Shal, there are a lot of those churches out there who turn their backs on people in time of need in some form or fashion. Your sharing did touch my heart regardless of what this Christian congregation did.

Here's a sharing that touched my heart this week:

March 21, 2006
Week 122, Day 2
21 Adar 5766

Hachnasat Orchim: The Story of Heinzi Blumenstein
By Shoshanna Lockshin

The mitzvah of welcoming guests--hachnasat orchim--is fundamental to Judaism. Examples of gracious hospitality are abundant in the Tanach: Abraham runs to greet three strangers and present a sumptuous meal, "My lords, if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by" (Genesis 18:3); Rebecca slakes the thirst of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, "Quickly she lowered her pitcher on her hand and let him drink" (Genesis 24:18) ; and Job maintains his righteousness, "The stranger didn't sleep in the street because I opened my doors to the traveler" (Job 31:32). The Rabbis praised the practice of hospitality, touting it as one of the good practices that can secure a reward in the world-to-come. In the Mishnah, Yosi ben Yochanan explains the importance of being hospitable to the needy: "Let your house be wide open and let the poor be members of your household" (Pirkei Avot 1:5).

Heinzi Blumenstein, who was saved from the Nazis as a child, is alive today because of the hospitality of strangers. Born in Vienna in 1935, Heinzi was only two-and-a-half when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. On November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), his family's shop was destroyed and his father and uncle were sent to Dachau concentration camp.

Heinzi's father Franz was released from Dachau upon securing a visa to leave Germany. He made his way first to Argentina and then to Cuba, where he purchased visas for the rest of the family to join him. On May 13, 1939, Heinzi, his mother and grandmother boarded the St. Louis, the ship that became the symbol of American inhospitality to Jews attempting to leave Europe. While the St. Louis sailed across the Atlantic, the Cuban government that had issued the visas was overthrown, making the documentation held by St. Louis passengers worthless. Nonetheless, the refugees hoped that the United States government would allow them into America. As we know, they were refused entry and were sent back to Europe, where many passengers were later murdered.

Although the United States failed to show hospitality to those traveling on the ill-fated ship, other countries did. England, Belgium, France and Holland opened their doors to the refugees. Heinzi and his family arrived in Holland some weeks after they had left Austria. They moved into a small apartment in Amsterdam and were supported by the Dutch Jewish community.

But their good fortune would not last for long. When the Nazis invaded Holland in May 1940, Heinzi's grandmother was taken away by the Germans; Heinzi and his mother managed to flee. [b] Heinzi was taken in by Johannes and Sjoukje Dijkstra, farmers with eight children of their own, who opened their home to him and another Jewish child, Eis Tropp. The Dijkstras risked their lives every day for more than three years. The boys were only able to leave their farm to attend the local Catholic Church, where they were unlikely to be spotted among the multitude of other children. Sometimes Heinzi even served as an altar boy, stiffly smiling as he passed the Nazis in uniform who also attended the parish church. The Dijkstras never attempted to convert Heinzi and Eis; they took them to church because it was one of the only opportunities for the boys to leave their hiding places. [/b]

After the war ended in 1945, Franz Blumenstein conducted a desperate search for his family and found out that only his son Heinzi survived. Johannes and Sjoukje Dijkstra accompanied Heinzi to Rotterdam, where he boarded a ship to New York to be with his father. Heinzi was never to see his loving Dutch "parents" again.

In America, Heinzi became Henry and studied to become a social worker. He and Eis were reunited; years later, they told Yad Vashem about the family that had saved their lives. In 1982, three of the Dijkstra children joined Henry and Eis in Israel to plant a tree on Yad Vashem's Avenue of the Righteous in honor of their parents. Henry was proud that the names of Johannes and Sjoukje Dijkstra were alongside other Righteous Among the Nations, including Miep Gies, Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg.

[b]Henry will always remember that in the middle of a devastating war, when the only certainties were hunger and deprivation, the Dijkstra family accepted two seven-year-old boys into their home and nurtured them. They said that they "did what was right" and they "did what was their duty," guided by their indomitable faith and courage.[/b] This impresses upon us the truth of the rabbinic saying: "Hospitality to strangers--hachnasat orchim--is greater than welcoming the Divine Presence."

You can learn more about Henry and the Dijkstras in Finding Family, produced by The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education and WKRC-TV, Cincinnati. This documentary film, which received a regional Emmy Award, follows Henry on his 2002 trip to the Dijkstra family reunion in the Netherlands. There he told his story to the descendants of Johannes and Sjoukje, most of whom knew nothing about their relatives' heroism. Finding Family and its educational guide tell the story of closed doors and open arms, showing that the true significance of the human family is its ability to widen its circle. To order, contact The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education.

Shoshanna Lockshin is Research and Development Manager at The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education at HUC-JIR, Cincinnati.

The Center is dedicated to education, teacher and clergy training, advocacy, research, and program development. Our core mission is to guide current and future generations in post-Holocaust challenges facing individuals and our contemporary society. The Center is uniquely positioned to teach Holocaust Studies from academic, social, and communal perspectives.

For more information, visit the Center for Holocaust and Humanity web site www.holocaustandhumanity.org/
or write us by clicking here. {chhe@huc.edu}

10 Minutes of Torah is produced by the Union for Reform Judaism - Department of Lifelong Jewish Learning and the Center for Holocaust and Humanity. Visit our Web site for more information. 2006