Festival of Hope in Kovna Ghetto
Copyright Rabbi Eli Hecht
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It was some 3,300 years ago that the Jewish nation was liberated from Egyptian slavery. The Bible tells of their 40 years travel in the desert. During those years the people dwelled in tents and temporary huts, called "Sukkahs". Today, Jews world over commemorate this historic event by erecting little huts, covering them with branches or bamboo poles. For eight days festive meals are eaten there. It is called the Sukkoth holiday. It begins 4 days after Yom Kippur, Friday evening, October 13th.
A less known holiday custom is the gathering of four earthly species for prayer. They are a palm branch (lulov), citron (esrog), myrtle (hadas) and a willow (aravah). The symbol of these four species represents four characteristics of man. The palm branch shows shelter and protection in man, the good smelling myrtle represents a kind person. The willow, having no taste or smell, represents the unkind person. Lastly, the citron, esrog, having both good taste and smell embodies everlasting goodness.
The symbolic ingathering of these four species symbolizes the need for tolerance, hope, peace and harmony between mankind, something we aspire for in the Middle East and the world in general. We hold them together and a special blessing called Shehecheyanu the prayer of life is recited.
This year marks the 57th year of a most unforgettable episode in the annals of Jewish history.
It happened during W.W.II. The German army captured the areas of Kovna, over-running Lithuania. Hundreds and thousands of Jewish families were locked in the Kovna ghetto. Jews everywhere became victims of unbridled hatred. Children were slaughtered before the very eyes of their parents. The prayer for the dead, called the Kaddish, was strangely reversed. Instead of children reciting the prayer for their parents, grandparents and parents said Kaddish for their children or grandchildren.
With all the bombing and mass destruction taking place, the Kovna ghetto refugees had ample wood to build the Sukkah. Trees had been uprooted by the bombing and continued carnage. Lumber was all over the place. However, the most pressing problem of the day was to find the beloved four species. The search for the species tortured the souls of the people.
Then the following unexplainable event took place:
The merciless Germans knew that the cities of Vilna and Kovna had industrial machinery that could produce material for the war effort. So they installed a slave work policy.
The Germans would send soldiers and business people to observe the manufacturing companies found in the cities. There they would work the poor Jews to death, forcing them to produce weapons of warfare.
When the machinery broke down the Jewish mechanics were to fix it. As the imprisoned Jews ran these factories they were escorted to the cities in order to repair the machinery.
So our story begins during the days preceding the holiday of Succoth in 1943. The Jews of Kovna were very worried; not about the immediate annihilation nor the brutality practiced by the Germans; they were worried about the four species. This practice, so great and time-honored. Nothing mattered to the Jews of Kovna except the need for the four species. For them the reciting of the bracha, Shehecheyanu, the prayer of life, was of paramount importance.
Jewish law states that if the holiday of Sukkoth is on Sabbath, there is no commandment to recite the blessing on the four species. The commandment is performed the following day after the Sabbath.
The suffering people in the Kovna ghetto were exposed to a question of monumental proportions. Some Vilna Jews sent a message to the Kovna Rabbi, Avram Dov Ber Kahane Shapiro, stating that there was a lulov and esrog available in Vilna. On Friday the Jewish Vilna engineers would be traveling to Kovna to repair the machinery that had broken down and they would be able to bring the four species but only for one day.
"Is it permitted to make a blessing on a lulov and esrog on the Shabbos since the lulov and esrog would be returned to Vilna that very same Shabbos afternoon?" Such an extraordinary question could only be asked during the nightmarish days of the Holocaust. He did not reply due to his illness.
Rabbi Ephraim Oshry was one of the few rabbinical authorities to survive the ghetto of Kovna. Finding no precedent to answer the question, he came up with the following compromise, "Yes, there may be some way in blessing the four species on the first day of Sukkoth even though it was Shabbos." But, as the acting Rabbi, he could not and would not give an explicit answer. The people needed to keep their spirits alive. But can a Rabbi rule against the Torah. Come to think of it, are there different laws for such times, thought the Rabbi? The decision was solely theirs.
Thousands of Jewish people rushed to the building where the four species were hidden. With tears running down in their eyes they called out the blessings of the mitzvah of the lulov and esrog. They recited the Shehecheyanu, the prayer of life. With bursting hearts they fulfilled their last mitzvah.
The bittersweet tears tasted better than the sweet apple dipped in honey during the holiday from past happier times. They knew full well this was the last lulov and esrog that they would ever see. They were grateful for being given this opportunity.
When Sukkoth comes around I still wonder what the law is. No one seems to know the answer. Maybe there is no answer. One thing I do know is that I am in awe of the faith of those who would not surrender their spirits.
So this Sukkoth find the four species, hold them to your heart and say the blessing of the prayer of life and thank the Almighty for the better times in the wonderful land of America.