Shaye Steiner, the Tokaj Miracle Working Rabbi

Hungarian Jewry produced many wonder rabbis and Sáje Steiner was one of them. When he died on April 23, 1925 (ijjár hó 3-án), special trains were organized to bring his followers from abroad to his funeral. His coffin was made from the wood of his favorite table. An ohel (small house) was erected on his tomb.

The Rabbi managed an open house. No one who came in on Friday left without being fed. His wife´s kitchen was always busy, each week they bought dozens of geese and ducks, prepared large sweet breads with water (kalacs) and sent them out to the poor.

Sok sólet (csólent) készült itt, ami babfőzelék liba-, vagy kacsahússal. Sok libát vágtak, s füstre tették. A csólent is kemencében készült. Sokszor láttam, amint a sátoros ünnepeken a kucska (kis ház, a mai virágbolt) tetejét felnyitották, s ott gyékényen térdelve sokat imádkoztak. Piremkor (purim), húsvét előtt nagy volt a készülődés. Eszter-napkor mulattak, ez volt az örömünnep. Eszter megmentette a zsidókat. Pénteken mindenki bemehetett a rabbi házába, kapott enni. Nem volt ott más, csak a puszta falak. Ilyenkor babgulyás, bableves főtt, ezt kapta mindenki.

It is told that a heavily loaded carriage went along Keresztur´s main street. In front of the Rabbi's house, the horses stopped and refused to move. The balagula (transporter) beat the horses. The Miracle Rabbi was praying but looked out the window, to see the cause of the noise. "Leave two sacks of potato in front of the door, you will see the horses start moving," he shouted down. So they did. A typical, sweet Hassidic miracle story.

The pic was taken on a tour to the tombs of the saintly rabbis of the Tokaj hills. Tokaj was a center of Hassidic life before the war. Its wine industry was developed by the Jews in the 18th century. The pic figures in a local website with the footnote: Megmentett áldozatok sokasága (The super-abundance of surviving victims). There are reasons why my Father did not like Hungarians, not only because he had been severily beaten by the MUSZ keretlegenyek (guards).