Hidden of the Holocaust!!

Saved Jewish Children ~ Orphans of the Shoah!

I'm Reviving Music Monday for today (at least!).  Music is Special to the Soul ... a language that connects wordlessly .....  Sometimes!  

And for today ...  A Song & A Story.  I've wanted to tell this tale for quite some time now .... I've saved it in my store for someday.  That day is today.   It is an amazing tale, a true tale,  turned to tune by Yaakov Shwekey (whom I love musically too!).  Rabbi Lazer Brody ran a new video of the song last week & that prompted me to use it and also tell this tale out loud at last  .......  it needs telling for sure & not only in a blog.  I'm going to try do something too, maybe some travels & a book!


The Video below is the most amazing song  ~  'Shema Yisroel' by Yaakov Shwekey ~


This legend is attributed to R' Yosef Kahaneman zt'l, the Ponevezhe Rov,  (Of Blessed Memory), who saved orphaned Jewish children from catholic orphanages after the close of World War II.   It has been told countless times already,   and Rav Kahaneman was suddenly brain illuminated knowing full well that the Sh'ma would remain embedded in a Jewish child's mind long after other memories faded. This is how Ha'Shem works  in our world .....  touching us,  Suddenly!

The Sh'ma is an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in One G*d.   The obligation for each of us to recite the Sh'ma is separate from the obligation to pray and a Jew is obligated to say Sh'ma in the morning and at night (apart from daily davening) and it is the last word to leave our lips before we die.  And generally the first words we remember our Ima whisper to our ears as we go to sleep as tiny girls or boys  .....boys begin to daily davening including recitation of the Sh'ma at three years old!!

During World War II, countless Jewish parents gave their children to xtian neighbours or 'friends', or orphanages and convents in the hopes of saving them.  The parents expected that they, or their relatives, would claim them back if they survived the war, but when Rabbis or relatives finally tracked down the children, the priests and nuns who had been their caretakers insisted that no children from Jewish homes were in their institutions. Thus, they were not only stripped of their entire families, they were also stripped of their real souls.  Jewish Neshamot.  Their whole identities .... Many remain hidden to this day.

The legend tells us that after the Shoah, Rov Yosef Kahaneman, himself a Shoah Survivor,  began searching for the Jewish children who had survived the war.  He learned that many Jewish children had been placed in various monasteries, so he approached the priest  or person in charge of each, and asked that the Jewish children be released into their care.  The priests ALL  responded, "You must have documentation".   But the kind of documentation that the priest wanted was unobtainable at the end of the war. He then asked to see the list of names of children in the monastery and as they read the list, pointed to names that belonged to Jewish children. "I'm sorry," the priest said, "Miller is a German name, and Markovich is a Russian name, and Swersky is a Polish name. You can't prove that these are Jewish children and if you can't prove which children are Jewish, and do it very quickly, you will have to leave".

You see pope pius XII had issued an edict that children, Jewish children, once 'baptised' to become xtian could no longer be returned or raised by their Jewish families in complete concordance with catholic law.   It is estimated that thousands of Jewish children were left with xtian monasteries or families by their Jewish parents during the Holocaust, in the hope that they would thus survive the war. However, many of these children were never claimed, returned or told of their Jewish background because of their secret 'baptism'.

A letter from pope pius XII to his representative in Paris on November 20th, 1946,  shows that he ordered Jewish babies baptized during the Holocaust not to be returned to their parents. The recipient of the letter, Angelo Roncalli, who was later to become pope John XXIII, disagreed with & often disobeyed these instructions.   

The  Ponevezhe Rov finally asked and was miraculously granted permission to enter the children's quarters to see them before their bedtime.  That evening the Rabbi entered the dormitory holding row upon row of little beds where the children ~ many of whom had been in the monastery since the start of the war in 1939 ~ were going to sleep.   He slowly walked through the aisles of beds, calling out, "Shema Yisrael--(Hear, Israel), Ha'Shem is our G*d, Ha'Shem is One!"   

One by one, children burst into tears and shrieked, "Mommy!" "Maman!" "Momma!" "Mamushka!" in each of their native tongues,  mostly Yiddish.  The priest had succeeded in teaching them about the Trinity, the New Testament, the xtian saviour and how to say Mass, and other abberant things,  but the one thing he could not do was erase the children's memories of their Jewish Mothers ~ now murdered ~ putting them to bed every night with the Sh'ma on their lips.

Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau ~ himself a Child Shoah Survivor of Buchenwald ~ has said that the Holocaust-era Pope pius XII refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the war to discuss how the church could either help save Jewish lives or locate Jewish orphans cared for by catholic families.  It should also be noted that  the present pope person Ratzinger has refused to release the names or records of these children to Jewish organisztions even today & Yad L’Achim director Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz  comments .....  “Even today, not returning the children means a continuation of the Holocaust"!!!!

 Jewish Singer Yaakov Shwekey has used the legend to create this beautiful song. Sad!!


(Don't be discouraged by the first 60 seconds which tells the story of Rabbi Kahaneman in Hebrew, it's gorgeous, and wait till the Song itself, it will blow you away!).

He raised his hand to wave goodbye
Saw the pain in mother´s eyes
who left her little precious boy of four

In a citadel of ashen stone
that preached a faith unlike his own
Perhaps he just may yet survive this war

In the shadow stood a man in black
My child he said, you must not look back
Yet one image lingered, the tears on her face
And mother´s words from their last embrace

Shema, Shema Yisroel
Know that there is but one G-d above
When you feel pain, when you rejoice
know how he longs to hear your voice
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad

Deep within the iron gate
Far from the stench of war and hate
he knew not of a world gone insane

You must believe us, he was told
Our faith alone can save your soul
Please let us heal your wounds and ease your pain

He tried not to forget his past, his home
But he was so very young and all alone
While visions of his shtetl, once vivid and clear
began to fade, and all but disappeared

Shema, Shema Yisroel
Know that there is but one G-d above
When you feel pain, when you rejoice
know how he longs to hear your voice
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad

The winds of war had finally passed
one man took on a sacred task
to bring the scattered jewish children home

He travelled far, from place to place
A quest to reignite the faith
of those sent into hiding long ago

He entered the fortress grey and cold
Your kind is not among us, he was told

Hashem above, he whispered, please don´t let me fail
As he began to sing
Shema Yisroel

Shema, Shema Yisroel
Know that there is but one G-d above
When you feel pain, when you rejoice
know how he longs to hear your voice
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad

Shema, Shema Yisroel
Know that there is but one G-d above
When you feel pain, when you rejoice
know how he longs to hear your voice
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad

Shema, Shema Yisroel
Know that there is but one G-d above
When you feel pain, when you rejoice
know how he longs to hear your voice
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad

Please say,
Shema, Shema Yisroel
Know that there is but, but one G-d above
When you feel pain, when you rejoice
know how he longs to hear our voice
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad
Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad