Like Aharon HaKohein facing the death of his two sons, Zeidy Pavel remained silent

My husband’s grandfather was born in Vaja, Hungary, in 1912. At the age of 11, he was sent 180 miles away to Makó, where he attended the yeshivah of Rav Moshe Vorhand, the Makover Rav.

Zeidy often awoke in the wee hours to learn with the Rav. When Zeidy was called back home at the age of 18 to help marry off his two sisters, the Rav walked with him to the train, asking him to return when he could. But Zeidy was needed by his family, and in Vaja he stayed.

From spring 1942 to summer 1944, Hungarian Jewish men considered suitable for work were taken by the German-allied Hungarian government to the munka tabor, the labor camps. Many would be forced to toil by the front, where they were subjected to dangerous conditions; 80 percent of them wouldn’t return.

When the men of Makó were being rounded up, Rav Moshe — by then in his eighties — spoke to them. (His words are recorded in the hakdamah to his sefer, Ohel Moshe.)