Reb Shea shouldered the burden of sharing the story of the great destruction of Jewish history in Europe, a mandate he received from one of the greatest tzaddikim murdered at the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rav Shulem Leizer Halberstam of Ratzfert
A desperate plea from Rav Shalom Eliezer Halberstam of Ratzfert, son of Rav Chaim of Sanz in his own handwriting and signature: “I have heard that my brother Rav Yeshaya and my son-in-law [Rav Ben Zion] of Bobov have been deported. I’m asking that you immediately inform me if this is true and what is to be done about it? Who is currently being deported?”
One day in 1985, author and Holocaust survivor Moshe Porat entered the Agudas Yisrael shul on Rechov Nordau in Haifa where he chanced upon a survivor named Shea Rosenbloom. Reb Shea was a rare survivor of the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Members of the Sonderkommando likely had the worst job in human history. Forced by the SS to oversee the actual process of mass murder, these unfortunate souls had to lead the victims through the undressing room into the gas chamber and then have them burnt in the crematorium ovens.
Reb Shea shouldered the burden of sharing the story of the great destruction of Jewish history in Europe, a mandate he received from one of the greatest tzaddikim murdered at the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rav Shulem Leizer Halberstam of Ratzfert.
One of the younger children of Rav Chaim Halberstam, the Divrei Chaim of Sanz, Rav Shulem Leizer’l settled in the town of Ratzfert (Ujfeherto), where he attracted a large following among Sanz chassidim in Hungary. Ratzfert came to be known as the Sanz of Hungary.
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