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APRIL 2, 3, 2020 APRIL 2020 || The The Jewish Jewish Home Home
The Wandering
Jew
Avi Osterman* By Hershel Lieber
A
week before Pesach 1991, a special guest arrived and stayed with us for almost three months. Our guest was only ten years old, and he arrived from Poland. No, he wasn’t Polish; he was actually an Israeli boy with a strange story. Let me start from the beginning. In February of that year I went alone to Poland for a week to teach at the Lauder Winter Retreat. Our children were still young, so Pesi stayed home with them. My week was jam-packed with lectures and activities for adults and children which introduced Yiddishkeit to Polish Jews who were largely ignorant of their heritage. On my way home, I spent a day in Warsaw. While I was in the Nozyk Shul talking to some of the local Yidden, I noticed a family consisting of a father, mother, two boys and a little girl. When I approached them, I realized that they were Israelis. The parents spoke Yiddish, and I asked them if they came as tourists and if their families came from Poland. The father, Menachem, told me that although his background was Polish, the family
Avi during Chol Hamoed Pesach on top of the World Trade Center
came as refugees from Israel. I had no idea what he was talking about. It didn’t take too long for him to unburden himself to me. In a very angry tone, he told me that he had owned a fruit kiosk in a small Israeli town in the Galil which burned down accidently. He had no insurance and
the government would not give him any compensation for his loss. After seeing that he was not getting anywhere with the government, he resolved to leave Israel and make his way back to Poland; they had just arrived a few hours ago. When I asked him what he planned to do in Poland,
he had no answer but he was so angry at Israel that he vowed that his family would not return. The family was evidently religious since both he and the boys wore yarmulkes. I explained to him that even if he finds work in Poland, this will not compensate for the loss of Jewish education that his children would endure. He said it didn’t matter; he was still adamant that he would not return to Israel. I walked away from the family and approached Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Joskowicz, who was the chief rabbi of Poland. We spoke about a suggestion of employing both parents at the Menora Kosher Restaurant that just opened near the shul. The rabbi also had an idea of renting a small, run-down apartment which was available nearby for the family. This would alleviate their situation somewhat. The younger son and his little sister would also not miss out too much if they forwent a few months of schooling. Our hope was that in a few months they would realize their mistake and would consider returning to Israel. The only problem that remained was their nine-year-old
*Name changed
The Osterman family, without Avi, in Poland
Chanoch Lubling with Mechel and me in Krakow
Yossi Billig and Rabbi Chaskel Besser at the rededication of the Lublin beis olam
