JEWISH WORLD

By RAFAEL MEDOFF I n an era that has seen more than 400,000 people take part in a Women’s March on Washington, it may not sound very impressive that 400 rabbis marched in the nation’s capital in 1943. But numbers alone don’t always tell the whole story. We recently marked the 75th anniversary of the rabbis’ march, which took place three days before Yom Kippur. The ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are among the most hectic periods for a pulpit rabbi, who has major ser- mons to prepare and countless logistics to arrange for the most well-attended services of the year. So there was no small inconven- ience involved for the rabbis who in the autumn of 1943 answered the call of the political action commit- tee known as the Bergson Group and the Orthodox rescue advocates of the Va’ad ha-Hatzala, to come to Washington to plead for the rescue of Europe’s Jews. And their journey likely was made more than a little jittery by the fact that just one month earlier, a new high-speed train on its way from New York City to Washington, DC had derailed, killing 79 passengers. Nevertheless, more than four hundred rabbis put down their books, left their communities and congregations, and headed for Washington. Most came from the New York City area, but others traveled from as far away as Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Worcester, Massachusetts. As the station master shouted, “Clear the way for those rabbis!,” the protesters emerged from Washington, DC’s Union Station and made their way toward the cluster of buildings known as the Capitol. It was not only their numbers, but also their stature, that was noteworthy. The marchers were led by Rabbis Eliezer Silver and Yisroel Rosenberg, co- presidents of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis. There were notable has- idic rebbes, such as the Boyaner Rebbe, Rabbi Shlomo Friedman, and the Melitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchok Horo- witz. And there were a number of younger rab- bis who would soon be- come leaders of their generation, in particular Moshe Feinstein and Joseph B. Soloveitchik. A columnist for the Yiddish-language newspaper Der Tog (The Day) was impressed by the reaction of passers-by. As the rabbis in their “long silk and The Day The Rabbis Marched Remembering the Holocaust Protest March on the 75th anniversary continued on page 20 More than four hundred rabbis put down their books, left their communities and congregations, and headed for Washington. JEWISH WORLD • SEPTEMBER 14-20, 2018 11 Four hundred rabbis marched in the nation’s capital in 1943 to plead for the rescue of Europe’s Jews. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK