Opinion

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My Father's Handwritten Machzor

n 1951, my father, Rabbi
Moshe Greenberg, didn't
recite Kol Nidre. Instead, he
was a prisoner in a labor camp
in Siberia.
At age 20, my father's crime
was trying to escape from
Russia. He dreamed of making
aliyah. But he was caught and
sentenced to 25 years of hard
labor, leaving behind his par-
ents, two sisters and a brother
(a prisoner in another camp for
a similar "crime").
The job of 1,000 men at my
father's labor camp was creat-
ing an electriC. station. About 20
of the prisoners were Jewish.
At the end of the summer, the
Jewish prisoners yearned to
observe the upcoming High
Holidays. They knew they
would lack a shofar, Torah
scroll and tallitot (prayer
shawls), but they hoped they
could find a machzor (High
Holiday prayer book).
My father spotted a man
from the outside, an engineer
who worked for the camp on
certain projects. He believed
the engineer might be a Jew.
Kenstu meer efsher helfen? —

I

"Perhaps you can help me?" he
asked the engineer in Yiddish.
At that time, most Russian Jews
were fluent in Yiddish. He saw
the flicker of understanding in
the engineer's eyes.
"Can you bring a machzor for
me, for the Jews here?" he
asked.
The engineer hesitated. Such
a transaction would endanger
both of their lives. Even so, the
engineer agreed to try.

He would copy the

machzor in time for

Rosh Hashanah and

return the book

before the holiday.

A few days passed.
"Any developments?" my
father asked the engineer.
"Good news and bad news:' he
replied.
He had located a machzor
with difficulty, but it was the
only machzor belonging to his
girlfriend's father, and the man

was furious when his
them gather in the
sions that I hear him tell a
daughter asked him
barrack for services.
story, he tearfully states that he
to give it up. Maybe
With his handwrit-
had never participated in serv-
she told him why she
ten prayer book, my
ices as meaningful as those in
wanted it, maybe not.
father served as chaz-
prison.
My father would
zan (cantor) and recit-
In 1973, he visited the
not relent, however.
ed each prayer, repeat- Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York
Perhaps, he suggest-
ed by others in low
Rabbi S chneor
City and presented the machzor
ed, the man would
solemn voices.
Gree nberg
to him as a gift. A few years
lend him the book
Seven days later,
Specia I to the
ago, I visited the rebbe's library
and he could copy it
they met for Kol Nidre and found my father's machzor.
Jewish News
and return it in time
services. But despite
I looked at the worn book with
for Rosh Hashanah.
their efforts, none of
its fragile pages and Hebrew
In secrecy, the engineer
the worshippers could recall all letters written in haste and
handed the machzor to my
of the words of that prayer
with such respect and determi-
father. To copy it, my father
from memory.
nation. I copied it — on a copy-
built a large wooden box and
After nearly seven years in
ing machine.
crawled into it for a few hours
jail, my father, along with all
This Yom Kippur, as I lead
every day. There, hidden from
political prisoners, were
services at the Chabad Jewish
view, he copied the book, line
released, owing to the death of
Center of Commerce/Walled
for line into a notebook. After a Joseph Stalin. The only item my Lake, I will have with me the
month, he had copied the entire father took with him was his
copy of my father's machzor,
machzor, but there was one
handwritten machzor. He
with the Kol Nidre prayer still
page missing — Kol Nidre, the
reunited with his family near
missing.
very first prayer recited on Yom
Moscow and later married.
My father couldn't recite Kol
Kipper.
Fifteen years after his release
Nidre during his years in
My father returned the book,
from prison, my family was
prison. This year, I will ask my
and autumn arrived. The Jewish allowed to immigrate to Israel.
congregation, and all of us, to
prisoners learned the dates of
The machzor came with them.
say it for him and anyone else
the impending holidays from
My father, who still lives in
who may not have the opportu-
letters from home and, on the
Bnei Brak, Israel, doesn't like to nity to do so.
holiday, they bribed the guards, remember those painful years
probably with cigarettes, to let
in Siberia. But on the rare occa- Rabbi Schneor Greenberg is a

❑

Commerce Township resident.

M ean ing , M essage, Mood

om Kippur is unlike any
other day in meaning,
message and mood. For
25 hours, we focus on atone-
ment and reconciliation. How
to do better in the future than
we have done in the past flit
into our thoughts. More than
anything else, however, Yom
Kippur is a day about love.
When reflecting on love, we
are not speaking about roman-
tic love, the kind of love that is
written about in magazines or
displayed in electronic media.
This is the love that pervades
our Shabbat Shabbaton, a deep
unique love within us and sur-
rounding us. It envelops us.
This love is necessary in

y

48

order to have a sense
not fair. In 5765, the
of a purposeful world
unthinkable hap-
even as we cry for
pened to people in
those displaced by
New Orleans. More
hurricane and by
than once, the
flood and for those
Unetaneh Tokef
pained by the results
prayer, including the
of the moral evil of
words "Who Shall
Rabbi Herbert
man. With love, we
Live And Who Shall
A. Yoskowitz
pray Haneshamah
Die,"
will frighten us.
Community
Lach — "Oh Lord, the
We
love
life even in
View
soul is yours;" U'haguf
the midst of our
paalach —"the body
fright, even in a world
is your work." We acknowledge
where a significant segment of
that the soul which is the
mankind asks God for death.
source of love comes from God.
In her memoir All But My
Just as we call to God, God calls Life, Gerda Klein remembers
us to draw close — what else is how her parents spoke through
at the heart of this if not love?
the final hours before their
We love life, even when life is
deportation by the Nazis. Klein

f

The meaning of Yom

Kippur is love.

Love God; love life;

love each other.

was only 18, yet she remem-
bered them facing what the
morning would bring with the
only weapon they had — their
love for each other.
"Love is the foundation of
nobility; it conquers obstacles
and is a deep well of truth and
strength. After hearing my par-
ents talk that night, I began to
understand the greatness of

their love."
The meaning of Yom Kippur
is love. Love God; love life; love
each other.
Perhaps Naomi Shemer, one
of Israel's greatest songwriters,
said it best when she wrote, Od
Lo Ahavti Dai — "Until now, I
have not loved enough?' She
added, V'Im Lo Achshav, Ematai
— "If not now, when?"
On Yom Kippur, we are
called to draw close — at the
heart of that is love. Love is
one of the core meanings of
Yom Kippur. ❑

Herbert A. Yoskowitz is a rabbi at
Adat Shalom Synagogue,
Farmington Hills.

October 6 . 2005

JN