חולין כ

On September 17, יום כיפור ,1945, Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton visited a DP Camp to see the condition of surviving Jews.  They were greeted by the Klausenberger Rebba, who spoke with them through an interpreter, an American soldier from Williamsburg.   Before they left, General Eisenhower asked the Rebba for a blessing.  Speaking through the interpreter, the Rebba said that in recognition of his aid in liberating the Jews from the concentration camps, he blesses the General to be elevated to even greater status in America.  General Eisenhower thanked the Rebba and asked if he had a blessing for General Patton.  The Klausenberger Rebba and the interpreter looked at each other, both of them knowing that Patton was a rabid anti-semite.  The Rebba instructed the interpreter to tell Patton that he wished him a מיתה משונה.  I can’t do that, the soldier said to the Rebba.  But the Rebba insisted “Tell him that he should have a מיתה משונה.”  “What is he saying?” Patton asked.  The interpreter responded: “He said that you should be so well known that your name is etched in stone.”  Patton died from a broken neck and spinal cord injury suffered in an automobile accident in December 1945.

06/10/2021