The Rebbe of Klausenburg, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam, zt"l, recounted what he went through during the Holocaust, while he was in the Auschwitz camp. It was Friday evening, when all the Jews were taken off the train and urged to enter the camp. When they entered the camp, they were all pushed inside, and the people who were found fit for work were gathered to a special place where they were given a meat breakfast.
The hungry and tormented people flocked to the food, but the Rebbe of Klausenburg refused to accept his portion, saying that he did not want to eat treifot in any way, and so he fasted all day, and in the evening he lay exhausted and hungry to sleep. During the Shabbat inspection, a shout was heard in the direction of the prisoners, announcing that they should come to eat. The Rebbe sat inside himself. When the hut was emptied and there was no one left in it, he burst into tears, and streams of tears flowed from his eyes. Although the Rebbe did not cry, he did so, praying to the Holy One, blessed be He, for everything that was happening.
At noon on Shabbat, the Rebbe's crying intensified and he said: "Master of the world, I was left alone, destitute, I took everything from me, I remained barefoot and barefoot, and I will still go and eat treifot? I don't want to eat treifot, I don't eat!" While he was sitting and talking to himself, a frightened Jew entered the hut. He went straight to the Rebbe and asked, "Is he the Rebbe of Klausenburg?" The Rebbe was frightened to hear the question, because the German rabbis and Rebbes would have been led to the furnace first, but while he was talking, another Jew came to him and told him that he had to go to the door immediately, since someone was waiting for him. The Rebbe had no choice, and he got up from his seat, despite his fears, and when he reached the doorway, he saw an elderly man, a Jew, who turned to him with the question, "Was the Rebbe of Kashanov your uncle?" The Rebbe stood wondering and amazed, how did this man know that the Rebbe was in the Auschwitz camp, and how did he know that he was indeed his uncle? But along with his astonishment, he immediately replied and told the Jew that indeed, the Rebbe of Kashanov was his uncle. This man hurried to hand the Rebbe a loaf of bread and a saucer full of jam, and told him that he had brought him the food so that he would satisfy his soul, and in the blink of an eye the mysterious man disappeared and left, and he never saw him again.
When the Rebbe told this story, he said that at that time he felt that there was G-d in the land who was watching over him, because he did not want to eat treifot. Immediately after this incident, he took it upon himself again that he would not eat treifah in any way. And so the Rebbe of Klausenburg sat down and ate the kosher Shabbat meal that the Holy One, blessed be He, had summoned for him.
