The Split into S.S. and S.R.
It was
Saturday towards nighttime, and in the White Bet HaMedrash
the Maariv prayers were being recited and people were
getting themselves ready to go outside and bless the new moon.
At this moment, a claque of revolutionaries came into the Bet
HaMedrash: Bercheh the Melamed, Mottl Shafran’s son,
Israel-David, the son of the shammes, a son of Aharon
Luks, Yankl Prawda, his father-in-law Moness, and more and
more. A group of them went up to the podium, disrupted the
prayer service, banged on the table and called out, "Whoever
belongs to the S.S. should go over to one side, and those left,
of the S.R. –
should go to the other side..." They
did this in the Bet HaMedrash during worship in order
that the police not seize them. We, the children, did not
understand the difference between these two “world-parties” and
we believed that one was a command to eat (ess-ess!),
and the second says: he should eat (ess-ehr!).
The two
parties differentiated themselves in the street: S.R.165
wore a blue shirt over a white band that served as a belt, and
the S.R. –
with a red shirt.
Incidents in the Cheder of Bercheh the Melamed
Each
evening, workers, both boys and girls, would come to learn how
to write in Yiddish from Bercheh the Melamed, and also
learn to read Yiddish, while simultaneously prepare themselves
for the great revolution.
On one
occasion, a group of secret agents came and inspected all of the
books of the White Bet HaMedrash to see if they had been
[properly] censored. They found a few books, especially with
religious content, without an indication of censorship, and they
absorbed the cost, by permitting the books to be tuned over,
thereby causing the responsible parties to be set free.
Butchers Get a Beating
Once, on
a Saturday night at the onset of winter, a bloody fight broke
out between the strikers and the butchers, the so-called
penzhikhehs. The situation was as follows: when the
Hazzan sang, and the butchers listened to him sweetly,
Bercheh was carrying on a conversation behind the bima
with his revolutionaries, loitering around the Bet HaMedrash,
here and there. The butchers therefore gave Bercheh a slap for
disrupting the davening. His followers could not accept
this, since it would have impaired their prestige, and because
of this, they fell upon the butchers Saturday night, whose
custom it was to gather on Saturday nights to settle their
accounts.
Blood was
spilt, the strikers were splitting heads....the entire city came
running...
A couple
of days later, Shlomchik the Butcher came to Bercheh in his
cheder, with his head bandaged, and asked for Bercheh to
forgive him for the insult. Peace then returned to the land.
The “Prom"
In those
years, the government was building a new wooden bridge. The
blocks were hammered into the earth, in the water using a
baba – a heavy piece of iron, which was used to strike down
on a [butcher] block. In working on bridges, a movable bridge, a
“prom” was hammered in this way, so that people and
wagons could ford the river. The strikers would requisition this
“prom” each evening, and would go swimming in the river,
as far as Pfeiffer’s water mill, singing revolutionary songs.
E. The Dance of the Angry
This
happened in the year 1905. My grandmother, Rivka-Gitt’l, was at
odds with her elderly makhatenista, Chaya Zukrowicz. She
was not pleased with the arranged marriage of her youngest son,
Berl, with Chaya’s granddaughter, Nechama, even though Nechama
was also her grandchild, but it was to no avail. During
the wedding of Berl to Nechama, the two grandmothers were
supposed to make up with each other, and they made up with each
other through the b’Roygez-Tantz, the Dance of the Angry,
which they danced before the bride was formally covered with her
veil (the badeken ceremony). My grandmother, Rivka-Gitt’l,
a somewhat stout little Jewish lady, held herself with great
pride. The other grandmother, Chaya, was a tall woman, thin, and
had a delicate tread. And so the gathering stood around, in a
dance circle. Rivka-Gitt’l stood at one side, full of herself,
with her head cast down. The second, Chaya, dances toward her,
floating, with a smile on her lips. The surrounding onlookers
sing, along with the music:
“Farvoss
binst du b’roygez, “Why are you angry,
Ikh
vays dokh nisht farvoss? I
really don’t know why?
Gayst
arum ongeblozn, You go
about full of yourself,
Aropgelozt dem noz?” With
your nose let down?”
Rivka-Gitt’l does not raise her head, but rather, draws a bit
further away, going over to the other side. Chaya, however,
chases after her, floating like a little feather towards
Rivka-Gitt’l, with her little smile. The gathering continues to
sing. Chaya extends her hand. Grandma Rivka-Gitt’l withdraws
hers, not wanting to make up. So Chaya dances further,
approaching from the other side. This causes Rivka-Gitt’l to
soften a bit, and she places her hand over her heart and dances
a little, from the other side, towards Chaya. So Chaya again
stretches out her hand, and Grandma Rivka-Gitt’l shakes her head
to signal, “no,” and dances back. The gathering becomes more
enthused, and begins to sing, accompanied by the musicians:
“Lomir
zikh ibberbettn, ibberbettn, “Let us make up, make up with
one another,
Di
velt is dokh a kholem, The World is but a dream,
|
|
Lomir
zikh ibberbettn, Let us
make up,
Lomir
makh sholem!” Let us make
peace!”
And so
Grandma Rivka-Gitt’l dances again, forward, towards Chaya, and
Chaya towards her. By this time, both are extending their hands
to each other: The throng sings: zikh ibberbettn, zikh
ibberbettn, and the musicians let themselves go: “ibberbettn,
ibberbettn,” and so the two sets of hands become
intertwined, and each takes the other in their arms, exchanging
kisses. And the throng does not hold back, singing vigorously,
and clapping with their hands: “Lomir zikh ibberbettn,
ibberbettn!” The fiddle of a musician from Tyktin helps out
with a sibilant sigh: “ibberbettn, ibberbettn,” and
Goldechkeh’s son picks up the refrain on his violin. The “yaleshkeh”
from Chaya’s husband ???, and Shimon the drummer drums along: “zikh
ibberbettn, ibberbettn...” By now the two makhatenistas
have broken out into a dance, each with a hand on the other’s
shoulder... until their two husbands arrive. The groom places
the veil over the head of the bride, and Sonya the Badkhan
(Merrymaker) from Bialystok, gets up on a bench, and serenades
the bride, accompanied by the musicians. |
At the Grave of the Mother
Known as the
"Son of Goldechkeh", a skilled musician and barber,
one of the circle of intellectuals among working
men, [in Zambrow], standing beside his mother's
tombstone. |
F. The Exceptional & Challenged
Each
shtetl had its “poor souls.” These were people with some
defect, crippled, mentally disturbed, etc. for whom fate had
decreed that they would not possess all of the human capacities
and prerogatives. The shtetl would support them, look
after them, and sometimes also abandon them... part of them
would become imbedded in the panorama of the shtetl, as
for example, “the town lunatic,” like “khelbana” at one
time, became an expression for a bad odor. However, without it,
the High Priest in the Temple was not able to formulate and
present the ketoret sacrifice.
I am now going to describe a number of these poor souls, from my
memory, so that they too, are memorialized in this Pinkas
of the city. I also ask their forgiveness for instances where I
may have caused any of them embarrassment
–
which was not my intent.
A. Alter Koty
On one
fine morning, a cripple crawled into the Red Bet HaMedrash,
leaning on his crutch. He looked like a pig on two feet,
feigning human appearance. He immediately elicited a sense of
compassion from everyone, and God-fearing Jews brought him
something to eat. Children immediately sensed that they had for
themselves an object of derision, and, from their side, began to
toy with him. His name was Alter, and he was born to his
parents, after several children died prematurely after birth. He
was born frail –
in the village of Koty, not terribly far from Zambrow.
His parents died, and he was left alone. Good people would give
him a sack with bread pieces, an onion, a bit of sugar, sat him
in a gentile wagon that makes the trip to Zambrow, to the
market, and the asked of the gentile that he be let off at the
Bozhnitza, meaning the Red Bet HaMedrash. The
gentile took pity on the cripple, and brought him up to the
entrance. And from that time on, Alter Koty became a Zambrow
citizen, looked after by the Bet HaMedrash, and was even
counted towards a minyan at every session of prayer.
He was a
whisperer, and would clam up when a conversation would ensue.
However, he was intelligent and spoke directly to the point.
Children would aggravate him. When he would limp along, leaning
on his crutch with his round belly protruding ahead of him, the
children would shout at him from all sides: Koty, Koty! He would
then fall into a foul mood, raise his crutch, wave it about,
wanting to hit them hard. However, he never succeeded at this
– since there is no way he
can chase [the children with their] swift, sure feet, and so he
would take out his anger on innocent passers-by, and give one or
another of them a whack with his stick. Sometimes, he would
burst into tears, and out loud would proclaim in the middle of
the street: “Was I born from a stone? Was I not had by a mother?
Why do you torture me, why is it my fault that I was born, not
like all other people? Why do I deserve this
– seeing as my father and
mother have abandoned me?” [At times like this] women would shed
a tear, seek to calm him down, bring him out a white shirt so he
could change, a pair of knitted socks to cover his bare feet, a
plate of warm food, a small glass of tea with a piece of bread,
etc. And did he have a mouth! He would curse by hurling such
imprecations that only could be created in the fantasy of a
writer. When he was calmed down and children did not bother him,
he would be in a good mood, and would relate what had happened
to him, about his family, or just plain tales that he had heard.
His home, primarily was in the Hakhnasat Orkhim. He was
then sidelined there, because he could not keep himself clean,
and this was a place where other guests would lodge for the
night. So, during the summer, he made himself a night resting
place under the steps of the Women’s Synagogue, inside the
Red Bet HaMedrash, over the shamos.
During the winter, good people would give him a corner where he
could sleep, or he would bed down in the Bet HaMedrash
beside the oven.
During
the First World War, the Germans took him out of the city and
shot him –
ridding themselves of a cripple and
freeing up a bread [ration] card. It was as if the Red Bet
HaMedrash had become orphaned
– it was as if the
permanent worshiper was missing. A tree had been cut down and
out of the panorama of the shtetl....
B. Abraham Berl Klein
He was of
middling height, went barefoot, sometimes having his feet
wrapped in rags like the peasants would do, wrapped in a sack
with a rope tied around the hips, a head of gray hair with a
roundish gray beard. He would sit at the entrance to the White
Bet HaMedrash and tell stories to the children, wonderful
stories, about himself, about robbers and demons, and always
full of humor. One had to have a literary soul in order to
conceive of such stories. He would not rest at night. He had an
eccentric sense of humor. He would transfer clothing that hung
in one yard over to a second street and hang it up there to dry.
He would take and transfer boards that a homeowner might have
bought to construct a sukkah, to some far, distant yard. He
would switch the signs of one craftsman, or storekeeper, for
that of another, etc. He always carried around lumps of coal
beneath his bosom. And before dawn, just as it began to get
light, and there was nobody to stop him, he would draw pictures
of animals and people on the walls, small horses, dogs, cats and
goats, and who knows what sort of story he was attempting to
illustrate? Who knows what sort of artistic talent had lost its
way inside this crazy person?
He would
sit tranquilly and smile, sing, or be telling a tale. Only if
someone, somewhere, would shout out: “Abraham Berl Klein” would
he get up filled with a murderous disposition, and would run to
hit or throw a stone.
At a
tranquil moment, according to what he would tell, he was a
recorder for people who would undertake road construction, and
he would record the size of the gravel that the people, who
smashed up rock, needed to produce. In order to determine how
much to pay for their work, he would measure their pile of
gravel with a triangle. As a result, he caught any number of
people who at night would steal from the piles that had
already been measured and transfer it to a new [sic:
unmeasured] pile. So he caught and penalized the stone smashers,
for which they threw a sack over his head, and beat him so
badly, that he lost his mind... He wife was someone called Malkunya, whom the children would call “Malkunya the Slapper.”
She divorced him. He was close to the butchers, and they would
give him something to eat, and the change of a short, it appears
– he was a family friend of
the Pendzhukhehs. Children would run after him and tease
him by saying:
“Abraham
Berl Klien “ Abraham Berl Klein
Nem
dem tukhes –
un layf ahin!”
Grab your ass –
and run over there!”
This
would make him go totally berserk. Summertime, during the
intense heat of Tammuz, he would manifest his insanity: he would
chase after people, throw stones, cause damage, and it was
dangerous to be in his presence. R’ Sender Sechkowicz tells of
one time that he was working with his father, Itcheh Mulyar, at
the premises of Lejzor the Baker, where there was a need to
clean off a muddy area. So Abraham Bereleh was summoned to do
the work. So he says: First, give me something to eat! So the
wife of the baker gave him something to eat. Now, he says, I
want something to drink! So he was given some sweet tea to
drink. He then vanished. He had gone up into the attic, laid
down and fell asleep. This caused Lejzor the Baker to exclaim:
“You nut, is this the way one is supposed to behave?” You are,
indeed, crazy, he replied, I conduct myself just like the
refined gentry: having finished eating and drinking
B
you lay down for a nap... Stories circulated around the
shtetl about him, just like the ones about Herschel
Ostropolyer.
One time, he tricked a gentile, in the mikva, into
emptying his sack of chopped up straw there. When the gentile
became severely angry and began to curse all Jews, he was
reproached: “Abraham-Berl, why did you do this? He replied, I
wanted for this gentile also to immerse himself in the dirty
mikva....
He either
died naturally, or perhaps the Germans also shot him in the
First World War? What were Jewish children to do without Abraham
Berl Klein?
C. Myshl the Cripple
He had a
large head of black hair, with deep, knowing eyes, a good grasp
of things and a sharp mind, and spoke Russian and Polish. He
had the body of a child with no feet. He was the son of a poor
melamed. This was a very fine, but poor family. The
father immigrated to America, but did not acquire any significant
wealth there. The wife remained alone with a houseful of
children,
intellectually endowed sons and daughters. But what is to be
done with Myshl the Cripple? He made the decision that he should
be placed sitting at the vacant location, on the road to Lomza,
where he would sing, and the officers, soldiers, gentiles and
Jews, who would be passing by will give him some sort of a
donation. He would normally beg only from the gentiles, and
especially from Russian officers: “Daitye kopiechku biednomu
kalyiku!” Please give a bit of a kopeck to a poor cripple!
He would sit there for years on end. He knew everyone
– even if they had passed
through that street only once. Children could be found sitting
around him all the time listening to his stories, his
witticisms. His brothers and sisters loved him body and soul. If
it started to rain, they would run to him, regardless of where
they happened to be, to take him home, or some sort of umbrella
to keep him covered.
A time
came when an older son in America sent ship tickets for
everyone. They did not want to make the trip, because how would
it be possible to leave Mysheleh alone? After all, he would not
be allowed to come into America. In the end, a means to get
around this was found: to have him admitted to an institution
for invalids in Bialystok for a specified sum of money. In that
location, he fell sick out of a longing for his own family and
his home town, and he died. Others told: In Bialystok, they
wanted to have him put into a circus, to show the world this
sort of phenomenon. With is sharp memory and intellect, his
singing, his storytelling, he died of emotional aggravation.
D. Bayrakh the Mute
There
were several mutes in Zambrow, one was the son of a carpenter
– a handsome lad, with
black, knowing eyes that projected sadness. One, a daughter of Podalczuk the Butcher –
a picture [of a] beautiful and
intelligent girl. So, the father returned from America with
money and made a match for his daughter with Khizok’s grandson,
a boy without means, and took them all back with him to America.
Bayrakh
the Mute was a porter. He was a strong man who had grown tall,
with a broad back, and a dark blond beard, a broad visage, with
a pair of understanding eyes. A smile was always “pouring out”
over his face, and a consistently pleasant disposition along
with that. He understood everything. He would come to worship in
the White Bet HaMedrash
– just like someone who
could speak normally. Hot having any trade skill, and being as
healthy as a horse, he became a porter. He would transport the
heaviest loads and boxed. And his house grew: a home full of
children, daughters and sons
– good-looking and capable,
but poverty exacted its toll: how could a porter support such a
family? In the city, he was treated with respect.
He
understood how to comport himself. He observed the mitzvot,
the Sabbath and Festival Holidays. In the Bet HaMedrash,
he would sway back and forth, with his tallis over his
head, just like everyone else. He would typically be accorded
the honor of Hagbah – and he would pick up and raise the
Torah scroll high into the air, look carefully at the lettering
on the parchment, and turn with it to the left and right with a
great deal of satisfaction. I can recall one time when the
shammes approached him and called him to the Torah. The reader,
a short man, a Jewish fellow who was enlightened, who would lean
on the tips of his fingers and do a little bit of a dance while
he read (he was therefore called “the dancer”), called out: “Ya’amod
R’Bayrakh, br’ Jekuthiel... and the mute man was joyous.
With great pride and happiness, he touched the edge of his tallis to the scroll, gave it a kiss, and mumbled: Mu
– hu
– hu
– hu.
The reader then recited the blessing, and the mute man mumbled
after him... everyone felt that the gabai had done a
tremendous thing, a beautiful gesture...
On time,
towards Saturday evening, he dozed off in the Bet HaMedrash,
with his mouth open. A bunch of inconsiderate pranksters shook
some tobacco snuff into his mouth. He awoke with a start, and
with damp eyes, he mumbled: Mu
– hu
– hu
– hu,
as if one were to say: Why did you do this to me? I am exhausted
from a whole week, and I grabbed a nap, is this a reason for you
to embarrass me? The balebatim took his side, apprehended
the pranksters, and began to beat them. Good-naturedly, he waved
them off with his hand, as if to say: let them go, they are just
kids, and what do they understand.... After much wandering, one
of his youngest sons finally came to Israel.
E. “Katchkeh”
There was
quite a character in the city: somewhat taller than average
height, with a large head, his face overgrown with a sparse
beard, intelligent, penetrating eyes, [who] would go walking to
the left and the right, like a duck (“katchkeh”). That is
why he was given the name “Katchkeh.” He was something of
a shlimazl in his life, constantly at work, exerting
himself, from which he derived nothing and had no talent for
anything. His father, Chaim Shmuleh Levinsky, a decent wagon
driver, lived at the Rabbi’s house, over the “Hakhnasat
Orkhim,” across from the Red Bet HaMedrash. First
off, Chaim Shmuleh had a covered wagon, and after that he ran a
passenger carriage on the Czyzew Tract.
Chaim Shmuleh was a quiet man, always having a good-natured
smile on his face, he would give charity, and would often
transport the clergy and religious personnel, such as maggidim, distinguished guests
– all without charge, and
dreamt of traveling to the Land of Israel to die there...
His
oldest son, Yossl, was killed in The First World War, on Yom
Kippur of 1914, at the battlefields near Narew and Lomza. He had
other fine children.
“Katchkeh” however, was an exception. His mouth kept going like a
turning screw, and he would verbally abuse and curse everything
in the world, and his mouth would get full of foam.
Nevertheless, he was good-natured and would immediately
commence to smile. Swearing was his sole ammunition to use
against the difficult people who exploited or made fun of him.
He would constantly be found mingling about among the wagon
drivers, giving the horses drink, and cleaning up after them.
Occasionally he would be trusted to be the driver and convey
passengers. Very early before dawn, his voice could be heard
being carried about, when he would go wake passengers for their
journey, telling the wagon drivers when was the highest time to
travel with the passengers. Not to miss the “mail bag” that goes
from Czyzew to Warsaw or Bialystok, and from Czorny Bor. Later
on, he became the “expediter” of the soda-bottles, which he
would distribute to businesses and private homes. When he was in
a good mood, it would be possible to confer with him for advice,
and take his opinion seriously. He was a decent sort, and would
share his meager pennies with the poor.
The City’s Daughter-in-Law
By
Meir Zukrowicz
|
|
It was
summer, and the year was 1893.
God’s
wrath poured itself out over our Zambrow when cholera ran
through Russia and Poland. Accordingly, we didn’t sit by idly:
we engaged in repentance, we arranged for cessations of work,
recited Tehillim for the entire day
– and none of this helped.
We began
to explore alternative means: we created a “Massage Committee,”
[consisting] of healthy young men, who would rub down the sick
with spirits, with hot water, and ply the sick with whiskey,
etc. If it helped, then it was good.
|
photo,
left: Meir Zukrowicz |
If it
didn’t help, and the illness became more aggravated, the sick
person was transferred to Moshe Schribner’s windmill on the Ostrow
Road. A sort of hospital was set up here for those who were
seriously ill, and mostly for those who never came back again. Apart from this, the
kettle in the “Hakhnasat Orkhim” was heated continuously
throughout the day, and hot water, along with spirits and
whiskey were always ready at hand, as well as other medicaments
that had been procured at no cost. It did not seem to affect the
“Massage Committee”, even though their wives wept bitterly,
fearing that their men would become infected. On Yom Kippur, the
Rabbi authorized an announcement in all places of worship:
whosoever feels weak may eat. Also, it was represented that one
should not sit shiva for a deceased person
– one also should not go to
comfort the bereaved. No minyan should assemble in the home of
the deceased, etc.
When we
young people saw that none of this was helping, and people were
falling like flies, we decided to carry out an important act: on
foot at night, they went off to Sendzewa, and silently attacked
the water mill, tore up the weir, permitting the water to flow
vigorously, and they said: with this flood of water, let the
cholera be driven away! They took along the door to the weir,
returned to Zambrow in the middle of the night, and buried it
in the cemetery....
This
too did not help, and the cholera ran rampant through the city.
Accordingly, stronger measures were then employed: all the
discarded remnants from prayer books (shamos) were
collected from the various houses of worship and study and from
private houses, they were packed into containers, and a big
funeral was organized –
to take these shamos
and bury them in the cemetery. Israel David the Shammes
led the funeral cortege. We went at night with ??? to the
cemetery. Everyone tore kriya and wept. One person
recited the “Kaddish” when the
shamos were buried.
Charity was donated –
and still it didn’t help.
At this
point, we ran to embrace a new approach on how to combat the
cholera in the city: there was a pauper girl in Zambrow, an
orphan, who was crippled, by the name of Chana Yenta. It was
decided to marry her off to an older bachelor, also some sort of
a cripple, who lisped, by the name of Velvel. He would beg
from door-to-door. And so, a wedding match was arranged between
the two. At community expense, they were both decked out in the
best finery
new clothing, new shoes, a small residence was rented for them,
completely furnished. The most dignified of the balabustas
organized the wedding, baking rolls with oil challah,
cooking fish and meat, and the wedding canopy was set up in the
cemetery. The throng was lively and energetic, and they danced
on their way back from the cemetery, and made merry for the
bride and groom, just as it is supposed to be.
And so
God saw our distress and caused the plague to desist. This
lightened the heart.
From that
time on, Chana Yenta was called the city’s “daughter-in-law.”
The community decided to give them a permanent post from which
they could make a living: she became the municipal water
carrier, and he obtained a concession to go from house to house
for solicitations, without being interfered with
– to a hundred and twenty
years.
Chana Yenta, the
city’s "daughter-in-law", was thought of for many
years in the shtetl, and was considered as one of the
“religious people” among us. She was always spoken of with
respect, because many believed that she did something
substantive in deterring the plague...
She
herself, often enlarged her own reputation, and traversed the
houses with the feeling that the city has something for which to
be grateful to her.
A Story About A Convert
By
Israel Levinsky
Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay –
Myshekeh is Going
Away...
Moshe
Granitsa (Nachman Shammes’ son) takes leave of his friends,
as
he goes off to military service (during the time of the
Russians) to serve in the Czar’s army.
Near my
home, in the house of my father-in-law, there lived R’ Yitzhak Leib
Ozdoba, with his wife Chaya Itkeh. R’ Yitzhak Leib was a grain
merchant, a very decent Jewish man, one who would accommodate
guests in his home. Each and every Sabbath would find guests
taking a meal at his table.
His wife,
Chay Itkeh, was tall in stature
–
and thin, with a nose like that of a
little bird. She was R’ Yitzhak Leib’s second wife. A son, an
only son from her first husband, was called Fishl Chaya Itkeh’s.
When a distinguished guest would happen to come to town, a
rabbi or a distinguished speaker, such a guest would take meals
for the Sabbath at the home of R’ Yitzhak Leib, who was
punctilious in his observance of the mitzvah of Hakhnasat
Orkhim, and did not let a Sabbath go by without one or two
such guests.
One time,
a young man of gentile appearance was noticed in the Red
Bet HaMedrash, who spoke a broken Yiddish like a gentile. He
said that he had been born a Christian to wealthy parents, but
convinced himself that the Jewish faith is the better one, and
he became a Jew. So his father threw him out. Since then, he
wanders about, learning what he can about being a Jew. He was
given food and drink, and righteous women brought him a white
shirt, a pair of socks, and he would sit in the Bet HaMedrash,
observing how Jews behave. Well, you can appreciate, that when
the Sabbath arrived, this guest was honored with a place for the
Sabbath at the home of R’ Yitzhak Leib Ozdwoba. He was given the
best and finest of everything. On the second Sabbath
– he again came to eat at
the home of R’ Yitzhak Leib. During the week, the balebatim,
and young folk, drew close to the convert, teaching him the
[Hebrew] alphabet, laws, and they even insisted on making an
attempt to have him called to the Torah for an aliyah. On
that Sabbath morning, when all were at worship, only I sat and
read, because I would always pray before dawn with the first
minyan. I heard some sort of a sound on the other side of
the wall. Initially, this was not clear to me, but later on I
thought it to be either a cat or a goat. When we returned from
synagogue, Chaya Itkeh shouted out: Gevalt! I have been
reduced to destitution! The armoire had been torn open: linens,
jewelry, utensils and money, 250 rubles, had been taken out...
Suspicion
first fell on the female gentile house servant who tended the
house on the Sabbath, and later we became aware that the convert
had vanished... we later found out that this convert was a
well-known thief, being sought by the police. Having been among
Jews, he had learned a little Yiddish, and also Jewish customs
and ways, and played the role of a convert...
Kometz Aleph –
Aw!
By
Mendl Cybelman
(Describing his Teachers in the Zambrow of Yore)
|
|
The
Brokker Melamed was my
first rebbe. He lived at the horse market, near the
houses of Lubin on one side and Moshe-Shmuel Golombek on the
other side. Itcheh Kossowsky was a student along with me. The
family of the rebbe was refined. He had a son who was a
revolutionary and was one of the founders of the S.S. in
Zambrow. He would hold forth with fiery speeches in the forest.
Suddenly, he vanished off to somewhere: he married, and acquired
some face in the process...
|
photo: Three Elderly
Ladies Reading from “Tzena U-Re-ena” |
Abba Leib who lived
directly across from the White Bet HaMedrash was my
second rebbe. He also had an intelligent son who took up
residence, I think, in Finland, where he served in the military.
Abba Leib was a well-prepared teacher, who also taught Hebrew
from a pamphlet, and the children loved him.
Abraham’eleh Melamed was my
third rebbe. His cheder was behind the Red Bet
HaMedrash, by the Lomza Road. He was good-natured, a
scholarly Jew, and God-fearing. He had talented children among
them, Myshl the Cripple (who is described elsewhere). His wife
was named Elkeh’leh, and was well-known in the shtetl. In
order to make a living, Abraham’eleh went off to America.
Klutsky was my fourth rebbe. He was observant and spoke only in Hebrew on the
Sabbath. He would teach us using humor: “So you think he is Myshl the Shoemaker, no, he is Moses our Teacher! So you thought
he was Ahar’eleh Nozhlak, Ahar’eleh Frontz, No
– he was Aaron the high
Priest!” His cheder was located on the premises of Lejzor
Zaks.
R’
Sender Seczkowsky describes
his teachers of yore, over sixty years ago (transcribed by R’
Israel Levinsky):
My first
melamed was Abraham Moshe the Gravedigger. He would bury
the dead. But the most significant influence on we children, was
his dealing with stillborn babies. He had a special board, as
large as a tray, on which he would lay down the little body,
wrapping it in burial shrouds, and then carried it through back
alleys –
directly to the cemetery. And we, the
children, would be sitting in the cheder, without the
rebbe, carrying on or annoying him, as he was carrying the
tiny deceased child. Abraham Moshe was of middling height but
broad-boned with a pointed gray beard and heavy eyebrows. From
time-to-time, he would instill fear in us, and in grownups
– despite the fact that he
was not a bad person and did not hit anyone. The balebatim
accorded him respect, perhaps because they knew that, sooner or
later, they would fall into his hands... I studied for several
school periods [sic: semesters] under his tutelage. This was
against my will, because my father, Itcheh Mulyar, lived not far
from the street where the synagogues and study houses were, and
Abraham Moshe the Gravedigger lived across from the Red Bet
HaMedrash, in the large courtyard where the “Hakhnasat
Orkhim” could be found. Not once did I run away from cheder,
heading to wherever my eyes looked
– and the rebbe, who
was in the city more times than in the cheder, caught me not only
once either grabbing me by the collar and dragging me like he
was dragging a corpse, back to cheder. He never hit. One
time, I became sick and was bedridden for several weeks. After
getting out of my sick bed, I finally took stock, and went off
to a different cheder, to the son-in-law of Motya, R’
Mendl Olsha, who was known to be a good teacher, and was beloved
by the children and his students truly were able to learn
proficiently. Mendl Olsha gave me a pat on the cheek, and said
to me: your father didn’t discuss your situation with me, but if
you want to learn here, then sit yourself down, and in the
meantime, audit what it is that the other children are
learning. So I sat, and repeated what all the other
children were saying. Suddenly, I felt a hard, hairy hand had grabbed me
by the collar, had picked me up, dragged me off the bench and
out of the cheder. I struggled like a fish out of water
– but it was to no avail.
The new rebbe went ashen, and didn’t utter a word. All
the children fell silent. This was my rebbe, Abraham
Moshe. He, also, didn’t say a word, but just kept dragging me...
This was
the story: when he had returned from a funeral, after burial,
the little boys told him with relish that Sender, Itcheh
Mulyar’s [son] is no longer a student with him. He already is
attending the cheder of Motya’s son-in-law. Well, he
became enraged, such a disgrace, such a betrayal! He went off
and brought me back, looking at the other children with a look
of triumph, and he said to me: “You will remain here and not go
off to any unfamiliar teachers!” To this day, a shudder runs
through me, when I recall that scene. [I remained there] until
God came to my aid and my father relocated to another street,
and in the coming semester he enrolled me in another cheder.
The new
rebbe lisped, and he would stutter whenever he would
explain something. But he was a good teacher. In his class,
boys and girls studied together. He taught us Svarbeh,
meaning the twenty-four books
– the Prophets. Also, a
teacher came in to teach us Russian for an hour a day. Because I
had a good grasp and learned quickly, the rebbe gave me
a “Nograda,” a mark of distinction: I was to rock his two baby
daughters, twins, who would always be crying out that they
wanted to be rocked. So I once rocked them so vigorously that I
overturned the cradle with the children. So an outcry ensued,
and the sound of running feet was heard, and “the boy isn’t
there, – I fled from the cheder out of fear and never came
back. After many years had gone by, when I came to visit my
father
in
Jerusalem –
he told me that this very same rebbe is living in Jerusalem, with his two daughters, the
twins. It appears that they survived the episode of the upended
cradle.
My
third
rebbe was Herschel Kooker. It was with him that I began
to study Gemara. However, a gentile interfered in this
and disrupted my study. A gentile named Kowicki lived in the
same house, who made coffins. He knew Yiddish as if he were
Jewish, and even knew blessings by heart. When he would get
liquored up, he would grab children and put them in a coffin
which was decorated with crosses, and prevented them from
getting out. The children would cry, and writhe in fear and he
would roll with laughter.
So I
transferred to learn in the elementary school yeshiva of R’ Yehoshua Gorzholczany. He was a good
rebbe, a wise Jewish
man, and he could project his influence with merely a glance.
Later on, I was taught by a melamed from
Wysokie-Mazowiecki and the Overseer was R’ Moshe-Michael, a
tall, handsome Jewish man who was strict, and who oversaw the
study of the Yeshiva students with a cane in his hand. Once, he
dozed off at the lectern, and his long beard got tangled in the
lectern. So we grabbed sealing wax, warmed it up, and poured it
onto his beard. He took out his anger on all of us. His long
cane flew over our heads, without pity. In the last stage, I
went off to study at the Yeshiva in Lomza. I would get a package
every week from home: underwear, socks, kichl, etc. But
then the “fifth year” arrived. In the yeshiva, a strike broke
out against the leadership which disbursed too meager a “weekly
stipend” to the young men of the province. One time, when the
headmasters came to give a lesson, they were refused admission,
but instead shouts were made to their faces: you take away the
best and the most attractive for yourselves, and all you do is
throw the bones to us! They became frightened and summoned the
police. The yeshiva was then shut down.
Accordingly, the out-of-town youth from the province dispersed
– each to their own home.
My father then saw that I had no particularly strong affinity
for study –
so he said to me: Well, you won’t
become a rabbi –
but at least be a decent and
honest working man....
The Political Parties
The Active Workers of the Keren Kayemet, Organizing the 6th
Bazaar of 5696 [1917]
The Zionist Movement
The Executive Committee of Keren HaYesod
A. Before The First World War
An
illegal Zionist organization existed in Zambrow, even before the
First Zionist Congress. In the first year of selling raffles
– approximately sixty to
seventy
raffles were sold in Zambrow. Also, the “aktsiehs” of the
Colonial Bank, which cost ten rubles apiece (over sixty years
ago), more than a few were sold in Zambrow. R’ Shlomo Blumrosen
stood at the head of the Zionist endeavor. With him were:
Benjamin Kagan, Abcheh Rokowsky, Israel Levinsky, Fishl
Danilewicz, Yaakov and Meir Zukrowicz, Yaakov Shy’eh Kahn, Hona
Tanenbaum, Ephraim Surowicz, Yitzhak Levinson, Greenberg (a
leather merchant), David Smoliar, Jaluka, Yom Tov Herman, Fishl
Chaya Itkeh’s (Ozdoba), Meir Meisner, Yaakov Shlomo Kukawa, the
brothers, Itcheh Fyvel and Lipa Blumrosen, etc. Young people
also were drawn to Zionism: the brothers, Berl and Abba
Finkelstein, Alter Greenwald, Fyvel Zukrowicz, Yaakov Karlinsky,
Yaakov Hershel Zukrowicz, Ziskind Sokol, Benjamin Tanenbaum,
the brothers Yochanan and Chaim Feinzilber, Chaim Skocinadek,
Fyvel Rosenthal, Yeshaya Rekant, the brothers Pinchas and Zelig
Bronack, Shlomkeh Golombek, Leibl Slowik, Israel Rokowsky,
Bezalel Rosenbaum, Mordechai Yerusalimsky, Herschel Adashko,
Abba and Noah Graewsky, Zusha Brzezinsky, et al.
Twice a
year, gatherings would take place at the homes of Shlom’keh
Blumrosen and Benjamin Kagan, work was done for Keren Kayemet,
etc. When the Fifth Zionist Congress in the year 1902 decided
to establish Keren Kayemet, and to distribute charity
boxes [sic: pushkas] into the houses of active Zionists,
R’ Israel Levinsky, and R’ Fishl Danilewicz the Melamed,
could not wait for the pushkas to arrive, which were
supposed to come to Zambrow from Berlin by way of Odessa, so for
their own account they commissioned Leibusz Garfinkel the
tinsmith (who was himself a Zionist) to make one hundred pushkas,
with a Jewish Star of David etched into the side, and nailed
them up in Zionist homes, and took care to see that they were
periodically emptied until the original blue pushkas
arrived –
after two years
– that were then turned
over to that dedicated Zionist, Yaakov Karlinsky
– to deal with their
distribution.
Young
people would come together on the Sabbath for study sessions
under the supervision of Mr. Israel Levinsky, [in] Hebrew
literature, and knowledge, reading journals, etc. We would affix
Keren Kayemet stamps to our letters. On being called for an
aliyah to the Torah in the White Bet HaMedrash,
pledges were made of donations for the benefit of the Yishuv
in the Land of Israel. On the Eve of Yom Kippur, pairs of
members were sent out in tens to all synagogues and houses of
study, also to the women's prayer rooms, to set out “platters”
near the entranceway at the time of the afternoon [sic:
Mincha] prayers “for the benefit of the Yishuv in the
Land of Israel.” A national celebration was organized in the
White Bet HaMedrash at Hanukkah time with the
participation of the hazzan and the Tyktin musicians, and
sometimes also a military orchestra. In the cheders, the teaching
of Hebrew, using principles of grammar was instituted and also
writing of articles for the Hebrew children’s periodicals. In
Bialystok, Alter Greenwald learned how to do the “Hatikvah
Dance,” and it was agreed that he should teach this to others,
so they could dance it at weddings. Activity continued with full
vigor. There were even instances of people from Zambrow
traveling to the Land of Israel and this help to raise the level
of enthusiasm further.
This went
on until the dark clouds of 1914 drew nigh. Then World War broke
out. Part of the group was mobilized. Political party activity
was disrupted and halted.
B. Zionist Endeavor Renews Itself
The Youth Committee of Keren HaYesod
Standing: Aliza Weinberg, Shlomo Rosenthal, Chaya-Sarah
Jablonsky, Mikhl Jabkowsky
Sitting: Esther-Matt’l Golombek, Zvi Slowik, Chaim-Yossl
Shafran
Hol HaMoed Passover 1926
The
“Keren HaYesod” Committee of Zambrow
During
the German occupation, 1916, the Polish Zionist Central
Committee was born in Warsaw
– after Polish Zionism had
been dependent previously on Odessa, the Russian center. Zambrow
was one of the first of the towns that affiliated itself with
the Warsaw Central Committee. It was accomplished with the
support of the staff member of “Haynt,” Mr. Goldberg, who
would come to Zambrow to visit his elderly father from the
homeless of Brisk.
The first
meeting –
at [the house of] Shlomkeh Blumrosen,
was attended by Benjamin Kagan, the brothers Aharon Leibl and
Yaakov Karlinsky, Fyvel Zukrowicz, Chaim Skocinadek, Fishl
Chaya Itkeh’s, David Smoliar, the brothers Yochanan and Chaim
Feinzilber, etc. The young people were represented by: Yitzhak
Gorodzinsky (Chava’s son), Leibchak Golombek, and Abraham
Baumkuler. The work for Keren Kayemet, the sale of
raffles, collecting membership dues, and land taxes, etc., was
renewed. However, the young people were sparingly involved. Then
the teacher Obkewicz from Warsaw arrived, the husband of Esther
Kagan, and he founded the “Tze’irei Tzion” group, manned
by these very young people. The first interim [leadership]
committee consisted of Leibchak Golombek (Chairman), A.
Baumkuler, Yaakov Jabkowsky, Israel Konopiota, Tuvia Tennenbaum
(Secretary) and Matess Gorzholczany. Gatherings usually occurred
in the school of Fyvel Zukrowicz, which was open for every form
of Zionist endeavor. Later on, it went over into its own
premises in a cellar, at the house of Shlomo Tuvia Sziniak. They
established a cooperative under the direction of Israel
Konopiota made up of the active members. During the Bolshevik
invasion in the year 1920, the Poles plundered the cooperative.
Tze’irei Tzion played an
important role in Zionist activity, and was the central source
of all the Zionist undertakings in the city. [It encompassed]
the Halutzim movement, cultural endeavors, [worked on
behalf of] the library, national demonstrations, sport and
theatre. During the time of the Bolshevik invasion, several of
the Tze’irei Tzion members “insinuated themselves” into
the municipal action committees to try and rescue something and
to stand guard. L[eibchak] Golombek, the Chairman of Tze’irei
Tzion, and of the sport club, “Maccabi” – assumed the
mandate of acting as the chief of police in Zambrow.
The
Tze’irei Tzion movement elicited much sympathy in the
circles of Zionist youth.
Tens of
young people who went to Israel can be attributed to it, and
thereby saved themselves...
Youth Parties
By
Shmuel Gutman
A. Poalei Tzion
[This
organization] once existed in Zambrow in the “fifth” year [sic:
1905]. Now it had renewed itself. At its head stood the
enlightened and educated Yehoshua Domb (today in Israel). Domb
was a Hebrew teacher, a good orator, a man of the people,
well-educated, and intelligent. With him [were] the teacher,
Nathan Smoliar, Pini Baumkuler, Garfinkel, the son of the
tinsmith, [and] among the first of the Poalei Tzion from
the year 1905, Sarniewicz, Zabludowsky, Bercheh Sokol. Among the
female members: Shifra Lifschitz, Elka Guterman, Tila Sarniewicz,
Menukha’keh Sokol (today in Israel) and others.
The
debates that took place in their club were attended by large
crowds. They would also invite in prominent speakers, such as
Zerubabel, Moshe Erem
and others. They established a youth labor organization called “Jugend”
with the help of students and former yeshiva students, among
them: Mendl Baumkuler, Herschel Smoliar, Israel Herman, Shmuel
Gutman, Yitzhak Saraczkewicz, and others. Later on, they were
joined by: Nahum Sokol, Chaya-Sarah Rekant, Rachel Greenberg,
Peshkeh Smoliar, Moshe Heitzer, Lifschitz (Shifra’s sister),
Faygl’eh Friedman, Chana Burstein, Chaya Zeitman and others.
The
senior members, such as Y. Domb, N. Smoliar and P. Baumkuler,
enhanced our level of awareness, and directed [educational]
courses and a drama studio. We put on a performance of “Dorf’s
Jung” in which Sarah Sokol and Herschel Smoliar gave
outstanding performances. After the performance, the entire
leadership committee went up on the stage and gave Sarah Sokol a
kiss and a present –
a book.
B. Tze’irei Tzion
A group
of Tze’irei Tzion with their chairman, David
Rosenthal, in the middle. |
They
occupied an important place in the city. Mostly they came from
the ranks of the families of balebatim, who had a
proletarian world-view. At their head stood: Leibchak Golombek,
Abraham Baumkuler, the brothers Yitzhak and Chaim Gorodzinsky,
David Rosenthal, Yankl Jabkowsky, the Gottliebs, Shafran,
Zukrowicz, Kaplan, and others.
Their
opponents, the Bund and Poalei Tzion, would attack
them often: how can this be a proletarian party that has no
workers in its ranks... this was a strong argument on their
part. That is, until God came to their rescue, and my brother
Mordechai, a needle trades worker, and Simcha Stern, a miller
who worked in his father’s mill joined their ranks...
Out of
there ranks, there emerged: “B’nai Tzion,” “Pirkhei
Tzion,” and later on, “HeHalutz,” the latter being
responsible for carrying out a very practical and important work
on behalf of the Land of Israel. They are to be thanked for the
tens of olim who were saved by having come to Israel
– in the difficult years.
Among these young people, the following stood out: Zvi
Zamir-Slowik, Benjamin Kszisusker, Feciner, Michael Jabkowsky,
Noah Zukrowicz, and others. With all the partisan conflicts, and
often sharp attacks of one upon the other
– we would nevertheless
live peacefully with one another, and would undertake specific
Zionist endeavors jointly.
C. The Bund
|
The
Zionist-Socialist Organization (Tz. S.) (1926) |
|
The
Bund also existed at one time in Zambrow, in the year 1905.
Now it [too] had renewed itself: at its head, stood Herschel Sendak, a former yeshiva student; the husband of Pyeh Sziniak;
the pharmacist, Szklovin, who was tragically and murderously
killed by the Poles and others. The Bund would stand
guard, combating clericalism, fighting against assimilation, but
most vigorously fighting against Zionism in all of its forms,
both left-wing and right-wing. At times, we would engage in
discussions, on the eve of the First of May, during a union
action, and other such events, but by and large we would be
antagonistic and strongly fight one against the other.
The drama
studio under Bund auspices was fully developed, and was
in possession of very good talent. They demonstrated the ability
to expend a great deal of work in connection with the Yiddish
library, which was forcibly taken out of their hands...
D. Communism
A
communist party function illegally here as well. At its head was
a certain Fishman, who worked for Kaufman the pharmacist and
became his son-in-law. Fishman was very circumspect for a long
time, and the police were unable to catch him [red-handed], that is, until the cord was torn... The principal communist
activity was being carried out by a few of the gymnasium
students, of which Herschel Smoliar stood out. XXX
[note to
jack—check if there is some text missing here] who was studying
at Goldlust’s gymnasium, and who was transformed from being a
young Poalei Tzion member into a fiery communist with a
substantial reputation in the entire Bialystok Voievode.
He spent a number of years in the Lomza Prison (Czerwoniak)177.
Later on, he went off to Byelorussia, where he served with
partisan units, being wounded a number of times. He is today the
Chairman of the Central Committee of Polish Jews.
The “Bund” Labor Party
A Group of Young Workers, with S. Gutman in the
Center
|
The Active Members of “Poalei Tzion”
|
A Group of Amateur Theater Players |
In the
“fifth year” meaning: the year 1905, labor youth in Zambrow had
differentiated itself into the S.S. and S.R. and into the “Bund”
and “Poalei Tzion.” Additionally, “anarchists” could be
found in Zambrow, and ironically
– among placid
young men, who were pleased with anarchy, with the disorder that
was to be brought into the country, by the military, the police,
and others, as a means to remove the monarch [Czar] Nicholas
[II] from the throne.
Who were
these Bundists of the year 1905 in Zambrow? To this day,
it is difficult to remember. Back then, it was said that the
revolutionary parties had certain symbols: a black shirt with a
blue sash with blue epaulettes (???)
–
would be one party: a black sash with
black epaulettes –
a second party; one side lock, the
left or the right, slightly longer, like a side-whisker
– that would be a third
party, etc.
If one
party gathered with the priest in the woods, the other would
“take over” a Bet HaMedrash and, sorry to say, force the
pious Jews to listen to them conduct their meetings. Because of
this, the police could never apprehend them. And so, a third
party would “co-opt” the “prom”, a moveable wooden bridge
on the water, which would serve as a link with Ostrowa, Szumowo,
and other places on the other side of the river, while a new
bridge was being constructed. What they would do is feign a
“sports-outing” – however what they really did was
to transport their party comrades, male and female, to some
field for a discussion, to engage in song and perhaps just to
keep each other company until late into the night... The general
name applied to all these parties was “striker” because even if
they engaged in conflict with one another, carried on
discussions, and sometimes threw each other’s transgressions at
one another – to the outside world they were united
and took up a defense of the interests of workers
wholeheartedly. The principal tool of operation was the
“strike.” This would continue to such a time that they would
make Nicholas a head and years shorter, for which purpose they
would call for a strike, by the boot maker, tailor and shoemaker
unions, by the bakers. On one occasion, they wanted to organize
a strike by the water-carriers. So Reikhl, the lady
water-carrier did not carry water for a day, and her husband,
Meir “the revolutionary,” sat in the Bet HaMedrash and
recited Tehillim. The balebatim of Zambrow then
did without Reikhl, and personally went down to the creek with a
bucket in hand... on the following morning, Reikhl again carried
water, for the same price: two buckets for a three-piece. A few
gave her a raise: two buckets for a four-piece...
The
principal “strikers” were the Bundists. They identified
with the present plight of the workers. From time-to-time, they
would invite speakers from Bialystok, Lomza, and even Warsaw.
Several young people from Zambrow worked in Warsaw and would
come home, decked out for a holiday, bringing with them an air
of life and enthusiasm, bringing new songs with them, and in the
evening, teaching them during a promenade on the roads. I
remember one particularly well, because his mother lived over
the cheder of Bercheh Sokol, where I studied, and his
brother Abraham’keh was my friend who would teach me his
brother’s new song –
that was Shmuel-Nissl (or
Shimon-Nissl) Lifschitz: a needle trades worker, picture perfect
in handsomeness, and all decked out in his black jacket, and his
black hard hat, and his lacquered cane in hand. One of his feet
was a bit shorter than the other, and for this, he wore an
elevated shoe. Girls who did tailoring were seamstresses,
sewed socks, and ordinary girls around the house would
impatiently await the Sabbath or the Festival, when Shimi-Nissl
would arrive from Warsaw. It was said that it was in the home of
Mordechai Lifschitz the wagon-driver that the Bund Committee
assembled for its meetings, and the leaders were: His daughter
(also who walked with a limp)
– an enlightened girl who
read books and made a living from making cigarettes (her son, a
pious young man –
came from Russia, and is now in
Israel), a son of Aharon Luks, a fiery young man, with black
eyes, elegantly clothed, and loved to make jokes. As best as I
can recall, the leader of the Bund (I was only six or
seven years
old at the time), as “The Gypsy Warrior” – a broad-boned healthy
young man with black gleaming eyes, a full broad face, and long
black locks. He was a harness maker who made saddles, halters
and reins for horses. He came from some Hasidic shtetl or
another, and didn’t wants to take off his Hasidic cap. He
loved to make jokes, and had a great influence on the working
youth, which is why he was given the nickname of a “warrior.”
However, since he was as swarthy as a gypsy, he was also called
a “warrior from the Gypsies”....
I
remember several times, the police conducted a search at his
location, arrested him, but afterwards let him go. They would
gather at the location of Bercheh the Melamed in the
evenings, to learn, read, and write, reading literature and take
care of the labor-oriented brochures...
With the
failure of the Russian Revolution
– the “strikers” dispersed
and fled. Part of them married, somewhere in an [obscure]
shtetl, and carried on a normal life without the revolution.
The larger part fled to America. Arranging the trip was not
particularly difficult. “Agents” would transport the “Yedinkehs”
[sic: Edinkehs], (the illegal travelers), across the
border to Prostken,
the first German town, and would get ship tickets
– either bought or sent by
a relative, and then transit through Hamburg, Antwerp or Bremen,
to America. A small part of them, later returned
– finding themselves
longing for home. The larger part of them put down roots either
in Brooklyn or Chicago, in Philadelphia or The Bronx, and they
laid the foundation for the Zambrow branch of the Workmen’s
Circle, of a Help Committee for the poor back in the Old Country
– even before The First
World War... up to recent years. It was [important] to them that every new
immigrant from Zambrow would come, and he was helped like a
brother, with employment, with a residence, with the acquisition
of citizenship papers, etc.
A. The Rejuvenated Bund
|
A Group of Left-Wing Workers Being
Addressed by Herschel Smoliar |
|
Young Men’s Socialist Movement |
|
A Group of Left-Wing Poalei-Tzion Members |
In the
years of the German occupation, 1916-1917, the “Bund”
reconstituted itself in Zambrow. A member of the “Groser-Klub”
arrived from Warsaw, called together a group of workers and
members of the intelligentsia, among them the previously
mentioned Shimi-Nissl, the pharmacist Zalman Szklovin, Herschel
Sendak, and his wife, Paya, the lawyer, Czerniawsky (from the
Maccabi leadership), Joseph Savetzky, the three talented
brothers: Eli, Abraham’keh and Itzl Rothberg, Szepsl Lifschitz,
Elkhanah Lifschitz (today in Argentina), Yitzhak Strocz, Zelik
Bakshir, and others. These immediately subscribed to the
periodical “Lebens-Fragen,” received brochures authored
by Medem,
and rented premises for their “Zukunft”-Club in the house
of Abcheh Rokowsky.
They were
very exacting and carried out the labor program with which they
were tasked. The primary initiative was cultural, to educate the
masses. Accordingly, they had was very exacting in evening
courses for workers, in the Yiddish school, and especially the
[sic: Yiddish] library, into which they put in no small part of
their heart and soul. Later on, the library was transferred to
the Tze’irei Tzion, who had become a majority in the
shtetl. The Bund had a youth group called “Zukunft,”
that would educate the children of the working class, by
teaching them, imbuing them with the spirit of the party, and
enlightening them. Apart from this, a drama club prospered under
Bund auspices for a time. From time-to-time they would
put on a play –
with success, both in morale and
financial terms. The principal activists of the drama section
were again, the previously mentioned Shimi-Nissl Lifschitz,
Joseph Savetzky and others. The party gatherings, discussions,
and literary evenings would attract a respectable audience.
During the elections to the Polish Sejm, the Municipal Council,
the community leadership, in professional or social unions, or
social institutions –
the Bund would
garner a meaningful share of the votes and had a solid position
in the shtetl.
Polish
harassment, military obligations, unemployment, need and
isolation –
all conspired to disperse the Bund,
just like all the other parties were dispersed. What little
youth there was fled. Whoever could, saved themselves by going
to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and other locations. Very few were
ably to directly reach the United States. The nationally
inspired young people chomped at the bit to get to the Land of
Israel. All of these linked themselves to the chain of the
Zambrow Help Committee activities and continue to carry on with
this sacred work of assistance, as we saw on the eve of the
[Second World] War, and after The Catastrophe.
A
significant part, the largest, of all members of these parties
together, tragically met their end before their time: in the
battlefields, in the ranks of the partisans, in the ghettos,
and in the gas-ovens of Oswiecim...
The Labor Movement
The Poalei-Tzion Movement
By
Pinchas Broder
|
A Group of Poalei-Tzion Members, with
Yehoshua Domb,
their leader, at center |
|
Young People (not identified)
|
|
A Group of Young Workers
Standing: Herschel Smoliar, Sokol, Sarniewica, Gutman
Sitting: Sokol, Mordechai Baumkuler, Menucha Sokol
|
During
the time of the German occupation, in the year 1917
approximately, the Poalei-Tzion party founded itself in
Zambrow, first as a general party that consisted of workers and
intelligentsia, and later –
it split, as was the case
in all of Poland, into a right and left-wing entity. The
left-wing Poalei-Tzion party dominated, at the head of
which stood Yehoshua Domb-Zucker (today in Israel), who was a
Hebrew-Yiddish teacher, Zabludowsky the Barber, Nathan Smoliar
the Polish-Yiddish teacher (martyred in the Warsaw Ghetto), Pini
Baumkuler, Gorfinkel, the son of the tinsmith, Sarniewicz, and
others. The Poalei-Tzion party did much to enlighten its
membership, dedicating itself to education and bringing them up,
providing substantial explanation of the political and partisan
situation, and affording the member an opportunity for
development, to find a good social milieu, and to be able to
spend every evening, Sabbath and holiday in a very homey
atmosphere of comradeship, having a glass of tea, which the lady
member Shifra Lifschitz would prepare. We would forget all of
our economic needs when we would get together there. Under the
direction of Bercheh Sokol, the spiritual leader and teacher of
folklore, the young workers learned to write Yiddish correctly,
Yiddish history, geography, etc.
From
time-to-time discussions would take place with other parties,
like the Bund, etc. The members would actively
participate, and would always learn something. From
time-to-time, we would also organize “live news events,”
speakers, parties, literary evenings, in which the membership
found a great deal of interest. Quite often we would be visited
by members of the Central Committee, such as Gershon Dua, A. Sh.
Uris, Taubenschlag, Kroll, and later on Mr. Moshe Medem, and
others. Members from Lomza would come often, as well and from
Wysokie-Mazowiecka. One time, before Passover, Mr. Zerubabel
was to come and give a literary presentation. For this, we
rented the fire-fighters premises, printed up placards, sold all
of the tickets in advance, and we all prepared to receive him
very heartily. The entire city awaited him with anticipation,
and... in the end, a telegram arrived from Warsaw: Comrade
Zerubabel will not come. This news struck us like a thunderbolt.
It subsequently became known that Polish hooligans had assaulted
him in Warsaw at the train station and wanted to cut off his
handsome beard. He refused to let them do this and fought with
them. They beat him badly, and he was unable to travel.
Zerubabel, however, kept his word, and later on, he did come to
us, and had a colossal success.
Our party
took part in the municipal elections, and the elections to the
[Polish] Sejm, as well as to the Jewish Community [Leadership].
It always was successful, and was substantively represented at
open gatherings and meetings.
We worked
a great deal on the professional front
– explaining things to the
worker, fighting for his rights at work, and for a better salary
and working conditions. The Poalei-Tzion party founded a
professional union and indeed, appointed me to publicize it and
engage in worker registration.
I was
compelled to leave Zambrow in 1919 because of the Polish
military mobilization, when it blundered into conflict with the
Bolsheviks, and I went off to America.
An Addendum
By Sh.
Gutman
At the
initiative of the Poalei-Tzion party, the organization “Jugend”
was founded in Zambrow with the help of a group of students and
former yeshiva students, in which the following took part: Mendl
Baumkuler, Herschel Smoliar, Israel Herman, Shmuel Gutman,
Yitzhak Saraczkewicz, and later, the following joined: Nahum
Sokol, Shlomo Scheinkopf, Sarah Sokol, Chaya-Sarah Rekant,
Rachel’eh Greenberg, Peshka Smoliar, Moshe Heitzer, Lifschitz (Shifra’s
little sister), Faygl’eh Friedman, Chana Burstein, Chaya Zeitman,
and others. A level of cultural activity was thus initiated
among the young workers with the more senior members of the
Poalei-Tzion intelligentsia overseeing this activity, such
as: Domb, Pini Baumkuler, and N. Smoliar, who themselves were
teachers, and were generally involved with education in the city
– in the form of the very
familiar evening courses.
A also
existed among the Poalei-Tzion youth, which would put on
small presentations quite frequently, one-act plays, and would
organize literary evening get-togethers. On one occasion, they
put on [the play] “Dorf’s Jung,” with great success.
Sarah Sokol and Herschel Smoliar stood out in this regard. The
Poalei-Tzion party, together with “Jugend,” had a very
nice headquarters location, with a warm ambience.
The Zionist Youth Movement
By Zvi
Zamir (Slowik)
A. Pirkhei Tzion
|
Committee of the United Poalei-Tzion |
It is
1917, the year of the Balfour Declaration. The Polish Jewish
community is full of excitement by the promise of our own
national homeland. The believe in the salvation of the people
enveloped masses of people
– the hope that the Jewish
people would be able to build its homeland as a free nation,
among the peoples of the earth, penetrated into all sectors of
the populace. In Zambrow, a huge public assembly was convened in
the synagogue. Throngs of the aroused marched to that premises
– and on the bima inside,
there stood the Messrs. Abraham Mizrach from Lomza, Fanusz from
Kolno. With great emotion and trembling, that spoke of the
people’s future. A fund-raising for the redemption of the people
was announced. The donations were profuse. Women took off their
jewelry and donated it to this fund. Little boys and girls
brought their meager savings
– and donated them to the
fund. Zionist fervor enveloped almost all of the residents of
the city. Youth organizations were opened, such as “Poalei-Tzion,”
in the home of Hona the Butcher, “Tze’irei Tzion” – in
the home of Aryeh Golombek,
and others. I was a lad at the time. I was studying in the
cheder of R’ Yehoshua. From morning to evening, we swam in
the sea of the Talmud, but the atmosphere of Zion
penetrated even to us, the young students. Aged 12
– we began to visit the
Zionist meetings in the city
– we felt that it was
incumbent upon us to become partners in this national endeavor
to achieve the redemption. A wondrous idea grew in the hearts of
many of the young people: let us raise up an institution of
young Zionists. A meeting was called, and the “Pirkhei Tzion”
group was established, primarily of 12-13 year-olds. The
children of the balebatim streamed to this organization,
which etched on its banner the ideal of effort on behalf of
Zion. A young people’s library was established for both Hebrew
and Yiddish. Lectures, meetings and parties were held, and from
time-to-time, a Questions and Answers meeting. During their
study of the Talmud, the students of R’ Yehoshua began to
sing Zionist songs, and they even brought Hebrew books into the
cheder. There was an extensive sense of awakening. The
temerity of these young people aroused the ire of the
ultra-orthodox ranks, most of whom were “opponents of Zion.” A
battle ensued. Parents were summoned to the Rabbi, and to all
the “Institutional Clergy” according to their station, in order
to exert influence leading to the dispersal of this group. It
was R’ Alter the Maggid who was tasked to do this
– and during his sermon
that Sabbath day, he spoke in the following language: whether
you are Zionists, or non-Zionists
– whether you are
Pirkhei Tzion, do not be those who befoul Zion
– this was directed in
opposition to desecration of the Sabbath, promenades, and
gatherings of young people. However, all of these attempts at
opposition were in vain, and day-by-day, membership in the
organization grew.
B. Herzteliya
|
The Adult Members of “HeHalutz,”
1926 in Zambrow, In
Honor of a pending Aliyah |
The
second event that drove our hearts into a storm was the Russian
Revolution. The reverberations of the revolution encouraged the
youth of the city that held a faith in the liberation of the
working classes. A schism took place among the ranks of the
young people: the dominant majority went over to ‘Jugend,’
and “Poalei-Tzion,” and part to the communists. They
concentrated a substantial number of the working class youth.
The young people’s library was transferred to them. We continued
with the work of institutionalizing Zionist youth, without
adding anything to our agenda. Our “Pirkhei Tzion”
organization continued to function for two years. At the end of
1919, before Simchat Torah, the name was changed from “Pirkhei
Tzion” to “Herzteliya,” and, in so doing, we
affiliated ourselves with the central Jewish youth group in
Poland by that name. We established a connection to the center
in Warsaw. Our movement continued to grow again. We would join
in efforts under the aegis of “Tze’irei Tzion,” and they
dedicated considerable energies and attention to the direction
and management of the young people. Yitzhak Gorodzinsky and
Aryeh Golombek would lecture us, as well as many others. A Drama
Group was organized. Many members of the group began to study
Hebrew, under the tutelage of the teacher, Alter Rothberg
–
already beginning to think even then
of making aliyah to The Land, to settle there, and live. Our
“Zionism” was non-partisan. We especially established our base
on the educated youth. In the year 1920, we sent a
representative to the Third Conclave of Herzteliya, in
the person of Mr. P. Bovarsky from Kolno. We also organized the
young people of the area around us. In the name of our branch, I
went to Wysokie-Mazowiecka, and after an effort of three days, a
“Herzteliya” group was organized there. After the
Bolshevik conquest, Aryeh Golombek, Yitzhak Gorodzinsky, and
several other members of Tze’irei Tzion, made aliyah.
The letters from Yitzhak Gorodzinsky were full of ardor, in his
description of the ambience in The Land, and were passed from
hand-to-hand among the ranks of the young people, and bolstered
our faith in Zion. I will relate here, an incident that occurred
involving me, at a memorial service held in memory of Dr.
Benjamin Herzl in 1921 on the eve of 20 Tammuz, [Tuesday, July
26]. We were standing in the street: Chaim Shafran, Shmuel
Golombek, Aryeh Levinsky, and others, and we were selling
tickets to cover the cost of the memorial event. Suddenly, a
police officer, Plawczuk, attacked us from the side, seized the
tickets and forbade us to sell them, accusing us of communist
activity. Everyone was let go, except me, because I assumed all
of the responsibility for this activity. He threw all sorts of
serious accusations in my face for this communist initiative. I
was all of 14 years old at the time. All of my explanations were
to no avail in trying to convince him otherwise. “A young
communist,” is what he called me, and with the escort of a
policeman, I was taken like a person who was a danger to the
public, to Lomza. I sat for three days in a police jail cell,
along with other people who had been accused of communist
“transgression,” until I was brought before the judge. After
explaining to him, and proving that in Lomza such an
organization also existed –
I was released. They
returned all of the confiscated materials to us. My arrest did
not instill fear in my comrades, and the work did not cease. We
participated in all of the initiatives of the adults, in
Keren Kayemet L’Israel, and especially in the activities
relating to the national education of the Jewish child. We
participated in putting on a show for Hanukkah, in the school of
Yaakov Tobiasz, at the Golombek home, on the day of 25.12.1921,
in which children appeared to sing songs, offer declamations,
and readings and presentations on the purity of the Hebrew
language. This show left a very strong impression on the young
people, and spurred us on to continue our endeavors. We
participated in the work of Keren HaYesod, in donations,
and collecting donations, and we even set up a youth committee
to deal with this matter withing the youth group, into which the
following joined: the writer of these lines, Malka Greenberg,
Chaim Shafran, Rivka Zilberstein, and my brother. We held youth
group gatherings, and we distributed explanatory information
around the houses. Mr. Tobiasz traveled, as a representative to
the Keren HaYesod Committee in Warsaw, in the year 1922,
who, together with Ravikov and Meir Zukrowicz, stood at the head
of that committee in the city.
Our work
for Keren Kayemet was one of the central activities among
the others. Our Keren Kayemet “corner” was decorated, and
arranged with all manner of good things, and there was a
permanent exhibit there, and in it, you could see the progress
of the KK"L,
its land acquisitions, tables showing its income and activities.
A special place was allocated for tables that displayed the
competitions that were periodically organized between the
various groups, in connection with increasing the income of the
KK"L.
Each and every evening, when I entered the branch premises, I
would go over to this board that displayed the competitions
– to see which group was
leading in generating revenue for the KK"L.
We were able to take first place in this activity to raise money
for the KK"L
for many years in the size of our revenue generation, ahead of
all other youth groups, and we took great pride in this.
All of
this is the legacy of a past day. These things reflected the
life in the Diaspora, and foretold a degeneration and a
finality, but none of us could foresee that our sense of the
future would be realized so rapidly, and with a cruelty so
fundamental.
C. The Tz. S. Youth Organization
Delegates of the Lomza District, to a “Herzteliya”
convention held in Zambrow
The
schism in Tze’irei Tzion, into a right and left wing, had
an influence on the sentiment of the young people. Various
attempts at definition, and explanation of ideas were initiated,
difficult conversations –
the concept of the
liberation of the human being, the synthesis of
Zionist-Socialism. Reverberations from what was going on reached
us, as to what was going on in the ranks of the labor movement
in Israel –
the founding of “Akhdut HaAvodah.”
We decided, in a stormy meeting in Sziniak’s garden (on the
Bialystok Road), based on a compelling majority, after a very
difficult conversation among the responsible parties, to
implement a change in our movement, with me at the head, and
among those following this tack
– to set up a Tz. S. Youth
Organization (in its first year, it was called “Herut”).
The minority continues for a time with “Herzteliya,”
until it fell apart.
A new era
was initiated for the group. New concepts penetrated our midst:
socialism –
a Zionist-Socialism, a working Land of
Israel, a labor movement in The Land. Working youth joined us
– needle trades, and
workers from different professions. We ceased being a movement
drawn from the balebatim. These new ideas did not weaken
the ardor that we had for work on behalf of the Land of Israel.
Publicity was distributed about our group among the Tz. S. youth
movement in Poland, as was clarified in the first national
conference (10.11.22) in the central hall (on 11 Dzika Street)
in Warsaw, in which I participated as a representative selected
by the Zambrow branch. As our movement grew, we rented a
headquarters. The list of our supporters grew: David Rosenthal,
Krupinsky, and others, and we exerted ourselves to organize
walks, performances, celebrations, and gatherings for Q&A. We
participated in the elections to the organizing assembly in
Poland with great vigor. We organized a Hebrew corner, where
Moshe Burstein was, as one of the leading workers. The objective
of this corner was: Hebrew conversation, Hebrew song, and Hebrew
reading. We subscribed to “HaTzefira,” and “HaYom”,
– the Hebrew newspapers. An unfamiliar area of endeavor entered
our ambit of concern: professional organization. Our members
were selected into professional sections. Let us remember here,
Mikhl Jabkowsky, who invested both his blood and energy into the
work of the organization as its representative to the municipal
library. On 1.5.23, the First of May celebration took place,
with the joint participation of all the socialist organizations:
Bund, Tz. S., Tze’irei Tzion, Poalei Tzion,
and communists –
in a forest outside of the city.
When news of the severe economic depression in The Land reached
us: hunger, unemployment, the abandonment of The Land by people
from our city, and emigration to America
– having two of our city
scions go insane in The Land
– we reacted by being
aghast. We walked about with a sense of oppression
– had The Abrogator
ascended over our dreams? We intensified our work on behalf of
the funds for The Land of Israel
– the gathering of working
tools for the labor fund, and Yaakov Jabkowsky stood at the head
of this initiative, and we gathered 180 thousand marks.
D. HeHalutz
Zambrow Halutzim at the Agricultural camp “Simcha,”
near Szczuczyn
We read
about the experience in the training by HeHalutz in Lomza
– and also in the midst of
our comrades, the recognition matured, of the need for such
training prior to making aliyah. At that time I was a
student at the gymnasium. At a meeting of the four friends:
Joseph Slowik, Joseph Srebrowicz, Yehuda Szklovin, and the
writer of these lines, on 29 Sivan 5684 (1924), we founded
HeHalutz, in our home, beside the flour mill. We publicized
the sign up. Young people, among them many who before they
participated in public life
– signed up full of the
zeal and will to prepare themselves for life in the Land of
Israel. We brought all of these who stood for membership into a
general meeting, and selected a HeHalutz leadership. I
was selected as the Chair, and Noah Zukrowicz
– as the secretary. We got
in contact with the central HeHalutz organization, with
the HeHalutz branch in Lomza, and we commenced activity.
By and large, the parents were not in concert with the idea that
their children would transform themselves into agricultural
workers in the Land of Israel, but in the end, they did agree,
especially in face of the strong stand of their own children. We
held the first public meeting of HeHalutz in the library
assembly hall. Pinchas Rashish came as a representative of the
central organization –
today, he is the head of
the town of Petakh Tikva. On a Friday, in the depths of a frost
and cold, was when Mr. Rashish arrived in a wagon full of wood
from Czyzew. His presentation attracted a large crowd
– young people and old
alike. After his speech, additional members signed up from
various walks of life. My room was transformed into an office
of the branch. Evening upon evening, the members would come for
discussion, clarification, song and dance. The Christians that
passed by would stand bewildered: what are they so happy about,
and what facilitated these sorts of meetings? We had evenings of
song, Oneg Shabbat parties, discussions about Hebrew literature,
history, experiences in The Land, on Kibbutzim, and collective
community life. Most of the participants did not know Hebrew. We
dedicated ourselves to the study of the language. We
participated in Keren Kayemet and Keren HaYesod,
and in the Committee for Aliyah to the Land of Israel, in
the League of Labor in The Land of Israel, and others.
E. Training
The city
residents divided themselves into two camps in regard to their
attitude and relationship towards us. One group was a group that
was supportive, believing in our mission, and being respectful
– and another group that
was derisive of the tribulations of those, believing
– that we would quickly
return from the difficult labor we found in The Land. Mordechai
Jaffa from Ganigar ???, who had a beard, came to visit us. At a
gathering of the membership, he told about The Land, the
relationship to the Arabs, and the future of the movement. Mr.
Jaffa’s personality left a strong impression on all the members.
We organized “HeHalutz HaTza’ir” headed by Mr. Aryeh
Ratszowicz, and its offspring
– “HeHalutz HeKatan.”
[It was for] little children who wanted to associate with us and
work with HeHalutz, like: Nahum Srebrowicz, Moshe
Jabkowsky, Noah Zamir, and others. The work of indoctrination
proceeded with full vigor, under the guidance of tens of
volunteer members. From the central organization in The Land of
Israel, we received the newspapers and the important publicity
materials, and we would immerse ourselves into the pioneering
and labor movement in the Land of Israel. In 1925
– training facilities were
established on property belonging to people in the Scucyn area,
Dolong, Tarki, and others. Our branch received notification on
the taking of our members for training. We knew that this was
the corridor in which they would be trained to become pioneers
in the Land of Israel. The following were signed up for
training: Ahuva Greenberg, Noah Zukrowicz, Isser Jablonka, Moshe
Burstein, Joseph Slowik, Gabriel Marmari, Daniel Kozhol, and
others. Among the Zambrow residents, a major upheaval in
sentiment took place. The derision toward [manual] labor ended.
The future of the sons was seen to be in The Land of Israel
– this was the talk that
dominated the street. It was not only once that I heard the
sounds of laughter on the occasion of departure for training.
There were escorts with song and dance. When I visited the
training camps, I found our members tanned, working from the
break of dawn to sunset. They lived in inhospitable dwellings,
the food was bad, and despite this, the spirit was good, and
there were many cultural activities that they engaged in after
work.
F. Implementation
A Tze’irei Tzion Group at a Farewell Party for their
Member, Tzivan, Immigrating to Argentina.
In the
year 1925, the first of the Halutzim were fortunate
enough to make aliyah to The Land. [These were: Aliza
Weinberg, and her brother Yekhezkiel. We put on a party at our
premises, with the participation of all members of the branch,
the organization, parents and friends. We drank toasts of L’Chaim, danced, and escorted them with their parents and a
sizeable portion of the city residents to the train station.
From there they traveled to Czyzew. In 1926, our members
returned from their training, and were also fortunate enough to
make aliyah in that same year, going to the working Kibbutz at Petakh Tikva. Our work was not in vain. The
majority lived off the land, was tied to it, and was faithful to
the tenets of the movement. Others passed on. Since that time,
forty years have gone by, and I am pleased to be able to bring
closure to a specific chapter in our lives. That is, the era of
the youth, of yearning and vision. Even after we made aliyah
to The Land, HeHalutz continued its work in Zambrow.
However, the economic depression in The Land took its toll. The
movement was choked off, and only a few loners carried on. At
the head of HeHalutz stood Zvi Goren. Chaim Zilberstein
and Abraham Ratszowicz led and directed the effort. The work of
HeHalutz, and HeHalutz HaTza’ir did not cease for
a single day. Nahum Srebrowicz, Moshe Rokowsky and others
continued with this endeavor up to the day the Nazi scourge
entered the city.
The Founding of the First HaShomer HaTza’ir
This was
at the end of the German occupation, more or less in 1917.
Nathan Smoliar, the ingratiating and enthusiastic teacher, put
on [the play] “the Little Hasmoneans,” by K. L. Silman. I
provided no small amount of help. The lead part of “Judah
Maccabi” was played with great success by his younger brother
Herschel.
This very
Herschel, of warm disposition, energetic and spicy, came to me
after a while on a Saturday afternoon, together with a friend,
who was a youth of the same age as him: they wanted to discuss
something important with me. I had not yet finished the main
Sabbath meal yet, and my father sat and was still chanting the
Sabbath zemirot. They waited a short while. When I
finally turned to them, the young Herschel conveyed to me with
great ardor: In the entire country, a major movement is coming
to life... young people are organizing themselves, it has been
committed to doing missions .... and also with us: it is a bit
of Maccabi, a bit of library work
– and then it ceased... the
older group and the mature members of the community are sitting
on their hands... it is necessary to get ourselves organized,
and there is work to do: we must organize a “HaShomer
HaTza’ir.” I was far from HaShomer HaTza’ir at that
time, and this was before it took on its left-wing character.
However, I could not withstand Herschel Smoliar’s enthusiasm,
and so we founded HaShomer HaTza’ir, the first in our
city.
Seven ???? ....
By
Ben-Zion Sendak
(At
the Founding of HeHalutz HaTza’ir)
They were
seven youngsters, almost children... on one Saturday afternoon
on 15 Iyyar 5688 (May 5, 1928), at a time when all the young
people were passing the respite of the Sabbath in walking, play
or sleep –
seven young people girded themselves,
leaving the table of their fathers and mothers, after the
zemirot, and went out into the field, over the bridge,
beside the priest’s woods. They were preceded by three adults,
from the ranks of HeHalutz, A. Raczowicz, P. Kaplan, and
Z. Gorzholczany. At their destination, the youngsters sat down
on the grass, and they were: Y. Golombek, B. Zaltzberg, Kh.
Tobiasz, Noah Slowik, Ben-Zion Sendak, Kh. Kalsznik, and A.
Kagan. Stormy exchanges had been taking place among these for
several days now.
On of the
members from Bialystok, Heilperin, wanted, with all deliberate
speed, to establish a branch of “HaShomer Leumi” here. We
took the upper hand, and in the end, we set down a foundation
for HeHalutz Hatza’ir. Witness to this were the waters
of the Jablonka River, that flowed languidly, and the trees in
the woods, that nodded with their heads. It was then that we
made the covenant with those working by the sweat of their brow
in the fields of Israel. Not much time passed, and we went off
to training at Gorkhova to Klosowo. Our comrades were not in
their fields of expertise: one
– a gymnasium student, one
a student at the trade school in Bialystok, on a student of “Takhkemoni”
and one dyer, one worked in agriculture, and two helped out
their parents. However, there was a common concept that had
captured their imagination: to get out of here quickly
– to be able to create, to
fulfill one’s self, to the Land of Israel!
Productive Work
Year
after year, this was a neglected and overlooked place. Garbage
was thrown there, and rags and remnants were scattered about,
the pigs and dogs took over the place, and they rooted about and
uncovered bones. The place was malodorous and reeked.
We, the
members of “HeHalutz Hatza’ir”, decided to demonstrate
our capacity in the city, our desire to transform a wasteland
into a flowering garden. And so we descended on this repulsive
parcel –
we removed all of the stones, cleaned
it up, whitewashed it, and cut rows into the ground
side-by-side. We planted flowers and vegetable seeds. We drove
poles into the ground and put a fence around it. We befriended
the gardeners from the Bialystok Street, and he gave us
direction. As it turned out, this was the first example of our
productive work. The garden yielded produce: carrots, beets,
radishes, onions, lettuce and cabbage. And so, the organization
of “HeHalutz HaTza’ir” arose in the city. Even those who
opposed us, respected us, and even more our intent. Let us go up
and forward and succeed.
The Events of 5689 (1929)
By
Aryeh Kossowsky
A Group of Working Youth of “The Banner of Youth”
Organization
Zionist
Zambrow was steeped in mourning. One news bulletin came on top
of the other: Haifa was destroyed, Tel Aviv was under siege, in
Jerusalem there were dead, etc., etc. “The Opponents of Zion”
raise their heads: they want to emigrate away from here
– after all, America is
open, and what will they attain in The Land of Israel? Can they
stand up to and face millions of Arabs?
A
memorial service is being arranged in the White Bet HaMedrash.
It is in memory of those who fell, being killed in The Land of
Israel. The congregation weeps. The Hazzan, wrapped in
his tallis, reads from the verses of the tehillim.
He recites the Kaddish
– choked with tears.
Bereavement settled on the place. However, from behind the bima,
suddenly a powerful voice is heard:
“Tekhezakna yedei kol akheinu,
hamekhonenim “Strengthen the hands of our brothers,
renewing
Afarot
artzeinu ba’asher heym sham!" The soil of our land, being there.”
HeHalutz, the Zionist youth
[group] did not cry and did not give up. Its hand was made even
stronger. And the blacksmith from the Ostrowa Road raises his
coal-blackened hands and shouts: Come, let us make aliyah,
let us travel to The Land of Israel. We will make war in the
gates, and if we fall –
we will know what it is we
fought for, and where we gave battle!
The “HaShomer Hatza’ir” Chapter
By
Yehuda Srebrowicz-Kaspi
Members of the HaSneh Brigade of BETAR (Brit
Trumpeldor),
at the time of the aliyah of Abraham, 1936.
The Trumpeldor Branch of HeHalutz HaTza’ir
The Adult Committee of HeHalutz HaTza’ir in Zambrow
(1926)
A Group of Young People
Standing: Rivka Zilberstein, Chaim Joseph Shafran
Sitting: Zvi Zamir, Zehava Kahn, Malka Greenberg
Young People
A Group of People from Zambrow in Israel
Standing: Noah Zukrowicz, Feldman, Moshe Burstein, Mikhl
Jabkowsky, Zvi Zamir
Sitting: Berger, Yekhezkiel Zamir, Kawior, Gabriel
Marmari, Tova Jabkowsky, Stepner
In a city
of approximately 5,000 Jews, no less than 500 young people were
organized in youth movements, with about 150 in HaShomer
HaTza’ir. The atmosphere of The Homeland pervaded everything
in the life of this HaShomer chapter. Beginning with the
songs of The Land, and the greeting of “Khazak v’Ematz,”
and ending with a basic study of the origins of the workers
movement and the geography of the Land of Israel. For the young
people that studied in the schools, run by the Polish
government, the various highways and byways of the Land of
Israel were more familiar than Polish geography. The more
relevant content to us was the “Chapter,” its songs, dances, and
the discussions we would have about life in The Land and what we
studies about it. Everything else
– life at home and in
school were excess baggage. It is no surprise that we neglected
our studies. We saw no utility in them. The central thing was to
get out to receive training for aliyah, and afterwards to
get to The Land and to live on a Kibbutz.
The
opposition of parents was to no avail. Harassment by the
officials of the school had no influence. The attraction of the
“nest” was more powerful than all of them. In three tiny rooms,
about one hundred and twenty of us children were crowded in. And
the sounds of joy and the happiness of youth would suffuse the
otherwise stultified air in the vicinity. In the largest of the
room, a stormy Hora dance would break out, involving a
chain of tens of young boys and girls, dancing with an unbridled
enthusiasm, and not stopping for hours on end. At the same time,
different groups would enter the other rooms, along with their
leaders, to discuss life in The Land, life on a Kibbutz, or
activities in connection with preparing fro a celebration, play
productions, or a trip to the camps. The camps were the good
days in our lives: preparations began many months before going
out to the camp. First and foremost was the battle that took
place at home: the worried complaints of the parents were a
constant din: this isn’t the right time, the spread of
anti-Semitism intensifies with every period, incidents of
attacks on Jews, and even very serious assaults, and acts of
murder, almost as a daily occurrence. Every time we asked
permission to go out to the camp, in the village, without
“adults,” our parents would get all shook up. And after these
miseries, the preparations began: laying in a full inventory, an
HaShomer shirt, a scarf, eating plates, a knife, sacks,
tents for each group, basins, etc. For many of us, hunger was a
permanent guest in our homes, and it was not easy to get a hold
of the few coins needed to fund the camp expenses. We donated
here to the cooperative funds that were established for this
purpose. Each child made a donation in accordance with his/her
means, and in this way needs were provided for in accordance
with the requirement. The will was strong among all, and it
overcame all obstacles. Commonly, 100 percent of the entire
group would go out to the camp. And the weeks that we spent at
the camp were like one long holiday. The order of the day was
replete with walks, team games, sports, discussions, study, and
swimming in the river, followed by evenings of song, and parties
dedicated to various subjects having to do with life in The
Land, the Labor Movement, and the Zionist Movement. The
spiritual nourishment, and the experience that suffused us, gave
us momentum for the rest of the days of the year, and kept us on
our chosen path.
Torah v’Avodah
By Zvi
Khanit
Several
students from the Yeshiva in Lomza enlisted in the Zionist
effort, and BETAR, and they founded a religious Halutz-oriented
organization,
"Torah
v'Avodah,"
in the summer of 1934. On Hol Hamoed Sukkot of 5695, the
adherents of this movement entered the movie house of Gedalia
Tykoczinsky, together with the members of the central office in
Warsaw, and announced their initiative among young people, to
create souls for a religious pioneering movement, and to take
the young people out from under the influence of the left-wing
Halutzim. Thanks to
"Torah
v'Avodah,"
a national religious initiative was undertaken in the city, with
young people going out for training, and a number of them were
even privileged to make aliyah. to the Land of Israel. To our
sorrow, many remained behind, such as Joel and Rivka Kowior,
Aryeh Satran, and others, who were lost in the Holocaust.
Zionists
By
Yaakov Garbass
People from Zambrow, in 1922, who Made Aliyah to
Israel
First
Row: A. Golombek, Abraham Baumkuler, Meir Epstein, Noah
Tykoczinsky, Joseph Golombek, Yehoshua Golombek, Joseph
Wrazhbowicz-Waxman, Davis Blumrosen.
Second
Row: Yitzhak Gorodzinsky, Malka Golombek, Zlatkeh, Zahava
Blumrosen, the wife of D. Blumrosen.
Third
Row: David Blumrosen, Israel Konopiata, Shmuel Gutman, Mr.
Gutman, Abraham Paciner
The “HeHalutz” Pioneer Group in the Year 1932
I am
moved to recollect the following from the Zionist gallery:
Mordechai Rowikow –
A dry goods storekeeper in
the marketplace (the storekeeper from Brisk). He was sunk into
Zionist work from morning to late at night. Nothing happened
without him. Every meeting, gathering, consultation, banquet
[depended on him]. He was especially punctilious with regard to
the elections to the Zionist Congress, to the Polish Sejm,
and the municipal government.
Yaakov
Kawior –
An educated man who was self-effacing
in his manner. Everyone respected him, and many availed
themselves of the opportunity to pour our the bitterness from
their hearts to him. With his refined bearing, and wise words,
he would draw not a few to the Zionist cause.
Zaydl
Rudnik –
He had a leather business at the
Kuszaren. He was learned, both in Torah and secular studies,
and advocated Zionism to the common people, who would come to
buy in his business. He embodied both Torah and decency within
himself. He was one of the best theoretical Zionists in the
shtetl.
Zalkind –
Devoted to Zionism with his mind,
flesh and life. He allocated part of his home
– the second storey
– to be used by the Zionist
Society. That was where the Zionist prayer quorum met as well.
He was the principal activist for Keren HaYesod, and the living
breath of all Zionist undertakings.
Yehuda
Koczior –
A talented public speaker. He would
travel around to the cities and towns, at the behest of the
Zionist Organization, and would give fiery speeches in support
of building up the Land of Israel. It was sufficient to indicate
on a publicity poster that Yehuda Koczior would be opening a
meeting, or would, alone, be speaking at the Bet HaMedrash,
assuring that the location would be full. Many of the olim
to Israel from Zambrow have him to thank directly, or
indirectly.
Gershon Henokh Tenenbaum
– He was one of the leaders
of Mizrahi in the shtetl. He was one of the
founders of “HeHalutz HaMizrahi.” He worked diligently in
this capacity, and was privileged to come to the Land of Israel.
Zundl
Taubman –
A son of the Mashgiach of the
Talmud Torah in Lomza, and a son-in-law of Sendak. He was a
dedicated worker for Zionism, and a role model for his members.
Yehuda
Rubinstein –
A man full of the vibrancy of
life, and a stalwart fighter for Yiddish and a strong supporter
of Hebrew. He was highly visible in [community] life.
Yehuda
Slowik –
The dedicated adherent of Keren
Kayemet and Keren HaYesod.
Yekhiel Ravinson –
He was “married
to Zionism.” He would perform all the duties: agitation,
distributing lottery tickets, distributing brochures, putting up
placards, delivering letters, sending invitations, etc. He did
all of this with his complete heart and soul.
The Tree Cut Down in its Prime
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He was
the son of Sarah Zorembsky. He was raised without a father, and
was nevertheless very capable. He was a man of many virtues,
both spiritual and physical: he was tall, imposing, refined in
his appearance –
handsome and clever. He was
educated and was fluent in several languages, speaking perfect
Polish, German, etc. He was a talented athlete, a good speaker
and lecturer, and he was beloved both in Jewish society in all
political circles, and in the non-Jewish world.
He
completed the Volksschule in Ostrowa and gymnasium
– in Zambrow. He read
extensively and engaged in self-study
– until he became a teacher
in the Zambrow military school, where he prepared junior
officers for their qualifying examinations. He was one of the
first of the leading members of “HeHalutz HaTza’ir” and
later, a commandant of Betar. In 1934, he completed a
course, with distinction, for senior instructors in Zielanka
near Warsaw, and returned as a prominent specialist in military
matters.
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Isaac Sukharewitz
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He read a
great deal in more languages,
literally swallowing up books, He would speak beautifully,
always citing metaphors and excerpts from the world literature.
He was expert in all matters pertaining to sport. He was the
principal spokesman at many political and literary gatherings.
He did
not believe that the World War was so imminent, and did not take
advantage of the means at his disposal to flee Poland. This went
on, until the Soviet authorities in Zambrow arrested him as a
formerly active Zionist, and when they retreated they did not
release him. The Nazis then “liberated” him, and later had him
killed in Auschwitz.
Levi Poziner
By
Aryeh Kossowsky
A
tailor’s son, from a working family who was an elder in “HeHalutz.”
He was ardent and committed to the ideal and was a master
tailor. He sat and sewed, teaching the young people,
incidentally, his sewing from being in “HeHalutz,” what
was it –
realization.
He fought in the battles for “HeHalutz,” knowing what to say to
the older generation and the left-wing youth with an eye set on
Moscow.
During
the events of 5689 [1929] they entered the woods of the priest
to take counsel and to make a decision: what awaits us further?
And here is Levi Poziner, taking the right to speak, and with
his entire might, he lights the flame of heroism, guarding the
flame of The Homeland, so that it never goes out
– and all of us, apostles
of that hope, break out into an enthusiastic Hora.
In the
year 1930, when the aliyah to the Land of Israel came to
a halt, and the ranks of “HeHalutz” turned politically
leftward –
he asked that the archive of “HeHalutz”
be turned over to him –
I, he said, will not sway
from this path. I will guard this glowing ember. He facilitated
many hearts this way, but himself was not privileged to make
aliyah.
A Group of Pioneers
Abraham Hershel Kagan
By M.
Burstein
He was
born in Zambrow in the year 1915 to his parents: Bilhah (from
the Burstein family) and Yaakov-Zerakh Kagan. He received his
first education in the “cheder” of his father (his father,
R’ Yaakov-Zerakh, was the school principal, studied Torah for his
entire life, was an enlightened man, knew Hebrew as it was
supposed to be, and was thoroughly versed in both religious and
secular literature, as well as being suffused through and
through with a deep nationalistic pride. In connection with
these values, he educated generations of students, suffused with
Zionist awareness, many of them privileged to attain completion
[sic: through aliyah] going to the Land, and participated
in the building of the State of Israel.)
He
studied at the Zambrow yeshiva, transferring to the “Takhkemoni”
school in Bialystok, but after two years, was compelled to
return to Zambrow, where he was accepted in the local Polish
gymnasium. His dedication to community endeavors in the youth
movement prevented him from completing his course of study, and
he left the gymnasium after completing the seventh grade,
despite the fact that he was an excellent student. He ran afoul
of the anti-Semitic spirit in the gymnasium and attempted to
fight it with all his might. On one occasion, an attempt was
made to collect funds from the students for a Polish institution
called “Bratnia Pomoc.”
He refused to contribute, and to the question posed by the
principal (a Polish priest), as to the reason for the refusal,
he simply let it be known that his father does not want him to
support an anti-Semitic organization. This knowledge created a
stir: the principal threatened him with expulsion from school,
invited his parents, because in this, he perceived a blatant
incitement, and an attempt to malign a very distinguished
institution. The parents appeared before the principal, and in
their concurrence with an article that appeared in a Zionist
newspaper in Warsaw, written in Polish in which the objectives
of the organization were discussed, for which the purposes of
the fund raising among the students was described, they
explained their refusal.
The
principal was dismayed to hear these things, and he chose to
excuse the contents of the article, arguing that it was the
product of a misunderstanding...The issue was dropped and the
threat of expulsion withdrawn.
At the
same time, he was engaged in indoctrination work among the
Jewish students, and organized a group of students named “HeHalutz
HaKatan,” that engaged in raising funds for, and the
explanation of the goals of the KK"L.
He was one of the principal activists for “HaShomer HaTza;ir”
in Vilna, and it was those [sic: in Vilna] that did not permit
him to make aliyah to the Land of Israel
– because of the important
Diaspora-based work that had been entrusted to him. He dedicated
himself to the work in the “HaShomer HaTza’ir” movement,
for which he was one of the founders of the branch in the city,
and saw in it the realization of his soul, dedicating the best
part of his energies and time to it, and stood at its head to
his last days –
the days of the Holocaust, that befell
the People of Israel there.
Mikhl Jabkowsky
By Tz.
Z.
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He was
the son of R’ Shlomo Eivnik of the Wodna Gasse,
recognized as one of the pious of the town. He was born into a
family without great means, burdened with many children, but
into a home that was suffused with spirit of Yidishkeyt,
Torah, faith in God and man, and love for the People and The
Land, as well as a love of work. The children learned the
carpenter’s trade –
helping their parents to make a
living. Mikhl entered the trade of carpentry at an early age
with the intent of making a living from it in the Land of
Israel, together with his brother Yaakov, to be separated for
long life, striving diligently with his brother in working for
the Zionist-Socialist movement in the city. He made aliyah
to the Land of Israel in 1925. He worked hard and bitterly,
often finding himself unemployed, but always satisfied and loyal
to the standard of Labor. Even under duress, he remained
dedicated and committed to “Akhdut HaAvodah” and
its institutions |
He worked in a variety of sectors, in
construction, road building, and whatever came his way
– never complaining, not
growing bitter, accepting everything amicably. In 1929 he
relocated to Petakh Tikva and started a family. He later moved
to “Kfar Azhar,” and worked very hard, together with his wife
Sarah, to establish their business. He fell ill, and after a
difficult struggle, he passed away in a sanatorium in Hadera in
1940. He was eulogized by many at his funeral, who told of his
many virtues in his voyage from the Wodna Gasse in
Zambrow to
the burial ground in Petakh Tikva.
Noah Zukrowicz
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Noah, the
son of Meir Zukrowicz, was born in 1907 in Zambrow. He received
his education at the cheder Metukan, and it was there that
he imbibed his knowledge of Tanakh and Hebrew language,
also studying Talmud. At an early age, he joined the
Zionist-Socialist movement and entered the ranks of HeHalutz
in the town. He made aliyah to The Land towards the end
of the summer of 1926 as a nineteen year-old. He went over to
Petakh Tikva to work.
He assumed the rather difficult
circumstances that he encountered at work, from a Jewish orchard
manager who was unsympathetic to Jewish labor, and was content
with his lot. In 1929 he was a twenty-two year old. He enlisted in the Haganah. During the day, he worked at hard labor, and at
night –
training with armaments, battle
tactics, both underground and out in the open. In
1936, assaults against the Jews broke out. At night,
Noah stood watch, in addition to his hard day’s
work. He was lucky in being able to get his sister
and parents into The Land. He exerted himself to
try and extract other members of his family,
though in vain.
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He worked at “Nir”
and established a distinguished family in Israel. Together with
his wife, Sarah, from the Berlin family, may she be separated for a long life, he
mastered one step after another during his life, in Kfar Ganim,
beside Petakh Tikva, educating his children with a love for The
Homeland, and the full range of the culture and its tradition.
From “Nir” he moved to Malvina where he was one of the
outstanding workers: he reached a quota of making one thousand
bricks in a single day –
he worked three normal
days, and one day as a contractor. After twenty-five years of
backbreaking labor, and he was forty-four years old
– his close friends saw fit
to have him transferred to a managerial position to the office
of tax revenue, and here as well, he rooted himself quickly into
the scene and was a wonderful role model to all the staff in his
pleasant demeanor. His aged father, a scion of a noble family in
Zambrow, a man of the Torah and good deeds, was blessed in this
son of his, who went in his ways, the ways of righteousness and
honesty, working by the strength of his hands with an innocent
heart. When he reached his fiftieth birthday, in the year 1957,
his friends at work from the office put on a party for friends
and neighbors that was full of heart during which everyone tried
to emphasize his genial nature, his love of humanity, his
affection for The Homeland, his commitment to the nation, the
modesty that he showed during his life, as well as his other
virtues. He possessed a good heart, loved to sprinkle humor into
his speech, utilizing some pleasant parable taken from the
wisdom of The Sages, literature and life itself.
His fate
was suddenly cut short. He fell victim to an incurable disease,
and passed away on 4 Shevat 5718 [January 25, 1958], and he was
only fifty-one years old.
Yekhezkiel Zamir (Son of Aryeh Slowik)
Landsleit in
Tel Aviv meet Mr. Zelig Warszawczyk
from the U.S.A.
Scions of Zambrow in Israel
He was
one of the original members of HeHalutz HaTza’ir. He
carried out all of the duties that surrounded this movement
– organization, recruiting,
disseminating publicity, distribution of “HeAtid,”
expressing [the mission of] HeHalutz, etc. He was the
first to make practical realization of aliyah, in the
year 1925. Frail and solitary, he arrived in The Land and
immediately threw himself into every sort of work that he found,
choosing, rather, from among the difficult ones: smelting,
building, carpentry, paving, and his letters were full of
encouragement and zest for life, even if he was suffering to no
small extent. When I made aliyah, a year later
– I found him to be solid,
radiant, participating in the “renaissance of socialism” and in
the meetings of the Histadrut. During the Depression, he
went over to Ness Tziona, where he was an agricultural worker,
and afterwards as a director of the work in the orchards of ???.
He excelled at his work. After a number of years, he returned to
Tel Aviv and established a family there in the midst of the
Jewish community. When work camps were established in the Negev
– he moved there from the
standpoint of participating as part of the “security”
arrangements. However, the British suspected him and released
him from this duty. He arranged for himself to obtain a position
with the Histadrut, and with the rise of the nation
– in the communications
office. He became much loved by all of his friends both at work
and in the community. However, a malignant disease struck him
suddenly, and after an inhuman amount of suffering and struggle
– he succumbed and fell, on
21 Iyyar 5721 [May 7, 1961].
Noah Zamir
He was a
dreamer from his childhood on. He was an independent laborer and
worked for others. He read and practiced a great deal. He probed
deeply into socialist and national issues. He joined HeHalutz
HaTza’ir. He was full of the stuff of life: he wrote poetry
in Hebrew and Yiddish, also he drew, loved the surroundings of
nature, and would imbue himself with The Land of Israel. For
some days, he gave up on the idea of the redemption of the
Jewish people, and immersed himself in the idea of the
redemption of all mankind, and it was here that he got involved
with the concept of communism, and he committed himself to it
with all of his soul. He was the chairman of the communist
sports organization, “Gviozdo” and on one occasion, he
was seized and sent to prison for two years in Lomza. After
suffering through this, he was released and returned to the
communist movement. With the invasion of the Red Army,
he became one of the leaders of the city. With their departure,
he attached himself to them, but was murdered en route
The Ratuszewicz Brothers
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Abraham
and Aryeh came from proletarian stock, raised in poverty and
want, but developed beautifully into the ways of Torah, and good
character, because they thirsted for the lore of the Torah,
read, practiced, and learned on their own and from their
friends. Abraham studied at yeshiva and Aryeh at cheder.
They affiliated themselves to the Israel Labor Movement at an
early age, and oriented themselves to train for aliyah.
Abraham married a woman from Bradzilow, settled down there and
continued his Zionist work. Aryeh suffered until he reached The
Land to live in it, and to rebuild it. He was unable
to find a suitable companion. He was alone all his
life. He was shy by nature and did not stand out. In
the end, he managed to get himself a position as an
army officer, but he was consumed by bitterness and
was lonely. He constantly longed for the joyous
youthful life he had in Zambrow. And one day, the
news reached us, that he had died, alone,
friendless, without a single comrade or confidant..
photo: Aryeh Ratuszewicz |
Chaim Zilberstein
He was
the son of R’ Yaakov the Hasid of Radzymin. From his
childhood on he absorbed both Hasidism and Torah. He
studied Talmud extensively in yeshiva, and along with
this, he began to delve deeply into the realm of spiritual
knowledge: the writings of Zhitlovsk, Serkin, and others. In the
process of researching sociological questions, he arrived at the
ideals of Zionism and Labor. He committed himself to the work of
the KK"L
to the point where the joke went around that he was “married” to
the KK"L.
His orations and discussions drew an audience of listeners, and
there was always something new to be heard in them, and he
always sought to base his words on something drawn from science
and research. He was in a household of suffering and bitterness
because his parents constantly objected to his chosen path,
wanting him rather to be settled and become a family man, as was
the “way of the world.” In time, he married a woman from Ostrow Mazowiecka and settled down there, but even here, he
continued with the same ardor, in his soul, for national work.
He prepared himself to make aliyah because his soul yearned for
The Land of Israel –
but he fell into the hands of the
Unclean Ones, and did not realize this....
Pessia Furmanowicz
By Tz.
Z.
A Group of Activists in the Israeli Labor
Movement 185
Standing: Ratuszewicz, Yitzhak Jakula
Sitting: Joseph Slowik, Chaim Zilberstein,
Yankl Jabkowsky, Chaim Pinchas Golombek
She was
born into a Zionist family to working parents (her father, a
glazier, her mother, a seamstress), in the year 1919. As a ten-year-old, she affiliated with HeHalutz HaTza’ir. For lack
of means, her parents could not continue to educate her. She was
a joyful person, full of life. She did not have the opportunity
to prepare for aliyah, because her oldest sister, a
teacher, was there already, and her parents did not want to be
separated from her. As a seventeen-year-old, she entered the
HeHalutz HaTza’ir Seminary, and after this she joined the
Kibbutz Tel-Chai that was in Bialystok. Her parents severed
their connections with her. She suffered, bit by bit, [and] she got
back on a normal path. In 1938, she was fortunate enough to make
aliyah, but she asked to be able to do so with her friend
Monik, who was active in the movement in Krakow, traveling there
to him, but returning after side travel to Warsaw to the
fighting Jewish organization, in the combat division of “Dror.”
In September 1942, she was sent with a seventy-man partisan unit from
the “Dror” combat battalion to the forests of Hrubieszow,
and from there she never returned.
Families
Towards the House of
Prayer
A BETAR Group in Zambrow
(Bottom): Members of Maccabi; First
on the Right:
Shepsl Lifschitz.
First
on the Left (Below): Joseph Savetzky
|
Brothers in Maccabi |
|
Mash'keh
of Korytk and Her Son, Benjamin Tenenbaum
By Israel
Levinsky
When a family
is called after the woman of the house, it is indicative that she is
a Woman of Valor. Mash’keh had a very impressive pedigree: on her
mother’s side –
a grandchild of the Lomza Rabbi, Rabbi
Benjamin Diskin, and the son of a sister to the Brisk-born Rabbi,
R’ Yehoshua Leib Diskin, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Mash’keh
would correspond with “Sonya the Rebbetzin” of Jerusalem,
which, at that time, led the entire Jerusalem orthodox community
around by the nose... On her father’s side, she was a grandchild of
the great scholar and merchant, R’ El’yeh Rosenbaum, who lived in
Warsaw. Mash’keh married a genteel young man from Kielce, Hona
Tenenbaum. As a dowry, her grandfather gave her a parcel in the
village of Korytk. However, they could not accommodate themselves to
the “aristocratic country life,” so they sold off this treasure and
relocated themselves to Zambrow. Hona Tenenbaum acquired a
concession for selling petrol from his friend, the Russian petrol
king, Chaim Cohen, together with [storage] cisterns, from which
barrels could be filled with petrol in Czorny Bor. He needed to put
up with a strong competitor in R’ Abba Rakowsky, who also had a
petrol concession from another firm. Their house became a central
point for charity-giving and social help: the sick, poor brides,
orphans, and just plain needy people would make their way to
Mash’keh for help. They had three daughters and a son, the latter being
talented, Benjamin Tenenbaum. He studied Talmud and secular studies
in Warsaw with his grandfather. He was a Hebrew-Yiddish writer and
an editor of the small periodical, “Die Kopikeh.” The
publisher, Sh. Y. Yatzkon, later founded the Warsaw-based “Haynt,”
and ejected the editor Benjamin. So Benjamin opened his own
announcement bureau, which was very popular in Warsaw. Benjamin
Tenenbaum married Zelda, the Rabbi’s daughter. Despite the fact that
the Rabbi was strenuously opposed to the match, because the groom
was a non-believer, Mash’keh’s oldest daughter, Toyba, married Yom-Tov
Herman, a retail clothing store owner. At the beginning of the First
World War, the Russians exiled him to Poltava because he shared a
confidence with his good friend, the commander of the gendarmes, that
he was hoarding coins at the time when there was a shortage of them
in the marketplace. The gendarme immediately detained him, and he
was judged to be a “provocateur.” Herman never came back again. Mash’keh’s second daughter, Miriam, was killed in Berlin, and the
third [daughter] Lieb’cheh, lives in Israel.
A Group of Young People
165 |
|
A typo
B the intent was to say S.S. |
166 |
|
The
Hebrew version of the text suggest black
shirts with red decorations. It also
identifies a collective name for both as the
strikers. |
167 |
|
See
Exodus 30:34. This is the Galbanum plant,
and has a disagreeable, bitter taste, a
peculiar, somewhat musky odor, and an
intense green scent. |
168 |
|
Roughly 12 km (7.2 miles) due north of
Zambrow. |
169 |
|
These
would be discarded texts considered too
sacred to be destroyed or burned. Some times
a special repository, called a "Genizah"
was created for this purpose. |
170 |
|
A
prominent figure in the canon of Jewish
humor. |
171 |
|
Very
likely Czyzew-Osada on the modern map of
Poland, south and slightly east of Zambrow. |
172 |
|
Employing the Yiddish metaphor of “honey and
vinegar,” implying top-notch ingredients. |
173 |
|
This
is the Hebrew name (Go out and See) for the
Pentateuch translated into Yiddish, called
the "Teitch Chumash" in Yiddish. It was
especially favored by the womenfolk, who
sometimes were not trained in reading
Hebrew. |
174 |
|
Historical accounts, of this period,
indicate that significant periods ensued,
where a power vacuum due to ambiguous
sovereignty, led to states of anarchy. |
175 |
|
Moshe
Erem (born Moshe Kazanovski on 7 August
1896, died 14 October 1978) was an Israeli
politician who served as a member of the
Knesset for several left-wing parties and
factions from 1949 until 1959, and again
from 1965 until 1969. Born in Liadi
south-eastern Belarus, in the Russian
Empire, Erem worked as a high school head
teacher in Kaunas. He made aliyah to Mandate
Palestine in 1924, and worked in building
and road construction. He joined the Poalei
Tzion movement, later becoming one of its
leading figures. |
176 |
|
The
headings on page 420 in the original appear
to have been inadvertently switched. They
are restored in the translation to where
they belong. |
177 |
|
The
True Lomza |
|
|
Remembering Lomza,
Poland before its destruction in World War
II - and a commemorative volume that
violates the truth,
by Chaim Shapiro |
|
|
This
article originally appeared in the Jewish
Observer and is also available in book form
in the ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications
Judaiscope Series. It is reprinted here with
permission |
|
|
From
Prison to the Book |
|
|
I keep
on reading: there is a photo of Herschel
Smoliar. Who is he? It turns out that,
actually, he is not from Lomza, but from
Zambrow (15.5 miles from Lomza - 25 km), but
he spent a number of years in the famous
Lomza prison for Communist activities. I
guess that makes him a Lomzer. |
|
|
But
that's not all. There is more to his "Yichus."
The party and the government of the Polish
People's Republic appointed him as head of
all the Jews in Poland. And in that
capacity, like a faithful dog, he followed
the party line to the letter, above and
beyond the letter. The Arabs were
"progressive elements" to him, Israel and
its Jews a gang of Fascists. His campaign
against Yiddishkeit and against Israel was
the most vicious in all of Poland. He did
all he could to stop Jews from leaving
Poland. He threatened the few remaining Jews
into staying to build the new Socialist
fatherland. But no decent Jew would want to
build a new life on a cemetery. (And what
was Poland, if not a huge Jewish cemetery?)
So they found a way out, in spite of Smoliar. |
|
|
Most
interesting: when things got too hot for the
Jewish Communists in Poland, Hershel Smoliar
forsook his "Socialist fatherland" and
escaped to - of all places - his "Fascist"
motherland - namely, Israel. And Mother Zion
opened her arms to welcome her renegade
sons, who had spit in her face for so long.
All those Communists who were rejected by
the party only because they were born
Jewish, found refuge in Israel - including
the widow of Berl Mark. |
|
|
http://www.tzemachdovid.org/gedolim/jo/tpersonality/lomza.html
|
|
|
I keep
on reading: there is a photo of Herschel
Smoliar. Who is he? It turns out that,
actually, he is not from Lomza, but from
Zambrow (15.5 miles from Lomza - 25 km), but
he spent a number of years in the famous
Lomza prison for Communist activities. I
guess that makes him a Lomzer. |
|
|
Most
interesting: when things got too hot for the
Jewish Communists in Poland, Hershel Smoliar
forsook his "Socialist fatherland" and
escaped to - of all places - his "Fascist"
motherland - namely, Israel. And Mother Zion
opened her arms to welcome her renegade
sons, who had spit in her face for so long.
All those Communists who were rejected by
the party only because they were born
Jewish, found refuge in Israel - including
the widow of Berl Mark. |
|
|
http://www.tzemachdovid.org/gedolim/jo/tpersonality/lomza.html
|
178 |
|
Prostki (German Prostken) is a village in
Elk County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in
northern Poland. Before 1945 the area was
part of Germany (East Prussia). |
179 |
|
Medem,
Vladimir Davidovich (1879B1923), political
leader; Marxist theorist; Bundist. Vladimir
Davidovich Medem was the main theorist of
the Jewish Labor Bund, in Russia and in the
Bund's early years in Poland, and arguably
the party's most famous and celebrated
leader. |
180 |
|
In
view of the "twinning" of Hebrew and Yiddish
names, this very likely is Leibchak Golombek. |
181 |
|
The
anthem of Zionist Labor, from the poem, "Birkat
Ha-Am" by Chaim Nachman Bialik. |
182 |
|
Translator's Note: This name appears to be
different from the name Zukrowicz. |
183 |
|
Bratnia Pomoc (English: Brotherly Help),
also known as Bratniak, is a popular Polish
students= mutual aid organization. The
first branch of Bratniak was created in 1859
at the Jagiellonian University, thirty years
later another branch was opened at the
Warsaw University. Bratnia Pomoc was
originally aimed at helping poorer students,
providing them with loans, it also supported
cheap cafeterias for those who could not
afford more expensive places. Its members
were also active in educating the population
of Polish towns and villages, preventing
them from falling prey to Russification and
Germanization. |
184 |
|
While
no specifics are given, the context suggest
the events surrounding the initial invasion
of Poland at the outbreak of WW II in
September, 1939. |
185 |
|
Although not mentioned, it appears the order
is from right to left, following Hebrew
orthography. There appears to be a name
missing for one of the seated gentlemen. |
|
|