Retribution Is Not Enough

Raised in Vilna, Noah Golinkin immigrated in 1938 to the United States, where he enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Golinkin, along with Moshe “Buddy” Sachs and Jerome Lipnick, devoted himself to activism on behalf of Jews in Europe. The three students started a committee at JTS, partnering with Christian organizations and lobbying American Jewish leadership and Congress to aid European Jews. During his rabbinical career, Golinkin led a number of congregations, eventually settling in the area of Washington, D.C. He was active in the civil rights movement and in the campaign to help Soviet Jewry.

Jerome Lipnick was born in Baltimore and attended Johns Hopkins University, later receiving his ordination as a rabbi at JTS in 1945. While studying at JTS, Lipnick worked tirelessly to draw attention to the plight of Jews in Europe, advocating taking action to rescue them. Following the war, Lipnick remained a passionate activist, working for civil rights and for the Soviet Jewry cause. As a rabbi, he led a variety of synagogues and served as director of education for B’nai B’rith in Washington, D.C.

Known as “Buddy,” Moshe Bertram Sachs was born in Baltimore. In 1941, he enrolled at JTS, rooming with Max Gruenewald, a refugee from Mannheim. Determined to rescue Jews from Europe, Sachs, together with Jerome Lipnick and Noah Golinkin, established a committee at JTS devoted to the cause. From 1945 to 1947 he served as an army chaplain in Manila and Okinawa and then traveled to Jerusalem to study with Martin Buber. There, Sachs and his wife enlisted as intelligence agents with the Haganah. During the siege of Jerusalem, Sachs led a Seder for American servicemen. After returning to the United States, Sachs served at a congregation in Minneapolis for nearly two decades before moving to Israel.