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By Avrohom Rainitz, Beis Moshiach Magazine
Photos by Yisrael Teitelbaum

The family picture of Rabbi Nissan Mangel and nearly a hundred of his descendants, with Auschwitz in the background, went viral. It was seen on dozens, maybe hundreds of Jewish websites around the world. Pictures of Jews with the infamous Auschwitz train tracks in the background aren’t rare; probably, it’s an everyday occurrence for pictures to be taken of visitors at that location. But this picture was different.

In the center of the photo stood a Chassid who was celebrating his ninetieth birthday, but in his heart stood the little ten-year-old Nissan, who went through five concentration camps and was miraculously saved. It wasn’t random visitors who stood around him; they were his descendants, each of whom is eternal proof of the great victory of the child, Nissan Mangel, over the German killing machine.

“Before I went,” said Rabbi Mangel, “I asked the Rebbe for two brachos: 1) that the trip go well and 2) that we make a kiddush Hashem. Boruch Hashem, both were fulfilled. The trip was a huge success and, most importantly, caused a worldwide kiddush Hashem. Even before I returned to New York, the picture, with the story of thanks to Hashem, was seen around the world.

“I got a call from the Ronald Reagan Museum, the largest library in the US, who asked for the picture. [Bassie Gurary of Chabad of Simi Valley presented the photo to David Trulio, president of the Reagan Foundation, during a Chanukah ceremony on Dec. 7.] The photo is now seen by millions of visitors a year! The bottom line is that the message of the trip reached millions of Jews and non-Jews.”

What was the message of the trip?

That we need to thank Hashem!

In honor of my ninetieth birthday, I knew that I had to thank Hashem for the miracles and wonders that He did for me. Although all my life I thank Hashem, I thought I needed to include all my descendants because from a child who miraculously survived, together with my wife, we have established generations of Chassidim and shluchim.

The gratitude came from the depths of my heart and I suddenly composed a niggun. I never thought I had the ability to compose a song but there, it just emerged from my heart. The words are from the pasuk, “Hodu l’Hashem ki tov, ki l’olam chasdo,” with a line in Yiddish, “Ich dank Dir HKBH far di chasadim vos Du tust mit mir (I thank You, Hashem, for the kindnesses You do for me).”

Even before their return to New York, the picture was seen all over the world.

FROM A CATTLE CAR TO WINGS OF EAGLES

Rabbi Nissan Mangel, a distinguished Chabad Chassid, rav of the Ksav Sofer shul in Crown Heights, is a sought after lecturer on Jewish topics and Chassidus, as well as the Holocaust.

He was born in Košice, Slovakia where his happy childhood ended abruptly. When he was ten, the Germans conquered Slovakia and his family was taken to the crematoria. With an angel assigned to protect him, he endured five concentration camps and lived to tell the tale.

In addition to recently visiting Auschwitz with his family, they visited holy sites in Poland with an emphasis on shuls and the burial places of Chassidic leaders that R’ Nissan is related to. His descendants, who came from New York, Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Atlanta, Montreal, and Eretz Yisrael, landed in Krakow. Their first stop was Lantzut, a city that was previously an important Chassidic center. The family visited the historic shul which was renovated after the Holocaust and after R’ Mangel spoke, the family broke out in dancing.

The next stop was Lizhensk, where the Rebbe, Reb Elimelech, author of Noam Elimelech, is buried. For the Mangel family, direct descendants of Reb Elimelech, the visit was a return to their roots. Afterward, they returned to Krakow where they visited the historic Jewish quarter and the Rema shul as well as the nearby cemetery where many great people are buried including the Emek HaMelech, a great kabbalist, and the Tosfos Yom Tov.

The next day was the momentous visit to Auschwitz. What a difference compared to over eighty years ago. Instead of arriving in a cattle car with Nazi guards who sicced their vicious dogs on the helpless Jews, the group came proudly on air conditioned buses. Instead of the cursed Dr. Mengele selecting Jews for death and life, the family walked in together with a song of thanks to Hashem.

“As I stood with my family next to one of those cattle cars, I thought of an interesting analogy. Even then, when I arrived at Auschwitz with my family, I also came with another hundred Jews, but then, the Germans cruelly stuffed us into cattle cars that could contain a maximum of forty people, and they pushed over a hundred Jews inside. Since the Jews thought they were going to a labor camp, each one took a suitcase with personal belongings. Picture the inhuman crowding. We traveled for two and a half days like this, without even stopping for restrooms. Two women died before we got to Auschwitz.

“And here I was, back with my family, and this time we were a group of over a hundred people, but what a difference, like heaven and earth. We came here on ‘the wings of eagles,’ not as people sentenced to death, but as proud Jews who came here to thank and praise G-d and to proclaim, ‘We won!’

“When we left, I etched on a barrack wall, ‘Hitler and Mengele, you are dead, and Nissan Mangel is alive!’”

Upon arrival, the entire family took a group picture near the tracks that R’ Mangel and his family traveled on to Auschwitz. The famous building at the entrance served as the backdrop for the photo which expressed the victory of a little boy over the evil empire.

During the photo shoot, the family sang the song that R’ Mangel composed with the words, “Hodu l’Hashem,” expressing his praise of Hashem who brought him to this moment.

As they walked in the camp, R’ Mangel pointed at various buildings and told his family his memories of that hell. They saw the gas chambers, the crematoria, the barracks and other places where Jews suffered and were killed al kiddush Hashem.

Along with the painful stories, the family heard about the miracles he experienced. Rays of light within the darkness.

FROM THE FURNACE AND THE LIONS’ DEN

To illustrate the enormity of the miracles he experienced, R’ Mangel said the following: Everyone knows of the great miracle in which Avrohom Avinu was saved from the fiery furnace of Kasdim. Everyone knows of the miracle in which Daniel was saved from the lions’ den. I merited, with G-d’s kindness, to both these miracles. I was saved from the furnace and from the lions’ den of Auschwitz. These two miracles occurred when I met the Angel of Death of Auschwitz.

The first encounter was soon after entering Auschwitz, when Dr. Mengele presided over the selection. He was smoking a cigar as he decided who to send to their deaths.

“I was ten, small and thin, but I said I was seventeen. Mengele laughed and said, ‘I know that you are not seventeen, only eleven, but go with your father.’ I continued with my father in the direction of those being sent to the forced labor, and not toward the crematoria.”

On this recent visit, R’ Mangel stood precisely where the selection took place and as he pointed at the place where he stood, he recited the blessing that one says in a place where a miracle occurred for them. His many descendants responded, “Boruch she’asa neis l’avinu ba’makom hazeh.”

Mivtza Tefillin in the valley of death

The second encounter with the Angel of Death occurred when he was sick and was sent to Lager F. That’s where the sick were sent and over there was also where Dr. Mengele conducted his diabolical experiments on Jewish prisoners, particularly on twins and dwarfs. As R’ Mangel tells it:

As a boy, I only knew of midgets in the goyishe circus. I never saw a Jewish midget. When they took me to Lager F, I saw about 200 Jewish midgets, with beard and peyos. Experiments were conducted to find out why they stopped growing.

There were also hundreds of sets of twins on whom he perpetrated cruel experiments. They said at the time that during the war, a million Germans died and the Nazis were afraid that after the war, they would lose their natural birthrate, so they wanted to know how twins are born in order to increase German twins.

When I got there, my fever skyrocketed and I was all red. I had a fever of 104F. According to the German rules, whoever recovered quickly, went back to work; if you didn’t, you went to the crematoria. I was there for about a week when I suddenly saw the Angel of Death coming with five or six ‘doctors,’ those who conducted experiments with him. He looked around and when he saw me, a little boy, he wondered – you’re not a twin and not a midget, what are you doing here? He asked the kapo and when the kapo said I had a fever, Mengele motioned to me to come to him.

I slept on one of the upper bunks and although I was so sick, I realized that if he saw that I was still sick, he would send me to my death. With superhuman strength, I quickly jumped from the top bunk and stood before him. He ordered the kapo to bring the bed they used for experiments, and he explained to the doctors what medical experiment he wanted to do on me. Without blinking an eye he said that if the experiment would be successful, the patient would remain paralyzed all his life; if the experiment was not successful, the patient would die in two or three days.

Hearing this piece of news, I jumped off the bed and looked right at the Angel of Death and screamed in German, “Do experiments on monkeys, not on me!” and I began to cry.

He became white. The doctors standing around him looked at the scene in shock. You have to understand that in Auschwitz he was the supreme god. The most senior officers were afraid of him. And here was a Jewish child screaming at him. He had a revolver in his belt and I was sure he would shoot at me then and there. To a German, it was easier to kill a Jew than for a Jew to kill a mosquito.

I took advantage of the moment of surprise and went back to the bunk I had been lying on before, while I continued shouting, “Do experiments on monkeys, not on me,” and crying.

Two or three minutes passed which seemed like an eternity to me, and then they left. After that, until I finally left Lager F, I was sure that any minute one of the Germans would come in and shoot me. It was only when I left Lager F that I finally breathed in relief.

THE BAAL SHEM TOV’S SAYING WHICH SAVED HIs life

The war against the Germans intensified. The Allies fought them on various fronts until they succeeded in smashing the iron German wall. The Russians began defeating the Germans on their front and slowly approached Germany. When the Germans saw their defeat was nigh, they started the infamous death marches. The camp that R’ Mangel was in was divided in two.

“I realized that the healthier people were in one line and all the rest were in the other line. I was in the wrong line. At my first opportunity, I jumped into the other line. I was sure that nobody had seen me, but one of the Ukrainian guards noticed and he beat me and returned me to the SS guard who threw me back to the wrong line. I knew this was a battle for my life and didn’t give up. I moved to the right line again and that time, nobody noticed.”

For days, they walked in the direction of Germany. They gave them no food and they had to suffice with snow they picked up off the ground. If someone found something edible, it was a reason to rejoice.

At a certain point, young Nissan felt that his strength was ebbing and he would collapse any minute. He knew that if he collapsed, those behind him would trample him, and if he left the line, the Germans would shoot him. At a certain point he thought if he was meant to die it would be better to be shot than to collapse and be trampled to death.

In the Auschwitz barracks, Rabbi Mangel shows his great-grandchildren the number which the Nazis yimach shemam engraved on his arm

Then the first miracle on his death march occurred:

The moment I decided to leave the line for my death, I suddenly saw a wondrous vision of a Friday night in my home. Around the table were many guests. My mother was serving Shabbos delicacies and my father was sitting at the head of the table with my uncle from Budapest next to him who was a fabulous singer. Both of them sang zemiros.

Every Friday night, my father would tell a Chassidic tale. In this vision, I heard my father tell the following story: One of the Chassidim of the Baal Shem Tov, who lived not far from Mezhibuzh, went to visit the tzaddik. It used to be, when they would visit the Rebbe, that they didn’t go for a day or two but for several days. This time, shortly after he arrived, the Chassid got an urgent message from his wife that she was about to give birth and he had to return home quickly.

Between Mezhibuzh and the town where he lived there was a big forest that swarmed with wild animals and robbers. Even during the day it was frightening to pass through the forest; all the more so, at night. The Chassid went to the Baal Shem Tov, told him the situation, and said he was afraid to go alone.

The Ball Shem Tov looked at him and said: A Jew is never alone!

The vision ended but the words continued to echo in my ears: A Jew is never alone!

It was so powerful, like atomic energy, that with the encouragement of these words, I was able to keep going for another two to three days. I felt as though Hashem was holding my hand and leading me step after step.

THE MAN WHO SAVED MY LIFE

After another two or three days of walking passed, my left foot began to send ever worsening messages of distress. The pain moved upward until I felt I could no longer move my left foot. Once again, I thought I could not go on and that I would surely collapse and would be trampled by those behind me. Once again, I thought it would be better to leave the line and be shot. As soon as I decided to leave the line, a young man, 22-23, came over and began talking to me.

That anyone would come over to me and start talking was already extraordinary. On the death march, people felt like they were cast off of a sinking ship and each person was grasping with all his might to a plank from the ship in the attempt to be saved. Under these circumstances, people didn’t start chatting. Each person was immersed in the attempt to save himself. Who had time or energy to talk?

But this man began walking toward me and talking. He told me a bit about himself, that he was one of the twins that Mengele experimented on. He asked my name and where I was from, and in the course of the conversation it was discovered that we came from the same city and he knew my parents.

At a certain point, I couldn’t bear the pain any longer and I said to him, “I am only eleven. You are already twenty-two and with Hashem’s help you will survive the war. Please, take note of where I leave the line so that after the war you can tell my parents where I was killed and they can bring me to a Jewish burial.”

He looked at me in horror and firmly said: No, no! Don’t do that!

I said: My left foot isn’t working and I cannot continue on this march.

He immediately declared: I will help you.

I asked: How can you help me? You also went through the horrors of Auschwitz and you are not eating now. How can you drag me?

He said: Put your arms around my neck and I will drag you.

I did as he said and that’s how I walked, day after day, hopping on my right foot, dragging my left foot, and leaning on his neck. After another few days of walking in the heavy snow, my right foot also began to stop working. I dragged myself until I could no longer continue. I told the person helping me: I thank you very much for helping me but I can’t go on. Both my legs aren’t working. I can’t go on like this!

I was so exhausted that I could barely talk. He saw that my strength had really completely given out and didn’t try to convince me to continue. Then, when I made the decision to leave the line for certain death, one of the SS came over to me and began talking to me in German. The fact that this human animal came over to me and began to talk was a wonder. In my great surprise, I answered his questions as I continued dragging my body with the help of the young man.

At a certain point, I couldn’t even continue speaking and I said to him: I cannot keep walking. Let me be.

He asked in surprise: What happened?

I said: I am starving and weak and my feet aren’t working.

What happened next seemed to me like a dream. The SS man took his canteen out of his belt, opened the cover and held it out to me, saying: Here, drink.

There was black coffee in the canteen, sweet and hot!

Chazal say that in the future, Hashem will revive the dead with the dew of resurrection. I felt this! When I drank the coffee, it spread throughout my body and gave energy to all my limbs and made me into a new man!

I drank more and more until I finished all the coffee. I gave him the empty canteen and a minute later, he disappeared. At the time, I didn’t wonder where he had gone, since I assumed he went back to his job of guarding the marchers.

Two hours later he returned with a full canteen. He spoke to me in the attempt to distract me from the march. He asked where my father studied, what work he did, and after ten minutes of talk, he gave me hot coffee to drink. When I finished the coffee, he disappeared again, and this happened every two hours.

The march was in the middle of the winter. At a certain point, we needed to cross a mountain range and as cold as it was before, it became much colder, freezing. I felt my ears freezing and was afraid that if I touched them, they would break.

The next time he appeared, I told him I was afraid for my ears. He took his military cap and put it on me. He went without a hat and I had his cap. This situation was very dangerous because if one of the German soldiers would notice what was on my head, he would be sure that I had stolen it and would shoot me. We miraculously continued without incident.

As we approached the German border, he appeared again and began talking but this time, ten minutes went by and he didn’t bring me coffee. I had gotten used to the coffee that revived me and I asked him where it was. He opened his canteen and showed me that it was empty. He no longer had where to get coffee from.

I was once again in despair and I said: If so, I’m leaving the line. Then he said the words that until today, I find it hard to believe that a German soldier said. He said: Don’t despair! I promise you that you will be saved and live after the war.

Afterward, he said that in another six kilometers we would be arriving at a German town and he would go into the first German house and bring me coffee. That didn’t really help me since I had no strength left. Then the Jewish man held me on one side and the German soldier held me on the other side and that’s how we walked the six kilometers.

When we arrived at the town, he ran to the first house as we continued marching. A few minutes later he caught up with us and gave me the coffee. This time, the coffee wasn’t sweet but it was black and hot and it gave me new strength. He said: Now, give me the hat.

I returned the hat and he disappeared. I never saw him again. Years later, I wrote about my experiences in the war and the big miracles I had. When I got to this part, about the death march and the SS man who saved my life, I wondered who that soldier was.

At that time I had already learned and read stories of Chazal about Eliyahu HaNavi who sometimes comes to save Jews in distress and I thought, maybe it was Eliyahu who had come to save a Jewish boy. On second thought, if it wasn’t Eliyahu, but a real German soldier and Hashem had changed his cruel nature to have pity on a Jew, then it was no less a miracle.

THE POWER OF TECHIYAS HA’MEISIM

Toward the end of the interview, I asked R’ Mangel how he connects the trip to Auschwitz with the main shlichus of our generation, bringing Moshiach. R’ Mangel immediately answered by saying that during his visit to Auschwitz, he conveyed an important message to his descendants that is connected to the melave malka meal and techiyas ha’meisim in the Geula shleima:

On motzoei Shabbos there is a mitzva to eat melave malka. This meal is connected with Yemos HaMoshiach as it says in sefarim that there is one bone in the body which does not benefit from other meals; only from melave malka. This bone is the luz bone and it is from this bone that Hashem will revive the dead.

It says in the Medrash Raba that Hadrianus (Hadrian), may his bones rot, asked Rabi Yehoshua ben Chananya: From where will HKBH resurrect the dead in the future? In other words, if Hashem creates new people, they aren’t the people who died, and from the wording, “techiyas ha’meisim,” it sounds like the dead himself will live, and so he was asking, how is that possible when nothing remains of him?

Rabi Yehoshua ben Chananya: From the luz of the spine, which is a small bone. It remains forever and is part of the dead body. It is from this that Hashem will form the body in techiyas ha’meisim.

He said: How do you know?

Rabi Yehoshua said: Bring it to me and I’ll show you. They ground it with a millstone and it wasn’t ground. They burned it but it wasn’t burnt. They put it in water but it did not dissolve. They put it on the anvil and banged it with a hammer. The anvil split and the hammer broke and nothing happened to the luz bone.

I was in the extermination camps, in Auschwitz etc. in which they burned millions of Jew, r’l. There was a crematorium and there were days that they burned 20,000 Jews, and even that fearsome fire could not consume the luz bone. After the war, I spoke with one of the men in the Sonderkommando (unfortunate Jews who were forced by the Nazis to work in the crematoria). He told me that in the ashes of every body there was always a small bone that did not burn!

At the time that he told this to me, I didn’t understand the significance, but some years later, when I learned this Medrash, I realized that this was the luz bone from which these millions of kedoshim will arise!

Why is it that this bone remains? It says in the holy sefarim that this bone does not benefit from the eating we do all week; only from the seuda of melave malka. Death was decreed because Adam ate from the Eitz HaDaas, and he ate on Friday (the day he was created) and not on motzoei Shabbos. It turns out that the body that took pleasure from that eating, has to die, but this bone, which did not benefit from that eating on Friday, did not have death decreed upon it.

Perhaps this is the reason that we saw that the Rebbe was particular to eat the seuda of melave malka, since it is directly connected with Techiyas HaMeisim.

The physical resurrection will take place in the future, but the spiritual resurrection, the resurrection of the Jewish people – the Rebbe started working on that with his ascendance to the Nesius and continues until the complete hisgalus, teikef u’miyad mamosh!

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