He is in his seventies, Mr. T., an only child of Holocaust survivors.
I was enthralled and inspired by his story that I ‘happened’ to hear not long ago. His mother was about to give up her life during the daily march from the concentration camp to the labor camp. All it took was not to get up from the brief stop along the way. Anyone who remained sitting was promptly shot by the Nazi guards. Life was not worth living under those conditions is what she felt. The day she planned to give up, she fell asleep and dreamed of her father. ‘Don’t give up. The Americans are going to liberate you within a week’. This gave her the willpower to stand up and continue. One week later her camp was liberated by the Americans. The emaciated state of the inmates caused many tragic deaths. The liberating forces had not yet understood the type of care needed for nursing these walking skeletons back to normalcy. Many died those first few days of overeating. Mr. T. continued telling me the story about his mother. The American soldiers handed the survivors a few dollars each so that they could buy something of their choice. ‘My mother looked down at her feet and thought to herself, what could be better to buy than a proper pair of shoes instead of the rags that covered her feet. As she reached up to scratch her head, she realized that as an observant Jewish woman who had been married before the war, she ought to cover her hair which was beginning to grow back’. ‘My mother took the money and bought a piece of fabric to cover her head’ continued Mr. T. ‘My mother desperately wanted to have a child after the war although medically it looked like the ravages of the concentration camp may have caused irreversible damage to the possibly of bearing a child. My parents went to a holy Rebbe and asked for his blessings, that he should beseech G-d on their behalf to have a child. Promising that if they had a child they would move to Israel’. They had an only son. ‘This was me. Indeed, I was raised in Israel, with the same pre-Holocaust Jewish traditions of my parents and grandparents, concluded Mr. T. Today Mr. T. is a grandfather and great grandfather many times over, a successful businessman who supports Jewish life in Israel and around the world. This is the true story of authentic, blessed, Jewish continuity. Jewish continuity is a real issue. We need to do more about it. Israel's bureau of statistics published a report that says we are still almost a million Jews less than we were before the Holocaust. This is eighty years later. We need to do more for Jewish continuity. The best way to build Jewish continuity is by marrying Jewish and having many Jewish children. We need to plan large families contrary to the popular voices in the secular arena which advocate small families. To retain the Jewish growth and not lose Jews to assimilation and intermarriage it is critical that we raise our Jewish children as Jews with a strong Torah based identity. As a community we ought to celebrate and put on a pedestal the heroes of our people. In a sense, the most unsung heroes of our time are the parents. They ought to be venerated as they are the ones who do the heavy lifting in terms of raising the next generation. The responsibility of raising children is daunting. It’s a 24/7 undertaking. This is why it needs to be encouraged and promoted. A philanthropist who is a child of a Holocaust survivor once told me that he offered his kids one million dollars as a gift for every Jewish child they have. He mused to me that as we enter the modern era of the 2020s he is wondering whether a million dollars is enough of an incentive. Raising children is constant work. It is rewarding, this is true. At the same time, it requires selflessness and dedication. Kudos and blessings to the valiant parents who are bringing more souls into the world. Judaism teaches that children are the most cherished Divine blessing known to mankind. Not only are they a blessing, but tradition teaches us that every additional child brings a new flow of blessings to a family. Each additional child does not decrease from the material, financial and spiritual stability of the home; on the contrary, the entire family actually benefits from the Divine blessings that each child brings. The Rebbe once said that it is unnecessary for us to take over G-d's bookkeeping to figure out how many children He is able to care for. "He who feeds and sustains the whole world" the Rebbe said, "is able to take care of the children, as well as the parents." Sometimes it is a struggle financially in the short term. To the parents I encounter who have large families and are temporarily struggling financially, I remind them that they are the truly wealthy Jews. For true Jewish wealth is not money and possessions, rather it is authentic Jewish nachas from children and grandchildren. It is not pleasant to pinch pennies, nor does it feel good to receive financial support from others, but the holiness of fulfilling G-d’s directive ‘be fruitful and multiply’ literally, is a blessing that no money can buy. In Israel they have a wonderful term to describe large families. משפחות ברוכות ילדים ‘Families that are blessed with (many) children’. I acknowledge that many of my readers are already past the age of having physical children. To the grandparents who are reading this I say, make sure that you support your children as they have children. Emotional support. Financial support. Keep on cheering and applauding your kids for their giant contribution of raising kids. Yes, kids make a mess and are noisy, but the noise stands in stark opposition to the deathly silence that resounded in Europe after the holocaust with nary a Jewish child in sight. And the children that survived in hiding were terrified to utter a sound. Many of them needed to reclaim their Jewish identity having hidden under the guise of being Christians. Thank G-d our communities today resound with the humming sound of youthful exuberance. The sound of children in a Jewish community is music. It sings the melodies of a Jewish future please G-d. To those who didn’t have the gift of having their own children. Help those families who do have children. Offer a helping hand in whatever way you can. Give money to Jewish organizations who educate our next generation. Give money during your lifetime. Consider a bequest in your will to vibrant organizations that foster and develop Jewish continuity. The Torah teaches that one’s good deeds are their ‘offspring’. The more mitzvah’s we do, the more positivity and G-dly energy we bring into the world. These become our spiritual children. Everyone must take part in this communal responsibility to proudly and joyously continue the mission that G-d has entrusted His chosen people with here on earth. The first exodus was out of Egypt. From there we went to Mount Sinai where we got our ‘marching orders’. We have been hard at work since then perfecting the world and bringing G-d consciousness to the universe through studying and living with Torah and Mitzvahs. The final exodus, the one we all await with intense and insatiable yearning, will be the coming of Mashiach as we march out of this exile to the holy land - Israel. An expansive Israel, a land that exudes holiness and is flowing with milk and honey, a land that is peaceful and secure forever. And most importantly we will witness the Messianic building of the Third Bet Hamkidash, may it be speedily in our days. Shabbat Shalom Chodesh Tov Rabbi Yosef Kantor
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