The woman ran home and returned with the shofar. “There we were,” said Bubba, “two women who were little girls in Bergen Belsen clutching the shofar in the mountains of Eretz Yisrael!”)
Toward the end of the war the Jews hoped the Allies would at the very least bomb the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz. The response was a firm “NO. ” Even so, when the war was over Bubba thought all the nations of the world would open their gates and welcome the battered remnant.
But it didn’t happen that way. From Bergen Belsen Bubba and her family were taken to a displaced person’s camp in Switzerland. Unbelievably, even there in Switzerland there was a lack of compassion and understanding. Bubba and her brother Yanki were separated from their parents and even from each other. Bubba was sent to the French portion of Switzerland while her brother was placed in the German part. Zaida and Mamma and Uncle Brudy were in still another DP camp.
Zaida was determined to go to Eretz Yisrael but the British were in control and issued only a small number of visas. After two years of waiting, Zaida and Mamma decided they would go to America; Mamma had a sister there who sent papers that would allow them entrance.
The family took up residence in a cellar apartment in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Zaida built a yeshiva because he was determined to bring Torah to our people. He always encouraged Bubba to teach other children Torah. So the path to Bubba’s worldwide kiruv work with Hineni was planted in her heart by Zaida early on.
Over the years my Bubba has brought a tremendous number of Jews back to Torah. Bubba has spoken in many countries and when she spoke in Hungary she went to visit the city of her birth, Szeged. She was shocked when she saw the home she had lived in.
She’d always thought her family had a nice size apartment but to her surprise Bubba discovered it consisted of merely three rooms. The kitchen where her mother had baked and cooked for hundreds of people was a tiny space, testifying that it is not the place but the heart of a Jew that makes a difference.
That concludes my granddaughter’s report. You might want to share these stories with your family and friends at the Seder table, especially with younger people.
Yes, we were slaves in Egypt but we emerged from that darkness to go to Sinai where G-d placed His Divine Light in our souls. That light became part of our DNA. It’s called the pintele Yid. It is forever there and it is capable of piercing the densest darkness. We must only switch it on and the light of Torah will shine for us.
My heartfelt best wishes to each and every one of you and to Klal Yisrael for a zissen Pesach – chag kasher v’sameach!