Einsatz Platz
September 11, 2022
Many years ago I traveled to Poland, with Project Mesorah. It was a spirited mission led by Rabbi Paysach Krohn. Needless to say it was a most inspiring trip.
To go back in time and actually see how Jews once lived, prior to the attempted extermination that took place during World War II, was a real eye opener and very informative. Experiencing the old country, which I had heard so much about throughout my youth and having the opportunity to relate to the stories my parents told me, was special. Standing on the very soil of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where my mother was once incarcerated and suffered so much, was unbelievable and very healing. Here I was, a child of a Holocust survivor, reciting Kaddish at the site where the gas chambers once stood and where much of my family was slaughtered. In a certain sense, survival is victory and here stood the descendant of a courageous woman, my mother, who miraculously escaped the gas chambers.
The mission started in the airport, where all participants met, arriving on different flights. My flight was delayed in France. By the time my wife and I arrived in Poland, the mission had already left the airport, to daven Mincha in one of the surviving shuls in Warsaw, Poland. I caught up with the mission as they were leaving the shul on their way to the Einsatz Platz. This was the place where all Jews were rounded up before deportation. Hard to imagine the pain and suffering that took place there. Families were torn asunder. Husbands were separated from their wives and children from their parents. A large memorial now stood in this place with the names of the departed engraved on its stone walls.
Not having davened Mincha yet, I asked Rabbi Krohn if I could recite a loud Kedusha.
It was a very meaningful moment, when the entire mission recited Kedusha together with me from the depths of our hearts, at this special place. The very place from where children and mothers were shipped off to the Nazi concentration death camps.
Now some 60 years later, in this very same place, their descendants recited Kedusha.
The holy flame of the Jewish people will survive forever.
Why did this happen and how did this happen? It happened only because we missed our connecting flight in France. At the time we were upset at having missed our connecting flight, but after looking back, we came to realize that it only happened because Hashem wanted Kedusha to be recited in this place. He made my wife and I miss our connecting flight in order to make the special moment happen.
As Jews, it is important to understand, who is really orchestrating our lives. Truth be said, it is only Hashem. Its unfortunate, that sometimes we think its us. We are only going through the motions. We are where we are, at a specific time and place, only because Hashem has a specific purpose in mind. At the time we don’t know the reason. Sometimes Hashem reveals his plan to us later on in life. Then we find out, that what we thought made no sense, really made lots of sense. Hashem does that, to let us know that He is always with us and that as a Jew we are never alone. He does things with us, which sometimes seem out of the ordinary. Later on He reveals His master plan, in order to draw our attention to Him. By being connected to Hashem we are able to connect the dots in our lives.