By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
In June of 1941, Germany invaded Russia in a massive offense. Russian citizens, already war-weary, scrambled for survival amidst the chaos. Basia Gurewicz, a young Jewish woman from Moscow, purchased numerous loaves of stale bread to keep her family afloat through the difficult months ahead.
As the Germans advanced into the Soviet Union, Basia and her son fled to safety deeper in the mountains. Although supplies dwindled, the Gurewicz’s had their backup bread to curb their hunger.
Basia’s husband Nachum Gurewicz was drafted into the Red Army and was stationed near Moscow, which the Germans bombed incessantly for months. Serving in the vicinity of a large city made it easier for him to maintain his kosher diet and adhere to Shabbos and holiday observance. He also assisted many Jews who were in need.
Nachum was admitted one day to a military hospital due to an ulcer, and Basia was duly informed by his commanding officer. Despite the perilous journey, Basia traveled to his bedside in Moscow multiple times in order to deliver kosher food to him.
Following the war, the Gurewicz’s illegally crossed the border into Poland with forged passports. They eventually made their way to Victoria, Australia, where they served as pioneers of the Jewish community. In 1964, their son, Mulik, and his wife, Chava, settled in Israel. The young couple wanted to purchase an apartment, but they needed the Jewish Agency to guarantee their loan.
Mulik made numerous trips to the Jewish Agency office to obtain the loan, but the person in charge was never there. Mulik continued to visit the office regularly until a new clerk appeared one day. Jaded by the difficulty he’d encountered until that point, he assumed he would once again be met with excuses.
The new clerk was friendlier, and upon seeing Mulik’s passport, asked him a slew of questions:
“Where were you born?”
Russia, he answered.
“Your passport lists Poland as your place of birth.”
He explained that his family escaped the Soviet Union on forged passports.
“So this passport is forged?”
No, he replied. My previous passport was forged, but I used the same information in this passport.
The clerk then related, “I was in the Red Army during World War II, and I was hospitalized next to a man with the same family name as you. His wife would bring him food every few days because he adhered to kosher laws.”
Mulik, aghast at the coincidence, replied, “Those were my parents.”
After a spitfire of questions to confirm the identity of Mulik’s parents, the clerk—clearly moved—said, “Do you know what your father would do once your mother left? He would split the food with me so that I would also have kosher food to eat.”
He asked Mulik to wait for a few minutes and returned with all the necessary signatures for the loan procurement.
Find Hasidic Archives latest books on HasidicArchives.com Judaism in a Nutshell and The Edifice: Dating, Marriage and an Everlasting Home, also available on Amazon Prime
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the story!
REb nochums yartzeit is 9 av how fitting to publish the story’s this week
Beautiful story I can just see Reb Nachum Zalman splitting his food so a stranger can eat kosher