“Rebbe, do you recognize me?” asked a young man. He had come especially to Bnei Brak to greet his benefactor who had arrived for a visit in Israel. “I was one of the children who had escaped from the Nazi hell of Poland and found refuge in your house in Czernowitz.”
“Do you remember me,“ said another. “I was among those who you took into your home after we came back from Transistria.”
“And I was one of the orphans of Jassy,” whispered a young woman who held a child by her hand. “I will never forget the day you brought us to Bucharest and gave us the first real meal we had in many weeks.”
He remembered them all. These and the many, many others to whom he had been a father and a teacher. He gave them love at a time when the world was filled with hatred. He gave them a home, when their homes were destroyed. He was a father to them when their parents were deported and massacred. He was neither a rich nor a mighty man. Feeble and poor, he was one of the millions of persecuted in Europe. Yet, it was his heart which felt for his suffering brethren, which made him defy dangers and bridge unsurmountable difficulties to bring them help and consolation.
He remembered them all. How could he have forgotten them? Were they not his children? He shared with them his home and bread. He toiled for them day and night. With his feeble body , he shielded their young and innocent lives from the storms of our time.
Rabbi Eliezer Zishu Portual was a young man, when after the death of his father, he was elected to fill his place in the small town of Sekulen in Bessarabia. He devoted all his energies to the guidance of his community, but devoted special attention to the education of the young. The Jewish school he directed became known for its standard and discipline.
Before long his great devotion to the young, and his exceptional educational capabilities, became known all over Rumania. In the beginning of the 1930s, the large community of Czernowitz invited him to become a member of the city’s rabbinate and to take charge of religious education. He fulfilled admirably this great and responsible task. Teachers and pupils revered him. People said that he had studied modern methods of pedagogy. But this was not true. All his life he has been enveloped in the study of the Torah and of the Torah only. It was his great love for children which made him a great educator.
The Jewish community of Czernowitz was proud of the Sekulener Rav. Yet neither its leaders nor its members knew to the full, the great love and compassion which dwelt in the heart of Rabbi Zisha until the advent of the grave days of trial and tribulation.
It was in the summer and autumn of 1941. In neighboring Eastern Galicia newly occupied by the Germans during their drive into Russia, Jews were herded into ghettoes and massacred. Small groups of Jews, who escaped the German murderers, trickled into Bukovina. Rumanian Jews, handicapped by severe discriminatory legislation and themselves the victims of wild anti-Semitic agitation and terror, offered what help they could. Rabbi Portugal played a leading part in providing food and shelter for the refugees. The adult fugitives presented a lesser problem. After a temporary stay in Bukovina, they would move further into Old Rumania, where they tried to accommodate themselves. But the children, who arrived naked and starving, with terror and fear in their eyes, needed more than temporary aid. They needed parents to soothe their pain and sorrow. They needed teachers to guide them on their way in life. The Sekulener Rv became their father and teacher.
“The rabbi has become known as the father of the orphans. This is certainly true,” said Rabbi Hirsh Myrski, formerly leader of Agudist youth in Rumania. He added: “But let me tell you that the number of adults and families who he rescued is greater than that of the orphans.”
The same we heard from other people. And they said it in a tone, which indicated that they left much unsaid.
Rabbi Portugal does not speak of his past activities, but he is eager to talk of great tasks still ahead. Since his arrival in this country he has continued his blessed work. He pointed to a heap of letters on his table. Letters from all parts of the world asking for his assistance in a variety of matters. Last spring and summer he visited Israel and several Western European countries. Thousands came to see him. Among them were those who wanted to thank him for what he had done for them in the past and there were those who came to ask his aid in the present.
In order to be able to carry out his rescue operations he has organized an aid committee. Leading rabbis as well as lay leaders of the community, aware of the magnificent record of the Sekulener Rav and of the whole scope of his present activities have willingly joined the committee. ”Chessed Abraham” is the name of the committee. “Chessed- loving kindness and charity were the principal virtues of our father Abraham. The doing of charity is one of the chief duties of man. Would we fulfill this our duty the world would be redeemed from sorrow and pain,” said the rabbi.
He looked at us guessing that we might try to publish an interview with him. “Do not write about me,” he said. “Write about the duty of coming to the aid of our brethren who suffer indescribable pain.”
The Sekulener Rav does not only preach, but he acts. Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah – a good deed brings another good deed in its train. Among those whom he helped are people who now occupy important positions and they are always ready to help him realize his plans. He is deeply respected by the leaders of the great Jewish welfare organizations they they take a deep interest in his activities. He has also found his way to leading non-Jewish personalities to whom he has appealed to help his brethren. The Sekulener Rav is an individual and not an organization but there are areas of Jewish misery where sometimes only an individual can help.
Jewish Press, Dec. 21, 1962