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Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry

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This book consists of two parts. The first 60 % is about Rabbi Oshry's experainces in the Kovno ghetto. This part of the book can be broken up into four periods. The Nazi arrival and initial attrociates, 'normal ghetto life', the liquidation of the ghetto, and the period of time that they lived in a bunker. Their also are two chapters about the post-liberation period under Soviet rule. Though according to Jewish folklore, Lithuianian Jews are sterotypically 'cold interlectualls', this book is very passionately written. Because it was written shortly after the events occurred by an important figure of the Kovno ghetto, it is certainly an important book for those who want to learn about the Holocaust.

This most serious book is very effective at sharing events that happened during the Holocaust - particularly in Kovno / Slobadka. It enables the readers to get a glimpse of the savagery of the Nazi butchers. Rabbi Oshry tells first hand accounts of their brutality and it clearly instills the fear of G-d in the reader.

In addition to the helpful comments of previous reviewers, I'd like to add that this book is important because it throws life on how Jewish life continued in Kovno all the way through the Nazi occupation. Oshry movingly describes the enormous efforts Jews made to continue to practice their faith and the joy they still found in their religion.

Originally written in 1951 in Yiddish, this is an eyewitness account of how the Nazis and their local supportors killed the Jews, rabbi by rabbi, village by village.

No Tisha B'Av should pass without this book being studied and wept over. Rabbi Ephraim Oshry is a latter-day Jeremiah and his lamentations on the destruction of the Jerusalem of Europe are deeply moving and a ringing reminder to be steadfast in Torah and mitzvoth in every season.

The main portion of "The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry" is devoted to what happened to Kovno (the capitol of Lithuania, also known as Kaunas). Rav Oshry gives great kovod (honor) to his teacher, Rabbi Avraham Grodzensky, in describing the bravery and uprightness of this martyr.

The section on Kovno has 41 chapters. Several are headlined with the names of important days on the Jewish calendar (Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Purim). Tisha B'Av is not one of them. This is telling. For Jewish Lithuania between 1941 and 1944, every day was Tisha B'Av.

Rabbi Oshry writes chapters on each town. For those of us attached to the Telz Yeshiva, the chapter simply titled "Telz" is of monumental significance. The lines (nearly 60 years old as I write this) should take their place alongside Torah and Mussar during study time, sharing center stage with Jeremiah's Lamentations on Tisha B'Av.

Haunting pictures of Rosh Yeshiva/Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch and Rav Zalman Bloch come before us. Their beautiful faith is an eternal flame. Rebbetzin Chaya Ausband, a daughter of Rav Avrohom Yitzchok, spoke thus -

"Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch didn't pay any attention to the rifles pointed directly at him despite the Germans' repeated orders that every Jew stand still and not make a sound. Instead, he turned toward the crowd of Jews and spoke words of encouragement and strength. The crowd listened to every word the Rav was saying. When the Germans saw this, their attitude toward him changed. They didn't try to restrain the Rav, but allowed him to speak uninterruptedly. They even stopped taunting the Jews." (p. 261, 1995 hardcover English edition).

Our author doesn't devote much space to the political/societal influences that turned Lithuanians beastly against Jews after centuries of friendship. But we get a glimpse of them when Telz Jews are made to clean the corpses of Soviet soldiers. It pops up against when Rav Avrohom Yitzchok has to deny repeatedly that the Jews are helping the Russians. All this stems from the huge public relations problems created by Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and others (cleverly exploited by one A. Hitler, yimach shmo). Generations of Jews had gone after the false gods of The Enlightenment and it fell to Telz and other communities to be atonement sacrifices. Telz, located in northwest Lita, was/is the korban olah that we read about every morning in davvening.

"The elevation offering (olah) is the holiest of offerings. Its slaughter is in the north...It requires flaying and dismemberment and it is entirely consumed by the fire." (ArtScroll Siddur, Ashkenaz, p. 46).

The most dignified destiny for Telz students of today and survivors is to be consumed by the fire of Torah. This is a pleasant, warming fire which does not destroy and builds up.

Rav Oshry's broad scholarship flares again when he writes "However great the kedushah (sanctity) the much greater must the tumah (defilement) be to overpower it." (p. 260). True - in the short term. But Telz lives! Go to Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Israel or into any Telzer's home and behold.

What should those of us connected to Telz take from Rav Oshry's stirring book? The answer is many things.

First, the days of Tammuz corresponding to July 14 and 15 should become special to us. On those days, the brutality was intensified. We should respond with more intense Torah study and prayer and increased acts of kindness.

Second, the mitzvoth of Kashrus, Shabbos, and Taharas Hamispochah should become especially beautiful to us. These were the commandments Rav Avrohom Yitzchok pleaded with the people to accept. The people accepted without hesitation (p. 262).

Third, upon this foundation of repentance we should build an edifice of kind actions, modesty, and prayer. As the Telz community committed no acts of aggression against the oppressors, we should join our wonderful Satmar cousins and others and distance ourselves from statist Zionism, militarism and other abominations. As Rav Oshry and the Torah command us "Remember what Amalek did to you...Do not forget." Yes, and allow me to write in the margin in bold letters, "AND DO NOT BECOME LIKE AMALEK."

Also, we should be modestly cognizant of the fact that all spiritual roads lead to Telz (as the story of Rabbi Elya Lopian and Rabbi Mordechai Pogramansky remind us). Reb Elya ZT"L (whose 40th yahrzeit - 20 Elul - nears as I write this) sent most of his sons to the Telz Yeshiva from where they and their offspring matriculated to become the bedrock of Torah communities on three continents. Rav Pogramansky, Reb Elya's greatest "find," was known as "the hidden prodigy."

Lesson: The best of Klal Yisrael - open and hidden - are destined to ascend to Telz. Let us welcome them and help them understand that "The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry" is an important section in our history but certainly not its final chapter.