FACES OF COURAGE FRANZ ETC

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#Franz
Franz




Dressed in his checkered shirt and short trousers, Franz walked quickly along the dark street bordering the park. He saw the flashlights and heard the Nazi Patrol and quickly jumped into the bushes that bordered the park. Knowing how to avoid the patrol was important and Franz, who knew every bush and hiding place in the park, was sure he would never be caught. Patrol would never catch him. The son of a steelworker, Franz had just turned 16 when he left school and joined the Edelweiss Pirates. He knew most of the other boys from his neighborhood, they were his friends and he had known them for most of his life. His father was a Social Democrat who lost his position as trade union leader because he opposed the Nazis. As soon as Franz was old enough, he quit school to avoid having to go to Nazi Youth meetings. He took a job in the steel mill as an apprentice and joined the Edelweiss Pirates.

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#berthold

Berthold




When Berthold was 12 years of age, his father was killed in an accident in the steel mill. His mother had to work as a domestic to feed her family of four children. Berthold was the oldest and when he was 14 years old, he left school and found a job in a factory. He was glad to be making some money to make life easier for his mother.

Hitler promised to make a good life for all Germans, but his mother worked harder than ever trying to support her family. There were no benefits for ordinary working people. The people who profited were the rich, the factory owners. Workers had few benefits. The Nazis were always boasting about the good life they were making, but Berthold knew it was a lie.



"Everywhere you see signs, "Forbidden" "Prohibited", Not permitted" and "Forbidden on pain of death" "What kind of country am I living in?" Berthold made no secret of his hatred of the Nazis and he joined the Pirates at the same time as Franz. There were ten boys and two girls in their group.



Unlike the Nazi Youth, the Pirates tolerated differences and found a sense of solidarity with other young people who wanted to escape the strict control of the Nazi Youth groups. Having fun together was as important as the freedom they found in their activities. Being with the Pirates broke the monotony of life in the steel mill and made life exciting.



The high points of the week were the weekend hikes into the countryside and the parties in the café. Some members of the Pirates wanted to be more political and fight openly with the Nazis. They wrote anti-Nazi slogans on the streets with chalk and even distributed papers describing Allied victories. They wrote songs and sang them in the cafes at night. Although, most of the time they tried to avoid the Nazi Youth Patrols, they sometimes had to fight with them on the streets.



Despite the bombings, Berthold and Franz met their group of Edelweiss Pirates almost every evening. Food shortages, increased work loads in the mill, and the heightened efforts by the Patrols to suppress the Pirates hardly affected their activities. They knew that the Nazi authorities were more determined than ever to suppress them, especially after they began to carry on more serious resistance activities. Berthold and Franz listened to the forbidden British broadcasts on the radio and wrote a leaflet describing the Allied victories, which they printed and distributed them to people in their neighborhood. They also began to help young people who had run away from reform schools and labor camps.



Franz and Berthold helped to clean out an old empty warehouse that was used to shelter people who were hiding from the Nazis. Albert found his way to freedom with Berthold's help.

http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#albert
Albert




Albert lived in a home for orphaned boys in the working class section of the city. The Director of the Home forced him to leave school and work as a street sweeper because he refused to attend the Nazi Youth Club meetings. Small for his age and frail, Albert worked all day sweeping streets and carrying big bags of trash. One afternoon, he dropped a bag of garbage and began to sweep it up, when he heard a friendly voice whisper, "So you are a member of the slave gang" Albert turned and saw an older boy dressed in a checkered shirt and black hat.



"You don't have to be a slave. I've been watching how hard they make you work. Why don't you just leave?" Berthold whispered.



Before Albert could answer, his boss began screaming at him and raised his fist, but Berthold came up from behind and held the boss' arms.



"Run away," he shouted. Albert dropped his broom and ran away. He knew he was going to be punished by his boos of he stayed and he knew that the Director would punish him if he went back there. He didn't know

where to go. When Berthold caught up with him, Albert was close to tears. He could barely speak when Berthold asked him where he lived.



"I have no place to go. I can't go back to the orphan home. The Director said he'd send me to reform school if I caused more trouble.



"Don't worry, you don't have to go back. I know a place where you can stay and I'll take you there".



"But I have no money", Albert swallowed hard.



"Don't worry. You'll be O.K. There's other guys who have run away and you can all help one another," Berthold told him, putting his arm around the frightened boy who looked much younger than his 14 years."

Besides I think I can help you find a job." Berthold took him to the empty warehouse that had become a home for six other homeless boys.



The boys slept on mats on the floor and shared whatever food they could find. Sometimes they had to steal food. But the Pirates often brought food to the warehouse. The older boys looked after Albert who

began to feel safer than he had for a long time.



For most of his life, Albert lived in the orphan home. His mother died when he was an infant and he lived with his father and grandmother. There was no work and when his grandmother got sick, his father took a

job in another city and put Albert in the orphan home run by Herr Weinstein who made sure that Albert had contact with his father. He lost his contact when the new Director came to the Home.



Herr Weinstein was a Jewish man was like a father to the boys in the home. A gentle kindly man, Herr Weinstein treated the boys like they were his family. Older boys helped the younger ones. There were always outings and picnics and Herr Weinstein helped the boys with their schoolwork. Boys who needed special help received it. Albert felt safe and cared for in the Home. Then one afternoon while Albert was in school, the police came and took Herr Weinstein away. When Albert came home from school that day, there was another Director there. Under the Nazis, Jewish people were not allowed to be teachers or Social Workers.



More and more boys were crowded into the Home and those who were failing in school or had other difficulties were sent away. The boys Albert knew and trusted were sent to work all day and others disappeared. The new Director did not interfere when younger boys were slapped or pushed around by older boys. Albert who was small for his age was often the target of jokes and teasing. The Director, a cold and cruel man, never called the boys by name; he was only interested in forcing them to attend Nazi youth meetings. The boy who bullied and

tormented Albert was the leader of the Nazi Youth club.



Albert dreaded the meetings and found it hard to keep up with the others. He didn't know how to defend himself against the bullying and began to skip the meetings. When the Director found out, he scolded Albert and threatened to send him away. Under the new social welfare system, boys as young as 12 could be removed from the school and sent to work as garbage collectors, street sweepers and other menial jobs. They worked as much as 48 hours a week or more. Albert worked with the street sweepers and found the work very hard. He could barely manage to lift the heavy bags of trash.



Berthold took a special interest in the small boy who looked much younger than his 14 years. He even found a job for him in the steel factory and took him to the meetings of the Edelweiss Pirates. With the money he earned Albert bought himself a checkered shirt and trousers. He went on outings and hikes with Berthold and Franz. Albert was devoted to the two older boys who made him feel like he was someone. He had new confidence and he volunteered to be the one to watch for the Nazi Patrols. He also helped to distribute the leaflets and write anti Nazi slogans on the streets. Dressed in regular clothes, he often stood guard outside when the Pirates were having a meeting. Alert and inconspicuous, Albert knew when to warn the others when he saw the Patrol.



One evening as soon as the bombing stopped, the boys left the shelter and started walking to the park, when they saw the Nazi Youth Patrol. They began running toward the park, but Albert could not run as fast as the others and he tripped and fell. Before he could get up, he felt someone kicking him. Pain flashed through his body as they pulled him to his he feet and slapped him hard. They turned him over to a policeman who took him to Gestapo Headquarters.



Albert could only hope that they had not captured anyone else and he refused to answer any questions or give the names of the other boys in the group.



"You riff raff are nothing but troublemakers, and you will pay heavily", the Gestapo officer shouted at him and took him to a jail. Once inside the jail, he saw Franz, Berthold, and some of the other boys. Albert, Berthold and Franz were sent to a concentration camp along with hundreds of other Pirates.



The Gestapo and the Hitler Youth brought an armory of repressive measures including sending Pirates to concentration and labor camps. For many Edelweiss Pirates the hunt ended in death. In Cologne, sixteen year

old Bernard Schink was publicly hanged in November 1944.



http://www.holocaust-trc.org/faces.htm#jean
Jean




On the way back to the village, Jean was climbing the hills bordering the Dordogne River when he saw a streak of silver twisting and turning in the sky; trailing streaks of black smoke as it hurtled to the ground. Jean was deaf and did not hear the plane crash, but he saw the smoke rising above the trees on the other side of the river. Jean stopped on the top of a hill and watched the smoke circling above the sparkling river, and then he saw the white parachute tangled on a tree below him. A man dangling from its ropes was waving his arms, frantically trying to reach the branch of the tree.



Jean quickly ran down the hill toward the tree and climbed up, as he came close to the man he reached and pulled him to safety in a branch of the tree. Then he disentangled the ropes and helped him climb down from the tree. Jean guessed the man was the pilot of the small plane. He knew from his uniform that he was not a German. He suspected he was British or American.



The people in the farming village were happy to see the fighter planes, everyone was hoping that they would free France from the German occupation. The year was 1944 and German soldiers were all over France. Jean knew his father resented the German soldiers who took so much food from the village that there was little left for the farmers to sell.



Safely on the ground, Jean faced the pilot who was speaking to him, but he could not read his words. They were not French. Jean pointed to his ears and shook his head, trying to make the pilot understand that he could not hear. Jean could see fear in the pilot's eyes and he wanted to reassure him and let him know he was safe. Jean quickly pulled his sweater off and pushed it in the pilot's hands and pulled on the pilot's jacket. The American understood and removed his jacket and pulled Jean's sweater over his head.




Pointing to the parachute that was still tangled in the tree, Jean climbed back up the tree and brought it down. Rolling it up into a bundle, he hid the parachute and the pilot's jacket beneath a bush. Pointing to a path through the oak trees that bordered the road, Jean led the pilot along the dirt road overgrown with bushes. Jean hoped they would not be seen. As they trudged side by side though the trees, Jean, sure his father would want to help the pilot, Jean decided to bring him back to the farm in the next village. Jean was on his way home after delivering butter and eggs to his father's friend in the neighboring village. Jean lived with his father; his mother had died the year before. Jean had two older brothers but they were in the French army.




Tall and husky, Jean was tall for his seventeen years, but he was lonely. No one in the farming village knew his language of signs. Jean left the school for the deaf in Paris when the Germans occupied the city. Jean had a friend from the school for the deaf in the nearby village and he was disappointed to discover that he had moved away.



Jean and the pilot could not walk very fast over the overgrown path through the trees. The path led to the main road where walking was easier. They no sooner started walking on the road, when Jean felt the pilot shake his arm. Jean turned and saw the truck coming up the road behind them and quickly pulled the pilot up a hill beside the road. They hid behind the small cottage on the top of the hill. There was a gasoline shortage and no one but the Germans had gasoline for trucks.



Jean peered around the cottage and looked down at the road. The truck did not stop and went it had passed, Jean and the pilot began to make their way back to the road. The door of the cottage opened and a large black dog came towards them blocking their path. Jean knew the dog was barking. An old woman came out of the cottage and looked around. The dog came close to Jean and the pilot, but Jean stood by calmly and let the dog approach. Then he reached out and petted him. The dog stopped barking and went back into the cottage.



Walking along the road, Jean felt happy, he had a companion, someone who trusted him and let him lead the way. As they got close to the village, Jean could see children coming out of the school next to the church. The village priest stood in front of the church and Jean did not want him to see the pilot. Grabbing the pilot's arm, he pulled him to the back of the church. When the children had gone, the priest went back inside the church. And they began walking again.



The road led through a countryside that was dotted by small farms and the market place in the center of the village. It was late afternoon, but there were still many people in the market. Jean was wondering how they could avoid being seen; there was no place to walk. except in front of the market. Jean had an idea and began showing the pilot some of his signs. The pilot nodded and began to imitate him and Jean and the pilot walked through the market making signs. Jean thought the neighbors would think the pilot was his friend, Phillipe from the neighboring village. He knew that many people knew about Phillipe, but they had never seen him. Jean felt more confident now and was not afraid of meet anyone.



One of the farmers saw Jean approaching and stopped him. Jean put his arm around the pilot's shoulder and carefully pronounced the words, "My friend, Phillipe, he deaf like me". The man stared at the pilot but then he shrugged and walked away. A number of other people were also looking at Jean, but he did not think that their behavior was unusual. Few people took the time to talk to Jean even though he could read their lips and pronounce words clearly. Jean often felt he was ignored, he thought people thought he was dumb as well as deaf.



The smell of freshly baked bread wafted out of the bakery reminding Jean had promised his father to bring home bread. Leading the pilot into the bakery, Jean repeated his words to the baker, "He my friend, Phillipe, deaf like me." The baker nodded and gave Jean two loaves of bread and then he hurried them outside through a back door.



When they got close to the farm, Jean was surprised to see his father waiting for them in front of the house. He seemed to be expecting the pilot and hurried him into the barn. His father sent Jean back to the house for a blanket and some clothes while he brought soup, bread, and cheese on a tray. Jean's father made the pilot a bed of hay and put the blanket down. He did not know the pilot's language either, but he knew he was an American. After eating the soup and cheese, the pilot gave the bowl back to Jean and covered himself with the blanket. Jean and his father left the barn and went back into the house to eat their dinner.



Sitting across from his father, Jean thanked him and said. "People think he is my friend Phillipe. He stay in the barn and help on the farm."



Jean's father looked at his son's smiling face and shook his head. He knew that Jean had no idea how quickly news traveled in the farming village. Everyone knew that an American fighter plane had crashed. They also knew that German soldiers would be coming to the village to search for the pilot. Jean's father also knew that there were a few people in the village who were cooperating with the Germans and he was too worried to explain to Jean why the pilot could not stay.



As soon as they had finished their dinner, Jean's father opened the door and a man Jean did not know entered the house. Jean tried to read his lips as he spoke to his father, but he was talking too quickly. His father told Jean to stay in the house and took the man to the barn. But Jean followed them, he could see that the man was able to talk to the pilot.



His father gestured him to go back to the house and Jean obeyed. He went to bed; he could not sleep. Later that night, he went out to the barn. The pilot had gone. There was no sign that he had been there. Jean felt angry and betrayed and he woke his father. "He had to go. He will be safe, now go back to bed," his father told him.



Jean felt like he had lost a friend, he wanted him to stay on the farm. He had no idea where the pilot was taken. He thought he would be safe on the farm.



The next morning, German soldiers drove up to the farm and searched every room in the house. His father put his fingers to his lips and Jean knew why the pilot had to leave.



The soldiers were holding guns and one of them came close to Jean's father. Afraid the soldier would hurt him, Jean moved close to him. The soldier looked angry Jean read the words on his father's lips, "No one here but me and my son. " Jean could not read the soldier's lips when he yelled in German, "There's no one else here but a deaf dummy".



When the soldiers left, Jean embraced his father and thanked him for helping the pilot escape.



After the war, Jean received a letter from the American pilot. Jean's father took it to his English-speaking friend to translate it.



Dear Jean,



I want you to know how grateful I will always be to you. You saved my life. Your father's friend brought me to a safe place and helped me to escape. Thanks to you, I am home with my family. I will never forget you. You are a real hero.



Your friend,

Steve, the American pilot

Second Temple, in which the Ark and the Tablets did not repose

Today's Tanya Lesson


Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 53

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ובבית שני, שלא היה בו הארון והלוחות



As for the Second Temple, in which the Ark and the Tablets did not repose, these being among the five things found in the First Temple and lacking in the Second,






אמרו רז״ל שלא היתה שכינה שורה בו, פירוש: מדרגת שכינה שהיתה שורה בבית ראשון, שלא כדרך השתלשלות העולמות






our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said1 that the Shechinah did not abide there. This means not that, G‑d forbid, the Shechinah did not abide there at all, rather it speaks of the category of the Shechinah which used to abide in the First Temple — which was not in the manner of the ordinary descent of the Worlds.



It was this level of Shechinah that did not abide in the Second Temple, but only a far lesser level.



אלא בבית שני היתה שורה כדרך השתלשלות והתלבשות: מלכות דאצילות במלכות דבריאה, ודבריאה במלכות דיצירה, ודיצירה בהיכל קדשי קדשים דעשיה



But in the Second Temple it abided according to the order of gradual descent, of Malchut of Atzilut vested in Malchut of Beriah and the latter in Malchut of Yetzirah, and the latter in the shrine of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, that shrine being ChaBaD of Asiyah.



וקדשי קדשים דעשיה היה מתלבש בקדשי קדשים שבבית המקדש שלמטה, ושרתה בו השכינה: מלכות דיצירה, המלובשת בקדשי קדשים דעשיה



And the Holy of Holies of Asiyah was clothed in the Holy of Holies of the Temple below. In it rested the Shechinah, i.e., Malchut of Yetzirah, which was clothed in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah.



ולכן לא היה רשאי שום אדם ליכנס שם, לבד כהן גדול ביום הכפורים. ומשחרב בית המקדש



Therefore, because the Shechinah resided in the Temple’s Holy of Holies, no man was permitted to enter there, except the High Priest on Yom Kippur. And since the destruction of the Temple,



of which the Sanctuary was a part, G‑d resides in the shrine of Holy of Holies of Torah and the mitzvot, for as mentioned earlier, the Shechinah must reside in the Holy of Holies:



אין לו להקב״ה בעולמו אלא ד׳ אמות של הלכה בלבד



“HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) has but the four cubits of Halachah alone.”2




Torah is the shrine of the Holy of Holies that connects G‑d with the world, so that HaKadosh (the illumination of the Shechinah, which is Kadosh, i.e., separated and apart from the world) should become Baruch (from the Hebrew root meaning “to draw down”) — drawn down into the world.



ואפילו אחד שיושב ועוסק בתורה, שכינה עמו, כדאיתא בברכות, פרק קמא. פירוש שכינה עמו



And even if one Jew sits and engages in Torah study, the Shechinah is with him, as is stated in the first chapter of Berachot.3 The phrase, “the Shechinah is with him” means that although he is a being of this material world, the Shechinah is nevertheless with him.



The level of Shechinah that is with him is:



כדרך השתלשלות והתלבשות מלכות דאצילות במלכות דבריאה ויצירה ועשיה



in order of the gradual descent and investment of Malchut of Atzilut in Malchut of Beriah and Yetzirah and Asiyah.



It is thus inferior even to the indwelling of the Shechinah in the Second Temple, an indwelling that did not require the vestment in Malchut of Asiyah.



It differs from the drawing down of the Shechinah in the world in general, in which case the identical progressive descent occurs, in that the Shechinah which resides in the world passes through the additional “garment” of kelipat nogah, while Torah and the mitzvot do not.



The reason that it must go through Malchut of Asiyah is that the overwhelming majority of the mitzvot of the Torah involve physical action. The Shechinah therefore descends into the level of action — Asiyah, as shall now be explained.



כי תרי״ג מצות התורה רובן ככולן הן מצות מעשיות, וגם התלויות בדבור ומחשבה, כמו תלמוד תורה, ברכת המזון, קריאת שמע ותפלה



For the 613 commandments of the Torah are by and large precepts which involve action, including even those mitzvot which are fulfilled by word and thought, such as Torah study, the Grace after Meals, the recital of the Shema, and prayer,



This is so even though these mitzvot involve thought — seeking to grasp the concepts in one’s studies, and to experience the kavanot of the Shema and prayer — and as such they are not bound up with action,



הא קיימא לן דהרהור לאו כדבור דמי, ואינו יוצא ידי חובתו בהרהור וכוונה לבד, עד שיוציא בשפתיו



for it has been ruled that meditation has not the validity of speech, and one does not fulfill one’s obligation by meditation [in a manner of hirhur] and kavanah alone, even when his manner of meditation is close to speech, as is the case when one thinks about the way in which he will utter certain words, which is called hirhur, until he gives it utterance with his lips;



וקיימא לן דעקימת שפתיו הוי מעשה



moreover, it has been ruled that the motion of the lips while one is speaking is considered an “action” — in which case all these mitzvot involve a form of action.



The Rebbe explains that the Alter Rebbe will now anticipate the following question: It still remains to be understood why specifically the four cubits of Halachah take the place of the Holy of Holies; why should this be not so when a Jew studies a subject in Torah which is not Halachah, for there too the Shechinah is with him? The Alter Rebbe therefore explains that Halachah possesses the especial merit of expressing the Divine Will (as explained at length in Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 29).



ותרי״ג מצות התורה, עם שבע מצות דרבנן, בגימטריא כת״ר, שהוא רצון העליון ברוך הוא



And the 613 commandments of the Torah, together with the seven commandments of our Rabbis, combine to total the numerical equivalent of Keter (“crown”), which is the Supernal Will,



Will is called a crown, for like a crown it encompasses the head and brain; Iggeret HaKodesh, loc. cit., where this is discussed at length.



המלובש בחכמתו יתברך



which is clothed in His wisdom,



Thus, in addition to the fact that Torah is G‑d’s wisdom, which in its descent in the downward progression of Worlds becomes the shrine of the Holy of Holies for the Shechinah, there is the additional quality of its being the Supernal Will, which is even loftier than wisdom. This is uniquely found in the Halachah and the mitzvot, as they are expressions of the Supernal Will.



המיוחדות באור אין סוף ברוך הוא בתכלית היחוד



and they (G‑d’s Will and wisdom) are united with the light of the Ein Sof in a perfect union.



Further to an earlier statement that Torah derives from Supernal Wisdom, the Alter Rebbe will now say that the Oral Law also emanates from that source.



וה׳ בחכמה יסד ארץ, היא תורה שבעל פה דנפקא מחכמה עילאה, כמו שכתוב בזהר, דאבא יסד ברתא



“G‑d founded the earth with wisdom.”4 This refers to the Oral Law that is derived from Supernal Wisdom, as it is written in the Zohar, “The father (Chochmah) begat the daughter” (i.e., Malchut, the Oral Law; as it is written, “Malchut — the mouth, which we call the Oral Law”).



* * *



FOOTNOTES

1. Yoma 9b.

2. Berachot 8a.

3. Berachot 6a.

4. Mishlei 3:19.