Tonight we’re doing Chinese in the Sukkah, on the 2nd night of Sukkot, 5774. I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you how Shanghai China was an escape and haven for my grandfather R’ Moshe Rubin and Raizy’s grandfather R’ Shmuel Tzvi Fox. They were both yeshiva students at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva of Otwosk Poland. When the war broke out, there was a major attempt to escape Poland, and Kovno Lithuania was at that time neutral and they ran there.
In Kovno there was a Japanese Consul named Chiune Sugihara. I’m not sure the details of how it started, but this man began issuing transit visas to Curacao and Surinam, islands in the Caribbean that were still open to Jews. My grandfather (and his brother) and Raizy’s grandfather were lucky to get visas. Each was handwritten in Japanese, Mr. Sugihara issued more than 3,000 such visas – literally saving lives.
Using these Sugihara Japanese visas they traveled across all of Russia, from the western end to Vladivostok on the eastern end, and then crossed to Japan. By that time boats no longer traveled to Curacao and Surinam. They were stuck in Japan, and Germany – an ally of Japan in the Axis Powers – was urging Japan to take action against these Jews, Japan wasn’t eager to do that, but they wanted the Jews off their hands. So they sent them to Shanghai China, where most of them stayed for the duration of the war.
There are many stories told about this amazing escape from the Holocaust. The rest of their families all perished. There are efforts at Maimonides School in Albany to make a documentary on this. Hope to post the trailer soon.
One more story, a Shabbos House connection:
On Graduation Day 2004 a family comes into the Shabbos House Open House BBQ. We knew the kid, he attended regularly and often. But we had no idea of his background. His grandfather introduced himself, Mr. Henry Shapiro and told me that this grandson is a descendant of the Kosnitzer Maggid. Ah, I love telling the story of Shabse the Bookbinder (father of the Koznitzer Maggid) and this grandfather knew it too.
We started talking, and I asked him where he was during the war years. He said he was in Shanghai. Really!? I asked him if he knew our grandfathers and indeed he did. Our grandfathers were in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Shanghai, and Mr. Shapiro was from the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva there. Before the war he had studied under the famous Rabbi Meir Shapiro in the highly regarded Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in Poland.
My grandfather Moshe Rubin already passed away before our marriage. But at the time of this story Raizy’s father was still alive. The next time we saw him, we asked if he remembered this Mr. Shapiro? Indeed he did, and he said that everyone remembered him!
What was so memorable about this Mr. Henry Shapiro?
Zeide Fox explained: Every day, Mr. Shapiro took time to go around to all the Yeshivot in Shanghai and take attendance. Why would he take attendance? Because if someone was missing, perhaps something was the matter. Maybe that person was sick, or hungry, or in need of some care. He would then make sure that someone went out to visit that missing person’s apartment.
The selfless heroism of Sugihara (who was told by his superiors not to issue these documents) and the personal dedication of Mr. Henry Shapiro are powerful messages and lessons for all of us here tonight, eating Chinese food in the Sukkah.