Who Will Live and Who Will Die?

This morning the junior high students and the 11^th and 12^th grade girls had the privilege of hearing from Leah Kaufman and Helen Yermus, two Holocaust survivors and long time friends, who each shared their unique stories.  Leah was born in Rumania, while Helen was born in Kovno, Lithuania.  Both were very young children at the time of the NAZI conquests of their native countries, who witnessed first hand the unspeakable brutality of the Nazis and their supporters.  They spoke with great emotion and quiet eloquence about their earliest memories, their fear and hopelessness, their yearnings and sufferings, about finding themselves orphaned and alone in the most treacherous of all circumstances.  They shared with their audience those few words or unspoken signs that forced them onward, that kept them from surrendering to the fate of their friends and family.  Their childhood was abruptly stolen from them. Overnight they learned to live by their wits and cunning, in order to survive.  Like so many other survivors, they were plagued with questions like, “Why was I spared?”  Both women, whose experiences were so different, yet at the most basic level, so similar, came to the same conclusion.  We were spared to speak the truth, to tell our stories, to keep alive the memories of our past, of our loved ones, of our tradition and heritage, to educate the next generation of Jews.  We are that next generation.  It is up to us now to deliver those messages.

Leah Kaufman’s experiences can be found in her profoundly moving autobiography, Live! Remember! Tell the World! The Story of a Hidden Child Survivor of Transnistria.  Leah is the mother of Dr. Seth Kaufman and the grandmother of Jonah, Talya, Elaina, and Ariana Kaufman.  Both Leah and Helen are in Memphis to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Talya to Aryeh Sand.