The Narrow Bridge: Beyond the Holocaust

223 Pages·2000·2.097 MB·English

by  Isaac Neuman, Michael Palencia-Roth

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