Insight Poland Insights

• Poland, called “Po-lin”, means “here we will sleep over”. When the first Jews came to Poland, they said that here they would “spend the night” of exile, which is compared to the dark night. It was only a stop on the way to the Land of Israel, the true home of every Jew, in the Redemption through Moshiach. At the same time, they utilized the relative peacefulness of the good years in Poland for holiness and Torah study, like it says, “Night was only created for Torah study”. This is a lesson that we should take in every place that we may be during exile.
• This meaning of “Po-lin” is the true reason that the Polish people gave their country that name. They didn’t see it, but their Mazal saw it.
• During the good years in Poland, the government showed a lot of respect to the Jews and would have Jews manage their properties. Their Mazal saw the Moshe within every Jew and they would call these Jewish managers “Moishke”. The Jews utilized this for good and holy things (very unlike how the non-Jewish managers would deal with it).
• We should make sure that Poland has rabbis and outreach workers for the Jews there.

(See talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach Shlita, Beha’aloscha 5751 (1991))