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The Narrow Bridge: Beyond the Holocaust PDF

223 Pages·2000·2.097 MB·English
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THE NARROW BRIDGE Beyond the Holocaust Isaac Neuman with Michael Palencia-Roth THE NARROW BRIDGE 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 1 8/16/11, 10:00 AM 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 2 8/16/11, 10:00 AM THE NARROW BRIDGE Beyond the Holocaust Isaac Neuman with Michael Palencia-Roth UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS URBANA, CHICAGO, AND SPRINGFIELD 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 3 8/16/11, 10:00 AM © 2000 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Neuman, Isaac, 1922– The narrow bridge : beyond the Holocaust / Isaac Neuman ; with Michael Palencia-Roth. p. cm. 1. Neuman, Isaac, 1922– 2. Jews—Poland—Zdunska Wola—Biography. 3. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Poland—Zdunska Wola— Personal narratives. 4. Zdunska Wola (Poland)—Biography. I. Palencia-Roth, Michael. II. Title. ds135.p63n485 2000 940.53′18092—dc21 99-006847 c 6 5 4 3 2 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 4 8/16/11, 10:00 AM To the memory of my father and mother, my sisters and my brother, and my teacher, Reb Mendel— all of whom died in the Holocaust. —i.n. In memory of my mother, Shirley Roth de Palencia (December 3, 1910–December 18, 1991). —m.p-r. 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 5 8/16/11, 10:00 AM 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 6 8/16/11, 10:00 AM C o n t e n t s preface ix Part 1: Before the Ghetto 1. Cheder Years 3 2. Reb Mendel 19 3. The Gate of Tears 39 Part 2: In the Ghetto 4. Hanukkah in a Monastery 55 5. The Pact 65 6. Purim Revenge 72 7. Shlomo’s Last Prayer 83 8. The Judenälteste of Zdunska Wola 95 Part 3: In the Camps 9. My Brother’s Keeper, Part 1 109 10. Unleavened Bread 123 11. My Brother’s Keeper, Part 2 137 Part 4: Legacies 12. Mottl’s Torah 155 13. Rachel 162 14. Yom Hashoah 173 Afterword 187 glossary 191 index 197 Illustrations follow page 122 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 7 8/16/11, 10:00 AM 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 8 8/16/11, 10:00 AM P r e f a c e In April 1995 I underwent my second coronary bypass operation. For the first seventy-two hours afterward, no one really knew whether or not I would survive. As I lay in the Cleveland Clinic, waiting to see which path my body would follow, I became angry and depressed. This, I knew, was a normal reaction, but somehow that knowledge was of little comfort. The hospital chaplain came to see me each day. On the third day, knowing that I was a rabbi, he offered to get me some Jewish music from the hospital music library. “Would you have a mystical song called ‘Tanya’?” I asked. “Or a modern rendition of it? It is used for the liturgical portion of the Yom Kippur afternoon service.” “We have a selection of High Holiday music as well as Hasidic music,” he answered. “If we have it, I will send it up to you.” Later that day, the tape he had selected arrived at my room. When I saw it, I almost sent it back, for I thought that he had made a mistake. The cassette was of songs by a contemporary Is- raeli singer and had nothing to do with the High Holy Days. But my wife Eva said, “Let’s listen to it anyway. It can’t hurt.” On hearing the first song, my anger and depression broke, scattered by the melody as a cloud is scattered by wind. I began to cry and then to sing the melody along with the singer. I needed that song and only that song, although it was not what I had re- quested. Unwittingly, the chaplain had sent me a song of the tradi- 00.front.i-xii_NEUMAN.pmd 9 8/16/11, 10:00 AM

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.