Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto gave a special talk this week in which he related that the Ponovezher Rabbi came to the town of Lawrence in the United States after the Holocaust. Lawrence, located in the Five Towns, became an important Jewish center after the Holocaust where many Jews gathered trying to rebuild their lives after the terrible cataclysm.
In his talk, Rabbi Pinto described the Ponovezher Rabbi’s visit to the Lawrence synagogue with Jews who carried in their hearts the pain and loss of their entire families in the Holocaust. The rabbi shared their bitter reality and he told them these poignant words: "The one and a half million Jewish children who died in the Holocaust are crying and praying for their souls, and seeking to return to This World. You are faced with a fateful choice: either you continue to remain resentful, or you choose to give birth to new children, bring life to their souls and return Jewish pride to the world."
The Ponovezher Rabbi’s talk left a deep impression on the audience, and as a result of his passionate words, that year many children were born in Lawrence who later became wealthy and even some of the Jewish people’s greatest jurists in America.
Rabbi Pinto drew a parallel to the Jewish people’s present situation. He emphasized that the souls of those murdered on Simchat Torah and during the war are also waiting in heaven, seeking to return to the world and lift up the Divine Presence from the ashes. Rabbi Pinto's message to every Jew is that he has the ability to bring back the Jewish people’s holiness and honor, to revive what may have appeared to be lost forever, and to bring about a redemption that will spring from the ashes.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel