Posted on 09/22/2013 8:00:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A series of photos documenting the observance of Sukkot in Ghetto Lodz in 1941 were recently revealed by the Shem Olam Institute, also known as the Faith & Holocaust Institute for Education Documentation and Research in Kfar Haroeh.
The photos show the ghetto’s Jewish occupants praying with the Four Species – the etrog (citron), lulav (palm), hadass (myrtle) and aravah (willow) required for Sukkot – as well as having built a sukkah, the special temporary dwelling for eating and sleeping throughout the seven-day holiday.
Four Species Israel imports Moroccan citron for 1st time / Navit Zommer First deliveries of 1,500 etrogim arrive from African country just in time for Jewish holiday of Sukkot Full story It was no easy task for the ghetto residents to obtain two sets of the Four Species in order to properly celebrate Sukkot in 1941, according to Rabbi Avraham Krieger, director of the Shem Olam Institute.
The Nazis had decreed that Jews would be forced to live in closed off and cramped areas known as ghettos once Germany invaded Poland in 1939, until the Nazis decided what would be done with the Jewish population. In February 1940, the order to establish the Lodz ghetto was passed and Jews throughout the city were forced to move in.
According to Rabbi Avraham Krieger, the etrogim may have been smuggled into the ghetto after a long journey from Israel or Greece.
Sukkot in Ghetto Lodz, 1941 (Photo: Shem Olam Institute)
The leader of the Jewish ghetto, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, gave special permission for a few of the ghetto’s Jewish residents to travel to Warsaw and try to locate the Four Species, which were almost impossible to find in Eastern Europe at the time.
Once the Four Species reached the ghetto, Jewish residents waited in long lines in order to bless them. A letter of thanks to Rumkowski sent from the Gur Hassidim of the ghetto – dated September 1941 – expressed the residents’ appreciation for blessing the four species and the joy they felt for being able to do so.
Likewise, explains Rabbi Krieger, building a sukkah was a difficult feat as well at the time.
“The ghetto was in a constant state of crisis for materials to keep the people warm. Every piece of wood for fire was needed, including doors and window frames. Therefore in order to build a sukkah, the people needed special permission to retain the wood for this purpose.”
The Shem Olam Institute was established in 1996 by Rabbi Avraham Krieger to document and share the issues of faith and survival during the Holocaust. The institute has more than 800,000 documents and exhibits that share the world of Jewish faith and spirit in the Holocaust.
For those who believe that Jesus was actually born on Sukkot, it is sometimes theorized that the "manger" was actually a substitution word/concept for the sukkah - a manger being a rude outdoor building similiar in conceptual construction to the temporary outdoor sukkah.
Manger... manger.... reminds me of the Italian verb “to eat” (mangiare)....which makes me hungry for all of the food we Jews eat on Sukkot— that Jewish holiday which is background to this article— an article which has nothing to do with your interjection.
The manger is a concoction of English translators.
Yeshua was definitely born in a sukkot that Joseph had errected in the pasture area where the Passover lambs were kept. At that time it is likely that as many as a million people were gathered in Jerusalem, so it would have been tough to find space on the temple mount to errect a sukka.
My interjection has a lot more to ddo with this article than your fantasies about italian verbs.
Don't drink and post.
Is tonight a special cheeky night for Jews for J? Coordinated propaganda posts...
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