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Open Zionist activity began immediately following the Russian Revolution (February 1917), since the fear of the government ceased, and there was no more fear of the police. We sought to do that which was good in our eyes, and especially to convene meetings and to speak to the people about what was in our spirits. That was the main matter: to speak to the people!

To clarify, I will describe here an incident that took place before the revolution, in the summer of the year 1916… It was decided to organize a memorial for Dr. Herzl on the night of the 20^th of Tammuz. We informed each other in our small group that we would be gathering at the home of the teacher in Avigdor's house, opposite the synagogue. About ten of us male and female friends sat together, including Avraham Durchin, Sara Gloiberman, Masha Yudovitz, Chaim Finkelstein, and others. This was the first time that we talked to the gathering in Hebrew. We were all astonished that our efforts had borne fruit: we spoke about the movement and the leader in clear Hebrew, without stumbling and error. Our eyes were turned toward the windows throughout the entire period of the memorial to ensure that no policeman hat could be seen on the street. How content were we when our modest memorial concluded without mishap.

That was the way things were then, prior to the revolution. Then freedom came to the country. All the public efforts that were locked and stifled for many years burst forth in strength, calling for communal activity and serious activism.

We went to gatherings with holy trembling, as a pious Jew hastening to the house of worship to pour out his words before his Creator. I recall the first Zionist gathering in Horodok, organized in Ladezky's large hall. It was as if that hall was designated from the outset for its holy task. It stood desolate for years, with no living soul crossing its threshold. It was only with the revolution that streams of vibrant, stormy life poured into it. Anyone moved by the spirit of G-d spoke within it, even the mute among us who did not dare to utter “a few words” before the crowd. I do not recall whether the prominent householders also participated in the speeches – many of them did have a national spirit, and collaborated with us youths – or if the speeches were delivered solely by the youths.

One fact is etched in my memory: one of the young speakers uttered his words in a flurry, emitting the following words from his mouth: “The state of the Jews will not arise in one generation. Perhaps the efforts of generations will be required for this. However, finally, it will surely arise and become the safe place…”

A storm of opposition, disagreement, and bitterness of spirit broke out in the world. The community was pre-empting the conclusion… They wanted to believe that the redemption would come speedily in our times, and that the state will be served immediately, without preparation, on a silver platter. We must not forget, this was prior to the Balfour Declaration, the news of which reached Russia quite late.

We maintained contact with the central committees. Any flyer that we received evoked new waves in our stormy souls, vibrant and aspiring to national activity. An emissary, or an instructor – in our language of that time – from the headquarters would visit us from time to time. Our entire interest was to have many gatherings, to increase our activity, to become stronger publicly, to win over the opinions of the community, and to attract it to our side. This was at the head of all goals and desires. We had not yet reached a higher level of Zionist activity. The year was 1917. There was in this a sort of fulfilment of the known command of the leader, who demanded at one of the congresses: “Win over the communities!” We stormed to win over the street.

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Our opponents also did not sit with folded arms and no activity. Speakers and instructors also came to them at times, and called their listeners to war against the bourgeoisie and Zionism, with intensive language, etc. etc. … There was not an insignificant number of them in town, and their power was not small. Our town was a settlement of laborers.

We had a Zionist council locally with a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, etc. We also had an office space in a set place. Everything was as customary and accepted. It was necessary to reply to the flyers that were received, to call meetings, to keep minutes, and to set the daily agenda. In short, it was an organized chapter in all its details. Asher Zager was the chairman of the committee and Avraham Durchin, may G-d avenge his blood, was also one of the most active members of the committee.

One night, a committee meeting was held. At first, differences of opinion between Avraham Durchin and the chairman became evident, and the meeting passed in a stormy spirit. We returned home silently after the end of the meeting, each person immersed in his thoughts. We walked a long way, quiet, without uttering a word. Finally, Asher Zager turned to me and said, “You will see, Zeldin, that Durchin is a Poalei Zion [Workers of Zion] man…” These words were uttered in such a depressed spirit, as if we were, Heaven forbid, standing at the threshold of an impending disaster.

Asher Zager was a good friend, even though he was older than us and of a different social class. We appreciated him and liked him. He too returned the love, and encouraged us with his simplicity and dedication.

After some time, he went to the large Zionist convention in Petrograd. That was the first and last convention of the Zionist council in Russia. We did not have the means of sending a delegate to that important convention, and we did not even think of doing so. It was a convention of all the Zionists of Russia, and who were we, people of a small town. However, Asher Zager informed us that he was going to Petrograd for business matters (perhaps that was merely a pretext), and he wanted to participate in the convention. Nevertheless, he required the mandate of a delegate. We were very happy, and the secretary prepared an official letter of authorization for him in diplomatic terms, and signed it with a fine signature. Asher Zager was accepted as a delegate among all the delegates.

After he returned from Petrograd, a general meeting was called to hear a report on the convention. This was his desire, and we too were eager to hear what the heads and greats of Zionism had to say. His report aroused great astonishment here and there in the hall. As was known, our delegate did not have higher education, and was not among the speakers. Perhaps this was because this was a communal innovation for us: For it would only be a journalist who would look on from the side and know what was going on in the convention and what opinions were expressed there, who would be able to give a report of a national convention of this nature. The writer of these lines was sent by our chapter to the regional convention that took place sometime later in Minsk. I recall how difficult it was for me afterward to produce some sort of report of the convention to our community. Communal experience was lacking. Everything was still new, like “the work of creation.” The members from Bialystok later told me, as a joke, that Rabbi Fajans, one of the heads of Mizrachi and the chief rabbi of the city, would begin with a description of the journey and what took place in the hotel in which he was staying when he returned from the convention. He would discuss the people whom he met and what he discussed with them, and many more such things. He never would get around to the report on the congress itself.

There was another Poalei Zion party in David-Horodok. Its members were the nationalists from among the commonfolk. During that period, we did not yet have a common language with them, and there was a sort of partition between us and them, even though matters did not come to a public dispute and hatred.

A maskil [a follower of the Haskalah [Enlightenment] movement] named Papish, who was a teacher from the village of Orly, stood at the head of that movement. Through the years,

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it was said that he attained a high-level career in Russia. At that time, at the beginning of the Zionist movement, during the first year of the Russian Revolution, he stood, as had been noted, at the head of the Poalei Zion movement in town. With the sad news that Ber Borochov passed away in December 1917, the members of Poalei Zion arranged a memorial, and sat shiva as a token of mourning over the death of the teacher and dear leader.

Of course, we did not know who Ber Borochov was. We were still standing within the bounds of the pure general Zionism of Herzl without the addition of colors and without “shaatnez”^[1], to use the euphemistic term of Jabotinsky for Socialist Zionism. Things had had not reached that point yet. The doctrine of Jews as a nation had a unique way of developing, different than any nation. First, we must move the masses of Jews, weak people of the air^[2], toward a life of creativity and labor. We would first have to create a large stratum of working people within the nation – work in the literal sense of the term. This doctrine, which was watered and nurtured in the Land through the people of the Second Aliya, came to us years after the era discussed here. Then, at the beginning of the legal Zionist activity in our town, after the disbanding of the Czarist regime in Russia, and the transition from slavery to civic freedom – this was our Zionism. That is, the pure Zionism of Herzl, even though we did not call it general^[3].

News from the Land regarding the struggle of the workers for Hebrew work had not yet reached us. We knew that Zionism in the Diaspora refers to the shekel [token of membership in the Zionism movement] for the congress, the Hebrew language, and money for the Keren Kayemet – Jewish National Fund. Our concepts for the future were vague. One of the honorable people of the town remembers well that after one of the Zionist meetings, our eyes were open to this. This was Betzel – Bezalel – Yudovitz. He turned to us youth, and said, “Why are you sufficing yourselves with coins. The building of the Land and the formation of a state demand large sums, and not what you are demanding from us.” He did not say these things as a man standing at the side, but rather as a man whose heart was close to the idea, and who was also prepared to participate in its actualization. His words surprised us at that time. Apparently, he was closer to the sources than we, the youths of that time, were.

Translator's footnotes

1. A halachic term for prohibited textile mixtures of wool and linen. Here it refers to intermixture of extraneous ideas and concepts. Return
2. i.e., a luftmensch – a person whose ideas are impractical and theoretical Return
3. i.e., it was not referred to as General Zionism Return

I wish to present here, and not in general terms, something about communal life, regarding the wide-branched Zionist movement and educational institutions, from the culture and economics that marked the Jewish settlement of our town during the final ten to fifteen years prior to the Holocaust. Only now, after everything that was and is no more, can we appreciate what our dear town of David- Horodok was to us.

The Zionist movement and Hebrew culture in our town – the roots of tradition and Hebrew culture were deep in their foundation. There were quite a few Jews of David-Horodok for whom ancient Hebrew literature was not foreign. The six synagogues, centered on the Shulhof [Synagogue courtyard], symbolized that ancient culture and served as the center for the spiritual life of the fathers. Quite a few Jews who studied Torah were concentrated within them, and there were always groups of Jews attending a class in Talmud, Mishna, Ein Yaakov, or the weekly Torah portion. There was always someone who was delivering a lecture appropriate to each group.

The cheders in which the children of our town studied Torah and knowledge: There were the cheders of Reb Avraham Moshe “Der Melamed” [the Teacher] and of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak “Der Malachl” [the Angel], and the period of the modern cheder that preceded the Tarbut School. Its teachers included Yosef Begun, Chaim Katzman, Yehuda Kashtan, Yechiel Margolin, Manevitz who was the principal of the Tarbut School in 1918, Yitzchak Zeldin, and others. They all served as a strong foundation and a natural transition point to the Zionist movement and the activities of the Zionist organizations during the twenty final years. They were fertile soil for Hebrew education and the establishment of the Tarbut School in our town.

It is no wonder that the Zionist movement in our town had deep roots and broad horizons. The General Zionist Organization, Poalei Zion [Workers of Zion], and Hitachdut [The Union] were the Zionist parties. In time, youth movements and Hachshara [pioneer training] kibbutzim were also established.

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Hebrew tradition and culture based on the forefathers, the Zionist movement, the pioneering and youth movements, hundreds of students educated in the Tarbut School – all these were brought to the Land by hundreds of youths from the town and the area. Those who merited in making aliya along with those after that, and who brought their parents and family members with them, were absorbed in cities, villages, and working settlements.

However, it was not only the members of the young generation, the members of the parties and movements – the youth, who bore the yoke of the Zionist activities and the efforts for the funds. Many of the veteran Zionist activists were in their 50s or 60s, burdened with livelihood concerns. They also worked to the best of their ability for the funds, in the committee for Keren Hayesod [Foundation Fund], and the like. The merchants, shopkeepers, and tradespeople also played an active role.

It was a great source of satisfaction to us, the members of the parties, to see in our midst, in our Yeshiva, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Shapira of blessed memory, Moshe Yehuda Lifshitz of blessed memory, and Moshe Aharon Mishalov of blessed memory, who later merited to make aliya to the Land.

I will remember here one of the donors to the funds, Reb Avraham Zeev Lutzky, may G-d avenge his blood. His family was known in our town with its modest way of life. His donations for the funds were always given in a generous fashion, and beyond his means. They served for us as a support for our activities and an example for others. Reb Avraham Zeev Lutzky did not merit to make aliya to the Land – the aspiration of his soul for many years.

The members of the Keren Hayesod committee during the latter years included, among others: Shlomo Finkelstein, Pesach Pilchik, Yosef Yudovitz, Mordechai Kolozny, Tzvi Mester, Aharon Shostakovsky, Reuven Mishalov, Chaim Branchuk, Avraham Olshansky, the writer of these lines, and others.

The Committee of the Zionist Organization in David-Horodok in 1936 Seated from right to left: 1. Yosef Gloiberman, 2. Dvora Geier, 3. Chaim Branchuk, 4. Shmuel Papish, 5. Chaya Geier, 6. Berl Katz Standing: 1. Unknown, 2. Yaakov Durchin, 3. Chana Papish, 4. Berl Rimar, 5. Golda Baruchin, 6. Unknown, 7. Sonia Baruchin, 8. Yossel Moravchik, 9. Sonia Olpiner, 10. Neidos

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all the parties and youth organizations participated. Successful and unceasing competition took place in that field of activity among all the parties throughout all the latter years. Most of the factions competed with each other for the responsible positions regarding the fund.

Those in responsible positions during the final years included the scholar Yitzchak Leib Zager of blessed memory, Meir Rappaport, Chaim Kolozny, Yosef Gloiberman may G-d avenge his blood, Dvora, and others.

Our school also excelled in its educational activities and achievements for the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael.

The visits of emissaries from the Land formed a special chapter in the Zionist era of the town. Emissaries came on behalf of the funds or the parties. At such time, the Zionist tension rose to a high level, and left its impression upon communal life and the party activists. Veteran Zionists would donate and make efforts for the success of the enterprise.

Regarding this, I will relate an episode from the time of the visit of Comrade Manoach from Degania. He spent several days in our town at meetings, discussions with members, singing, and dancing. During the final moments, when he parted from the members, and the feelings of the Israeli nationalist atmosphere reached a pinnacle, Comrade Toplinky called out to him with emotion: “Comrade Manoach, to whom are you leaving us?” The visit of Meir Haezrachi of blessed memory on behalf of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael also left an impression.

The registration of the two cooperative banks in the Golden Book [of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael] was among the activities on behalf of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael.

The following were among the members of the committee of the General Zionist Organization during the final era: Reuven Mishalov, Chaim Branchuk of blessed memory, Meir Moravchik of blessed memory, Yaakov Helman, Mordechai Kolozny may G-d avenge his blood, Berl Katz may G-d avenge his blood, Tzvi Mester of blessed memory, Shoshana Gloiberman, Sonia Baruchin may G-d avenge her blood, Yosef Moravchik may G-d avenge his blood, Yaakov Yudovitz of blessed memory, Dov Rimar of blessed memory, Chernomoretz may G-d avenge his blood, Avraham Gurevitz, and others.

Coordinator's footnote

1. The author's name was in the Table of Contents, but was not included with this article. Return

The movement began in David-Horodok during the years 1919-1920, when Dr. Meir Peker served in the unit of the Polish army that was camped in the city. He was the first to organize the “People's Faction of Tzeirei Zion” in David-Horodok, a small circle of older youths full of energy and thirsting for factional and communal activity. They enthusiastically began activity.

An important turn began in the party work with the visit of Comrade Ritov in David-Horodok in 1921. His visit gave an impetus for organized work in all areas of communal life in the city. The first committee of the chapter of the party was then chosen, composed of: chairman – Yosef Lifshitz, secretary – Menachem Novak, treasurer – Yitzchak-Leib Zager, members of the committee – Baruch Slomiansky, Yaakov Cohen, and Aharon (Arke) Lifshitz.

Through the efforts of the members of the committee, Hechalutz [The Pioneer] was re-established. Most of its members belonged to the Tzeirei Zion [Youth of Zion] party. Through the leadership of the party, Hechalutz set up a Hachshara [pioneer training] group in Lisovitz in 1924, most of the members of which made aliya in 1925. The Tzeirei Zion youth group and Hechalutz Hatzair [The Young Pioneer] were organized as well that year, in 1924.

In 1924, when the party convention of Tzeirei Zion took place, there was already a well-organized chapter of the party in David-Horodok. The chairman of the local council, Comrade Yosef Lifshitz, represented the chapter at that convention.

The party was very active in the area of culture. A public meeting of the party took place almost every month. Parties, literary judgments, and publicity meetings on various topics, which took place on very frequent occasions, focused the best energies of the youth in our city, and significantly influenced the character of communal and political life. The party carried out most of the cultural activities with its own energies, and from

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time to time, also with the participation of the leaders of the headquarters. The members Yaakov Olpiner, Yaakov Cohen, and Yosef Lifshitz bore the burden of and successfully executed most of the cultural activity of the chapter.

The cultural activity of the chapter of the party spread out even further in 1925. That year, two valuable cultural enterprises were set up by the party, fulfilling a very important education mission in David-Horodok. These were the Undzer Vinkel [Our Corner] dramatic club, and the Y. L. Peretz Library.

The dramatic club earned a good reputation not only in David-Horodok itself, but also in the entire area. Its performances, which were carried out at an above average level, always attracted a large audience. The dramatic club was liquidated when most of its members made aliya to the Land.

The chapter invested great energy and much work in establishing the Y. L. Peretz library.

The first books were purchased with the money of members of the party, and the books were bound through the independent work of the members. The members spent days and nights within the walls of the library. The acquisition of each new book brought with it joy, and was a celebration for the party.

At the celebration marking the first anniversary of the founding of the library, the chairman of the library committee, Comrade Yaakov Cohen, was able to announce that 700 Yiddish, Hebrew, and Polish books were available to the readers.

Thanks to the dedication of the members and the thirst for books by the many readers, the library developed, and its collection of books grew from year to year.

With the aliya of most of the veteran active members of the party, a crisis affected the library, and there was concern over its existence. However, in 1935, a group of youths, including Kopel Moravchik, Chaim Moravchik, Chaim Farber, and Tzvi Shklaver as the head, took over the running of the library. The library again began to flourish and develop. The circle of readers grew from day to day, and new books from the finest of Yiddish, Hebrew, and Polish literature were added to the library every month.

The library was closed with the entry of the Soviets to our town. The library and archives were destroyed during the years of German Nazi occupation, along with all the Jews of the city.

The unification of Tzeirei Zion with Poalei Zion [Workers of Zion], which took place in 1926 in Poland, was barely felt in David-Horodok. There was no Poalei Zion chapter in the city, and therefore there was no organization with which to unify. Y. L. Zager was the delegate to the district convention of Poalei Zion (left leaning) in Pinsk, which was set up after the unification.

That year, a youth organization of the Freiheit [Freedom] party was founded in the city. It quickly gathered in the youth of all the classes of workers in the city. Freiheit conducted worthwhile educational work amongst the working youth, and many of its members made aliya to the Land after some time.

The extent of the growth of the influence of the party can be seen from results of the first elections to the city council of David-Horodok that took place in 1926. From among the eight Jews who were elected to the city council, there were three representatives of Poalei Zion (left leaning): Yosef Lifshitz, Shmaryahu Reznik, and Tzvi-Aryeh Zipin.

The participation of the members of Poalei Zion (left leaning) in the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [Jewish National Fund (Israel)] and Keren Hayesod [Foundation Fund] was large and great. The activities in the funds were expressed in the daily work of gathering money as well as in the leadership of the funds. The party was very active, and was the life force of the League for Workers in the Land of Israel.

In 1934, Haoved [The Worker] was created by the party. It was active among the tradespeople of the city, and organized them for aliya.

The League list reached 60% of the voters in the elections to the Zionist congresses.

Delegates of the chapter of David-Horodok participated regularly in the national conventions of the party as well as of the League. The daily agenda of the convention served as a topic of deliberations in meetings of the chapter before and after the conventions.

In 1935, a Hachshara group was organized in David-Horodok as a chapter of the Hachshara group of Klisov. The group had 25 people. The female members worked in home economics, and the males in all sorts of heavy labor in the city. To our great dismay, the group was not able to maintain its stance in the city due to a lack of work.

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The activities of the party weakened to a noticeable degree after most of the activists made aliya to the Land. However, within a short period, they overcame the crisis in the chapter, and the members Y. L. Zager and Shmuel Zezik, who headed the party activity at the time, succeeded in organizing anew regular activity of the chapter.

In the elections for the communal council in 1938, Poalei Zion (left leaning) appeared on a joint list with the tradespeople. The veteran member of the party, Y. L. Zager, was at the head of the list. His integrity, honesty in action, and scrupulousness were well-known in the city. There was every chance that this list would attain a decisive majority in those elections. However, the district governor (Starosta) of Stolin invalidated the list literally at the last minute, without giving a reason. Thus, the possibility of the party directing the communal affairs in the city was ruined.

The fascist regime of Poland did not look kindly upon the development of the party in a border city such as David-Horodok, and the members of Poalei Zion (left leaning) also suffered in the final period (before the Second World War) from persecution by the police.

When the Soviets arrived in the city at the beginning of the Second World War, the party work ceased entirely, and its finest activists were imprisoned by the N.K.G.B.

At this juncture, we have a duty to recall the veteran, active member of the party, Aharon (Arke) Lifshitz, who was imprisoned by the N.K.G.B. and died in a Soviet concentration camp. Honor to his memory.

Party members Mendel Kravchik, Kopel Moravchik (today Yaakov Mor), and Shmuel Zezik, who were imprisoned at that time, succeeded in surviving their period of imprisonment in Soviet Russia, and made aliya to the Land after the Second World War.

Translator's footnote

1. The Poalei Zion organization split into a left leaning and right leaning branch at one point. Return

It was a notebook that was not thick, covered in blue, traveling “the journey of forgiveness”^[1] from the Land of Israel to the Diaspora. It arrived in the town one day at the beginning of the 1920s.

The notebook, in which political surveys and plans are described, is an overflowing treasury that was revealed incidentally. We perused that notebook, and poured through it, and everything became clear to us: the numbers, the professional concepts, the awakenings, the vision. We felt: This is it!

So perhaps it is worthwhile to tell about it according to the [chronological] order.

The Balfour Declaration was now celebrating its fifth anniversary. The mandate of the Land of Israel, which was set up “to establish a national homeland for the Jews in the Land of Israel” was certified by “fifty-two nations.” However, the honeymoon in the Land of Israel was quickly severed, and reddened with the blood of Trumpeldor and his comrades, with the blood of Brenner and his comrades. Aliya to the Land of Israel was restricted by a command of “the first high commissioner of Judea.” The weekdays, the six gray days of toil, arrived. The situation stalled, delayed – what was delayed in coming! These that were going to happen, how mistaken were the visions and the dreams of the kingdom of Israel to the point of drunkenness and personal forgetfulness: Some were perplexed and afflicted with somnolence regarding the dream of redemption that had been killed, and the sanctity that had been violated. There were also those who suddenly saw that the prophesied ideals that they had woven and about which they had preached for some time already, those ideals will no longer be recognized in their place in secular life.

On the other hand, not far from the town – there was a border and a sign: Proletariat of all the lands, unite! Not long ago, thunder thundered from there, and reached the town: Comrade: a new world: Long live Socialism: Brothers, a strong Socialist and human “earthquake.” Dams have been burst. Joy. Perplexity. A feeling of the end of days and the beginning of days. Hunger for bread, and hunger for life. One sixtieth of the redemption, and its birth pangs are like the birth pangs of the Messiah. Thick darkness, and you do not know what will happen the next day, until, one autumn day, the flag of “Independent Poland” spreads over the town.

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And suddenly – from one side, the east of Poland, there is the town: from the other side – western Byelorussia. East-not-east, west-not-west, a remote corner next to borders, cut off from yesterday, cut off from today, an in-between creation in the space of the world.

That was the geographical mark of the town on the world map. And its history?

Ask the wind, and it will tell you. Do not ask the boys and girls of the town, for whomever wanders through its streets, alleyways, paths, and hiding places; whomever dips in the golden fields decorating it all around: whomever wanders in its green groves; whomever wades in the waters of its rivers lapping at the edge of its ground; whomever knew their residence, their names: their family trees, their worries, their joys, secrets, from inside; whomever saw the sun and the color of the sky for the first time there – the eternity of their life and the eternity of the city, and the images of its people are one. Before you is everything, after you there will be everything.

And I will recall my sins: Even today I do not know who, how, and when this town arose, and what the name David-Horodok means (“The City of David”?). Even to this day, I do not know how to classify its Jews by type. Its classes and social formations are fenced in. I will recall one thing: very many of them were toiling folk. Behold my neighbor on the right, the one on the left, and those on such-and-such a street, and on a certain lane. Here are the apprentices of Herzl the carpenter and Eizik the smith: I saw them while they were still apprentices, aspiring to become independent tradespeople. Here are the up-and-coming tailors, builders, locksmiths, and store assistants. Here are the friends of Pandry^[2], the butchers, and the wagon drivers. Here is the eternal shamash [beadle], bowing on his knees before every wealthy person and every mitzvah. Not few were the numbers of householders, half wealthy people, clergy, and shopkeepers. These and those “measured” the streets with their feet, feet that were lacking in work. They went around idly, looking for employment and support in life.

It seems that the town was frothing toward a social revolution, frothing indeed. A small group of wealthy people, a number of youths, and a large mass of people, each to his trade, people in difficult circumstances, and indigents. Some were petite bourgeoisie, others were proletariat, and others were of the unrestricted class. Apparently, the Marxist doctrine did not particularly resonate with the Jews of the town. The Jews of those social classes basked in the shade of the “higher structure” – and some became involved with Zionism, some with Socialism, and some with the “strategic basis” of the town, and lived as they lived. Indeed, it was no coincidence that living here at the beginning of the century were Yishai Y. S. Adler, and A. Litvak, one with his “Hebrew in Hebrew”^[3] and the other with his Bundism, heresy and revolt. It was not in vain, that the bells of revolution and the news of Zion pealed forth in the year 1917. A trace of this was absorbed and gained followers, supporters, and like thinkers.

Nevertheless, the town was Zionist. Despite the anti-Zionist sprouts of Bundism and Communism, despite the community of Hassidim and the abundance of rabbis, despite the rage of America that swept up everyone. For there was nothing other than Zionism, even if it was the supernal Zionism, of Sabbaths and festivals, of activity, mitzvot, and scholarly individuals.

Within the community of Zionists, there was a group of youths, friends for progress, complaints, thoughts, and dreams. It was a variegated group. One was the son of the butcher; another was the son of a merchant and communal administrator; one was the son of a smith and another from a wealthy family. One was the son of an agent, the apprentice of a carpenter, a watchmaker, and a bookkeeper. Some were destined to be students, and salespeople in the shop of their parents. There were about thirteen other such “pairs.” The circle was completed by girls, who also had their family trees, friends, and friends of friends who walked in the paths of the time, knowing wars, revolutions, and changes of regimes. They were surrounded by the boredom and routine of the town, sated with the doctrine of Zionism, searching for a grasp upon the future.

In those days, the notebook arrived.

The notebook opened as follows:

“The old social group and the old culture is tottering, not to arise again. Humanity bound in fetters is struggling with its material difficulties and traditional shame. In the bosom of labor, new creative forces are bursting forth and growing, calling for the final battle against the rule of the classes and social inequality.

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“And now, in the era of social revolution and national revolutionary change, the struggle between the world of yesterday and the world that is bursting forth and rising – specifically now, the pressures on the masses of the House of Israel have increased and reached their pinnacle. The realities of the exile, the dependence upon foreign soil, foreign economy, foreign culture, and the benevolence of strangers – have now become exposed in their full tragedy.” Furthermore:

“With the victory of the Socialist movement, the forces that will also lead to the liberation of the Jews are also rising and strengthening. With the victory of the international proletariat comes the hope for the redemption of Israel. The hope is not in heaven, and not in the bosom of the distant future.

“To become the active force, the primary forger in the process of the upbuilding of the Land of Israel, and the settling of the masses of the people on Socialist foundations – that is the goal of the Jewish proletariat.”

We will leave our group of youths for a little while. Let us read the notebook. It is quite necessary for them. Necessary, and not only for one hour. We will yet see its readers moved, enthusiastic, reluctant, and the cycle repeats. Now, we will unite a bit with the notebook and its writers.

When the historian comes to talk about the era, he will not pass over the notebook. He will relate approximately as follows:

In July-September 1918, emissaries of the world covenant of Poalei Zion gathered in the city of Stockholm for their convention. They decided to send a delegation to the Land in order to construct a plan of activities for the future.

These emissaries certainly knew: the time was a time of the “birth of the world.” The year 1919 in the world at large and the Jewish world. The path to redemption is not paved with roses. Life is tottering and life is being built. From the enthusiasm one can establish a new, different world. The great hour is also knocking at the doors of the Jewish world. Every moment is precious, and is not to be wasted. The historian will certainly add:

After two years, a schism arose within those camps. “The era of social revolution” slowly evaporated from them, and disappeared from them completely with the passage of years. And those – the “strength of all energies” was deferred to the end of days, with the belief that the stychic^[4] forces will break through the circle on their own, and will pave the way for mass settlement, etc.” As the years go on, they will return from casting their desires solely upon the historical process. New forces from here will lead to the realization of the task. They will warn the new “heirs” who are making efforts in old doctrines. However, in the interim, in the year 1919, this camp was complete. The committee set out to its desired place.

And when it came, among its members were – economists, communal workers, villagers, activists working in the city, writers, teachers, and others – “a brain trust” in the entire country placed itself at the disposal of the committee. The committee researched, inquired, deliberated, built, and bound its statements in a notebook with the prosaic, official name: “The Work for the Land of Israel.”

The notebook reached the Diaspora in the language of the Diaspora, in Yiddish.

What was the notebook, and what was it not?

A Bible and not a Bible. New “Knowledge of Palestine,” different from that in the usual Zionist booklets. Resonance of the soil emanated from it, the color of soil, literal ground. Zionism such as this, vibrant, the voice of the past, the voice of the era,

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and vision of the future. And cruelty. Only people connected in their vision to life and death. Only great believers enveloped in several covers of romantic and delusion, itching with wounds but not being concerned about it, imbued with trust, faith, and love.

The “researchers” related, proved, demanded, and encouraged. Our readers read.

Suddenly, the veil was lifted from Petah Tikva, Rishon LeZion, Ness Ziona, and others – from all that photographed and drawn romanticism that was once common on actual images decorated with verses from Isaiah and Amos. The sounds of Ya Ha Li Li, Mechorati, and Am Shachar, Ura, Yeled Chen^[5] – which symbolized the closing of the paths of the sea and land, came to the town and were sung with devotion in the gloom of the twilight in the cheder, in a shady grove, or on a lovely boat on the water – were lowered. The Biluists, the Colonists, those who conquered the desolation and the bogs, consumed by fever and planters of trees – this entire great epic that had not yet been written, but was guarded in the depths of the heart – this epic lost its luster. New hymns were heard: Jewish effendis^[6], apologizing, confiscating workers and liquidating workers, violators of the dream of the Hebrew village, of Hebrew work. That is the type of thing that the notebook described.

The readers – “One by one without seeing” were moved, became agitated, and struggled as if in a nightmare. And there were also those who thought that this must be a jest, a pernicious joke to distract and to foment discord: perhaps a new incarnation of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza^[7], and what remained of the hope was as if hanging by a thread.

But behold, there was a bit of comfort. Small beginnings, simple hints. “A group.” “A cell of a Socialist group in the Land of Israel.” Such an exotic creation, but it was tangible, with a future and a hope. Revolt, work, equality, the battle of the classes, brotherhood between nations – under the blue skies and upon the desolate ground. Our tiny Socialist revolution, with our own hands, for us. We jumped up as if Bialik, Gorky, A.D. Gordon, Herzl, Peretz, Tchernichovsky, Borochov, and Lenin all together jumped into the lines of the publicity prose forged into the book, blended into the plan, and stood on the birthstool.

Our youths became enthusiastic once again for news of a different life – they were enthusiastic and afraid of it. They were revolted in a state of stagnation and emptiness, and they did not gird the strength to break it. They certainly understood revolution, a change of values, the creation of something new. These were true, certainly true, but they could not make peace with the fact that this was the reality. They were pursuers of newness, being eaten up by traditionalism and gnawed by doubts. They breathed that atmosphere, and absorbed it to their innards, the Socialist reality, “the voice of the blood” – was not easily given up.

And the covenant was forged… The members gathered “far from the city,” at the side of the slope, in the shadow of the tall, thick trees that formed a canopy over the Jewish cemetery. Unintentionally, the place was a symbol of connection, continuity, revolt, life. There, the “brothers and sisters” who were rising to revolt against the regime gathered before, after and during the year 1905. There they learned the doctrine of parades, revolutionary songs. There they learned the art of the gun. From there, one by one, they returned to their houses, their dreams, their battles, along tortuous routes, for a little respite and free time. Our group of youths gathered there on one Sabbath morning.

This time, without saying anything, it is summed up: this is it! “The revolt” was planned in all its details and particulars: the conquest of the local Zionist chapter and turning it into a Socialist-Zionist chapter. Tasks were allocated. The participants were informed with decisive debate. The candidates for the new committee were determined. The activities for the near future were outlined, etc.

And when we dispersed, we knew, indeed, these were comrades in a “revolt.” They were rebelling against their past and present. They were rebelling against their parents and against themselves. They were aroused, people aroused late, who had been consumed during the times of dispute and frightful civil war, but they were aroused, renewed, enthusiastic. The way opened: from the movement to Poalei Zion, Hechalutz, Freiheit, a Hachshara kibbutz, a Y.L. Peretz Library, communal activities in the explicit name of Socialist Zionism, even the beginnings of aliya to the Land. In their paths and following them – Hashomer Hatzair, and others, which existed, burst forth, and were vibrant in all the Jewish towns of Poland. This also took place in our town.

Each person from the first group, with their bags packed for the journey to the Land of Israel. In them were bound precious, vibrating papers of the notebook, with a blue cover.

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Now I stumbled across the notebook by chance. I found it among other precious personal belongings, belongings that everyone hid from onlookers and themselves for some reason. I stumbled across it, and read it for the second time. I saw: many of the members of that committee, as well as their assistants and advisors, had passed away: N. Sirkin, A. Ribotsky, B. Katznelson, D. Ramaz, Ch. Kalvarisky, A. Ettinger, M. Wilbushevitz, and others. Some of those captains are now in Israel and in the State of Israel. Who knows whether this notebook is to them a reminder of the sins of their youth, a reminder of iniquity. Only isolated ones maintain their faith now as it was then, for the era was an era of social revolution, and there was oppression of Jews, etc.

And the notebook itself: it was truth and vision, straightforward and a dream, the flame of the youthful era in the world. Its prose is poetry, and its dream – reality. Its recommendations are reality, and its realities are better than its recommendations. I said that it would be appropriate to attribute a soul to that notebook, for it was a sort of “brief course” for a great many people in the Jewish towns of Poland regarding a very broad topic, longer than the exile, like the length of oppression and slavery in the world, like the length of the faith in good, the hope of the struggling and building man.

Translator's footnotes

1. I am unsure of the meaning of this mysterious phrase, but it seems to relate (and uses similar terms) to the tradition that the bodies of those Jews buried in the Diaspora will make the journey (i.e. roll through tunnels) to Israel prior to the Resurrection. In this case, the notebook is going in the opposite direction. Return
2. Seemingly a reference to “Pandry Hagibor” [Pandry the Hero], also known as Noach Pandera, a Yiddish novel by Zalkind-Zalman Shneur. Return
3. A methodology for teaching Hebrew by using only Hebrew in the classroom. Return
4. The term “stychic” means natural, objective, or dynamic, and is part of Jewish Socialist terminology. Return
5. These seem to be old-time Zionistic songs. Return
6. A man of high social status as a result of wealth, education, or position in government. Return
7. A reference to the Talmudic legend regarding the cause of the destruction of the Second Temple, based on baseless hatred between Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. See Tractate Gittin 57a. Return

The foundations for the life of the youth organized into its organizations was laid in the school. From there and onward, the path is known. That is: the pioneering path to the Land of Israel.

Seemingly, everything was usual and straightforward as it was in many cities and other countries of Eastern Europe.

However, there was something about the youth in our town that was unique. They attempted to forge their path in life with their own energies for they did not want to follow the paths of the parents.

Grade 7 of the Tarbut School with the teacher Blumenkof (Ben-Yosef) in 1931

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By the time they were of school age, the youth spent most of their time outside their parents' houses. That is what imprinted its stamp upon communal life of the entire city.

The history of the youth in the small towns of Poland has not yet been written. If that chapter of history will ever be written, it will be possible to choose the youth of David-Horodok to serve as an example and material for the research that will be done.

Almost all the youth were organized into various organizations and groups. Most of them were pioneering organizations and groups of the Zionist Movement. Hashomer Hatzair [Young Watchmen] was the largest in size. The local Hechalutz [The Pioneer] was the largest in scope and activity.

Even though the aims of the Zionist movements were different than the others, the common thread among them was revolt against the present and the desire to set up new imprints for the Jewish people.

The paths that lead to that goal were many, however, the central path was that of Hechalutz, even though that path was more difficult than all of them.

The male and female youths who were members of the Hechalutz movement had to leave their parents who often were in a difficult economic situation, and go toward physical labor to which they were not accustomed. The difficulties of becoming acclimatized were great, and at times unbearable.

However, this path always illuminated the holy idea of redemptive Zionism, and most of the youths who chose that [path] ended up making aliya and living a new life in the Land of Israel.

Even though the youth were always thinking only about that path, most of the sons who arrived in the Land dreamed about bringing their parents to them. Through this, they concerned themselves with a solution to the family life that remained in the town. Many of them even succeeded in bringing their parents to the Land.

The influence of the youth on that town was great even when they were of a young age. Societal and communal life was borne mainly on their shoulders: with Zionist activity, activity for the Keren Kayemet [Jewish National Fund], and especially Hebrew education and the study of the Hebrew language, in which not only the youths but also the mothers and fathers participated eagerly.

The Bnei Yehuda [Sons of Judah] movement – that was the movement that urged its members to speak Hebrew from when they were young – became an important educational factor in the town. The Tarbut School, whose name went before it, also contributed honorably to that.

After the war, there was a particularly dismal accounting. Survivors remained, brands plucked from the fire, one from a family and two from a street.

After the war, they wandered from country to country. Many of them reached the Land of Israel.

However, some set their steps to other countries.

These youths^[1], who are now in Israel and in other countries of the Diaspora, are the sole and final remnant of a long, unique period of life.

These youths have the duty to establish a memorial monument to the life that was and is no more, to the mothers and fathers who brought them into the light of the world and did not merit to the contentment, to the brothers and sisters who struggled with the bitter fate and did not overcome it, to the many memories before they are erased from the heart, to the friends who went along that path but did not reach the end. To all of these, let a memorial monument be erected, and let it be transmitted from father to son and from mother to daughter until we too, the youth of that time, will only be memories.

Translator's footnote

1. Clearly no longer youths – the author is looking back to the time that they were raised as youths in David-Horodok. Return

If you heard the sounds of song or echoes of dancing in unison coming from some place late at night, you would know that you were in proximity to a youth club.

When all streets were slumbering and the lights were extinguished in all the windows, light would still come through the windows of the

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youth clubs. In this manner, every day after the conclusion of studies or after finishing work and having a quick dinner, the youth would come to their clubs.

There, they would meet for discussions on current events. There, they would meet for a light conversation and meetings of friends. There, they would gather to enjoy themselves and remove all yokes.

There was almost no boy or girl in the that town who were not involved in a youth movement. The number of organizations was large, and they included all colors of the rainbow of those days, starting from Hashomer Hatzair [Young Watchmen], Freiheit [Freedom], Hashomer Haleumi [National Watchmen], and Gordonia^[1] – to the Hechalutz [The Pioneer] movement that encompassed all the Zionist youth organizations.

These clubs were maintained through the funds of the male and female youths who paid membership dues to support them, as well as to cover all the other expenses involved in existence, study, sporting equipment, etc.

It was interesting to look from close upon these clubs, with their internal structure and form.

Each group was headed by a leadership committee that was responsible for filling all the needs and roles of the movement, and to educate the boys and girls in the path that the movement had set.

The daily regimen of the various organizations was not filled solely by fun and games. They would also study the doctrines upon which the ideological foundations of the movement were constructed.

More than once, such an organization raised the banner of revolt. In the event that the parents did not agree to the path that their son or daughter had chosen, the counselors would appear at the house of the member and describe the entire doctrine to the father and mother in brief.

In many cases, the parents were convinced, and agreed to part from the son or daughter. In cases where they did not come to an agreement, the children would escape from the home and go to the Hachshara [pioneer training] places through their own energies, until the parents finally made peace with the situation and stopped resisting.

These youth movements bore the communal tasks on their shoulders. They were involved with the people and played a role in every activity that took place in that place.

At committee meetings or meetings of the leadership council of the institutions, one could see a boy or girl representing the youth organization, and enthusiastically deliberating with the adults who were participating in that meeting.

Therefore, it was only on rare occasions when neighbors came to complain about the clubs who were having a late party and making noise on the streets, for they knew that in this town and in those clubs, the new soul of the Hebrew youth was being forged, and these clubs were educating the young generation for a different life, more independent, and more beautiful.

These clubs will now be in our memories as points of light and comfort remaining for us survivors.

Translator's footnote

1. A Zionist youth movement based on the beliefs of A.D. Gordon. Return

Dedicated in memory of: father, Mordechai Zeev the son of Aharon Begun; mother, Etel the daughter of Aharon and Guta Abrin; sister Elka; brother-in-law Dov (Berl) Turkenitz (the son of Noach of Stolin); their children Gittele, Brachale; sister Tzirel. May G-d avenge their blood.

It is impossible to dredge up and write on paper about the era of Hechalutz [The Pioneer] in David-Horodok. It is not within the power of my memory or ability. However, I still recall well the period during which I was a member of Hechalutz.

The Hechalutz chapter in the city grew continually, even though it did not include the graduates of the youth groups such as Hashomer Hatzair [Young Watchmen], Freiheit [Freedom], etc. The youths who were not yet organized, who were “ordinary chalutzim” knocked on our doors. They were attracted to the movement not specifically because of idealism, but rather simply out of a desire to be able to go to Hachshara [pioneer training], to be able to merit to later make aliya to the Land of Israel. Therefore, the chapter grew and developed, and became an

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important factor in the city and amongst the youth. The veterans went on Hachshara, and the newer ones took their places. When the veterans made aliya to the Land, the newer ones went on Hachshara.

During those days, the number of certificates (aliya permits) for Hechalutz members increased. The Hachshara places quickly emptied of their members, and new members were required from the chapters. The Hachshara places sent emissaries to “win over” additional workplaces in the near and far region. Tens of Hachshara places were thereby set up in the cities and in the villages, in manufacturing and in agriculture. Almost all of them lived in meager straits and in poverty. Hachshara places such as these were also set up in David-Horodok by the emissary woman from the Kibbutz Klosova. After a short time, an emissary woman came from the Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzair. However, neither of these maintained themselves, and they left the city to seek a more appropriate place after a short time. There were two reasons why they left: a. the lack of local industry, and b. the fact that the Jews of the city pitied a Jewish tree cutter. From ancient times, Jews knew that tree cutting and being a servant in Jewish homes were jobs for gentiles.

Nevertheless, Hachshara kibbutzim were set up. Thousands of male and female youths prepared themselves in manufacturing centers in large cities, as well as in agriculture.

This was the peak period, but it did not continue. The Mandate government reduced the quotas. As a result, the people in Hachshara remained in their places for a year or two, three years, or even more. Many returned to their homes. The chapters dwindled. Some returned to David-Horodok, but most of them continued to wait for their turn.

In light of this situation, new avenues for aliya began to be sought. This was known as Aliya Bet [Second Aliya]. The way was not easy and not short. The secrecy of the situation required great caution. I too was among them. Apparently, I returned home as if separating from Hachshara, but actually, I prepared for aliya for eight months. I returned to my previous workplace with Sh. Finkelstein. When the day came for me to travel to Warsaw, only my family members, and Shlomo Finkelstein and his brother knew. Their task was to create the impression and to respond to any questioner that I was traveling to Warsaw for work. When Yossel Der Geler came with his wagon to pick me up from my home – I did not bid farewell to my family members. That had already taken place previously, in a room inside a room.

Father made several plans, searched for several routes, and made several efforts to reach the Land. How did he dream and pine for the day when his only son would make aliya to the Land, and open the gate for the rest of the family. I recall his words to the people with whom he was discussing this topic. “First, I will transfer my heart to the Land of Israel (he was referring to me, the son), and then I will come. I will certainly do so.” At the time of parting, tears poured from his eyes, and his prayers accompanied me on the journey. The wagon moved from the house, with the eyes of the family accompanying their only son and brother with the hope that they will quickly follow him. But, they did not merit.

The family with a Zionist Jewish tradition, honest and working, one of the many of David- Horodok, all of whom formed a vibrant Jewish community in the Diaspora, for Zionism and the Land of Israel – Amalek waved its impure sword over them to destroy them and annihilate them.

May their souls be bound in the bonds of eternal life.

Fifteen male and female members (I among them) joined together in 1925 into a Hachshara [pioneer training] group before our aliya to the Land. We were allotted a plot of land of two dessiatin^[1] in Lisovitz. Yosef Lifshitz and Zager were the main ones who assisted us in this.

We quickly got used to Hachshara life: rising at dawn, working a full day (with breaks for eating, the appetite was great!). After work, several members studied Hebrew (with Baruch Slomiansky). Others spent time singing and reading (Davar^[2], Hapoel Hatzair^[3], Alt-Neuland^[4]).

Many guests visited us on Sabbaths. Some were our friends from the older Hechalutz [The Pioneer] and members of Hechalutz Hatzair [The Young Pioneer].

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They did not hold back from helping us during a time of need. Everyone who came encouraged us. A double dose of encouragement came via the words of astonishment from the elderly farmer and landowner who helped us in all the work of planting and harvesting. He was astonished at the sight of how quickly we had become competent in agricultural work, in contrast to the many years that it would have taken a gentile to learn how to handle a work implement.

We all eventually joined the Pinsk group (Givat). Hershel Pinsky was our main counselor. However, due to the serious recession that pervaded in the land at that time, we scattered in different directions after our aliya.

The Hachshara Kibbutz in Lisovitz

Aryeh Shostakovsky fell in defense of the Land. The rest are in the Land.

Translator's footnotes

1. A unit of measure for area in Czarist Russia (equivalent to 1.09 hectares). Return
2. A Hebrew-language daily newspaper. Return
3. The newspaper of the Hapoel Hatzair [The Young Worker] movement. Return
4. A utopian novel by Theodor Herzl. Return

Coordinator's footnotes

1. The author's name was in the Table of Contents, but was not included with this article. Return
2. I believe that “(Aku)” is an error in the text. Aharon Lifshitz was my relative and his nickname was Arke. Return

Rabbi Dines, a member of the Mizrachi [religious Zionist movement] headquarters, visited David-Horodok in the summer of 5683 (1923). He came on behalf of Keren Hayesod [Foundation Fund]. In the meantime, he seized the opportunity and delivered an enthusiastic lecture in the large Beis Midrash on the topic of the revival of the nation in the Land in the spirit of Torah, as was the aspiration of Mizrachi, to realize the prophetic vision, “For out of Zion shall go Torah, and the word of G-d from Jerusalem” [Micah 4:2].

Among his other words, he said, “If our entire strong desire is to revive our Hebrew language and to turn it into the language of education and life, the language alone will not impart to us the light of Torah and the love of our ancient literature. The Torah is the primary source and fruitful kernel of Judaism, and it must not be exchanged with various streams.”

When I recall those moments, it is as if I am again living that pleasantness, an exaltation

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of the soul, and the feelings of joy that filled the hearts. A holy silence pervaded in the hall, and warm seriousness was etched on the faces of all those gathered.

After that meeting, it was decided to found Hechalutz Hamizrachi [The Mizrachi Pioneer].

The member Chaim Kolozny, who was a very talented orator, lectured with simple, clear words about Zionism and Mizrachi, and especially about the meaning and doctrine of Hechalutz Hamizrachi, and the great work that we will be responsible for. The general feeling was “we will do and we will heed.” A committee of five members was chosen: Chaim Kolozny as chairman, I as secretary, and Simcha Chover, Feibush Shatzky, and Tzfasman as members of the committee. We made contact with the headquarters of Hechalutz Hamizrachi in Warsaw, and received directives regarding how to organize the work and fill the special tasks related to it. Even though we were still quite young, sixteen and seventeen years old, we knew how to get organized. Those first days of our movement were beautiful, full of meaning and rich in dreams. New horizons were opened for us. We accepted with enthusiasm and joy every piece of information, every piece of news in the newspapers that were brought to us from the Land. The debates were vibrant and full of energy. All the members participated in them. We obtained a meeting place at first from the principal of the Tarbut school, Mr. Reuven Mishalov, until we succeeded in obtaining a large, spacious room by ourselves for meetings and debates. We then also began to organize the Young Mizrachi organization for those who were not yet prepared for aliya to the Land of Israel and who did not yet have the necessary means for aliya. Thus, we reached the year 5684 [1924]. At the beginning of the summer, we decided to prepare a Hachshara [pioneer training] place in agricultural work for our members who were ready for aliya. Instead of traveling to other places, we set up an agricultural farm in our region. For this purpose, we leased a large plot of land near Dobrin. We planted barley and set up a large vegetable garden. We built a large bunk that was divided into a large kitchen, a mess hall, a meeting hall, and bedrooms. Some of the female members worked in the kitchen, and some in the garden, by rotation. We requested financial support from the Hechalutz Hamizrachi headquarters in Warsaw. They sent us from there a member of the headquarters, Shapira, who delivered a major speech on Hechalutz Hamizrachi and the tasks of Hachshara prior to making aliya to the Land of Israel. He praised our efforts in setting up the agricultural farm without support from Hechalutz Hamizrachi, and promised to work for our benefit at the headquarters.

We also began efforts for the benefit of the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [Jewish National Fund (Israel)]. We organized a delegation of the best of our members to work for the redemption of the Land. A general organization was created, which included people of influence from all the various parties in our city. We did not neglect any appropriate occasion and did not forgo any opportunity to work for the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael. We would go to any circumcision, Tenaim [engagement celebration], or a wedding in the city, and never returned emptyhanded. Some gave more and others gave less, but we asked and they gave. Boxes for the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael were distributed to all the houses, and we would go around to empty them every month. We should note that in many houses, there were other charity boxes for the benefit of Yeshivot or other institutions. That summer, the emissary of the Keren Hayesod, Bunim Mordechai, came for a visit. He also visited our agricultural farm.

In the winter of the year 5685 [1924-1925] we organized a large party, a farewell celebration for our members who were making aliya to the Land. We wished them that their aliya should be successful and that tens and hundreds of others will follow them.

The party made a great impression on all those present. The dedication of our beloved chairman, Ch. Kolozny, who succeeded in all his public appearances, should be noted. He was sent to organize chapters of Hechalutz Hamizrachi in other places, including Baranovich, Nesvizh, and Pinsk. Letters of acknowledgment of the success of these visits were received from all the places. He also traveled to various conventions of Hechalutz Hamizrachi in Warsaw. After the first ones made aliya, a new committee with seven members was chosen, including our dear member, the late Sander Margolin.

The tasks were many, and the new committee had the responsibility for a great deal of work for the benefit of our idea. Our parents did not look favorably upon our dedication with heart and soul for the movement, for we neglected the study of a page of Gemara every day.

We decided that comprehensive explanations of all the important questions that stood before us would only take place three times a week.

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From time to time, we would put on a flower day for the benefit of the Torah V'Avoda [Torah and Work] fund. Our member Sander Margolin was also sent often to the various conventions of Hechalutz Hamizrachi and Young Mizrachi in Warsaw. We received long reports and detailed descriptions from him of all the proceedings that were discussed.

Hechalutz Hamizrachi chapter in David-Horodok Sitting (right to left) 1. Shmaryahu Ziporin, 2. Masha Dubrovitsky, 3. Sheindel Kitain, 4. Yafa Chover, 5. Simcha Chover, 6. Shoshana Lichtenstein. 7. Leah Ziporin Standing (row 1); 1. Moshe Dreizin, 2. Pinya Shreibman, 3. Tova Shulman, 4. Baruch-Yankel Lichtenstein, 5. Chana Mekler, 6. Lichtenstein, 7. Chana Baruchin, 8. Meril Yudovitz Row 2: 1. Gudel Vager, 2. Miriam Gloiberman, 5. Motel Dubrovitsky, 4. 5. 6. Sonia Baruchin, 7. Freidel Tzfasman, 8. Michael Lichtenstein

Coordinator's footnote

1. The author's first initial was printed in the book as nun (N). However, the correct initial is gimel (G) for Gershon. Return

The League for Workers in the Land of Israel was among the active organizations in David-Horodok. This was due to a group of members who dedicated themselves to this work.

In addition to the Poalei Zion [Workers of Zion] (left leaning) party, the Hitachdut [The Union] party, as well as the Hashomer Hatzair [Young Watchmen], Freiheit [Freedom], Hechalutz [The Pioneer] youth groups and others, there were also separate groups and individuals who dedicated themselves to the work of the League

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from the day that the League was founded in December 1927 with the visit of Ezriel Begun from Pinsk. The league encompassed all the populist strata in David-Horodok, who took it upon themselves to pay a monthly payment. Even though the income was not that great, the essence of the living connection of the League for Workers in the Land of Israel with the community was of great importance.

With time, there were many visits and lectures from the league headquarters. The most successful visits were those of E. Berdichevsky (now Bigur), Yochanan Morgenstein (one of the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto who fell in battle), Pinchas Rashish, Yosef Baratz, and others. The work of the members of the League during the times of elections for the Zionist congresses especially stood out, for they brought the concept of the Histadrut [Organization] to the broad community of David-Horodok.

From right to left, standing: 1. Tzvi Shklaver, 2. Yissachar Kirzner (Curacao), 3. Kuba Moravchik, 4. Zelig Geier (Jerusalem), 5. Leah Rozman of blessed memory, 6. Elchanan Gotlieb, Tel Aviv, 7.[1] Mendel Kravchik, Haifa, 8. Yaakov Mazer and Rafael Moravchik (Givat Rambam) [sitting] 9. Gedalyahu Olpiner of blessed memory, 10. Shmuel Zezik, Tel Aviv, 11. Yosef Baratz, Degania, emissary from the Land of Israel, 12. L. Zager of blessed memory, 13. Yaakov Shulman

Translator's footnote

1. There is an obvious typo in the caption here, which I fixed. Number 6 is repeated twice, and there is no number 7. Return

The Revisionist Movement took an honorable and important place in Zionist David-Horodok. Its difficulties during its beginning period were very hard, but with constancy and persistence, slowly but surely the Beitar movement was created and organized in David-Horodok.

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This youth covenant began to forge its path in accordance with the concepts of activist Zionism on the basis of a healthy soul and a healthy body.

Nationalistic education and tradition were the principles of the activity amongst the youth. In this spirit, every group and cell broadened its knowledge of the Nation of Israel and dedicated themselves to the concepts of sacrifice for the future.

A Beitar group in David-Horodok

Aside from the cultural work and various sporting activities, money was collected for Keren Tel-Hai [Revisionist Fund].

A non-insignificant part of the ranks of Tzah'ar and Beitar succeeded in making aliya to the Land. The rest were caught up in the annihilation.

May their memories be a blessing.

After the public meeting that took place in the town with the participation of Dr. Chaimson, a member of the national council of the Keren Hayesod [Foundation Fund] in Poland, approximately fifty important householders gathered in the home of Reb Moshe Aharon Mishalov for the purpose of an individual approach to each of them. The lowest donation was set at twenty dollars. It was decided to begin with the wealthiest people (20-25 people) – and each of them donated 40-50 dollars. When they reached the wealthy people of lesser means, it was as if a competition broke out among them: if these gave 40 – we are exempt. However, since the minimum is twenty dollars, we will give more (25-30), and the rest will give according to their means: 200, 300, 400 and more.

When he heard these words, Dr. Chaimson became enraged in his place, tore up the documents^[1], tossed the torn pieces onto the table, and called out, “You have cheated me, indeed! A Jew who is obligated in hundreds suffices with tens? Let Greenbaum

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come and conduct the appeal with you.” He rose up, put on his coat, and turned to leave. The youths, faithful to the Keren Hayesod, did not let him leave. After much urging, he agreed to return to his place. This time, the donations started with the lesser wealthy people. They stood by what they said, and each of them donated 25-30 dollars. When the turn of the wealthier ones came, each one donated 300, 400, or 500 dollars. The signatures on the documents were sent to Pinsk for collection. (There was no bank yet in David-Horodok.)

When the time for payment came, I went with Yaakov Gelman as the delegation to redeem the documents. An announcement was publicized that anyone wanting to save effort for themselves should provide the money, and the documents would be brought to them from Pinsk. A long row [of documents] was immediately collected – to the point that the departure of the ship had to be delayed until the inflow of money had ended.

Translator's footnote

1. The documents would be donation contracts or pledge cards. Return

Chaim (Harry) Yachnitz. A soldier in the Jewish Legion during the First World War.

A few weeks later, I appeared on the road in an army uniform. I did not take this step out of love of might or to pursue honor. I certainly knew that the Legion did not have any military value or importance. However, its value was immeasurable from the moral and nationalist perspective.

Even though the number of Jewish soldiers in all the armies of the war was sufficiently large – thousand of lads had volunteered for the Legion of their own good will, from pure nationalist feelings.

The Jewish Legion was the kernel of a national army in the full sense of the term. All strata of the people were represented within it, and all had one single goal: the return of the Land of Israel to the People of Israel. I recall the day of April 21, 1918, the day we traveled to Canada and began our training. New volunteers were added all the time. The only thing that separated us from the rest of the soldiers was the Magen David on our sleeves.

A few weeks later, we set out for England. We did not tarry there for long. We were transferred to the Land.

We arrived in the Land in August. Our first stop was Tel El Kebir. I recall the desert heat of the Land of Israel in August, which oppressed us greatly. We were three brigades: brigade 38 whose captains were solely English; brigade 39 whose captains were mixed; and brigade 40, which was completely of the Land of Israel. One day, while we were stationed in Rafiach [Rafah], Zeev Jabotinsky appeared before us dressed in a captain's uniform. The battalion was filled up, and we moved from Rafiach to El Arish.

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We reached Lod in October, and were able to visit the moshavot [agricultural colonies] of Rishon LeZion, Ness Ziona, and Beer Yaakov. In 1918, we reached Jerusalem, where we celebrated the day of the Balfour Declaration. I was discharged in August 1919 and sent to recuperate. After that, they did not want to take me back.

I was the first to make aliya to the Land from David-Horodok along with my family in 1924, even though I was not an enthusiastic Zionist. This happened by chance. As I was once walking along a street in Pinsk one evening, the shouts of a watchmaker to Feinstein, the secretary of the office of the Land of Israel in Pinsk reached me: “I want to make aliya to the Land of Israel.” Feinstein responded, “We only send agricultural workers.” I approached Feinstein, and the sudden idea that flickered within me enticed me to tell him, “If I will bring you a certificate from Prince Radziwill, for I am an agricultural worker, will you permit me to make aliya?” “You will make aliya,” he responded. I immediately rushed a letter to my brother-in-law Hershel Zezik in David-Horodok, and the permit arrived about three days later. I made aliya to the Land about a half a year later.

Exactly thirty years ago, we left David-Horodok and the cradle of our childhood, on our way to the Land of Israel. I was fifteen years old at that time.

Jews of David-Horodok accompany a family making aliya to the Land of Israel in 1929

The worshippers of the synagogue accompanied us to a kiddush. Men, women, and children streamed by us all day, bringing us

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their blessings as we set out on our journey to afar, for we were the first family of David-Horodok, a family of eight people, who dared to set out for the Land of Israel.

I am proud to note the energy and spiritual strength of my dear father, may he live, who endangered himself and took on the great responsibility without a coin in his pocket, without any plan, and without any relative or friend to greet us when we arrived in the new place.

We faced a very difficult problem in our first year. Every day, we received tens of letters, in which people requested our advice as to whether it was worthwhile for them to leave David-Horodok and make aliya to the Land, and whether they would succeed in acclimatizing. The situation at that time was very difficult, but we responded to everyone in the affirmative.

We endured many trials and tribulations until we acclimatized and got used to the life and conditions of the Land. This was thanks to our wise, refined mother, Chaya Sara, the daughter of Reb Zeev of Dolfin of blessed memory, who passed away before her time. She always encouraged us and imbued us with the pioneering spirit.

Perhaps I would not be exaggerating if I state that we were helped from Heaven, and we served as guides for all those from our town who succeeded and are now together with us in our dear Land. Our hearts are pained for all those who did not merit to make aliya. May their memories be blessed!

Coordinator's footnote

1. The author's name was in the Table of Contents, but was not included with this article. Return

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