mr. Lebovitz did make it to Eretz Yisrael and joined the Haganah. He eventually became a commander. He might
have remained in EY for the distance if he had not met his wife to be on a
visit to the US. Although he consequently settled in the US, first Chicago and then Puerto Rico
and then Florida, he remained affiliated with the Haganah for quite some time and
his loyalties are in place to this very day.
(You can find a
fuller biography on Mr. Lebovitz HERE).
Mr. Lebovitz spent
his early married years – from 1953 to 1961- in Chicago. Mr. Starck came to
Chicago in 1948 and has resided there ever since. Despite this, these two Holocaust
survivors did not know each other until a few weeks ago. (It was Mr. Lebovitz’s
sister that was the reason for his initial trip to Chicago in 1951 and Mr.
Starck had indeed known his sister’s husband, Mr. Joe Weiss).
What transpired a
few weeks back was that Mr. Lebovitz came across a copy of Mr. Starck’s memoirs
– A Boy Named 68818 - and he was immediately taken by the book. Although he
felt there were a few minor discrepancies with his own recollection of some of
the background details, he was still very much impressed and made it his
business to strike up an acquaintance with Mr. Starck. As one thing led to
another, Mr. Lebovitz (Haganah veteran and longtime supporter) invited Mr. and
Mrs. Starck to a weekend – Shabbos Chanukah - gathering that he was sponsoring
in Las Vegas, Nevada that included a fundraising drive for Friends of the Israel
Defense Forces (FIDF). He asked Mr. Starck to address the gathering.
Some people who are
aware that I have a personal relationship with Mr. Starck and that I maintain a
blog sent me a copy of Mr. Starck’s speech given on the seventh day of Chanuka,
5776 (last Sunday). I personally was very touched by the speech and received
permission to post it on the blog.
I hereby present it
exactly as it was sent to me.
A freicihen post
Chanuka!
Dvar Torah
Shabbas Miketz
12.12.15 - FIDF, Las Vegas
Israel Starck
Regarding the mitzvah of Ner
Chanuka, we are all aware of the difference in opinion between Beis Hillel
and Beis Shamai. Beis Shamai say “poches,
poches, v’holech” – we start with 8 candles and we reduce by one every day.
The Beis Hillel say “moseef
v’holech” – we start with one candle and we add one more every day for each
of the eight days: ma’aleen b’kodesh.
However, in one matter there
is no difference of opinion: We all agree, when the subject of survivors of the
shoah arises, it is poches v’holech: There is only diminishment
with time.
There are of course many halachot
pertaining to Chanuka, like, for instance, the question whether women are also
obligated in ohr Chanuka – lighting of the Chanuka candles – and in
reciting of the full hallel in our tefilla.
But my reason for standing up
here in front of this most distinguished tzibbur is not to give you a shiur in hilchos
Chanuka. Nevertheless, lefi
aniyas daati, I wish to point out to you the tremendous parallel between
the miracle of the days of Chanukah and mesiras nefesh of the
Chashmonaim, with the experience and mesiras nefesh of those who were
liberated at the end of WWII, and the nissim and niflaos we have
been witness to in the last 70 years.
In many ways the miracle, the
nes, of the survival and re-generation of the shearis hapleita,
the remnants of the Shoah, is comparable to – and I might say even surpasses – the
nes shel Chanuka.
Every day of Chanuka we
recite the additional prayer in the Shemoneh Esrai of the V’al HaNissim. We say, “biyemay Mattisyahu, k’sheheamda
malchus Yavan haresha’ah al amcha Yisroel l’hashkicham torasecha ule’he’avirum
me’chukay retsonecha.” “In the days
of Mattisyahu, when the evil Greek kingdom rose up against your people Israel
to make them forget your Torah and compel them to stray from the statutes of
Your will...”
While the Greeks were not
intent to wipe out and eradicate the Jewish race from the face of the earth we,
the shearith hapleita, have paid a far greater price by losing 6 million
of our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.
All perished at the hands of the Nazi re’shaim. It did not make a difference whether they
upheld chukim u’mishpatim or whether they believed in G-d and his Torah
and mitzvot.
Very seldom do we recognize the
importance of the moment of liberation by the allied forces. I compare the small clusters of survivors to
the pach shel shemen, the vessel of oil that was found with the seal of
the Kohen Gadol. Only, these survivors
were like a pach shel kedoshim. Just like that precious surviving pach
shel shemen, they too bore a unique seal – that of the tattooed number on
their arm. And they too became a
miraculous beacon from which light came forth.
Those broken starving
skeletons, that I call “pach shemen shel kedoshim,” they were all so
weak and depressed and demoralized that no sane person would have anticipated
that this small group of skin-and-bones and broken spirits could ignite, and
fire up, and radiate again, a light to the world.
Yes, at war’s end, there were
many who proclaimed chalilah, “les din v’les dayan,” “there is no judge
and no judgment,” or said, “I will be a good human being at heart, but I cannot
accept Torah and mitzvos again”.
But then the greatest miracle
occurred. The Ribono Shel Olam sent us a living Torah embodied in sparks
of light – people like the Klausenberger Rav, Rav Yekutiel Halberstam – who
ignited the spirits of that pach shel shemen shel kedoshim – and the light
which emanated was not quickly consumed.
To the contrary, this small pach
shel shemen of kedoshim kept getting stronger and stronger each day, each month
and each year. A living example of Beis
Hillel’s moseef v’holech – we add and advance. And just as in the
time of Purim, so too the survivors took an oath of “kimu v’kiblu mah shehekiblu
kvar.” They fully re-affirmed their commitment and re-dedicated themselves
to the mesorah of our fathers.
This fire, of commitment to
Torah values and a Torah life, is getting stronger and stronger even now,
day-by-day, giving light to the whole world.
The mosdos haTorah are boruch Hashem flowing over with Yankelach,
Moishelach, and Ruchelach. Be it in South Bend Indiana;
Lakewood, NJ;
Chicago, Illiniois; New York,
and of course Eretz Yisrael.
After one of my talks a few
years ago, a little girl by the name of Pereleh came up with the following
question: “Mr. Starck, what do you
consider is the greatest threat to the Jewish people in this day and age?”
And I answered her that when
I was a little boy of 5 or 6 years of age and walked to cheder, many
times the Ukrainian and Ruthenian kids would spit or throw stones at us,
shouting, “Zid, to Palestina sklo missity.”
“Jew, why don’t you leave and go to Palestine to grind glass?”
And when I turned 14 or 15,
even though I never held a weapon of any kind in my hands, if another Yid would
have approached me saying, “Srulek, here is a satchel of dynamite and fuses. You
have to sneak under this bridge in the dark of the night and place the
explosives under the bridge that transports all these trains to Auschwitz,” I would have carried out the mission without
any question.
But, there was then, no
dynamite, no fuses, and no one to give instructions. And now, the difference is that today we have
our own country, with the strongest army and air force in the Middle
East, if not the world.
Sure there are mechablim, terrorists, who will raise a hand or a
knife against us. But he also knows quite well that there will be consequences. Israeli forces will hunt him down and make
him pay with his life.
A chassideshe bochur remarked
to me, “Why didn’t I also tell Pereleh that it is the time of ikvasa
d’meshicha, and Moshiach will come?”
I told him, let me tell you
the story of two friends, Berel and Shmerel.
Shmerel loved to take a drink now and then. In difficult times, that was his balm. It
gave him a sense of security. He would often
visit the village kretshma, the tavern, where he would drink to his
heart’s content. One day, Berel caught
up with him and followed along. He
noticed that every block on his way to the tavern, Shmerel paused, took out a
little flask, and took a swig from it.
Finally Berel said to him, “Shmerel,
you know and I know where you are heading to. So must you also stop every block
and take a swig from your little flask?
Can’t you at least wait until you get to the tavern?” Shmerel answered, “Until you get there, you
also need a drink.”
We hope and we pray that the
Ribbono Shel Olam will be a Shomer Yisroel and give strength and wisdom
to our brothers and sisters guarding the front lines of Israel ad
biyas goel tzedek.
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