Posted on 02/26/2006 6:41:41 PM PST by Sabramerican
'Righteous gentile' who saved life of Jewish boy dies at 74 By Amiram Barkat
Sim Yeryomin, one of the "righteous gentiles" who saved Jews during the Holocaust, died last weekend at his home in Beit She'an.
Yeryomin, the son of farmers from the Kursk region of Russia, was 10 in April 1942 when he came upon Victor Feinstein, 13, who had collapsed as a result of malnutrition. Feinstein had escaped from the Cracow region after his mother and younger sisters were murdered by the Germans. Feinstein survived through the winter, wandering hundreds of kilometers, from village to village, until reaching the Kursk region.
Yeryomin took care of Feinstein for several days on his own, bringing him bread and water, before telling his parents about the Jewish teen. His parents brought Feinstein into their home, bathing and caring for him until he recovered his strength.
Despite knowing that Feinstein was Jewish, the family sheltered him until the area was liberated, in April 1943.
Shortly after Feinstein immigrated to Israel.....he asked Yad Vashem to recognize Yeryomin and his parents as "righteous among the nations."
Yeryomin married a Jewish woman, Zina Shimnovsky, in 1959. In 1996, after he was widowed, he immigrated to Israel with his remaining family.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
I have problems with the concept of "righteous Gentile." Am I the only one?
I thought it was the name of a hair band in the 80's.
Perhaps it sounds odd, but it is a term of great respect.
What happened to Victor Feinstein after he went to Israel? Would like to read about his story? Yes, "rightous gentile" is strange description. How about "sympathetic" or "helpful" russian farmer? My jewish sister-in-law once
referred to me as a "self-rightous christian" .Maybe writer wanted us to know it was not a christian who saved him?
What happened to Victor Feinstein after he went to Israel? Would like to read about his story? Yes, "rightous gentile" is strange description. How about "sympathetic" or "helpful" russian farmer? My jewish sister-in-law once
referred to me as a "self-rightous christian" .Maybe writer wanted us to know it was not a christian who saved him?
Then I balance you out. I have a problem with the concept of Unrighteous Gentiles.
I hope that you are the only one. The execution of the holocaust depended on the both the active and passive cooperation of the unrighteous. Individuals who had the courage to defy the Nazis by sheltering Jews were few in number.
I can only hope that, if I am ever confronted with the choice that gentiles of the 30s and 40s had to make, G-d would give me the grace and courage to be counted among the righteous.
You want some analysis?
You have Gentiles who caused a starving thirteen year old boy, whose family were murdered, to attempt to survive alone in the forest.
You have a Gentile ten year old and his family who save and shelter that boy.
It's not difficult for me to see that some are righteous and some are not.
However,if Christians called some Jews that acted in a kind and caring way, "honorable Jews",I would think and expect,in fact,that many Jews would be offended. .
It is evident from the story that Yeryomin's parents were good people, also.
A brave young boy he was. May he rest in peace.
It's my experience that what others call a man is often closer to the truth than what he calls himself.
If Jews called me Righteous Among the Nations, being that I'm not a Jew, well...... I wouldn't have a prob with that atoll.
In my book the GI's who busted up the deathcamps were Righteous Men in Their Finest Hour. True Servants of God. Holy Men. Any have a problem with that?
I've been called worse by my own.
The problem Sab seems to be that the gentile is presumed "wrongeous" unless he happens to be positioned to perform some heroic self endangering act on behalf of a Jew.
I'd have to say that any Christian who delivers a "Killer of Christ" from death is indeed Righteous. Especially if he risks his neck like the Good Samaritan.
It comes across as implying that it's not a normal thing for a "gentile" to be righteous. Imagine if residents of an overwhelmingly Christian city voted to declare a certain Jewish businessman to be a "generous Jew".
Most modern evangelicals would consider a "Killer of Christ" grudge against Jews to be bad theology.
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