Summary of Rabbi Israel Meir Lau's Out of the Depths

By IRB Media

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#1 I remember the first time I saw my father being beaten by the Nazis. It was in 1942, when I was five years old, and I was with my mother and brother in Piotrków, Poland. Father was standing in a crowd of Jews, men on one side, women and children on the other.

#2 The worst thing I endured during the Holocaust was not the hunger, the cold, or the beatings, but the humiliation. It is almost impossible to bare the helplessness of unjustified humiliation.

#3 The three of us melded together as one. We had to be completely silent and keep as close to Mother as possible. We had to be smuggled out under cover of darkness, as if we were part of her body.

#4 The three of us went out the door, but we were separated when one German noticed a bit more movement than expected. I was on the left side, my mother was on the right, and Shmuel was on the right side. The force of the blow hurled me and my mother into a puddle outside the synagogue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822505049

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Insights on Rabbi Israel Meir Lau's Out of the Depths

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I remember the first time I saw my father being beaten by the Nazis. It was in 1942, when I was five years old, and I was with my mother and brother in Piotrków, Poland. Father was standing in a crowd of Jews, men on one side, women and children on the other.

#2

The worst thing I endured during the Holocaust was not the hunger, the cold, or the beatings, but the humiliation. It is almost impossible to bare the helplessness of unjustified humiliation.

#3

The three of us melded together as one. We had to be completely silent and keep as close to Mother as possible. We had to be smuggled out under cover of darkness, as if we were part of her body.

#4

The three of us went out the door, but we were separated when one German noticed a bit more movement than expected. I was on the left side, my mother was on the right, and Shmuel was on the right side. The force of the blow hurled me and my mother into a puddle outside the synagogue.

#5

My father, who had always been strong as a rock, was crying. He told us that when he had found out that Shmulek was in the synagogue by himself, separated from Mother and me, he realized that his son was destined for death.

#6

I never saw Father again after that night at our house in Piotrków. My memories of him are few. According to those who knew him, my father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, was a gifted speaker.

#7

The story of my family hiding from the Nazis is similar to the story of Moses hiding from Pharaoh’s daughter. I knew what a maikeh beating was and the reason for the voracious appetites of the Nazis’ dogs, which were kept starved. I understood that I had to keep quiet until the fury subsided.

#8

The author’s mother and him hid in an attic in Piotrków, and one day, the Germans came and searched the building. The author’s mother stole an apple from another Jew, and felt guilty for the rest of her life.

#9

I had to work in the Piotrków ghetto glass factory with my brother. I was in charge of a wooden cart with iron wheels that held some sixty bottles of water. I would push the cart into the factory, which was like a furnace.

#10

I was seven and a half years old when the Nazis took my father and brother away. For the next two years, I lived in the Piotrków ghetto, working and helping to feed the other Jews there.

#11

The most vivid memories I have of the Holocaust are of dogs, boots, and trains. My mother pushed me toward Naphtali, knowing that the Germans would separate us, and that he would be able to protect me better than she could.

#12

The hardest moment for me was when I was separated from my mother. I continued to hit and scream, What have you done to me. I want to be with Mother! I was taken to a labor camp in Poland, and my brother was taken to a concentration camp.

#13

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau was the son of Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Schor, author of Minchat Shai, and one of the great responsa writers of his time. He was the rabbi of the community of Schatz in Romania, and later served in Prešov