Posted on 10/16/2005 2:26:02 PM PDT by lizol
For First Time Since the Holocaust, Krakow Gets Rabbi 15:28 Oct 16, '05 / 13 Tishrei 5766 By IsraelNationalNews Staff
Six decades after the bulk of Krakow Jewry was murdered by the Nazis, the city's first full-time rabbi is set to take up his post Monday, October 17, on the eve of the Jewish festival of Sukkot.
At the request of Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, and in partnership with the local Jewish community, Rabbi Avraham Flaks [pictured above], 38, is being dispatched to Krakow by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel organization, which reaches out and assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people.
Rabbi Flaks will serve as chief rabbi of Krakow's Jews and as an official emissary of Shavei Israel, with his efforts focused on strengthening the Jewish community and on outreach to the unaffiliated.
"The challenge is immense, as is the responsibility," Rabbi Flaks said, "but I look forward to working together with the community and its leadership to help keep the flame of Judaism burning brightly in Krakow, particularly among the younger generation of Polish Jews."
An estimated 1,000 Jews are believed to live in Krakow, of whom 200 are registered members of the community. Many are people who, since the fall of Communism, have begun to uncover their Jewish roots. This includes numerous "hidden children" who were adopted by Catholic foster families during the Nazi occupation and who have only now discovered their Jewish background. As part of his work, Rabbi Flaks will try to draw them closer to their heritage.
"In a place where the Germans sought to erase all traces of Judaism, and nearly succeeded, it is gratifying to see that Jewish life still endures," said Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund. "Many of Poland's "hidden Jews" are seeking to reconnect with the Jewish people, and we must do what we can to help them return. Six decades after the Holocaust, the best revenge is to rebuild Jewish life and to bring as many of these people back as possible," he said.
Rabbi Flaks was born and raised in Moscow, where he received advanced degrees in chemical physics prior to immigrating to Israel 13 years ago. He holds a master's degree in history, philosophy and sociology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is fluent in Hebrew, Russian and English. Rabbi Flaks is married with one child.
Krakow is heir to a long and rich Jewish heritage which stretches back for over 700 years. The city is home to the famous Rema Synagogue, where 16th-century scholar Rabbi Moshe Isserles presided. Rabbi Joel Sirkis, known as the Bach, served as the city's Chief Rabbi in the 17th century. Both of their commentaries on Jewish law are still studied today.
On the eve of World War II, Krakow was home to an estimated 60,000 Jews, who comprised 25% of the city's population. Just 2,000 of them survived the Holocaust.
Good news ping!
Though the rabbi should have more than one child, as an example to the community, if he wants to rebuild the shattered Polish Jewry into something worthy of the name.
Wow!
Good news for you guys! I should have added you to my previous ping. My bad.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Correct me if I am wrong Alouette Krakwow that late Pope John Paul 2 former hood AM I RIGHT
Ugh, makes one sick to the stomach.
May God bless and strengthen Rabbi Flaks.
Good news. A new beginning on top of the old ashes.
I can't help but feel ambivalent about this. It's great that forgotten Jews are finally having their spiritual needs attended to once again, but if the Holocaust wasn't a wake-up call to get out of Europe (indeed, out of the entire Exile), then I don't know what was. The rebuilding of Jewish communities in countries that hate them seems very wrong-headed now that 'Eretz Yisra'el is available once again (at least those parts of it that aren't Judenrein to please the "indigenous pipples").
Any country in Europe, to start with (especially central and eastern Europe). But since living in 'Eretz Yisra'el is a mitzvah that can now be fulfilled in part ("in part" thanks to the Israeli government kicking Jews off land that allegedly belongs to "indigenous pipples") and since living in the Exile is nothing but a punishment for sins and always ends in tragedy, who wants to rebuild Jewish Poland (or Lithuania or Ukraine or Transylvania or any other such place)?
I don't know if you live in Poland or the United States, but if the former you should realize that the United States has never really been a part of "chr*stendom" as you understand it. It was settled by Protestant Biblical Fundamentalists to whom the world of the Bible was much more important than the post-Biblical chr*stian world. That is why American Fundamentalists have the nostalgia for restored Israel that European chr*stians feel for a restored medieval Holy Roman Empire, and they tend to (alone in the chr*stian world) even support the rebuilding of the Temple and the reinstitution of sacrifices (which European chr*stians would probably define as "the reign of antichrist"). That's what the chr*stian church gets for cutting off the Biblical canon so early!
Unfortunately, this puts American Fundamentalists in a sort of theological "no man's land," neither Jewish nor traditionally chr*stian, and they are despised and distrusted by both sides. If they knew more about chr*stian history and theology they would probably (as I have done) give up chr*stianity altogether for Noachism (G-d's covenant with non-Jewish mankind according to Judaism), but they cannot pry their minds away from the only worldview they have ever known, unnatural and mixed up as it is.
As a Noachide myself I don't believe in permanently reestablishing Jewish communities in the exile but in the complete ingathering of all Jews to 'Eretz Yisra'el, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the rule of Mashiach HaMelekh (King Messiah) and the Kingdom of G-d on earth.
I hope that by explaining my perspective you can understand my otherwise harsh words about eastern Europe.
Again, my apologies for being unfeeling and hurtful to you.
I would think that an ex-Christian fundamentalist such as yourself would know that Christian fundamentalists support the rebuilding of the Temple precisely because they see a literal temple as a necessary prerequisite for the second coming of Christ -- and that, in part, precisely because the anti-Christ first needs a temple to literally sit in and "show himself to be God," as St. Paul writes.
Not all feel that way. John Hagee is so pro-Israel he denies that the antichrist will ever rule over the Jewish people.
In one of the greatest ironies of all time, anyone claiming to be G-d automatically disqualifies himself from being Mashiach, and the only one who has so far claimed that title is worshipped by chr*stians who claim to be on the lookout for a man claiming to be G-d!
The "*" is to prevent spelling the name of a false "gxd." Most Jews and Noachides write "X-tians" and "X-tianity," but I don't because I feel that is a legitimate abbreviations for chr*stians themselves to use (when taking notes in a class or something) and I don't think they should have to feel guilty about it ("X" being the Greek letter "chi").
I mean that American chr*stians want the Jerusalem Temple rebuilt and the ancient Biblical sacrifices to be restored, while more traditional chr*stians think that would be a terrible thing.
On Sukkot (which begins tonight) ancient Israel would offer seventy sacrifices on behalf of all the non-Jewish nations. My your nation and mine be worthy of a year of peace and redemption!
But where you'd like to rebuilt the Temple, if there is a mosque today on that place (Al-Aksa, or something like that)?
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