Elly Kleinman Pope - Holocaust Education Center

GLENDALE, Calif. - April 28, 2016 - PRLog -- Elly Kleinman

The president of the Kleinman Holocaust Education Center-a first-of-its kind museum dedicated to showcasing the perspectives and experiences of Orthodox Jews during the Holocaust-met with Pope Francis on November 11 and presented him with a special book. The book features a story set at Auschwitz that chronicles an exchange between a rabbi and a young man who, in an act of faith, offers to give his life to save the life of another boy, a Torah scholar, condemned to death.

The story captures the essence of choices faced by the faith-driven during the Holocaust. There are many stories like it that not only expose the depths of the suffering that was experienced, but also underscore the resilience of the faithful who did not dwell on the "why" of the Holocaust but instead turned to their religious leaders to ask, "What do we do now? What will make our lives meaningful now?"

Through the lens of their experience, faith was the one thing that was not taken from them. This core message was what led the KHEC to create the book for Pope Francis. The concept for the gift was developed by Dr. Henri Lustiger-Thaler, senior curator at the KHEC. The story is written in four languages: Argentinean Spanish, Church Latin, Hebrew, and English.

The KHEC is a New York-based education center under construction in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, a neighborhood that is home to the largest Orthodox community outside of Israel. The center already has acquired the world's largest collection of Orthodox Jewish Holocaust-related archives, including documents and artifacts that will be made available for scholarly research and public access. The KHEC broke ground for its permanent home this past March; it is expected to open in late 2016 or early 2017.

"The mission of the Kleinman Holocaust Education Center is to introduce to the public and the scholarly, educational, and museum world the Orthodox Jewish perspective of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Sholom Friedmann, director and chief executive officer. "All Holocaust institutions will attest to the undisputed fact that the testimonies and writings of Orthodox Jewish victims have not been adequately recorded or gathered. The KHEC is a living memorial of the cultural richness of religious Jewish life before, during, and immediately after the Holocaust."

He added of the meeting in Rome, "We hope to start a dialogue. We intend to build and strengthen our national and international relations and forge dialogues which address the specificity of the Jewish faith experience of the Holocaust."

The meeting at the Vatican also included discussions with Monsignor Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican secret archives, and Father Hoffmann, secretary of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations on the Jews. Martin "Elly" Kleinman, president of the Kleinman Holocaust Education Center, presented the gift to the pope.

The story presented to the pope relays one of many question-and-response exchanges between rabbis and their faithful (She'eilos and Teshuvos) that took place in the ghettos and concentration camps.

This story is set at Auschwitz in the evening, when guards would accept ransom money for the lives of those condemned to be murdered the following morning. Each day there was a quota to be filled, and with hundreds of other victims, Torah scholar Moishele was among the selected.

Akiva Mann was another young man in the camp, about 15 years old, who was the last to survive in his family, and had been left money. When he learns that the scholar will be put to his death, he approaches his rabbi and argues that the scholar's life is worth more than his own, and that he wants to use the money to ransom the scholar's place, and instead put himself in the group to be put to death. The rabbi would not permit him to do so, as it would go against halachah. Akiva Mann persisted and finally convinced the rabbi of the spiritual intent of his decision.

"This story speaks to the core of the mission of the KHEC: to display the role of faith within the broader context of the annihilation of European Jewry," said Dr. Henri Lustiger-Thaler. "It provides a narrative that speaks to the history, perspective, meaning, and experience of religious communities during the Holocaust."

The book made for the pope, covered in Japanese bookmaking cloth, and the box it was presented in, were created by renowned New York bookbinder Judith Ivry. The text was printed letterpress by Peter Kruty of Peter Kruty Editions from typographic designs by Sayre Gaydos. The selected English rendition of the She'eilah and Teshuvah is excerpted from The Forgotten Memoirs by Esther Farbstein.

Learn more at www.kfhec.org or follow on Facebook at kleinmanfamilyHEC.