I am sitting in Mrs. Esther Barber's home while she is passionately relating the following story. Shabsi Yosef (Yossel) was born in the Polish town of Sosnowitz to a Chassidic family, part of the Radomsker dynasty. The Radomsker Rebbe himself, Rabbi Shlomo Chanoch Hakohen Rabinowicz (1882-1942) was not only a charismatic leader for thousands, with Radomsk being the third largest Chassidus in Poland, after Ger and Alexander, but was also a successful businessman and millionaire. With Shabsi's father being a staunch Chassid and living relatively close to Radomsk, one can assume that Shabsi met the Rebbe. Living in a Jewish community of approximately 28,000 Jews, Shabsi was evidently surrounded by a rich and holy heritage that he held close to his heart. Yet everything swiftly changed; on Monday, 4 September 1939, the Nazis (Yemach Shemam) entered Sosnowitz and immediately began a period of terror characterised by sporadic shootings, kidnappings, abuse, looting and destruction of Jewish property. From October 1940, the Jews from Sosnowitz were being transported to various labour camps; during this period, Shabsi, with two of his brothers, were sent to Buchenwald.
Shabsi, at this time, was a teenager 'living' in Buchenwald. Although there were no gas chambers, hundreds perished each month from disease, malnutrition, exhaustion, beatings, and executions. The bulk of the prisoners were starved and worked to the point of death. Being under such a constant watch, it was impossible to do anything other than what the Nazis wanted; if you disobeyed in whatever way, you were shot on the spot. Yet, despite being in such harsh conditions (to say the least), Shabsi managed to be the custodian and guardian angel of a teeny tiny pair of Tefillin. We are not sure how these Tefillin were smuggled into the camp, nor if it always belonged to Shabsi, but what we do know is that these Tefillin became synonymous with Shabsi (Yossel) Kornwasser. It is known that the head of the Bundist group, the secular Jewish socialist and workers union movement started in 1897, was in Buchenwald. He came to Shabsi and said, "Yossele, I see the determination and a light in the eyes of those who put Tefillin on; it gives them Emunah and belief, and I need that to survive; please let me put the Tefillin on." Thus, these Tefillin became the Tefillin that ironically saved peoples' lives.
"You see," said Mrs Barber to me, "Do you know what it meant even to have the Tefillin, let alone put them on? If the Nazis had found the Tefillin, they would've shot every boy until one of them would've said who it belonged to; that's just how it was."
Nevertheless, the holy Tzadikim of Buchenwald risked their lives daily to put the Tefillin on. They didn't even 'put them' on correctly; they maybe got 30 seconds with the precious holy Tefillin, and then it was swiftly passed on to the next Tzadik.
In 1945, when the Allied forces were approaching, scared that the inmates of these camps would be liberated and would speak about the atrocities that ensued, the SS initiated the infamous "death marches". Occurring in harsh winter conditions, these marches were brutal; those collapsing or lagging behind were simply shot. Shabsi, together with his brothers, were in no state to start such an ordeal; exhausted and starved, he told his brothers, 'If you think you are going on this death march, I myself will kill you' Shabsi had a premonition that they would not survive it. Thank G-d his brothers Meilich and Simcha listened to Shabsi, and they decided to 'play dead' and hide under the bodies of those who perished. Finally, after what probably felt like an eternity and perhaps was (we are not sure), the Americans came and liberated Buchenwald on the 4th of April 1945. An American Chaplin and Rabbi, Herschel Schacter, was there when the camp was liberated. Amongst the survivors of Buchenwald was young Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau who later went on to become Chief Rabbi of Israel. When asked by Schacter how old he was, Lau responded, 'I am older than you; I don't cry anymore.' Another survivor, Shabsi's close friend, Nosson Werdiger, was, as Mrs Barber recalls from Shabsi, 'skin and bones, and more dead than alive,' Werdiger had no strength left. Determined to ensure Nosson remained alive, Shabsi and his brothers forced and held their friend up as they left the camp.
By the grace of G-d, Shabsi and his two brothers who were with him in Buchenwald all survived, relocating to Switzerland, the brothers, who had gone through hell on earth, still believed in G-d strong like never before. They held Minyanim, kept Shabbas and Kosher.
"Shabsi was an extremely charismatic, outgoing, friendly and kind person; no one could say no to him," his nephew Yitzchak Barber told me. Barber was once at the Lubavitcher Rebbes, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) Ohel when Rabbi Lau, child survivor of Buchenwald, was there. Barber said to Lau, "Warm regards from my uncle in Australia," Lau immediately responded, "This must be from Yossele Kornwasser," Lau instinctively knew.
When in Switzerland, Shabsi went to a Sofer to get the Tefillin checked. However, when the Sofer opened the Tefillin, there was barely anything inside; the letters were all cracked and faded, the Tefillin clearly had gone through trauma. 'More than that', the Sofer explained, 'the words of these Tefillin were eaten by body lice...' One can only begin to imagine what stories these Tefillin would tell us if they could speak. The sacrifice that these holy Jews went through in hiding, protecting and using these Tefillin. The countless dirty bodies that hid and were willing to risk their lives just to cling to this physical, tangible representation of their faith despite the hell on earth they were experiencing. These Tefillin are one of the holiest pairs of Tefillin around. I am sure every Jewish male who risked their life for this holy pair of Tefillin entered the highest and sacred places in the world to come, with all the Tzadikkim, including Avraham Avinu and Moshe Rabeinu.
Understanding the mutual relationship between the Jewish Tzadikim of Buchenwald and the teeny tiny holy Tefillin is essential. Both needed each other; both infused each other, invigorating each other, and saving each other. These teeny tiny 'boxes,' that were not even technically Kosher, only received their immense holiness and sanctity because of the holy, sincere Jews that were willing to risk their lives to put them on. Barely able to even say half a Bracha, just to have a moment with the holy Tefillin was worth everything.
The Tefillin carried the people, but it was the people who carried the Tefillin.
In 2014, Shabsi passed away, and a mere few years later, in 2019, Rebecca did. Their neighbour and Shabsi's good friend, Avi Kimmelman, handed Yitzchok Barber a bag of old photos to sort through when he was in Melbourne. He returned the bag to Sydney and gave it to his mother, Esther. Esther was going through the photos, and suddenly, she felt something heavy at the bottom; she looked and saw two sets of Tefillin, one a regular pair and another - a teeny tiny, fragile and frail pair. She was shocked, to say the least; what were two pairs of Tefillin causally doing at the bottom of a bag filled with photos? She got both of these Tefillin checked by the local Sofer in Sydney, my father-in-law, Reb Shlomo Israel. The first pair he checked was all good and Kosher and seemingly was Shabsi's regular Tefillin that he used daily; the other pair, Reb Shlomo described as Tefillin with so much history that he was not even going to risk anything and open them up. Otherwise, he was sure that they would disintegrate.
Both such special and holy pairs, the one that Shabsi used daily, was given to Yitzchak Barber, who uses it whenever he goes on Mivtzoyim and continues to propel the Mitzvah, inspiring all those who put it on. The other pair, which sounds so casual and nonchalant but is far from it, THE pair of THE Tefillin, is on display at the Kesser Torah College School in Sydney. There is an inscription right behind the holy pair of Tefillin, and this is what it states: "And all the nations of the earth will see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they will fear you" (Devarim 28:10). "Every day, the Kornwasser brothers risked their lives in the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp to put on Tefillin. Standing up against all odds, this simple act became their source of strength, a small yet meaningful defiance that ultimately proved victorious in the face of oppression."
May the holy Tefillin continue to be a source of inspiration to the Jewish nation; at a time like this, we need it now more than ever - 'Mi Keamcha Yisrael,' 'Who is like you, the nation of Israel?' We are so lucky, but G-d, You are luckier!
