Menachem Mirski is a rabbinic student at the Ziegler School of the American Jewish University. He is the first of four and perhaps five native Polish speaking future teachers and leaders of the remarkable Polish Renewal led by Beit Polska. Menachem arrived in late August to begin his rabbinic studies on the heels of a […]
Torah Sent to Poland
On March 20 a new Torah began the third leg of its journey to Poland. The transmission of a practically new scroll — only 150-years-old — of the first five books of the Bible, the Torah is a cause for celebration!! This beautiful scroll is a gift from a Conservative congregation Shaarei Tefilah in Norwood, […]
Szira
I met Szira in Warsaw at Beit Warszawa. She was the temple librarian. The congregation had worked out an agreement with Alex Lauderback our neighbor in Encino, California. He is a man in his late 80’s, a Polish Holocaust survivor. Alex found Jewish books from synagogues and temples that had surplus Jewish books. He would […]
The Gathering of the Descendants of Bialystok
The Bialystok Gathering marks the anniversary of the second largest Ghetto rebellion against the Germans during World War II on or near August 16, 1943. Every Ghetto rebellion took place against a background of utter military hopelessness when German power was at it height and when help from Allies and partisan was least likely. The […]