Nathan Maidenbaum’s poetry of Jewish survival

From the book “The Koren Machzor for Yom HaAtzma’ut and Yom Yerushlayim,” edited by Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, we will see an example of poetry as a motivating force for Jewish survival.

The poem, “On Jerusalem Day,” was authored by Nathan Maidenbaum, of blessed memory, a Hebrew poet and businessman of note. Emigrating from Poland as a young man, he would reside on the Lower East Side, in Borough Park, and in Lawrence. His passion for his family, faith, and people knew no bounds — a devotion that drove his life’s agenda and deeply motivated his writings, scholarship, business activities and charitable agenda.

It is a work of heartfelt religiously motivated passion that inhabits the opening gate of this unique machzor. It is a history lesson laced in rhythm and prose poetry. It reads elegantly in Hebrew and translates into English in an elegance that befits its honored place in a book of prayer.

A native of Ostrov Poland, he was educated at the famed Tochkimoni Seminary in Warsaw. Upon his arrival in America in 1932 he enrolled at Yeshiva College’s Teachers’ Institute. He was destined to become a lifelong supporter of Jewish education, with signature contributions to Yeshiva University. In business, he was one of New York’s leading food distributors and merchants, a legacy that included Met Supermarkets and Associated. Yet, for all this, his true passion was to be found in the Holy Land, and centered in his deep devotion to Jerusalem.

With Yom Haatzma’ut and Yom Yerushalayim now before us, and with the holy festival of Shevuot not far away, we learn from our tradition the value of history, and the family tradition that serves to define each of us in our daily lives.

Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, in his introductory remarks to this work, teaches: