A Remnant, A Tailor and a Sacred Trust
Herman, Erwin
A REMNANT A TAILOR AND A SACRED TRUST A remarkable account of heroism for the High Holidays, in which a most unusual Torah scroll becomes an affirmation of life Dr. and Mrs. Orlove, he dressed in...
...The cost of freedom was going to be high...
...What little remained sometimes got to the person for whom it was intended...
...He tumbled backwards until his head crashed into the table...
...Packages on the table, Jew!' The words were hurled at him like darts...
...Their taxi stopped in front of a gray, six-story apartment house, its rococo facade piled in uneven heaps where it had fallen, concrete shards memorializing a better time...
...The wake-up siren had not sounded...
...There are many fine people in this city who have told me often that they are ready to help anyone whom I recommend...
...Few others did...
...The old man spoke little, but his head bobbed occasionally and once he lifted an arm in delight, his thin body spastic with uncontrollable laughter...
...he wondered if his grandson would accompany him...
...month...
...The stack remained...
...Leaping to his feet, eyes blazing and face beet red, he declared—in a voice of pride and outrage: "I am doctor...
...I raised my hand...
...Our community room was not crowded...
...Grandpa lifted himself unsteadily from the floor, groaned slightly as he flexed his left knee and sat heavily on a bare wooden chair his grandson had slid into place...
...I was not surprised...
...So they built a concentration camp in nearby Yanov—a work camp, they called it—and into it they drove every Jew from this part of the country who could use an axe or a shovel...
...no work until she get...
...Bent over it, he stroked it lovingly...
...For the last time, you can be sure...
...It was time to tell the story of the Yanov Torah...
...The old man pushed himself into a sitting position...
...They made him walk, sit, stand, turn...
...The noise was so loud and the ground was shaking violently and . . . silence, total silence...
...His bones strained against parchment skin, stained blue with embossed veins...
...We did not realize it then, conditioned to lies as we were, but when we walked out of our barracks that day we took our first steps as free men...
...In America it will live...
...Let it be understood by all that, though millions of Jews have been murdered, our Torah will live forever...
...He understood my every word...
...Each week trucks would be lined up and filled with these people...
...only learn...
...Then, stepping tentatively, without a word, he walked out of the room...
...with a shrug the old man refused him...
...He coughed nervously...
...He translated for her and they both smiled broadly and bowed deeply...
...The old man remembered...
...Pulling Dr...
...Skillfully, he had bound it around his chest and back...
...To help convince them to do so, the returning inmates brought back sweets and a small number of precious items which were, of course, confiscated by the guards...
...The next moments were going to be crucial...
...It was during this second visit that two of our Yanov men told their families that religious services were being conducted in secret every day in the darkness of the barracks...
...the parchment disappeared...
...Esther, my secretary, wept softly into her handkerchief...
...For the first time since she entered the room, Mrs...
...Moshe awakened in his own barrack's bunk surrounded by friends and pain...
...He asked what price I wanted for the Torah...
...During the Second World War, Germany became its master, but at the war's end, Russia appeared on Galicia's eastern frontier and, in the guise of emancipator, became the new proprietor...
...When Dr...
...The Nazis had already stripped the synagogues of all precious religious articles that had not been hidden...
...Perhaps,' they reasoned, 'if the guards are occupied...
...Moshe felt panic in the pit of his belly...
...When our chairman finally restored order, he asked how many of us planned to remain in Lvov...
...They couldn't believe it...
...Three guards, seated inside the gate at a long, wooden table, did not lift their eyes...
...His name was Moshe and he was, like Moshe Rabbenu—Moses our Teacher—a reticent man who spoke little, and when he did speak, he stammered...
...Look—look— quickly, over there...
...The black, cast-iron letter glowed eerily in the light of the dull, yellow bulb that hung, naked, above it...
...There was no place in Yanov for them...
...It was his private contest: the tailor versus the Nazis...
...With his eyes now riveted on the tailor, he moved with catlike grace around the table...
...Orlove slowed his step to that of his grandfather and together they entered the building...
...Tell its story to Jews and non-Jews alike...
...Many people came to home...
...Could Moshe pass the guards...
...Grandpa turned, seemed surprised, then remembered...
...I buried my head in my arms...
...The check I wrote was little enough even though it exhausted my account...
...The real test, they agreed, was yet to come...
...Orlove telephoned his paternal grandfather in Moscow...
...How did you live...
...they argued...
...When the guards heard the cheer from the tailor's barrack, they did not even bother to investigate...
...Orlove to come nearer...
...He beamed when he received it, then shared it with his wife who walked to me, offered her hand and spoke her first English words: "Thank you...
...You buy Torah...
...He tested his pupils against the light, blinked several times, then opened his watery eyes...
...We had agreed previously not to review the past...
...He embraced the Torah, then kissed it...
...It was not difficult to find apartment SA...
...Moshe returned...
...In Yanov, a little was a lot, so the gifts and packages continued...
...The following day, one of my dearest friends, a leader in the Reform Jewish movement, sat with his wife in my office and listened patiently while I told them the story of the Yanov Torah...
...He invited Grandpa Orlove to hold one wooden stave while he rolled the parchment on to the other...
...I rolled the staves together and rebound the scroll, then asked the doctor to sit close to me...
...orderly...
...He had survived Yanov, though they worked him like an animal...
...One of our group cried out, with anguish so great that his voice broke with sobs: 'Don't kill us...
...Their faces were set, threatening, reminding the tailor of a volcano about to erupt...
...for others, devastating...
...It was the work of a tailor, not a scribe...
...I tried to ask my question gently and with discretion...
...This is my grandson, Emanuel, the doctor...
...He would not leave Russia, lifelong friends, familiar places...
...Moshe shifted his weight from one foot to the other...
...The tiny room was surprisingly bright...
...the words were pressed against his flesh...
...With a crash, our barracks door burst open, its frame filled with two burly men in Red Army uniforms, their rifles pointed menacingly at us...
...One soldier held a new shoe, turned it around slowly, eyeing it suspiciously, then rose from his chair...
...Word reached me at my home in Lvov several weeks later that some of our people had received permission to return to camp and reclaim their meager possessions...
...A debate raged: 'Why endanger those who will have to carry the parchments in?' some asked...
...He lifted the Torah from the bed and asked Dr...
...It must not be given to a temple or museum, for that would limit its purpose...
...Impossible!' everyone agreed...
...Like a discarded rag doll, he slumped to the ground, his arms and legs angled grotesquely...
...In two weeks, the doctor, his wife and children, his parents and maternal grandmother were ordered to leave Russia...
...He recognized the address—a part of Lvov that once was stylish but now was badly deteriorated...
...The doctor seemed surprised by our response...
...A creamy white parchment appeared...
...You see one amud, one column only...
...The doctor looked hopefully in the direction of the elevator...
...In 1976, the doctor and his wife made their decision to leave Russia...
...Many were too weak or too sick to work any longer...
...Too few years remained for him to start life in a new land...
...In their homes in Lvov, behind drawn shades, six families were delirious with joy...
...Then, silence...
...The old man had completed his story...
...They blinked in our darkness, confused by the scene of hundreds of pale, skinny men hiding like trapped animals behind rusting iron cots...
...when I shook my head negatively, his face registered concern...
...Gasping for air, the old man moved forward until he reached the near side of the bed, where he deposited the scroll...
...He faced the window, eyes closed against its light, and he did not stir as the visitors entered...
...Crazy Jews,' one said...
...Our chairman looked carefully at those of us whose hands were raised, then called Isaac Levi to join him at the podium...
...Orlove tried to clear the lump from his throat...
...We clung to each other in fear...
...My wife want me...
...They knew that their limited freedom was a thousand times better than the slavery of the camp...
...Can you imagine the excitement...
...He regaled his friend with recollections of experiences they had shared long ago...
...He tried to breathe deeply and gasped...
...That is not the way of a Torah...
...No difficult...
...Now, we must piece together our lives—and live!' Lifting the Torah above his head, he shouted, 'Am Yisrael Chai\— The children of Israel live!' We sang and cried and hugged one another...
...The words were precise...
...Under no circumstance would he let his grandfather walk that street alone...
...surely, they would not allow a Torah at Yanov...
...He recently retired, after 25 years of service to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations...
...Your Torah, Doctor, is worth more than I can pay," I protested...
...He unwound its binder, then spread apart the wooden staves until he had revealed the faded, brown script...
...Naum's son," Grandpa persisted...
...The scene was as he had memorized it the day before: Two heavily armed guards flanked the gate...
...It is Orlove...
...So she . . . learn . . . to be . . . beautician...
...He seemed proud that this Torah was different, flawed, even unattractive...
...The guards, of course, helped themselves to what they wanted...
...Moshe saw the hobnail boot as it began its arc...
...always, we were expected to work...
...He breathed deeply, then breathed deeply again...
...They shouted their approval...
...I completed the examination, filled with the special ecstasy of one who has been privileged to enter the Holy of Holies...
...Orlove observed my reactions with unguarded interest...
...Morale in the camp shot up...
...If his movements were somewhat stiff, the unsuspecting would never notice...
...I wanted to help...
...Neighbors poured into their homes to learn first-hand the fate of their own loved ones...
...When freedom ended the six returned early, hopeful that by their example, they would encourage the authorities to continue the practice...
...Moshe began to unbutton his shirt, deliberately...
...Grandpa Orlove knocked firmly on the scarred wooden door...
...Orlove, he dressed in white suit, white shirt, socks and shoes, diminutive, she plump and silent, came to see me a few months ago, and thus began the most incredible experience of my rabbinic career...
...Only Moshe was silent, but now his eyes were smiling...
...How did you feed your family...
...Parents and children embraced tearfully and fearfully...
...The old man rose once again, his strength renewed...
...Suddenly, he remembered his mission and, with frantic fingers, tore at the buttons of his shirt...
...The next morning, he returned to the office with a check for the full amount made out to Dr...
...His words were without censure...
...We are Jews, prisoners, slaves.' The barracks filled with his wailing...
...This is the Yanov Torah...
...The Orloves had come to southern California from Russia three months earlier...
...Take it, my son...
...Moshe's heart pounded against the parchment...
...so much became clear in our first few minutes together, despite Mr...
...I raced back into the room...
...He rose from the bed once more, his spindly legs offering him only precarious balance...
...it was already stamped with indelible ugliness on the souls of each one of us...
...One June morning in 1945, we awakened to a strange silence...
...The rabbis and elders made the final decision: Each man, home on a pass, would be given the opportunity to volunteer as a carrier, or to refuse...
...Emanuel Orlove...
...The old man gave no sign of recognition...
...The doctor offered to help...
...They looked angry, ugly, efficient, with rifle barrels glistening in the sun...
...Few took advantage of this—most of us could not bear the pain of going back...
...The plan was struck...
...There was no mistaking his joy...
...The Torah had safely entered Yanov...
...Now he was at the gate, shifting his packages, offering his identification papers to the soldiers...
...Sasha Orlove...
...Nausea spread over him like a cold, wet net...
...The room became strangely quiet, charged with an electricity that everyone seemed to feel...
...The moment was bitterErwin Herman is a rabbi living in Lake San Marcos, California...
...The name was breathed, not spoken...
...I volunteered to walk outside—I tested each step as if I was in a mine field...
...People I had spoken with during the prior weeks had constantly repeated that they wanted to move away, search for loved ones, start life somewhere else...
...Orlove could only shrug his shoulders...
...Did you hear it...
...The Yanov Torah testifies to that truth...
...I can no feed . . . children...
...The shorter of the two snatched them from him, grunted to the other, who swung open the heavy metal door, then barked an order at Moshe to move on...
...Grandpa continued: "You are a good person, my friend, a true mentsh and a fine Jew...
...I can no make . . . examination until I leam English...
...The courtyard was empty, deserted...
...It was not, however, at all clear why they wanted to see me, save for Mr...
...sweet...
...He made arrangements immediately to travel to Lvov, to spend with his family the few days that remained...
...I cherish this honor...
...It was an act of compassion, his gesture of support for a sorrowing friend...
...See, there—how different the writing is from here...
...His answer was laden with feeling...
...My intention was to offer him a monthly loan, interest-free, which he could repay at any time in the future...
...My dear friends...
...This was created from the remnants of our past.' He lifted a Torah from the paper wrapping and held it lovingly in the crook of his left arm, resting its wooden rollers against his shoulder...
...She, too...
...Six weeks later, a second group—this time of 24—was allowed to visit home...
...He tasted the last words...
...She squeezed my hand...
...He rebuttoned his shirt...
...The moment had come to reveal the real reason for the visit...
...The procedure was the same—24 hours, family in camp as surety, gifts brought back...
...Each of them had a brother or sister or a child remaining at the camp—and these were surety for their return...
...A paper sack split, spilling its contents on the table and ground...
...I had impoverished him...
...The camp orchestra, our own family and friends, had to play German songs while these trucks took our people away...
...Slowly, slowly, the two men climbed the stairs...
...In hasty retreat, I explained that I had not made myself clear...
...Once a week, they traveled to Yanov to share with their family members the little they still had...
...We ask you to carry it from temple to temple, from group to group, from place to place, wherever you travel in this world...
...They looked at him with expectancy, then with perplexity...
...I raised my head and marvelled at the man's persistence...
...It was an agonizing task, but he refused the offered help...
...The questions burst from me as protest, not inquiry, symptoms of my own inability to fathom this kind of sacrifice...
...the children were allowed only the clothes they wore...
...For long minutes they stared at the door...
...Those who knew Moshe were not surprised...
...Unforgiving years and unforgettable memories had ravaged his body...
...Several of the elders, nevertheless, met privately with our rabbis...
...The men walked around him, beside him, before and behind him...
...Sunlight flooded the floor-to-ceiling window, illuminating the cast-iron bed and its emaciated occupant...
...papers...
...No one banged on our doors...
...I work now in little hospital as...
...They looked at our fine, young people and decided they were strong enough to work for the Third Reich...
...This is what it said: "Dear Rabbi...
...For my sake, will you bless him...
...I am the last survivor of Yanov still living in Lvov, and this Torah has been in my care for the past 18 years...
...He focused on his jacket, certain that it was heaving with heartbeats...
...They appeared happy as they left...
...Orlove to draw closer...
...Late in the meeting, our chairman interrupted discussion to announce, 'We are not Yanov's only survivors...
...Pushing the doctor away, gently, he continued: "At Yanov, we worked hard, very hard...
...I will protect our Torah with my life...
...Levi, a 65-year-old who had owned the finest jewelry store in Lvov before the war, was a health addict who prided himself on his athletic build...
...The doctor shared his decision with his parents, who were astonished, for they had arrived at the same conclusion, concerning themselves, only days before...
...ATorah should have at least four columns to a klaf, a parchment, not just one...
...No guards cursed or shouted or laughed...
...Businesses, they confiscated...
...On the second morning of his visit, the old man informed his grandson that he had an old, old friend in the city whom he wanted to visit...
...With his left hand resting on the rolled parchment, he crooked his right forefinger and beckoned Dr...
...I shall sell it for you so that you can have many, many more dollars...
...They're coming to take all of us.' "We didn't have to wait long...
...We later learned that this was an act unheard of in camps elsewhere...
...There would be no criticism, no recriminations...
...His hands reached out, searching for Grandpa's shoulders...
...Not only did he volunteer, he had even devised a plan to bring the Torah in...
...Moshe grinned through his tears...
...For this Torah was hallowed, sacred, unique...
...Since the day we were freed, he had travelled the city, speaking with inmates from as many of the barracks as he could find, asking all of them the same question: 'Where are your parchments hidden?' By the time he had finished his search, Moshe had collected dozens of Torah pieces from their hiding places...
...Many—oh, so many—died...
...Why do you want to sell your Torah, Dr...
...Lvov had been the spoils of more than one nation...
...He was the first to step forward...
...Pointing a bony finger at the parchment, he chanted the first words of Holy Scriptures: "B'rayshees bara...
...the rabbis blessed him...
...they were bitter on his tongue...
...I was effusive in my gratitude but he would have none of it...
...His children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren embraced him at Lvov's train station...
...Orlove completed his recitation, stillness filled our meeting room...
...Emanuel Orlove, age 34, was a successful neurologist practicing in the state-run hospital in Lvov, in the Ukraine...
...It was a horror and a terror...
...Run,' his mind commanded, but his legs could not, would not move...
...I make four hundred dollar...
...In less than 24 hours, they would know...
...The name sought by the near-sighted old man was hardly legible...
...The following morning they filed for emigration papers and, one week later, the doctor was fired from his hospital post...
...When the old man reappeared, he was clutching a Torah, held firmly against his chest...
...We have purchased this Torah for you...
...the tone, unmistakable...
...And we wept openly...
...tell you . . . she . . . civil engineer...
...He needed dollars, not phrases...
...He glanced upward, quickly, at the wrought iron sign—work creates freedom—laughed derisively, then studied the narrow prisoners' entrance...
...We can destroy the whole visit plan,' said others...
...As all emigrants, they were allowed to take with them one hand-held suitcase and 100 rubles per adult...
...The soldiers ordered us into the courtyard...
...it looked unchanged...
...Orlove even closer, he pointed once more to the script...
...The guards always assured us that the sick were going to a special hospital for care, but we knew better...
...Eighty-year-old Grandpa Orlove had awaited the call with daily dread...
...The Jews who remained in Lvov did not openly complain...
...We were frozen by fear, immobilized...
...With one hand on Grandpa's left shoulder and the other pressed flat against the window frame, he pushed and pulled himself upright...
...many others had disappeared, swallowed by the death camps that mushroomed everywhere...
...With obvious pain he moved his legs around, then lowered them to the floor...
...Orlove's repeated half-request, half-command: "You buy my Torah...
...I doctor there...
...I will not keep the Torah...
...Now, they hoped and worried...
...I held on to her hand...
...In less than ten days I shall say good-bye to them all...
...He aspirated each word, savored each syllable...
...His body stiffened, his face turned crimson...
...I sell...
...now...
...Suddenly exhausted, he sat heavily on the bed beside the scroll...
...The story had been long in the telling, but it was incomplete...
...It is proof of t'chiyas hamayseem, of God's ability to bring the dead back to life...
...The old men embraced, Grandpa Orlove supporting himself with one knee on the floor, the other braced against the bed...
...The guards encouraged them, because they brought boxes and sacks of clothing and food, books and toilet articles...
...The community was an old one, in the southwest sector of what once was Poland: Galicia, to be precise...
...The old man managed a weak smile...
...I testify before all of you that when I die, the Torah will be entrusted to the remaining eldest survivor of Yanov camp...
...He was, and is, as mystified as were his listeners by the elusive motivation that stirred his discontent...
...He needed just a few minutes, he explained, and moments later he called back the rabbis and elders...
...I've come from Moscow to see you, my dear friend...
...For a few moments, he stared at us quietly, then asked: "You buy my Torah...
...Sasha Orlove, the Muscovite...
...They saw only shirt...
...A feeble greeting was offered from within and they entered...
...When, spontaneously, I nodded approval, he smiled...
...The old man intended to finish it...
...David was going to fight Goliath...
...We looked at each other quizzically, while he, smiling for the first time that night, reached to the table behind him and unwrapped a bulky package...
...Naum," he whispered and smiled again...
...The soldier stood before him, menacingly...
...The two men said nothing to break the silence...
...I can no feed . . . children...
...We were starved, cursed, beaten...
...But over the course of the next two hours, and during another meeting the next day, I was to hear a remarkable story, and, eventually, to become a part of it...
...Just tell me how much you will need each month and I promise you that you will receive that amount until you no longer need it...
...When Hitler—may his name be cursed—wanted to kill us, he sent soldiers to our beautiful city of Lvov...
...He would not deny his grandfather...
...The doctor was pleased to go...
...A thousand motors...
...Stronger now...
...They debated for a long, long time, after which their decision was spread from family to family: The<4yna-gogues' Torahs that had been buried in the Jewish cemetery would be dug up, their parchments would be separated and, piece by piece, they would be smuggled into Yanov...
...Grandpa Orlove walked around the bed and bent down, his body shielding the face of his friend from the sun...
...Moshe asked to be left alone with the stack of separated parchments...
...At each landing, the doctor paused to chat with his grandfather, tempering the ordeal of the climb...
...ATorah should be clean and nice...
...Orlove to stand...
...The cream-colored parchment appeared, twined tightly about his body...
...You are our oldest survivor remaining in Lvov, Isaac Levi, so I entrust the Torah into your care.' The once robust jeweler limped, haltingly, to the head table, his emaciated body offering scant evidence of the physical grace he once possessed...
...There were less than one hundred of us meeting that evening to discuss our present and our future...
...Once more he sat down, spent...
...They viewed the scroll appreciatively, then spoke privately with one another...
...Probably...
...Large numbers of Lvov's Jewish population had fled the area...
...He had told his story matter-of-factly, showing emotion only when he wrestled with language...
...They all agreed...
...I apologized for my in-sensitivity, but it was a vacuous gesture...
...What glory this building once possessed had long since departed...
...All of a sudden, I heard a terrible noise...
...We were the slaves of an insane master...
...For some of our people, the news was exhilarating...
...One evening, I attended a meeting of survivors...
...The elders prepared three paper-sack packages: cakes, sweets, a new pair of shoes that came from God-knows-where, some books, a shaving brush...
...We spoke quietly in the barracks and agreed to open one door just a crack...
...Grandpa became animated...
...A note of formality entered his voice...
...Moshe approached the main gate...
...He beckoned Dr...
...He lifted his arms slowly and, with a quick downward movement, gripped Moshe's shoulders, pressuring them with iron-strong fingers until the tailor's knees buckled and he slumped to the ground...
...They paced...
...The three reached down immediately, then appraised their spoil...
...But there he stood, inviting their questions with his eyes...
...To the question why...
...One day, six of our men at Yanov were informed that because of good behavior they would be released for 24 hours to go home...
...There is no other Torah like it in all the world...
...This is our Yanov Torah, pieced together by our brave friend, Moshe, until it became whole.' The chairman's voice grew strong, encouraging, exhorting: 'It is a sign and a memorial that though Jews have died—murdered by Hitler and his henchmen—our Torah lives...
...It was as he had described it: pieced and sewn like a garment...
...The rumbling thunder of engines penetrated the barracks and then, suddenly, there was a grinding noise, like metal being mangled...
...Instead, he pressed a note into my hand and left...
...Take it...
...Although they were neither practicing nor believing Jews, although neither had formal or informal Jewish education, although they had not identified at all with the Jews of their city, either socially or institutionally, they decided that, as Jews, they were no longer comfortable in their homeland...
...My children are leaving," he began and, with funereal cadence, he recited the plans the families had made...
...I can no be . . . doctor until I make . . . examination...
...Permission to emigrate came 16 months later...
...Orlove opened his mouth to protest, then closed it wordlessly...
...Yanov Camp had been liberated...
...A voice called out, in Russian: 'We have come to liberate you!' We dared not move...
...The doctor measured the man with a physician's eye...
...Orlove pressed the glass to his lips and urged him to rest for a while...
...I examined the scroll...
...Clumsily, he dropped the packages before the brown-shirted soldier who had spoken...
...The old man on the bed began to cough uncontrollably and motioned with a quavering hand to the water glass nearby...
...Often, we thought that they were the lucky ones...
...Orlove's broken English...
...It was too late...
...And may we all live until we are a hundred and twenty!' 'Bis a hundert und tsvantsig,' we shouted in reply...
...Not like our Yanov Torah...
...They explained that they were eager to have a Torah and wondered if there was any possible way to bring one into the camp...
...His thin voice was reverent...
...There was a murmur of approval...
...He was a man of integrity, a pious man, a good man...
...The old man on the bed lifted his head and nodded slowly...
...The rest—the very old and the sick and the handicapped—were allowed to live at home, without jobs, without their families, without medical help...
...He placed the Torah in the doctor's arms...
...the apartment number was 5A...
...Strangely enough, those that were not well-hidden had already disappeared...
...The elders encouraged him...
...My friends.' His voice broke...
...Later, he would recall with slow-motion accuracy the polished toe that reflected sunlight at the moment it impacted against his chest...
...Emanuel needs your blessing...
...he saw only an unguarded black shaft...
...Who dared argue with them...
...Orlove spoke, a brief phrase in Russian...
...The first to volunteer was a tailor by trade...
...There was no pain, now— only darkness—deep, cavernous darkness...
...We had no proof, then, but we knew better...
Vol. 8 • September 1983 • No. 8
