Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

The 10 days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are a chance to do repentance and to show Hashem our potential. As it says in the prayers, "on Rosh Hashana [our fate] is written and on Yom Kippur [our fate] is sealed". This is when "in the Heavenly Court the existence of every individual in the entire world is being judged". The Rebbetzin stresses, "despite everything – Holocaust, assimilation, alienation, the Jewish people have not forgotten Him. Embedded in every Yiddishe neshama is that pintele Yid, which, if touched, in a second can become a flame". It is never too late; we all have that spark of potential.

(See Video Below:)

The Rebbetzin shares a beautiful story in her weekly column: "I guess it all started a few years ago, when a lovely young woman, Adrienne Feher, visited from Budapest and joined us for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur davening. Our Hineni organization conducts High Holiday services in the grand ballroom of the Pierre or Plaza Hotels in Manhattan and also caters beautiful Yom Tov meals there. Adrienne had experienced a crisis in faith. She lived through some traumatic family tragedies causing her to wonder whether G-d really existed. Quite by accident, her mother discovered my book “The Committed Life” which had been translated into Hungarian, and gave it to her daughter to read. The book spoke to her and prompted Adrienne to make the journey from Budapest to New York for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

"The tefillas – the prayers and the Torah teachings entered Adriann’s heart, and she, in turn entered my heart, and thus our friendship commenced. Time and again she would say to me, “Rebbetzin, it would be so wonderful if you could come to Budapest to speak!” But Adrienne did not allow her thoughts to remain wishful thinking. She gave a copy of my book to the dedicated Executive Director of the Hungarian Jewish Federation, Mr. Gustav Zoltai. The book penetrated his neshama, and he committed himself to bringing its message to the entire Jewish community. Daringly, he booked the prestigious Urania Theater for a pre-Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur program. It was truly a courageous plan, especially since there were only three weeks in which to make the preparations. But where there is a will, there is a way and Mr. Zoltai together with Adrienne got to work. The Hungarian Jewish community throughout the country had to be mobilized. For Adrienne, this was especially challenging, since, in the interim, she had become engaged to an exceptional Torah committed young man, Robert Deutsch, and the wedding was scheduled to take place on the day before my program.

“How will you do it?” I asked Adrienne and Robert. “It will be our greatest privilege,” they answered. “We cannot think of a more perfect way to begin our new lives.....and from the Rebbetzin’s program, we will go straight to Sheva Brochos!”

"We booked an early flight so that we might arrive in ample time for the wedding. However, like most flights nowadays, our plane to Budapest was delayed, and we were forced to wait endless hours at JFK. We e-mailed Adrienn and Robert and urged them to proceed with the wedding and not wait for our arrival, but of course, they waited, and Baruch Hashem, we arrived just in time to greet Chosen/Kallah. It was a most elegant and truly Yiddishe chaseneh, and as Adrienne had promised, the following night, chosen/kallah and the entire wedding party was at the Urania Theater. It had rained the entire day, but despite the inclement weather, the people kept coming. It was a sight to behold! By the time I arrived, the theater was filled.

"In addition to the members of the Hungarian Jewish community, rabbis and congregational leaders, the Honorable April Foley, the United States Ambassador to Hungary, was present and spoke most meaningfully. Mr. Zoltai delivered a powerful introduction, and then, it was my turn.

I began speaking in Hungarian, and explained to the audience that I was just a little girl when the Nazis deported us to the concentration camps, so I never really had an opportunity to study in Hungarian schools. Although I spoke the language, my vocabulary was limited and I asked for their kind understanding.

"I also told them that while I never studied Hungarian geography, I was nevertheless familiar with the names of all of the villages and cities, for, prior to the Holocaust, in almost every city and village, there was a cousin, a Jungreis rabbi who taught Torah and led his congregation with love and dedication. There were 87 Jungreis rabbis is Hungary prior to that unspeakable catastrophe – so yes, I was familiar with all the villages and cities.

"My father of blessed memory, HaRav HaGaon Avraham HaLevi Jungreis, Z’tl, was the Chief Orthodox Rabbi of Szeged (the second largest city in Hungary – not to be confused with Siget, a shtetl not far from the Roumanian border) – I was deeply moved by members of the Jewish community of Szeged who had traveled to the program with their rabbi and congregation president. They waited to greet me at the entrance to the theater and presented me with meaningful mementos from the city. It was truly a historic moment. Just consider, I who had been deported in a cattle car was now greeted in Budapest by the remnants of the Jews of Szeged. Just consider it, and you have to be overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all..

"My beloved husband, HaRav Meshulem Halevi Jungreis, Z’tl, was the son of Rabbi Osher Anschil Halevi Jungreis of Gyngyos. You might wonder why I mention all this? Why is this history relevant to the program? I believe that in addition to the hard work put in by Mr Zoltai, Adrienn and others, the success of the evening can be attributed to assistance from the Heavens above. My zeides, my in-laws, my uncles and cousins who had all been rabbis in their communities gathered their congregants and petitioned the Almighty G-d to send their descendants so that they might hear words of Torah. I shared this thought with the audience and told them that I remembered our holy grandparents and great-grandparents. I remembered their goodness, their pure love and dedication to Torah and mitzvos, and I assured them that their pure holy souls were greeting them, blessing them, and rejoicing that they came.

"I spoke of my zeide, HaRav HaGaon HaTzadik Yisroel Halevi Jungreis, HykmD, the Rov of Nadudvar. With one arm he carried a Sefer Torah, and in the other, his infant grandchild – and that is how he was taken to the gas chambers. “Meen’sharim kalu.... they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions, to do the will of their Creator”. But, I explained, there is no flame that can extinguish the light of our Torah, and if just one Jew survived from a community where the voice of Torah was once heard, he built a synagogue, a yeshiva, so that the teaching of Torah might continue and give life to a new generation. So it is that today, in every major city in which survivors dwell, be it London, New York or Jerusalem, , there are synagogues with odd sounding names that recall the shtetlech in which Torah once thrived.

"There is a mystical power to the Jewish people. In Yiddish, we call it the “Pintele Yid.” It’s an ember, a spark, and if ignited, in an instant it becomes a flame, and the Jew remembers his covenant with G-d. “V’zot briti....And this is My covenant with them, sayeth the L-rd: And these words that I have placed upon your lips, shall not depart from your lips, nor from the lips of your children or your children’s children, thus sayeth the L-rd, forevermore.”

"It was a night that the Hungarian Jewish community will long remember. Eyes became moist with tears – the “Pintele Yid” burst forth with all its majestic power. “Mee k’amcha Yisroel, goy echod b’aretz.....Who is like Thy Jewish people oh G-d, a unique nation on this planet earth, a nation that despite unbearable suffering, despite the forces of assimilation, has never forgotten You!” Have mercy on Your children Oh G-d and inscribe all Your people in the Book of Forgiveness and the Book of Life!"