Ten Pairs of Tefillin Found Hidden in Ruins of Warsaw Ghetto

   Hidden in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto, where 460,00 Jews were once imprisoned, Polish construction workers recently found 10 pairs of 100-year-old tefillin, alongside weapons that were used in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which was the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II.

    The construction workers, who were in the process of clearing out old buildings to make room for new residential buildings, discovered an entrance to a bunker that was used by Chassidic bachurim, who, in spite of the Nazis, gathered together to daven and to learn.

     “The discovery of 10 pairs of tefillin in one place testifies to the Jewish lifestyle they maintained in the ghetto,” said Rabbi Avraham Krieger, the director of Shem Olam Faith, the organization that ensured, without the knowledge of the Polish authorities, that the hidden tefillin would be preserved and brought safely to Israel. “Despite the horrors and the cruel reality in which they lived, they continued to observe the customs and tradition they grew up with.”

     “The [large number] of tefillin points to the underground minyanim they succeeded in holding inside the bunker, underground and under the Nazis’ noses. The tefillin were hidden alongside weapons and hunting tools that served the Warsaw ghetto rebels, which testifies to their importance in the eyes of the Jews.”

   Emissaries of Shem Olam negotiated with the Polish construction workers to relinquish the tefillin, which recently arrived at the Shel Olam Faith and Holocaust Institute for Education, Documentation, and Research in Israel, for conservation.

Photo by: Shem Olam Faith and the Holocaust Institute.