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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter
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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter
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Rechy Frankfurter
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ED KOCH ALSO A “SURVIVOR”
Unusual exchange between Rabbi Lau and the former Mayor
In reference to “Q &A with Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau,” Issue 44
Dear Editor,
I am writing to thank you for
your very interesting dialogue with
Rabbi Lau, and also to relate an unusual
anecdote I heard involving
Rabbi Lau and former New York
City Mayor Ed Koch.
It seems that Mayor Koch once
told Rabbi Lau that he too was a
Holocaust survivor. When Rabbi
Lau asked him where he was born, Mayor Koch replied that he was born and bred in
the Bronx, where he spent the duration of the Second World War. When the bemused
Rabbi Lau then asked him how he was a survivor of the Holocaust, Mayor Koch explained:
“When I was in Berlin I visited Hitler’s headquarters. On his desk was a globe that indicated
the number of Jews who lived in each country; on America, it was written that
six million Jews lived there. These were his targets for extermination. Accordingly,”
concluded Mayor Koch, “I, as a Jewish citizen of the United States, was also on Hitler’s
hit list. I am therefore, like you, Rabbi Lau, a Holocaust survivor.”
T. Jacobowitz
Q&A
AMI MAGAZINE
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Q
Your arrival at Buchenwald at the
age of seven, hidden in a sack carried
by your older brother, Naftali, is one
of the most fascinating Holocaust survival
stories I’ve ever encountered. But why is it
What purpose does it serve? What are we
importan to keep going back in memory
to that dark period in Jewish history?
actua ly giving the kedoshim by remembering
them?
A
The kadoshim don’t need to get anything
from us. “Harugei Malchus ein
kol briah yecholah lamod bemichitzasam”
[“Those who were murdered—no one
can stand among them in their place.”]
People such as Rabbi Akiva and the 10
Harugei Malchus, and also a l of the kedoshim
from every generation; they are
found in the highest place in palmalya were. How they kept their emunah, how
shel maalah, more so than a l of the they said Shema Yisrael and ani mamin,
us to continue in their path. And, in truth,
the best revenge is—as I discussed in the
book—the continuation, th eternity. The
immortality of the Jewish people is in our
BY RABBI YITZCHOK FRANKFURTER
WITH RABBI YISROEL MEIR LAU
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE?
Rabbi Lau viewing a photo of himself af ter
he was liberated from Buchenwald.
RABBI YISROEL MEIR LAU served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993
to 2003. He is currently the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel and chairman of Yad Vashem. He
authored several seforim on halacha, and a commentary on Pirkei Avos. His best-se ling
Hebrew autobiography was recently translated into English, titled “Out of the Depths.” Last
week, Rav Lau sat with Rabbi Frankfurter, discussing his book and why he found it importan
to publish his life story.
Tanaim and Amoraim; they don’t need us.
They only need to know tha they have a
continuation. They need to know “Shelo
yitosh Hashem amo v’nachalaso lo Yaazov.”
[Hashem won’t forsake His people and
His portion He won’t abandon.] When
people say Yizkor, or Kel malai rachamim
or Kaddish, they aren’t doing anyone a
favor. The favor is for us. By remembering
the kedoshim we fulfi l the injunction,
“Datah mayayin bataa.” [Know where you
came from.] We need to know who our
fathers and mothers were. The memorials
are more for the sake of present and
future generations, so that we should
know our roots, and the foundations on
which Klal Yisroel stands. If we don’t remember
the Holocaust, chas v’shalom, the
younger generation wi l think that we can
start over, with no past. But there is no
future when there is no past. When we
remember the past, not for revenge, and
not as a favor to the korbonos, but rather
for ourselves and for future generations,
we do so to remember what happened to
us.
the memory of them.
They don’t need us; it is we who need
Q
Is remembering, therefore, a matter
of kavod hachayim, respect for the
living, rather than kavod hamaysim, respect
for the dead?
A
Yes. It’s yikra d’chaya, to know where
you came from and who your parents
roots.
Q
Do you think that the people who
lived through tha time period, such
as you and your brother, have something
aside from memories to give to the next
generation? If so, what is the basic message
that your generation, which is now
ge ting older, can relay?
A
First, that you can’t rely on anyone,
only on our Father in Heaven. Not on
people. What didn’t we give to Poland for
over 1,000 years? What didn’t we give Germany,
with our Rothschilds, our Einsteins generations back. In spite of a l the differences,
everyone understood that we are a l
overwhelmed by the “sun.” Emancipation.
Jews. The enemies understood that we are
even until the last minute. This obligates
they initiated an Inquisition, Tach V’tat,
Romans, Kristalnacht—a l so that Jews
continuity. The chain is unbroken. We
would abandon Yiddishkeit. The stronger
remember the fundaments; we know the how to live together al Kiddush Hashem. the wind, though, the tighter the Jews
Chassidim and misnagdim died together held on to their coats. They said “Shema
al Kiddush Hashem. More religious; less
religious; not religious at a l. Even misboolilim
who had Jewish blood from six But we have a generation now that is
and Mendolsohns, and so many other
creative people of the world? We gave so
lesson that we are the same people? That to teach the future generations that our
many presents to Germany, and what did
we get in return? Like Yosef in Mitzrayim,
he saved Mitzrayim from hunger, and was
there any protection for his children Me-
which I wish to give over with a parable:
throw them in the river?!“Shelo yadah es
Yosef.” Phaaroh made no exceptions for
The wind tried to blow o f a man’s coat,
but the colder it got, the tighter the man
held onto his coat, and it wouldn’t come
then on, from before yetziyas Mitrayim o f. Then the sun made it hotter, and got
until today, the number one message is:
The emunah is like the coat. A l of the
goyim always wanted us to get rid of our
nashe and Efrayim, so that no one would
Q
A
Is there another important message
for us and our children?”
The second thing to learn is this: We
knew how to die together al Kiddush
Hashem. The time has come for us to learn
the same people. Why don’t we learn the
we are one nation?
There is another important lesson here,
There was once an argument between the
sun and the wind over who wa stronger.
Yosef’s children. Instead of making statues
and stamps of Yosef’s face, they took a l of
his sons and threw them in the river. From
the man to take o f his coat.
don’t rely.
aderet, that we should be like a l the other
nations. They tried to be like the wind—
the decrees of Antiochus, the Greeks, the
Yisroel,” and threw themselves into the fire
like Avraham Avinu.
“We knew how to die together al
Kiddush Hashem. The time has come
for us to learn how to live together al
Kiddush Hashem.”
It is in a l of the universities, and they try
to marry into us with intermarriages, G-d
forbid. In this time, my generation needs
parents didn’t give up their emunah, even
when it was hard. They had mesirus nefesh.
How much more so, for you—the young
generation—there’s no danger today in
wearing tefi lin or wrapping oneself in a
ta lis, no issur against blowing a shofar
on Rosh Hashana, no prohibition against
wearing a yarmulkeh or keeping Shabbos
or kashrus. So if your parents and grandparents
kept a l of these mitzvos, and were
wi ling to sacrifice their lives for it, then
you can keep the mitzvos without sacrific-
24 AMI MAGAZINE // NOVEMBER 9, 2011 // 12 CHESHVAN, 5772 12 CHESHVAN, 5772 // NOVEMBER 9, 2011 // AMI MAGAZINE 25
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