The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by Skye Dunlap A Survivor's Story: Zelig Birn, 92, tells Jonathan Kaye and 4-year-old Benny about how he made his way to America after the Holocaust. Zelig Birn commissions new kosher Torah for Congregation Am Echad Holocaust survivor dedicates contribution to his family lost in concentration camps By Mary Spicuzza Smiling from underneath the chupah, a Jewish wedding canopy, Zelig Birn wiped tears from his eyes as the procession wound through the streets of Willow Glen toward Meridian Avenue's Congregation Am Echad. Birn, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived through six concentration camps during World War II, quietly sat in his wheelchair surrounded by his loved ones. In his arms Birn cradled a beautiful Torah scroll, the books of Moses, which he is donating to the synagogue in honor of his wife and two daughters who died in the concentration camps. And as loved ones danced and sang around the canopy, Birn proudly embraced the intricately embroidered blue velvet cover enshrouding the Torah scrolls. Birn was born in Poland, where he made a living in the fabric trade until the war started. According to synagogue president Andy Hartman, Birn's knowledge of Yiddish, German, Polish and Russian, and his skill as a glazier--as well as his strong will--helped him survive the camps. Birn lived through Auschwitz, Dachau and at least four other camps before the end of World War II. His mother, five siblings, wife and two daughters died during the Holocaust, as did numerous members of his extended family. Sitting in his Willow Glen home before the procession to Am Echad, Birn's tears were a mix of joy and painful memories. "I wish my family could be here," Birn cried as musician Robert Flexer played old Yiddish folk songs. According to Hartman, Birn has dreamed about presenting the synagogue with a Torah for years. When the Torah scroll arrived four weeks ago, Hartman took it directly to Birn. "He hugged and kissed it like a new baby," Hartman said. The Torah, which took a scribe more than nine months to pen, chronicles the books of Moses, or the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch. It was written with a feather quill pen on kosher parchment, the skin of kosher animals. Rabbi Traub, who located a scribe in Israel to write the Torah scrolls and came from New York to complete the final letters of the Torah, says that the traditional ink consists of a strong blend known for its eternal staying power--which explains why writers of the Constitution consulted a Jewish scribe before choosing an ink. A few months back, many members of the synagogue worried that Birn wouldn't have the chance to fulfill his dream of donating the Torah. He suffered a heart attack this spring and was found unconscious in his home, then developed pneumonia while in the hospital. But he recovered and is as spry as ever. "He's just incredible. He has such a will," said Gaby Neuburger, one of his caretakers. "It was nothing short of a miracle that he lived through his illness." There's no question that Birn is a man of incredible will. In his Willow Glen home before the procession, it took a group effort to keep him sitting in his wheelchair. He kept jumping up to look over the Torah and hand out candy to everyone who walked past him. "He always gives candy to the children at temple," synagogue photographer Jerry Pine said. Later in the afternoon, as Rabbi Traub completed the final Hebrew letters, members of the congregation contributed donations toward the mortgage of the synagogue. By the end of the day, $14,000 had been raised, leaving only another $11,000 to be paid. This is the fourth Torah given to Congregation Am Echad, which was founded in 1977 by Rabbi Avraham Hayim Lapin (blessed memory), who moved to San Jose and helped form a more Torah-observant community. "The community loved him so much, they wouldn't let him leave," Hartman says. Thirty families made up the initial congregation, which grew to nearly 100 by the time of Lapin's death in the early '90s. Rabbi Rapael Eliyahu Lapin has followed in his father's footsteps as rabbi for Willow Glen's Orthodox congregation. Just as the day celebrated the strength of Zelig Birn, it also showed the power of the community's devotion to the Torah. Throughout Birn's hospitalization, members of the congregation took turns cooking dinner for him every night, and he was rarely alone during visiting hours. He still gets homemade meals delivered on a daily basis. As a group of men from the synagogue danced around him, it was clear that the synagogue is like an extended family bound together by faith. "I was really impressed by how unified everyone was that day," Hartman said. "We had many different people celebrating, and it was clearly the honor of the Torah that brought them together." Anyone interested in donating to Congregation Am Echad can contact Dr. Andy Hartman at 689-1602. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, November 4, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.