Today we take a look at the last paragraphs of Chapter 1 of Mesillas Yesharim. In paragraph 15 Rabbi Luzzatto says that one’s attention should be directed to the Creator and that one’s actions should have no other purpose than bringing oneself closer to the creator. Here, in my opinion, we should pay careful attention so that we do not fall into the trap of thinking that only Torah study will bring us closer to the Creator. There are many other mitzvot that we must try to fulfil. I think the idea is that even outside of Torah study we should keep in our background the question of whether an action is bringing one closer to the Creator or distancing us from him. Then to decide when…
“I have been living in Nowa Huta for the last four years. I moved here from Warsaw. Of course I have heard the history of its construction, the one from 70 years ago, but then I heard other things, other places. Because somehow there was a ‘Huta’ before ‘Huta’ ” says Grażyna Olewniczak, a retired journalist. “And once I heard a war story which I had never heard before and it was surprising. I started to look for information and it was not easy to find. It concerned the forced labour camp Baulager 15/XVI, which Germans had founded in the beginning of the 1940s on a very large area: approximately from Mogiła (ulica Klasztorna) to the Central Square. In 1941 the camp was divided into sub-camps: in…
BS”D 14 Iyar 5781 We follow on in Mesillas Yesharim and reach paragraph 14 of Chapter One. In this paragraph, R. Luzzatto states that the main purpose of one’s existence in the world is to do mitzvos, serve the Eternal and overcome problems. He then asserts that the pleasures of this world are meant to allow him to turn his heart towards the service that is his responsibility. It is very interesting to see how things can get lost in other languages and must be read in the original. The word in Hebrew in the text is pronounced “avodah” and carries very different emotional connotations and associations than “service” (the usual English translation). Service in English could be given as “sherut” in Hebrew, depending on the meaning.…
BS”D 13 Iyar 5781 The Armenian community, on 24 April, remembers the anniversary of the beginning of the extermination of its people. On 24 April 1915 the Turkish Minister for Internal Affaits, Talaat Pasza, gave the order for the mass deportations and the murders of Armenians. On that day, in Istambul, 2300 representatives of the Armenian elite were arrested and most were murdered. The deportation of Armenians who lived in Anatolia began on 27 May 1915. They were taken to Syria and Mesopotamia. The Turkish government decided to surround Armenian villages and those who were not murdered on the spot were sent to their death in marches in the desert. Most died of thirst and hunger. Others were thrown in precipices or had horseshoes nailed to their…
BS”D 11 Iyar 5781 Expanding further on Mesillas Yesharim we reach paragraph 11 of Chapter One. R. Luzzatto states that one should understand that the purpose of one’s creation is not one’s role in this world. The first argument is that sickness and death are inevitable. They are, and we keep trying to forget about what we know is certain. It will happen in any case, sooner or later. Yet, I believe we should do what is in our power make them come as late as we reasonably can. They happen because of the will of Hashem. Yet we should not just embrace nihilism and think that nothing is worth doing, since it will end in death. Is life just a thin immaterial surface between the before…
The Jewish Religious Community in Kraków, together with the public in general, does not approve that the place, where people of various nationalities and religions were murdered, be used for self-promotion and political goals. We consider the actions of Mateusz Jaśko, which provoke tension between the inhabitants of Kraków, shocking and irresponsible. In the Plaszow concentration camp many of our brethren, many of our neighbours, many of those who lived in Krakow, died. They belonged to various nationalities. They were brutally murdered. Those who survived were sent to extermination camps, where they met with an equally tragic fate. We do not give our approval for the actions taken by the above-mentioned person under the pretence of serving the population. The citizens of Kraków have the right to…
Jan Sehn was born on 22 April 1909 in Tuszowy Maly. He was a Polish lawyer, a judge and a professor of Penal Law at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the director of the Forensic Institute in Krakow and the President of the Commission of Investigation for Nazi Crimes in Krakow. He was an investigation judge in many trials for war crimes, among which those of Amon Goeth, Rudolf Hoess and Joseph Buehler. He died on 12 December 1965 in Frankfurt while preparing the new Auschwitz trial. He is buried in the Rakowicki cemetery in Krakow. The Forensic insitute bears his name since 1966. Filip Ganczak wrote a book about him and gave an interview in English: https://polishhistory.pl/jan-sehn-polands-forgotten-nazi-hunter/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Sehn . Text Dr D Cohen
Based from https://radio.lublin.pl/2020/11/mogila-w-lesie-krepieckim/ The Krepiecki Woods, 6 km from Lublin, is a place that holds the memory of about 30,000 murdered Jews. A collctive tombstone and monument is in the Woods about 500 metres from a service road, parallel to road S17. It is the place of burial of Jews from the Majdanek Ghetto as well as of Poles, Russians and of prisoners of the Majdanek camp and of the castle of Lublin of various nationalities. Documents show that the first murders took place there on 21-22 April 1942. Germans shot about 2800 Jews. The peak was reached on 3 November 1943, when Germans shot around 18,000 Jews. The Krepiecki woods were also used to murder prisoners who, during slave work in the fields, tried to escape.…
Dwojra Grynberg, known also as Wiera Gran or Vera Gran, the daughter of Elias and Luba, a theatre and film actress, was born on 20 April 1915 in Bialystok. She sang in Polish and French. She was the muse of the Warsaw Ghetto and persecuted after the war, accused of collaborating with the Germans and eventually found not guilty. The life of the talented young artist, who was deprived of her family by the war and who wherever in the world she went, faced a wall of ill-will, resistance and enmity, was tragic. More information in English can be found in the Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiera_Gran She died on 19 November 2007 in Paris, may she rest in peace. Text and layout Dr D Cohen
BS”D 8 Ijar 5781 Ludwik Herz (22), Lonek Lindenberger (24), Beniamin Rose (23), Rutch Joachisman (21) and Henryk Unterbuch (42) were murdered in Nowy Targ on 20 April 1946.1 The victims were made to stand on the side of the road and then were executed. Henryk Unterbuch was the one who – according to the testimony of the driver, Henryk Hałgas – tried to escape. He was shot in the head and chest. The victims were robbed. Right after the murder, another car was stopped, a bus full of people, among them a policeman as well as a sergeant of the border guard unit stationed in the town of Nidzica. After an identification check all passengers were released. [The soldiers] also stopped a truck driven by Wojciech…