This photograph was taken on Purim, March 5th 1939 at Wacek Kornblum’s Bar Mitzvah, held in his home near Warsaw. The photograph includes Kornblum’s parents, cousins, aunts, uncles. In his oral history, Kornblum describes the event as follows:
“Everyone wanted to be in that photo; they were pushing themselves... This picture was made with the use of magnesia - the electric flashlights didn’t exist. The photographer lighted such powder which made a crazy flash while he uncovered the lens.
I had a non-religious bar mitzvah. Every boy who celebrates bar mitzvah first has to learn some part of the Torah at some rabbi's. And then he puts on a tallit, tefillin, but I had nothing to do with that, I didn't know Hebrew, I didn't know any service prayers. The family came to our house and we ate something. Some sisters of Father surely celebrated religious holidays. Interesting, there were some boys, but I never went to any Bar Mitzvah. My parents were anti-religious. Never in my life did I go to a service in a synagogue, not even on Yom Kippur. There were holidays present in our life, because there were generally holidays in the Jewish world: Rudele closed her store, Dad didn't work, the shop was closed. And we went to visit the family.”
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Bar/Bat Mitzvah – Bar mitzvah for boys or bat mitzvah for girls refers to the ages, 12 and 13 respectively, at which a Jew becomes obligated to fulfil the Jewish commandments and is allowed to participate fully in Jewish ritual and law. Since the Middle Ages, Jewish families have celebrated this milestone with a variety of different ceremonies and celebrations that have developed over time and place. In the past only boys celebrated their coming of age, though in recent years almost all communities also celebrate the girls' Bat Mitzvah. Bar and bat mitzvahs may consist of the celebrant being called up to the Torah for an aliyah, reading the weekly Torah portion or Haftarah, giving a sermon about the Torah reading, or leading the prayer service. Parties are probably the most common way of celebrating this milestone with family and friends. In recent years, participating in a social action project has also become quite common in some communities.
Jewish Community of Warsaw – The first Jews to live in Warsaw arrived in the fourteen century. Not long after, Jews were expelled from the city and not officially allowed to live there again until 1768. Thereafter, the Jewish population of Warsaw grew, despite periodic anti-Semitic incidents. Hasidism spread to Warsaw in the late eighteenth century, and by the late eighteenth century, almost two-thirds of Warsaw’s 300 synagogues were Hasidic. The Jewish population of Warsaw grew in the late nineteenth century as a result of immigration from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belorussia following pogroms. The late 1800s and early 1900s were a time of great growth in the Jewish community of Warsaw: synagogues were built and almost ninety percent of Jewish children received a Jewish education. The large community in Warsaw included different social groups, with orthodox Jews living alongside secular and assimilated Jews. Zionist organisations were established as was the anti-Zionist Bund organisation, a Jewish socialist group which stressed Yiddish culture. Jewish newspapers, literature, and theatre also thrived. By 1939, almost 400,000 Jews lived in Warsaw, comprising approximately one-third of the total population. When Germany entered Poland, the Jews were required to wear the yellow star, barred from public transportation, and taken into forced labour. In 1940, the Jews of Warsaw and Jews from other parts of Poland were forced to move into the very small area of the Warsaw ghetto. The population of the ghetto reached more than 500,000. Living conditions were harsh, and hunger and illness were rampant. In the summer of 1942, the first deportations of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka began and thousands of people were deported each day. On January 18, 1943, when a second round of deportations began, the Germans faced resistance from the Jews in the ghetto. Mordechai Anielewicz became the leader of the resistance, and when the Germans returned on April 19, 1943 to resume deportations, they were met by 750 poorly equipped but tenacious Jewish fighters who held them off until the Germans finally burned down the ghetto and killed 60,000 Jews. Today, there are an estimated 3500 Jews living in Warsaw, with about 700 belonging to the official Jewish community of Warsaw. The community has a Jewish school, a youth movement, and cultural and academic institutions. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews was opened in Warsaw in 2013 on the site of the Warsaw ghetto.
Tallit (Prayer Shawl) – A tallit is a large garment that is worn over the clothing during morning prayers. A tallit katan refers to the smaller garment that is worn underneath one’s clothing. Both garments are square or rectangular and have tzitzit (fringes) tied to the four corners. Many tallitot are made of white woolen material with black stripes; however, nowadays, tallitot are designed in a variety of colours and designs. The tzitzit contain a total of 613 knots, representing the traditional number of 613 mitzvot (commandments). The biblical source of wearing tzitzit comes from Numbers 15:38: “Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner.” Different traditions exist regarding when a tallit is first worn: some begin wearing a tallit when reaching the age of bar mitzvah, while others begin after marriage. Traditionally, a tallit is only worn by men, but in some communities it has become customary for women to wear a tallit.
Tefillin – Tefillin or phylacteries are a set of black leather boxes and straps. The boxes contain small scrolls of parchment on which are written verses from the Torah. Tefillin are worn by adult men in Orthodox communities for weekday morning prayers. In reform and liberal communities, tefillin may also be worn by women. The purpose of tefillin, according to the Torah, is to be a sign and a way to remember the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt. One box of tefillin is placed above the forehead and another is strapped along the right arm (or left arm if right-handed).
