Escape
On September 1, 1939, World War Two
began with the German attack on Poland.
In the same year, Britain, the
world power which occupied the Land of Israel, or Palestine as it was called
then, issued a “White Paper” which effectively became the death knell of
hundreds of thousands of Jews.
The “White Paper” (a statement of
official government foreign policy, printed on white paper) stated that only
75,000 Jews were to be allowed into Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) between
1939–1945. Although Britain of course didn’t know it yet, these were to be the
exact years of the war when the Jewish people needed access to the Land of
Israel more than at any time in history. Britain actually issued this paper to
appease the Arabs, because Britain needed Arab oil. They also wanted to spread
their own political influence and control in the Arab world.
Any boats caught trying to enter
the harbors of Palestine with illegal immigrants were turned away and forced to
return to Europe. Many Jews in Eretz Yisrael did everything they could to help
smuggle in Jews who swam to shore under the cover of night from boats docked
far enough off shore to escape detection by the British. Unfortunately, most
boats were discovered, intercepted, and returned.
After 1939, every country in the world closed its doors to
the large numbers of Jews desperately trying to escape. Only the city of
Shanghai, in China, remained open for those Jews who could afford to get there.
Twenty-five thousand Jews did.
Jews throughout Nazi-occupied
Europe were forbidden any pleasures of life. No cars or bicycles; no riding on
trams (buses); no telephones; no going to movies. The “Jewish star” or badge
was introduced and all Jews, including children, were required to wear it at
all times.
The Ghettos
By late 1940, most of the Jews in
Eastern Europe were concentrated in specific sections of each city, called
“ghettos.” The ghettos were situated in the poorest section of each city, a
slum, near the railway station. The Jews were so severely overcrowded that several
families lived together in one small room! The sanitary conditions were
horrible, no one was able to have any real privacy, and food distribution was
cut down to starvation rations. In Warsaw the Germans allowed the Jews only 220
calories a day, about 10–15 percent of the normal daily requirement.
All Jewish religious life was
either strictly curtailed or completely forbidden. Nevertheless, all forms of
Jewish life continued secretly and with great sacrifice. This included Torah
learning; daily davening; schools, libraries, and choirs for children; wedding
ceremonies; and counseling in Jewish law. The Warsaw Ghetto alone had over six
hundred minyanim!
Great rabbanim in Lithuania and
Poland were consulted for answers to agonizing halachic questions. These
questions spoke of the great suffering and also of the great faith of the
Eastern European Jews, even in the moments of their greatest despair.
Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, in his
responsa from the Holocaust, left us a collection of very difficult shailos
(halachic questions) he was asked in the ghetto of Kovno, Lithuania. Some
examples are: Is a Jew allowed to endanger his own life by going to the
non-Jewish authorities in order to beg for the release of other Jews? What is
the appropriate act of teshuvah for Jews who were forced to publicly tear apart
a Torah scroll for the burial of dogs and cats? Is there a way to fulfill the
mitzvah of drinking the four cups at the seder when there is no wine? For
example, can sweetened tea be used? May a parent give his child to non-Jews in
the hope of saving the child’s life?
For Polish Jewry, the period of
ghettoization lasted for two years, and for some Jews even longer. From
1940–1942 the Jews of Poland were locked up in these virtual prisons. Leaving
the ghetto for any reason was absolutely forbidden, upon penalty of death.
Buy The War Against G-d and His People by Rabbi Shmuel Burstein at a special online price at www.targum.com
