« Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page »

[Page 118]

The Goworowo “gemine”, or local council, was also free of Jews in the good old years. Although the town was populated almost completely by Jews, the district functionaries found an ingenious idea: they included in the town all the close-in and further-out villages and thus craftily created an out-weighing Christian majority. The result was that both the president and the secretary and all the officers were recruited from only the Christian population.

Mostly the local council was nominated from the district office, and no one asked the Jewish population who should serve with them. The [Jewish] councilmen Avrom Mordkhe Fridman, Zelig Popiertshik and Khone Fridman served only a few limited terms on the local council.

The local council had a weak influence on town life and took little concern with its needs. Even the records for the Jewish residents such as birth certificates, death certificates and marriage certificates, were also administered by the Rov. When there was an important announcement to make, or an order from the government, that was done through the mediation of the so-called Jewish “village magistrate”. In the years between the two world wars, Hershl Niks, Avrom Kruk, Khayim Berliner and Niske Koen served as that Jewish “soltis”.

That said, no bad relations, and often good ones, ruled between the local council president and the Jewish population. It depended on the person who was president. Most of the time he was a native-born merchant, or well-settled in the area who lived well with the Jews, and further maintained the same friendliness as when he took the office.

Often the town Jews had to bear chicaneries on the part of the local police. A policeman actually had great powers in his hands. He could – for no reason, to anyone, any time – punish a Jewish merchant or a household proprietor with a large cash fine, and later there would be a big trouble to shout down the order, or to repay those injured. More than once

[Page 119]

in fact, the police commandant let loose his helpers on the town, and signed dozens of “reports” with large fines for various “crimes”. Later in the same day the Rov had to invite the commandant and all his “brass buttons” to his home and offer them snacks with alcohol until they became “soft” and tore up all the “reports”.

R' Khayim Berliner, may God avenge his blood

The peace judge was located in the nearby settlement of Tshervin. From time to time, for special trials, the judge would come over to Goworowo, and conduct sessions and deal with them there.

All tax issues were in the hands of the local council in Ostrolenke. For the annual valuation of the volume of business of the Goworowo merchants, assessors representing all lines of business would sit with them and explain the terms of the assessments.

Some the assessors: Menashe Holtsman, Avrom Rozenberg and others.

The local council was very busy with one thing, especially in the last years before the war: taxing Jews to buy weapons for the Polish

[Page 120]

Army. In this the president and the secretary of the gemine were fierce patriots. They came to the Rov, invited the wealthy householders and took trouble to get more money from them for that goal. The last collection action was designated for the “L.A.P.”, the League for Air Defense.

R' Niske Kohn

Stamp of the “Voit” and a letterhead

[Page 121]

Life in our town was conducted through our own sovereign authority, our own statutes and ordinances, which had nothing in common with the surrounding, one could say, hateful, atmosphere.

The organized Jewish community was the representative agency, both outwardly and internally, for all matters in the town, and its influence, along with the influence of the town Rov – was decisive and not regulable. It goes without saying, the ritual slaughter of animals for human food, laws of kashrut and specifically religious matters, but even questions of personal and general character were also governed by the Jewish community administration, and everyone had to be obedient, despite not having disposal to any police and other enforcement organs.

Before the First World War, under the Russian regime, Yehoshua Bar Venger, the son-in-law of Yekl Klepfish and father-in-law of the old Goworowo Rov, held the office of president of the Community. The members of the Council were Yudl Sheyniak, Yesheyahu Hertsberg, Dovid Dranitsa, Borekh Mints and Yekl Shtshetshina. Yekhiel Gerlits was employed as secretary. The then-Goworowo Rov, the brilliant Rov Yankev Botshan, rarely mixed into the politics of the Council's activity. The birth records of the population were also in the hands of the Council. The local municipal tax was in general collected by force – with the help of the “voit”, when the town mayor's men with the shiny chains across their chests, went around to the houses demanding the money.

The later, and last, Goworowo Rov, the brilliant Rov Alter Burshtin may God avenge his blood was very active in community life. All of the Council meetings took place in his home, and it was usually he who saw through all the accepted decisions and resolutions. It was rare for anyone to rebel against the decisions and the wishes of the Rov.

In the later terms of the Council, after the First World War, the heads of the Council were: Menashe Holtsman, Matisyahu Rozen, Velvl Blumshteyn, Mayer Ramaner, Yehoshe Rozen, Borekh Kuperman, Yankev Hersh Vengrov, Avrom Shafran, Naftali Gemora, Yankev Kasher, Meyshe Dranitsa, Dovid Aron Grudke, Shmuel Tsudiker, Matisyahu Oyslender and Meyshe Horovitsh. In most of the terms of the

[Page 122]

Council administrations there were representatives of the religious parties and the various strains of the Zionist parties. Only in the last term were there also some from the “Bund” (the last Council secretary was Khone Fridman).

The Council imposed a direct municipal tax on each family. Besides that, it had revenue from ritual slaughter, birth certificates, the cemeteries, and so on.

The chief assignment of the council was to have oversight over the general and religious institutions, such as the study-houses, kheyderim, ritual bath, hospitality, distributing social help, and hiring religious professionals – rabbis, ritual slaughterers, cantors and beadles.

Just before the First World War, the Council hired the last Goworowo Rov, our learned rabbi and teacher Burshtin may God avenge his blood, who was formerly the in Tshervin. That Rov was hired in a peculiar spontaneous method: He came, along with all the local rabbis, to the funeral of the previous Rov, the ”vashev ha'koen”, and delivered a eulogy in the shul. His representation and his appearance and good name that accompanied him as a genius and wise man made a great impression on the councilmen, and soon after the burying of the Rov they encircled him and congratulated him. The later Council consisted of Itshe the cantor and ritual slaughterer; Malkhial, cantor and ritual slaughterer, who later moved to Vishkove; Khayim Leyb, cantor and ritual slaughterer, and Niske, ritual slaughterer.

R' Borekh Kuperman, of blessed memory		R' Dovid Dranitsa, of blessed memory

[Page 123]

R' Avrom Tsalka, may God revenge his blood

R' Nisn Mozes, ritual slaughterer

[Page 124]

The only secular institute of learning in the town was the general state elementary school (szkoła powszechna), where Jewish and Christian children studied together. There was no secondary school (gymnasium), vocational or commercial school, or even evening courses for advanced studies in Goworowo. Anyone who wished to continue his studies after completing elementary school had to go to a larger town, or take private lessons from the same local teachers. Not everyone could afford this.

The powszechna was supposedly compulsory for every boy and girl from 7 to 14 years of age, but this was not actually the case. In the time of Russian rule, and even afterwards at the beginning of Polish independence, many parents got out of sending their children there. In the case of the Christians it was because of their own weak desire for learning and knowledge; they themselves were uneducated (many of them were illiterate), nor did they care if their children learned anything either. The motivation of the Jews, however, was piety; they didn't want their children to become “Gentiles”. Boys and girls should not sit together, and boys should not be without hats. (The Jewish pupils were excused from going to school on Saturday.)

The Jews looked for various ways to get around the compulsory education law. The very orthodox parents not only did not send their sons to the school, but not even their daughters. The more “enlightened” sent

[Page 125]

Jewish and Christian students from the elementary school (4th class) with their teacher

In the last dozen or so years before the outbreak of the war, it became more and more difficult to get around the law. Parents had no choice but to send their children to the school. The more religious parents only sent their daughters there (even those who were attending the Beys-Yakov school) and continued to use various ruses to keep their sons out. Many sent their children to yeshivas and in this way “solved” the problem. The “free thinking” parents also sent their sons, especially in the last years, when there was a push for secular education and knowledge.

A group of students from the elementary school with their teachers (1932)

[Page 126]

A class from the elementary school with their teachers (1934)

The teacher Genia Szczawinowicz

[Page 127]

The school comprised seven classes, some of them double classes, as well as a pre-school, with the necessary facilities.

* * *

In addition to the state school mentioned above there was a private school in the town, run by Alter Hochstein, a teacher. Hochstein came to Goworowo in 1916 or 1917, from Russia, with the

Henekh Fridman, may his memory be blessed		Alter Hochstein, may God avenge his blood		Motl Romaner, may his memory be blessed

Hochstein was then the only teacher left. He had so much work he had to get in an assistant. Henekh Friedman became his assistant teacher and they worked together for a long time. Friedman especially took care of the younger children. After some time Hochstein moved his school to a separate cottage in Shabtse Werman's courtyard. He taught there for many years.

Hochstein ran his school in an ethnic spirit. Children who, for whatever reason, had avoided going to the general state school, as well as those who had attended it, studied with him; they acquired Jewish knowledge and learning from him. He taught the younger children in the morning and he organized afternoon classes for adults. In the evening he gave private lessons for students in their own homes. Hochstein also used

[Page 128]

The teacher Hochstein and his students (in about 1918) First row (from the right): Butsha Granat (?), Eliezer Lewin, Patasz, Hershka Granat (?), Ruchl Gurka, Khone Alek, Miryam Papiercik, Golda Teitelbaum, Neiman (?), Khava Burshtyn and Breyna Bruchanski Second row: Bunda, Khava Blumshtein, Feyga Sheiniak, Miryam Cudiker, Pesha Teitelbaum, Khava Alek, Breyna Rozen, Ester Lewin, Etl Niks, Bluma Rozen, Khava Gurka Third row: Zelig Hercberg, Yekl (Avraham the hairdresser's son), Henekh Fridman, Mendl Teitelbaum, Mates Rubin, Hochshtein, Itshe Kiris, Khaya Kersh, Zelda Burshtein, Ester Goworczik, Ruchl Burshtein and Liba Proska Fourth row: (a Dlugoshadler), Yekl Alek Avraham Romaner, Nakhman Teitelbaum, Moshe Lewin, Velvele Rubin, Hershl Alek, Miryam Bielik, Yehudis Proska, Miryam Rubin, Sura Romaner and Miryam Birk

[Page 129]

to write personal letters, in several languages, for uneducated Jews, for which he received a fee, but he could not manage on that alone. For several years he was also religious instructor in the powszechna.

All this time Alter Hochstein led a lonely life. It was only in his later years that he married. He and his wife, who came from Wiązów^[1], perished along with all the Jews of Goworowo.

With the strengthening of the ethnic spirit in the town, pressure to learn the Hebrew language also grew. Hochstein did not have the time to handle everything himself. Goworowo needed especially good teachers of Hebrew.

In the early twenties the Hebrew teacher Zerah Brick, who was from Lomza, came to us. He organized afternoon and evening Hebrew classes, divided into groups. He also gave private lessons, both for young people and for adults. He taught in the town for several years and was also active in the Zionist Organization.

After Brick came Greenspan, a teacher from Długosiodło. He too stayed in the town for a few years, teaching several Hebrew language classes and also giving private lessons.

At the beginning of the thirties Moshe Levkovitch, from Przasnysz Makowa^[2], came to Goworowo to teach Hebrew. He was strong on initiative and organizational abilities. He started an afternoon Hebrew school as well as evening classes. He also led a young people's drama circle, which gave performances in Hebrew.

When Moshe Levkovitch left Goworowo after a few years, his father Rafoyl Levkovitch from Przasnysz came to the town. A relative of Matisyahu Rosen, Reb Rafoyl had by then a stately appearance and a full beard. He was learned in the Torah, a scholar, and a maskil^[3], a good pedagogue and an expert on Hebrew and its literature. He also had musical training; he had played for a while in the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra.

Reb Rafoyl, like the teachers mentioned previously, gave both private and group lessons. He also taught the violin, and he created Hebrew courses, in which adults and young people from the Zionist organizations studied.

It is interesting to add that for some time during the years when Greenspan was the teacher there was also an Esperanto teacher in the town, a native of Plock, who came from Ostrow-Mazowieck. He taught only Esperanto and had great success.

Aside from the teachers mentioned above, who were, so to speak, apolitical, at certain times the political parties on their own responsibility brought in teachers, organized classes, opened kindergartens, etc.

In 1930 the right-wing Poale-Tsion opened a Yiddish pre-school.

[Page 130]

A group of students from “CYSZO”[4]with their teacher, Peshka Goldman (above on the right)[a]

In 1931 and 1932 Asher Gilberg (Ben-Oni), a Hebrew teacher from Mizocz, Volhynia, was also active. He was sent by the Betar commission in Warsaw, exclusively to teach Hebrew to Betar and Revisionist Zionists in the town. The Bund, also, in the early thirties, created a kindergarten and also organized courses for young people and adults, where reading and writing Yiddish were taught. The Tsisho teacher, Sheyne Rudnitska (she now lives in South Africa), administered everything, but it too did not have a long existence.

After a lengthy interruption, a kindergarten and an afternoon Yiddish language school were organized by the Bund in 1938. The afternoon school kept going up to the outbreak of the war. The Tsisho teacher, Peshka Goldman of Kobryn, directed it. She perished during the war years.

In 1937 the Mizrahi organized a Yavne school, led by Magid, a teacher from Brest-Litovsk. It did not last more than a year.

In the years 1937 – 1939 there was also a Hebrew afternoon school in the town, located in Kruk's home in the “Long” Street, conducted by Portnoy, a teacher from Bialystok. The students wore special uniforms and blue-and-white caps. The school had been founded by Moshe Dranica, Jacob Kosher, and Yosl Silberstein.

At the beginning of the thirties an attempt was made to start a private Hebrew kindergarten, organized by Royter, the kindergarten teacher from Rutki, who was related to the Kosovsky family. The kindergarten lasted a short time.

(We have written in previous chapters about the Haredim and the Beys-Yakov school.)

Translator's notes:

1. Yiddish Vonseve. Return
2. Yiddish Prushnits-Makave. Return
3. Maskil: An adherent of Haskala, the Jewish Enlightenment movement. Return
4. The “CYSZO” was a Jewish-Socialist-Yiddish school network that operated in Poland between the two World Wars. Return
5. “Shul-kult” is a reference to the School and Cultural Union, which sponsored schools emphasizing Yiddish and using the so-called “Utrechian” curriculum. Return

Note from Lester Blum:

1. Elka Taus - bottom row 2nd from the left Return

[Page 131]

The merchants' association in Goworowo was founded about 1925. This was during the time when the premier and the finance minister in Poland was the sadly-well-known Vladislav Grabski. Grabski wanted to stabilize the economy of Poland and secure the Polish zloty, so he imposed a taxation system, especially on Jewish merchants and shopkeepers, that was then unbearable. His financial politics brought about a rupture in economic life of the Jews in Poland. His doctrine caused many Jewish merchants – unable to sustain the burden of the taxes – to liquidate their businesses. Grabski's tax-screw gave impetus to the aliye to Erets-Yisroel, the so-called “fourth aliye” from Poland. After Pilsudski's coup d'etat (1926) when Grabski lost his financial portfolios and became a professor at the agricultural college in Warsaw, his tax system still remained, further and mercilessly oppressing the Jewish merchants.

The heavy tax burden by “Abratovi”, “Dokhodovi”, “Mayiontkovi” and others did not, of course, miss our town. And our merchants, the majority of whom were middle-income based, broke under the heavy load of the “podatkes” with the various names. Because of their unbearable situation, it was necessary to unite and use that common strength to resist the attack. Their main task was the taxation problem.

A group of merchants headed by Zelig Papiertshik took the initiative upon themselves and created the merchants' association. Indeed, the association had much to do. Because of the huge tax evaluations, as already mentioned, that had been laid on the Jewish merchant and shopkeepers in Goworowo, they had to send local merchants from several branches of business to Ostrolenke, to the assessment commission in order to fight and argue with the officers and oppose their will. This was not easy work. The delegates often had to decline those assignments because their mediation was not generally successful,

[Page 132]

and the shopkeepers had received large tax-assessments.

But the merchants' association was always standing watch, and they did everything within their possibilities. An intervention was generally necessary, a written or oral one, an intermediary, a delegation, and so on.

With a strong sense of the antisemitism in Poland, fired up by their newspaper “Sprava kaolitska” which also did not avoid our town, new decrees and orders came out that had as a goal to make life harder for the Jewish merchant, shopkeeper and small retailer. So, in the beginning of the 1930s, an order came out to write on the shop signs the full first and family names of the owners of the relevant business. The intent was simple – one should know that the proprietor was a Jew. The Jews who had Polish family names made use of various ruses – they just wrote the first letter of the first name with a large letter, ending with very small type and the whole family name in large letters. Such family names were rare in our town, and it did not even help.

Later, in the era of the “ovshem” [allowed antisemitism] politics of the Polish government, there began a chapter of boycotting Jewish businesses. Signs appeared with slogans such as “swoj do swego” [“Yours to yours”] and calling for Christians not to buy from Jews. If in other towns that brought about side-taking fistfights, in Goworowo it showed a weaker character, but there was still a boycott with pickets in front of the doors of Jewish businesses. The merchants' association also had much to do here – pleading, intervening and sending delegations to the relevant organs of authority became a daily event.

The merchants' association existed until the Second World War.

In order to lighten the economic situation for the merchants, a financial institution was created under the name “Bank Kreditovi” G.M.B.A. The bank was founded at about the same time as the merchants' association. Among the founders were the president of the merchants' association Zelig Papiertshik; Matisyahu Rozen, Itshe Kosovski, Mayer Ramaner, Yankev Shtshetshina, Shmuel Volf Broyner, and others. The office of the treasurer was entrusted to Itshe Kosovski, who held it for all those years for no payment whatsoever until the destruction of the town. At first all the bank operations were carried out by him in his home. Later they rented a location from Velvl Blumshteyn in his little brick house, which was on the market square (near Irl Apelboym). From there they moved over to Avrom Grudke's and continued their activity.

[Page 133]

In 1929 the bank built its own masonry building, in an alley that ran from the “Long” Street to Bobavski's Field, which was actually called “Bankove Street” later on.

The bank was joined with the central cooperative movement in Warsaw on Rimarske Street 6, in whose control the bank lay. The capital for the bank consisted of a large loan from the central bank, private deposits held in trust and from “payen” – partly from the members with a certain sum which was deducted when taking the loan. The loans had to be approved by two persons and be paid back in weekly installments. The bank also had an account in the P.K.A. (number 65,477).

The bank prospered well, having income from changing money. Its revenues were small. But the bookkeeper and the beadle received salaries and all the others worked completely gratis.

Over the years the managing members changed. Meyshe Dranitsa, Shmuel Tsudiker and others were part of the last administration.

The bank's own building

[Page 134]

The bank's first bookkeeper was Meyshe Levin, who managed the work of the bookkeeping and the secretariat. When Dr. Khayim Shoshkes – the well-known activist, writer and world-traveler – came as an inspector from the central bank to check the books, he was impressed by Levin's bookkeeping. Shoshkes recommended him to a better-paying post in a bank in Grudshondz. Levin really did, in 1928, leave town and go to work in the Grudzshondz [sic] bank. From there he moved to be bookkeeper in the famous firm of the rubber-works P.P.G. In 1930 he left Poland and traveled to his parents in Cuba. A few years ago, he was in Israel for a time and is now in America.

After him, Hershke Granat took over as bookkeeper and secretariat of the bank; he had worked earlier in the artisans' bank. He was also a very precise and self-reliant professional, to the satisfaction of the management and the interested parties. He died at the young age of 20, in 1932. Later the energetic and capable professional Khone Fridman took over the books and all the other bank operations. He held that post until the fall of the town.

Finally, I must mention the devoted beadle of the bank, Shleyme Klas. Although badly disabled, he would always run around with the receipts, receiving exchanges and installment payments, calling members to meetings and keeping order in the bank. He was an honest type and carried out his work perfectly. He along with his family were murdered with all the other Goworowo Jews may God avenge their blood.

[Page 135]

The chief assignment of the activities of the artisans' association in town was to curb the antisemitic outbreaks that aimed to attack the branches of livelihood of the Jewish craftsmen.

From the Polish newspapers and from other propaganda mouthpieces one could daily hear an open hatred that demanded the establishment of trade guilds, and, that members could only be the tradesmen who have completed trade-and educational-exams. Of course, those demands were very clear: the total extermination of the Jewish artisan and an end to the Jewish work competition – both by means of the power of the fist and from the economic standpoint.

Big posters in very large type “swoj do swego” [“Yours to yours”] were hung on the Christian businesses. Only thanks to the watchfulness of the representatives of Polish Jewry – Hartglas, Tshernikov and others – were they successful in temporarily repealing the decree.

Because of the frequent chicaneries, both from the central Polish government and from the provincial and local administrations it was absolutely necessary to stand watch to protect the interests of the Jewish artisan.

The artisans lived in constant fear, afraid of the goyishe officers. That latter tricked them, felt that they were self-ruling. The artisans often worked for them without pay. In our town one who helped a great deal with his wisdom and knowledge was my brother Hershke of blessed memory, who would push against every attack intended to oppress the Jewish artisan. As the first bookkeeper and secretary of the artisans' association, he stood watch against the general decrees and against the too-large tax evaluations.

There were times when my brother Hershke sat day and night and wrote well-composed letters to the appropriate authorities with requests and explanations. More than once he involved me in that work too. Of course, all that was done with good relationships and with the agreement of

[Page 136]

our father, R' Bertshe of blessed memory, who was one of the most impressive activists (the chairman, even) of the artisans' association. Those letters, when they were received by the relevant office, made a big impression and were for the most part acted upon.

R' Bertshe Granat of blessed memory

In such cases he did not like to let it lie until morning, or even for an hour later; an inner instinct to do and to help inspired all his positive actions. He spoke to them in their folk-language. He was to them the usual Jew. The goyim loved him because of his open-heartedness and logical approach and so did not oppose him. The “nerve-center” of the artisans was my father's house.

The assignments of the artisans were split in two directions:

On the outward front, the contact with the government offices.

On the internal front, the artisans' bank, which helped the members in their financial difficulties. The two things were done with honesty and devotion, under the leadership of my father may he rest in peace.

[Page 137]

R' Irl Apelboym of blessed memory

In their time of need the bank helped them and many times got them “back on their feet”. Of course, the bank could not address all needs. The loans were limited and without the appropriate guarantees it could not give a loan. At the time when the merchants' bank gave loans to everyone, the artisans' bank remained faithful to its task and gave credit exclusively to its own members.

I never heard of any cultural activity that the association conducted. But I knew that because of their connection to the Central Bank in

[Page 138]

Warsaw, they sent representatives from time to time to address trade topics. Discussions in the area of labor took place in the study-house before and after prayers.

The artisans' association and its bank were bound together. Some of the activists were in both places. After my father, Idl [sic] Apelboym was elected president, and even later, Meyshe Tsimerman. Kalman Azdaba was also president and bank cashier for a long time. Mayer Shvarts was also a cashier. Later the bookkeeper was Yitskhak Velvl Gerlits; the last was Meyshe Khayim Botshan. The council members Yehoshua Rozen and Borekh Kuperman were activists for the artisans, as well as Sholem Plotke, Shmuel Grinberg, Avrom Rozenberg and others.

The bank changed its location one time. Early on, the bank operations were conducted in Kuperman's home; later, at Meyshe Dranitsa's, and after that at Avrom Kruk's and from there, at R' Naftali Gemara's. Close to the Second World War – when people already felt that a catastrophe was approaching – the last bank chairman Mordkhe Shmelts turned over all the bank materials to the bookkeeper Khayim Batshan and with the help of the association's chairman Kalman Azdaba they distributed the funds to the members. Thus they, with their own hands, liquidated the artisans' association and the bank, which had helped the craftsmen for so many years in the struggle for their existence. One day later, Nazi Germany began exterminating Polish Jewry.

[Page 139]

There were indeed two banks in Goworowo that gave larger loans to merchants, artisans and small retailers, with the goal of increasing their volume of trade and developing their workshops – but the money was procured only after long formalities, against a cash deposit, and for interest, and not everyone was able to procure the required guarantees and endorsements.

Their large concern about the poorer strata of the population awakened the idea in the minds of some of the town's social activists, to establish a “gemiles khesed” fund, that would specifically help the small merchants and poor craftsmen with an interest-free loan, to be paid back in short- or long-term installments and without the complicated provisions of the regular banks.

The chief initiators of the gemiles khesed fund were Khayim Gerlits, Dan Roznberg, Pinye Shikara and others. For that purpose, money was gathered from individuals, a subsidy from the Jewish community council, and a large sum contributed by the central gemiles khesed treasury in Warsaw.

The fund was operated from a two-room space in the old shul, which had been specially remodeled for that purpose. It developed wonderfully over a short period of time, the number of members grew, and it became an important factor in the economic life of the town. Those using the fund were those in the middle and the poor – retailers and artisans, and all of them paid back their loans in the exact installments.

Already at the beginning the fund was grounded on the basis of free will, and without any administrative expenditures. Therefore, in the first times Khayim Gerlits did all the fund's bookkeeping himself. But, when the operations broadened, and demanded longer hours of work, Gerlits alone was not able to manage it all. He thought up an original plan: He taught bookkeeping to several of the yeshive men in the town, and they happily carried out the whole job, with keeping the books, giving out the loans and accepting the installment payments. That plan was very successful and became an example for other towns.

The “gemiles khesed” fund existed until the destruction of the town.

[Page 140]

Due to Goworowo's location at the center of Jewish settlements, with its own train station, with roads and highways that made it easy to get to the town, and also because, since Goworowo Jews had a reputation in the whole region as charitable and generous with alms, the town attracted all sorts of beggars and poor people from all over the land.

The arriving paupers would go from nurse to house collecting alms. It was rare for such a person to known on a Jewish door and not receive a two-cent coin, a kopek, a snack, a warm lunch or a dinner.

The poor folk were mostly single persons: the head of a family who was trying to make his three zlotych (a daily wage for a laborer), would spend the night and move on. But often a whole poor family would descend on the town, with a horse and wagon – a man and a woman with children. They would settle in for a few days, and not leave until they had assembled money worthy of them and some used clothing in addition.

Some did not belong to that category of needy person: traveling preachers, emissaries from yeshives, messengers from hasidic rebis for “community money” and “footloose” cantors. For preachers and cantors, they set up a table at the door of the study-house after prayers and did not let anyone out until they paid the “exit fee”. For yeshives and “fine Jews” they found a couple of esteemed proprietors to go around the town collecting money for them. Of course they gave them a much large donation; they collected 20 to 25 zlotych, and sometimes more.

For esteemed guests they generally found a town proprietor to invite them home for the night – opposite the regular poor folk who spent the night on a hard bench behind the oven in the study-house.

Avrom Tsalke, the head shames of the study-house, busied himself with the poor who stayed for Shabes. He would give out “tickets” to householders, each poor man according to his dignity. A poor man who was a knowledgeable in Torah went to a householder of the same mind, they could speak of those Jewish things at the Shabes table; and an ordinary poor person was sent to a simple householder. His tickets were generally honored by everyone. In case a

[Page 141]

guest arrived in the late afternoon and did not receive a “ticket” from Avrom'ke, he was placed by the door after prayers and always found a host who took him home for the Shabes meal.

The mitsve of hospitality to guests, especially before the First World War, had a very devoted doer in R' Meyshe Yehoshe Ginzburg, a Jewish scholar and Enlightener, who later dealt in holy books. He would also take in guests to his home and concern himself with all their needs. There was a time when there was a shortage of small coins in the country and that served as a good reason to aid a pauper with very little to live on: Meyshe Yehoshe “invented” a “poor people's bank” and published a “money issue” with his signature on it. Householders could purchase such small “banknotes” from Meyshe Yehoshe in order to give to the paupers, and they – the poor – could exchange them for cash.

In the last years before the Second World War the Jewish council constructed two large rooms by the shul for a “guest house”. There were a large number of beds with straw mattresses where the poor men could sleep the night and spend their free time. Gitl Leye Mikhalovitsh concerned herself with the poor women, who could spend the night in her own poor home, cook a little food and wash their clothes.

Great contributors to this hospitality were Fayvl Brik who in the last years designated one of his rooms for poor people; Velvel Zilbershtyen (the “Radzshilover tailor”) who built out a special room in his apartment and ran a “private” guest house for the poor; and Yoel'ke the baker who had a “kalbe shavue” from before the sack of Jerusalem. There was not once hungry person who went to him and did not leave sated. His whole bakery and sales-counter were at the disposal of the poor.

There were also two guest houses, so-called hotels, where one could spend the night for a payment, with Meyshe Tenenboym or Shaul Potash. Although these hotels charged a fee, they did also manage the mitsve of hospitality, with their good-heartedness and a good situation. Many times a Jew slept there without money, and also received a bite to eat.

Goworowo Jews knew well the words of the wisemen: “Welcoming guests is greater that receiving the face of the shekhina”, and they valued them and fulfilled them with the whole hearts.

[Page 142]

Goworowo did not possess its own town hospital and no sanitation department or health institutions existed, not through the local council or the Jewish council. The population itself upheld cleanliness standards and also concerned itself with medical help for a sick family member.

When someone in a family got sick, one immediately consulted with the neighbors, made up a few “grandma's remedies” and sent for Gitl-Leye so she could ward off the evil eye. When all those incantations and amulets did not help, one called for the feldsher [unlicensed medical practitioner]. As soon as he looked at the patient, he had his prepared remedies: for stomachache, a little castor oil; against a pain in the back, ten cupping glasses; and for headache, a couple of leeches or some bloodletting.

If this was a passing illness, the patient got up from bed anyway, though weakened a little from the cupping and the bleeding. In the case of a serious illness, and the patient was still sick after the feldsher's ”treatment”, then it was a real illness and one soon sniffed danger. Then there was no other choice but to call the doctor.

For a dangerously ill patient the doctor alone did not suffice, one went to pray fervently at the holy ark, brought in kheyder boys from the shul to sing psalms and “measured” graves. One trembled in fear at a hospital; a hospital smelled of the cemetery. Better to call in the Gutshine doctor, who was also known as a bit of a miracle-worker; or bring doctors from Warsaw, Lomzshe or Ostrolenke, just not to send any patient to a hospital.

There was a Jewish doctor in Goworowo before the First World War, but he did not have “longevity”. The Christians practically boycotted him, and he could not make a living from the Jews alone, so after a short time he had to leave the town. Generally, in the people preferred to call the feldshers with their home remedies, than the doctors. In those times Goworowo had two feldshers, Moshtshikhovski, an ethnic-German who could speak Yiddish and was also a hairdresser; and the second one was good, a converted Jew.

[Page 143]

Their advertising signs consisted of three shiny brass trays that hung by the entrance of the house.

After the First World War, the doctors Zalevski and Kozlovski came from Ostrolenke each week and saw patients in the pharmacy. Later Dr. Tshepita worked there more permanently. In the later years Dr. Glinka treated Goworowo and the surrounding area and also served the members of the sick-fund. He still lives in the town today. The midwives Miryam and Khaye Sore, daughter of Shmuel'ke Dovid, were active in the town for long years. Later there was also a Christian midwife.

Permanent tooth-doctors or dentists were not usual in the town. For a few years the dentist Manye Hofman from Warsaw worked with Avrom Grudke. Later the women dentist Dara, from Rembis, worked with Meyshe Tenenboym. In the last years a woman dentist came from Vishkove once or twice a week. Plus, a dentist from Ostrolenke came to work in Goworowo frequently.

As stated, the people of Goworowo turned to a doctor only when the “knife was at their throat”. But even a doctor did not cure an illness with his hand. One had to buy a prescription, a rubber warming-bottle, an icebag, a thermometer, and other “medicinal herbs”. Someone also had to sit with the patient, spend the night by him and so on. Therefore, there was not any difference between a poor person and a rich one, each one needed help in the time of illness. Thus, the Goworowo householders, headed by Gadliahu Tsudiker, Mendl Gutman and Kosover, took the initiative and created a “Linus ha'tsedik” [lodging for the poor]. Several pairs of people set out over the town to collect money and with a subsidy from the Jewish council they purchased the necessary utensils, which were lent out for the ill for a pledge.

For many years in Goworowo there was also a “biker kholim” [society for visiting the sick] which had more or less the same assignment as the linus-ha'tsedik. Both organizations had as their one goal to help the sick in all manners and with all means. They were active in the town for many years and their work was of great use to the Goworowo population.

  Goworowo, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 30 May 2024 by LA