Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Pıety&
A Portrait of
Heroısm
How the Skulener Rebbe, zt”l,
saved thousands of Romania’s Jews
By Dovid Zaklikowski
Cover Feature A Portrait of Piety & Heroism
Right: The
Skulener
Rebbe in
conversation
Far right:
Romania’s
Chief Rabbi
Moshe Rosen
One of the great chasidic Starting in 1945, the Skulener Rebbe trumped-up charges of spying for Israel
began adopting war orphans when and the United States. This was not the
Rebbes who immigrated to their parents were deported to German Skulener Rebbe’s first incarceration under
the United States from the concentration camps. When he was the Communists. His first confinement
Socialist Republic of Romania able to move from the Bessarabian town occurred in 1949, for which the
was Rav Eliezer Zusia of Sculeni to Bucharest, Romania, he authorities offered no explanation. Two
smuggled his “family” into the city and months later he was released. In 1953 he
Portugal, zt”l, the Skulener proceeded to adopt even more children, was again imprisoned and released.
Rebbe. Revered throughout establishing an orphanage for their In 1959, however, the news of the
the Jewish world for his care. He later wrote in his will that they
should show their appreciation to him
Skulener Rebbe’s latest arrest made
waves in Jewish communities around
indescribable piety, as well as by remaining loyal to Yiddishkeit and the world. As the London Jewish Chronicle
for having cared for hundreds learning Torah as much as possible. reported, “The arrest by the Romanian
of Jewish youth and orphans, In February 1959, the Skulener authorities of Rabbi Zissu Purtogal [sic]
Rebbe was imprisoned together with his of Bucharest, the Skulener Rebbe, has
he passed away on 29 Av only son, the present Skulener Rebbe, been confirmed here by Orthodox Jewish
5742 (August 18, 1982). Rav Yisroel Avrohom Portugal, on sources.” The article went on to describe
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the efforts being made to obtain his release.
“Mr. Harry Goodman [vice president of
confidential” letter that May, “although in a
very limited way for a variety of citizens—
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the Agudas Israel World Organization non-Jews and Jews—and to countries
and editor of the London Jewish Post] has mainly other than Israel. Within the last Since 2005
expressed to the Romanian Minister in few days, the Israeli legation in Bucharest
London the deep concern felt by religious has received some passports for renewal of
Jews all over the world.” visas, and also some new requests for visas
Reports trickled out concerning the on newly issued passports. This involves
grave situation. “Rabbi Portugal, the Sage altogether 45 persons.”
of Romania who is highly respected there, In a meeting with Rabbi Moses Rosen,
and his son were arrested by the authorities the chief rabbi of Romania, Romanian
on charges of high treason,” reads a Prime Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer said
15
confidential JDC (American Jewish Joint that he knew exactly who the Skulener
Distribution Committee) memorandum
from April 1959. “Everybody who knows
Rebbe was. “We have thought the whole
thing through. The fact that we took the
15
Rabbi Portugal feels certain that he was decision to arrest him also means that we
never involved in anything illegal. He is have considered the risks.”
a pure and clean gentleman, close to 70 For years Rabbi Rosen had cooperated
years of age. He is an extremely sick man. with the government in his quest to aid
He cannot take any food in prison.” the country’s Jews, although as he later
Hopes for the Rebbe’s release were admitted to a reporter, his success came
not high among Jewish activists. There at the cost of legitimizing the brutal
were, however, some loopholes they Communist regime. “This was my sin:
OF
hoped could be exploited. “It is perfectly I saved the synagogues. I brought food
clear that the Romanian government has so that Jews wouldn’t starve. I brought
reopened emigration on the basis of family education for Jewish children. I sent
reunion,” a JDC official wrote in a “highly hundreds of thousands to Israel. If I could
Taanis 23
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Pa r k E a s t s y n a g o g u E
Silver, president of the Union of Orthodox A few months later, the Skulener Rebbe
Rabbis of the United States and Canada and his son left the country. JDC Assistant
and the chief rabbi of Cincinnati, Director-General Charles Jordan wrote in
received a call from the secretariat of an internal memo, “Rabbi Portugal and his
the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Lubavitcher family…arrived in Brussels on Tuesday,
Rebbe was on the line, and he asked him March 29. There was a very large crowd
to go to Washington, DC, to advocate for of chasidim at the airport who took charge
the Skulener Rebbe and his family. of the family.”
This would not be the first time Rabbi In April, Goodman described the efforts
Silver had gone to Washington for that that had gone into securing the Skulener
purpose, and although his previous Rebbe’s freedom. “Many are those who
efforts had been fruitless, he decided concerned themselves with the problem of CantoR YitzChak MeiR helfgot
to do it anyway. There, he met with an the release of Rabbi Portugal: the Foreign CantoR BennY RogosnitzkY
elected official from Cincinnati, who sent Office in London, the State Department CantoR Daniel gilDaR
a letter to the State Department. The in Washington, and the esteemed Rabbi
State Department then sent a letter to the M.M. Schneerson of Lubavitch in New A GuidE to thE SElECtioN of
Romanian Embassy requesting that the York [by] whose wise guidance this action CANtoriAl piECES duriNG dAvENiNG
Skulener Rebbe and his son be freed. finally achieved a successful conclusion.” ComBiNiNG NuSACh ANd NiGGuN:
The two were released from prison The Skulener Rebbe eventually moved mAkiNG dAvENiNG mEANiNGful
a short while later. It turned out that at to America, later explaining that he chose ChooSiNG thE SElECtioN of
the exact same time Rabbi Silver made to immigrate to the United States over CANtoriAl piECES duriNG dAvENiNG
his trip, the Romanians were awaiting Eretz Yisrael so he could better help those
thE NuSACh of muSSAf
confirmation of a new ambassador to the who remained in Romania.
United States, after three years without The Rebbe settled in Crown Heights, sunDaY,
one. As Rabbi Silver recalled, when the a few short blocks away from where septeMBeR 2, 2018 / 7:00 pM
State Department’s request arrived, “They the Lubavitcher Rebbe resided, where rEfrEShmENtS to follow
understood that the confirmation was he continued his efforts to help Jewish
reliant on the release of the rabbis.” families trapped behind the Iron Curtain.
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Cover Feature A Portrait of Piety & Heroism
GREATNESS
was that he had been recruited by the Romanian plan was finalized in the summer of 1960, he once
foreign intelligence service, the Directia Informatii again turned to the JDC for help. They listened, but
they were not convinced. The Skulener we cannot let this chance fall through.”
Rebbe then reached out to the Lubavitcher Finally, Leavitt pledged to allocate $50,000 We meet or beat online fares!
Fares may expire at anytime
Rebbe, who had been instrumental in to the project.
securing his own release from prison, to Rabbi Gorodetsky then called the
Travel to
help pull strings at the JDC. Lubavitcher Rebbe from the hotel room
After their meeting, the Lubavitcher and relayed the conversation. The
Israel
Rebbe called Rabbi Binyamin Eliyahu Lubavitcher Rebbe asked him to come
Gorodetsky, the director-general of the to New York. “In the Rebbe’s office, I
European Bureau of Chabad-Lubavitch, reported back on many activities of our
who was in Israel at the time, and work in Europe and Israel, where there
described the Skulener Rebbe’s plan and was already an abundance of Lubavitch
his request for help securing funding: “He activities, and then I told the Rebbe about
YOM KIPPUR STOPOVER NONSTOP
that despite some efforts he sent the list of names to Jakober, who immediately
hadn’t succeeded in getting him began his negotiations with the Romanian
to compromise. government.
Indeed, when Rabbi The chicken farm was built in the small village
Gorodetsky finally met Jakober, of Periş, some 20 miles from the Romanian capital,
the businessman said that he before the end of 1960. The leader of the country,
would only go ahead with the Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, visited the site. “He
project when all the money had liked it [and] approved 500 exit visas for Jews, and
been deposited into his account ordered five more chicken farms,” recalled Ion Mihai
in Lucerne. “I want you to Pacepa, a Romanian general who defected to the
deposit $200,000, and only then United States in 1978.
will I begin the first efforts to That September, the initial results of the project
free the Romanian Jews. As long were reported to Jordan at the Joint. “Almost all of
as you do not deposit the money, the prisoners have been released in R[omania] and
I am not going to do anything.” papers for some of them [to leave the country] are
“My name is Rabbi Binyomin already being prepared.”
Gorodetsky,” he responded. “I Word soon got out that Jews were being rescued,
could work with you, but you and people began to turn to Jakober directly to save
should know that before any their family members. The Skulener Rebbe and Reb
results, I am not going to deposit Getzel Berger had their own list of names, and in
a penny into your account. order to facilitate an even larger number of rescues,
However, I assure you that the they raised their own money, some of it from the
moment I receive a telegram families themselves.
from one of our people, whom Unfortunately, as the numbers increased,
we have everywhere, that an miscommunications and missed deposits began
imprisoned Jew is freed and to plague the project. Rabbi Gorodetsky’s intense
arrives in Vienna or another travel schedule added to the confusion, as letters
Above: The country, I will deposit the money and telegrams often missed him or reached him late.
Skulener Rebbe that same day. I am assuring you The difficulties they faced can be seen in a 1963
giving a brachah that I have the cash ready, and I will keep my word. letter to Rabbi Gorodetsky, in which the Skulener
to a chasan and
kallah. If you agree to this condition, good; otherwise the Rebbe refers to the prisoners by the numbers they
Right: The deal is over.” were assigned: He met #49 while in Israel, #105 was
matzeivah of the Jakober sat silently thinking for some time. in Toronto, #13 was in Vienna, and #112’s family
Skulener Rebbe in
the Vizhnitzer beis Finally he said, “I’ve heard about you, and I agree. had left without him. “I am conflicted about whether
hachayim in Remember to keep your word.” to pay [Jakober], since [the family was brought out]
Monsey. As they were leaving Jakober’s home, Reb Getzel while this person was sentenced to 20 years in jail…
Berger asked Rabbi Gorodetsky how he had done it. but we still need him to save other Jews. …I feel that
“I did not do it,” Rabbi Gorodetsky replied. “This is we should not withhold the money.”
all Hashem’s doing.” The freed prisoners’ accounts of the brutal
Thus began one of the most controversial post- conditions in the Romanian jails spurred them to
war rescue missions: the ransoming of Romania’s redouble their efforts. “We heard from them about
Jews. the men and women who are in captivity in the
Rabbi Gorodetsky reported the details of the hands of known barbarians,” the Skulener Rebbe
meeting, including the contract he had signed with wrote. “Some have tragically died in prison because
Jakober, to the Skulener Rebbe, who thanked him of the merciless beatings…how can we look away
for all of his efforts. “Hashem should help that it from these painful outcries? Can we be heartless to
should result in the best outcome.” these hapless individuals?”
He included a list of 100 Jews currently imprisoned Perhaps as a reflection of the operation’s success,
in Romania, adding, “It wasn’t difficult to find these the Arab countries soon began to complain that
100, for there are thousands imprisoned. We need the Romanians were supporting the State of Israel.
to work on reducing the number.” Rabbi Gorodetsky “[Egyptian President] Nasser’s ambassador came to
78 A M I M A G A Z I N E / / A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 1 8 / / 2 7 AV 5 7 7 8
us and protested the departure of the Romanian Jews, claiming
that we are sending soldiers to Israel,” Romanian officials told
Rabbi Rosen.
The project also faced internal opposition from JDC officials
who felt that if they stopped paying ransom, the Romanians
would let the Jews emigrate for free. Based on his intimate
knowledge of the country, the Skulener Rebbe disagreed. “It
is hard to believe that if we do not ransom them this way,” he
wrote to Rabbi Gorodetsky, “the Romanians will open up the
gates to emigration.”
Tragically, there were many Jews who died in prison before
their numbers reached the top of the list. The Skulener Rebbe
expressed the pain he felt when this happened, due to delays
that he believed were caused by politics. “You know, my friend,
that I am not active in politics,” he wrote, again to Rabbi
Gorodetsky. “Not for honor or livelihood do I do this. It is only
for the saving of Jewish lives that are in the hands of the cruel.”
Rabbi Gorodetsky responded that everyone was doing their
best. Jakober, he wrote, knew that he wouldn’t receive money
before a family emigrated, so he surely wanted them to leave
as soon as possible. “We all know that the situation is serious.”
Although the JDC had only promised a fixed amount at the
beginning of the project, Rabbi Gorodetsky noted that whenever
he called upon Jordan for help, he agreed to increase the Joint’s
contribution. This continued until the list of prisoners was
exhausted. “Hundreds of prisoners and thousands of family
members were saved.”
At that point, the task of helping the rest of Romanian Jewry
to emigrate was handed over to the Israeli government. Rabbi
Gorodetsky wrote, “I traveled to Zurich and provided all of
the details of our rescue
activities over the years.”
That is how a project that
started with an automated
chicken farm became
a major controversial
operation, bringing
300,000 Jews to Israel over
the course of two decades
and turning the Romanian
government, as Nobel
laureate Elie Wiesel wrote,
“into an extraordinary
merchant of human beings
during the postwar years…
In other words, certain
Romanian Jews were
able to obtain visas to go
abroad, especially to Israel,
in return for payments in
dollars.” l