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The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) held a special concert on Jan. 19 in honor of its founder, virtuoso violinist Bronisław Huberman z”l. The concert included the presentation of the “Jewish Rescuers Citation” in his memory, awarded by B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust.

The concert was held at the Philharmonic’s home base—the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in the Tel Aviv Cultural Center at 1 Huberman Street—and featured Maxim Vengerov performing Huberman’s signature piece, the Brahms violin concerto, under the baton of Musical Director Lahav Shani. Speakers included Committee Chairman Aryeh Barnea, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Director and Secretary of the Jewish Rescuers Citation Subcommittee Alan Schneider, and Israel Philharmonic Secretary General Yair Mashiach. The concert coincided with the release of three Israeli hostages from Gaza, which was acknowledged by all speakers, and concluded with Shani conducting a resounding rendition of Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah.

Prior to the concert, the Josh Aronson documentary “Orchestra of Exiles,” about Huberman and the founding of the orchestra was screened with an introduction from Prof. Gideon Greif, a Holocaust historian, educator and member of the committee.

Before the presentation of the citation to Shani and IPO Chairman Yuval Shapiro, Mashiach noted that “The freedom-seeking creative spirit that weaves Judaism with enlightenment and internationality continues with us here today. At its inception and today as well, the Philharmonic expresses Israeli hope, a legacy of excellence and a commitment to freedom, culture and creativity.”

Addressing the legacy of rescue and responsibility, Barnea emphasized: “If we want there to be more rescuees in the challenges we face in this and coming generations, we need more rescuers, and if we want more rescuers, we need to pose an ethical imperative and to be a source of inspiration to the public, first and foremost to our children. See these figures—the people who did almost the impossible and gave a helping hand when they themselves were hungry for bread and worried for their mother. Despite this, they assisted others and saved lives. From this perspective, Bronisław Huberman was not an eminent musician who also saved lives; he was a great rescuer who was also a musician.

Reflecting on the timing of the hostage release following Chanukah and the recognition of Bronisław Huberman, Schneider said, “Huberman used his immense personal reputation in a seven-year struggle to establish the orchestra, endangering his life in the process he believed would save Jewish lives—as it undoubtedly did. We salute Bronisław Huberman for his foresight and courage.” Referencing the holiday prayer, he remarked, “[events of] those days, [are reflected] in these days.”

Bronisław Huberman (Poland, 1882-Switzerland, 1947) was a gifted violinist of world renown who chose Germany as his base of operations. Although he could have left Nazi Germany to pursue his art away from the Nazis, he dedicated himself to establishing a first-class orchestra in provincial Eretz Israel as a means for rescuing Jewish musicians from the impending disaster he predicted would befall Europe and its Jews. He founded the first professional orchestra in Eretz Israel, which later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra—Israel’s representative orchestra. As early as 1933, 8,000 Jewish artists and intellectuals were fired from their positions in orchestras, theaters and universities in Germany. Due to rising anti-Semitism and the good impression he gained from visiting the Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel, Huberman abandoned his embrace of Pan-Europeanism and adopted the cause of Zionism.

In 1934, he publicly refused to play in Germany (as did famous musicians such as conductor Maestro Arturo Toscanini and solo violinist Jascha Heifetz), accepting an offer to teach at the Vienna School of Music. To hire first-tier musicians, Huberman traveled back to Germany in late 1935 to conduct auditions in Berlin and across Germany, despite the looming threat of the Nuremburg Laws and the danger posed to him due to his public criticism of the Nazis. To complete the roster of first-class musicians ready to travel to the underdeveloped pre-state Israel, Huberman held auditions also in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and other European cities. The pressure to establish the orchestra before the onset of war, the need to raise funds, and logistical challenges—particularly in securing the necessary immigration certificates for his musicians and their families—caused Huberman significant mental and physical distress. Huberman traveled to London and with the assistance of World Zionist Organization President Dr. Chaim Weizmann, he received the necessary permits to bring his musicians from Europe to Tel Aviv. The first musicians arrived in Eretz Israel in October 1936 and the orchestra performed its first concert on Dec. 26, 1936, under the baton of Toscanini, who conducted some 75 outstanding Jewish musicians from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Holland and Poland, whose lives were spared due to the heroism of Huberman.

The Committee to Recognize the Heroism of the Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust was established in 2000 by the late Haim Roet, a Dutch Jew who was rescued as a child with the intervention of both of Jews and non-Jews. The Committee was founded with the purpose of identifying Jews who endangered themselves during the Holocaust to rescue fellow Jews and raise public awareness in Israel and throughout the world to the phenomenon of Jewish rescue, presenting it as a Jewish national and global humanitarian model. In 2020, attorney Arye Barnea, a second-generation Holocaust educator and researcher, was appointed chairman of the committee. For many years, the State of Israel expressed gratitude toward Jews who challenged the Nazis through armed resistance and towards members of other nations who endangered their lives to rescue Jews (“Righteous Among the Nations”). Jews who risked themselves to save their fellow brothers and sisters received relatively little attention and recognition.

The Committee operates in partnership with B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem. Schneider initiated the “Jewish Rescuers Citation” in 2011 as a joint project with the Committee. The citation has been presented to 650 women and men who operated in Nazi-controlled areas in France, Hungary, Greece, Germany, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Austria, Romania, Belgium, Morocco, Algiers, Libya, Denmark and the Netherlands as an expression of appreciation for the “devotion, courage and heroism” they exhibited in rescuing fellow Jews during the Holocaust.

For further information, please contact Alan Schneider, Director, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem: aschneider@bnaibrith.org; 052-5536441.

View photos from the event here.