Mrs. Susan Rodrigues Pereira was renovating her house when she was surprised at the unique discovery in a wall at the entrance of her house.
Two mezuzot, one large and one small, and a mezuzah case hidden and cemented inside the walls of the entrance of the house.
These mezuzos were hidden in the wall during the Holocaust to avoid the Nazis noticing that it was a Jewish home.
Susan is a Jewish woman of Portuguese descent. Recently, she made a research to the origin of her family. She is a descendent of an old Jewish Portuguese family who once came to the Netherlands as Marranos. Of course she knows what a mezuzah is.
She investigated the story behind the mezuzos. She discovered that before the Holocaust many Jews lived in her street of which very few survived the war.
Her investigation led her to a businessman Josef Tafelkruier who lived in her house before the Holocaust. The house next door lived the community Rabbi Benjamin Israel Ricardo.
Susan continued her research and reached the rabbi's grandson Benjamin Ricardo who she contacted. Mr. Ricardo is named after his grandfather.
Mr. Ricardo recommended Susan to make contact with Mrs. Miriam Chanina who lives in Israel. Mrs. Chanina is a granddaughter of Joseph Tafelkruier from paternal side and from maternal side she is a granddaughter of Rabbi Ricardo who were each other's neighbors before the Holocaust.
"I never thought I would ever hear anything about my grandparents again and certainly not such a special story", as she said in an interview for the newspaper' Sichas Hashavuah.
"I was born three months after the liberation, in the house of Mrs. Maria Ieps, a Dutch medical doctor and a righteous person among the nations. My parents were hiding in her house throughout the Holocaust. My father was very active in the resistance. A couple of years ago he passed away in Israel".
Susan and Miriam corresponded with each other through the email. Mrs. Chaninah decided to go to visit Amsterdam in order to meet Susan at her home.
Susan handed the special mezuzos over to her after a tour in her grandfather's house.
"I cannot express in words what special experience this was, it was very emotional but also very impressive", says Miriam.
"I get very emotional when I think the amount of effort Susan made in order to return my grandfather's mezuzos back to me" .
Miriam's husband Chaim is a Sofer and he checked both the mezuzos. It appeared that the large mezuzah is kosher and the other mezuzah is not kosher. The large mezuzah is back at its old spot at the door of her grandparents' house in Amsterdam. The small mezuzah is given to the archive of "Logamee Hageta'ot 'Museum in Israel.
Two mezuzot, one large and one small, and a mezuzah case hidden and cemented inside the walls of the entrance of the house.
These mezuzos were hidden in the wall during the Holocaust to avoid the Nazis noticing that it was a Jewish home.
Susan is a Jewish woman of Portuguese descent. Recently, she made a research to the origin of her family. She is a descendent of an old Jewish Portuguese family who once came to the Netherlands as Marranos. Of course she knows what a mezuzah is.
She investigated the story behind the mezuzos. She discovered that before the Holocaust many Jews lived in her street of which very few survived the war.
Her investigation led her to a businessman Josef Tafelkruier who lived in her house before the Holocaust. The house next door lived the community Rabbi Benjamin Israel Ricardo.
Susan continued her research and reached the rabbi's grandson Benjamin Ricardo who she contacted. Mr. Ricardo is named after his grandfather.
Mr. Ricardo recommended Susan to make contact with Mrs. Miriam Chanina who lives in Israel. Mrs. Chanina is a granddaughter of Joseph Tafelkruier from paternal side and from maternal side she is a granddaughter of Rabbi Ricardo who were each other's neighbors before the Holocaust.
"I never thought I would ever hear anything about my grandparents again and certainly not such a special story", as she said in an interview for the newspaper' Sichas Hashavuah.
"I was born three months after the liberation, in the house of Mrs. Maria Ieps, a Dutch medical doctor and a righteous person among the nations. My parents were hiding in her house throughout the Holocaust. My father was very active in the resistance. A couple of years ago he passed away in Israel".
Susan and Miriam corresponded with each other through the email. Mrs. Chaninah decided to go to visit Amsterdam in order to meet Susan at her home.
Susan handed the special mezuzos over to her after a tour in her grandfather's house.
"I cannot express in words what special experience this was, it was very emotional but also very impressive", says Miriam.
"I get very emotional when I think the amount of effort Susan made in order to return my grandfather's mezuzos back to me" .
Miriam's husband Chaim is a Sofer and he checked both the mezuzos. It appeared that the large mezuzah is kosher and the other mezuzah is not kosher. The large mezuzah is back at its old spot at the door of her grandparents' house in Amsterdam. The small mezuzah is given to the archive of "Logamee Hageta'ot 'Museum in Israel.
In order to remember and never to forget:
"The story is not over". Miriam tells us, "Susan told me that due to the discovery of the mezuzos, the residents of the street are investigating the names of the people in our street during the war because many Jews lived here."
Miriam never knew her grandparents but she is closely tied to their traditions. "I feel I received a message from them. The younger generation must see how our grandparents continued their Judaism despite the fear and threat of the Nazis. They went so far as to hide the mezuzos inside the wall", says Miriam.
Adapted from the newspaper Chabad 'Sichas Hashvuah', written by Menachem Cohen.
"The story is not over". Miriam tells us, "Susan told me that due to the discovery of the mezuzos, the residents of the street are investigating the names of the people in our street during the war because many Jews lived here."
Miriam never knew her grandparents but she is closely tied to their traditions. "I feel I received a message from them. The younger generation must see how our grandparents continued their Judaism despite the fear and threat of the Nazis. They went so far as to hide the mezuzos inside the wall", says Miriam.
Adapted from the newspaper Chabad 'Sichas Hashvuah', written by Menachem Cohen.
No comments:
Post a Comment