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Jassy Synagogue on tha second night of Hanuka. At light are Chief Rabbi Rosen and Menachem
Hacohen, member of the Israeli Knesset. The uniformed adult choir (center) waits to sing.
eastern bloc; and a member of parliament.
Opinion of him seems to vary with age—the old
love him and the young don't. Suceava is special
to him. as it was here in 1940 he became ordained
a rabbi. In 1948 he was elected chief of the 600
rabbis then in the country. There are now three.
From the Shul we go to the hotel where the
townspeople have prepared dinner for us.
(disappointingly to me, no latkes—they are at
peshach). We stand until Rosen sits. He says
Kiddush, he make the Motze, he says Birchat,
and then leaves. Dinner is over, ready or not. It
seems that we are guests of Rosen. We are also
his prisoners, but we have no doubt he will take
care of us. The cabinet guys sing “Happy
Birthday” in Hebrew to me and we go to sleep-
tomorrow will be a full day.
Botosanl, Hirlau, Jassy
Up and out by 7:15—we in our bus and Rosen
in his government-provided black Mercedes
Limo—on the road through the countryside to
Dorohai, a visit to both (small) old-age homes
where Rosen visits the bed-ridden elderly and
passes out good cheer, gelt and clothing. Then to
the canteen for breakfast. Another choir concert
and then to the shul where an overflowing crowd
of mostly elderly hang on every word Rosen says.
The president of the local federation speaks,
and the crowd claps and cheers everytime
Rosen's name is mentioned. Although it is only
10:00 a m. the second candle is lit, and Rosen
passes out his gifts. Through the day we witness
similar proceedings in Botosani and Hirlau and at
nightfall we enter a large city, Jassy (Iasi)
pronounced Yash. This town was to be different.
We went to the shul after putting the bags at a
large hotel in town. The synagogue was fairly
large, well-lit and filled with people who
looked better off than those we saw before. A
large uniformed adult choir filled the right side
area between the center bima and Aron-Kodesh.
Rosen enters, obviously having used the brief
respite at the hotel, in a long black robe trimmed
in purple—purple mitre on his head and a large
gold or brass Magen David hung mid-chest from
around his neck (ala Greek orthodox motif). He is
princely, and as he arrives he is again met by
song, flowers and cheers.
During the Shul celebration I fell in love with a
seven-year-old little girl named'Trine and we
played silently as Rosen spoke—(Me time only in
Romanian and Yiddish (and I'd hyd the speech
four times before anyway). Many Mds were near
our group because as we had done all along, we
were passing out our gifts and cards we’d
brought from home, and they cornered us.
Naturally we spoke and played with them.
Getting a little homesick or lonely for our own
kids was natural. It was Hanuka—the second
night in Jassy, Romania, and my girls are 7000
miles away
Seven a.m : We visit the cemetery of Jassy, the
monument to the 12,000 killed in the pogrom
here in 1941 and Rosen explains what happened
and tells stories of Jews turning in Jews so as to
get tickets to freedom. Before the war Jassy was
a Jewish town, with 55,000 of the 85,000
population, and 100 synagogues: Yiddish theater
started here (Molly Picon even played herel)
Today there are 2000 Jews out of 300,000
population, seven shuts and no rabbi, fend in our
presence there are kids using the path to the
mass grave of the murdered 12,000 as a sled run.
The night before Leika, a young dental
student, had given me a book at the shul. He said,
“take it from here, don't let it die here” and I
glanced at the tattered pages. Printed in Berlin,
1853, the 6th order of the mishna, one of the three
young rabbis traveling with us explained to me
what I was given. Discussion of Rosen
prevailed—and facts as well as impressions
surfaced. Because of him, the Romanians are
•eemipgly holding on to a strong tradition of
Judaism. He has had many synagogues restored,
their splendor and omateness is incredible, even
though they are in villages populated byasfewas
35 Jewish people. He has established, with the
help of the JDC and the Romanian government, a
network of old age homes, kosher kitchens and
Talmud Torah's.
With precious little professional help and only
three rabbis in the country, lay Melamdiim teach
in the schools and many of the kids speak
Hebrew. They seem to be surrogates for the
adults. His Hanuka Marathon covers the entire
country and if the weather cooperates he makes
all stops in eight days. However if it takes him 10,
12, or 14 days to get every village and town, then
Hanuka lasts 10, if, or 14 days in Romania that
year.
Anitefka Revisited
All of the places we visit, be it city or shtetl,
have but a mere fragment of the Jewish
population of before the war—but Rosen has
them organized. He personally supervises and
never forgets who and what he is. As he, in his
black limosine, speeds ahead of our bus, we play
the numbers games with places: 2000 of 55,000
are left; 65 of 8500; 300 of 7000—and on and on.
Academics and mental gymnastics stop
abruptly as the bus has a small accident.
Everyone is OK, but we must wait almoet two
hours for the militia and as a result we are late at
our next atop in Hushi. Rosen has already been
and gone.
Wtgot to the shul. In a rundown area of a run
down village and^'Oh, my G-d, look at the placet
We are in Anitefka." Picket fences, thatched roofs,
carts with hand made wheels, geese and cows—
this shtetl looks like it must have 100 years ago.
Forty-five Jewish souls still live here. Tevya must
have walked these mud streets. The piled hay
slacks are still here. Where is he? We almoet cry
out for him—and are answered—the choir from
Jassy came here to sing for these people and
their bus broke down.
Continued on pegs 16.
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