(who was a Holocaust Survivor*)Yahrzeit 2nd day Rosh Hashanah
A holocaust survivor asked R. Itzikel zt"l (Antwerp) . We say the Avinu Malkeinu "harugim al sheim kodshecha- t'vuchim al yichudecha.
Why two leshonos, sheim kodshecha and yichudecha.
R. Itzikel was stumped and had no answer.
The holocaust survivor said "let me give the rebbe my answer".
When the nazis ym"s marched into the town, they assembled 100 men and lined them up in front of the river.
The nazi with a machine gun started shooting from the right side and moved his gun towards the left till he killed all the men.
When the shooting began, all men started to say the shema together.
The people on the right died when they said hashem elokeinu.
They did not manage to finish the posuk(harugim al sheim kodshecha)
The people on the left managed to stay alive for the extra second to say hashem echod (yichudecha)
R. Itzikel zt"l couldn't stop crying after hearing this pshat.
I cannot stop reading this story. Over & over I read it and I try to visualize the scene. It just boggles the mind. I will never say this פסוק the same way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this story.