For the sake of the Kedoshim

It is now over seventy years since the end of the holocaust when over 30% of our people were annihilated may haShem avenge their blood. The Jewish people was dealt a blow that unparalleled in scope and numbers since the destruction of the second temple, our holy beis Hamikdosh. When the survivors looked around they could not begin to digest how enormous a blow we were hit with, let alone to start planning for a future. Still, HaShem’s promise in the tochachah, even in their foe’s land I will not forsake them’ and ‘for it ‘the torah’ shall never be forgotten from his offspring mouth’ was the glimmer of hope that guided the Gedolim amongst the survivors and around the free world that torah will once again blossom and it will pulsate in the ranks of Jewish generations to come. Whether the Ponovezher Rav in Bnei Brak the Klausenburger Rebbe in Feldafing or the Belze Rebbe in Tel Aviv, they all kept the embers alive by infusing the she-eris hapleyta with hope and pushing their followers to follow their example. Wherever refugees arrived in numbers they were urged to start anew the schools, yeshivas and other communal institutions that were decimated in the war years.

Naturally, those in charge of these newly founded Mosdos were only happy to accept all and any child that come their way, knowing full well how the future of the torah true community depends on each and every one of these child survivors. True, theses kids were not brought up in normal circumstances – on the contrary – many arrived often living through the most harrowing experiences imaginable, which left an indelible stain on their character. The prevalent logic of the time was that the light of the torah will bring them around. Such assumption would have led to disastrous consequences, were it not for the selfless and tireless dedication of great teachers, educators and Roshei yeshiva who the divine providence kept alive during and after those dark years; rabbi Michoel ber weissmandel, rabbi Weingarten the ‘liege Rav’, the pupa Rav and Rebbe Moshe Bochner in Antwerp (many more who would fill a page) these loving, caring and clever individuals knew how to relate to the broken souls who were handpicked out of the conflagration some having been hidden on farms in the Belgian Ardennes, other who were brought up in monasteries throughout eastern Europe and others who found shelter in English convents. Slowly, with deliberate turning a blind eye to sporadic outburst of rebellion- borne of anguished frustration – they managed to ‘tame’ these sheep in wolves hides until a  post-war generation of hardworking, Torah-true Jews once again started to build Klal Yisroel.

The aforementioned era lasted perhaps 30 years, until the seventies, when the second generation of Shlomei Emunei Yisroel came of age and started looking around...

What these newcomers found, and their reaction to it, could be likened to a child arriving in Hamleys, home to the largest selection of toys worldwide.  These Yungeleit – Avreichim and their wives found a functioning, well-oiled education system which provided all the generations needs – from cradle to grave. Once they started running the show they forgot or never knew – how their parents and grandparents had to toil until this hard-won battle on every front – whether material, social, or spiritual, was achieved. Why, some of these Avreichim hailed from families whose members only started to keep Shabbos from after the wedding! These kids grew up ignorant of the fact that due to the upheavals of ww2, when parent did not find it important enough to enrol their precious offspring –these neshamos, who bore the names of their murdered parents – in a religious school if not for the local Rav who in his grace managed to convince them to do so at least for the sake of the Kedoshim