Pesi Teitelbaum shares her memories of Yamim Tovim as a child in Bobov in the recent Rosh Hashana 5781 issue of Mishpacha Magazine: “We anticipated the Yamim Tovim eagerly. The Bais Medresh was large enough to accommodate quite comfortably both men and women who lived in the community. As we listened to the baal Tefilah, the nusach and songs that were so familiar to our parents became part of us as well”
“We girls were proud Beis Yaakov girls and we knew how to keep up with the Baal Tefillah. We even knew when to sit, when to stand, and of course, the laws involved in davening the Shemoneh Esrei. We listened intently to the ‘V’Chol Maaminim choir, singing quietly along. Our brothers had practiced for days beforehand, and we knew every nuance of the rhythm and melody.”
“After Yom Kippur, our excitement peaked as we prepared for Sukkos. The men’s section of the Bais Medresh had a sliding roof, which then became a large airy sukkah with beautiful decorations.” The author, as a teenager, recalls vividly sitting at the Chol Hamoed ‘Tisch’ marvelling at the huge center candelabra, hand designed with 91 bulbs- BeGematria Sukkah!
Pesi Teitelbaum continues: “Simchas Torah was always thrilling for us. We good naturedly pushed our way to the front to see the hakafos, calling out to our friends to come join us. The laughter and elation was infectious. Our parents, who had lost so much in the war, reveled in the joy of the Torah, though we sensed that their happiness was tempered with great sadness.
“That anguish came to peak during Yizkor. My friends and I, young children of Holocaust survivors, would leave the beis medresh quickly. From where we stood waiting outside we could hear tearful sobs, and a cacophony of moans, wailing and weeping, as memories came flooding back. The war was the shadow we all grew up under, and we were used to this. But it was at Yizkor that we actually felt the heaviness of our parents’ grief. Some moments later, the door opened, signaling that the tefilah was over and we could return. The wailing and sobbing persisted unabated well into the middle of mussaf.”
“A Chol Hamoed outing for some of us has been to take the grandkids to Crown Heights to see where it was all reestablished. We show our grandchildren where we grew up, telling them stories about the ‘good old days.’ And good old times they were, when life was simpler, expectations were less, and most people seemed to be content. With tremendous gratitude and appreciation for Hashem’s Nissim, we remember how our parents lived with constant awareness that if they had survived, they had a mission to rebuild and continue the Chassidic life and traditions they had grown up with before the war.”
“We have come a long way since those early days. Hashem in His kindness kept our parents alive, brought them to a new country, and helped them to reestablish the glory of what once was. We lived through an incubation period that brought forth the blossoming of our community and the flourishing of a part of Klal Yisrael that emerged as smoldering embers from the fires of the war.” (as appearing in the ‘Impressions’ column of the Mishpacha Rosh Hashana edition- Sept. 16, 2020- by Pesi Teitelbaum.)
