The Piaseczner Rebbe’s seventh and final sefer is a collection of his Shabbat divrei Torah delivered between Sep 1939 on Rosh HaShana, after Germany invaded Poland, through July 1942, Shabbat Hazon, the Shabbat prior to Tishe B’Av, and directly prior to the mass deportations to the Treblinka concentration camp. No sermons were recorded after this.
Yiscah writes:
Shortly before the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April 1943, the Piaseczner was deported to the Trawniki concentration camp. On 03 NOV 1943, the Jews incarcerated in Trawniki, including the Piaseczner, were rounded up and suffered martyrdom by being shot en masse. While the Rebbe’s soul ascended in holy fire, his manuscripts remained safely entombed, awaiting their discovery seven years later. This final sefer of his, this incredible collection of his Shabbat afternoon sermons, was originally titled Torah from the Years of Wrath. When they were published in 1960 it was under the Hebrew title Aish Kodesh – The Sacred Fire. Hence, the Rebbe is also referred to as the Aish Kodesh.
In this session, I will be sharing some very moving excerpts from a recent publication titled, Torah from the Years of Wrath 1939-1943: The Historical Context of The Aish Kodesh, by Dr. Henry Abramson, Dean at the Avenue J campus of Touro College in Brooklyn. This comprehensive historical study was published in October 2017.
I am also planning on sharing some of the Piaseczner’s final recorded teaching in Aish Kodesh, delivered on Shabbat Hazon, 18 JUL 1942.
I remain incredibly grateful, Baruch HaShem, for the opportunity to help frame, through a spiritual lens, where in fact you are merited to visit on your first stop in Poland.
When a student learns the teachings of a tzadik, his lips murmur in the grave (Y’vamot 67a).
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