Rabbi Yeshayahu Englard – Poland

Rabbi of Sosnowiec

Rabbi Yeshayahu Englard was born in the village of Strzemieszyce, at the border between Russia and Poland. He studied with his father-in-law, the Rebbe of Krimilov, Rabbi Natan HaCohen Rabinowitz and the son of the Baal Chessed L’Avraham, Rabbi Avraham Yisachar of Radomsk.

He was elected by a large majority to be the rabbi of Sosnowiec, one of the largest Polish Jewish communities. Rabbi Englard turned this community into an exemplary charedi (loosely translated as ultra-Orthodox) community, with glorious educational institutions and charitable institutions. He participated in the founding conference of Agudath Israel in Katowice in 5672 (1912), and distinguished himself in his ability to strengthen ties between the parties from different countries, including Russia and Germany.

The main square in Sosnowiec, Poland

In the Holocaust period

Sosnowiec and its surroundings were the first to be occupied by the Nazis. Many Jewish refugees from nearby towns came to Sosnowiec. Rabbi Englard turned his home into a house of hospitality, and provided the refugees with a roof over their heads and bread to eat.

For about three years he led the community under the rule of evil. During this period, he made sure that the members of his community and the neighboring communities sent food and aid to the members of the “protected” communities, and in particular to the Lodz ghetto, where many food packages were sent on his initiative.

When the deportations began from the Sosnowiec Ghetto, the Germans demanded from the Judenrat a list of Jews to be deported. Rabbi Englard ruled that this list should not be handed over, because there is no permission according to halacha (Jewish law) to hand over brothers to murderers. The head of the Judenrat was angry about this, and decided to take revenge on the rabbi. He added the rabbi and his family members to the list of deportees, but after the rabbi was put on the train, the head of the Judenrat regretted it and asked for the rabbi to be taken off. The rabbi refused to be saved, saying that another Jew might be sent in his place, which is forbidden by Jewish law.

The Jews of Sosnowiec, Poland, standing crowded while waiting for their deportation

When the cattle cars were filled, the rabbi spoke words of encouragement and comfort to his brethren, and the train set off to Auschwitz, where the rabbi perished with most of his family.

His son, Rabbi Avraham Yisachar Englard, managed to escape from the ghetto and join the partisans. After the Holocaust, he returned to Sosnowiec and served as the town’s rabbi. He workly grealty on behalf of the survivors. He later immigrated to the United States and from there he immigrated to Israel in 5713 (1953), where he was appointed to serve as the Radziner Rebbe (due to his being the son-in-law of Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Elazar Leiner of Radzin, the Baal HaTiferet Yosef. We wrote about his brother-in-law Rabbi Shmuel Shlomo Leiner of Radzin here in the past).

As the Radziner Rebber, he founded chasidic homes of kindness in Israel, and renewed the mitzvah of the blue string in tzitzit (ritual fringes), the tradition of his ancestors.

(Source: Eleh Ezkera, Part 6, and more)

For more articles in the series 80 Years Since the Murder of the Jews of Sosnowiec, please click here.