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Warsaw: A Microcosm of Polish Jewry: Eighty-Five Years Since the Erection of The Wall of The Warsaw Ghetto
by S. Cohen
A Warsaw Cheder in 1917
Part I
This article was first published 30 years ago.
For Part II of this series click here.
The Beginning of The End
Eighty-five years ago, on April 2, 1940, the Germans began erecting the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto. This fact is not just another stale item in the annals of Jewish history. The erection of the wall that would enclose the future Ghetto, and the eventual transfer of Jews into it, is a segment of history which should not be forgotten.
Warsaw was once the metropolis of Polish Jewry. It was the home of the largest community in Europe. Nearly three hundred and fifty thousand Jews made their home in Warsaw. Many were eminent rabbonim, tzadikim and talmidei chachomim.
The cobblestone streets of Warsaw were trod by anshei emes, ohavei Hashem and yirei Elokim, and people said that the Shechina permeated its atmosphere. One could sense the kedusha in the lives of Warsaw's inhabitants and a sense of internal unity pervaded it.
Warsaw was a nucleus for limud Torah, a stronghold for chassidus and Jewish vitality. The shtiblach and batei midrash of Warsaw once resounded with Torah at all hours of the day and night. The teeming streets and alleyways once echoed the lofty aspirations of the Jew: to serve Hashem Yisborach beleiv sholeim.
When the Nazis began erecting this wall, it was the beginning of the end of this cherished legacy of Warsaw. Although World War II actually began in 1939, the segregation of Jews into ghettos was not carried out until 1940. Once the Jews were separated from the non-Jews and collected in one place, the Nazis could proceed `more efficiently' with their Final Solution.
Many perished in the Warsaw Ghetto after a harrowing struggle. Those who survived, were deported to concentration camps in 1942 and 1943. All of Warsaw's shuls and yeshivos were decimated. Hundreds of sifrei Torah and sifrei kedusha were lost or desecrated. Nearly one quarter of a million kedoshim perished because of their Jewishness. The atrocities of the Germans were incredible, the solidarity and spirit of the Yidden was phenomenal.
Hundreds of kehillos in Europe experienced the same horrible suffering in the Holocaust, and by selecting this one city that was annihilated in WWII, we can give an in depth review of the specific hardships encountered there. Moreover, Warsaw was a microcosm of frum Polish Jewry in that period.
In particular, studying the tragedy of the Warsaw Ghetto affords us insights into the spiritual resistance of the Jews. While secular Holocaust literature is replete with legends of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the physical resistance, much less is known about the intrepid spiritual resistance of Warsaw Jewry and the mesiras nefesh to keep Torah and mitzvos in a labyrinth of agony.
This is far more significant for us, as it affords us a dramatic illustration of fulfillment of Hashem's will. It fortifies our inner reserves to live for this sacred mission; leyir'o, le'ovdo, ule'ahavo (to fear Him, to serve Him and to love Him). In this way, studying the Warsaw Ghetto can affect our lives forever.
A map of Europe showing Warsaw
Prewar: Warsaw In the 1800s
The influx of thousands of Jewish refugees during World War I into Warsaw had a big effect on its Jewish community, but even in previous years, Warsaw was populated by prominent Jewish leaders and talmidei chachomim.
In 1809, a Jewish quarter was established in Warsaw which in some ways resembled the future Warsaw Ghetto by virtue of its setting boundaries to the Jewish settlement. Only upper class Jews were permitted to live outside of it: doctors, merchants, bankers and army suppliers. These Jews were obligated to read and write Polish, French and German, and to send their children to non- Jewish schools.
By the late 1800s, misnagdim arrived in Warsaw from Lithuania, Belorussia and the Ukraine after the harsh pogroms there. Chassidim also arrived with their Admorim. Warsaw became a Jewish city, and the Jews were a major asset to the Polish economy. They became shopkeepers, landowners, peddlers, and bankers.
Although the Haskoloh movement invaded Warsaw, it did not thrive there and ninety percent of all Jewish children went to learn in cheder, not Polish public schools!
In part, the reason that the Haskoloh movement did not grow as it wanted to, was due to the inferior standard of the Haskoloh literature in Warsaw, which could not sway the masses. On top of this, the frum community in Warsaw included very accomplished talmidei chachomim whose deep roots in Yiddishkeit were evident right from the start. Warsaw was a mokom Torah.
Warsaw erev Sukkot
World War I
World War I in Europe altered social and economic conditions all over Europe, and Poland was no different. Thousands of refugees began arriving in Warsaw, and by 1917, forty percent of the Warsaw population was Jewish. While the German occupation of Poland brought political relief, the surging immigration increased economic distress.
The Jews in Warsaw suffered most from the massive influx of refugees. The Polish authorities were openly antisemitic and did not legislate economic issues in favor of the Jews. Many Jews were unemployed. Unemployment coupled with severe antisemitism did nothing to raise the morale of the Jews.
Soon, the Jews were pressured to emigrate to Eretz Yisroel, then known as Palestine. Leaving Warsaw for Eretz Yisroel was a difficult undertaking for a Jew, but many gedolim, admorim and rabbonim encouraged it.
The Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter, known as the Imrei Emes, advised many to leave Poland. Rabbi Yitzchok Zelig Morgenstern of Sokolov-Kotzk also shared this viewpoint. Many did leave at this time, and a group of Warsaw chassidim founded Kfar Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel.
Rabbi Klonimus Kalman Spira of Favyanitz arrived in Warsaw in the wake of World War I, as well as many others including Rabbi Yerachmiel Taub of Zvolin, Rabbi Yisroel Spira of Grodznisk, Rabbi Uri Ashkenazi of Parisov and Rabbi Eliezer of Volmin. Rabbi Shlomo Dovid Kahana became a leading posek halocho in Warsaw. (He survived the Holocaust and eventually became the rav in the Old City of Jerusalem).
Rav Menachem Ziemba, the illustrious gaon of Poland, arrived and eventually became the leader of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Rav Tzvi Yechezkel Michelson arrived from Plonsk and is still reputed for his seforim Beis Yechezkel, Pinos Habayis, and Tirosh VeYitzar. It was said that in this period, every street of Warsaw could boast its own gaon or rebbe and many rebbes were identified by their addresses: The Mila Street Rebbe, the Pavia Street Rebbe, the Nizka Street Rebbe.
The association of Orthodox Rabbis of Poland called the Agudas HaRabbonim included frum rabbonim from all parts of Poland. Many were prominent leaders and talmidei chachomim. They deliberated on all matters of frum Jewish life. Nearly one thousand rabbonim comprised this Aguda and its headquarters was in Warsaw. This fact alone reveals that Warsaw was a leading frum community in Poland.
A street in a Jewish area of Warsaw - 1920s
The Warsaw Kehilla Before World War II
Understanding the tragedy of the annihilation of Warsaw requires a grasp of the prominence of the Torah kehilla there. In every sphere of Jewish life, Warsaw was a leading frum kehilla.
Warsaw maintained a Jewish hospital, a frum old age home, and a Jewish orphanage directed by frum people. The Warsaw kehilla had its own free kitchens for the poor and special Jewish shelters for the homeless. Many chesed organizations existed in Warsaw, many private and public charities.
Chevras Mevakrim was a group of Warsaw Yidden who would visit the sick people in the hospital or at home in an attempt to lift their morale. "Gut Shabbos Yiddalach" was another private charity devised by simple Jews to collect food for the needy. Every Erev Shabbos, the Gut Shabbos Yiddalach group would circulate in Warsaw with baskets of groceries and fruit and knock on the doors of fellow workers to distribute the provisions to the needy.
Up until the outbreak of the War, nine large mikva'os operated in Warsaw under the strict supervision of leading rabbonim. Although they were privately operated, if an individual could not afford the designated fee, he could request a certificate from a tzedoko organization called "Tabi." The individual then entered free-of-charge and Tabi reimbursed the mikveh owners.
Shechita in Warsaw was performed at the highest standard. All shochetim had to be appointed from the Rabbonus and to receive the consent of the kehilla. Every shochet received a written document granting him permission to shecht.
Before the war, twenty-six shochtei-ofos worked in the special slaughter houses on Bazan Yaruch Street, 44 Zamanhuf Street, 1 Tvarda Street and more. Every Erev Yom Tov and Erev Yom Kippur, large quantities of chickens were slaughtered and distributed to the needy.
In 1914, an organization called Ahavas Torah VeYiras Shomayim was founded. Rav Yitzchok Dovid Margulies, a benevolent Jew, saw the plight of the poor Jews. To this end, he set up a small cabinet in the shul and asked each of the mispallelim to contribute a small portion of their daily bread for the destitute. Each day between Mincha and Ma'ariv, he would open up the cabinet and distribute bread to the needy.
Eventually, a group of simple Jews asked him to form a learning group. Shoemakers, tailors, weavers, artisans and even youth with poor background in Torah learning — all joined Rav Yitzchok Dovid each evening to learn Ein Yaakov. The number of his talmidim soon doubled and he had to move his shiurim to the local Beis Midrash. The bochurim in the group received <>I>Sholosh Seudas and seudas Melave Malka in a congenial atmosphere.
In Warsaw, there were several Litvishe yeshivos: Emek Halocho, Mesivta, Yeshiva al shem Rav Yeshayale Prager, and Toras Emes. The local Yeshiva Beis Yosef was an acclaimed Litvishe yeshiva and there the bochurim learned the standard program of gemora, halocho, and sifrei mussar. Limud mussar in the yeshiva included Mesillas Yeshorim, Chovos Halevovos, mussar of Rav Yisroel Salanter and mussar of gedolei Novardok. Toras Chaim was the Litvishe yeshiva named for the gaon Rav Chaim Brisker zt"l, and the rosh hayeshiva, Rav Herschilla Glickson, was Rav Chaim's son-in-law. The Litvishe boys were very strict about wearing very long tzitzis.
Nearly a thousand Warsaw bochurim learned in the shtiblach, chassidishe yeshivos and batei midroshim. Many learned in the shtiblach of Gur, but others learned in Sochotchov, Alexander and Radomsk. The shtiblach of Gur were at 19 Nalavoki Street, and at 57 Habarzel Street, the beis midrash of the Chidushei HaRim, Rav Yitzchok Meir Rottenberg. Da'as Moshe was another yeshiva under the hanholo of the Admor of Piesesstna and had three hundred bochurim, while Beis Avrohom of Sochotchov had one hundred.
Young boys up to bar mitzva age learned in chadorim which were centrally organized by Agudas Yisroel under the name of Yesodei HaTorah. (Originally this organization was called Agudas HaOrtodoksim and later called Shlomei Emunei Yisroel.) The chadorim patterned themselves after the traditional cheder model of Eastern Europe.
Warsaw was traditionally a center for publication of seforim, books and periodicals. When the frum community increased in Warsaw following World War I, the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Alter, encouraged the publication of a frum newspaper and soon Das Yiddische Tagblatt was published by Agudas Yisroel.
Subsequently, a number of frum newspapers and periodicals began to appear: Haderech, Beis Yaakov and others. Hapardes was soon founded by Rav Shmuel Aharon Pardes and it was a collection of articles on gemora and halocho.
A sukkah in Warsaw - 1930s
Shabbos
Shabbos in Warsaw was truly me'ein Olam Habo, an intangible fragment of the World to Come. The oneg Shabbos was palpable, the serenity was sensed. Lecha Dodi was accompanied by fervent singing and exalted rejoicing. The passionate voice of the shli'ach tsibur resounded through the windows of the Warsaw shul and beckoned the bystanders to join the evening minyan. The young children delighted in the Oneg Shabbos as they donned their fresh garments and the boys joined their fathers in shul. A Shabbos in Warsaw was truly Menuchoh vesimcha ohr la'Yehudim.
End of Part I
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