לז"נ MY UNCLE THE KIDNAPPER

 

לז"נ           MY UNCLE THE KIDNAPPER               ר' יצחק עמרם אליהו דונאט זצ"ל         *נפטר יום ב' דר"ה מיד אחרי התקיעות   In 1949, My uncle, R.Yitzchok Donath Zt"l obtained false identity papers for himself and for both of my parents a"h. This enabled them to escape from Communist Czechoslovakia and flee to Vienna Austria.  They obtained the ID of the Feigelstock family (my father’s first cousins) who had left Austria before the war.   R Yitzchok Donath lived in Vienna, Austria under the name of Yitzchok Feigelstock. He was a Madrich in Agudas Yisroel. He was also very active in getting back the children who were hidden by the Goyim during the war. There were many times when the Goyim were unwilling to voluntarily return the children to the Yidden. They used different methods to get the children out of the Goyishe homes. One day the police showed up with an arrest warrant for Yitzchok Feigelstock. My uncle was charged with kidnapping, a very serious crime. He was locked up in prison. With the help of Askonim, he managed to convince the authorities that they had the wrong man because his name was not Feigelstock but Donath. After sitting in prison for a few weeks, he was finally released. The Yitzchok Feigelstock they were after was none other than the Long Beach Rosh Yeshiva Zt"l, who was at that time thousands of miles away across the ocean, learning in Lakewood under R. Aron Kotler Zt"l  A few years later the Rosh Yeshiva, R. Yitzchok Feigelstock applied for American citizenship. His application was rejected because he was on  the most wanted list in Austria accused of child kidnapping. Although it wasn't too difficult to prove that R. Yitzchok Feigelstock. was in Lakewood NJ the entire time and could not possibly have been involved in the kidnapping done in Austria, the authorities were reluctant to grant him citizenship.  After many unsuccessful attempts, R. Ahron Kotler Zt"l got involved personally. He contacted politicians and government officials, but to no avail. This matter was finally resolved after it was brought to the attention of the President of the USA, D.Eisenhower.  *R. Yitzchok Donath zt"l (my uncle) was מוסר נפש and risked his life together with the Veitzener Rav zt"l to blow Shofar for 1,400 children who were destined to the crematoria in Auschwitz the following. day. He enabled them with their last מצוה in this world תקיעת שופר My uncle too was Niftar with his last Mitzvah of תקיעת שופר.                             יהא זכרו ברוך ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DON'T FORGET TO SHAVE The טור (O.Ch. 581) quotes the מדרש   "The Minhag of the world is when a person has a court case, he dresses in black, wraps himself in black, and grows his beard--.     The בני ישראל are different. They dress in white, wrap themselves in white  and shave their beards. ומגלחין זקנם                       רוחצין ומסתפרין על פי המדרש, א"ר סימון כתיב כי מי גוי גדול וגומר, ר' חנינא ור' יהושע אומרין איזו אומהכאומה זו שיודעת אופיה של אלהיה - פירוש מנהגיו ודיניו, שמנהגו של עולם אדם שיש לו דין לובש שחורים ומתעטף שחורים ומגדל זקנו ואין חותך צפרניו לפי שאינו יודע איך יצא דינו, אבל ישראל אינן כן לובשים לבנים ומתעטפים לבנים ומגלחין זקנם ומחתכין צפרניהם ואוכלין ושותין ושמחים בר"ה לפי שיודעין שהקב"ה יעשה להם נס. לפיכך נוהגין לספר ולכבס בערב ר"ה ולהרבות מנות בר"ה. ומכאן תשובה למתענין בראש השנה. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                              HE LOVED FISH The מגן אברהם (O.Ch.597) quotes from the ב"ח, that the מהרש"ל didn’t eat  fish on Rosh Hashana because he loved to eat fish, and wanted to minimize his תאוות on Rosh Hashana     Interesting הנהגות  for Rosh Hashana from the חתם סופר     1.  There is no חיוב to go to the Mikvah on ער"ה. The only time there is a חיוב (Tahara)  is on ערב ג' רגלים   2.He made התרת נדרים on עיו"כ and not on ער"ה 3. He insisted the ש"ץ say נקדש, - נעריצך at the end of the פיוט דרי מעלה עם דרי מטה otherwise you miss out the Mitzvah דאורייתא of ונקדשתי. To be מקיים the Mitzvah, the ש"ץ needs to invite the ציבור to be מקדש השם. 4.  For תשליך all he said  3x the מי קל כמוך and nothing else. 5  He was מקפיד not to eat nuts only on ר"ה and  not on the rest of עשי:ת