See the original at USHMM
The above video shows a pogrom in Lemberg/Lvov, Ukraine in the summer of '41. The film has been sanitized, some of the more grotesque parts have been removed. It's part of a clip recently released by Reb Steven Spielberg and his film archive, and in the frum community it caused lots of ripples, shocks, waves - you name it. People are shocked to see what they believe to be the "Kedushas Tzion," Reb BenZion Halberstam of Bobov, HY"D, who was killed in Janower Forest in Lemberg on the 4th of Av, 1941. Like many of you, seeing frum Jews being harassed or herded together into cattle cars or lined up to be executed hits especially home for me, much like it would be in any tragedy. We tend to identify more with our frum brethren more than we do with our irreligious ones. But this here - if it is the Rebbe - is something terribly tragic, much more than any picture, even the ones of the Hungarian Rebbes and Rabbonim we showed here previously, as they waited on the ramp to Auschwitz. At least those showed no beatings or violence against them.
What can one say when he sees such unspeakable acts being carried out against such righteous Jews, one who took a real initiative and proactively traveled around Poland and Galicia establishing Yeshivos and saving Jewish neshomos from the temptations of the day? He can sit and cry, and he ask Hashem to end all of this already. There is debate as to whether or not it IS actually RBZH, but if not him then it's still a Yid, a Baal Tzureh, a kadosh who died only because he was Jewish, and especially because he carried the tzelem elokim with him, despite the extra difficulties it posed. Some of you may find it distasteful or worse, and you may condemn me posting it here, but I think it does provide a very important purpose for those of us alive today. It teaches to mourn for the lost souls and to remember what they accomplished. Maybe I'd feel differently about this if I was a Bobover Chossid, but I haven't seen any outcries from the Bobovers on the WWW, despite maybe the khisoren being them. Maybe we can shed an extra tear this YK, and maybe, just maybe, this will tip the scale in our favor this year.
Yasher koach for this post, especially during the aseres y'mei teshuva. Your caption drives home the point. It's impossible to ponder the churban because it's so immensely beyond comprehension and so recent that you could drive yourself crazy. I had a debate with a chaver of mine who lefy Yerushalayim to go to Uman for R"H. I asked him how he could leave the ir HaKodesh for blood soaked Ukraine. Besides the obvious reasons not to go I hate to see yiddishe gelt go to murderers. You reinforced my stance.
ReplyDeleteAs you so aptly stated above
א"מ עשה למען באי באש ובמים
על קידוש שמך
מען האט שוין געהערט אז א בארד ווערט ווייס פון פחד המוות ל"ע, אבער אז עס זאל שווארץ ווערן הערן מיר צום ערשטן מאל
ReplyDeletevery well writen. shkoach.
ReplyDeletethanx for posting this on the day the menuval from iran ym"sh is speaking @ the un. It would be nice and maybe too much to ask that the idiots from NK finally realize that hatred for the medina does not kasher everything including anti-semites and holocaust deniers.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, reb Hersh. A gutt gebenscht yohr to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Neo nazi coming to Bor Park for Shabbos Shuvah
ReplyDelete"we tend to identify more with our frum brethern than with our irreligious ones".one hardly knows where to begin to refer you for this breach of unconditional ahavat yisrael,perhaps you should start with khavivim yisrael she'nikr'u banim lamakom.is this how you talk bein kese l'esor? how will you learn to see the dmut dyukno shel avraham v'sarah in the face of every one of their children. perhaps if you have not by now you never will.what a pity.
ReplyDeleteMoshe Rabbeini already said that even he couldn't understand darkei hashem.
ReplyDeleteTzadik beminusoi yichye.
Harav Hatzadik Moreini Hurav Naftuli Halberstam was an 11 year old boy, hiding with his grandfather the Kdisha Tzion on Friday Rosh Chodesh Av. He was meant to spend shabbos with his grandfather, then in hiding. He lived with the memory of his grandfather being taken away for the rest of his life.
For three days R'Shlomo tried everything in his power to save his father but hashem had other plans.
Reb Shlomo and Reb Naftuli Z'yu lived the rest of their lives to ensure the heiliger Bobover mesora is not lost and when they met the Kdishas Tzion in olam huemes, can say we did not let your memory or your work be lost. Oy how poor are we that we have no more tzaddikim like this who truly lived their lives with mesiras nefesh for other yidden, whether members of their community, chassidus or not. We should all learn from their ways....
Although I believe this film is not of the Rebbe (unless he lost a lot of weight) especially because the colour of the beard, but the film is not clear enough to say either way.
The fact is that it reminds us what all Bobovers have known to be his fate.
Reb Shlomo said often that because we don't know where (or even if) the Kedishas Tzion was buried, the Bobover yeshivah with tinokos shel beis rabbon and buchrim yirei hashem who learn torah and follow in his ways are a leibedike matzeive.
The Kedishas Tzion started 44 yeshivas in Galizia and the Rodomsker Rebbe started 36 yeshivas. Together they saved yiddishkeit in Galicia and can take full credit.
Again - who can understand darkei hashem ?
With all the sinas chinam posted on this blog, maybe if we all had true ahavas yisrael this blog would not exist
I couldn't get past the first few seconds. How can anyone look at such unspeakable acts? Either it drives one nuts or one gets inured to it, neither of which is desirable.
ReplyDeleteAnon
ReplyDeleteradomsk aint galicia
>We tend to identify more with our frum brethren more than we do with our irreligious ones.<
ReplyDeleteSpeak for yourself, jerk.
The Kedushas Zhion was not bald. The fellow in the picteure is either bald a haircut is unlikely since if it is the kedushas zhion, the photo was taken in av, the thirs week of the three weeks.
ReplyDeleteIt is clearly not the same person since his beard was almost all white as seen in his last picture (taken during the war) while the one in the movie is much more black
ReplyDeleteAnon148
ReplyDeleteTrue the city Radomsk is not Galicia but the last Rebbe of Radomsk moved his court to Sosnoweic prior to WWI and IS Galicia!!
I hope you davened reall hard in Neilah and had special kavunuh in the piyutim that exclaim how we have no one these days who knows how to daven properly. Some places have a Shatz who doesn't even ask his friend for mechila- not even on Erev Yom Kippur. Nebach. Oy vey.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite is the ones who ask everyone for mechila then spend motzie yom kippur spreading gossip and going straight back to their old ways.....
ReplyDeleteAre you mochel me ?
HT,
ReplyDeleteNow it is the zman simchah. Why don't you post something happy so we don't have to see this horror when we go to your site.
Unless you are waiting on line by a Ruv with your esrog....
Myabe get some stares this year in Vizhnitz with a fancy esrog...
anon 12;47
ReplyDeletethe saanovtza ro of Ch that became Radzin is the same town? since I think he was a Poilish Jew
Sosnowiec is Poland in terms of the sort of Jews who lived there. not Galicia. There were towns that were border regions, with Jews of both types. Chelm a Polsih town had Belzer chassidim , Lomzha supposedly in Lita had many Gerer Chassidim.Is Narol Poland or galicia is Brisk d'Lita really Lita ? So perhaps Sosnowiec was just such a "border" city.
ReplyDeleteVery moving footage.
Patiently waiting here and checking the blog every few minutes for the post about the Lelover Rebbe ZT"L -with in depth coverage of his time in Crown Hights, his kesher to the Rebbe and info on how each of those played out during his tenure as Lelover Rebbe- and some awsome pictures and videos to accompany the post!
ReplyDeleteAnon 328
ReplyDeleteBobov was also poland but even Cracow was in westyern Galacia province AND part of the austro Hungarian empire until WWI (though I don't know about sosnoweic or sosnovtza if it was under the czars or AHE prior to WWI) yes the Roov was Rabbi AY Englard and then his brother Rabbi Yankel Englard ZTL
Wow everyone who has shown they know their Eastern European geography can now take a bow.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your point guys ???
What are you adding to the blog ???
the point is if radomsk was like bobov in the spreading of torah in galicia or not as per prior comments
ReplyDeleteSee letter to editor in Today's HaModia :( !
ReplyDelete