the sake of the holy Sabbath, that the great miracle of shemesh begiv’on dom
veyare’ach be’emek ayalon occurred and the sun continued to shine. My dear
brethren,” the rabbi concluded, “today is Friday. If we now continue on our
way we are bound to desecrate the Sabbath, since it will take us several days
to reach another town and tomorrow is already the Sabbath. Therefore, at this
moment when a war of extermination has been declared against the Jewish
people, we too should declare from the depths of our heart, turning our eyes
to heaven: ‘Master of the Universe, we are unwilling to desecrate the Sabbath.
We shall stay here over the Sabbath and go no further, so that no desecration
of the Sabbath occurs — God forbid! — in the course of our wandering.’ Then
the Lord will help us too for the sake of the holy Sabbath, just as He helped
Joshua bin Nun, and will make the sun shine for us again after this long wandering
in the darkness.”
The rabbi’s proposal to stay in D[obrzyń] over Shabbat Selichot was
accepted unanimously by all the Jews from the shtetl of S[kępe]. On the morning
of the Sabbath, there was turmoil and panic. Whispering from ear [18] to
ear. “What’s going on? Who, where, what, when? Hush, it’s already happening.
The Germans are on the edge of town. What? How is that possible? Ask
no questions, that’s just how it is.” The whole population was overcome by
despondency and anguish. People stopped telling each other the news. With
bated breath and downcast eyes, they each returned to their homes in silent
expectation. Thus passed the Sabbath, and at dawn on Sunday all the Jews
without exception, irrespective of whether they were from the town or refugees
from neighbouring shtetls, gathered in the bet hamidrash for selichot.
Spontaneously, with exceptional fervour, the words haneshama lakh vehaguf
po’olakh, husa al amalakh¹⁵⁰⁰ burst forth from the depths of the hearts of
the whole congregation, who filled the bet hamidrash to capacity. They were
repeated with special emphasis. Obviously, there was no question of setting
out again, since, with the Germans already there, ma li hakha uma li hatam.¹⁵⁰¹
Nor was it possible any longer to return to S[kępe], since there were reports
of large masses of troops on the road. So the decision was taken to stay in
D[obrzyń] for the time being, until after Rosh Hashanah.
1500 (Hebrew) The soul is Thine, and the body is Thy creation, have mercy on Thy handiwork.
1501 (Aramaic) What difference is to me whether here or there? (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Metzia, 36b).
