By Dovid Zaklikowski for COLlive and Hasidic Archives
Living in Samarkand, in 1946, Pinchas Sudak decided that it was time take his family out of the Soviet Union. The journey would take them back along the path they had traveled not long before, through cities and countries still wracked by the chaos and brutality of war. Memories of this tumultuous, dangerous journey to freedom remained etched in the hearts of the Sudak children throughout their lives.
Before they left, Pinchas converted the family’s assets into diamonds worth some 2 million rubles. Fearing thieves, he had the children’s shoes made with a double sole, where he hid the diamonds. The children were told that if, G-d forbid, they were separated from the family, they would have the diamonds to exchange for money.
When the family arrived in Lviv, Ukraine, they travelled to Lodz, and then to Krakow.
In Krakow, a Polish Jew offered to sell a Torah to Pinchas. Knowing that they were still very far from their final destination, Pinchas thought that it would be good to have a Torah to read from during their journey. He used a large amount of diamonds to purchase the Torah and build a box in which to carry it.
The groups of Jewish refugees made their way towards Czechoslovakia. When they reached the border, they were given strict guidelines on how to cross the forest: Leave your baskets and suitcases behind, they were told. Only take your most precious items. Since they were walking through the forest at night, everyone would need to hold onto a rope and be as quiet as possible.
They crossed the border successfully and were waiting just outside of Prague for their next guide, when three Czech officers discovered one of the groups hiding in a barn. The Jews begged for mercy, but the officers showed no sympathy, killing several of the men on the spot. When two of the women begged to be spared, pointing to the fact that they were pregnant, and the officers shot them in their stomachs. Both fell in a pool of blood.
The officers left, and the other Lubavitchers, Pinchas among them, came to assess the situation.
One of the two women was still alive. Pinchas took the box with the Torah in it, and with tears in his eyes, gave it one last hug and kiss. Asking the Torah’s forgiveness, he placed it against a tree in the woods.
He then lifted the woman and carried her for many hours until they reached their next destination. The woman survived, and miraculously the bullet missed the womb and the child was born healthy.
Find Hasidic Archives latest books on HasidicArchives.com Judaism in a Nutshell and The Edifice: Dating, Marriage and an Everlasting Home, also available on Amazon Prime.
There is a Part 2 to the story – the Torah was found by another yid. One day pinchus’s daughter met a woman in California. This woman related how her father found this Torah in the forest. The Torah came full circle. Don’t know all detail. Ask family members of Suddak, Schochet, Bohomylsky.
thus in fact was reseaeched and it is not true…
There is an ending to the story. Another frum family was traveling along the same path to freedom. It was in the middle of the night, extremely dark, and suddenly the father of the family realized that his youngest daughter had disappeared. Groping in the darkness, he felt a form on the ground, it was his daughter and she had fallen asleep leaning against a small box. The man felt inside and upon realizing it was a small Torah, picked up the treasure and took it with his family to safety. They eventually made it to Israel where R’ Pinchas… Read more »
This is not the first story I’ve heard of how Pinchas Sudak made huge sacrifices for other Yidden in Russia, as well as along his travels during the war years, and even later in Eretz Yisroel where he struggled financially for many years. When he left his fortune behind in Russia, people questioned the wisdom of his decision. His answer was that he wasn’t doing it for his children- he had hired the best teachers to ensure their frumkeit. But he was doing it for his grandchildren and great grandchildren. His 3 children Batsheva Schochet, Nachman Sudak and Bracha Bogomilsky… Read more »
It is so important to read the stories of the past so we know where we come from, and the mesiras nefesh we must have for another fellow jew