Ruth Blau & Yossele (Yoseph) Schuchmacher, Part 2

B”H

I am going to describe the “Yossele Schuchmacher” case according to Ruth Blau’s book “Shomrei Ha’Ir – Guardians of the City” as well as Isser Harel’s book “Mivzah Yossele - Operation Yossele”. When Yossele Schuchmacher was kidnapped, Isser Harel happened to be the Mossad director and in 1962, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion himself ordered the Mossad to get involved and find the child Yossele. The case of the kidnapped boy surely rocked the entire nation.

Ruth Blau (formerly “Ruth ben David”) doesn’t mention too many names in her book. However, Isser Harel writes that it was the previous Neturei Karta head, Rabbi Katzenellenbogen, who asked Ruth to take Yossele abroad. Rabbi Katzenellenbogen together with Rabbi Eliyahu Meizish (who used to be very friendly with Ruth). 

It is not really clear to me whether the Rabbi's name was MEIZISH or MEISEL(S). There are different versions in the books and maybe one of the readers can contribute some information !
 

Moreover, Isser Harel writes that Yossele’s kidnapping took place with the knowledge of the former Satmarer Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum.

Please find the first part of this series HERE ! 

 Part 2

Ruth Blau wrote in her book “Shomrei Ha’Ir”:

Yossele’s grandfather, the Breslover Chassid Nachman Starkes, lived most of his life in Uman / Russia. He was a pious man and tried to protect his religious life as good as he could. This wasn’t always easy because he lived in a country where Stalin ruled. Only tiny Jewish minorities continued with their Jewish lifestyle. Most other Jews assimilated into Russian society. 

However, frum Jews like Nachman Starkes were not free in practicing their religion but Stalin threatened them. Starkes didn’t escape Stalin’s police and was sent to a prison camp in Siberia where he lost an eye, a few toes. 

Rabbi Meizish (Meises) who had asked Ruth to take Yossele abroad was, the same as Nachman Starkes, a former prisoner of the Soviet Gulag. In 1957, Miriam and Nachman Starkes moved to Jerusalem and lived together with their 19 year old son Shalom. However, the Starkes family didn’t expect the same spiritual religious fights they had fought in Russia. Now they were in the middle of Mea Shearim and, therefore the family thought that everything will change and they are free in their religion.

Three months later, Ida Schuchmacher nee Starkes and her husband moved to Israel. When they arrived, little Yossele was still suffering from a wound at his head, as a Russian child had hit him with a metal stick. 

As we learnt before, the Schuchmacher couple brought Yossele to his grandparents in Mea Shearim where he stayed for two years. Ruth Blau claims that his father Alter only came to visit Yossele twice. Nachman Starkes, on the other hand, took Yossele quite a few times to his parents in order to see them. Yossele’s older sister Sina was first brought to her grandparents in Mea Shearim but only stayed for the first six months. Afterwards her parents took her to a girl’s school in Kfar Chabad (near Rishon Le’Zion). In those days, Shalom Starkes studied in a Yeshiva in Kfar Chabad.

While the Schuchmachers were busy building themselves a life in their new country, the Starkes were also suffering from poverty. However, they were, more or less, used to it and always satisfied with their small portion. Their greatest dream was living in Israel and this had come true. Back in Russia, Alter Schuchmacher was still religious but this had changed as soon as he came to Israel. He stopped praying, going to the Synagogue, he stopped keeping Shabbat, he didn’t put on Tefillin anymore and Ida and him stopped keeping Taharat Mishpacha (the family purity laws). 

Actually this happened to many formerly religious families. Back in Eastern Europe they were frum but as soon as they settled in the Land of Israel, they stopped keeping Mitzvot. Alter Schuchmacher found a job in a factory. Ruth Blau describes Alter Schuchmacher as a weak character who finally went back to his Communist ideologies. The latter made it very hard for the Schuchmachers to adjust in the State of Israel and they were afraid of what the future would bring. In Russia, on the other hand, a Communist like Schuchmacher could make a career but not in Israel. Thus, Ida and Alter started thinking about returning to Russia. Nachman Starkes had heard about the plans of his daughter and son – in – law and was ready to protect his grandchild Yossele. Israel’s public was not very happy with Alter Schuchmacher’s plans to return to Russia. Especially in those days, every Jew who had made Aliyah and then left Israel, was seen as a traitor. 

According to Ruth, Yossele Schuchmacher was happy to see her, he was ready to leave the country and didn’t want to go back to his parents. Ruth describes herself as “extremely impressed by his pure soul”. Then, Yossele was already eight years old.

After Ruth Blau took Yossele to the US, she went to see the Satmarer Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum in Williamsburgh / New York. She saw the Rebbe sitting at his desk but she doesn’t mention in her book whether she actually spoke to him. Someone accompanying her had told her before not to mention Yossele to the Rebbe because he would be too busy with other issues. In the end, Yossele lived with the Gartner family in Brooklyn who took care of him.

It didn’t take too long until Ruth was investigated by the police. She refused to tell where Yossele is. Finally, the Mossad found Yossele in the Gartner house. His mother Ida arrived in New York in order to pick him up. The Amercian authorities refused giving out a visa to Yossele’s father Alter because he was a Communist. After arriving in Israel, Yossele underwent medical and psychological treatment. One month later, the press published a photo of the “new” Yossele: His Peyes (sidecurls) were cut off and now it was stressed that he is the son of Alter Schuchmacher the Communist. His godfather became David Ben Gurion, an atheist.

Ruth describes that Yossele was facing difficulties in getting used to his new environment. He was nervous but, as soon as he saw his grandfather, his eyes started to shine. 

Ruth Blau writes that, at the same time the State of Israel was accusing her of “kidnapping”, the Israeli government kidnapped Moroccan children. The Jewish parents in Morocco were told that there children would be taken to Israel for a few weeks. Just on vacation but they never returned. 

As we all know, Sepharadim in those days were much much more religious than Ashkenazim and what the Ben Gurion government did was placing the Moroccan children into secular Kibbutzim where the Tefillin were taken from them. The children didn’t receive kosher food and were told that they don’t need to keep Shabbat anymore.

As a matter of fact, this wasn’t the first time the secular government acted this way. After the Holocaust and even before the official foundation of the State of Israel, religious Jewish children from East Europe were brought to Israel and put into secular Kibbutzim. None of the leading Zionist figures took care that those children continued their religious life. On the contrary, these children were forced into secular Kibbutzim and to forget about their frum heritage. 

A very dark spot in Israel's history !

Ruth Blau (Bloi) & Yossele (Yoseph) Schuchmacher

B”H

I am going to describe the “Yossele Schuchmacher” case according to Ruth Blau’s book “Shomrei Ha’Ir – Guardians of the City” as well as Isser Harel’s book “Mivzah Yossele - Operation Yossele”. When Yossele Schuchmacher was kidnapped, Isser Harel happened to be the Mossad director and in 1962, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion himself ordered the Mossad to get involved and find the child Yossele. The case of the kidnapped boy surely rocked the entire nation.

Ruth Blau (formerly “Ruth ben David”) doesn’t mention too many names in her book. However, Isser Harel writes that it was the previous Neturei Karta head, Rabbi Katzenellenbogen, who asked Ruth to take Yossele abroad. Rabbi Katzenellenbogen together with Rabbi Eliyahu Meizish (who used to be very friendly with Ruth). 

It is not really clear to me whether the Rabbi's name was MEIZISH or MEISEL(S). There are different versions in the books and maybe one of the readers can contribute some information !

Moreover, Isser Harel writes that Yossele’s kidnapping took place with the knowledge of the former Satmarer Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum.

Isser Harel describes the background from his point of view:

In 1957, the Schuchmacher family made Aliyah to Israel from Poland. Countless other sources claim that the Schuchmachers’ actually made Aliyah from Russia. Even Ruth Blau said so. However, Isser Harel said POLAND. 

Alter and Ida Schuchmacher, together with their two children, made Aliyah. Their daughter Sina then was nine years old and their son Yossele (Yoseph) was four years old. The Jewish Agency first sent them to Nahariya; afterwards the family moved to Holon (near Tel Aviv). In those days, there was neither any “Nefesh be’Nefesh” nor received new immigrants lots of financial help. This only came into existence much later.

The Schuchmachers’ were facing a hard time getting adjusted to their new country. Thus no one was surprised that they were also in dire straits.

Only a short while before the Schuchmachers made Aliyah, Ida Schuchmacher’s parents Nachman and Miriam Starkes had moved to Israel; together with with Ida’s brother Shalom. They made Aliyah from Poland but seemed to have lived before in the Soviet Union. 

The Starkes also had an older son with the name Ovadiah. However, he had moved to England where he worked as a Shochet in a haredi community in London.

Nachman Starkes and his two sons (Shalom and Ovadiah) were very strict Haredim and members of Chassidut Breslov. The real old Breslovers and not the modern Baalei Teshuva movement we see today !

Nachman Starkes found his way to Jerusalem and settled in Mea Shearim. His son Shalom became a Yeshiva student. In the meantime, the Schuchmachers’ arrived and due to their financial difficulties, they decided to give their son Yossele to the Starkes in Mea Shearim. His sister Sina was sent to Kfar Chabad (near Rishon LeZion). After a while, Alter and Ida Schuchmacher found an apartment in Holon and also jobs. They decided to get their children back home and be a real family. Just like in the days before they came to Israel. Thus, with the beginning of the new school year of 1959, they enrolled their children in a religious school in Holon. Daughter Sina returned to her parents and afterwards, the Schuchmacher’s went to Jerusalem in order to pick up Yossele. Then, Yossele had already been six years old. 

Ida and Alter Schuchmacher were shocked when they heard that Ida’s parents, the Starked refused handing them over their son Yossele. A huge dispute arouse between them and Ida Schuchmacher tried anything in order to change the mind of her parents. Nachman Starkes claimed that Holon is a place of secular Jews and therefore, Yossele cannot receive the religious education he now is used to. Ida Schuchmacher said that the children were enrolled in religious schools but no argument helped. Starkes refused, as those religious schools belonged to the National Religious Movement. Under those conditions, Nachman Starkes was not prepared to give in and decided that young Yossele is staying where he is; in Mea Shearim. Soon after, Yossele disappeared from their home and was hidden at a different Mea Shearim location.

In January 1960, Ida and Alter Schuchmacher went to a rabbinic court in Tel Aviv but Ida’s father Nachman didn’t show up in court. Due to his weak health, so he claimed. The Schuchmachers’ didn’t know what to do and made an appeal to the Great Rabbinic Court of the State of Israel. Nachman Starkes still hid the boy and Yossele’s parents were not allowed to see him. The lawyer of the Schuchmacher family claimed that Starkes may take Yossele out of the country. Maybe to Ovadiah Starkes in London.

On February 10, 1960, Israel’s Supreme Court and the Rabbinic Court decided that Nachman Starkes must return the child Yoseph Schuchmacher to his parents until February 15. Nachman Starkes, however, refused announcing the Yossele’s whereabouts and the child was not returned. Again, the Schuchmachers’ went to the Supreme Court. This time, the court decided to get Nachman Starkes arrested. He would be in jail until he is telling where Yossele is hidden. 

Nachman Starkes rather wanted to go to jail than giving up on the boy. In the meantime, the case had turned into a public matter and the first journalists arrived in order to make interviews. Nachman Starkes told everyone that his daughter Ida and his son – in – law Alter are about to leave Israel and move to Communist Russia. This way, Starkes planned to influence even the secular world that Yossele may be in danger by moving to Russia. You have to take into consideration the times: Then Russia was the biggest enemy of the Western world and its secularism was well – known. How then could a child be brought back into such a country ?

Starkes regarded his acts as a big Mitzvah; saving Yossele from the secular world and giving him a Torah education. Nachman Starkes told everyone how much a religious Jew is suffering in secular Russia. Especially under the Communist regime. This is the reason why he himself escaped from there. He claimed that in Russia, one cannot live as a religious Jew but may be send to Siberia. The Russian themselves had tortured him when he expressed his will of leaving the country. 

The case Yoseph “Yossele” Schuchmacher became File No. 60 – 720. The police were officially searching for the child and handed out fully descriptions to the public. People who knew Nachman Starkes were asked to come in for investigation. The police department launched a special unit with the intention of checking out all acquaintances of Nachman Starkes and thus finding the place where Yossele was hidden. Furthermore, the police took influential people from haredi society to Nachman Starkes in order talk to him and convince him to release the child. Without any result.

It turned out to be extremely hard searching all the small alleyways in Mea Shearim. All the small houses and cellars. The inhabitants stuck together and were not of any help. Everyone tried to find Yossele: Cops, agents, journalists and it must have been a weird and always suspicious atmosphere in Mea Shearim. However, the Starkes made the claim that Yossele himself didn’t want to return to his parents.

On May 12, 1960, the Supreme Court decided that the police have to continue the search for Yossele. No matter what. Even with force. Sometimes it looked as if the police gave in because there were violent acts on both sides and the police wanted to avoid any violence. 

Starkes’ lawyer claimed that his client could no longer be in jail due to his bad health. The Schuchmachers’ now now also demanded the arrest of Nachman’s son Shalom because he would act while his father was imprisoned. 

In June 1960, the “Agudat Israel” Knesset member Shlomo Lorenz tried to negotiate between the Starkes and the Schuchmachers. In the meantime, Ida and Alter Schuchmacher announced that Yossele would study in a Yeshiva as soon as he was released from his hiding place. The parents even agreed to sign a letter where it says that they would not take the boy outside the country. 

On June 8, 1960, the Knesset discussed the issue how the police should act and continue the search. Many religious Knesset members, however, took the side of Nachman Starkes. For instance, Knesset member Yaakov Katz called Nachman Starkes’ intentions of saving the child “pure”. The Knesset stated that every Israeli citizen has the right to raise his child when the education doesn’t have a bad influence on the health and well – being of the child. Those groups supporting Nachman Starkes insisted on the Torah; and according to the Torah, Nachman Starkes is right. Mea Shearim considered itself as a “country within a country” and asked the police not to interfere. 

The religious Knesset member Shlomo Lorenz saw the entire affair as extremely tragic. The affair would challenge the entire Israeli society by splitting it into half. Meaning, the opinion of society was divided into those supporting the Schuchmacher family and into those supporting the Starkes family. 

Mea Shearim accused the police of violating human rights. The cops would use severe force while investigating in the neighbourhood. What does the government intend to show ? That it has more power than an old frum Jew (Nachman Starkes) and that the prime minister is higher than G – d ?

The police, on the other hand, justified themselves that they would act according to the facts. An old Jew immigrates from Russia, takes care of his grandson, then refuses to return him to his parents. Nachman Starkes would not recognize any authority but only G – d. 

The police didn’t only act in Jerusalem but also in other places. 

__________________________________

So far the description of former Mossad director Isser Harel.

Now let us continue with the details Ruth Blau gave in her book:

Rabbi Eliyahu Meizish called her up while she was visiting Israel. Ruth went to see him and the Rabbi told her about Yossele. For several months, some Haredim have been hiding an eight – year – old boy. Rabbi Meizish continued telling Ruth the background about Yossele’s parents and Nachman Starkes. Ida Schuchmacher had married a secular Jew and now she does everything he wants. The Rabbi claimed that the boy only loves his grandparents and if Ruth was willing to bring him out of the country. Furthermore, Ruth was told that this was a big Mitzvah. Ruth Blau had a hard time thinking about whether to agree and asked for some time to think it over. 

The next day, Ruth went back to the Rabbi and told him that she agrees. Rabbi Meizish told her the name of Leibl Friedman (if this is really the real name !) from Bnei Brak. He should take her to the child.

My own opinion so far:

Rabbi Meizish used Ruth HaGioret (the convert) and this doesn’t surprise me. He would have never send a born haredi Jewess from Mea Shearim but rather told Ruth, whose final goal was total acceptance of haredi society, that everything was a Mitzvah. At first, Ruth may have had her doubts but, as she says, she found a way how to get the child abroad. Nevertheless, one of her thoughts may have definitely been “What do I get out of this ? What is in for me ?" As anxious as Ruth was, she anticipated a huge step forward in her haredi life. Afterwards she may profit from total acceptance although she was a convert and maybe she would also receive a respectable Shidduch.

There are times when born Haredim avoid getting involved into something but send out a convert and tell him about the great importance of the issue. Or to give it a name: “Exploitation”. 

Nevertheless, I do see the point of the parents and I do see the point of the Starkes family. It is not an easy decision; especially when you consider that years before, the State of Israel (or then even Palestine) had rescued little frum children from the Shoah, brought them to Israel and put them into secular Kibbutzim. A huge important but, unfortunately, forgotten subject I am going to write about these days !

TO BE CONTINUED !

Ruth Blau - רות בלויא, Part 3

B"H

Ruth Blau (Bloi) was the second wife of the formerly well - known head of Jerusalem's Neturei Karta, Rabbi Amram Blau. Most facts about the two are already known but now I got hold of Ruth's autobiography published in 1979 (in Hebrew). The French original version of the book is called "Les Guardiens de la Cite" and the Hebrew translation is named "Shomrei Ha'Ir - שומרי העיר".

This is the second part of me putting together the content of Ruth's book. 

The first part you can read HERE and the second part is HERE !

There are people in Mea Shearim who have never liked Ruth Blau:

“She should have been satisfied with the great Zaddik, Rabbi Amram Blau, marrying her and not ambitiously searched for her own fame. The only thing she was after was becoming famous”.

I was even told that Ruth Blau didn’t have a sign with her name on her door. Instead she had a kind of sticker saying “The woman who is not a Zionist”. 

Ruth Blau wrote in her biography “Shomrei Ha’Ir”:

After her first visit to Mea Shearim accompanied by secular friends, she decided to return and have a closer look at the ultra – Orthodox neighbourhood. Why would people dress like that and why did they decide to live in such poverty ?

She came to the conclusion that in Mea Shearim, the Jews stressed their inner being and not a materialistic outside façade. Here the Jews lived their religion and didn’t only care about founding a state where anti – Semitism doesn’t exist. 

She claims that she already knew Yiddish back in Paris (in 1952). Only the Polish way of Yiddish but Yiddish. After her conversion, her community (not an Orthodox one) refused to recognize her as a Jew with all rights. In the meantime, Ruth Blau was accused of not paying customs (due to an incident taking place at her job) and was put in jail for two months. After she was released, she went to an Orthodox Rabbi in order to convert her and her son Uriel. The Rabbi converted her and Ruth and her son were accepted into the community (1951). 

Last Shabbat, someone living in Mea Shearim told me that Ruth Blau walked around in Paris, going to several famous Rabbis and asked them to marry her. Well – known Rabbis who were single. Probably widowers. Ruth Blau herself describes such one incident in her book. She did ask a Rabbi to marry her. She also claims that she and this particular Rabbi decided not to get married.

She sent Uriel to a Kibbutz school in Yavne (Israel). 

A Rabbi she knew told her about Yossele Schuchmacher and asked her if she could bring him out of the country. Rabbi Nachman Straks had lived most of his life in Uman before he moved to Mea Shearim. In 1957, Rabbi Straks, his wife Miriam and their son Shalom (then 19 years old) sat together and came to the conclusion that even in Mea Shearim, the spiritual war continues. 

Three months after they moved to Israel, their daughter Ida made Aliyah together with her husband Alter Schuchmacher and their two children. Their daughter Sina was then nine years old and Yossele was four years old. The former head of the Mossad, Isser Harel, reported the age of the children in his book “Mivzah Yossele”. However, Ruth Blau writes that Sina was ten years old and Yossele was five years old.

Ruth Blau continues in her book:

Ida and Alter Schuchmacher decided to give young Yossele to her parents Miriam and Rabbi Nachman Straks who then lived in Mea Shearim. Ruth claims that Yossele lived in Mea Shearim for two years and the his parents, Ida and Alter Schuchmacher, hardly ever came to visit their son. Alter, for instance, had only shown up twice. Rabbi Nachman Straks, however, took Yossele for many visits to his parents. Sina, on the other hand, only stayed in Mea Shearim for six months. Her grandparents were worried about her education and sent her to a girls’ school in Kfar Chabad. 

In Russia, Ida and Alter Schuchmacher had been religious Jews. They ate kosher, Alter put on Tefillin and prayed three times a day. However, as soon as the couple arrived in the “Zionist” State of Israel, they became secular. No more Synagogue, no prayers and no Tefillin. They also stopped keeping Shabbat and the family purity laws (Taharat HaMishpacha). 
___________________________________

In addition to Ruth Blau’s opinion regarding the “Yossele Case” I am going to mention how the Mossad, in particular its former head, Isser Harel, considered the case.

Ruth Blau ended up taking the kidnapped Yossele Schuchmacher out of Israel and she later brought him to New York where he was discovered by the Mossad and was returned to his biological parents Ida and Alter Schuchmacher.

The kidnapping of Yossele Schuchmacher (1959 / 1960) shocked the Israeli nation and even David Ben Gurion interfered. He asked the Mossad, in particular Isser Harel, to find the child and return the little boy to his parents.

“Yossele Schuchmacher” has been living a secular lifestyle since he returned to his parents. He went to the army and is still secular today. Israel’s Haredim rememberhim until today and, from time to time, Yossele appears in gossip section of haredi Internet sites.


Further Link:


The secret life of Ruth Blau

The secret life of RUTH BLAU

By Rachel Ginsberg

It looks like the author Rachel Ginsberg did a good job analyzing the former Neturei Karta head, Rabbi Amram Blau, as well as his later wife (he married her in 1965), the French convert Ruth Ben - David. Ruth passed away at the age of 80 in 2000.

Ruth had a son called CLAUDE whose name was changed into Uriel after the conversion to Judaism.

Indeed, I did not know that !

Even before Ruth Ben - David became famous due to the marriage with Rabbi Blau, she already had a reputation. For the State of Israel, not really the best, as she took the famous child Yossele Schuchmacher to the US. Yossele was "kidnapped" by his grandparents (Breslover Chassidim from Mea Shearim) because his parents wanted to live secular. The "Yossele case" was extremely famous in Israel in the 50ies.

There is a book written in Hebrew about the case. However, it was written by a former Mossad head, Isser Harel, and you can imagine that it mostly gives you a one - sided opinion.

The Wikipedia calls Yossele's last name "Schumacher" which is a mistake ! His real family name was "SCHUCHMACHER" !