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[Page 211]
[Page 212]
(1901 – 1989)
Translated by Shirley Zabetski
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Meir Eybeshitz z”l was a wise and well-educated man, a member of a family who produced some of the greatest people of Israel, the most famous of them being Rabbi Yonatan Eybeshitz, son of Rabbi Tzvi Eybeshitz, -
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- the rabbi of the Prague, Metz, and Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbek Jewish communities. He lived over 300 years ago and became famous due to “Ma'avak Eybeshitz”[1] in matters of Kabbalah learning. Rabbi Yonatan Eybeshitzs' influenced renowned Jewish authors, amongst them Sholem Asch (in his book “Kiddush Hashem”), and Lion Feuchtwanger (in the novel “Jew Süss”[2]). The youngest son of Rabbi Yonatan Eybeshitz, Benjamin Wolf, was a court Jew, close to authorities, and was awarded noble rank (Baron) by the empress of Austria-Hungary, Maria Theresa. His parliamentary chair has been kept until today in the main synagogue of Vienna.
Meir Eybeshitz z”l continued down his forefathers' path. He was born in 1901, in the town Chernivtsi (Bukovina). He studied business/commerce at the university in the town of Linz (Austria) and settled in Bacău (Romania) where he dedicated vast efforts to further the Zionist idea and became a “champion” in his fight against assimilation. He also acted against the interference of Romanian historical political parties in the affairs of the Jewish communities. Meir Eybeshitz was the leader of the religious Zionist “Mizrachi” political party in Bacău and a member of the national leadership of the Zionist movement “Executiva” in Romania.
In 1926, he was head of the committee that brought Ze'ev Jabotinsky and other Zionist representatives to Bacău. During the Holocaust, Meir Eybeshitz established additional Talmud-Torahs despite all hardships, helping the Jewish students that were expelled from the county villages and he fought to strengthen the Zionist movement. After the communist rise to power, Meir Eybeshitz was persecuted by the Securitate[3] guards because of his Zionist activity.
After great efforts, he succeeded in moving to Israel in 1961 and the Jewish Agency acknowledged him as a Zionist activist.
With his move to Israel, Meir Eybeshitz brought two Torah scrolls that, with his own money, he bought from his friend in the Romanian parliament, Robu, of the antisemitic Kuzists party. It isn't known from where he obtained them.
Meir Eybeshitz served as head of the department dealing with education and religion of the Jewish community in Bacău (a position he held for a long time). After his move to Israel, he continued being active in public service in Haifa, where he lived. He was very active in the religious Zionist movement until the last days of his life. He was a well-respected man. His Jewish and general knowledge was extensive, and for that he received great respect.
His wife, Clara Eybeshitz, from the house of Schnapps, raised in Bacău, finished her high school education in the same town.
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The Eybeshitz couple had 6 children. All of them received higher education: doctors, professors of natural science, chemists, mathematicians.
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Meir Eybeshitz z”l passed away in 1989, feeling that he had accomplished a great deal in support of the State of Israel, was blessed with raising an exemplary family, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters to be proud of, as if he knew that he left behind so much in our world, to his family and to his community.
Translator's footnotes
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Translated by Shirley Zabetski
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Dr. Shmuel Shabat z”l was a doctor for the poor, the children, and the Zionist pioneers and was a senior Zionist activist. He was one of the prominent and popular men of Bacău during the years 1924-1960.
He was born in the town Siret in Bukovina[1]. He studied medicine at Vienna University (Austria) in Germany and specialized in children's diseases. He devoted his life to his work with great enthusiasm. In the raging years of the Holocaust, Dr. Shmuel Shabat was also a community organizer.
Those were the years of impoverishment, persecution and forced labor for Jews. As head of the social welfare and health division of the Jewish community, Dr. Shabat set up a canteen on Leca street where a committee of Jewish women volunteered. In addition to this, poor Jews were helped financially and also with firewood during winter.
Dr. Shabat re-organized the clinic at the hospital in memory of Schuler. As a representative of the Joint[2], he set up a canteen in the Jewish school established in Bacău, for the children of Jewish refugees from Poland, Bukovina, Bessarabia, and those who returned from Transnistria[3]. As a representative of the O.S.A. organization, he founded a clinic for sick children and mothers, and a daycare for children aged three to six, where they received three meals per day. They were educated by the teacher and well-known writer, Yitzhak Shwartz-Kara.
In all of his social and Zionist activities, his wife Sofika z”l stood by him, a strong woman full of enthusiasm who passed away in 1987. Dr. Shmuel Shabat z”l moved to Israel and lived in Kibbutz Magen in the Negev, where his son Rodel was amongst the founders. Dr. Shmuel Shabat passed away in 1989 at 92 years old.
Translator's footnotes
Translated by Shirley Zabetski
The figure of Dr. Herman Aroneanu z”l became a legend. He was among the leaders of the socialist movement in Romania before 1920, together with Eli Baldiman, K. Mila, K. -
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Dobrogeanu-Gria, and Dr. Leon Galreter.
He was born in 1881 and was a victim of the labor movement oppression that was led by the then prime minister of Romania, General Averescu. Dr. Herman Aroneanu was arrested. While imprisoned, he was abused by the brutal Siguranta members[1], headed by Major Poltzer. He was tortured and tormented until his tragic death.
In exchange, Major Poltzer moved up in rank to colonel.
The murder of the fighter doctor from Bacău echoed throughout Romania and beyond. Folk songs cropped up that mourned the death of the tortured victim and said that a curse had fallen on his murderer. Indeed, Poltzer contracted leprosy and died isolated from people in general and particularly from his family members. The doctor's three sons emigrated from Romania after a few years. One of them, Gigi (Eugene), became a world-renowned jurist, pleaded in the Nuremberg Trials, and wrote several law books. The only son still alive, Dr. Marcel Aron, lives in Paris (France).
Translator's footnote
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