Chaim Yitzchok would later recount in his diary how his wife Chayale’s words reinforced his faith: “It is a bitter decree, and we are no exception,” she stated. “Hashem granted us Alte’le as a gift and took her back. We must strengthen ourselves.”
As additional family members were killed, Chaim Yitzchok noted from his hideout, “The only solace we find here to dispel the pain, are the volumes of Mishnah, Gemara, and other sefarim in the loft. At least we can learn Mishnayos as a merit for the heilige neshamos [holy souls]. And in the endless sea of the Talmud, this petty and insignificant world fades into nothingness.”
Tragically, Chaim Yitzchok was discovered and killed in June 1944, but his tear-soaked diary survived, attesting to his short but meaningful life full of emunah and devotion to Hashem.
Both of these diaries will be on display for the first time at the upcoming annual KFHEC Tisha B’Av event as part of a historical exhibit, Holocaust and Rebirth.
Some of the other artifacts include a child’s tzitzis from the Beregszász Ghetto, a pair of tefillin that was smuggled and used in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and the ledger of the Chevra Kadisha in Bergen Belsen formed after the war. More than 13,000 liberated prisoners died in Bergen Belsen after liberation from malnourishment, disease, and improper medical care. The names of many of those victims were recorded in the ledger.
The display on rebirth will include a lace-edged baby tunic that was sewn by a survivor for her son born in the Heidenheim Displaced Persons Camp, and a Bais Yaakov lesson plan book from the Föhrenwald Displaced Persons Camp. Due to a shortage of supplies in the immediate aftermath of the war, the lesson plans were written on a recycled Nazi inventory book.
The scope and significance of the upcoming event is unique. It powerfully displays the unswerving bitachon and spiritual strength of those facing indescribable persecution during the Holocaust as well as unimaginable challenges while trying to transition from mourning to morning in its aftermath, seventy years ago.
I would like to personally invite the readers of this article to attend. Mourning to Morning will take place this Sunday, July 26, at Ateres Golda Hall, 1362 50th Street, in Borough Park. Exhibit viewing hours will be 1:30 to 2:30 pm for women and 4:30 to 5:30 pm for men. The program will run from 2:30-4:30 pm and feature Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Dachau Liberator US Sergeant (Ret.) Seymour Kaplan, and a KFHEC video premiere. For more information, visit www.kfhec.org or call 718-759-6200.
It will truly be a “view of the front line.”
