Branchburg triplets unite survivor with rescuer

By Sarah Morrison

August 1, 2008
 

The Jewish Federation for the Righteous is the hidden treasure of Holocaust remembrance in the area.

The organization, which is based out of New York City, dedicates itself to financially assisting non-Jews, or "righteous gentiles," who saved Jews during the Holocaust. The JFR also provides education about these acts of heroism and aims to incorporate them into regular Holocaust curriculum.

The JFR is the brainchild of Rabbi Harold Schulweis. After meeting a rescuer in the 1970's, "it occurred to him that the Jewish people have a double memory," Stanlee Stahl, a spokesman for the JFR, said. "They have a memory of evil, but they have another memory of good by remembering how not-Jewish people risked their lived to save Jews."

Schulweis felt a pressing need for Jews to obtain and retain this double memory, so he founded the organization in 1986 to express his hakarat hatov -- gratitude -- for the rescuers.

Part of the education program is a b'nai mitzvah project, where the child is paired with a righteous gentile. He learns about his "twin's" heroic actions in order to carry on their story to the next generation.

Triplets Abigail, Elliott, and Hillary Cohen, who were b'nai mitzvah on May 31 in Beth-El, Hillsborough, were paired with deaf-mute Irena Walulewicz, who, along with her mother, saved Golda Bushkanietz from the Nazis in Poland. Irena's life had already been turned upside-down by the Nazis; they killed her father, who was mayor of the town, in 1942. Therefore, when Golda came to their window in a desperate attempt for assistance, Irena and her mother knew that this was the right thing to do. They kept Golda hidden until liberation, when she was reunited with her partisan husband.

"The bar mitzvah program has kids coming all the time," Stahl said. "We have many young people that partake in the program."

The Cohen triplets did not just learn about Irena's life; they write a pamphlet about her life and heroic efforts and distributed it to younger children, to teach them about these silent righteous gentiles.

"They're just nice young people," Stahl continued. "And they're future leaders! Many religious schools have a tzedakah project, and most just do whatever they can to get it done. But these kids went above and beyond."

"Abigail, Elliott, and Hillary are sensitive children who are aware of the tragedies of the Holocaust," Laurie Cohen, the triplets' mother, said about her children's admirable efforts. "A project as massive as this involved all of their skills. It makes them feel that they're telling the story over again."

"Irena was someone who was not Jewish and she was keeping someone safe from the Holocaust," Elliott Cohen told The Jewish State. "She helped Golda. She saved her by giving her food and keeping her in the house nice and safe."

In addition to learning about Irena's life, Elliott was fascinated to meet her and Golda, who now lives in Tel Aviv and flew to New York in November at the age of 94 to reunite with Irena for the first time since the Holocaust.

"At the JFR meeting (where the Cohens, Irena, and Golda met), I did the hand-washing prayer and Abigail and Hillary did the blessing over the bread. We met Irena. She didn't speak English, so someone was a translator for her. We met Golda also. It was the first time that they met since the Holocaust. It felt pretty cool because I met someone who was a savior for someone in the Holocaust. It's cool because I met someone who is really that good that they'd save someone and they were Polish. They did something because they wanted to help."