In 1942, a husband, a wife, and a small boy named Shachneh lived in Krakow. At that time, the Germans were drafting able-bodied people into work camps. Those who were strong were able to survive; children, generally, did not make it. Mr. and Mrs. Hiller had a dilemma — what to do with their little son.
They realized that their only option was to give their son to a non-Jewish family whom they knew and trusted in Krakow, named Yakovitch. On the night of November 15, 1942, Mrs. Hiller — at risk to her life — walked through the Jewish Quarter of Krakow to the non-Jewish Quarter and brought her child to her friend, Mrs. Yakovitch.
Mrs. Hiller said, “If we ever make it through the war, please return our child to us; but if we do not make it through the war, here are two letters — addressed to relatives in Montreal and Washington, DC. When this terrible war is over, please contact them and they will take Shachneh. We ask only one thing, that he be raised as a Jew.
As fate had it, the Hillers were killed in the Holocaust. Mrs. Yakovitch, a religious Catholic, raised the child as her own. After attending Mass together for a while, he learned the Hymns and became like a Christian. In 1946, Mrs. Yakovitch decided that it was time to baptize Shachneh. She took the child to the parish priest and asked him to baptize the boy. The priest wondered aloud how it was that a boy
of 10-11 years old was not already baptized. He had a discussion with Mrs. Yakovitch, in which she related all the details of the story.
The priest told her she was acting improperly. The wishes of the boy’s dying family must be honored. After this discussion, Mrs. Yakovitch had second thoughts and contacted the families in North America. Finally, in June 1949, through the efforts of the Canadian Jewish Congress, this child — together with 13 other orphans from Poland — came to Canada. Ultimately, in February 1951, through a special bill signed by President Truman, the boy came to the United States, to his family in Washington, DC.
The lad grew up in the United States but kept in touch with Mrs. Yakovitch, to whom he felt sincerely indebted. He sent her letters, packages, and money. He grew up as a religious Jew. He became the vice president of a corporation, did very well for himself, and always felt a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Yakovitch.
Finally, in 1978, Mrs. Yakovitch, who was getting older, wrote a letter to him, telling him for the first time of her terrible dilemma and her initial decision to have him baptized. In that letter, she revealed the name of the parish priest who convinced her otherwise: Karol Wojtyla, more commonly known as Pope John Paul II.
The Bluzheve Rebbe (Rav Yisroel Spira; 1890-1989) said that although we are not privy to G-d’s ways, we can perhaps speculate that G-d chose to reward this young parish priest for his noble action by raising him to leadership as the Pope.
Reprinted from the Parshat Lech Lecha 5784 email of Jack E. Rahmey as based on the Torah teachings of Rabbi Amram Sananes.
