We are sharing a column by Rabbi David Berman from the Scientific and Research Department of the Warsaw Ghetto University, published in the November edition of the monthly Słowo Żydowskie on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the closing of the borders of the Warsaw Ghetto.
December 1, 2020
The fact that Jews defined as "religious" or "traditional," in the broad sense of the words, were not a group cut off from the rest of Warsaw's Jewish community, but rather a vital, integral part of it, is often forgotten or downplayed. Daily prayer, study, and kosher eating were as ordinary for many as working and sleeping—just part of the daily routine. This was Yiddishkeit, the Jewish way of life, its essence. The calendar was dominated by Shabbos and Jewish holidays, regardless of whether one strictly observed Jewish law or not. Yiddish was the language of everyday conversation for Warsaw Jews. Occasional Jewish political initiatives, cultural and social movements, and their significance can only be fully understood in the context of the traditional way of life that preceded them for centuries.
The establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto thus posed a unique challenge for the religious Jews who found themselves there. As the occupation deepened and the resulting deterioration of the situation in the city, it became increasingly difficult to openly observe Jewish traditions. This, however, does not change the fact that until the deportation in 1942, some semblance of normal life and religious activity existed, as evidenced by historical documents describing issues related to religious rites and the challenges associated with their observance and organization.
Jewish religious laws and traditions were observed, in one way or another, by a significant percentage of the ghetto population. One of the main problems was obtaining kosher meat, prepared according to the principles of Halakha, Jewish religious law. In the years preceding the war, twenty-six poultry slaughterhouses operated in Warsaw, including those at 44 Zamenhofa Street and 1 Twarda Street, and elsewhere. Additionally, kosher butchers existed in Praga, Wola, and other suburban locations. However, with the outbreak of war and the bombing of Warsaw, kosher food production declined sharply.
On October 6, 1939, the German occupiers officially banned Jewish ritual slaughter. Initially, the ban applied only to cattle, but the shochetim (poultry butchers) had serious concerns about continuing their business. However, they were not afraid of the Germans, who knew neither the location of the slaughterhouses nor the identities of the traders, but of the possibility that the local police would report their activities to the occupation authorities. An organized bribery system was thus established, involving bribes paid to police district chiefs. These bribes consumed a huge portion of the slaughterhouses' income, sometimes reaching as much as 70 or 80 percent. The butchers also masked their activities with signs reading "non-ritual" on the slaughterhouse walls and various tools used in non-kosher establishments, which were placed in visible locations in case of inspection by the authorities. This situation continued throughout the winter of 1939-40, but by the summer of 1940 production had fallen to approximately one percent of its pre-war level.
With the closure of the ghetto, importing live poultry became impossible, so production ceased altogether. According to the records of Rabbi Szymon Huberband, the most orthodox residents refrained from eating poultry, the only exception being meat smuggled from outlying areas.
As with poultry, kosher beef production was also severely disrupted by wartime operations. With the arrival of German troops, such operations resumed in various locations. After the ban on ritual slaughter was announced in the German press and in the newspaper Nowy Kurier Warszawski on October 6, 1939, many shochetim officially ceased work. This work was therefore performed clandestinely by younger workers amid the ruins on Niska, Miła, and Stawki Streets, as well as Grzybowska, Waliców, and Krochmalna Streets, as well as in Praga, Wola, and other districts. Vendors hid the meat intended for sale, for example, among vegetables, and only removed it at the customer's express request. However, the certification and rigorous rabbinical oversight that had been in place before the war were abandoned, resulting in strictly religious individuals abstaining from consuming meat unless it was obtained from a reliable source. The local police learned that ritual slaughter was still being carried out in Warsaw, but were soon bribed. The officers carried shochet knives from place to place and escorted workers home after curfew, explaining, if necessary, that they were being taken to the police station. Jewish tanners worked side by side with non-Jewish tanners. Each week, approximately fifty to sixty large cattle and a similar number of small cattle were slaughtered. For safety reasons, this work was performed primarily in the evenings.
However, after the ghetto was established, cattle slaughter became impossible. In the first weeks, there were still some cattle inside the ghetto, designated for this purpose, but over time, a few individuals managed to bribe some of the guards to allow their smuggling. However, this quantity was small, prompting the butchers to organize ritual slaughter outside the ghetto and then smuggle the prepared beef to sell it to the population inside. To achieve this, however, the shochets had to be secretly removed from the ghetto, which, among other things, required them to shave their beards and disguise themselves in non-Jewish garb. However, this was not so straightforward. Typically, a shochet stayed outside the ghetto for about two weeks, living in the premises of a non-Jewish person where the slaughter took place.
Such activities were carried out in Pelcowizna, Ochota, Bródno, Malich, and other towns. The meat was then smuggled into the ghetto in trucks belonging to services such as the gas, medical, and sanitary departments. As with the police, the guards were also bribed, allowing the operation to continue unimpeded.
However, the standard of ritual slaughter offered by these shochets was unsatisfactory to strictly Orthodox Jews for various reasons. They therefore stopped purchasing meat from such sources, which led the organizers of this type of trade to abandon the idea of using shochets and begin selling meat that was kosher in name only.
In turn, kosher meat from Otwock, considered a higher standard and therefore acceptable to all, posed serious competition for Warsaw vendors. Local vendors responded by smuggling live cattle into the ghetto, which were then slaughtered and prepared specifically for strictly Orthodox individuals several times a week. A shochet caught practicing his profession could face the death penalty.
Another cornerstone of traditional Jewish observance is regular cleansing in a ritual bath known as a mikveh. Warsaw's mikvehs were forcibly closed in December 1939, under the false pretense that they were unhygienic. This posed a significant problem for religious Jews, as Jewish law requires ablutions in a mikveh before many activities.
According to Rabbi Huberband, women began traveling to towns near Warsaw, such as Otwock, Falenica, Rembertów, and Pruszków, to use the baths still available there. From 1940, train travel was banned for Jews, which made it difficult for women to observe this ritual. Therefore, they traveled in groups to Rembertów, Pruszków, and Piaseczno in horse-drawn carts. This journey took a long time, often returning only before the evening curfew. Despite these difficulties, hundreds of them arrived daily. In the summer of 1940, Rabbi Yitzhak Szapiro and Meszulam Kaminer rented bathing areas on the Vistula River for this purpose and hired women to supervise them. However, this project was relatively short-lived, as the low water temperature adversely affected health.
Ultimately, in November of that year, the ghetto was completely sealed off, effectively preventing any departures. Nevertheless, the owners of the mikvahs at 1 and 14 Grzybowska Streets, 38 Dzielna Street, and 22 Smocza Street managed to bribe officials and open their premises. To mitigate the risk, they used hidden entrances in neighboring buildings. The mikvahs were used by numerous people, a situation that lasted until the summer of 1941. Finally, in August 1941, the owners obtained permission from the authorities to officially reopen their mikvahs, and, what's more, an additional one was opened at 26 Franciszkańska Street. It's unclear how long these remained in use, but less than a year later, deportations of Warsaw Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp began.
In short, despite the enormous difficulties and obstacles resulting from the creation of the ghetto, Warsaw Jews put considerable effort into preserving traditions that most people would consider unnecessary. It was the profound importance of these deeply rooted practices for their Jewish identity and their Yiddishkeit that motivated them to maintain their religious activity despite the risk of penalties, including the death penalty, imposed by the oppressive decrees of the German occupiers.
David Berman
Photo: Jewish Word
