The Way to the Garden of Eden
It was exactly eighty years ago. The sounds of the rattle of the train wheels merged with the sounds of singing coming from the train cars. At first it was quiet and hesitant singing, and after the energetic encouragement of the revered rabbi, the singing became strong and resounding, the singing of the ministering angels.
The genius and holy Rabbi Yehoshua of Galanta, may G-d avenge his blood, was one of the great scholars of the generation in Hungary whose light shone on the entire world.
Thousands of students and followers followed the light of this exalted tzaddik who combined in his leadership the ways of tzadikim (righteous people), being connected to the Torah of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Chasidism) and his students, along with the tradition of great Hungarian geniuses such as the Chatam Sofer and his students.
The Rebbe of Galanta disembarking a train
Different times, a different train…
A survivor from Galanta testified that at the end of the month of Sivan 5704 (spring 1944), when the Jews began to understand what was happening to them, all the Jews of the city gathered in the synagogue and wept bitterly. The gabbai (assistant in running the service) got up and said in tears: “I have served You, Master of the World, for over forty years, faithfully and devotedly. I understand that You were not happy with us, take back the keys to the synagogue!” And he put the key into the Torah ark and wept.
The holy Rebbe of Galanta heard this, and the words did not sit well in his eyes. There was in them a kind of defiance of G-d’s measures and a kind of indignation at His ways. The genius and holy man stood up and said with a great noise:
“Dear Jews! We are going to sanctify the Name of G-d. Not like the Nazis lie to us that we are led here, and go there, no! We are going to die for the sanctification of G-d’s Name.”
“We must fulfill this mitzvah happily”
The rabbi elaborated on the mitzvahs of sancitification of G-d’s Name, and his holy words left a strong impression on everyone.
This document was obtained by students and followers of the Rebbe of Galanta, but the rabbi did not want to hear about it. “I will sanctify the Name of G-d together with my community members. I don’t want to escape with my body!
On the day the Nazis deported the Jews of Galanta from the synagogue to the train station, the rabbi went at the head of the congregation and began with a cheerful song, the tune “Raninu Tzadikim” (The Righteous Sing Praises) which he sang enthusiastically every Shabbat night as was the custom of Sanz and Ropshitz chasidim.
Gentiles looked at the strange convoy and could not understand what made the Jews sing on their last journey.
(Testimony of Rabbi Shmuel Kraus, Brooklyn, NY)
According to another testimony, in the cattle car that the Rebbe of Galanta was in, the rabbi commanded the people to sing the song “Ashreinu Ma Tov Chelkeinu” (We Are Happy, How Good is Our Lot) and his singing was out of true joy and pure faith.
(Testimony of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Greenwald, heard from a Jew who heard the tune in the cattle car of that train)
From the Maalot newsletter, translated from the original Yiddish: On his last journey, the rabbi walked singing, for he was privileged to walk for the sanctification of G-d’s Name together with his holy community. The Rebbe of Toldot Aharon Chasidism used to dance the “Mitzvah Tantz” (chasidic dance at weddnigs) to a special melody that he heard that the Galanta Rebbe walked with as he was going to sanctify the Name of G-d.
In the train carriage, on the side, stood a young woman crying. She was a young woman who got married that week, and had never lit Shabbat candles yet. It was the eve of Shabbat then, and the rabbi assured her that she would be saved “and light many Shabbat candles.” The rabbi’s blessing was fulfilled.
On the way, in the train, the rabbi sung “Ani Maamin” (I Believe in the Coming of the Messiah), and he instilled joy and faith in his community. He told them: “We are going to heaven.”
An excerpt from Wikipedia:
In Sivan 5704 (spring 1944) an order was received to deport the Jews of Galanta to Birkenau. At the same time, permission was also received to release the head of the yeshiva and his family, permission given out of the high esteem he had even from the Nazis. However, the rabbi refused, and before the train left, he delivered an emotional sermon before his congregation on the subject of santifying the Name of G-d based on the words of the Sages: “‘With all your soul’ – even taking your soul.”
After the start of the train ride, the rabbi said that they are going to the “Garden of Eden” and asked his students and members of his congregation to join him in singing “Ani Maamin.” Before the train stopped in Auschwitz, he called to increase the volume of the singing. The rabbi perished on Sivan 26 in the Auschwitz extermination camp.
And here is an excerpt from Y. Tashur’s wonderful article in the Bais Yaakov newsletter in which the terrible journey of the rabbi and his students to the “Garden of Eden” is described.
(Bais Yaakov, Issue 74, “The Ani Maamin of the Rebbe of Galanta,” Y. Tashur)
And based on a testimony translated from the original Yiddish:
On the train, the rabbi said Ani Maamin with the Jews and said: “We are travelling straight to the Garden of Eden.” There was a small boy on the train and the boy asked “where are we going?” And the tzaddik (righteous one) answered: “To G-d!” He awakened the Jews and told them “let us cleanse ourselves of transgressions because soon we will be in the midst of Rabbi Akiva and his students.”
The rabbi and his community arrived in Auschwitz on Shabbat, Sivan 26. Immediately and with great joy, the rabbi recited the “Aleinu LeShabayach” (Let us Praise) prayer in his Shabbat clothing, and he was killed on the same day in sanctification of G-d’s Name, together with his community members.
At Ganzach Kiddush Hashem, we light a candle, study, and pray as an upliftment for the soul of the Rebbe, Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Yosef, and for the souls of his family, students, and community members. May G-d avenge their blood.
