There Were Women Who…

By R. L. Arzi
Photos: Yossi Percia/COLlive

On Sunday night I was greeted by an aidel and friendly young lady who smilingly pointed to an empty seat, one of the students of Bnos Chomesh in Crown Heights. I was impressed that a small school like this managed to organize such a meaningful and powerful event – and I was impressed by her.

In an event hosted and sponsored by Bnos Chomesh and chaired by Devorah Leah Rosenfeld, the crowd of close to 300 women and girls heard stories of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, whose birthday is on the 28th of Teves, and her mesiras nefesh for Torah and Yiddishkeit.

The three mitzvos given to women, which the name Chana is an acronym for, were shown to have a strong connection with making a dwelling place for Hashem in this World, through a powerful sicha of the Rebbe.

As Devorah Leah explained, the Rebbe distinguishes between making a “Dirah B’tachtonim,” and what it takes to make a “Dirah No-eh,” a pleasant, lovely dwelling. That level is achieved specifically through the avodah of women and girls. Just as women are more likely to concern themselves with the beauty of their physical homes, the three particular mitzvos of women are the ones that create a “Dirah No-eh B’tachtonim” for the Aibishter.

Then Mrs. Ruth Lichtenstein, publisher of the Hamodia daily and founder of the Holocaust educational resource center known as Project Witness, explained to spellbound Crown Heights women that there is an untold story resting quietly among all the Holocaust stories, just waiting to be told and explored.

It is the story of the women. The women who faced extraordinary challenges– different from the men’s challenges—and overcame them with great inner strength and clarity.

To begin with, the women were the ones who had to deal with pregnancy and childcare. The Nazis made laws forbidding Jewish women to give birth. They were ordered to abort. Rabbanim allowed it, because the baby was considered a “rodef,” one who would cause the mother’s death.

There were the few who stood up to the order to terminate their pregnancies. These women gave birth under horrible, life-threatening circumstances. Many women died. Many babies died.

In most cases the women were dealing alone with the challenge, the decisions, the abortions or the births. Their husbands, fathers, brothers, had been taken away.

The Ben Who Survived

One woman gave birth to a baby boy but wanted to postpone making a bris until the war would end. She knew that she could more easily hide in the Aryan population if the baby was uncircumcised. But then she decided she would not only have the bris but have it with a minyan of men. She explained, “This will be a zchus for my husband to survive and come back to us.”

Another woman was threatened that if she didn’t abort, she would be denied medical care of any sort. She gave birth anyway, in a closet. The baby was named Benzion. She cared for Ben for three months, then she and her husband put him, sedated, into a suitcase, and that is how he was thrown over the ghetto wall into the waiting arms of a non-Jewish woman who would care for him until liberation.

After liberation, the non-Jewish woman gave him to his aunt and uncle. They cared for him for several years until he was a teenager, at which point he traveled out of Lithuania and to Israel, and was reunited with his parents and brother there. (His interview with Project Witness was shown on video at the Sunday evening event.)

But his aunt and uncle were the only parents young Ben remembered. Losing them completely and suddenly – to reunite with parents he had never known — was painful for him. He didn’t fully accept his “new parents” until he married and had children of his own. “When I had children, and they gave warmth to my children, and that love was returned – that is when I became close with my own parents.”

Ben is alive today, and has children and grandchildren, because of the strength and mesiras nefesh of his mother.

The Brave Jewish Women

What happened after Kristallnacht, when 30,000 Jewish men were arrested, many never to return home?

Suddenly, there were 30,000 women who became, overnight, heads of households. They had to find food for their families, somehow. They also had to work to find out the whereabouts of their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, and to try to secure their release somehow. These women showed remarkable strength and resiliency; they rose to the tragic and horrific challenges in miraculous ways.

There were women who kept taharas hamishpachah despite the Nazis.

There were women who were mechanech their children to serve Hashem despite the Nazis.

There were women who lost their household help (because the Nazis forbade any Aryan to work for a Jew), yet fulfilled all their new responsibilities and without the help they were used to.

There were women who, in the face of the lack of any shechitah (at the beginning, when Hitler first came to power), created cookbooks to help their Jewish sisters feed their families on limited ingredients. One meal suggested in the cookbook is cabbage stuffed with rice, and steamed apples.

There were women who were horribly used and abused by the Nazis just because they were female.

There were women who held onto their pregnancies, refused to abort, and were therefore tortured and experimented on in Auschwitz by the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele.

Saying Goodbye

As Mrs. Lichtenstein explained, the biggest problem for the women was finding food for their families.

But the biggest pain for the women was being separated from their children.
Some women deliberately sent their children away from them in order to save their lives. In many cases, they were successful – the children lived. But the scars remained, even in the cases where the parents managed to survive and find their children after the war (as we see in the case of Ben Gotz).

But many women never sent their children away – the Nazis tore them away. These forced separations caused the women the greatest, deepest, sharpest pain imaginable.

As Mrs. Lichtenstein spoke, the screen behind her kept showing photographs of the women she was describing. Every woman and girl in the room was riveted by the larger-than-life photos of our mothers and grandmothers experiencing what no woman should ever have to experience.

There is one photo that cannot be forgotten…

It shows a small boy, not more than eight, sitting on the ground. In front of him is a high fence. On the other side of the fence is his mother. She is leaning forward towards him. He is leaning towards her. They are saying goodbye.

5 Amazing Women

Mrs. Lichtenstein told the stories of her own personal favorite Holocaust heroines:

Gisi Fleischmann, who could have remained safely in England but rejected her friends’ suggestions that she not return to Slovakia, since she saw herself as friend and representative of those who were seeking safe haven…

Recha Sternbuch, one of the most effective rescue activists, even dealing directly with Himmler, in order to help rescue many thousands of Jews…

Tzila Sorotzkin, a nurse in Auschwitz, renowned in the women’s camp for her leadership, goodness and courage. Among other accomplishments, Tzila organized a network of kindness by planting her former students in strategic places around the camp…

And Giselle Perl, an obstetrician. Dr. Perl performed 3,000 abortions in Auschwitz in a desperate attempt to save the lives of the mothers. “I loved the newborn babies. Again and again… it was my own baby that I killed,” she said.

And last of all, Mrs. Lichtenstein told the story of her own dear mother, Esther Devorah Levin, nee Mostowitz, who, as a young girl, lost her entire family except for one brother, all in one day. After undergoing the most harrowing experiences, including crawling through sewers, she finally applied for and received permission to leave Poland and go to Israel. But she sat down and cried, because the ticket had her departing on Shabbos, and she could not, would not, do that.

These are the stories of our mothers, our grandmothers!

Produced by Bnos

“When I was in high school, we had to write a report on the topic of our choice. I chose the Holocaust. I gave in my outline. The teacher handed it back the next day with a sticker on it saying, ‘Choose a more Jewish topic.’ I never forgot that… When I saw the event advertised, with Mrs. Lichtenstein speaking on women in the Holocaust, I knew I would come. I was not disappointed!” said one woman as she left Oholei Menachem on Sunday evening, Jan. 22, after “An Evening to Remember…” concluded.

After Mrs. Lichtenstein finished her talk and slide show presentation, many listeners gathered around her to talk and to listen just a little bit more. “I hope this is the first of many such events,” said one grateful great-grandmother as she walked down the steps of Oholei Menachem.

“Ever since I heard Mrs. Lichtenstein speak at Ohel a long time ago, I wanted to bring her to Crown Heights. We finally did it!” said Mrs. Nechama Chanin, Administrator of Bnos Chomesh, with a big smile on her face.

Women left walking slowly, talking among themselves, assimilating all they had learned. Some wiped their tears. Some stood straighter after realizing the mesiras nefesh and wisdom exhibited by women in our own generation, some of whom are, boruch Hashem, still with us today.

This event was sponsored and produced by Bnos Chomesh High School, a girls’ school in Crown Heights that is currently in its fifth year. It is a friendly school with small classes and lots of personal attention for each student.

Bnos Chomesh is a Board of Ed-accredited school with a full Regents curriculum and a challenging limudei kodesh curriculum. The school also offers lots of extras such as music, dance, art, CPR and drama classes.

Students who had not previously found success in other schools find it at Bnos Chomesh. Said Principal Dena Gorkin with some pride, “Our students go on to seminary and successful jobs after they graduate.”