Seder Tisha
B’Av –
Prepared by
1. Philistine Capture
of the Arc
3. Fall of First Temple 587
BCE
4. Fall of Second Temple
70 CE
6. Chmielnicki Massacres 1648-1658 CE
1.
Philistine Capture of the Arc (1 Samuel chapt 4:1-18)
And
the word of Samuel came to all Israel. In those days the Philistines mustered
for war against Israel, and Israel went out to battle against hem; they
encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.
The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle was joined,
Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on
the field of battle.
When
the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD
put us to rout today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the
covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, so that he may come among us and save us
from the power of our enemies."
So
the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the ark of the covenant of
the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there
with the ark of the covenant of God. 5When the ark of the covenant of the LORD
came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded.
When
the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, "What does
this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" When they learned
that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid; for
they said, "Gods have come into the camp." They also said, "Woe
to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us
from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the
Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage, and be
men, O Philistines, in order not to become slaves to the Hebrews as they have
been to you; be men and fight."
So
the Philistines fought; Israel was defeated, and they fled, everyone to his
home. There was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty
thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line,
and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with earth upon his
head. When he arrived, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the road watching, for
his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told
the news, all the city cried out.
When
Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, "What is this uproar?"
Then
the man came quickly and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his
eyes were set, so that he could not see. The man said to Eli, "I have just
come from the battle; I fled from the battle today."
He
said, "How did it go, my son?"
The
messenger replied, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has
also been a great slaughter among the troops; your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,
and the ark of God has been captured."
When
he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side
of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and
heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
2. Death of Saul c. 1005 BCE (1
Samuel chapts 28, 29, 31; 2 Samuel
1:17-27)
In
those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against
Israel. Achish said to David, "You know, of
course, that you and your men are to go out with me in the army."
David
said to Achish, "Very well, then you shall know
what your servant can do."
Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you my
bodyguard for life." Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for
him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. Saul had expelled the mediums and
the wizards from the land. The Philistines assembled, and came and encamped at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was
afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. When Saul inquired of the LORD, the
LORD did not answer him, not by dreams, or by Urim,
or by prophets.
Then
Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so
that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him,
"There is a medium at Endor." So Saul
disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he
and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said,
"Consult a spirit for me, and bring up for me the one whom I name to
you." The woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done, how
he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you
laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?" But Saul swore to her
by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for
this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for
you?" He answered, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw
Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman said to Saul, "Why
have you deceived me? You are Saul!" The king said to her, "Have no
fear; what do you see?" The woman said to Saul, "I see a divine being
coming up out of the ground." He said to her, "What is his
appearance?" She said, "An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a
robe." So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the
ground, and did obeisance.
Then
Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?"
Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring
against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by
prophets or by dreams; so I have summoned you to tell me what I should
do." Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned
from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done to you just as he spoke by
me; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your
neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD, and did not
carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore
the LORD has done this thing to you today. Moreover the LORD will give Israel
along with you into the hands of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your
sons shall be with me; the LORD will also give the army of Israel into the
hands of the Philistines."
Immediately Saul fell
full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel; and
there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.
The woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to
him, "Your servant has listened to you; I have taken my life in my hand,
and have listened to what you have said to me. Now therefore, you also listen
to your servant; let me set a morsel of bread before you. Eat, that you may
have strength when you go on your way." He refused, and said, "I will
not eat." But his servants, together with the woman, urged him; and he
listened to their words. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. Now
the woman had a fatted calf in the house. She quickly slaughtered it, and she
took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened cakes. She put them before Saul
and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.
Now
the Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek,
while the Israelites were encamped by the fountain that is in Jezreel. As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by
hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear
with Achish, the commanders of the Philistines said,
"What are these Hebrews doing here?" Achish
said to the commanders of the Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant
of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years? Since he
deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day." But the
commanders of the Philistines were angry with him; and the commanders of the
Philistines said to him, "Send the man back, so that he may return to the
place that you have assigned to him; he shall not go down with us to battle, or
else he may become an adversary to us in the battle. For how could this fellow
reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?
Is this not David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, 'Saul has killed
his thousands, and David his ten thousands'?"
Then
Achish called David and said to him, "As the
LORD lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should
march out and in with me in the campaign; for I have found nothing wrong in you
from the day of your coming to me until today. Nevertheless the lords do not
approve of you. So go back now; and go peaceably; do nothing to displease the
lords of the Philistines."
David said to Achish,
"But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I
entered your service until now, that I should not go and fight against the
enemies of my lord the king?"
Achish replied to David, "I know that you are as blameless in
my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines
have said, 'He shall not go up with us to the battle.' Now then rise early in
the morning, you and the servants of your lord who came with you, and go to the
place that I appointed for you. As for the evil report, do not take it to
heart, for you have done well before me. Start early in the morning, and leave
as soon as you have light."
So
David set out with his men early in the morning, to return to the land of the
Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Now
the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before the
Philistines, and many fell on Mount Gilboa. The
Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and
Abinadab and Malchishua,
the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard upon Saul; the archers found him, and
he was badly wounded by them. Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw
your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised may not come
and thrust me through, and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer was
unwilling; for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.
When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and
died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men
died together on the same day.
When
the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the
Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were
dead, they forsook their towns and fled; and the Philistines came and occupied
them.
The
next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his
three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his
head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the
Philistines to carry the good news to the houses of their idols and to the
people. They put his armor in the temple of Astarte; and they fastened his body
to the wall of Beth-shan. But when the inhabitants of
Yabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to
Saul, all the valiant men set out, traveled all night long, and took the body
of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan.
They came to Yabesh and burned them there. Then they
took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Yabesh,
and fasted seven days.
David
intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. (He ordered that The
Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Yashar.) He said:
Your
glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places!
How
the mighty have fallen!
Tell
it not in Gath, proclaim it
not in the streets of
or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the
daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.
You
mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon
you, nor bounteous fields!
For
there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with
oil no more.
From
the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul
return empty.
Saul
and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided;
they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
O
daughters of
who clothed you with crimson, in luxury,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
How
the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan
lies slain upon your high places.
I
am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
greatly beloved were you to me;
your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
How
the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
3 Fall of
Now
Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal
son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all
the people, Thus says the LORD, Those who stay in this city shall die by the
sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live; they shall have their lives as a
prize of war, and live. Thus says the LORD, This city shall surely be handed
over to the army of the king of
Then
the officials said to the king, "This man ought to be put to death,
because he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the
people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare
of this people, but their harm."
King
Zedekiah said, "Here he is; he is in your hands; for the king is powerless
against you."
So
they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah,
the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by
ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank
in the mud.
Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch in the king's house, heard
that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at
the Benjamin Gate, So Ebed-melech left the king's
house and spoke to the king, "My lord king, these men have acted wickedly
in all they did to the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into the cistern to die
there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city." Then the king
commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "Take three
men with you from here, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern
before he dies."
So
Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the
house of the king, to a wardrobe of the storehouse, and took from there old
rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by
ropes. Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to
Jeremiah, "Just put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the
ropes." Jeremiah did so. Then they drew Jeremiah up by the ropes and
pulled him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
King
Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance
of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, "I have something to
ask you; do not hide anything from me."
Jeremiah
said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, you will put me to death, will you not?
And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me."
So
King Zedekiah swore an oath in secret to Jeremiah, "As the LORD lives, who
gave us our lives, I will not put you to death or hand
you over to these men who seek your life."
Then
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God
of Israel, If you will only surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon,
then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire,
and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the officials
of the king of
King
Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted
to the Chaldeans, for I might be handed over to them
and they would abuse me."
Jeremiah
said, "That will not happen. Just obey the voice of the LORD in what I say
to you, and it shall go well with you, and your life shall be spared. But if
you are determined not to surrender, this is what the LORD has shown me-- a
vision of all the women remaining in the house of the king of Judah being led
out to the officials of the king of Babylon and saying, 'Your trusted friends
have seduced you and have overcome you; Now that your feet are stuck in the
mud, they desert you.' All your wives and your children shall be led out to the
Chaldeans,
and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the
king of
Then
Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Do not let anyone else know of this
conversation, or you will die. If the officials should hear that I have spoken
with you, and they should come and say to you, 'Just tell us what you said to
the king; do not conceal it from us, or we will put you to death. What did the
king say to you?' then you shall say to them, 'I was presenting my plea to the
king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.'"
All
the officials did come to Jeremiah and questioned him; and he answered them in
the very words the king had commanded. So they stopped questioning him, for the
conversation had not been overheard.
And
Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that
In
the ninth year of King Zedekiah of
When
King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of
the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two
walls; and they went toward the Arabah. But the army
of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah
in the plains of
The
king of
King Nebuchadrezzar
of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan,
the captain of the guard, saying, "Take him, look after him well and do
him no harm, but deal with him as he may ask you." … They entrusted him to
Gedaliah son of Ahikam son
of Shaphan to be brought home. So he stayed with his
own people….
The
word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in
fetters along with all the captives of
In
the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of
the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate
bread together there at Mizpah, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, because the king of
4 Fall of
Greatly distressed, Titus again reproached John and his supporters:
"You rotten wretches, was it not you who set up the balustrade to guard
your sanctuary? Did you not put up at
intervals along it slabs inscribed in Greek characters and our own, forbidding
anyone to go beyond the barrier? And did we not give you leave to execute
anyone who did go beyond it, even if he were a Roman? Why then, you guilty men,
are you now trampling dead bodies inside it? Why do you desecrate the
Meanwhile, countless numbers fell victim to the
famine in the city. The sufferings they endured were unspeakable. In every
home, the very shadow of food led to conflict, and the closest relatives came
to blows, snatching from each other any pitiful means of sustenance. Not even
the dying were believed to be in want of food, and
even those expiring were searched by the brigands in case any of them had food
hidden inside their clothing and were feigning death. These desperate ruffians
stumbled and staggered along like mad dogs, open-mouthed with hunger, battering
at the doors like drunken men, and in their helpless confusion bursting into
the same house two or three times in a single hour. Necessity drove them to
gnaw everything, and objects that not even the filthiest dumb animals would
look at they picked up and ate. In the end they did not stop at eating belts
and shoes; they stripped off the leather from their shields and gnawed at
it. Some tried to live on scraps of old
hay, and there were people who collected stalks and sold a tiny bunch for four
Attic drachmas.
Titus retired to the Antonia, intending to launch a full scale attack the
following day at dawn and take possession of the
Then one of the soldiers, without awaiting any orders and with no dread of so
momentous a deed, but urged on by some supernatural force, snatched a blazing
piece of wood and, climbing on another soldier's back, hurled the flaming brand
through a low golden window that gave access, on the north side, to the rooms
that surrounded the sanctuary. As the flames shot up, the Jews let out a shout
of dismay that matched the tragedy; they flocked to the rescue, with no thought
of sparing their lives or husbanding their strength; for the sacred structure
that they had constantly guarded with such devotion was vanishing before their
very eyes.
When Caesar failed to restrain the fury of his frenzied soldiers, and the
fire could not be checked, he entered the building with his generals and looked
at the holy place of the sanctuary and all its furnishings, which exceeded by
far the accounts current in foreign lands and fully justified their splendid
repute in our own. As the flames
had not yet penetrated to the inner sanctum, but were consuming the chambers
that surrounded the sanctuary, Titus assumed correctly that there was still
time to save the structure; he ran out and by personal appeals he
endeavored to persuade his men to put out the fire… But their respect for
Caesar and their fear of the centurion's staff who was trying to check them were
overpowered by their rage, their detestation of the Jews, and an utterly
uncontrolled lust for battle. Most of them were spurred on, moreover, by the
expectation of loot, convinced that the interior was full of money and dazzled
by observing that everything around them was made of gold. But they were
forestalled by one of those who had entered into the building, and who, when
Caesar dashed out to restrain the troops, pushed a firebrand, in the
darkness, into the hinges of the gate. Then, when the flames suddenly
shot up from the interior, Caesar and his generals withdrew, and no one was
left to prevent those outside from kindling the blaze. Thus, in defiance of
Caesar's wishes, the
…While
the
The
5 First Crusade 1096 CE Quoted
from A History of the Jews by A. L. Sachar, 5th Edition, Knopf, 1964, pp. 188-189
The pious orgies began in
The corpses were stripped and lay naked until the refugees in the palace could smuggle out clothing for the poor mutilated bodies. The following Sunday, despite the protestations of the bishop, the rabble attacked the episcopal palace itself. For two days the besieged resisted, and then those who had not taken their own lives were cut to pieces, for the glory of God. Only a few saved themselves by submitting to baptism. From Worms" the wolves of the forest," as they were called by one Jewish chronicler, moved on to Mayence, whose citizens at once opened the gates and pointed out the Jewish hiding-places. Again the greater number committed suicide, and the rest were massacred….
The dead, numbering about thirteen
hundred, were flung, stripped, into ditches, and their property was plundered.
One Jew fired the synagogue before killing himself, and the blaze destroyed
nearly all of the city. A small number who escaped the
notice of the rabble by hiding in the treasury of the cathedral attempted to
steal away at
6 Chmielnicki Massacres 1648-1658 CE
Quoted from A History of the Jews by A. L. Sachar, 5th Edition, Knopf, 1964, pp. 240-241
By the middle of the seventeenth
century even
The bitterness between classes and
creeds was nowhere worse than on the banks of the
In 1648 came the inevitable uprising of the Cossacks. It was led by the Cossack chieftain Bogdan Chmielnicki, one of the outstanding figures of the seventeenth century. Bogdan was brave, resourceful, a natural genius in warfare, but a creature of impulses, a terrifying savage. Not only did he enter the revolt as the champion of his people's rights; he was an offended chieftain seeking vengeance for personal injuries which he had sustained at the hands of Poles and Jews. The Polish squire on whose estate he lived had stolen his hayricks and flogged his infant son to death. Some Jews had apparently spied upon him and involved him in difficulties with the Polish lords. He thirsted for vengeance against all members of the cursed races. Fate threw victims to him. He was able to win victories over the flower of the Polish military forces. As he triumphed, the serfs everywhere rose against their masters. The fury of the revolt was without precedent. Houses and castles were torn stone from stone. Whole villages were uprooted. The Polish gentry were hunted down, burnt, flayed alive, sawed asunder. Catholic priests were hanged to trees together with hogs and Jews.
The Jews died in their tens of thousands after suffering cruelties which
have rarely been equalled in all history. Their
infants were slit like fishes, their women were ripped open, live cats
were let into their bowels, and they were then sewn up again. "Often they
did not attain to burial, dogs and swine feeding on their dead bodies." In
Tulcin two thousand Jews and six hundred Poles sought
to keep off the Cossacks. When
resistance became futile, the Jews were betrayed by the Poles and
ruthlessly massacred. The Cossacks then cynically slaughtered the traitors as
well. The story of Tulcin
was repeated everywhere; rape, murder, pillage, in every village, in every
town. When Bogdan entered
In the fall of 1649 the new King of Poland, John Casimir,
patched up a truce with Bogdan by which
the Cossack leader was recognized as a semi-independent prince. It was part of the convention that Jews were no
longer to live in the Cossack districts. For a moment there was a respite for the terrified and
broken people. Only for
a moment. The civil wars soon flared up again, and the Cossacks
began a new series of depredations.
Suddenly in 1654 hordes of southern
and northern Scythians poured into the country, and next year the Swedes
also began their invasions. The new wars" resembled nothing so much as a
hideous scramble of ravening
beasts and obscene fowls for the dismembered limbs of a headless carcase, for such did
It is impossible to estimate accurately the toll of these awful years, perhaps the worst in Jewish history since the destruction of national life. (NB this was written in 1930) High estimates say five hundred thousand Jews perished; conservative estimates place the dead at not less than one hundred thousand. Seven hundred Jewish communities were destroyed. Everywhere there was ruin and desolation, and scarcely a family had been spared. For years the Western world was filled with derelicts, as in the dreary days of the Spanish expulsion. The darkness seemed never to lift and Jews turned more and more to the comfort of the Talmud, to the promises of the Cabala, and above all to the pseudo-Messiahs who continued to bring emollient messages from Heaven. )
7. Holocaust 1938-1945 Quoted from Siddur Sim Shalom pp 384-388
It was
Behind him were the rest of the two hundred children and a group of nurses clad in white aprons. They were surrounded by Germans and Ukrainian guards, and the Ghetto police. One could see how weak and undernourished the children were. But they marched to their deaths in exemplary order, without a single tear, in such a terrifying silence that it thundered with indictment and defiance.
There was one non-Jewish peasant woman. I do not know her name. I do not know her face. But she helped my mother save two children. There was the work camp. And the wire fence. On that day my mother could not bribe. On that day she had no choice. She could not bribe. If she left us in the barracks, they would take us away. And she had to go to work. No choice. She handed her children through the fence to one peasant woman. . . . My sister and I are here. That means the peasant lady kept us for whatever length of time and then she returned us to our mother.
We witnessed the arrival of
transports from Bendin and
On
As the mohel was about to begin, we heard the noise of screeching brakes and slamming doors in front of the building. A group of men from the Gestapo got out of their cars. We were panic-stricken. The hands of the mohel were shaking. We did not know what to do. How could we possibly save the mother and child? The mother was the most courageous amongst us. She shouted to the mohel: "Quickly! Circumcise the child. They are coming to kill us. The child at least should die as a Jew!
Thank God, the murderers did not come this time. They were merely visiting the school next door. The child was circumcised in the shadow of death.
Rabbi Leo Baeck
wrote about his meetings with fellow inmates at Theresienstadt:
It was dangerous for us to meet at night. There was an additional danger as
well. During the day these men were involved in terrible, back-breaking work.
And after such work, when they needed rest, they came together at night to
listen to lessons and lectures, which could have weakened their bodies further.
I shall never forget those meetings. We would assemble in darkness. To light a
candle there, or even a match, would have brought immediate disaster upon us.
We spoke about matters of the spirit and eternal questions, about God, about
Jews in the world, about the eternity of
Maidanek was an industrial factory for producing corpses: death, the destruction of the greatest number of prisoners in the shortest time at the lowest cost was Maidanek's purpose. Life was treated as something ephemeral and unimportant, as essentially worthless; in fact, contemptible. Death was our constant companion and not a terrible one, for quite often one wished passionately for it. It was life that was terrible, the long, agonizing process of parting from it after it had been shorn of dignity.
One day when we came from work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly place, three black crows. Roll call. SS all around us, machine guns trained: the traditional ceremony. Three victims in chains-and one of them a young boy, a sad-eyed angel. . . .
The three victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. "Long live liberty!" cried the two adults. But the child was silent. . . . At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs were tipped over. . . . Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. Their tongues hung swollen, blue-tinged. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive. . . . For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet glazed.
Behind me I heard a man asking, "Where is God now?"
And I heard a voice within me answer him: "Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging on this gallow. . . ."
August 2003