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In Lublin they called him the “Zamoshtsher Rebi,” but in fact he was born in Goworowo, to the family Aleyarzsh. His brother Mayer Yankev's two sons, Hershl and Khayim Leyb and their children lived in the town for many years. His wife, the Rebitsn Nekhe, was one of Menashe Holtsman's sisters.

Rebi Tsvi did not descend from any rabbinic dynasty. In his younger years he adhered to the Rebi's courts in Vulke, Radzimin and the Ruzshan grandsons. With them he soaked in the aroma of khasidus and thirstily swallowed their Torah. It was with his own strengths that he worked up to the high level of being a rebi among Jews.

In Lublin he held court in a several-storied house in one of the ghetto lanes. His hasidim consisted of simple people, laborers, craftsmen, small dealers, porters, wagon-drivers – Jews hardened by hard life, who found with their rebi an hour of spiritual pleasure, a little hope and comfort in their worry.

The old Rebi passed away at the beginning of the 1930s. His only son and heir apparent Reb Mayer'ke became his substitute. Reb Mayer'ke was a genuine, refined young man, a man of austerity, in great awe of heaven. He was marked for his great love of the Jewish people – he loved his hasidim as his own family. The hasidim would often come to the Rebi to cry out their bitter fates, or to share their joy with their Rebi.

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Our master, teacher and rov, Rov Tsvi Aleyarzsh may his sainted memory be for a blessing

His wife, the young Rebitsn Khane (by the way, he had married one of their cousins, the daughter of Bunem Yitskhak Holtsman from Kharshal) was an example of a Jewish wife and mother. The had one child, a girl, who went through a serious illness and was left a vestige of herself. The Rebitsn also helped the Rebi conduct his court with wisdom and tact.

The young Rebi also had many followers in other places. He maintained a broad correspondence with them. They sent him little petitions from America and gifts and requests for advice and blessings. Before the Days of Awe or public holidays, when dozens of letters would arrive, the Rebi asked us to help him answer the letters. I enjoyed doing that, because he was a truly loveable person with a big heart and sensitivities. It was a pleasure to visit in their home.

The Rebi and his wife and child were murdered by the Nazis in one of the Lublin concentration camps, may God avenge their blood.

A person with feeling and tact, a wise man among the wise, bubbling with humor and sharp-mindedness, a Talmud scholar with a representative appearance – these were the characteristics of Reb Yankl Shtshetshina of blessed memory, a long-established Goworowo settler, one of the most respected in the town.

It is clear that, if not for his poor material situation and his heavy worries about livelihood, Reb Yankev would have achieved a high position in the Council leadership, for his wisdom, clear analytical understanding and power of persuasion. But what did the wise men say? ”The wise remain poor.” Although Reb Yankl possessed his own house with several apartments for renters, a grocery and haberdashery business in a good location, it was difficult for him to draw a livelihood for his household. He had to teach kheyder boys in addition. In passing: the teaching of children did not suit his essence, character or nature. He could not come down to the level of kheyder children. That was not his place. He felt good when he was sitting beside the Rov as an arbitrator in a very complicated case of Jewish law. Here he could juggle with ingenuity, discovering errors of logic to vindicate his side. He was certainly one of the most esteemed arbitrators in town.

Reb Yankl was a Ger Hasid of the liberal kind, not the extreme kind. He could find a common language even with heretics. His witticisms and smile made an impression on everyone.

Reb Yankl was born in Ruzshan to his parents Yitskhak Arye and Sore Dina. He spent his youth learning in the study-house. He married into Goworowo. With his first wife he had their daughter Rokhl, who married a young hasidic man from Vishkove. He married his second partner Khane Elke, the daughter of Reb Beytsalel Yosl Karvat may God avenge his blood.

With the outbreak of the Second World War Reb Yankl and his family went through the whole thorny path of the Exile. He was transported to northern Russia. There he was extremely exhausted and suffered hunger. He passed away on the fourth interim day of Peysakh, tes-shin”alef and was buried in a forest near the grave of his one-time neighbor Reb Yitskhak Reytshik of blessed memory.

(See picture on page 95)

Reb Yeshaye Hertsberg was not Goworowo-born, yet he was bound with the town like one born of many generations. His family was from Makove, and he married Tsipe, Miryam Rokhl's, who was an orphan and was reared by her uncle, the well-known wealthy Reb Itsl Mints. He considered her his own daughter and married her to Reb Shayke from Makove. Reb Itsl promised him room and board and treated him like a son-in-law. Reb Itsl Mints was, as stated, very rich. He owned a large part of the area of the town, which, after his death, was sold to Ratenski (the orchard and manor) and a larger stretch to Yankev Berl Blumshteyn.

Soon after his arrival in the town, Yeshaye became prominent among the hasidic youth. He was a Ger Hasid and often traveled to Ger, to the Rebi, and stayed there for some time. He did not have any worries about livelihood as he was living with Reb Itsl Mints. He lived in a beautiful apartment and his home was a central gathering place for the Ger Hasidim in town. Kidushim and dinners at the end of Shabes were held there, and also meetings about community problems in the town. Reb Shayke was one of the instigators for bringing in the cantor-ritual slaughterer Malkiel from Makove. He traveled to Makove to influence him, and when the townspeople refused to release Reb Malkiel, he came in the middle of the night with horse and wagon and stole him away from Makove while the residents of the town were still sleeping.

When the Ger Rebi ordered his hasidim to found the “Agudas Yisroel” organization, Reb Shayke became the most active member in town. He was also active in “Beys-Yankev”, “Talmud-Torah”, and in all the “Aguda” undertakings in town.

When they began organizing the soccer teams in town, and would play on Shabes, Reb Shayke became one of the active “Shomrey-Shabes” members and went out to fight against desecrating the sabbath and did not allow them to play. He was not surprised when it even came to physical blows.

Before the First World War, Reb Shayke did not have any worries about income. After the war, when the town had been burned down, Reb Itsl Mints died and his son Mendl established an iron factory in Pultusk, and the inheritors sold the possessions and the land, Reb Shayke built a house near Reb Matisyahu Rozen and began

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dealing in grain. It went well for the first few years. After that, as the Christian cooperatives took to boycotting Jews, he became impoverished and went through difficult times. His children helped him with his livelihood. The eldest son, Zelig, helped in the grain business; his daughter Miryam Rokhl learned wig-making and hair-dressing; the younger daughter worked for Reb Leyvi Varshaviak and later for Reb Yisroel Burshteyn and for Beyle Potash in their businesses.

He reared all his children in the Jewish spirit. The daughters were active in the “Beys-Yankev” school, and particularly Miryam Rokhl. She was president of “Banos Agudas Yisroel” and a good public speaker. She also presented lectures in Warsaw. She was observant and refined and loved to do charity. She had two sons, Mordkhe and Nosn. Nosn was a religious yeshive boy.

The entire family Hertsberg was murdered as martyrs in the war years, may God avenge their blood.

An authentic type of Talmud scholar who had no more in his world than the four walls of Jewish law – that was the eminent householder Reb Yudl Sheyniak of blessed memory. His chief occupation was to sit and study. His manufacturing business on the market square was run by his wife and children. Still, Reb Yudl found a little time to busy himself with community matters: for a while he was a member of the Jewish Council; after the First World War he did some rescue work and was almost always an assessor for the meetings of the tax evaluation commission.

Reb Yudl was born in Tiktin, in 1870. He studied with the Tiktin Rov and was a very good pupil. He married into Goworowo at age 18, to Gishe, the daughter of Gedalye and Yetke who had an “aleyarnia”. Although Tiktin was a purely-Litvak town, in Goworowo Yudl became one of the strongest Ger Hasidim and was a frequent traveler to the Rebi.

Gishe, Reb Yudl's wife, was also well-known in the town for her good-heartedness. She took interest in the poor and sick people, and was a good, devoted mother to her children.

Reb Yudl died in 1929. They laid the table where he always sat, learning day and night, in his grave. His wife Gishe died during transport to White Russia, Communist S.S.R, in 1945.

My mother, the Rebitsn Genendl, was the younger daughter of the Ruzshan scholar and genius Rebi Avieyzer Shikora. My grandfather had four sons and two daughters, and his biggest goal was that the sons be Talmud experts, and his daughters marry great scholars. He carried out his efforts. The older daughter, my Aunt Shifre, he married to the famous genius Rebi Avrom Aron Hendl, Rov in Varshe-Vole and the Rebi of the Ger and Radzin Rebis; and the younger daughter he got for a husband our wonderful father, Rebi Alter Meyshe Mordkhe Burshtin, Rov in Tshervin and in Goworowo.

Even as a little girl, my grandfather was proud of his younger daughter. She was beautiful and smart and comprehended Torah like a yeshive-bokher. Grandfather was wealthy and was not stingy about the dowry. So they looked to match her with the best lineage. But my grandfather chose his best student, and their marriage took place when they were 18 years old.

Grandfather predicted that his daughter Genendl would be a Rebitsn and so he prepared her that. He taught her himself, and sent her abroad twice.

After a few years of room-and-board at grandfather's and in various rebi's courts, my father became Rov in Tshervin. The Rebitsn soon exhibited her elevated personality. The town Tshervin was once a town in dispute. Eventually an angel of peace came down. Everything “adhered” to the Rov, and one became good friends with the other. My mother's portion was thereby a very important one. With her good character, humanism, wisdom and great tact, she helped her husband ascend in learning and in livelihood from near and far.

In Goworowo my mother established a rabbinic household that was an example to all. Welcoming guests in a generous style. Poor and rich, she received everyone with a blessing and cordiality. She had an encouraging word for everyone, and she offered needed, wise and fitting advice. Everyone who came into the house left it with thanks and happiness.

My mother took an active part in the religious and community life of the town. She was one of the founders of the local “Beys-Yankev” school for girls and the chairwoman of the committee, and she did much in the area of dedicating the space for the school. [Founder] Sore Shenirer visited Goworowo twice. She was my mother's guest, and they shared a great love.

There were cases when father came into conflict with a Jewish Council member

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or some other local leader. The Rebitsn quickly knew how to smooth things over and resolve the quarrel and in the end, the people became the Rebi's good friends. More than once father was helped by her advice in some complicated legal matter, or in a community issue. Her advice was always pertinent and solid.

Mother always lead herself and recited all the prayers like a male person; and she learned from Sore Shenirer to get up the nerve for the standing shmone-esrey. She also never missed a day of reading the press: the “Togblat”, “Haynt” and even secular books.

I can still see that terrible day when the servant come to me at work and told me that mother had suddenly become very weak. I found her unconscious, but her lips were whispering a chapter of psalms. She suffered for one week. All her children and grandchildren were gathered around her bed.

Her holy soul ascended on the 2^nd of Iyar, sav-reysh-tsadi”vov.

Khane, the daughter of Reb Yankl Berl Blumshteyn of blessed memory was well-known in town. She was married at quite a young age to the great scholar Reb Zelig Papiertshik, a leader and a sage, of an aristocratic Warsaw family.

She bore him six children, all girls, and despite her heavy task of educating them, she still found free time to do mitsve s and good deeds. She would go around collecting money and food for the needy and also help a sick person in any way they needed.

Khane was very refined and possessed a warm Jewish heart. Her manner of speaking and her approach to people brought her honor and esteem. She befriended everyone, had a good word for everyone, respected others and so became respected herself.

She died in the month of Shevet, 1928. The sum of her years was only 32 when after a short illness she was torn away from life. She left her children, some at such an age that they could not comprehend the measure of the tragedy.

Khane Papiertshik remains baked into the hearts of her children and family, who will never forget her. May her soul be bound up with the bond of life.

Rokhl Shmilke's lived with her husband in the attic of our house. They were extremely old. He was eighty years old, and she was seventy. He was called Yoske, and she was called Rokhl Shmilke's.

For many years they lived together in the narrow apartment with love and friendship like a pair of doves. “My Yoske” - she was proud of her husband, and he called her “My wife Rokhl”.

The town treated her with great admiration and respect. And indeed, she deserved this appreciation. There was no limit to her kindness and noble-mindedness. She always smiled, she spoke calmly and peacefully, and she was always ready to help others with all her might and heart.

She was busy with public needs, in every sense of the word. She took care of poor brides, not only to find them a dowry and sources for the wedding expenses, but also to find grooms for them. For the sick and weak, she hid in her bag some chicken soup, a piece of veal, and medicines for healing. The old woman walked long distances every day. She went to distant villages, to ask favors from the Polish landowners for Jews. With the fluent Polish she spoke, she asked for things and also managed to get what she wanted. Almost every day she went from door to door asking for money for charity. Everyone responded favorably with great generosity. She never told who she was collecting the charity for and who needed help.

Even though she neglected her husband a little because of her involvement with the community's needs, Yoske never complained. He suffered, but did not rebuke her about it. On the contrary, he even encouraged her to continue her good deeds for the benefit of the poor, sick and oppressed.

When someone at home got sick, had a sore throat or head and teeth aches, they first called Khane Rivke to come and check him. She looked at the patient with her deep eyes, looked at the tongue, checked the pulse, and determined the diagnosis. She also decided whether there is a need to call the doctor or not.

She lived in a dilapidated house in a side alley with a difficult access. Her husband and sons belonged to a family of butchers and were always busy slaughtering, purging and cutting meat, and removing what needed to be out of the sight of the veterinarian. Khane Rivke also helped her husband in trading. But when she was called for help, she responded immediately and with hasty steps went to provide first aid.

Due to the extensive trust that the town's residents had in her, she was able in most cases to bring medicine and cure to every patient and every disease. I was present when the Polish doctor consulted her as if she was in his position, what is her opinion on the disease and what medicine does she suggest?

However, not only the disease was treated by Khane Rivke. She also brought sweets and delicacies to the patient. Her words of encouragement had the power to raise a sick person from his bed and make him well.

Indeed, Khane Rivke was a wonderful woman. When she fell ill with a serious illness, she accepted the judgment upon her as a punishment from heaven, and quietly bore her suffering without complaining and telling others about her sufferings.

When she passed away, the residents of the town paid her great respect, and told after her death about her praises and good deeds.

Reb Borekh Kuperman of blessed memory and his wife Khane Rokhl, may she have a long life

He was born in Goworowo in 1883, to his parents Tsvi and Yenta Rivke. He studied in the Goworowo Yeshive as a boy. Later his father took him into the shoemaking trade, from which he made a good living. He built a house on the market square with a large apartment and a workshop.

He married Khane Rokhl (of the parents Granat) who had a grocery business in town. She, his wife Khane Rokhl, excelled in her charitable deeds and discreet gifts. She was among the less-pious women, she gave her charity modestly and quietly in the name of heaven.

Shortly before the last world war, Reb Borekh Kuperman and his family moved to America. There too, Reb Borekh participated in community activities and was a leading member of the Goworowo landsmanshaft committee. His wife and children are still in America to this day.

Reb Borukh Kuperman died on the 11^th of Kislev, sav-shin-yud”khes, and was buried in the Goworowo cemetery in New York. May his soul be bound up in the bond of the living.

Rov Asher Kutner, may God avenge his blood, was born in Warsaw in the year 5630 to his father, the famous hasid of Radzimin Hasidism.

In his youth Rov Asher studied in yeshives and he was great in Torah and qualified to teach, although he did not serve in the rabbinate. He married his first wife in the city of Ostrolenke. After the death of his wife, he married a second time in the city of Goworowo.

He was engaged in commerce and had set times for Torah studies. He was a philanthropist, a hasid and had noble qualities. He was involved with those around him and his entire mindset and way of life were imbued with the spirit of the Torah and firm faith. While studying the Torah and worshiping God, his qualities improved until he ascended to a higher level of noble spirit in his kindness, goodness, love for humanity, and his willingness to help all those who fail in the war of life, with his good deeds. He did not chase publicity and recognition. He obeyed the orders of those who were great in Torah and reverence, and was connected with every fiber of his soul to the late Rebi of Radzimin.

During the deportations from the city of Goworowo he fled to the city of Slonim together with his wife and daughter, and there the Germans executed him in 5702. May his soul be bound in the bundle of life and may his memory be blessed forever.

Reb Asher Kutner was one of the most esteemed householders in the town and one of the distinguished hasidim in the Vurke-Otvotsk shtibl. He himself was not a Vurke hasid. His father Reb Shmuel Zaynvl was reckoned as the finest Radzimin Hasid in Vurke. He led the morning service during the Days of Awe for the last Radzimin Rebi; and after his demise he was lain near the tomb of the Rebi. But as in Goworowo there were no Radzimin Hasidim, Reb Asher joined the Otvotsk Hasidim, to which his relatives belonged.

In his young years Reb Asher learned in the Radzimin Yeshive. Later he helped his father to run the leather business in Warsaw. He would spend the evenings in the hasidic shtibl, learning a page of Talmud and talking about hasidim.

Reb Asher married into Ostrolenke, with his wife Yokheved. Her father Avrom Yisroel had a wine bar there. After several years living with his in-laws, Reb Asher began trading and taking merchandise to Warsaw.

With his second marriage to his wife Rivke, at the end of the First World War, he moved to Goworowo and opened a grocery business in the market square.

Reb Asher was a typical hasid with all the hasidic ways of life, and was good-humored in his relations with people. He spoke the Warsaw “Yakh” language in a singing tone, and loved to dismiss the whole world with a wave of his hand.

He was one of the founders of the Otvotsk shtibl and, along with Yankev Dovid Nayman donated the site for the shtibl.

He was murdered along with his family in Slonim, may God avenge their blood.

Grandfather Reb Shleyme Leyb was known in Goworowo as a wise Jew and a man of learning, one of the fine Vurke Hasidim. He would often act as arbitrator for important Jewish court cases, and was the best close friend of the Goworowo Rov. When he died the Rov eulogized him with the words “My right hand has been taken away.” He had five children: Leye, Peysakh, Khayim Borekh, Sima and Nekhame. Peysakh was a Talmud scholar and very observant. He prayed and studied and did not want to take any enjoyment from the world. After his marriage he became a ritual slaughterer. He died of hunger during the transports to Russia, because he would not eat unkosher food. The elder daughter Leye was killed with the family in Sokolov, and Sima and his family in Slonim. Only Nekhame survived, because she was in Pioneer training and made aliye to Erets Yisroel in 1938.

My father Reb Khayim Borekh was born in 1900. He studied in the Makove Yeshive. Om 1924 he married my mother Yetke Holtsman and established a fine Jewish household. He could sing, my father. People stood under our windows for the Shabes songs just to hear his singing.

On that sad Shabes the Germans shot several of our neighbors in our building. Everything was burned and we were left naked and impoverished. For several days we wandered among the gentiles, and then to Bialystok. My father was an energetic person, he established himself well in Bialystok, but for the crime of not getting a Russian passport we were transported to Siberia. We made it through four hard years there and it was thanks to my father's energy and initiative that we somehow held our own. My father did the hardest work, sawing wood in the 50 C cold. Once a falling tree hit him in the head. He was badly wounded but did not lose his courage. I remember, before the holiday of Sukes, he went away into the deep forest with the head of the Pultusk Yeshive to dig a pit and cover it with branches in order to fulfill the mitsve of Sukes, so that no one would know.

In 1944 we, as Polish citizens, were sent back to Ukraine and the heavens began to brighten. We could now see some rays of hope. So, standing on the threshold of liberation, our worst misfortune occurred.

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Reb Khayim Borekh Shakhter of blessed memory

May his name be sanctified along with all the Jewish martyrs.

Reb Gedalye Grinberg of blessed memory and his wife Khane, may she have a long life

Reb Gedalye had a lot of pleasure from life and was always happy. In essence he was a quiet, separate person, did not like to mix in community matters. In town, people honored and respectfully valued him.

Reb Gedalye was born in Goworowo in 1888, to his father Yitskhak Ayzik the baker and mother Sheyne Gitl. He studied in kheyder and in the Lomzshe Yeshive. At the age of twenty he married his wife Khane Marmelshteyn from Ruzshan, and opened a bakery in Goworowo, which he maintained until the destruction of the town.

Reb Gedalye died in another place, fleeing to Lomzshe, on the 21^st of Kheshvan, sav”shin. His wife, long years to her, is now in Israel.

I will try here to depict a typical Goworowo Jew, who was born there in 1850, and lived almost all his years in that town. This was my grandfather Reb Yankev Shabsay Trukhnovski may he rest in peace, who was known by the name Yankev Shepsl “the Litvak”. I will record a few episodes about him and about his wife, my grandmother Khaye, about whom I heard when I was just a child. I will also relate facts that I myself later observed and naturally did not understand and evaluate at the time.

Grandfather and his two younger sisters were free-floating orphans when they were little. He was nine years old at the time with no one to redeem him and no nearby family, because their parents were also each the only child of their parents and died very young.

Strangers, good people, who tended to the children in the name of a mitsve , took in my grandfather at ten years of age, to be an apprentice with a tailor. He was provided with food and a bed for three years. And he was instructed that he should do everything that the proprietor told him to do, and even obey the wife too. Because here he was getting food and a bed and being taught to be a tailor. The ten-year-old tailor apprentice could really not understand that in order to be a tailor, one had to carry water for the wife, bring in wood, rock the baby, and when she was pregnant, he had to clean and sweep the house as well. He did not heaven forbid complain and of course not revolt, because he knew that in the end, he would be a tailor and that meant earning money for profit and in time also becoming independent.

When the three years ended, he did, besides the food and bed, receive money. People did not get paid in those days in a small town (probably everywhere) every week; sometimes every month, but sometimes for the whole “season”. When the half year was over, he received enough money to be able to clothe himself from head to foot – that is to say, a kapote and a pair of shoes.

At eighteen years my grandfather was a complete tailor and made a good match with his wife, my grandmother Khaye, who descended from an excellent lineage. She was also a little orphan and had been reared by an uncle. The good uncle promised a dowry and the two orphans were married. Grandfather was then prepared to become an independent shoemaker.

So his disappointment was huge when grandmother's uncle, after the wedding,

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said to him: “How should a Jew, as poor as I am, get money to give you as a dowry? I have given you a precious, quiet and fine girl from prestigious parents, I cannot give you any more; livelihood is from God, however the One Above wishes, whether you become a “patcher” without the brides' dowry.” And God did really will it, that what the bride's uncle said did actually materialize. It's true, it was not so easy, but after getting through all the difficulties he did, finally, work up to a good livelihood and my grandmother lived out her years in quiet and refinement. She was regarded with honor and was esteemed by everyone. When she arrived at the “women's shul” the women stood for her. “Khaye the charitable” the called her. She bore grandfather eight children – four sons and four daughters. The eldest of them was my dear mother, Ester, may God avenge her blood.

Now I would like to return to my grandfather: Before their first child was born to them, grandfather traveled off to Warsaw, with the sole thought and ambition to save enough money and become a householder for himself. In Warsaw he worked in a tailoring factory with many other workers. At lunch time, when all the workers went to a restaurant to eat, grandfather hid so no one would see him and ate a little piece of bread. When his coworkers asked him, Shepsl, where did you eat? He answered, Over there, in that other restaurant.

So he lived for several years with great thriftiness in Warsaw. When he would come from time to time back to grandmother in Goworowo, he went by foot in order to save money. After years of living in stinginess, – he in Warsaw and grandmother in the little town where she earned money by baking bread and braiding khale for others – grandfather had gathered enough money to realize his dream. The last time that he came by foot from Warsaw, he literally, right at the door, lost his strength and fell in a faint. He did not try to walk it again.

Once grandfather even proposed that grandmother and the two children that she had by then, travel with him to live in Warsaw, but she rejected that suggestion categorically. “In Warsaw,” she said, “even the stones are treyf :” She did not want her children to grow up there as goyim . Grandfather concurred, and promptly built a house on the “long street”, bought two sewing machines, brought in merchants from Warsaw, acquired journeymen and worked 18 to 20 hours over two days. In Goworowo people whispered that Yankev Shepsl had found a treasure of cash in Warsaw and had struck it rich – for, how could it be, that in those few numbered years he could make so much money? So the legend remained as long as he lived. No one knew in what kind of poverty he had lived.

Grandfather's tailor shop went very well. He sewed coats, jackets and suits for gentiles, and went from fair to fair selling that merchandise.

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He won the trust of his customers. “The Litvak does not trick you,” they said, For him that was the best advertisement, one that could not be bought for money and it brought him success. Even the wagon-driver who drove him to the fairs believed strongly in him. I recall that all those years he had only one driver and he was called Pioter. When Piotr died, his brother Volek took over the reins. And with all his prosperity he still lived very frugally.

But my grandfather already had another goal in life: Not to give his children to tailoring but to study, providing them with big dowries and matching them to marriages of good lineage. To a certain extent he was successful: the first son, Khayim Zalman, made a marriage with Yeshaye Diment's daughter Rivke, from Ostrove. Reb Yeshaye was a learned man of a good family, but he was very poor. Thus, my grandfather gave the dowry, and not as it was done then, by the bride's father. The second son, Velvl, he married to the Vonseva [Wąsewo] Rov's daughter Pesh'ke. The Rov barely made a living from his position. After the wedding Uncle Velvl had to report for military conscription. Then a big argument broke out between son and parents. Velvl said that he did not want to serve the damned Russian government and that he would rather go to America. Those words struck the parents like a clap of thunder in the middle of a clear day. This was at the beginning of this century, when

A family picture during a holiday Sitting second from right, Yankev Shepsl's daughter Sore with her husband Shmuel Shtern. Except the one designated with an “X”, all were killed. Of the survivors: Yisroel Truknovski, next to him his wife Sore and their daughter Khave (Canada). Standing near the soldier is Khaye Zeml (Israel).

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only thieves were going to America, criminals, revolutionaries, who had to flee from the tsarist government. How did that suit for a prominent proprietor's son who had just married a rov's daughter? In the end grandfather had to pay a 400-ruble penalty to the tsar for his son's avoiding conscription. But Velvl stubbornly stood his ground and said that if they did not give him any money to go to America that he would hang himself. The depressed parents saw that their son meant what he said, gave him money and he did indeed leave for America. “Better to have a living son in treyf America than a son who hanged himself,” they decided.

Until more respectable people began to move to America, the parents were ashamed to say that they had a son there. They did not imagine what the times, with the later wars and the Hitler years, would bring. And indeed, thanks to the first pioneers of the family who went along the “slippery, un-Jewish” path to America, it was through him that many in the extended family were saved, and are still there. When the Vonseva Rebi's son-in-law first arrived in America he spent a few years in the “sweat shops”. He said that it would be better sweeping the streets than working in any “shop”. He did in fact wash windows and do various heavy jobs. He also pushed a cart, sometimes with frozen apples, sometimes with shoe-laces and women's stockings. He slept in a shoemaker's basement, paying fifty cents a month rent. Gradually he got into “business” and as is the American way – became very rich. Uncle Velvl is now an old man of over 85 years may he live to 120, and has lived in America the whole time.

Grandfather's third child was my dear mother, Ester. He also married her according to his wish. Reb Elieyzer Gedalye, the great scholar of Dlugashodle became the father-in-law and the 18-year-old Avremele the genius became the groom. Grandfather added to it because he gave a large dowry: Three years room and board, he bought the groom a fur shtreyml for the wedding, made him a silk kapote , gave him a complete set of the Vilne Talmud, plus – a beautiful, accomplished 17-year-old daughter, whom my father had not seen until the wedding. Grandfather and grandmother were sure that their son-in-law with his great learning ability would become a rov. But father, after three years of kest, did not become a rov. “I am afraid,” he said, “that taking a position with Jews onto my shoulders is too great a responsibility before God.”

My mother opened a shop and drew her livelihood from it for 38 years. They reared nine children and lived in peace and tranquility. Until Hitler and his hoards came and slaughtered six million Jews, and along with everyone else, my dear parents and my three brothers Bunem, Meyshe and Dovid, may God avenge their blood.

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My grandmother died in 1917, my grandfather in deep old age in 1928.

Velvl Trukhnovski

Reb Yankev Shabsay Trukhnovski was a fine type of religious Jew: an observant tailor who had a large workshop with workers, traveled to all the fairs with his prepared merchandise, worked hard all his life and still swore that he had to recite all the psalms every day for all the appointed occasions plus all the various Torah portions that were available in his big, thick prayerbooks.

The question was still, how can a Jew put so much time into it? But he found a simple bit of advice from Genesis: “then Jacob went on his journey”, and right after midnight went straight to the study-house and begin to recite. He prayed at dawn his whole life, with the first minyen. Coming home, he made a “l'khayim” with a little pure spirits and a bite to eat. After that he ate breakfast, which consisted of bread with some hot groats. That is how Reb Yankev Shabsay lived, whom people held as a wealthy Jew.

The Goworowo youth were well-acquainted with that Jew. When they were coming home from strolling around half the night before going to sleep, Reb Yankev Shabsay had just gotten up from sleep, and the friends saw how he turned on lights in the study-house and began to recite the psalms.

His eldest son Velvl, who lives in New York may no evil eye harm him, already in his eighties, says that he can still not forget how his father would – in winter in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night – drag him out of his warm bed and force him to go to the study-house to learn.

One of his other sons, Reb Yisroel Trukhnovski from Pultusk, who survived the war with his wife and children, lives today in Montreal, Canada.

Reb Yehoshe Rozen and his wife Alte of blessed memory

He was born in Goworowo about 1878, to his parents Yosef and Khave Rozen. He learned the shoemaking trade and married his wife Alte, the daughter of Yisroel Shabsay Berliner.

Soon after the First World War Reb Yehoshe got involved in community matters. He was a councilman in most of the Jewish Council terms and among the founders and members of the Artisans' Union and their bank. He was an active member of the Burial Society, the Psalm Society, one of the gabays in the Great Shul and one of the spokesmen for all Council matters.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Reb Yehoshe and his family went to Russia. His youngest son Yankev, one of the members of the town “Ha'shomer ha'dati”, died there in 1942. He also lost his daughter Khave Galovinski there, along with his son-in-law Avrom Barzili. His other son-in-law Shleyme Gelbord

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was killed at the end of the War in Ukraine, along with Khayim Borekh Shakhter, in a sugar factory due to a gas explosion there. In 1956, in Israel, his daughter Sore Blume Oyslender died.

In 1949 Reb Yehoshe and his family arrived in Israel and settled in Bnai Brak. Being a natural leader, he soon began to be active in the “Poaley Agudas Yisroel” in his area. He became gabay of “Tikun Sufrim” and despite his old age contributed a lot to the shul.

Reb Yehoshe died in Shevet, sav-shin-khof”daled, and six months later, in Elul, sav-shin-khof”daled, his wife Alte died at almost the same age. They were both buried in the cemetery of Zikhron Yakov in Bnai Brak.

May their souls be bound up in the bond of the living.

Yankev Rozen of blessed memory

Reb Yankev Rozenberg may God avenge his blood

Reb Yankev was a Jew in awe of heaven who loved the law of Torah, was a giver of charity and was known as a wonderful host of guests. When he did not have any guests for Shabes it was hard for him to sit at the table alone for the Shabes meal. He also belonged to various groups that studied Torah. He loved that very much.

Reb Yankev was very observant regarding kashrus. People said that during the First World War when he had fallen captive to the Germans, he lived for three years (1914–1917) on just bread and tea.

In Ruzshan Reb Yankev became very active in the community. He was a member of the local Jewish Council, as well as a member of the Burial Society. He was treasurer of the Free Loan Society. He was a leader in public affairs with complete trust.

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With the outbreak of the Second World War, when the Germans neared Ruzshan, the Jews left their homes and began wandering from place to place. Reb Yankev and his family went back to Goworowo to his relatives. But here, what happened was horrible: On that gruesome Shabes at dawn, when the Germans drove all the Jews into the shul, and began to burn down the town, Reb Yankev was murdered. A Nazi bullet put an end to his life. He was buried in the Goworowo cemetery. Many proprietors from both Goworowo and Ruzshan took part in his funeral.

Reb Yankev left behind a wife, Khaye Sore, who lives in Israel today. Also, their two daughters Ester Hadasa Klayn and Rokhl Rozenberg are in Israel with their families. Their son Borekh and his two daughters Brokhe and Khane, live in Russia. Their son Shmuel, with his wife Rivke, the daughter of Reb Avrom Shafran may God avenge his blood, live in Canada. Shmuel Rozenberg, a scholar, already belonged to the conscious youth in Poland, and became a community activist there. He and his wife are very busy in Canada among the Goworowo landslayt and have many supporters for the publication of this book.

Finally another mention, that Reb Yankev's son Mayer fell in the battle of the Russian Army against the Germans. His daughter Freyde died in Russia. Freyde's children Dov and his wife Tsipora and their two children, as well as her daughter Rokhl and her husband Ilan and a child, live in Israel.

Reb Yankev's mother Sore Gitl Rozenberg of blessed memory

My large, many-branched family was rooted in the soil of Goworowo for long generations. We ourselves lived outside the town, in a house on an open field, surrounded by green meadows and a lake. All our family members gathered often at our house, to enjoy the fresh air, spend Shabes and holidays together and celebrate happy family events.

Our house was blessed with a lot of children. My father used to say at the birth of each new child, “Now I am made richer with another treasure”. My mother also never complained about her lot. There was nothing hard for her, for our children. She gifted us all of her best years and best energies. Our house was always full of children's clamor and children's laughter.

I remember the year when I started going to the Polish public school. It was not so easy for a Jewish child to attend that school. My father took pains and appealed to the school director for protection, so that I might be accepted there. A total of three other Jewish girls studied with me in that school. The jokes and laughter with which the Polish children received us still lie buried in my memory. They pestered us at every opportunity, and the Polish teachers did nothing to control it. That era was full of animosity and irritation. If not for my stubbornness and strong will to learn, I would not have been able to bear the animosity and indignity from the Polish pupils and teachers.

My father Reb Khayim Leyb was a folksy, ordinary Jew. A tall, solidly built man with a beautifully-combed beard, always with a smile, full of humor and witticisms, loved and respected by everyone. He earned his bread honestly. At first, he had a piece of land and a cow farm. Later he began to deal in cattle, then earned and led a simple way of life.

Until the terrible misfortune that ruined our home, even before the decimation of all of Polish Jewry: the murderous axe of goy was loosed on my father's head and tore him away from us before his time. It happened when familiar gentiles came to him and invited him to purchase some cattle for an agreeable price. My father suspected nothing. He harnessed his horse to the wagon, took some money with him, and drove to the village to buy the goods. He was supposed to come home by evening and did not come. It got to be late at night,

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we were getting uneasy, and alarmed people to go search for him. By morning the whole town was already on its feet. Artisans put their work aside, shopkeepers closed the businesses – everyone went out to search. Three days and nights they looked for my father, until they found him in a forest, lying in his wagon with his head split, the horse tied to a tree, robbed of the money that he had with him.

Our misfortune was as huge as the ocean. The whole area sank into a deep sadness. We had deep suspicions about a particular goy, that he was the murderer. Strong evidence led to him. We brought a lawsuit against him but the Polish court acquitted the case.

The misfortune completely broke our family. I remained in the house with another three sisters, except the married brothers and sisters.

We are three sisters in Israel since before the war. My mother, the youngest sister and the married brothers and sisters and their families, were tragically murdered by the German persecutors in the gruesome years of the war.

Pesh'ke Goldman worked as a teacher in Goworowo in the 1938-1939 school year. She worked in an afternoon school with children from the Polish folks-school and the kheyder. She taught the children to speak Yiddish, to write and read it. In the evening hours she taught a group of “skipistn” (youth of the “Bund”), children from 12 to 16 years, all of whom already worked. She used Yankev Pat's “Mayn bikhl”. Her work-day began at 10 in the morning and ended at 11 at night. From 10 to 1:00 she worked in an orphanage; from 1 to 7 in the evening, in the afternoon school and from 9 to 11 with the “skipistn”. From a letter dated 20 November 1938 that she wrote to friends, she remarked, “As you see, I am toiling hard the whole day, without time to catch my breath.”

Pesh'ke Goldman was born in Kobrin in 1908 (? – ed.). Her father was a glazier. In 1931 she finished the Jewish Teachers' Seminary in Vilne. During the years 1932 to 1939 she was active in the area of Jewish education.

She was first a teacher in an orphanage in Novidvar (near Warsaw) where she was also teaching in a Yiddish school, Botshan. Pesh'ke Goldman was also a teacher in Warsaw, Kobrin (her birth-town), Zshetl (near Slonim) and then in Goworowo. Where she died is not known.

(From The Teachers' Memorial Book)

Reb Mordkhe and Ester Shmelts of blessed memory

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Mordkhe was acquitted.

Soon after he ended his military service Mordkhe was mobilized again in the First World War. He fought with the tsar's army on various fronts and his entire regiment was taken prisoner by the Germans.

At the end of the war Mordkhe came back to the town and took up working in his meat trade. He had great success there, and became rich. He was active in the artisans' union, and was later elected as president of the Artisans' Bank. He made many contributions to the development of the bank.

By nature, Mordkhe was excitable and nervous. If there was a grievance, he would react with shouting and anger. But in essence he had a good, warm heart and loved to do a person a good turn; he lent money without interest, and regularly helped anyone he could. Once there was a situation in which he helped a Christian in a difficult situation, and the priest in the church stood him as an example for the whole Christian population.

Mordkhe was on good terms with the high officials in the town. Therefore, the commandant wanted to take revenge on him. Once, one Passover eve, he punished him with a large fine for a little garbage in front of his house. Mordkhe shouted at him and shouted the truth in his face. The commandant complained about him in the district court for insulting a police officer doing his duty. Mordkhe could not get an attorney to defend him, because they were afraid of the commandant. Mordkhe had to defend himself. He related the whole story of the revenge, and, since the commandant had bribed the Christian jurors with drinks at a wine bar, Mordkhe was freed, and the commandant had to leave Goworowo in great dishonor.

Mordkhe and his family went through great hardships during World War II. His wife protected the Jewish traditions with great soul-sacrifice. She starved and did not allow any non-kosher food in the house. They merited coming to Israel, where they lived another seven years.

In 1956 Reb Mordkhe died, and eight days later his wife Ester also died. The were both 74 years old. May their souls be bound up in the bundle of life.

Binyumin Ginzburg

His father, Reb Meyshe Yehoshe, stemmed from the famous Russian-Polish aristocratic family Ginzburg, and was himself a great scholar. Still, the “evil tongues” said about him that he read “trashy, illicit” books, and as proof: he could talk about many secular things and knew all the news that was unfolding across the world. So, from where would he know all of that if he did not read “Ha'melits” or other “heretical” newspapers?

Binyumin Ginzburg also learned Torah in his young years. It was said that he had a very good head for learning and would grow into a great scholar. But it was not to be as they foresaw. He later left off learning Torah and went into the study of languages, reading books –Jewish and secular literature – acquired higher education, and “new” thoughts sprouted in his head.

At that time, at the beginning of the current century, the Goworowo study-house was full of young men and boys who sat and studied for the sake of Torah. Binyumin Ginzburg became friends with the “good heads” among the young men in the study-house and introduced them to the new Torah: he told them about writers and books, about art and science, and they borrowed books to read, of course in secret and with much conspiracy.

Binyumin Ginzburg possessed great intellectual powers and spoke in a rich, multi-sourced language. His influence was soon remarked upon in the study-house. Many young men were “soured” and “left the path”, among them

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one of my uncles. I remember one time when my grandfather found a book in the house that my uncle had borrowed from Binyumin. The whole house grew dark. Grandfather was enraged and threw the book on the floor, then grabbed a huge tailor's scissor and sliced the book into pieces.

Of course, my uncle never brought any books into the house again, but that did not mean he stopped reading them. He just sought out places where his father's eyes would not find him.

I remember Binyumin as a little child, before the First World War. After the great fire he and his father left the town and returned again after the War.

Arriving in town, they rented an apartment in my grandfather's building. I had the opportunity the get closer and know him and marvel at his personality. I was then 11 or 12 years old. He loved to argue with me and often tried to convince me of the importance of reading literature and of establishing a library in Goworowo. I was overcome with a fear of the heretical thought. I was still young and religious then, reared by my parents and grandfather. Every night before sleep grandfather would sit down by the table read out a verse of “Shevet musar”, which depicted hell with all its details and the punishment that came for each sin individually. From those stories I had desolate dreams of burning pitch, tongues of fire and dancing devils. I was so terrified about the life of my “sinning” uncle. But when I saw how my uncle lived and that nothing bad happened to him, I began to understand that the danger was not so great: one could read a book and remain living too.

Binyumin's idea about founding a library in town became a reality. At first no one would rent him a space for that purpose, until the tailor Hersh Ber came back from America. Binyumin rented a space from him and founded the library – in the beginning with only his own books; later he created a committee, and they bought new books until it grew into the big Goworowo library.

The first library in the town was the foundation on which the Zionist Organization was later built. The youth began streaming into the Organization which then divided into various splinters of almost every political party.

Binyumin Ginzburg stayed in Goworowo until the early 1920s. After that he went to Warsaw, or Lodz, and there became a bookkeeper in a large commercial firm. He was active as a journalist there as well.

He was killed along with all the Jewish martyrs by the German persecutors in the Second World War. Honor his memory!

Leybl Kersh may God avenge his blood

His parents, Yankl and Treyne, moved from Shedlets to Volomin, a neighbor of Warsaw. The father, a worldly man, was a carpenter by trade. In 1917 the family settled in Goworowo, where Yankl was known by the name “the Volomin carpenter”.

He had his first education in khedarim as well as a private school. In his young years he was sent to work; he became a tailor.

The short, thin little Leybl had an ocean of energy. His longish, good-humored face gave evidence about a person who was ready to do good. He always looked for something to do. A type of born social worker. That same trait stood him well in the “Bund”.

He was a Bundist from his earliest years. Barely 15 years old in 1922, he founded an organization for young Bundists in Goworowo, “Tsukunft”. Later he was also active in the local Bundist party. It was to a large extent thanks to him that the Bundist movement in that small town in the Lomzshe region was effective. Leybl was not satisfied with just his hometown. He was not lazy and traveled to the neighboring villages and there helped with anything he could.

In 1932 the Party sent him to Biale-Podliask to direct

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the organization there. In that town he was also active in the professional unions. Among others he organized the wagon-drivers and porters. With his patience and ability to get along with all kinds of people he succeeded in creating unity among the difficult and raw elements.

In 1934 Leybl settled in Warsaw, where he became secretary of the Artisans' Union. From time to time he traveled to the provinces as a Party emissary, to take care of organizational matters or deliver a lecture. He was dedicated to the Bund heart and soul. Every job that he did, he did with heart. His name – which was very popular in the Bundist movement, can be found in the columns of the Bundist press, where he published numerous reports and correspondence.

Leybl Kersh was also killed in the horrendous years of the Second World War and the Nazis' orgies of murder. He was very active in the underground movement. He belonged to the directorship of the secret council of the professional unions and to the broader leadership (collective) of the Bundist organization in the Warsaw Ghetto. He worked in the Tobbens factory, and along with his wife Sore (she stemmed from Radom, her birth name was Fridman) he lived on Zamenhofo Street in the Ghetto. During the selections several important Bundist activists hid in his apartment. He did a lot to save colleagues who did not have any work-cards and hid them in the factory buildings.

When the time came to prepare for the Uprising, Kersh worked with the Jewish Fighters Organization. He was among the leaders of the active battle group.

Leybl Kersh ended his life as a fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He fell from a Nazi bullet around the 10th of May 1943 in Genshe 6.

(From the book, Doyres Bundistn [Generations of Bundists]

Reb Yankl and Treyne Kersh may God avenge their blood

The Bundist leader Leybl Kersh was always surrounded by his “hasidim”. His admirers went in groups around him with their ears pricked to be able to catch a “Torah”-word from their leader. He himself was of small stature, thin, with a huge thick crop of hair, a long nose, hollow cheeks and a pair of expressive black eyes. His father, an ordinary, honest Jew, a cabinetmaker by trade, worked hard for his bit of bread. His mother, a pious Jewess, her wig pushed down almost to her eyes, constantly “talked” with God and praised his holy name.

Leybl Kersh had a huge drive for learning and had achieved everything with his own strengths. His assignment was to bring more teaching and erudition among his friends – men and women – who admired him and venerated him. With extraordinary efforts, with the help of all the members, he established the “Perets Library”, the largest in the town. Leyzer Fridman, a simple bakery worker who worked hard for his living, played the largest role of his dedicated service for the Party library by constantly buying new books. Everyone knew that they could get such books there as were available in no other library. Leyzer Fridman used to say, “My head is not good for reading, but I believe my obligation is to work and provide an opportunity for others to enjoy the source of knowledge.”

Leybl Kersh presented lectures on various political, literary and scientific topics. His voice thundered, his eloquence was powerful, full of pathos, in contrast to his weak body. When he spoke, the walls literally shook. His voice resounded widely.

In 1950, in Munich, Germany, I encountered his brother Peysakh in a hospital. He told me the following about him: Leybl was one of the leading forces in the Warsaw Ghetto and fought bravely against the Hitleristic murderers. He also inspired and encouraged others to fight against the enemy. With full passion, with all his strength, literally like a lion [leyb] he fought against the blood-thirsty animals. Later, seeing that the battle was a losing one, and not wanting to fall into the hands of the murderers, he threw himself from the sixth-floor. His small, worn, shrunken corpse lay without consciousness. (According to another source, the Germans shot him.)

Zvi (Hershke) Granat

A prominent expression of his active and lively life was his full and overflowing schedule, diligence in the continuity of his studies, reading, playing the violin; holding gatherings, meetings, lectures as the head of the nest of Hashomer HaTzair; his work at the Merchants Bank as a bookkeeper, while in fact, he also served as the actual manager, as the exclusive decision maker, who decided alone about every matter and without any consultation.

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He drew a yearning of holiness from the home atmosphere that was steeped in Zionism and from the tradition that was in the cheder, the Lomza Yeshiva and finally from his self-taught studies. He inherited intelligence, wittiness, and innate intelligence from our late mother, Chaya z”l, who was known for her modest manners, noble-mindedness and giving advice to those in need.

He absorbed his noble virtue of helping others from our father Reb Dov z”l, may his light shine, who was known for his open heart, who mobilized at any time to help the needy and sick. Some of them he rehabilitated with the funds he collected until they could stand on their own and some he hospitalized in hospitals until they recovered. I remember one rainy day: it rained non-stop and the flood literally threatened to repeat the time of Noah, the door suddenly opened without knocking, and without saying hello, a Jew came in, wet to the bone, and with a short breath told my father about a critical patient who had just had a hemorrhage and there was an urgent need to hospitalize him in the district hospital in Ostroleka. My father changed his coat in a moment, took his stick and uttered: Lord of the world, for the benefit of this sick stop the rain so that I can fulfill a great mitzvah. When he left the house, the rain stopped completely. I saw in this the same miracle that happened with Yehoshua ben Nun, who prayed: The sun will not set down in Gibeon - and the sun didn't set down.

Zvi never resented if someone needed kindness and disturbed his rest outside the usual hours. These always came to their satisfaction. He also inherited his diligence and decency from our late father. People would deposit with our father, without any sign of receipt or any document, dowries, deposits, and simply money of the “parties” before the arbitration. And he kept these funds as if they were his possession without any differentiation.

And when I talk about him, I also remember this: he rebelled against his staff of teachers, the Poles, who did not excel with their love of Israel, by presenting them questions that they did not know how to answer. More than once, he exposed their ignorance. The teachers stood in front of him embarrassed, like a retarded student before his teacher. These phenomena lowered their prestige in the eyes of the other students, who were also faced with the riddle of the superiority of the diligent and wise Jewish boy. The teachers consulted on how to get rid of him. However, before they found a solution to their problems, Zvi stopped his studies at the school, as he did not consider it as an institution from which he could learn and progress, and began an external study. Here, too, they immediately realized the strength of his personality, as every course he attended he finished with the highest excellency. In a relatively short period of time, he mastered completely the English language.

Once, he was banned with a group of his students near the railroad tracks far from the town. The Chief of the Police was notoriously known as a distinct anti-Semite. He considered every Jew as a communist. They feared that this imprisonment would be prolonged. However, Zvi managed to enter into a lively conversation with the Chief of the Police, and the latter, charmed by his brilliance, the strength of his spirit and the noble-mindedness, was “convinced” that this was not a communist assembly, but a youth who loved nature, and wandered in order to get to know nature and the beautiful scenery around it. Everyone was released immediately and the Chief of the Police invited him for more meetings in order to continue the interesting conversations.

I remember very well the correspondence between him and the cooperative center which plead him persistently to transfer to them and serve in a high position. He was promised a great future as the rising and promising star did not disappear from their eyes. But he was connected deeply to his family, to the bank, the child of his cares, and to the movement which he developed and nurtured.

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He was in constant tension, which eventually destroyed him while he was still young. He got sick. On his deathbed he fought hard with the master of death until he was defeated and passed away.

His work is continued by his students, who were saved from the Nazi inferno. In the project of building the country which continues, rises and develops, his memory and his wonderful and sublime image are bundled together. We will mourn his memory, that he did not get to see with his own eyes the fulfillment of his dream. May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.

“He was head and shoulders above the crowd - although he was not of high stature. Even at his childhood he stood out for his unusual perception which was a “gift from God”. From the following story that our mother, Mrs. Chaya z”l, used to tell, we can learn about his love for his people and his homeland: While he was in the public school, the teacher ordered the students to write an essay on some topic. Zvi took advantage of the opportunity and in his essay attacked the anti-Semitism that prevailed in Poland and even wrote a hymn of praise to the people of Israel “who will return to their homeland”. Of course, this was not to the teacher's liking, and as a result, the headmaster of the Polish school - Mr. Stankius - came to my late father, Reb Dov (Bertshe) z”l, and tried to convince him that it was a waste of Zvi's time to study at the school, which was unable to contribute to his knowledge, as he “already passed the level that a boy can acquire in a public school”, etc., etc.

Then began the affair of studies through correspondence. Besides his mother tongue – Yiddish - Zvi was fluent in Polish, English and Hebrew. I remember how he gave a speech in Polish on the same evening when the famous hypnotist Professor Lessing appeared. The entire non-Jewish audience present in the hall was full of admiration for the polished language he spoke. Zvi proved his mastery of the Hebrew language to me in the speech I heard at the “Hashomer HaTzair” conference. By the way, he served as the head of the “Hashomer Hatzair” nest in Goworowo.

In our house there were dictionaries for English, French and more languages. He was able to sit down and read a book in a foreign language for hours with the help of a dictionary. He once commented that he takes it upon himself to learn any foreign language within a few months. The bookkeeping course -which he also studied through correspondence - was completed successfully by him, and until his death he served as a bookkeeper at the Merchants Bank there. He was also the author of the newspaper “Ruch Spuldzilczy”, which was published by the cooperative movement in Warsaw. It is worth noting his handwriting - really a work of art.

Zvi was a man who pursued doing charity. He maintained a perfect order. He did not suffer any injustice. He had a warm heart and was ready to come to the aid of others at any time. Only after his death did we learn about things he had done, which he had never revealed in his life. People came to return money they had borrowed from him in their distress, of course without any interest. In times of need, they turned to him for help and they were always responded positively. This charity they received from Zvi - that's what the people claimed - really saved them. In addition to this, he would find time to educate others by giving lessons in various subjects. He never spared his strength, and our mother z”l used to complain bitterly, that he did not eat on time and thus he neglected his health.

Zvi's holy purpose was to elevate the Hebrew youth, to train them to immigrate to the Land of Israel, in order to build it and make it an example for the nations of the world.

To the heartbreak of all of those who knew him, Zvi z”l himself was not privileged to immigrate to Israel. After a serious illness, Zvi passed away while he was only twenty years old (1912-1932).

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