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Mostly Cloudy Telling a survivor’s tale
When Rabbi Simcha Shafran was 14- years-old, he left his parents in Poland when World War II broke out to go to a yeshiva and never saw them again.
Shafran and his son, Rabbi Avi Shafran, told the tale of how Shafran survived during World War II at Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi in Cedarhurst on the 72nd anniversary of Kristallnacht (Nov. 9), known as the “night of broken glass,” when violence erupted against German-Jews with a series of attacks in Germany and parts of Austria, setting the stage for the Holocaust to come.
Avi and his father wrote a book titled “Fire, Ice and Air,” that tells about the miracles that led to Shafran’s survival.
Shafran’s first miracle was that if had listened to his parents and not gone to yeshiva, he might not have gotten out of Poland alive.
Next, German soldiers put him on a wagon where he was sent to a desolate village in Siberia and if not for that, he may have been killed in Poland. While in Siberia, Shafran became very sick with a high fever due to the severely cold temperatures.
Shafran escaped from the village on a horse and sled. After he fell asleep on the sled, he awoke in a hospital where he was treated. He came to the U.S. and Ellis Island after the war was over; finally out of Europe.
Sara Yagudaev, a Far Rockaway resident, heard Shafran speak and asked him how he viewed life after he came to America and had everything.
“He (Shafran) said at first it was difficult especially when he turned on the showers because he thought about the concentration camps,” she said. “But he said it eventually got easier and he overcame it.”
Another audience member found Shafran’s story very inspiring, to the point where he could not relate to the story and found it amazing how Shafran persevered and pushed himself to survive.
When asked if he would ever go back and visit Poland, Shafran was quick to say no. “Many people want to go back and visit the country’s they were born in,” Shafran said. “But I would never want to step foot on Polish ground because it’s soaked with Jewish blood.”
