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There were few Jewish leaders, political or spiritual, who tightly bonded with their people. They shared joys, troubles, and the difficult era of the war with their people. One of them was Rabbi Dr. Alexandru Şafran, Shlita^[1], who is currently the Chief Rabbi of the Jews in Geneva. Among Romanian Jews and the Jewish people as a whole, he is one of the personalities who stand out in their charismatic activities.

In 1940 when Rabbi Dr. Alexandru Şafran was only 29 years old, he was chosen as the Chief Rabbi of

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Romanian Jewry. He served in the days of the terrible storm that annihilated tens of millions of people. In his eight years of service – from 1940 until the end of 1947 – the most difficult events occurred which harmed the Jewry of central and eastern Europe. Millions of Jews, men, women, and children were killed and their traces disappeared. Hundreds of years of culture and tradition almost went completely extinct.

In the era of the Holocaust a part of the Jewish community in Romania was saved. Half of the Jewish population was lost in exile, in hard labor, and in extermination and extreme torture. Chief Rabbi Dr. Alexandru Şafran acted to save the Jewish people. It is due to his labor, bravery, devotion, and commitment that a large part of the Jewish population in Romania was saved.

The Holocaust era began a few months after he was chosen to serve.

At the beginning of July 1940, a pogrom was held in the city of Dorohoi, where 200 Jews found their death. A pogrom was held in Bucharest, the capital, in January 1941. By the end of June 1941, another pogrom was held in Iaşi where about 12,000 Jews were murdered. Men, women, elderly, and children found their death, some of them in the streets of the city and some in the death trains. The pogrom was carried out by the Romanian army and police, with the aid of the Germans. In those days many Jews from the area of Bessarabia and the northern provinces of Bukovina were murdered. 40,000 Jews were deported from their villages. On June 21, 1941, Romania joined the war beside Nazi Germany. By August 32 [sic], 1944 – the date of the overthrow of Antonescu's pro-Nazi regime – countless murders and crimes were committed against the Jewish people. Romanian Jewry was under the threat of extermination by Nazis for the entire duration of the war.

In this storm arose a hope for the Romanian Jews: Rabbi Dr. Alexandru Şafran. Even though he was a young man of around 30 years old! He worked hard and made an impact for the good of the Jews. With bravery he succeeded to persuade and extract promises from people close to the government that were kept for the most part. He did not hesitate to fall on his knees before the orthodox Patriarch of All Romania – the head of the Romanian church – and didn't hesitate to choose a group of people with whom he worked to save Jews in underground conditions. Supporting him was Queen Mother Elena as well as a number of Romanian public figures, who were not infected with the disease of antisemitism.

His wife helped him, who was like a character from an epic. She created a connection with key people whose aid he needed. When the war ended, his private war did not end. He was forced to open a new defense war: a war to save himself. A war against Jews who worked to establish the Communist regime, people of the “Jewish Democratic Committee.” He miraculously succeeded in saving himself at the last minute. The rabbi, his wife, his daughter, and his son were forced to leave Romania. 

Today he is the official Chief Rabbi of Geneva (Switzerland) and works in research and writing valuable books in Jewish Studies. He is included among the Jewish leaders of the world. He frequently visits the Land and works for the state of Israel. At Bar-Ilan University, a chair for the study of Kabbalah was established in his name.

Translator's footnote

1. Written in Hebrew as שליט”א, Shlita is an honorific for Rabbis that translates to “may he live many long and good days, amen ” שיחיה לאורך ימים טובים אמן Return

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Mrs. Landman, a poet who won a respectable place in Israeli poetry and the Romanian language, was born in Oneşti. She acquired a broad general education in her youth and learned to play piano and to sing, even in this field she was gifted with certain talents.

Mrs. Landman made aliyah to Israel in the year 1960 together with her family and lives in Netanya, where she resides even today. In Israel, she published her first collection of poems called “Bucurie şi Suferinþã” (“Joys and Sufferings” in Romanian).

Her poetry expresses enthusiasm and love for our people, thoughts and feelings, sorrow for our difficult past, and the great suffering that lasted with us for generations. She mentions the tragedy of the ship “Struma,” identifying with the Romanian Jews' agony [throughout their] torments during the time of the Shoah. In other poems she expresses the heroism of IDF soldiers in Israel's battles.

In another collection, “Twilight” (“Amurg” in Romanian), published in 1981 in Tel Aviv, she returns to the same topics close to her heart. She found more sources of inspiration in societal problems, faith, traditions of Israel, and Hasidism.

Devora Landman also wrote poems in the Yiddish language and sometimes also in Hebrew.

She was awarded several honors:

World Decoration of Excellence Medallion- American Biographical Centre, Cambridge, Mass.
The Certificate of Merit Commemoration Medal of Honor- American Institute Raleigh, North Carolina

Devora Landman married Rabbi David Landman from Netanya. Their daughter is Malka, a talented pianist and painter. In addition to her occupations painting and playing music, she studied in six languages: psychology, education, literature, [and] English. Devora Landman is a public activist in Netanya.

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