Shomrei Emunah has a library of Holocaust books, donated by a Holocaust survivor, and from time to time I read one. Alone in the Forest, by Mala Kacenberg, is part of a series put out by CIS Publishers during the 1990s called “The Holocaust Diaries.” Before I tell you a little of this riveting story, I want to dispel the fallacy that if you’ve read one Holocaust book you know the whole story. This is totally wrong, as each autobiography of someone who went through the trauma of World War II and came out alive is unique. This is true because, first of all, each person survived by a different set of miracles. Second, the lessons they learned and passed on to us are unique to their experiences and to their personalities. You can read such a book as an adventure story, with escape from near death on every page, or you can look deeper and take lessons for your own life.

It’s that time of year again. Magazines and newspapers catering to our community are full of advertisements touting the advantages of various Pesach programs. The variety is amazing. Depending on one’s preferences and financial ability, families can go near or far. There are programs within easy driving distance, and there are exotic locations all over the earth. Why not celebrate Pesach in Egypt? I haven’t seen that one yet, but who knows?

Each year, one also sees articles criticizing the phenomenon: If all the money spent on vacations were donated to tzedaka, they say, we could pay the rebbeim more. Or perhaps the criticism is that Pesach is a time to be at home – because how can we deprive our children of the opportunity to share in the cleaning and koshering and myriad preparations for the Holiday of Freedom? Isn’t Pesach the focus of attention by our wives? And isn’t scouring, just as our ancestors did in Hungary, or wherever, something that they hold dear?

As many of you know, our beloved son Yoni served in the Israel Defense Force, in the religious unit, Netzach Yehudah. He finished his service but was called back for the Gaza Campaign. He was assigned to Yechidat Tzrikat Rabbanut, which he explained to me is that part of the army that goes out after someone is killed and retrieves his remains. It is a very big mitzva and requires bravery under fire, when enemies are still out there. They comb an area to bring the kedoshim to kever Yisrael and to save women from being agunot.

To pray for his safety, my family divided up Sefer Tehilim and undertook to finish the sefer daily. But Hashem gave me the zechus to do something else, which I will cherish forever and take with me to the Kisai Hakovod as a malitz yosher on the Yom Hadin. It all began with a phone call from Rabbi Yissocher Dov Eichenstein, asking me to come to his shul, Mercaz Torah U’Tfilah, and lead tehilim after Maariv. He said that since I have a son in Tzahal (Israeli army), I should lead the tehilim. I only knew the Rebbe casually, and this was the first time I had ever entered his shul.

July 16th, 2014:

Our son Yoni , who lives in Israel and served in the IDF,called a little
while ago that he received a call and he is going to a meeting point and
then will be taken to Gaza. I asked him what his job is in the army and he
told me that his unit is in charge of making sure that no one is left
behind. Yonoson Dovid Ben Feiga besoch col hayalei tzvah Hagana L'Yisroel

Elchonon and Feigi Oberstein

Jewish Unity  Acheinu Kol Bais Yisrael (from the print WWW)

There is an anecdote from the early days of the Chasidic movement. The grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger was drawn to chasidus, and his family objected. Once, when he returned from a long stay in Kotzk, his father asked him what he had learned there. He answered “I learned that there is a Ribono Shel Olam (G-d).”

The father called in the maid and asked her if there was a G-d and she answered, “Of course.”

“You see,” the father said, “she didn’t go to Kotzk, and she knows, so what did you accomplish?”

The son answered,”Zi sogt, uber ich veis – She says, but I know.”

July 16th, 2014:

Our son Yoni , who lives in Israel and served in the IDF,called a little
while ago that he received a call and he is going to a meeting point and
then will be taken to Gaza. I asked him what his job is in the army and he
told me that his unit is in charge of making sure that no one is left
behind. Yonoson Dovid Ben Feiga besoch col hayalei tzvah Hagana L'Yisroel

Elchonon and Feigi Oberstein

Jewish Unity  Acheinu Kol Bais Yisrael (from the print WWW)

There is an anecdote from the early days of the Chasidic movement. The grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger was drawn to chasidus, and his family objected. Once, when he returned from a long stay in Kotzk, his father asked him what he had learned there. He answered “I learned that there is a Ribono Shel Olam (G-d).”

The father called in the maid and asked her if there was a G-d and she answered, “Of course.”

“You see,” the father said, “she didn’t go to Kotzk, and she knows, so what did you accomplish?”

The son answered,”Zi sogt, uber ich veis – She says, but I know.”

Daniel Gordis has written a new book entitled Menachem Begin: The Battle For Israel’s Soul. What makes this book different from a number of other biographies is Gordis’ underlying thesis that Menachem Begin was Israel’s most “Jewish” prime minister. In order to understand why observant Jews related so much better to Begin than to any of Israel’s other leaders – and to perhaps find a way to resolve today’s imbroglio – I will review a number of significant events in Begin’s life that give us an idea of his “Jewishness.”

*  *  *The town of Brisk is famous in frum circles as the home of the Soloveitchik dynasty of rabbis. That was indeed an important part of Brisk, but it was not all of it. Many different movements and ideologies vied for the loyalty of the youth of Brisk when Menachem was born, in 1913, and throughout the 1920s and 30s. There were the very pious, of course, who looked upon Zionism as a danger to traditional Jewish life. And there were those who went all the way to the other side, such as the Hashomer Hatza’ir movement, which taught its members to revile religious practices and admire communism.