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The Pillar of Chesed: Reb Elimelech "Mike" Tress
by Mordecai Plaut
This was first published in 1992, 33 years ago.
For Part I of this series click here.
Reb Elimelech Tress was for many years president of Zeirei Agudath Israel and then administrative president of Agudath Israel of America. He set a shining example of self-sacrifice for klal Yisroel that has inspired many, including his own children. He was niftar fifty-eight years ago on 2 Tammuz, at the untimely age of 57.
Part 2
The Last Years
Throughout, Mike was always willing to help with every dovor bekedusha and in awe of every odom godol. But he was patient and respectful of everyone.
In his last years he was very sick and often in tremendous pain. Yet he always listened patiently to whomever wanted to speak to him. And many did want to speak with him.
There was Rabbi Kamiyon, a talmid chochom who came to U.S. after the war, a broken person. He never married or led a normal life, drifting from place to place. He would come to Mike to talk, and Mike would listen and listen. He was not the only one. Mike would sit with head in his hands, massaging himself to relieve the pain.
His passing left a void that the leaders he trained had to strain to fill, but his memory will always be cherished by the thousands whose lives he touched. HaRav Stern sums up his personal memories: "There is no question about it that he was one of the yichidei hador of that generation."
Setting the Record Straight
by Gershon Kranzler
Following are excerpts from an article about Elimelech Tress written by one of those who knew his work firsthand. First published in the Jewish Observer in 1971, it was also chosen for inclusion in their 25th anniversary edition representing their choice of the many important articles they published over the years.
The full story of the rescue operations during the decade surrounding World War II has never been told. When the tens of thousands of pages of documents and correspondence are sifted through and the heartbeat of frenzied activity is recorded in cold type, one name will dominate: Reb Elimelech Gavriel Tress z"l. "Mike," as he was fondly called, ignited a group of young idealistic Agudists with the single-minded mission of devoting their every waking hour to one purpose — the saving of lives.
Their base of operation was a shabby brownstone building at 616 Bedford Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, which served as the national headquarters of Zeirei Agudath Israel, forerunner of the Agudath Israel movement in this country. As a result of the efforts of this band of dedicated young people, thousands of Jews were saved from death, and millions of pounds of food and vital supplies were sent to the remnants of Europe's war-torn Jewry; all this while huge "major" rescue agencies were paralyzed by the reels of red tape and bureaucratic stodginess that were strewn in their path.
For the sake of truth, and for the sake of the overwhelming ahavas Yisroel of one great Jew, and of the men around him, the masses of young and middle-aged chaveirim whom he roused to action, we must not remain silent. Let the Jewish world know that there was an American-born young Jew who died much too young because he sacrificed himself for the klal. He gave all of himself and inspired others to do the same so that the thousands who now crowd Williamsburg, Boro Park, Queens, Monsey, Bnei Brak, and Jerusalem, the thriving centers of living Judaism, were saved, found jobs, and got a start on building life over again.
Make no mistake: "Mike" Tress zt"l, and Zeirei and Agudath Israel were not the only ones who wrought miracles with their limited means. There were also such giants of rescue work as Dr. Griffel, Rabbi Eliezer Silver z"l and the Vaad Hatzoloh, and many others...
Mike Tress in 1946 upon his return from Europe, asking for support
Whatever we did attempt to do was yet so little, considering the magnitude of the catastrophe, the monstrousness of the crimes, and the gigantic challenges that were not met. Still, our children need not be ashamed when the cry is raised:
Where was your ahavas Yisroel? What did you do when your brothers died by the thousands, day in, day out?
Stand up, my chaveirim! Say testimony to the Jewish world that Mike — and we all — cared. Join me once more in that dusty, dingy, but grand old building at 616 Bedford Avenue, in the heart of Williamsburg, where we struggled and worked so feverishly, devotedly, wholeheartedly; where we fought and out-thought the big and the mighty to save Jewish lives; where we even were mechalel Shabbos, when the occasion demanded it, when R' Aaron zt"l asked us to — for example — when our revered Chaver R' Gedaliah Schorr, shlita[zt"l], flew to Washington on Friday night!
Recall those times when we did not go to sleep for nights on end to mass-produce documents for affidavits, emergency-visas — legally and not so legally. When there was no money to pay the glorious weekly salaries of eight, ten, or twelve dollars for the secretaries we began to hire, until we had a staff of almost fifty workers in those crowded rooms at 616 Bedford Avenue.
Remember when Mike Tress spent his personal money, sold block after block of valuable stocks, to keep the machine running — after he had set it up with his own desk and typewriter, in the little room on the ground floor.
Mrs. K., you will be happy to attest to this fact: You could tell what you reminded us of so many times in subsequent years, whenever we met. The Red Cross, the HIAS, and all the others had told you that nothing could be done for your husband who was caught in Finland at the very beginning of the War. Your bitter tears inspired us to send a cable to the King of Sweden, who dispatched a personal representative to Helsinki to bring your husband to Stockholm. From there we got him to the U.S. with an affidavit. Now you have a wonderful Jewish family, talmidei chachomim, grandchildren, because Mike cared and did not give up when others did.
But it was our chaveirim who made it possible. The S. Brothers, fledgling lawyers: Louis, Sol and their brothers beginning their flourishing accounting practice; Reb Dovid, who had done so much admirable pioneer work in England and in this country, and then helped us organize our work. All the other chaveirim from the Bronx, Brownsville, and the East-Side, who gave us days, and weeks, around the clock, guiding us, giving us technical advice... who worked with, went along with Mike, as he struck out for new avenues of aid, new daring schemes and large-scale organizational campaigns, because his and their ahavas Yisroel did not let them rest in the face of the growing catastrophe.
There were also the then-young chaveirim of our older Pirchei group, from our Nathan Birnbaum Group. They can tell the children of today how they canvassed congregations, learning to become public speakers, legal experts on affidavits, on international diplomatic regulations, using the skills Mike had taught them, to canvass communities for help, for affidavits, for potential yeshiva bochurim and other causes.
There was HaRav Gedaliah Schorr, shlita[zt"l], our foremost teacher and leader in those years. He had just returned from Kletzk at the outbreak of the war, and was inspiration and conscience to Mike and all of us. He could [have told] his thousands of talmidim of our open and secret activities, of his work for and with Reb Aaron zt"l, with Reb Reuven zt"l, and with HaRav Kalmanowitz zt"l, whose historic genius at mobilizing hearts and hands to help was even effective among the most hard-boiled of Washington's officials.
Remember that first speech Rav Schorr made on Shabbos, at the Zeirei Agudath Israel Minyan at 616! A cable had arrived just before nightfall when we had gathered for Kabbolas Shabbos. The next morning, before Krias HaTorah, he stepped in front of the bimah and beat his fist on the table. With tears streaming down his face — and our own faces — he screamed: How dare we follow our own personal pursuits at a time like this? Where is your conscience? Jewish lives can be bought for money, and you think of jobs, careers? You have the heart to sit and learn when each moment may be too late?
So come forth, Mr. Josef Rosenberg — thanks to whose mesirus nefesh we can proudly display the non-Shatnez labels in our garments. You rescued a mitzvah from being "stepped-on," as you said so often. Come forth and testify, for you were among the first when we established the Refugee Home at 616, where you began your work for the Klal "with microscope and inspiration," with your insuppressible idealism. Tell today's generation that Mike and the chaveirim of Zeirei Agudath Israel cared.
You, too - the two brothers from Frankfurt. Tell the jury of Jewish history how Mike sent you to yeshiva and later set you up in business; tell them how there were sometimes as many as ten or more eating in Mike's newly-established home, when he was blessed with a life partner who shared his boundless ahavas Yisroel.
Mike Tress with Hungarian refugees in 1956
Come forth — you, the successful precious-metal dealer from Long Island; tell them about your work in the early years of the war, when you came — the only one saved from your family — how Mike started a new department to set you and your friends up in business. Tell them how we bought you that first rickety panel truck. Tell them what Mike did for your friend, now a textile tycoon, and for his little sister, for whom he found a warm home that sent her through school, gave her love and care, until she married, and who now has a wonderful family of her own.
Mr. S., of blessed memory, from your place on high, testify through your wife and children. Surely you must have told them how Mike sat with you, as with the scores of others, when you arrived despondent, looking with you at the picture of your family left behind in that small German town. Mike got you your first job and kept his promise; he brought them all the U.S. — each of your wonderful daughters now married to a talmid chochom, your wife the matron of a dynasty of children and grandchildren all bnei Torah.
Rav Mordechai Schwab, [shlita] zt"l — remember the evening you and a group of your chaveirim each one a godol baTorah, arrived in the U.S.? You came to our downtown office, into the midst of an executive meeting, threw down your raincoat, ran over to the smiling young man pointed out to you as Mike Tress. You embraced him and each one of us, with tears in your gentle eyes... The brief speech you made then on behalf of the hundreds of your chaveirim about the ahavas Yisroel and chessed of the group of young men, Mike at their head!
Of course, it was not Mike alone. It was all of the chaveirim of Zeirei and Agudath Israel, who raised funds, ran emergency campaigns, cajoled business associates, customers, suppliers to give ads, provide training, clothes, affidavits, or whatever else was needed. So many of you helped set up so many others in business... You opened your homes and hearts to us when we arrived — strangers in a new, hostile world — hurt, lonely, full of traumas that no psychiatrist could cure. When all of you, Mike at your head, put your arms around me, took us into the circle of the Yom tov rikkudim, it was worth more than any medicine or treatment.
At first it was only our chaveirim. Gradually Mike broadened and widened the circle of those who worked with him, called on him for help, and became his close associates, friends, admirers. They were your chassidim, Reb Elimelech, though no one showed more deference and reverence for them than you.
The sainted Boyaner, the Kapitshenitzer, the old and the young Novominsker, ylc"t, the Modzitzer, the Stropkover, those who had been in the U.S. before, and those who joined the ranks of the Admorim during and after the war, from the least known to the most famous. The Satmar and Lubavitcher Rebbes — worked with you, treated you with the kind of respect reserved for few "Amerikaner."
Soon your Yiddish became as eloquent as your flawless English, and you were able to cast the magic of your wholehearted call for help over huge audiences that ranged from Hungarian chassidim to the most assimilated American Jews.
But not only the Chassidic world: some of the greatest names of the past and present world of Gedolei HaTorah were among Mike's guides, co-workers, and admirers. There was Rabbi Eliezer Silver zt"l, who commuted by plane from one part of the country to the other, and from one corner of the world to the next to help organize our rescue work... Rabbi Feivel Mendelowitz zt"l, the great mentor and molder of generations of Torah scholars was among our greatest supporters; he opened for us the doors to outstanding community leaders who were his personal chassidim...
The almost legendary Reb Michoel Ber Weismandel zt"l the superb scholar and Kabbalist who single-handedly fought the S.S. extermination machine, jumped from trains destined for concentration camps to organize resistance — he, too, was one of Mike's great admirers and guides in our growing work — from his arrival in this country at the close of the War until his untimely death.
The most famous names of the yeshiva world were the most intimate co-workers, HaRav Aaron Kotler, HaRav Reuven Grozovsky, HaRav Elye Meir Bloch, HaRav Motel Katz, HaRav Kalmanowitz — giants of the Jewish spiritual world, who build new fortresses of Torah scholarship in America... It was Mike Tress and our officers of Zeirei and Agudath Israel that were privileged to work with them, as they changed the intellectual climate of Jewish America in the decades after their arrival; as they produced the miraculous renaissance of a high level Torah chinuch in the U.S., from the remnants and embers of the great East European Jewish centers of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary.
A last fleeting reminiscence! When we printed our first modest stationery, Mike chose the famous quote to be placed at the bottom: "He who saves a soul in Israel saved an entire World!" It was to guide him and direct our work as the beacon of light that he had help up for all of us to follow.
History books may never record it. But to the thousands to whom it brought hope and a chance to rebuild life anew, it is emblazoned into the very fabric of their hearts and souls. May it serve as an inspiration and obligation for our children to perpetuate a record of modest, yet vital achievement far beyond the keenest expectations, simply because there were those who cared.
Dr. Gershon Kranzler zt"l, educator and author, was a Hebrew Day School principal for twenty years. He is a professor of sociology in Towson State College and John Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Md. Dr. Kranzler is one of those activists who was inspired by Mr. Tress and worked alongside him during the early years of his hatzoloh work and organization.
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