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April 11, 2003
A savior of the Sadgorer rebbe
Grandfather of the local Wolak family helped preserve Chassidic
dynasty.
ARTHUR WOLAK SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
When the late Sadgorer rebbe, Mordecai Shalom Joseph Friedman,
arrived in Tel-Aviv just before Passover in 1939, the momentous
event was greeted with much acclaim by his followers, since it ensured
the continuation of the leadership of the century-old Sadgora dynasty
and its Chassidic traditions.
Although the Sadgorer rebbe's immigration to Israel is well known,
what is not is how the rebbe was able to leave Poland just in time
and was, therefore, spared from an almost certain tragic fate during
the Holocaust. Due to the efforts of my late grandfather, Jacob
Wohlman, the rebbe and his wife, Mira, were able to emigrate from
Europe very shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.
My uncle, Irv Wolak (formerly Wohlman), remembers the events of
1939 very well, and still has some of his late father's papers to
confirm the events of that fateful year. These papers are a series
of IOUs dated between April and June of 1939 that the late Rebbe
Friedman had signed to my grandfather and which the Rebbetzin Mira
Friedman had signed to my grandmother, Rosa Wohlman.
While my grandfather had never intended to obtain repayment of the
money he gave to the rebbe's family, I believe that it is time that
my late grandfather's role in helping save the Sadgorer rebbe be
made known, to be preserved as an historical record.
After returning to Przemysl from Russia, where he had spent many
years as a POW in Tashkent during the First World War, my grandfather
had emerged through the 1920s and '30s as one of Przemysl's most
prominent businessmen. In early 1939, an emissary of the rebbe visited
my grandfather in Przemysl, requesting that he come and see the
Chassidic leader about an urgent matter. My grandfather, who had
been raised in a traditional Orthodox Jewish home but was not affiliated
with the Chassidic movement, was curious about the rebbe's concerns.
My grandfather visited the rebbe, who resided on Mickiewicz Street
not far from my grandparents' home in Przemysl, where the rebbe
had settled in the early 1930s after leaving Vienna to be closer
to the Sadgora Chassidim. Rebbe Friedman expressed his desire to
immigrate to the land of Israel but was having problems obtaining
the papers from the government to let him do so. Knowing that my
grandfather was quite influential, the rebbe asked if he would assist
him. My grandfather agreed.
My grandfather obtained the necessary documentation and then lent
the rebbe money for the shipment of his personal property. Very
pleased, the rebbe asked my grandfather to join him in Tel-Aviv
during the upcoming Passover holiday.
In March 1939, the Sadgorer rebbe left for Tel-Aviv. A few days
later, my grandfather temporarily left his family to visit relatives
who had settled in Eretz Yisrael and to explore business opportunities
in the region. While in Tel-Aviv, Rebbe Friedman again advised my
grandfather to emigrate with his family, because he felt that Europe
could once again erupt in war. My grandfather had intended to do
so, but he needed time to settle his business interests in Poland.
Before long though, war consumed Europe, making escape impossible.
Jacob Wohlman, however, still managed to fulfil the rebbe's last
request made prior to his departure from Tel-Aviv. The rebbe had
asked that my grandfather help the rebbe's wife secure papers to
emigrate and ship her belongings. By June 1939, Mira Friedman had
safely joined her husband in Tel-Aviv.
Having lost their prewar wealth and possessions to the Nazis, my
grandparents, father and uncle immigrated to Canada in the early
1950s, reuniting with a few relatives who had arrived from Europe
decades earlier. Here they began a new life in a new country, with
a new surname – Wolak – obtained as an antidote to pervasive
anti-Semitism in postwar Poland. Dozens of family members had perished
during the war and Jacob Wolak was the only member of his immediate
family to survive the Holocaust.
Reflecting on the historic city of Przemysl and the former multi-ethnic
neighborhood along Mickiewicz Street where my family and the rebbe's
family lived, what neither the rebbe nor my grandparents may have
realized back in 1939 was their common ancestry.
Our family's yichus (status), recently rediscovered a century
after it was written down by my great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Efraim
Bolchover, details my grandmother Rosa's illustrious ancestors all
the way back to such luminaries as the Maharal of Prague and Rabbi
Meir Katzenellenbogen, the famed Maharam of Padua, a 16th-century
Ashkenazi rabbinical scholar based in Italy who claimed descent
from King David.
Subsequent research on our family's ancestors brought me into contact
with Dr. Neil Rosenstein, author of the detailed study of the descendants
of Meir Katzenellenbogen, The Unbroken Chain, who verified
our familial connection.
From this reference, I learned that both my grandmother and the
rebbe trace their ancestry directly to the Maharam's grandson, Rabbi
Saul Wahl, a distinguished Polish citizen who, during a brief interregnum,
was the legendary "King of Poland" for a night in 1587.
My grandfather and the rebbe's wife also stem from diverse yet related
branches.
Given considerable migration over the generations, it is fascinating
that the rebbe's family and my grandparents not only found themselves
residing in the same Polish town but also in homes on the very same
street. It is an even greater quirk of fate that my grandfather
would be able to help the Sadgorer rebbe.
With the Sadgora dynasty transferred to Israel, the rebbe was able
to continue to lead his devoted supporters for the next 40 years.
It is gratifying to know that the efforts of my grandfather, who
passed away in 1971 at age 89, helped make this possible.
Note: Rabbi Mordecai Shalom Joseph Friedman was rebbe
of the Sadgora dynasty from 1913 until 1979. He was a direct descendant
of Dov Baer (the Maggid of Mezhirech), successor of Israel ben Eliezer
Ba'al Shem Tov, founder of Chassidism in 18th-century eastern Europe.
Holocaust survivors Jacob and Rosa Wolak, and sons Dr. Edward Wolak
and Irv Wolak, immigrated to British Columbia where their descendants
still reside: Edward's sons, Richard and Arthur of Vancouver, and
Irv Wolak, son Mark, daughter Susan Stein and his grandchildren,
Michelle, Jenna and David Stein, all of Richmond.
Arthur Wolak is president of Arelco Promotional Group
Inc. This article originally appeared in the Jewish Press,
a New York weekly.
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