A Scrap of Holiness in the Depths of a Death Camp: A Grandfather’s Survival Story Revealed for the First Time
A second-generation survivor shares a stunning, never-before-told story of how a single verse from the Torah prevented a tragedy and preserved a family line.
Dr. Sinai Ha'israeli, a resident of Har Bracha, recently shared a deeply personal testimony regarding his late father rav Aharon sharfer zt"l survival during the Holocaust. This overwhelming story, which his father shared with him exclusively, highlights the thin line between despair and the will to live and survive by the Power of Faith.
"My father, of blessed memory, shared many things with me that I believe I was the only person he told throughout his life," Dr. Ha'israeli said. "He once lectured about it when I was a teacher, but he was so spiritually paralyzed and shaken for days afterward that my mother forbade him from speaking about his Holocaust memories in schools ever again."
The Choice at the Electric Fence
One specific story stood out, one so extraordinary that Dr. Ha'israeli admits he would struggle to believe it if it had not come from his own father. "The Rambam says there is a presumption that a man does not lie to his son, so I believe it. The entire Holocaust is a fictional-sounding story that is nearly impossible to contain."
The event took place at the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where his father had been sent after enduring various labor camps. By that point, his father had become a "Muselmann" - a term for prisoners so emaciated and exhausted they had lost the will to live.
"He told himself, 'I am going to the fence, I will put myself on the electric wire and end my life,'" Dr. Ha'israeli recounted. "He simply could not process the suffering anymore. On his way to the fence, he thought to himself, 'Before I go to die, I should go to the latrine.' He knew that the 5,000 volts of electricity would cause his body to lose control of its functions, and he did not want his friends to have to scrape his remains off the fence in that state."
A Divine Encounter in the Latrine
While in the latrine, his father searched for a scrap of paper to use. He found a small piece of parchment among the filth. As he looked at it, he realized it was not ordinary paper.
"It was a fragment containing the verse: 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' He looked at it, read the words, and was struck by a total shock. In that moment, he decided he would not take his own life."
Upon hearing the story, Dr. Ha'israeli told his father, "How lucky it is that you found that paper, otherwise I would not be here today." He describes it as a breathtaking example of faith, where a desperate wish to end a life was unanswered because of a sudden, holy reminder. "This story has stayed with me my entire life," he concluded.
Dr. Sinai Ha'israeli shraed this story today, for the first time ever, with his nephew, Ariel Sharfer, who brings this testimony forward as a family legacy to honor the memory of the Holocaust.