My Amazing Weekend Part 2

Sharona's grandmother is quite the amazing woman. I sat next to her at the Shabbos table on Saturday and Sharona told me she was a Holocaust survivor. I was afraid to ask any further questions about it, but Sharona insisted I ask her to talk about it, "She is perfectly fine talking about it," she said. "She is very open." So I asked.

Sharona's grandmother was from Czechkloslavakia and around 13 when her family was deported to a ghetto. She had 9 brothers and sisters, all of which were killed except for her one sister which she remained with throughout the camps. She told me that she had no idea why the Nazis killed certain Jews and not others, because her younger sister was taller and more developed and she was a skinny twig, yet she was spared and her sister was murdered. She was in many camps throughout the Holocaust, the most recognized one being Auschwitz.

Her family had been religious growing up, but obviously she couldn't keep Shabbos or kosher in the camps. The Nazi soldiers didn't care if it was Yom Kippur or Shabbat, the Jews still had to work and they lived on what they could, it was not even a question of whether to keep kosher. Sharona's grandmother did daven whenever she could, making sure to say the Shema by memory every night.

She says she remembered airplanes dropping bombs overhead and wishing that they would just drop a bomb on her. She didn't have numbers tattooed on her arms because the prisoners were given a necklace with a number on them rather then a tattoo.

Somehow, though, her faith in Hashem never wavered through the entire incident. She remembers having friends who didn't keep Shabbat after they left their camps, their hearts weren't into it. How could they after their faith in G-d had been tarnished; how could he have something of this magnitude occur? But for her, it was not even a question. There was one time when it was Friday night, she told me, and all of their Jewish friends were taking a horse and buggy to a far off location. But for Sharona's grandmother and her grandmother's sister, it was not even a question of staying home. They would not travel on Shabbat. What truly inspiring people!

She remembered going to a wedding later on and there were no family members there for the couple. The only people attending the wedding were those Jews the couple had met in the camps, they had no family.

Sharona's grandfather was also a Holocaust survivor but I didn't hear too much about him and was afraid to ask details, lest they be too painful.

Finally, Sharona's grandmother told me she had visited the camps in Poland since the Holocaust upon taking a trip there with 45 family members. She was the only Holocaust survivor, but urged by sons and daughters and grandchildren to attend, though she was deathly afraid of what she would see again. Finally, she entered the camps, found where her barrack had been, and cried and cried and cried.

The Holocaust had happened, she remembered telling herself, and Hitler had killed many Jews, but he did not wipe them out. He had not killed them off for good. She has a family and every member is Orthodox. They keep a Jewish lifestyle. She felt a sense of pride after that and also a sense of peaceful closure. Jews still continue to keep their traditions and their beliefs and most of all, their faith in Hashem despite all incuring obstacles. Sharona's grandmother is truly an example of that.

She is truly an amazing woman who inspired me to be proud of my Jewish faith and to not let ANYTHING stand in my way.
I will forever be changed and affected by this magnificent woman.

More on my weekend in the next entry