Lion of Judah Event Reveals Amazing Story

Behind every Lion of Judah, there is a story. Every woman in this giving society contributes $5000 or more in her own name to the Annual Campaign--and each does it for her own reason.

On Wednesday night, during an icebreaker to introduce new Lions to each other, Arlene Rand was asked who she was named for. Her answer is revealed in her amazing story, which we share in honor of Yom Hashoah.

The “Beautiful Anya”
By Arlene Rand, Lion of Judah

I told this story after being asked a simple question. Who are you named after?  The answer to that question started long before I was born...

My father loved to tell me fairy tales as a child, but there was one tale I had to wait to hear until I was about 10 years old. This story was about the "beautiful Anya,” my father’s younger sister who remained behind in Poland in 1938.

My father left Poland with two brothers, a sister and his mother just a few short months before Hitler invaded. His sister Anya, her husband, and her two young sons chose to remain. Life was too good and the thought of war was unfathomable. 

Several months after the Germans marched into their little shtetl, my aunt’s family was awakened by loud footsteps and knocking on their door in the middle of the night. As they were taken out with guns pointed at them, Anya handed her three-month-old son, Alexander, to their beloved Polish maid. 

Anya and her family were never heard from again. Many years later, the Polish maid told Alexander that gunshots were heard that night and mass graves were later found in the woods near their town of Trembovla.

Alexander was raised by the maid who loved him dearly and always told him about his true identity and religion as he grew older. When he was l6, she put Alexander in an orphanage so that my grandmother in New York could bring him to America.

However, because of political unrest in Poland, he remained in the orphanage and was unable to come to his family. When he was 18, a representative from Jewish Social Services in Israel came to the orphanage and offered all Jewish children the opportunity to come to Israel.

Alexander said he didn't know where Israel was or what it represented, but it was a chance for a better life so he chose to go. In Israel, he was given a chance for a new life.  He attended the Technion and studied engineering, and during the 1967 War he became a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force.

In 1992, I went on my first mission to Israel with CJP, and I arranged to meet Alexander in our Haifa hotel when we arrived late at night.

As I saw Alexander enter the lobby, I saw a young version of my Dad's younger brother. Alexander recognized me as well, although we had never seen each other before. We approached each other and embraced as others in my mission group looked on with tears in their eyes.

We walked through Haifa together until 4 a.m., learning about each others’ lives. Lives that should have been so similar - yet were so completely different. That night I learned that the Polish maid who raised Alexander has a tree named in her honor at Yad Vashem on the Path of the Righteous.

This fairy tale --a true tale-- has a good ending. Alexander is alive today because of the Jewish people and the State of Israel! He is married and has three grown sons who have all served in the Israeli army.

I love my Jewish traditions, my heritage and the strength and perseverance of my people. I plan on going to Israel to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday with the Lions of Judah next fall. It will be a 60th birthday present to myself as well. I know my Father would be pleased.

By the way, I was named after the "beautiful Anya.”

The next Lion of Judah Spring Event is on May 14. We’re sure there will be more inspiring stories at that event, so don’t miss it!

To learn more about the Lion of Judah or Women’s Philanthropy at CJP, contact Sami at
samis@cjp.org or call 617-457-8763.