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Jewish Action the Magazine New Low Celebrating and interpreting Jewish Living in America,of the Israel Rates! Orthodox and around the world, union Uniquely Targeted published for the OU audience.Jewish Action Our editions are published quarterly Reach and reach in excess of 57,000 Orthodox Jewish readers is the only with family every magazine print issue and virtually thousands online at www.ou.org/jewish_action. Package Discounts Available sophisticated articles, interviews and editorials to its discerning audience. Be A Part of the ACTION! 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IcatIOn Date) for multiple insertion rates and any other questions contact: ReseR c Summer 2012 (6/12) vatIOn arrie b DeaDl aR eylus Marketing Manager Ine twORk Fall 2012 (8/12) Due phone: 212.613.8226 5/9/12 cell: 917.417.3325 fax: 212.613.0784 Winter 2012 (11/12) 5/15/12 cover.spring2011_Layout 1 copy 6 3/29/117/11/12 9:53 AM email: [email protected] 7/17/12 Spring 2013 (2/13) 10/17/12Page 1 10/22/12 OU Guide to Passover 2013 (2/13) 1/16/13 1/22/13 TH E M AGA 1/16/13 Z INE OF THE SPR OR ING Fall10C-1_Layout 1 8/2/10 5:10 PM Page 15 THO 577 DO 1/2 Fall10C-1_Layout 1 8/2/10 5:10 PM Page 14 X U 011 NIO 1/22/13 N coming out of the woodwork, the older “I didn’t even know there was a They are visible signs of a revival SpecialSection By Steve Lipman ones comfortable identifying them- synagogue in Poland,” says Beate Shul- that has turned into a community. selves when the danger had passed, the man, from Krakow, whose mother re- This in a country whose affiliated Jewish population is about 5,000, and younger ones investigating Judaism marked in passing that their family is VO LUM when their true background is revealed Jewish. Her subsequent study ofChas- whose total community of people who E 7 1, N upon parents’ and grandparents’ sidism intrigued her. She became active don’t know they are Jewish or are still O. 3 The Revival of • $ deathbed confessions. It’s still happen- in the Jewish community, and then be- afraid to admit it is estimated between 5.50 ing, though not as frequently as in the came a ba’alat teshuvah. 10,000 and 20,000. immediate post-Communist days. Jewish Life Sometimes, subtle clues cause Poles to suspect Jewish blood in their family. Silence when Jewish topics are raised. Unexplained friends or relatives in Is- in Polandeurope rael. Whispering at school. Krakow Ghetto “I knew I had Jewish roots. It Photo:Ahron D. Weiner/www.ahronphoto.com wasn’t important,” says Michal Samet, from Gdansk, who learned officially that he is a Jew sixteen years ago. He visited Israel, felt at home in places like Bnei Brak and Meah Shearim and stud- ied at a yeshivah. Today, he leads his hometown’s small Jewish community. “I always suspected–” says Maciej Pawlak, from Szczecin, who, when his suspicions were confirmed, decided to study at Yeshiva University. The first Warsaw Polish-born rabbi since the Shoah, Photo:Ahron D. Weiner/www.ahronphoto.com Rabbi Pawlak is principal of the Lauder-Morasha School, a Jewish day school in Warsaw founded by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. Sometimes, when Poles find out they are Jews, they have little or he big news in Krakow’s brought down Communism in Eastern lives, they choose to undergo a com- no warning. Jewish community last year Europe and the Soviet Union, Jewish plete or symbolic geirut (that is, immer- “It was a shock,” says Pawel Bram- didn’t make the news. lifecycle events conducted according to sion in a mikvah, a pledge to lead an son, from Warsaw. Bramson’s wife ba’alei The nascent ba’al teshuvahmove- T A young Jewish couple Jewish tradition are “far more normal observant lifestyle, and for men, abrit turned up documents that showed As elsewhere, Poland’s teshuvahtend to adopt a religious ment here is smaller than in other ex- got married. The bride and groom, typ- than they were five years ago,” says milah as well). both of them were Jewish. Bramson lifestyle in their twenties and thirties, Communist lands in the region like ical of Polish Jews in their twenties, Rabbi Schudrich. On the eve of 5771, the number of may be Poland’s most-celebratedba’al the time of self-identity choices. Hungary (Jewish population: more had been raised without a Jewish edu- A native of Long Island who has Polish Jews who are “full-fledged” teshuvah. He was an anti-Semitic skin- Tor As elsewhere, they range in style than 100,000) and the former East Ger- cation; they eventually discovered their worked in Poland since 1990, first as frum ba’alei teshuvahaccording to head. Today, with a beard and black and affiliation, from Modern Orthodox many (now-unified Germany has more Jewish identities, learned about Ju- the representative of the Ronald S. Western ba’al teshuvahstandards prob- hat, he works as amashgiach and in the to Chassidic, some simply calling than 100,000 Jews, mostly from the daism and decided they wanted to lead Lauder Foundation, now as chief ably totals a couple dozen families, shochet. “I’m doing teshuvahall the ah themselves “observant.” former Soviet Union). observant lives. Their closest friends rabbi, Rabbi Schudrich has seen the Rabbi Schudrich says. But, he says, time,” he says. came to the wedding, a modest affair, growth of Jewish life here and the there are many more who “are keeping with Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the emergence of a small but dedicated more mitzvot than they did a few country’s chief rabbi, serving as Orthodox community. Which, by defi- months ago. The Yiddishe neshamah These ba’alei teshuvahare rebuilding a Jewish community. They are restoring a lost legacy. mesader kiddushin. nition in a country where the practice doesn’t go away.” “They want to be like their grandparents or great-grandparents,” who were or presumably The wedding did not make head- of Judaism was once punishable under More Polish Jews are going to syna- DigitalAge lines, inside or outside of Poland. Ten atheistic Communism, means a ba’al gogue, keeping Shabbat andkashrut , were Orthodox, Rabbi Schudrich says. or twenty years ago, an Orthodox wed- teshuvah movement. putting mezuzot on their doors, and ding of two Polish Jews in Poland Anyone who keeps anymitzvot in using the country’s fewmikvaot . These ba’alei teshuvah are re- Every ex-Communist country has would have been remarkable. contemporary Poland is automatically How many Polish Jews weredaven- Likewise, says Marcin Dudek- building a Jewish community. They some men and women returning to Today, two decades after the Soli- a ba’al teshuvah, a former tinok shen- ing, eating kosher or keeping Shabbat Lewin, from a town in northern are restoring a lost legacy. “They Torah-true Judaism. “There’s a trend, darity movement in Gdansk set in mo- ishbah, and, ironically, often a convert– when Rabbi Schudrich first arrived in Poland. His grandmother told him, at want to be like their grandparents or you can see it in Israel as well, that tion the stirrings of freedom that many young Jews who find out that Poland? “Zero, zero and zero,” he says. ten, that he is Jewish. He moved to great-grandparents,” who were or Eastern European Jews, if they return they have “Jewish roots” also find out The rabbi has documented the phe- Warsaw, studied with Rabbi Schudrich, shomer mitzvot. presumably were Orthodox, Rabbi to their roots, they do it all the way and Steve Lipman is a staff writer for theJewish that they may not be halachically Jew- nomenon of unknown Jews, from and decided to become Schudrich says. very thoroughly,” Olaf Gloeckner from Weekin New York. ish. If they desire to lead full Jewish Communist or Catholic backgrounds, “My soul spoke to me,” he says. Fall 5771/2010 JEWISH ACTION I 15 14 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5771/2010.