For It Is For Your Sake that We Are Killed All The Time
"For it is for Your sake that we are killed all the time" (Psalms 44:23). Rabbi Yehuda says this is a woman and her seven sons, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, this is circumcision… By: Yaakov Rosenfeld In honour of the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of Rabbi Israel Spira, the Bluzhever Rebbe z"l, on the first of Cheshvan. The Bluzhever Rebbe, one of the greatest righteous men of the generation and one of the elders of the rebbes in the United States, was born on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the month) Cheshvan 5650 (1889) and passed away exactly one hundred years later, on his bir... Read more
Five Tractates
By: Yaakov Rosenfeld, Ganzach Kiddush Hashem "Even my wisdom stood before me," said Rabbi Chanina Bar Papa: Torah that I learned in 'af' was fulfilled for me" (interpretation: the Torah that was fulfilled in me is the same Torah that was learned in "af" - through suffering, sorrow and difficulty). It was the year 5707 (1947) in Jerusalem. Yaakov Tzvi stood behind the door and his weak fingers knocked lightly. He had been through a lot before he got there, and now his heart was beating, reverberating, much louder than his hesitant knocks on the door. Yaakov Tzvi, a Holocaust r... Read more
“We Are All Jews Here”
By: Ricki Prince Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds was born in 1919 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He courageously served his country in the American Army during both WWII and the Korean War. During WWII, Edmonds participated in the allied invasion of Europe. In December 1944, as part of the 106th Infantry Division – consisting of the 422nd, 423rd, and 424th Regiments – Edmonds landed in France and travelled across the country and into Belgium, near the German border. He fought in the now famous Battle of the Bulge, in which the Germans captured thousands of American soldiers. Edmonds and the other... Read more
Two Loaves on Yom Kippur Eve, Treblinka 5704/1943
By: Yaakov Rosenfeld, Ganzach Kiddush Hashem On the eve of Yom Kippur, Menachem went up to Mount Zion, recited Mincha and the confessional prayers, and sat down in a corner near the Chamber of the Holocaust memorial to eat a pre-fast meal. Menachem took out two slices of dry bread from his backpack, lifted them, and blessed them as is done with the two loaves of bread on Shabbat night, and then ate them in silence. The supervisor on the mountain observed his actions and did not refrain from asking: "What is the nature of this custom?" Then Menachem related the incident that happened... Read more
The Tune and the Embrace
Between Kosow and Vizhnitz... By: Yaakov Rosenfeld, Ganzach Kiddush Hashem In the year 5673 (1922-3), exactly 100 years ago, the genius and holy Rabbi Baruch Hager, later the Seret-Vizhnitzer Rebbe in Haifa, was crowned as the rabbi of the village of Polien Riskwa (Poienile de sub Munte) in the Marmorosh region of the Carpathian mountains. Rabbi Baruch Hager of Seret-Vizhnitz In the Carpathian mountains, the holy Baal Shem Tov's movement (Chassidism) was particularly unique. There, between Kosow and Vizhnitz, is the spring where the Baal Shem Tov immersed. There, among the ... Read more
