Page 218 - LEIBY

218 Leiby – Border Smuggler

you.” His eyes were unfathomable pools of sadness as he spoke.
“I had a boy just your age… he’s gone. You remind me of him.
Please speak, I want to hear what you have to say.”

“Very well, I’ll try,” Leiby consented, feeling that he couldn’t
refuse the bereft father’s request.

The crowd fell silent. Leiby stood next to the covered stone
monument, a small cluster of bereaved Jews standing around
him, and Russian soldiers in Polish uniforms31 guarding the
area.

He leaned lightly on the monument and began speaking. The
thoughts that had run through his mind during his endless treks
along muddy Polish roads mingled in his mind with words that
he had heard from his late father.

“Klal Yisrael is like a tree. Trees are always renewing themselves;
after their leaves fall and their branches are bare during a long
hard winter, when spring arrives, they grow new leaves and
blossoms. When their trunk is chopped down and appears
dead, they can still sprout fresh green offshoots and flourish
once more. We have a promise, that we will return to Zion. All
the grief and sorrow that we experience are only birth pangs of
our redemption, and when our quota of mourning is filled, we
will return to our sacred promised land.”

Leiby’s words electrified the gloomy atmosphere and gave
some hope to the assembled crowd. He continued his speech,
breaking the almost tangible silence. “Just as I derailed German
trains and blew up or burned traitors’ homes, I will not rest nor
sit idly until every last Jew has left the blood-drenched ground
of Poland.”The government representative shifted uneasily, and
his face took on a slightly perturbed expression.

Leiby went on. “However, our first and most crucial objective
is to ensure that every Jew in the country can live securely, and

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