Buerger Bites
From the desk of the Jewish Times publisherSpecial Bar Mitzvah
Last Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008, Matthew Caplan and Evan Chernoff were called to the Torah at Beth El Congregation to become bar mitzvot. The two chanted wonderfully, making their families and everyone in the crowded sanctuary very proud. The 13-year-olds must have practiced for over 100 hours each in preparation for their simchahs, including their portion, Chayei Sarah.
During the service, Rabbi Steve Schwartz called Matt and Evan together for a moment in what were otherwise equally joyous but separate simchahs. The rabbi introduced the two boys to someone else who had also practiced countless hours for parshat Chayei Sarah, “Life of Sarah,” for his bar mitzvah, but never had a chance to chant it in front of a congregation or make his parents proud. The bar mitzvah was supposed to take place on Nov. 9, 1938.
Arnold Fleischmann, now 83, woke up the day of his bar mitzvah not to the normal excitement most young men feel. Instead, he heard the sounds of Nazi stormtroopers, who destroyed his Judaica-filled home. They arrested his father, uncles, maternal grandfather, and badly beat his paternal grandfather and grandmother––many of whom were taken to the town slaughterhouse before the 13-year-old was able to find them.
The Bayreuth Synagogue where Mr. Fleischmann worshipped was spared from total destruction. The Nazis, considering themselves civilized, did not want to risk any damage to the adjacent 18th-century opera house. So, rather than burn its exterior and risk an uncontrolled fire, the Nazis chose to protect the opera house. Instead they only gutted and burned all the prayer books, furnishings and the Torahs within the synagogue.
That day was the infamous Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when throughout Germany the Nazis destroyed 101 synagogues, 7,500 Jewish-owned retail shops, and Jewish homes. Glass from the stores littered the streets across Germany. Over two days, 91 Jews were beaten to death and 26,000 were taken to concentration camps.
Mr. Fleischmann never had a chance to have his bar mitzvah. There was no joyous occasion to mark his entrance into Jewish manhood. Instead, Mr. Fleischmann witnessed two years of hell before escaping to the United States. Kristallnacht began what was an increasingly violent environment for European Jews, leading up to the Holocaust.
Mr. Fleischmann left for safety in the United States on one of the last boats out of Germany in 1940. Some family members were supposed to follow him on the next ship, but it never sailed. His grandfather and aunt perished in death camps.
Seventy years later, as the sun streamed through the stained glass windows at a synagogue his family helped found, Mr. Fleischmann was called to the Torah during parshat Chayei Sarah. He had an aliyah to mark the anniversary of what would have been what Matt and Evan can now attest to — the most special day of a young Jewish man’s life. He gave the blessing before the Torah reading.
The retired lawyer walked up to the bimah holding his granddaughter Laura Julia’s hand. During his moments at the Torah, he smiled and beamed like a 13-year-old boy. His voice cracked not too differently from that of a pubescent child.
When the three bar mitzvah boys were standing together on the bimah, Rabbi Schwartz remarked how, 70 years later, Mr. Fleischmann still lives a very full Jewish life with the same passion and enthusiasm for Judaism as a recent bar mitzvah. Rabbi Schwartz talked of the great example he always set for his granddaughters.
When Mr. Fleischmann entered Jewish adulthood, we worried about the survival of the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. Today, we worry about the survival of the Jewish people at the hands of assimilation. Mr. Fleischmann’s parents never saw him called to the Torah, but at 83 he held his granddaughter’s hand, helping in his own way with the survival of the Jewish people for another generation.
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