The forgotten holy converts from Hungary

This is a story that you probably never heard. However, you need to hear it. It is a story that reflects the best in humanity and as Jews should make us proud. So let us begin.

Like many stories, there is a large backdrop behind this one. Our story begins in the 1500s in  Transylvania, a region that today is part of Romania and that borders Ukraine and Hungary.  At this time, there emerged a breakoff group from the Unitarian church ( which itself had already been a major breakoff from mainstream Christianity). The new break-offs were a large group of people who wanted to return to the forgotten Biblical roots of Christianity. Moreover, these people wanted to significantly downplay the role of JC. Thus, emerged the “Seventh-day Adventist movement”.

The day of rest was moved back to Saturday. Followers abstained from eating pig. And they picked up some other customs that they learned from their Jewish neighbors. The leader of this new group was a Hungarian nobleman named Andrush, who eventually separated himself and his group from Christianity completely. Andrush was a member of the Hungarian elite. After tragically losing his wife and three children in a plague, he found his comfort in Jewish works that he studied due to his fluency in Hebrew. After he died, his stepson, Simon Patzi, a well-known Hungarian diplomat, took over the group. It is estimated that by 1630 the group had about 20,000 followers.

None of this went under the radar of the Church. In 1639, the church issued an edict stating that the new movement was illegal. Despite the persecution, the followers of the movement continued to observe the Shabbos on the seventh day privately. Eventually, the church began pulling them out of their homes on Saturday by force and commanding them to work.

None of this stopped the movement. Even though at this point they were not Jewish, they did not consider themselves to be Christian either. They were probably similar to Noahides.

In Transylvania (Romania today) there was a village called Bozudoyfallo. This town was referred to as the “Jerusalem of the Seventh Day Adventists”. In 1834, 170 people from this village decided that the time had come as they wanted to go all the way and finally convert to Judaism. However, they confronted major legal difficulties that inhibited this move. However in 1867, after the Emancipation, the ground was finally ready for the big change. At this time, the entire village converted to Judaism. In honor of their new status, they celebrated for 3 days. They were now called the “Congregation of Converts, Kahal Yeshurun”.  This was considered one of the largest mass conversions to Judaism in history.

The reaction of the already established Hungarian/Romanian Jewish community was mixed. On one hand, they were glad to accept them as the Torah commands us to love the convert. However, there was also a very real concern that if there was too much public support, there might be a strong backlash against the Jewish community. This being the case, the Jewish community provided the new congregation of converts with funds that helped them build a shul, a talmud torah and a mikvah. Moreover, they also provided them with a Rabbi, Harav Yissochar Behr Kohen. However, all of this was done quietly without fanfare.

The new congregation continued to function independently until the dreadful summer of 1944, 80 years ago, when Hungarian Jewry was destroyed. After the Germans conquered Hungary, the members of this congregation were technically exempt from any of the decrees against the Jews. The German persecution of the Jews was officially genetic not religious per se. Therefore, since all these people were genetically Aryan (even though they were religiously Jewish), none of this applied to them. However, the overwhelming majority of these converts would not hear of it. They would not separate themselves from the Jewish people in any way. This being the case, many of them were later sent to the Turgo ghetto.

The following is the testimony of Holocaust survivor, Mrs S. Shalom who was with the holy converts in the Turgo ghetto: ” When they brought me to the ghetto, I noticed that there were many Saki ( the official ethnicity of the holy converts) farmers, along with their wives and children together with us. I became friendly with them because I found them to be interesting. The men and all of the boys had payos. They all had Biblical names. If I would ever complain about our bitter lot, the women would quiet me and say that  ‘this is the will of God and one should not be bitter against the will of the Creator.” Most of the time these women said Psalms… one of the women wanted me to pray with her from her worn out siddur.  One Friday afternoon, I did not see one of the women in her normal place in front of the tent. When I entered her tent, I saw her sitting on top of a pillow and crying. She told me that she did not have candles to light for Shabbos. After checking with some friends, I managed to get her some candles. With tears of joy, she thanked me”

Ultimately, many of the people from the Turgo ghetto were transported to Auschwitz. It is estimated that among them were at least 100 members of the congregation of converts. After the war, the congregation ceased to exist. Many of its members moved to Israel and assimilated with already established Jewish congregations. It is estimated that today in Israel there are a few thousand people who are descendants of these holy converts. Most of them , however, have no idea. In 2010 a reunion was held of descendants of the holy converts. About 250 people from all over the world participated.

What can we learn from this incredible story? Well, the Vilna Gaon has an incredible insight that can shed light on this story. In the Psalm “Shir Hamaalos” that we sing on Shabbos before benching it first says that the ‘goyim’ will recognize the greatness of Hashem. And only afterwards it says that the Jewish people will proclaim the greatness of Hashem. How can it be that the non Jews praise Hashem before the Jews? Well, the Vilna Gaon explains ( Kol Hator 4:1) that due to the long difficult exile there are many Jews who have sadly forgotten about their glorious heritage. However, when they see the non-Jews ( or in the case of our story, people who used to be non Jews) praising Hashem, they will feel ashamed and inspired to want to praise Hashem themselves.

In a similar vein, I have a good friend who today lives in Eretz Yisroel and is a father of ten children. Even though he comes from many great Rabannim, he was raised into a very secular environment in Long Island. I once asked him how he began his spiritual journey. He told me it was in the merit of his Christian neighbor. At one point, he was going through  a difficult time. While discussing his challenges with his neighbor, his non Jewish neighbor told him to pray to God. The message jolted him and he followed it. Later, he came to Israel where he got involved with a Baal Teshuva yeshiva and today is raising a beautiful Torah observant family.

Yes, the mission statement of the Jewish people is to be a light on to the nations. However, sometimes, the light that we emanate radiates back to us.