Torah Scrolls found in Jewish Synagogues contain the biblical Five Books of Moses. The scrolls in the photograph here are survivors of the Holocaust. On the night of November 9, 1938, Dr. Seligmann Barberger, a Chemistry Professor, rescued these scrolls from his synagogue in Bornplatz, Germany. That night is called Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) — the first large scale organized physical attack on the Jewish community by the Nazis all across Germany. Hundreds of stores, homes and synagogues were attacked, looted, burned and destroyed. More than 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps that night.
Dr. Barberger, aware of what was happening that night, left his apartment to save the Torah Scrolls. He then went into hiding for several weeks and began the arduous and secreted plan to leave Germany. Finally, having made their way to Italy, the family was able to sail to the United States in March of 1940. All of the family and friends left behind died as did many of Dr. Barberger's Jewish students.
The family first settled in Washington Heights, then Upper Manhattan and finally to Patchogue, Long Island. Years later, Joseph, Dr. Bargerger's son, who was ten years old on Kristallnacht, said that the most important thing carried in their suitcases were the rescued Torah Scrolls. These were used in the small synagogue they belonged to here and are now seen in a Jewish Heritage Museum.
Joseph testifies that the scrolls were responsible for Dr. Barberger's being saved that night. We might all have some personal story of survival. I needn't compare or contrast my story to any other — only recall and give thanks during these first days of another liturgical year.
But why don't we all survive our ordeal? No one can answer that. What matters is this: "What does my survival signify or mean for my life today? Why did I survive cancer, domestic violence, sex abuse, bankruptcy, near drowning, accident, depression, crippling addiction, some kind of rejection or exile?" That's a life-question worth pondering. For some reason or other we often avoid "why" questions.
