Community rallies for Holocaust survivor’s funeral
IN an amazing show of community spirit, more than a hundred people attended the funeral of a man they had never met last Friday.
IN an amazing show of community spirit, more than a hundred people attended the funeral of a man they had never met last Friday.
Ninety-four-year-old Holocaust survivor Leon Slucki passed away last Wednesday, August 5.
With no descendants or living relatives, the organisers of his funeral – friend Carla Rosen and Jewish House’s Rabbi Mendel Kastel – were worried they would not be able to assemble a minyan in order to recite kaddish and give him a proper Jewish send-off.
However, through the power of social media, over a hundred members of the community rallied to ensure Slucki would not only have a proper Jewish burial, but also that his memory will live on.
Addressing the minyan, which also included students from Moriah and Masada Colleges, Rabbi Kastel said he was overwhelmed “by the incredible response and generosity of so many” of the community.
“I was sitting with Carla and we were planning the funeral and we really didn’t know if we would get a minyan,” he said.
Speaking to The AJN after the funeral, he said: “I’ve been a rabbi in this community for over 25 years and it’s moments like this that really shake you – for a community to really step up to the plate for somebody that they’ve never met and know nothing about.
“We had Moriah and Masada send buses, there were people that came from the Blue Mountains, we had calls from Canberra – they’re doing prayers for him.
“It’s definitely very moving, and very fitting considering that he was a Holocaust survivor.”
Rosen said she was “completely overwhelmed and so grateful” to those who made the trip out to Rookwood Cemetery. “Particularly because Leon was a Holocaust survivor … we wanted to really make sure that we were going to have a minyan,” she said.
“Leon would have been absolutely amazed, because he was a very independent, solitary type of person, very quiet, and so never wanting to rattle the boat or cause any disturbance or anything.
“He would say, ‘What are these people doing here?’ He was very humble. He would have absolutely amazed.”
Rosen made a plethora of phone calls around the community prior to the funeral, which were echoed across social media.
According to Rosen, Slucki was one of many Holocaust survivors without family and residing in non-Jewish nursing homes who are in danger of being forgotten by the community. “We should be mindful of these people and try and give them the right send-off,” she said.
Polish-born Slucki, who escaped Eastern Europe after being granted a transit visa by Righteous Among the Nations Chiune Sugihara, lost his mother, father and sister in the Shoah.
He emigrated via Japan to New Zealand, where he enlisted in the army, making it to the rank of corporal.
In the 1950s Slucki emigrated with his brother to Sydney, where he married and later divorced.
His first business was in furniture manufacturing and he later concentrated on menswear.
He regularly donated generously to Israel and had a great knowledge of Israel and Jewish history.
In 1998, at age 78, he became interested in computers and the internet.
He loved walking and walked every day, and well into his 80s did his own shopping, cooking, cleaning and tax returns.
In 2013, at age 93, he broke his leg and moved into a nursing home.
GARETH NARUNSKY
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