By Yossi Zohn
An extremely rare historical find has recently turned up, found in the Sheimos collection before Pesach this year in England.
Rabbi F., who sorts through the sheimos, has made it a holy hobby of his to try to salvage any usable Seforim and put them to the use of the public. Many hours have been invested in this work, and many Seforim saved from going to waste over the years, to be used by numerous thankful individuals. On many occasions, he wondered to himself if it was worth the time invested.
One Sefer suddenly caught his eye, and, as he puts it, he felt it was almost beckoning to him.
As soon as he opened it up, he gasped in surprise and shock. Although not an experienced Judaica expert, he realized the piece he was holding is of historic value in Chabad.
The flyleaf was captioned with a blue-ink stamp noting it being given to a German refugee on Rosh Chodesh Elul 5699 (1939) by the Rebbe Rayatz zy”a. As is well known, in 5694 (1934) the Rayatz moved to Warsaw, and two years later settled in nearby Otvotzk.
During this period, the Lubavitcher yeshivos in Poland grew significantly, and many new branches were established. The central yeshivos in Warsaw and Otvotzk attracted hundreds of students from Poland at large and from other countries, including even America.
Early in 5700 (late 1939), the horrendous storm of World War II broke out over European Jewry. The Rebbe, who was in Otvotzk and Warsaw at the time, refused to accept any of the proposed possibilities of his leaving Poland – until such time as he would have done whatever could possibly be done for his yeshivos and for the suffering Jews of Poland’s capital.
In Sefer HaSichos 5700 (pp. 36-37) it is apparent that he remained in Warsaw throughout the fierce bombardment, the siege, and the capitulation to the Nazi invader, in which he succeeded in relocating many of his local students to safer regions, and the American students were enabled to return to their homes.
His spirit restored the morale of Warsaw’s suffering Jews. Nothing has been known, though, of the Rebbe’s activities in Otvotzk during the war, and this Siddur confirms the Rebbe was still in Otvotzk on Rosh Chodesh Elul 1939, inspiring and giving encouragement to German Refugee youth who were in limbo, and also confirms the famous Refugee Center of Otvotzk was under his auspices at the time.
Tragically, the Otvotzk Refugee Center was to be short-lived as German planes bombed it about two weeks after this Siddur was given, killing 10 youths and wounding 12. This is the last report in the press of the Otvotzk attack, printed in Dos Judisce Togblatt, Warsaw, 20 Elul 5699 (4 September 1939).
Assumingly that was the end of the Refugee Center, and therefore this Siddur is possibly the only remnant of the Avodas HaKodesh the RaYatz zy”a made in Otvotzk.
The terrible events of the Holocaust made sure to wipe out any Jewish life that existed before the war, but this as-of-yet-unknown help the RaYatz extended to his Yekkishe brethren fleeing the Nazi inferno, has now come to light in the form of this modest Siddur.
The Siddur is now on its way to a new home, and has been put up for auction at the Moreshet Auction House in Israel, on 24/5/18 (10 Sivan 5778) amongst many rare Chabad items.”
Not all chabad items that were in the Moreshet auction are stolen goods from that family. This Siddur isn’t from them.
Those items on the Moreshet site were stolen from a family, and Chabad Rabonim in Israel wrote letters against purchasing those items. ב”ה. י’ סיון תשע”ח כבוד אחיי ורעיי השלוחים ואנ”ש יצ”ו מודה לכם על קריאת שורות אילו. והעברתם לכל מי שיואיל לפני כמה חודשים פרצו וגנבו בדירתה של דודתי בצפת את כל התכולה כולל דברים יקרי ערך. היום עומדים למכירה פומבית באתר מורשת מכתבים, רשימות של יחידות, שטרות ומטבעות וכו’ שהרבי נתן לאבי ודודתי. מכיון שהדודה ניצולת שואה כבת 90 המרותקת למיטתה בחו”ל, היה מאוד קשה לנהל את הפרוצדורה והבירוקרטיה להרשות לעו”ד בארץ להיערך כמו שצריך לעשות צו מניעה… Read more »
I am lucky and privileged to have in my possession this siddur and set of machzorim that I received from a woman that came over with kindertransport..doubt I’d ever sell though
Link to direct page to bid on this or other items like “Dollars from the Rebbe”, in about an hour.
https://moreshet.bidspirit.com/?lang=en&fromPortal=1#catalog~112~163~72477
That is where the frierdike rebbe seforim belong.
The Rebbe said that the souls of the owners of the books are invested in their books. A man whose children had become not religious, told that he had books from the previous Rebe that he had received from him as a gift , and was thinking of leaving them for his children, the Rebbe asked him what his children will do with them? And suggested he return them to the Rebbe
Here is the writing:
תשורה למזכרת
מאת כ”ק אדמ”ר שליט”א מליובאוויץ
אל הנערים והנערות פליטי אשכנז
עוברי אורח במרכז “צענטאס” באטוואצק .
אדר”ח אלול תרצ”ט
Rabbi I Schneersohn
Otwock, Prusa 6
Rabbi Dubov has a story about one that was donated as part of the kinder transport exhibition in London
Why isnt it put in the rebbes library in NY???
Why is it put up for auction?
What does the writing say and how would something like that end up in the U.K and moreover in Sheimos?
Fascinating, but what’s the chiddush that the Frierdiker Rebbe was still in Otwock on Rosh Chodesh Elul? That was two and a half weeks before the war broke out with the German invasion of Poland.