were fit to work, while everyone they knew
and loved were murdered.
Her mother, the first cousin of Elie Wiesel, was taken together with Wiesel on the
train to Auschwitz. When she arrived
there, the infamous Dr Joseph Mengele
was selecting life and death, choosing
whether arrivals went to the left – the crematorium; or right – to the work camps.
Rebbetzin Vigler’s mother was sent to the
left to certain death, but her sister had iceblue eyes, and because of this, Mengele
spared her, sending her sister to the right.
A few agonising hours later, Mengele
walked past and found her sister sobbing,
utterly devastated. He approached her and
asked why a girl as beautiful as she with
eyes like hers was so sad. When she told
him that her sister had been sent to the
left, he himself went to the lines of the
walking dead to pull her out so that she
could cheer up her sister with the beautiful
eyes. She never fully disclosed to her family the extent of her life in the camps, under Joseph Mengele.
After the war, Rebbetzin Vigler’s parents went back to their hometown where
they tried to restore their lives. They met
there and got married, and some years
later went on aliyah.
IT IS ALMOST NO WONDER THAT A DESCENDANT OF HIS,
RABBI VIGLER, WOULD END UP WITH REBBETZIN
HADASSAH VIGLER, WHOSE PARENTS, BOTH HOLOCAUST
SURVIVORS, ALSO BRAVED THE WORST KIND OF EVIL.
So, what makes people survive,
through hardship and pain of this magnitude, I asked Rabbi Vigler. He explained
to me that all of Jewish history is about
our survival from persecution, overcoming our struggles. We are Jewish, we have
Hashem behind us, and we owe it to the
next generation of Jews who will come after us to survive, because we will never
cease to be. And, Baruch Hashem, the
many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that came from the Vigler’s parents
is testimony to that.
We will always find a way out of our
personal bonds, our national slavery, to
an exodus that is powerful and miraculous, and thrive. That is the nature of the
Jew. That is Jewish life. And there will always be tales of these miracles, tales of
this survival, to tell, to learn from and
grow from. I’m so privileged that I have
had the honour of telling you this one.
Let me know what you think, and maybe I
can tell your story. JL
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