“I think Picture This is doing a masterful job at highlighting some of the challenges that come up for a newly married couple”
Thank you for your informative article regarding the second district of Vienna. You mentioned the Schiffshul, yet you failed to mention Reb Yeshaya Furst ztz”l, the rav of the Schiffshul, nor did you mention Reb Yosef Baumgarten ztz”l, the dayan of the Schiffshul. Both Reb Yeshaya Furst and Reb Yosef Baumgarten were prewar Torah luminaries. In fact, as you mentioned, one of the only remaining prewar shuls is the Schiffshul’s upstairs minyan, which was Reb Yosef Baumgarten’s minyan.
R. F.
Brooklyn
The article about Vienna brought back memories of a disgraceful period in Austria’s history. There is an attempt by today’s Austrians to hide the “sins of their forefathers.” As for Austrian Jewry, this is a new generation, a generation that didn’t know their grandparents or the events that transpired during the Holocaust.
I was an eight-year-old third-grader in March 1938 when Hitler’s armies marched through the streets, unopposed and cheered on. An invading army being given a hero’s welcome. (The term “invasion” wasn’t used; “annexation” was the permitted term.)
It was a Friday night, and we sat in dark rooms and watched our Austrian neighbors wave German flags and yell, “Heil Hitler.” Although Austria was a Catholic country, and the Catholic Church did not look favorably upon Jews, there was little anti-Semitism in our immediate surroundings.
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