Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born to a jewish family living in poland”. Today it says “polish-born jew who survived the nazi germany invasion of his homeland”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II Shmuel”. It now reads “Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Oswald Rufeisen (1922–1998), known popularly as Brother Daniel , was born to a Jewish family living in Poland , near Oświęcim . During his youth, Rufeisen belonged to Bnei Akiva , a religious Zionist youth movement. Hillel Zeidel, an Israel Liberal party Knesset member who broke ranks and joined Menachem Begin’s Likud in 1977, was a childhood friend from the movement. To escape Nazi persecution, he hid in a monastery for over a year; during this time he decided to convert to Catholicism . He helped to save hundreds of Jews in the town of Mir, Belarus from deportation to concentration camps . In 1945, after the war, Rufeisen returned to Poland, converted, studied for the priesthood, and became a Carmelite monk . In the 1950s, Rufeisen applied for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return , which provides Jews with Israeli citizenship through a streamlined process (e.g. without the requirement of several years residency). He claimed that although he was not a religious Jew, his Jewish ancestry and cultural identity was a significant aspect of his overall personhood, and he was considered Jewish according to some Jewish sects (but not others). The Israeli government denied his request, on the grounds that he had converted to Christianity . Rufeisen appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Israel , and in 1962 the Court upheld the government's decision: any Jew converting to another religion would lose their preferential access to Israeli citizenship. (Rufeisen v Minister of the Interior, (1962) 16 PD 2428) Nevertheless, Rufeisen was able to immigrate to Israel, acquired Israeli citizenship through naturalization, and lived the rest of his life at the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery in Haifa . The novel Daniel Stein, Translator by renowned Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya was inspired by the life of Oswald Rufeisen. Interview at 'MAN Booker International Prize', NDR Kultur, 26 May 2009 : "The Russian author Ulitzkaja speaking about her newest book described 'Daniel Stein' as a literature character but at the same time as an historical one: << The real Brother Daniel, whose civil name was Oswald Ruteisen, and my character Daniel Stein are not identical. The biography of my character is however almost identical to the real person.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 347232689.
The opening as it stood in 2015 14 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Shmuel Oswald Rufeisen Shmuel Oswald Rufeisen (1922–1998), better known as Brother (or Father ) Daniel, O.C.D. , was a Polish-born Jew who survived the Nazi invasion of his homeland, in the course of which he converted to Christianity, becoming a Catholic and a friar of the Discalced Carmelite Order .He moved to Israel, where he sought citizenship under the Israeli Law of Return , but was refused by the Israeli government.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660394479.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II Shmuel Oswald Rufeisen Oswald Rufeisen (1922–1998), religious name Daniel Maria , was a Polish-born Jew who survived the Nazi invasion of his homeland, in the course of which he converted to Christianity, becoming a Catholic and a friar of the Discalced Carmelites .He sought Israeli citizenship under the Israeli Law of Return , but was refused.However, he moved to Israel as a Carmelite friar, where he spent the rest of his life, and acquired citizenship through naturalization.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177426598.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II Oswald Rufeisen Oswald Rufeisen ( religious name Daniel Maria ; 1922–1998) was a Polish-born Jew who survived the Nazi Germany invasion of his homeland, in the course of which he converted to Christianity, becoming a Catholic and a friar of the Discalced Carmelites . He sought Israeli citizenship under the Israeli Law of Return , but was refused. However, he moved to Israel as a Carmelite friar, where he spent the rest of his life, and acquired citizenship through naturalization.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294115830. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born to a jewish family living in poland”. Today it says “polish-born jew who survived the nazi germany invasion of his homeland”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II Shmuel”. It now reads “Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
born to a jewish family living in poland
Now
polish-born jew who survived the nazi germany invasion of his homeland
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
