“Taste and You Will See That Hashem Is Good”
Dovid Hamelech writes in Tehillim, “Taamu u’reu ki tov Hashem, ‘taste,’ and you will see how Hashem is good” (Tehillim 34:9).
“I did not merit to learn much Gemara in my childhood in Pashkan,” Reb Shmuel once remarked. “The war broke out when I was young and it robbed me of the opportunity to learn a lot of Torah. But if I would not have merited to taste the goodness of Hashem and Torah, then later in my life, I would have been lacking the ability to see that He is good. That one year learning Gemara, tasting the sweetness of Torah, is what helped me for the rest of my life.
“The year I’m referring to is the year we fled Pashkan and came to the town of Dej. The same year we were saved from death during the Holocaust was the year I was spiritually saved through the study of Gemara.”
And then Reb Shmuel related the miraculous story of his family’s salvation from the town of Massif, in Marmarosh, and the miraculous redemption of the Yidden of Pashkan.
Marmarosh during the Holocaust
In the past, Marmarosh had belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It consisted of a huge swath of land populated by numerous towns and villages. Over the years, many Yidden lived in the area; they were ardent chassidim leading lives of yiras Shamayim.
In 1918, after World War I, Romania and Czechoslovakia split up the Marmarosh region. In the winter of 1920, elections were held in Hungary and as a result, Miklós Horthy was declared the regent of the empire. In the spring of 1920, under the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary was largely torn apart — divested of at least two-thirds of its former territory and a similar number of its inhabitants.
In an effort to restore some of his country’s lost territory, Horthy forged a pact with Adolf Hitler, yemach shemo, in the 1930s. Hitler helped Hungary get back some of the land that had been given to its neighbors Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. But in return, Hitler demanded that Hungary join him in his war against the Soviet Union. After this agreement was executed, the Marmarosh region was restored to Hungarian rule.
Romania during the War
Romania also supported Germany’s policies, which is why it was not occupied by the Germans during the war. There were secret negotiations between the governments of Romania and Germany about whether to include the Jews of Romania in the German Final Solution. Bechasdei Hashem, thanks to the Romanian king’s mother, Queen Elena, and because of other people who pressured the Romanian government not to accede to the Nazi demands, the lives of the Jews of Romania were spared.
In actuality, even though the Romanian Jews were not included in the Final Solution, tens of thousands of Jews were murdered by the Germans, yemach shemam. Additionally, the Jews of Romania suffered terrible oppression during the war years.
The Rebbe’s Far-Reaching Vision
Reb Shmuel related:
My father, Reb Chaim Moshe, moved before the war, from Massif, in the Marmarosh region, to the village of Pashkan, in Moldova, Romania. There, he was appointed as the gabbai of the large beis medrash and became very close to the Rebbe of Pashkan.
Due to the terrible suffering during the war, my father wanted to go back to Massif, which was still peaceful. Since he did nothing without first asking the Pashkaner Rebbe, he asked if he could move back.
To his surprise, the Rebbe instructed him not to go anywhere, which is what the Rebbe told everyone who asked whether they should leave Romania and move to tranquil Hungary. Despite the fact that the Rebbe’s response seemed to defy all logic, the chassidim complied. They knew that his eyes saw what theirs could not.
In Adar 5704/1944, Horthy, the regent of Hungary, decided to part ways with the Nazis. As a result, the German army moved in to occupy Hungary, after which the Nazis killed the Jews of Hungary within a few short months. More than 400,000 Jews were killed in Auschwitz from Nissan through Tammuz 5704/1944, among them the residents of Massif. In the end, it became clear that the Rebbe’s ruach hakodesh had saved the lives of those who’d remained in Romania.
Flight from Pashkan
One day in Nissan 5705/1945 Maariv had ended in the Pashkaner beis medrash. Suddenly, the gabbai’s voice was heard, instructing the mispallelim in the name of the Rebbe, “You must leave tomorrow! Flee the area!”
The announcement was met with surprise, and the community was plunged into fear and anxiety. Families hurriedly packed their belongings. My mother asked for help from her relatives, the Fruchters, and they sent her a horse and wagon. The bundles were loaded onto the wagon, and only the elderly and young children rode as passengers. There wasn’t enough room for everybody else, so they had to walk to the city of Botoshan.
German planes flew above us. Suddenly, the Germans began dropping bombs. We ran to take cover under the carriage. When the bombardment ended, we continued walking for several more days until we reached Botoshan. We remained there for four days.
In time, we learned that the day after our sudden escape, the Germans blitzed our village and most of the residents perished. With his ruach hakodesh, the Pashkaner Rebbe saved us twice from certain death — the first time when he didn’t allow us to return to Massif, and then again, when he instructed us to flee shortly before the Angel of Death’s relentless pursuit would have caught us.
Shotz
We thought we’d remain in Botoshan, but unexpectedly, we heard rumors that the Russians were approaching. We had to continue running until we reached Shotz.
By the time the war ended, there were few Jews in the town. It was not possible to organize a cheder or to establish a yeshivah. We all aspired to get to one place — Eretz Yisrael.
One of the prominent rabbanim in the city in those postwar days was Harav Zev Wolf Halevi Tirnauer, a chassid of the Munkatcher Rebbe, and author of the sefer Tal Oros on hilchos Shabbos. He was a tremendous talmid chacham and yarei Shamayim.
He was the leader and a spiritual pillar for the refugees. Together with his son-in-law, Harav Aharon Yechiel Leifer, later the Rebbe of Nadvorna-Tzfas, he kindled the embers of Torah and Yiddishkeit.
The two tzaddikim sat and learned Torah day and night; they served as role models for the refugees. Observing the actions of these tzaddikim was like learning from an inspiring mussar sefer. Despite the fact that the whole world was in turmoil, and the camp was surrounded by desolation and destruction, they continued their avodas Hashem with tremendous dveikus.
I became very close to these tzaddikim and absorbed their teachings. My relationship with them remained very dear to me for the rest of my life. Therefore, whenever I travel up north to daven at holy sites in the Galil, I make it a point to stop by the home of the Nadvorna-Tzfas Rebbe for a visit.
The First Study of Gemara
After spending a year in Shotz, my father decided to move to Dej. It was a pivotal move in my life. I had been robbed of my childhood because of the war, so I was fifteen when I had the merit to sit down for the first time to learn Gemara undisturbed.
I owe my life to the melamed Rav Meshulem Rizel, a talmid chacham and oved Hashem who taught Torah to youth all day long. With his pure yiras Shamayim, he imbued us with lofty concepts in Torah.
I will never forget my first Gemara session. For the first time, I merited to delve into the waters of the heilege Torah. I pledged that if I would merit to have children, I would do everything in my power to ensure they could sit and learn Torah undisturbed. I also pledged that if Hashem would see it fit to bless me with wealth, I would give generously to Torah institutions.
This learning resulted in tremendous spiritual benefits for me. Others who were with me in Dej also felt that the holy Torah infused them with life.
Later, Rav Yechiel Hirsch of Bnei Brak related:
I was with Reb Shmuel in Dej and we learned under the melamed Rav Meshulem Rizel. I marveled at the tremendous diligence and love of Torah that burned within Shmuel Yehuda’le.
Hakaras Hatov
Rav Meshulem Rizel was one of the first residents of Kiryat Vizhnitz in Bnei Brak and one of the court’s prominent chassidim. During his final years, he lived in the home of Reb Berish Katz of Kiryat Vizhnitz.
Remarked Reb Berish:
You have no idea how Reb Shmuel helped Rav Meshulem at the end of his life. He never forgot the spiritual benefits he’d received from him, and he frequently visited Reb Meshulem, in addition to supporting him financially. Reb Meshulem would often express his admiration for Reb Shmuel.
