How the Miracle Came About

In Bochnia the Rebbe met Rav Shloma Strauch, a chossid of Bobov, who explained what lay behind the miracle. Rav Shloma had cultivated friendships with several Polish policemen, and these had become connections through which he rescued many Jews. One of them reached even the deputy commander of the Bochnia Gestapo.

By an act of Hashgacha Pratis, Rav Shloma was in the room when a call came to the deputy from Neumark asking for information about the Rabbiner Shlomo Halberstam. Rav Shloma was alarmed at once. He said to the deputy: “That is our Rebbe. Tell them he is a resident of Bochnia and should be sent here.”

Looking back it sounds simple, but it took remarkable courage to press the German in this way. The official could easily have solved the threat by killing Rav Shloma, and no one would have asked a question. What was a Jew's life worth to a German officer? But a miracle happened. Rav Shloma steered the officer to the telephone, and the deputy lifted the receiver and said that Halberstam and his son were Hungarian citizens who had permits to travel to Neumark, and asked that they be released and sent back to Bochnia.

Rav Shloma Strauch thanked the official many times and apologized for his boldness.