One of the Most Powerful Songs Written about the Holocaust

by Leah Rosenberg, ISRAEL UNWIRED

This song about the Holocaust and what parents had to do to save their children is heartbreaking. But there is hope at the end.

During the Holocaust, many parents tried to save their children in whatever ways they could. They even gave them to Christian neighbors and to convents in the hopes they would be saved. They were willing to give them to Christian orphanages. What a heartbreaking and horrifying thing for parents to have to do. Separating from your children in such a way is something no parent should ever have to experience.During the Holocaust, many parents tried to save their children in whatever ways they could. They even gave them to Christian neighbors and to convents in the hopes they would be saved. They were willing to give them to Christian orphanages. What a heartbreaking and horrifying thing for parents to have to do. Separating from your children in such a way is something no parent should ever have to experience.

Sadly, many of those Jewish souls were lost to a religion that wasn’t theirs. But after the war, Rabbi Eliezer Silver from the United States and Dayan Grunfeld from England were able to save some of those precious Jewish children with the words of “Shema Yisrael.” When they entered one of the monasteries and called out Shema Yisrael, those words entered the souls of those precious Jews and reminded them of where they really belong.

Despite being taught other things, the children never forgot what their parents taught them. The English version of this song shares the powerful story in the same beautiful way.

Those special words of Shema Yisrael are some of the first words that Jewish children are taught. They say it at bed time with their mom or their dad before they even know how to pray themselves. From the time a Jewish child is a baby, he hears his parents whisper Shema Yisrael to him every single night. Those powerful words are etched into his heart and mind forever.