An Agent in the Flesch

“It’s Shabbos Chanukah,” she responded. “And the Rabbiner will speak about the significance of this day”

Title: An Angel in the Flesch

Location: Vienna, Austria

Document: PR Material from Bais Yaakov Office in Vienna

Time: Chanukah 1914

ON 9 Av 1914, the Great War broke out, and not long after that, we were forced to leave Krakow; it was this move that led to what is now called Bais Yaakov. Along with many other refugees from Krakow, we settled in the great city of Vienna.… There was an Orthodox synagogue on Stumpergasse. Yes, that synagogue was the cradle of the movement that is now so popular — Bais Yaakov…

It was that same Shabbos morning, I think, that I first went to the Stumpergasse synagogue to pray. Before the Torah reading, I saw the Rabbiner appear at the pulpit. That was new for me.

“What’s going on?” I asked a woman sitting near me.

“It’s Shabbos Chanukah,” she responded. “And the Rabbiner will speak about the significance of this day.”