PUBLISHER'S NOTEBOOK
Visitors To The Graveyard:
A Humbling Experience
arsaw.
But I didn't get their names.
But I didn't get their
A tall brick wall separated the
names.
Jews of Warsaw in life and death.
Walking slowly, shoul-
More than 500,000 Jews from War-
ders drooped and arm in arm, they
saw and surrounding villages were
carefully navigated the lopsided paving penned into the ghetto beginning in
stones and protruding roots. Over-
November of 1940. By the time the
head, aged trees spread a canopy of fil-
ghetto was liquidated in July of
tered light — some parts
1943, an estimated 450,000
gray-like and others an eerie
Jews had perished either on
the streets due to starvation
black. There was no room
and disease or at the Nazi
for the sun.
Where were they heading,
death camps.
Hundreds were transport-
I wondered? To a spouses'
ed daily on makeshift wood-
final resting place, where the
en carts from behind the
tasks included placing a few
ghetto's walls to
pebbles, lighting a memorial
behind those at the
candle and extracting tan-
cemetery. The pitiful
gled weeds obscuring the
ARTHU R M.
processional often
chiseled inscription on the
HOR V/ITZ
passed nearby
tilted tombstone? To a moth-
Publ usher
Umschlagplatz, where
er's grave? A child's? A
the living awaited
memorial tablet marking the
deportation.
spot where tens of thousands lay in a
"What's in a name?" Romeo's
pit, with lime their final white shroud?
Juliet asks lightly, before the
With each muffled step, the loneli-
wings of tragedy brush her
ness of their task still reverberated
cheek. In the Jewish Cemetery
loudly. Row after row, section after
of Warsaw, a name on a tomb-
section, acre after acre are unvisited
stone, even if unvisited, denotes
and untended. There is no one offer-
a sense of time and space — of
ing to assist in reciting memorial
existence. But the faceless thou-
prayers. No one is requesting, either.
sands interred here were robbed
Sixty years ago, Warsaw was home to
of their earthly possessions, their
more than 350,000 Jews — one-third
lives and their ability to be
of the city's population. It was the reli-
remembered.
gious, intellectual, political and cultural
The somber visit completed,
hub of Poland. Today, the two sturdy
I entered the cramped restroom
but aged spinsters are the only visitors
adjoining the information booth and
to the vast Jewish cemetery in Warsaw
ticket office. It probably included a
for whom the admission fee is waived.
Above: Tombstones help tell the story of the people
whose final resting place is the Jewish Cemetery of War-
saw.
Left: Two women navzgate the narrow paths in the
Jewish Cemetery of Warsaw.
mirror
over the
sink, but
before I
could look
upward at
my image,
a gruff
voice
pushed a dish at me and barked, "50
groszy."
As I fumbled for the coins, I caught
a glimpse of the two women heading
toward the rest room. Sure enough, a
few second later, I heard the rattling
dish and 50 groszy demand. Whether
tourist or mourner, some things still
cost the same for the living.
But I didn't get their names ...
Orthodox congregation and eventually
moved to a Conservative one.) The
only thing I learned from these insti-
tutions was that very
sharp pencils could be
used as projectiles in
drop ceilings. (Being six-
foot-one in seventh
grade, I had the job of
getting all the pencils
out of the ceiling at the
end of the day.)
When I first encoun-
tered Chasidism, as a
young adult, it present-
ed Judaism in a very
warm and amenable
fashion. I was not pre-
sented with Judeo pol-
itics; I was presented
with idealism. I was shown a path
whereby all Jews were equal and could
be united into a single cohesive body.
Our sages tell us that the first Tem-
ple was destroyed because Jews were
involved with idolatry, adultery and
murder. Seventy years later, when the
Jews corrected their actions, they were
emancipated from their oppressors
and allowed to return to Israel and
rebuild the holy temple. The second
Temple was destroyed because Jews
quarreled over pettiness. It is nearly 2
millennia that we have not corrected
our ways.
Rabbi Herschel Finman
Oak Park
❑
To leave a voice mail message for
Arthur Horwitz, please call (248)
354-6060, ext. 238.
LETTERS
the evening on Ben Yehudah Street.
The Israel experience dearly nurtures
a heightened awareness of each teen's
heritage and culture; and, in my view,
will yield a lifetime of good memories
and positive Jewish identification for
each participant.
The Detroit Jewish Federation must
be commended for sending the largest
Federation-sponsored teen trip to Israel
with sufficient financial subsidy so that
all teens who desired to go had the
opportunity to do so, regardless of
means.
I applaud the editors and staff of The
Jewish News for actively partnering with
the Federation in marketing the Teen
Mission and sharing the weekly photos
and essays written by our teens.
Allan Nachman
Chair
Detroit Federation Teen Mission 2 Israel
7/17
1998
30
Writer's Purpose
Is Clarified
I appreciate all the
feedback that has
followed my article
"Souls On Fire"
(June 12). Allow
me to clarify my
purpose in writing
this article.
Chasidism was
developed to help
people appreciate
Judaism. As a non-
religious Jew growing
up in suburban New
Jersey, I had Judaism
presented in the tradi-
tional three-day-a-
week, after-school religious school. (I
first attended one affiliated with an
Jewish War Veterans
Part Of U.S. History
On behalf of the Jewish War Veterans
and Ladies Auxiliary of Michigan, I