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Among the martyrs of the holy community of Horodlo, who sanctified the name of God by their death, was the town's rabbi, my father, the great teacher, rabbi and martyr Moyshe Yehuda-Leyb HaLevy Berman (may his righteous memory be for a blessing). Most of his children and grandchildren were murdered in the same way.

The town rabbi of Horodlo (may his righteous memory be for a blessing, may God avenge his blood) and his son, Rabbi Khayim (may he live long)

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My father (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) was appointed Rabbi of Horodlo at age 23. He succeeded to the rabbinate after the death of his father-in-law, the great rabbi Yekuti'el Gelernter (may his righteous memory be for a blessing), himself the brother-in-law of the Rebbe of Radzyn, the great rabbi Gershon Khanokh-Henekh (may his righteous memory be for a blessing).^[1]

My father (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) was born in 1866, in the town of Łomazy. His father – my grandfather–was Rabbi Dovid, known among the Hasidim of Radzyn as Reb Dovidl of Łomaz; he was both a scholar and a tradesman. His adherence to Hasidism and great piety spread his fame far and wide. My father's mother, my grandmother Rokhl (peace be upon her), was renowned for her piety and fine qualities.

At the age of 15, my father became the son-in-law of the rabbi of Horodlo, the great Rabbi Yekuti'el Gelernter. He spent eight years in the Radzyn rabbi's house of study, where he sat for long hours studying religious texts. He quickly became famous for his incisive intelligence and vast knowledge of every aspect of the Torah, including its mystical secrets. He assisted the Hasidic leader of Radzyn, Rabbi Gershon-Henekh, in organizing his works.

After the death of his father-in-law, my father was elected as his replacement: the rabbi and head of the religious court of Horodlo. He took up this position with the agreement of the rabbi of Radzyn and a certificate issued by him; he also became certified, by the great Rabbi Yehoshue'le Kutner (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) as a decider on practical questions of Jewish law. This was in 1889.

Seventeen years after the wedding, his righteous wife, Madam Brokhe-Gitl, gave birth to a son – my older brother, Gershon-Henekh Berman (long may he thrive). He studied as a youth with the great Chofetz-Chayim (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) in Raduń, and now lives in Minneapolis in the United States.^[2] He is well known for his activities for the State of Israel.

After his first wife died, my father married his second wife – my mother, the righteous Madam Rivka (peace be upon her; may God avenge her blood). She was the daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Chayim Palevsky of Kobrin (may his righteous memory be for a blessing). This grandfather was the brother of

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Title page of Chok Moshe, comprising collected responsa and commentary on the Talmud, by Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Berman of Horodlo. Printed in Warsaw, 1927[3]

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Title page of Zikhru Torat Moshe, commentaries on the Torah, by Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Berman of Horodlo; also comprising Chok Moshe. Printed in Bilgoraj, 1938

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the great scholar and righteous rabbi of Kobrin, Noyekh-Naftali (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) and the grandson of Rabbi Moyshe of Kobrin (may his righteous memory be for a blessing).

Any small town in Poland could become a center of Torah learning, if the town rabbi was a remarkable scholar, and influenced the members of his community with his knowledge and piety. This was the case in Horodlo, where my father (may his righteous memory be for a blessing) constantly devoted himself to community affairs and to the cause of increasing Torah scholarship in the community.

During his time as Rabbi of Horodlo, my father wrote many sacred books, but was able to publish only four in his lifetime: Tiferet Banim (a commentary to the Mishna tractate Avot), Chok Moshe (responsa about Part 1 of Orach Chayim).^[4] The latter work comprises 34 of the 250 responsa that were in manuscript form and were lost during the years of destruction wreaked by World War II. Zikhru Torat Moshe is a commentary on the Five Books of the Torah, according to the Pardes system.^[5] Kol Yehuda provides a commentary on the letter of Rabbi Yochanan Ben-Zakkai.^[6] Of the lost manuscripts (most of which were written in Rashi script), the following were found: Lekhem Mishneh (on the Mishna); Yalkut shel nevi'im u-khetuvim selected from the Zohar, Tikunei Zohar, and selected sections of the Zohar; Chok Moshe; Darosh Darash Moshe –new interpretations of Midrash.^[7]

My mother (peace be upon her) gave birth to five children, as follows: my sister Esther (peace be upon her) was remarkably talented, but died in the bloom of youth, at age 19, on June 15, 1920 (she was engaged to the son of Yitzchok Meir Kahn of Zamość, the brother-in-law of the rabbi of Radzyn, the great scholar Mordechai Yoysef Layner – may his righteous memory be for a blessing) and buried in Hrubieszow.

My dear brother, Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Berman (may God avenge his blood, and may his memory be for a blessing), born on 18 Cheshvan 1907^[8], murdered by the German

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Nazis (may their name be blotted out), in our town of Horodlo, together with his wife and his three children: Mordechai Yosef Elazar (may God avenge his blood), David (May God avenge his blood), and Zvi Hirsh (may God avenge his blood).

I, Chaim Halevy Berman, witness to the great disaster that overtook our nation, was born on March 14, 1910. I was ordained as a rabbi by eminent Polish rabbis and scholars, and was certified by my father as a legal authority. At age 22, I married my dear gentle wife, the gifted, intelligent and God-fearing Brokhe (may God avenge her blood, and may she rest in peace), who was killed by the Nazi murderers (may their name be blotted out), in the city of Lwów.^[9] Her father was the great Rabbi Yehuda Gordon, the Rabbi of Malyniv (Volhynia), who was murdered in that town by the Nazi killers (may their names be blotted out).

My exceptional, virtuous sister, Freydl (may she rest in peace, and may God avenge her blood), born in 1922, was murdered by the Nazis along with with her husband, the great, pious God-fearing rabbi, the scholar Rabbi Dov Ber Maliniak (may God avenge his blood) from Praga, Warsaw, along with their two dear, gifted children (may God avenge their blood).^[10] My brother-in-law, Rabbi Dov-Ber Maliniak, wrote the book Mishmeret Mitzvah (Warsaw, 1932) when he was only 16. In this book, he manifested his profound knowledge and incisive thought concerning the precept of doubtful (safek) mitzvah^[11]. His teachers were two famous Talmudic scholars, Rabbi Shimen Shkop (may his righteous memory be for a blessing), head of the Grodno yeshiva, and Rabbi Menachem Zemba (may God avenge his blood, and may his righteous memory be for a blessing) of Praga, Warsaw.

My exceptional sister, my parents' youngest daughter, Chave-Chane Rochl (Rokhele) (may God avenge her blood), was murdered with her husband, the great rabbi and descendant of Rabbi Naftali (may God avenge his blood), the son of the righteous Rabbi Chaim (may God avenge his blood, may his righteous memory be for a blessing), head of the rabbinical court and legal authority of the Jewish community of Boryslaw (Galitzia), and the son-in-law of the great Rabbi of Komarno (may his righteous memory be for a blessing). Their only daughter Feygele (may God avenge her blood) was also murdered, along with her sanctified parents (may their memory be bound up in the bond of life).

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The Rabbi's Grandchild (may God avenge her blood)

We mourn our nearest and dearest, killed by the evil kingdom. They suffered the same fate as the burned Torah scrolls – the scrolls are burning but the letters fly free.^[12]

Let the collective Kaddish^[13] prayer that the survivors of Horodlo say every year to commemorate the martyrs of their town be an eternal memorial, and a call for revenge on the unspeakable murderers of our martyrs, who were killed for no reason or sin and died the death of martyrs.

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Opening page of Responsa written by the town Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Berman (may his sacred memory be for a blessing)

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A letter written by the Rabbi (may his sacred memory be for a blessing)

Translator's Footnotes

1. Radzyń-Podlaski was the home of a Hasidic dynasty, founded in the mid-19^th century. Return
2. Rabbi Yisra'el Me'ir Ha-Kohen Kagan (1838-1933) is known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim after his book on slander and other works of Jewish law. His works continue to be influential in Orthodox Jewish life. Return
3. Responsa are the body of written decisions and rulings given by deciders of Jewish law. Return
4. Orach Chayim is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha, Arba'ah Turim. The section addresses aspects of Jewish law pertinent to the Hebrew calendar. Return
5. Pardes is a Kabbalistic theory of Biblical exegesis that comprises four approaches: the literal meaning of the text, its allegorical meaning, metaphorical meaning, and hidden meaning. Return
6. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai (30-90 C.E.) was an important Jewish sage during the late Second Temple period and in the transformative era following the destruction of 70 C.E. He was a primary contributor to the Misha, the core text of Rabbinic Judaism. The letter, addressed to the Jewish community of Rome, is dated to 53 C.E. and is a polemic against Christianity. Return
7. Rashi Hebrew script is based on 15^th-century Sephardic semi-cursive handwriting. It is named for the rabbinic commentator Rashi (1040-1105), whose works are customarily printed in this typeface. Tikunei Zohar is a main text of the Kabbalah which was composed in the 14^th century and a separate appendix to the Zohar; Chok Moshe is a commentary on the entire Tikunei HaZohar, also known as the Tikunim, is a main text of the Kabbalah, which was composed in the 14^th century, and a separate appendix to the Zohar. Return
8. The Gregorian date is 26 October 1907. Return
9. Present-day Lviv, Ukraine. Return
10. Praga is a district of Warsaw. Return
11. Thereby demonstrating significant insight and a nuanced understanding of Jewish Law. Return
12. This image refers to the Talmudic legend that describes the sage Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon, who wrapped his body in Torah scrolls before being burned at the stake by the Romans; as he was dying, he called out “The scrolls are burning but the letters fly free” (Avodah Zara 18, 2). Return
13. The Kaddish is a 13^th century prayer. Kaddish means ‘sanctification’ in Aramaic and it is related to the Hebrew word Kadosh, which means ‘holy.’ The Mourner's Kaddish never mentions death or dying, but instead proclaims the greatness of God. By reciting it, mourners show that even as their faith is being tested by their loss, they are affirming God's greatness. Return

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