Wolbrom, Poland – An ancient Jewish cemetery slated for destruction has been saved by the Polish authorities.
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The graveyard, in Wolberom, near Krakow, was supposed to have a $1 million school gym built on it. But the project was moved at the end of last year to a different site after skeletons were discovered on the grounds.
Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, praised both the local authorities and the government for the decision.
“I have very positive support from the offices of both the president and the prime minister. They understand that it is wrong to desecrate any cemeteries, including those of the Jewish community.
“It is about awareness. The more we engage and explain, the more national and local government respond positively, though there are still people and places that are very tough.”
According to Rabbi Schudrich, a number of old Jewish cemeteries have been discovered in recent years, as more land is being developed because of a rise in land prices since the fall of Communism.
In Wolberom, he says, “the area council received three million zlotys (about $1 million) from the EU to build the gym next to the local school. But they uncovered three skeletons in their graves. We knew the cemetery had been fenced off in the 1980s but the boundaries were wrong and it was less than half of its real size.
“I met the local council leader and was prepared to meet the regional council leader when I got a call saying the local council decided to move the whole gym to a different site nearby.
“We had explained that these were our parents and grandparents but we were not making demonstrations, picket lines or anything like that. We sat and explained in a menschlichkeit way.”
Rabbi Shudrich is a real askan! Everything he does has the approval stamp of two very leading gedolai Yisroel, Rabbi Wosner and Rabbi Schlesinger of London.
Thanks Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the work you are doing in Poland is amazing.
Menschlichkeit is a noun, not an adjective. The word the esteemed rav wanted to use is menschliche.
A lechtige Shabbes
Rav Schudrich is a Real Mentch, I met him last summer when he visited the Satmar camp in Monticello and spoke to over 1,000 boys and explained to them the Importance of preserving Jewish cemeteries.
Why the praise for Mentchlickeit? Should anything less be expected of any rav or ben Torarh or Yid or Yidennah? Takeh, R. Shudrich is mentch and his first Yeshiva especially, deserves credit.
How can I get in touch with R. Shudrich?
My ancestors lived in Walberem.
thank you rabbi!
This is a major lesson for all the organizations that work with foreign governments, if you work in a mentchlicka way you gain a lot more, last year when there was the story about the cemetery in Toledo, Spain, there was an organization who went wild with open demonstrations and then there was another organization who went the mentchlicka way, who do you think prevailed?? of course the mentchlicka way!
You can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar.
Wolbrom, not Wolberom. There is no such place as Wolberom in Poland. The city of Wolbrom, on the other hand, had a huge Jewish presence before the Holocaust and is still on the map today.