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[Page 299]
by Mordecai Gebirtig
Translated by Sara Mages
| Rise up, O well, from the source of our childhood you were honored, rise up from the depths of longing, come back and reveal all our robbed melodies - the virtues of mercy and kindness; the Jewish grief. Its restrained and melancholy joy, with the anxiety of the Diaspora which rises and sets. Come back and instill in us the emotion of our ancestors' wise heart, the righteous and hard workers. For our souls have not ceased to aspire all their precious virtues. We wanted to go back and feel all the kindness and all the gifted minds - the flavor of your elders with the rage of your youth, and the dream of your innocent children. Rise up, O well, and reveal, thanks to you our thirst was quenched, we call on you with all our might. |
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by Moshe HaLevi Steinberg, Rabbi of Kiryat Yam
Translated by Sara Mages
With a trembling hand I approach to draw in general lines the wonderful and rare character of my master, my honored father and rabbi z”l, to describe his distinguished personality, for my father z”l was great not only in Torah and wisdom, but also in his exalted virtues, his charming manners and deeds.
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HaRav R' Yitzchak HaLevi Steinberg Chief Rabbi of the community of Jaroslaw until the outbreak of the war |
My father z”l was born on 21 Tevet 5647 [17 January, 1887] in the city of Tarnow in Galicia, to his father HaRav HaGaon R' Shmaya z”l president of the court of the community of Przemyslany [Peremyshlyany] , and to his mother Sara daughter of the Hasidic rabbi, R' Moshe Wechsler. Even as a child he became famous as a “prodigy” in his quick perception, his memory and common sense, especially in his unceasing perseverance in the study of the Torah. At his Bar Mitzvah meal he preached in Halakhah[1] and Aggadah[2] as a distinct scholar, and even knew how to orally recite the entire Tractate Shabbat[3].
When he was seventeen he was ordained for teaching by the genius of that generation, “The Maharsham” of Brezhan[4]. During this period he had in his possession a handwritten essay on Tractate Makkot[5], and because of his modesty he did not publish it even though all the great
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Torah scholars, who saw the manuscript, praised it exceedingly. After he got married at the age of nineteen he settled down in Brody and studied with his genius grandfather, R' Avraham Pinchas z”l, the Rabbi of Sniatyn [Snyatyn] and later in Brody, and became famous in the rabbinical world as a great Torah scholar. When he was a twenty two year old married yeshiva student, he was ordained to teaching by the Gaon, Rabbi Meir Arik z”l.
With the outbreak of the First World War he moved together with his father, grandfather and the whole family to the city of Vienna, and when the battles were over was accepted as rabbi in the city of Halych near Stanisławów [Ivano-Frankivsk], and in 5682 [1922] was appointed Rabbi of the large and important Jewish city of Jaroslaw and served there in splendor until its destruction. As the Rabbi of Jaroslaw he took a place in the front row of the great rabbis of Galicia. He acted a lot as a chairman of Kupat Gemilut Hasadim [Interest-Free Loan Fund] and for the Jewish soldiers who served in Jaroslaw.
In 5687 [1926], he was offered to take on himself the rabbinical chair of the city of Radom. After expressing his consent he changed his mind because he learned about the conflicts and quarrels within the community there. When the position of Rabbi of Lvov (Lemberg) became available, my father z”l was a serious candidate and almost all parties and factors agreed to that, but, in the meantime, the Second World War broke out and everything came to naught.
With the outbreak of the Second World War he was exiled with the Diaspora to the forests of Siberia, and went through many adventures and troubles, especially the illness and death of his son, Binyamin Zev z”l, whose soul was bound with his soul.
Even in those difficult times, cut off from the entire outside world, he found peace of mind in studying the Torah orally. While hiking in wild forests he thought about the Torah. He even put his innovations in writing, which became a high-quality and wise essay. And everything without a book, with extraordinary accuracy he quoted every page and column in the Bavli Talmud and Yerushalmi Talmud. However, for fear of the men of the NKVD, he burnt all of his manuscripts. Until the Holocaust he had many important manuscripts in Halakhah and Aggadah, and especially an entire book on the laws of mezuzah by the name, Shaare Zedek, and everything was lost from the world during the Holocaust.
After the Holocaust he was a rabbi and president of the court in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. In the few years he served there as a rabbi he reorganized the spiritual and religious life, founded a Jewish school, took care of the mikveh, the synagogue and more. Thanks to his dedicated work in all fields, the community life in Brussels began to develop in the desired direction.
In 5711 [1951], he was invited by the Chief Rabbi, Maran[6] HaRav R' Y. Herzog, the Minister of Religions HaRav Maimon z”l, and the Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv Maran Rabbi Isser Yehudah Unterman
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z”l, to take on the role of President of Tel-Aviv-Yafo Regional Rabbinical Court. All the pleas of the members of the community in Brussels were to no avail, for his strong desire was to live in the Holy Land. After retiring he served as Rabbi of Yeshuron Synagogue in Tel-Aviv. There, he taught Torah to the masses, preached morality and guided the worshipers to Torah and reverence. In addition to his extensive knowledge of various fields of wisdom and science, he knew foreign languages, and in particular excelled in the Polish language. He often sanctified the name of Israel in public in his speeches in this language. As a gracious speaker he was even suggested by the Union of Jewish Political Parties in Poland to be nominated as a delegate to the Polish Sejm.
In the morning of 27 Marheshvan 5727 [10 November 1966], he returned his pure soul to his Creator.
A father, grandfather, a dedicated husband and a first-class religious figure, a public activist, a classic figure of a Jewish rabbi and judge with charitable qualities, precious and unforgettable soul.
May his memory be blessed for the life of the world to come, and he will be a good advocate for us and for all the Jewish people.
Translator's Footnotes
by Arye Rabinowitz
Translated by Sara Mages
My father, Dr. Yitzhak Rabinowitz, was born in 1881, and during his high school and academic studies he was already active in the Zionist movement.
His activity during this period was reflected in the organization of Zionist classes among the students in the cities of Tarnow, Krakow and Jaroslaw. In 1909, my father was registered in the Golden Book of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [JNF] by the Association of Zionist Academics. For decades he headed the Zionist movement in Jaroslaw, was a member of the district and national leadership of the movement, and the driving force of all the Zionist activity in our city. He headed all the important Zionist enterprises such as Keren Kayemet LeYisrael, Keren Hayesod [UIA] etc. He participated in several Zionist Congresses, and the last he attended was the Zionist Congress in Prague. He initiated the establishment of a Jewish elementary and high school in Jaroslaw, and headed this important enterprise until the day of his death. He was the chairman of the local Zionist Committee in Jaroslaw.
In addition to the above Zionist activity, he represented the Jewish population in Jaroslaw in many public institutions, was a member of the City Council, etc.
Translated by Sara Mages
Eisik Schealtiel Graeber, who was a veteran of the National Movement in Galicia, was born in Jaroslaw in 1856. He started to write popular articles in [the newspapers] Ivri Anochi[1], Yehudi, ha-Boker Or, and Ha-Tsfira[2]. In 1879, he published in Przemyśl, together with Avigdor Mermelstein, a Hebrew bi-weekly, “The one who loves his people and his homeland,” in the spirit of assimilation and rapprochement with the Polish people. Only 13 issues were published. In 1887, he published a collection of Jewish literature and science Otzar Hasifrut[3], from which volume one was published in Przemyśl, and volumes two-six in Krakow (1888-1902). Eisik Schealtiel Graeber also published the book Yesodei ha-Torah[4] by Samuel David Luzzatto[5] (Lvov 1881), and his letters in nine volumes (Krakow 1882-1894), Peninei Shadal[6] (1880).
Eisik Schealtiel Graeber was among the leaders of the maskilim[7] circle in Przemyśl. Under his influence, the maskilim of Przemyśl tended to national recognition and were drawn to the doctrines of Samuel David Luzzatto. At the initiative of E.S. Graeber and Heinrich Messner, the youth association, “Seekers of Torah and knowledge for the purpose of disseminating the Hebrew language and literature among Jewish youth,” was founded in Przemyśl in the 1870s.
The history of the Zionist Movement in Galicia
Volume one, pages. 65-66
Translator's Footnotes
by Moshe'l Kalchheim, Jerusalem
Translated by Sara Mages
Steinbock was a well known figure in our city. He arrived in Jaroslaw before the First World War immediately after he married his fiancée. At that time he was still an orthodox Jew and accordingly he wore a long black coat and a shtreimel[1] on the Shabbat, and prayed in the Hassidic Synagogue. Over time he changed his cloths, and a rumor circulated among the city's Hassidim that Steinbock was “caught up in” Zionism. It goes without saying, that this change in his worldview was not liked among the Hassidim. In 1920, Steinbock's relative, Yisrael Taub from Dębica, was already a completely committed Zionist and immigrated to Eretz-Yisrael as a halutz [pioneer]. He worked as a laborer in Rishon LeZion Winery, but under the pressure of his parents he was forced to return to Poland. The influence of this relative on Steinbock was probably decisive.
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At the beginning of 1926, I immigrated to Israel as a halutz. My mother, whom I left in Jaroslaw, was a woman caring for children and, from the day I left Jaroslaw, Steinbock
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Wolf Steinbock |
was a father and a patron to my mother. Steinbock was a man of charitable virtues, listened and helped the needy with all the hardships of the day. That period was the period of “Grabski[2],” when many Jews were deprived of their positions by the imposition of high taxes. At that time, Steinbock helped many Jews and in return for the help he rendered them he asked for nothing. At most, he asked for a modest contribution to Keren Kaymet LeYisrael[3]. He himself excelled in his contributions to Keren Kaymet LeYisrael, and in his work, in the redemption of the land from the Arabs, he saw the redemption of Israel.
Steinbock did not ask for publicity and stayed away from honorary positions. He was a humble and hard-working man. He had a sharp eye and was smart and intelligent. He did not talk much. Steinbock had two loves: one for the Eretz Yisrael and the other for the Jews, and both were bound and attached to his soul.
Steinbock personally helped in the migration of our townspeople to Eretz Yisrael, and he himself was not able to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. The man was too busy helping others, the unfortunate in his environment, to think about himself. He passed away in Jaroslaw before the war.
Translator's Footnotes
by Moshe Kalchheim, Jerusalem
Translated by Sara Mages
(Was born in Zhovkva on Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5632 [1872] - passed away in Haifa on Rosh Hashanah 5698 [1937])
R' Shimon Spiegel was a native of Zhovkva, the city of HaGaon Maharatz Chajes[1], and the sage and philosopher, Nachman Krochmal, writer of the book Moreh Nebukhe ha-Zeman[2].
R' Shimon Spiegel studied in Beit HaMidrash, and at the age of eighteen began his path in public life. Among his first words in print was the article about the society, Ohavei Torah [Lovers of Torah], in the newspaper Ruach HaZman [The Spirit of Time], edited by Reuben Asher Braudes and published in Lvov in 5650 [1890].
He saw in the study of the Torah the moral foundation for the existence of the people. He
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complained, that the young Jewish men were leaving the source of the Torah, will follow nonsense and get hurt. He fought the Haskalah[3] which, according to his words, corrupt the vineyard of the Jewish people and sees the light in the gentiles (Hazal[4] said about the translation of the seventy[5]: “Darkness fell on the world for three days. R' Yochanan ben Zakkai saved the people from the two lions by the establishment of Yavneh and its sages, and we will follow his light”).
At the same time, R' Shimon published a poem for the “Holiday of Shavuot” in the Yiddishe Tzeitung [Yiddish Newspaper] of the publisher H. Rohatyn from Lemberg [Lvov]. And here is an excerpt from this poem:
“Raise your voice Yeshurun[6], the law of fire was given to you, your face will shine like the dawn, Torah from the heavens is your portion, it will support you with a strong arm, with an outstretched arm and love we accepted it, it is very dignified, sevenfold refined. From a garland on the forehead it will receive respect and prestige.After he got married to his fiancée, he moved to Tarnow where he stayed for about a year, and in 5665 [1905] settled in Jaroslaw. He had three sons: the eldest - Shalom Spiegel, who serves today as a professor in the Seminary named after Schechter in New-York, and lectures on medieval poetry. He published scientific books and articles. He graduated from high school in Jaroslaw (he was exempt from writing and visiting on Saturdays and holidays). He studied philosophy in Vienna and at the Schwartz's Rabbinical Seminary and gained a reputation as a scholar of medieval piyyutim [liturgical poems]. Shimon Spiegel's second son is Shmuel, a famous Hollywood film producer who won Oscars for the movie “The Caine Mutiny” and others. The third son passed away at a young age, when he was a high school student.
Spiegel's home was known as a religious Zionist home and the sons learned Hebrew from a young age. R' Shimon Spiegel was the first member of “Mizrahi”,[7] and members of “Tzeirei HaMizrahi” gathered around him. R' Shimon was a learned man, was among the worshipers of the Ashkenazi Beit Midrash and gave lessons in the Midrash to homeowners. His heart was in the east and all his days he aspired to immigrate to Israel. He took care of the education of the younger generation. Every Zionist emissary, and preacher, stayed at his home. HaRav Mimon z”l visited him several times, and with his help managed to do good work for “Mizrahi” in Jaroslaw.
In 5684 [1924], R' Shimon Spiegel purchased a lot in Hadar HaCarmel [Haifa], and in 5685 built a house for his professor son, Shalom Spiegel, where he lived until 5690 [1930].
In 5696 [1936], R' Shimon Spiegel and his wife immigrated to Israel and lived in Haifa. In this manner R' Shimon was able to fulfill his life dream. In 5697 [1936], he fell ill and his health deteriorated. R' Shimon Spiegel was a devout Jew and was careful with a light commandment as with a
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grave one. I visited him almost every day. We were connected to the “Mizrahi” idea and he saw in it the future of the nation.
On the day of his death, on Rosh Hashanah, his son, may he live a long and good life, sat and studied the Gemara. The son said to me: “His time has come to pass away and leave his wife and sons.”
R' Shimon Spiegel was buried on the second day of Rosh Hashanah in the Old Haifa Cemetery.
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 306]
by Moshe Kalchheim
Translated by Sara Mages
The teacher Chelimer was our neighbor and three of his five children were my good friends and belonged, together with me, to the “Akiva” movement. I often visited their home and, although we lived in two separate houses, the walls of our houses were shared and, that too, brought us closer acoustically.
“The teacher Chelimer” - so we called him - was short, chubby, with a nice and interesting face. His facial features were very similar to that of Y.L. Peretz, as we knew him from the pictures, the same face, the same forelock, and the same mustache in which many gray hairs were scattered.
He most likely arrived in our city after the First World War, and served as the first Hebrew teacher of the Zionist youth. In his school, which was housed in a nice hall in the building of Yad Ḥarutzim, they studied “Hebrew in Hebrew,”[1] and those, who went down the stairs opposite Hala Targowa [“Market Hall”], could easily peek through the large window into the classroom, which bothered the teacher and students quite a bit. Anyone, who seriously wanted to study, and knew proper Hebrew, had to study with Chelimer the teacher.
He was an educated man and an “opponent” [of Hassidut], while most of the Jews in our city were “Hassidim.” Maybe that's why Chelimer was on the fringe of society.
Chelimer was an excellent teacher, but it was not easy to earn a living from teaching alone. And Chelimer, in principle, refrained from engaging in occupations other than the teaching of the Hebrew language. Therefore, he, and his family, often knew great distress. Nevertheless - all his sons were educated in high school, but they had to work to pay their tuition.
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Over time, Chelimer became indignant and critical of the Zionist institutions for not properly supporting the Hebrew school. He was mainly critical of the lack of education of the Zionist leaders, and of the intellectual shallowness that prevailed in the Zionist movement. He distanced himself from any political party, or public activity, and devoted his time to teaching the Hebrew language to teenagers and adults. He was isolated and was not involved with people. He had no friends. On my visits to his home, I have always seen him immersed in reading and writing. It seems to me that he did not feel the need for social life.
Although the children spoke Polish to each other, everyone at home spoke only Hebrew, and they all also had Biblical Hebrew names: Arye (Arik), Shulamit, Yochevd, and Gideon.
The whole family perished in the Holocaust.
Yochevd, the youngest sister and a good friend of mine from the “Akiva” movement, a talented and intelligent girl, tragically passed away at the prime of her life when she was only twenty years old. Her death hit us hard to the depths of our hearts, and her sudden departure caused us all a severe and unforgettable shock.
Translator's Footnotes
by Moshe Kalchheim
Translated by Sara Mages
R' David Rapp was born in the year 5630 [1869] in the town of Shchyrets near Lvov, to his father the righteous Hassid, R' Ori zt”l, who was a student of the great and honorable man, the glory of the generation, Rabbi Yosef Shaul Nathansohn, the Rabbi of the metropolis of Lvov. R' David was the student of the famous genius, R' Aba'le Shainblum, the Rabbi of Shchyrets, and he, R' Aba'le, was the son of R' Wawtz'e Shainblum, student of the Seraph of Strelisk[1] [Strelisker]. From his youth he was found to be genius and sharp, and studied day and night until he started to study with the aforementioned, R' Aba'le, at the age of twenty three. After he devoured knowledge in the Six Orders of the Mishnah and Poskim[2], Rishonim[3] and Acharonim[4], he settled as a ritual slaughterer in Jaroslaw after his marriage to the daughter of the local ritual slaughterer, R' Moshe Frenkel.
From his youth, while he was studying in Beit HaMidrash, dozens and hundreds of students came early in the morning to his doorstep
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to enjoy his sermons, sayings and innovations. He taught Torah in public, and educated an exemplary generation of devoted scholars who adhered with devotion to the commandments of the Creator. Dozens, of young men from the town and the surrounding area, flocked to hear the young genius, to prepare for the yoke of mitzvoth or their marriage ties. They “snatched” his sermons, and attributed his sayings for themselves as achievements they have obtained illegally, and used them in sermons as was customary in those days for the grooms on their wedding day.
R' David Rapp was not involved in matters of this world, walked in his way of life as if his head was in the heavens, immersed in his thoughts and innovations in the Torah, until one interesting fact may describe his character and the personality of the man. When in the First World War the Russians approached the town, and the whole community was forced to leave the place where they had lived for a long time, and wander afar, his family suddenly felt that R' David had disappeared. After careful searches they retraced their steps a few miles back, and found him sitting on a hill with his eyes closed and engrossed in thoughts, and when they awoke him from his visions and called in his direction, “ here, the Russian cannons are roaring and thundering towards us and are already approaching you, and what do you have here that you are sitting still,” he woke up a little, blinked his eyes, and replied with a slight smile on his lips: “with God's help an acute problem in Rambam[5] became clear to me, and thanks to his teachings he opened my eyes in this matter.”
Even during the war in the Czech Diaspora, he taught Torah in public, and prayed with its greatest, who shared the fate of war refugees. After he returned to his town, Jaroslaw, where he served as a ritual slaughterer until the outbreak of the terrible Holocaust, the number of his admirers and followers grew, and his thoughts spread a great light into the distance.
He was privileged to see a righteous generation follow in his footsteps, his two sons: R' Moshe who passed away at the outbreak of the war in Katowice, and may he live a long and good life, R' Shimon the ritual slaughterer, who now lives in the United States. When the gallows fell on the Jewish people during on the terrible Holocaust, he was also killed by the Nazi murderers, and his last known place was in Lemberg [Lvov].
May his soul be bound in the bond of life.
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 309]
by Moshe Kalchheim
Translated from Yiddish by Pamela Russ
[ ] translator's remarks
The Jewish town lies in devastation, and under the ruins are buried not only our nearest and dearest, but also the former Jewish life of the town and its varied, richly colorful and personalities of businessmen, community activists, unemployed, chassidim, mitnagdim [opposition to chassidim], and all other categories in the Jewish social life.
This town will never be revived from the dead. May these personalities of the fallen Jewish town be a memory and an honor for those who will never rise again.
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Reb Sender Amster was a familiar figure in our town. He was a Belzer chassid [follower of the Belzer Rebbe]. This already said a lot, because a Belzer chassid was a fiery, fanatic “extremist,” who was disconnected from the surrounding world, and had only one ideal: “his Rebbe.”
But Reb Sender was different from all the others. Even as a fanatic, he was more freed from this world than the other chassidim, so people had great respect and high regard for him, and … also fear [of him].
First, he was different in his outer appearance from the other chassidim, as he was always clean and finely dressed. Both on Shabbat and during the weekdays, he wore an impeccably clean overcoat, black, soft slippers and white stockings, which peeked out from under his frock.
When in the street, he attracted all the eyes of those who passed him by, both non-Jews and Jews who were strangers and saw him for the first time. The first glance was to his holy face, which was always bedecked with a clean, well-combed long beard, which was at one time black but became whiter and whiter. His face was framed by two rounded, curled, long peyos [sidelocks],
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which, as he walked quickly (Reb Sender never strolled slowly) raised themselves and shook rhythmically to the pace of his steps.
And his eyes!
Two black eyes, deeply sunken into his face, as they looked at you half fanatically, half despotically, and for which you had both awe and respect.
He was called “Reb Sender” even when he was single, because he got married, in his forties. He had no worries about earning a livelihood, not before nor after his marriage. Before his wedding, he was a “father's child,” who sat for months and years at the Belzer Rebbe's court, bathed in chassidic dveykut [deeply closeness to God], ate leftovers [from the Rebbe] and [dribbles] of soup, and then after his wedding … nothing changed. He left livelihood concerns for his wife, and he continued to run his life as before.
Every morning, Reb Sender would rush to the ritual bath, dip into the waters, come home, grab a drink, and go off to the Belzer shteibel. He stayed there until noon. He looked into a sefer [religious textbook] just for a bit (he was not a great scholar), studied Talmud, waited through several minyanim [prayer groups] to finish, during which time he helped the children with their prayers, translating letter after letter of the prayers for them, which gave him great pleasure. Before he himself began his own prayers, he had already recited several kaddishes [mourner's prayer recited by others] and brachot [recited by all during prayers], and two or three times the prayer of asher yatzar [recited after using the washroom]. Keeping the body pure was very important to him, and so during prayers he would leave the room several times in order that no impurity should remain on his body.
Understandably, he actually prayed with the last minyan [quorum of men for prayers], and many times on his own. During this time, the school children would already come into the shteibel (which served as the cheder [school for young children]), and then Reb Sender would tell them of the miracles of the Rebbe, and … create new souls for Belz, meaning that he would produce fresh, young chassidim for the Belzer Rebbe.
There were all kinds of chassidim in the town: Titchinner (from the town of Tyczyn), Blazhever (from the town of B³a¿owa), Chortkover (from the town of Czortków), Boyaner (from the town of Boyan), Kamarner, and others. But to grab young souls, the Belzers had a master
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When he caught a young soul, he bothered and pestered him until he got what he wanted:
One fine day, a young boy disappeared from home. Reb Sender had “kidnapped” him and taken him to Belz.
The parents created scandals, made uproars in the Belzer shteibel and in Reb Sender's home, and finally, with no other choice, they removed themselves from their business, and went to Belz [the town] itself, and dragged home the boy by his ears.
And Reb Sender?
The cries, uproars, and scandals of the parents bothered him like last year's snow, and at his next opportunity, he would snatch up another soul, and take him to the Belzer courtyard.
Understandably, all these young boys who were under his influence were not permitted to go to “school.”
That means – Reb Sender would preach to them - you'll have to sit there with your heads uncovered [against Jewish law], God forbid, and even more so, you'll sit in front of “Yoizel” [Jesus] who is hanging on the wall? Remember, do not let them convert you!
Sometimes, though, it would happen that his words had no effect, and a Yankele or Moshele would go to school. Then Reb Sender would create all kinds of blackmail methods so that the boy would not be able to go the evil Tarbut school [Hebrew secular school]. This actually happened to me, when my mother and mainly my oldest sister decided that I had to go to school. I was already a school-aged boy at that time, and it was natural that I would become a student in school. But the problem was that Reb Sender had one of his agents in our home, and that was my oldest brother, he himself an avid Belzer chassid. Reb Sender incited him to take away my shoes and books and hide them so that I would not have nothing to wear to class.
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In the end, my mother and sisters relented. After two or three days of arguments in the home, I was given back my shoes, but I had to resign from any “worldly” education.
Only two years later, when my brother left the house, I went to study in class, after I had prepared privately for the exam for third grade.
Reb Sender already had no control over me.
In the final years before the war, his influence on the young children was limited. He also became more reserved and introverted, but his beautiful face, above everything else, still impressed everyone who met him in the street or in the Belzer shteibel.
Also, it is worthwhile to mention that the Belzer shteibel was in the large courtyard of the Hachnasat Orchim [accommodations for guest] synagogue, which was on Sobieski Street, not far from the church. The shteibel was at the very edge of the large courtyard, and was actually no larger than a small room, where several minyanim [groups of 10 men] of Belzer chassidim, prayed.
I very likely came there under the influence of my older brother Mendel,
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From among the Belzer chassidim – those who prayed in the Belzer shteibel, I remember these businessmen: Szlatiner, Jakter (his son lives in Israel today).
by Ziva Korn (Rager)
Translated by Sara Mages
Dr. Moshe (Maurycy) Rager was born in Jaroslaw, Poland in 1887. His origin is from a warm Zionist home. His father was one of the most prominent public activists in Yad Harutzim.
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Dr. Maurycy Rager |
His mother came from the family of Dr. Gershon Zipper, chairman of the Zionist Executive in Lvov and one of the founders of Rehavia Gymnasium in Jerusalem. The son, Moshe, absorbed in his home his love for Zionism, Israel and to fellow-man. He studied law at the University of Lvov, and
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as a student he was involved in public life and belonged to the Zionist Students' Association “Bar Kokhba.” After completing his law studies he returned to his city, Jaroslaw, and worked as a lawyer. He was famous as one of the accepted lawyers in his city. Along with his day-to-day pursuits he has acted extensively in all areas of public life. He had a warm Jewish heart and was a loyal Zionist. He was among the founders of the Jewish elementary school in Jaroslaw, and extended his patronage over it and over the Zionist youth movements in the city. He was an avid Zionist, and for many years was chairman of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [JNF]. As one of the most prominent representatives of Jaroslaw's Jewry, he hosted various Zionist emissaries who came to Jaroslaw, such as Dr. Tohen and others. As a personal friend of Dr. Schwarzbard, he collaborated with him in the Zionist life, and also took an active part in the training of halutzim [pioneers] for immigration to Israel.
He stayed in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. When he returned from the
Soviet Union to Poland, he continued the Zionist activity among the survivors. In 1950 he immigrated to Israel. He was recognized by the management of the Jewish Agency as a veteran Zionist activist and received a pension from the Department of Zionist Activists.
He passed away in 1967.
by Yakov Gerblich
Translated by Sara Mages
Aharon Shmuel Gerblich was born in 1894 in Sieniawa to a religious Zionist family. He studied in the yeshiva of the Rabbi of Sieniawa, and there he became familiar with the Zionist movement.
When he was a child he learned the Hebrew language and knew it well, he acquired his high school education as an autodidact by correspondence with an institute in Vienna.
After his release from the Austro-Hungarian army at the end of the First World War, he settled in Jaroslaw together with his entire family.
In 1920, two of his sisters and his brother immigrated to Israel. His desire to immigrate was also strong, but his plans changed after his marriage. In Jaroslaw he began to engage in trade, and was also active in the Zionist movement as a member of the committee of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [JNF], and other Zionist and educational institutions in the city.
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In the 1930s his parents immigrated to Israel in order to join their four children in the country.
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Aharon Gerblich |
We, his children, also received a Zionist education and were members in the Zionist youth movement.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, we were deported and exiled to Siberia together with the rest of the city's residents. There, he was imprisoned for a period of two years by the Soviet Union authorities and was accused of Zionism.
In 1946, he returned to Poland, to the city of Lubawka in Lower Silesia, and on his own initiative established a Hebrew school there and was the director of the TOZ[1] orphanage.
He also served as chairman of the Jewish Committee and a representative in the city council.
From there, he moved to a refugee camp in Germany and organized there a Hebrew school in which he also taught Hebrew and the Bible.
In 1948, with the establishment of the state, he immigrated to Israel. His son z”l served in the British Army and in the Haganah[2].
When he arrived in Israel he moved to Haifa, and immediately began to work in the Haifa municipality, where he became an address for anyone who needed help. He was among the founders of the Committee of Former Residents of Jaroslaw, and devoted most of his time and energy to this work.
Translator's Footnotes
by Moshe Kalchheim
Translated by Sara Mages
Everyone called him “Member Lang.” He was among the founders and activists of “Hapoel HaMizrachi”[1] movement in our city. He devoted his life to the Zionist movement and therefore neglected his family and its livelihood. Even when he stood in his little shop, and when he served his customers, all his thoughts were on public affairs. “Member Lang” was a distinct type of public activist, who knew no compromises in matters of Zionism and the Jewish community. It was impossible to always avoid posing the question “What will the Member Lang say?”
In my time he was already an older man, of average height, a little clumsy, lame on one leg with red hair that fell on his forehead, but his sidelocks and beard were carefully made. And just as it was easy for him to get angry, so it was convenient for him to make excuses. His hand was in everything:
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in the party, the community, in Kern Kayemet LeYisrael [JNF], in the religious education and social aid. He was among the founders of the Zionist religious school “Yavne,” and constantly took care of its existence and development.
The Zionist and communal landscape of Jaroslaw cannot be described without the “Member Lang.” He made a significant contribution to our vibrant Zionist Jewish life, because he believed in the idea and devoted the best years of his life to it without considering that he must also take care of his family's livelihood. His “public service” was the most important part of his life, without it there was no point to his life. It gave him great satisfaction and he believed that this was his main mission. Therefore, he was a man of strife and contention, and did not shy away from struggles.
On the Intermediate Days of Sukkot 5700 (1939), he was exiled together with his family from Jaroslaw to Russia, and there he passed away. The members of the Lang family now live in Israel.
Translator's Footnote
by Moshe Kalchheim
Translated by Sara Mages
Berko Winter was three years older than me. In the youth movement, this difference in years is very significant. He was the leader of “Akiva” movement in Jaroslaw and my educator for a number of years.
Berko was a strange young man. He bore the burden of his family: a mother and two sisters older than him. It was an assimilated family and far from Judaism, until the son entered the “Akiva” movement. Very quickly they understood his special character. He was serious and had a desire to delve deeper into things, exceptional friendship and, most importantly, unlimited devotion to the idea.
At the end of the 1920s, when he was a student in the “Blue Gymnasium,” he joined the “Zionist Youth” movement. During the split in 1932, with the establishment of the “Akiva” movement, which separated from the “Zionist Youth” due to difference of opinions over Judaism and tradition, he naturally found his place in “Akiva.”
The atmosphere at home was difficult and gloomy. His two sisters had long since reached the age of marriage and still lived with their mother. Also the livelihood was not plentiful. And Berko, in addition to his studies at the gymnasium and the activities at “Akiva,” had to run around giving lessons to students in order to make a living and support his mother.
In spite of it he did not complain. He accepted everything with love and humility. But
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he was always thoughtful, always living with the feeling that he had not done enough for his family, the movement and the members.
He was strange to his friends because he did not resemble the other members. Only once in a long while he laughed with a full mouth and wholeheartedly. He was usually deep in thought, and when he lectured to the members of the battalion, or the group, he would stop his flow of words and be silent for a long time.
On a clear day, Berko Winter became a religious man. He prayed every day, lay tefillin and even joined an evening Mishnayot study group in “Kehat Kloyiz” located at the small market place.
At that time, he neglected the movement and immersed himself in the search for a lifestyle that bordered on mystery.
With the Nazi occupation we parted ways. He remained in the Lvov area and I made my way to Vilna. Before the mass deportations of Jewish refugees began in the areas of the Soviet occupation, I received some news from him from Lvov. He did not want
to leave his mother and sisters for fear that without him their fate would be bitterer. The last information that reached us in Vilna was the Berko died of starvation, in a small town near Lvov.
by Shoshana Kostman
Translated by Sara Mages
This article, about “HeHalutz” Sunday, September 19, 2021[1] movement in our city, is dedicated to my husband, Janek Kostman z”l, who in his life eagerly awaited the publication of the Yizkor Book for our city, Jaroslaw. He himself foresaw the idea of the publication of the Yizkor Book, and also put in writing very interesting things about the movement. However, for some reason, his articles were lost and everything I bring up here comes from the words I heard from him orally. But, I want to point out that I accompanied him all the way in the movement, and was a full partner in the youth experiences in “HeHalutz” movement in our city which conducted a first-class educational and cultural activity.
Since 1922, “HeHalutz“ and “Hashomer Hatzair” movements concentrated at the Sobol home. I was very young in those years, and I cannot describe the development of the “HeHalutz“ branch in Jaroslaw at that time. I only know from Janek
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that at that time he was already preparing for productive work values, and began to study carpentry despite the opposition of his parents. As one of the “HeHalutz” counselors, he instructed the young members to realize the pioneering idea: to aliyah[2], work, and settlement in Eretz Yisrael. And just as there is no Zionism without aliyah, so there is no aliyah without Hakhshara[3] for aliyah. And the meaning of Hakhshara: transition to work and acquiring work habits. And work - means, first of all agriculture and all hard physical work.
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Janek Kostman |
Among the counselors of “HeHalutz,” who were among the first to immigrate to Israel, were: V. Aslowicz, Winnik, Zisha Freifeld, S. Shahar, Stehafel, Steinbock, Laufer, Max Spindel, Rosenfeld, Shoshana Kranz, S. Konigsberg z”l and others.
Janek, my husband, immigrated to Israel in 1930. He settled in Ness Ziona and started to work in agriculture, planting citrus groves and also specialized in citrus packaging. Over time, he became the manager of “Hakal” citrus groves in the south of the country. In the riots of 1936-1939 he was active in the “Haganah”[4] and instructed the members in weapons training. He was bound with all his heart to the building of the country.
With the Declaration of Independence he enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and participated in battles in the Negev as an officer. At the end of the battles he volunteered to the Civil Defense and received the rank of Major.
When he returned from a tour of the “Hakal” citrus groves, he was attacked by a deserter from the army who fired a number shots and killed several people. Janek was seriously injured. After the injury he never regained his health and, despite his poor health, continued his work with dedication until he was involved in a car accident from which he suffered for many years. His illness did not prevent him from working as a board member of the Organization of Former Residents of Jaroslaw in Israel.
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 319]
by Moshe Kalchheim
Translated by Sara Mages
Ziggy Dubshitz was a well-known figure in our city due to him being bald. When he was young his hair fell out and he remained completely bald. His baldness “shone” from a distance. His gait was also quite strange. His steps were large and then his body moved like a sail in the wind, back and forth.
In the Zionist circles, young and old, it was known that all his thoughts were given to Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [JNF]. He was the “delegate” of the fund and was fanatically devoted to it without exception. He spurred the youth to action and preached morality to those who had not fulfilled their duty by donating, or collecting for donations from others. And indeed, our city has taken one of the first places in Western Galicia in its contribution for the benefit of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael, although there were cities in which the Jewish population was larger than ours.
Dubshitz was a member of Agudat HaNo'ar HaIvri “Akiva[1],” and was later active in “Bnei Zion” club. He graduated from Commercial High School and became an accountant. He was a member of a well-known Zionist family in our city, which was among the wealthiest in the community (owner of a large fabric store on Sobieskie Street and a large house on the same street). He never knew financial hardship, and despite his young age was involved in every philanthropic activity in the city.
We all appreciated Ziggy Dubshitz for his honesty and innocence, and treated with forgiveness his outbursts that were the result of devotion to the cause and unwillingness to compromise on fundamental matters.
During the war he stayed in the Soviet Union. There, he married a native of Jaroslaw from the Wachtelberg family. He immigrated with his family to Israel, and after the establishment of the state was for many years chief accountant at the “Mekorot”[2] company. He passed away in his place of residence - Givatayim.
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 320]
by Yoel Gilead (Glatt)
Translated by Sara Mages
Yakov Moshe Gilead-Glatt was born in 1913 and passed away at the age of 54.
His father, R' Avraham Glatt, was a wealthy man and his lifestyle was traditional, therefore it was only natural that he was educated in the spirit of Torah and mitzvoth and his main education was Judaic studies. He was not sent to a general school to sit together with the shkotzim[1] and without a head covering. But, together with Judaic studies he also studied general subjects with private tutors to prepare for the annual exams. Later, he attended an evening trade school which was almost “Yiddish” in its composition. However, the framework of his life was narrow for him and he threw off his traditional Jewish clothing and became interested in Zionism. Janek, young and energetic, with wide horizons, read a lot and was interested in everything. He felt that he must seek for himself a way of personal life, and also how to identify with the Jewish people. He saw the renaissance of the people in their homeland as the fulfillment of the generations' aspiration for redemption and independence. He joined Betar and was very active in it. He was always on the go, in his lectures and those of others, at conferences, youth camps, summer camps, etc.
Unlike our father z”l, who was a respected member of the Jaroslaw community, a member of various committees and funds, Janek rebelled against the establishment that was represented, among others, by our father, and was an enthusiastic to the Zionist idea. He decided to fulfill his dream, to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael.
The parents' pleas that his place is “at home,” in the family business, in financial security and a secure future, did not help. On the contrary - he wanted to convince the parents that, they too, should immigrate to Eretz Yisrael, and that the future of the Jews in Poland and in Europe is no longer safe. He felt the impending Nazi Holocaust.
Despite all his public activity he was a very loyal son. The inevitable contradiction between love for the family, and his strong desire to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael, was resolved in a very painful decision. But, the only possible goal for him: to emigrate. He was sorry for the suffering he was causing his parents, but went his own way.
Janek left for hakhshara[2] in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, to difficult living conditions, completely different from his comfortable life at his father's home. At the end of the hakhshara, because of his affiliation with the opposition political camp, he waited a long time until he got the coveted certificate[3]. But, finally, Jancze (Janek's name at home) immigrated! When he arrived in Eretz Yisrael he joined a group of workers, and it was not long before he participated in the strike
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of Betar workers against the unorganized and cheap Arab labor and against their employer, the citrus grower. The police broke the strike and Janek was jailed.
After serving his detention period in prison, he went through the second severe crisis of his life. He did not challenge the way of his movement and left it. Then, he moved to Haifa.
About two years since his immigration, Hannah, the young woman he met in the hakhshara in Poland, joined him and he married her.
Until the outbreak of the Second World War the family lived in far away Jaroslaw, and Janek in Israel hoping to unite. The family was exiled to Russia and the plans for the reunion of the family were postponed to the uncertain future. Janek was happy in Israel, but concern for the fate of his family greatly troubled him. After he finally renewed contact with them, he made every effort, despite his own pressing circumstances, to help.
Slowly, but steadily, Janek progressed in his work. From Haifa he moved to Tel-Mond and from there to Jaffa. Days of happiness came to him when the surviving family members arrived in Israel.
Janek's devotion to his parents, after their arrival in Israel, knew no bounds. He devoted all his free time to them.
With all the happiness of being an Israeli, and that his entire family was in Israel, he did not forget his city - Jaroslaw, that no trace remains in it for the vast Jewish population, the institutions, synagogues, places of culture, etc. He felt great closeness to the people of Jaroslaw, who found refuge in Israel, and to those who scattered in all the countries of the world.
Over the years, until the day of his death, Janek was very active in the Jaroslaw “landsmanshaft.” He was always willing to help his townsman, both in the validity of his role and also not in this framework.
The death of our father was very difficult for him and, even more so, the death of our mother a few years later. Until her death, Janek used to devote all his free time, and not so free, to her. He visited our mother three to four times a day. He gave of himself as a son more than can be imagined.
He passed away about a year after the death of our mother in 1967 in Holon.
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 322]
by Haya Ziegel
Translated by Sara Mages
I am afraid, that because of the fog that surrounds my memories many events from the life of Imek Roschwald will also be vague and, therefore, the devaluation of the description of his Zionist activity would be an injustice to this extraordinary man. In any case, it will be easier for me than any another person, since I knew him closely and I can tell about his dedication to public work.
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Imek Roschwald |
Roschwald was a young man in our city who aroused general attention. He was an influential speaker who knew how to excite his listeners. Therefore, Imek has always been ready for debates and discussions on various topics. He knew how to stick to his opinion with great force and never lacked reasons to contradict the words of his opponent. During his short life he was highly esteemed among the Jewish youth in Jaroslaw. Maybe because of his deep and sincere belief, that indeed, the idea of an independent Jewish state will soon come true. The fact is that Roschwald was an avid Zionist. He acted and preached to everything that had to do with the Zionist idea. He has done his best to gain fans for the Zionist and “Hashomer Hatzair” movements, and spared no effort to recruit his friends from the gymnasium to our movement. His personality, and his intelligence, enabled him to more easily convince the intellectual youth, even the narrow-minded and snobbish by nature that they can only live a cultural and spiritual life within the movement. Imek was aware of all the most important social problems. He collaborated in the cultural field with “Poalei Zion,” which treated “Hashomer Hatzair” sympathetically. Under his influence, the non-partisan youth became interested in the problems of the Zionist labor movement. Roschwald initiated the establishment of a library in “Poalei Zion” club, social games and sports. He took advantage of the ideological proximity to the lectures on Saturday nights, which were given by Dr. Blumenfeld z”l, Dr. Meister, Moshe Ziegel and Imek Roschwald. His ambitious aspirations were not limited to public work in his city alone. I remember well the arguments in his parents' home, who hoped that their son would continue his studies at the university, but he argued that no university would satisfy him as much as public activity. In 1938, Roschwald left for Lvov, to the main leadership of “Hashomer Hatzair,” and there
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he dealt with the affairs of this movement. He acquired a respectable place there, but in his letters to me he did not complain that he was not included in the list of candidates for immigration. When he was hundreds of miles from his city his memories brought him back, with nostalgia, to the dilapidated hut in the yard of the Geiger family.
Imek, the beloved and unfortunate, was murdered, for no sin, by the hands of cruel murderers, and did not get to see the fulfillment of his dream of settling in the Land of Israel. Many years have passed since his life was cut short, but I cannot forget him.
by Ziva Korn (Rager)
Translated by Sara Mages
Dulek Altshuler was a beloved and revered figure among the children of Jaroslaw. He was a great and dedicated teacher and a personality full of emotional warmth. He was the beloved and respected teacher and the children loved him dearly and adored him. He devoted himself to raising and educating the children of the city by organizing summer camps, which were an unforgettable experience for every Jewish child in our city.
How picturesque it looks now, from the perspective of time, the departure of the children of Jaroslaw's Jews from the crowded city into nature and the beautiful environment. We travelled to the “Halusz” and “Wangrka” forests in horse-drawn wagons of the farmers in the villages, singing and rejoicing with the group of counsellors headed by the organizer who took care of everything - Dulek Altshuler.
I remember the accommodation in the peasants' houses, the rustic natural food and the cold and fresh milk. It is impossible to forget the trips in the area, the children's games, the folk dances, the long walks and the sing-along. I remember the wonderful conversations of Dulek Altshuler, the reading aloud from the books of Janusz Korczak[1], in order to enrich the child's soul.
Dulek took care to provide a foundation for Zionist education and love of the homeland. A lot of emotion accompanied all these impressive conversations. Dulek knew how to utilize the talents of the children in the camp, and at the end organized an impressive artistic program with the participation of the
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the students' parents. It was our romantic period that I would never forget.
Dulek Altshuler was a symbol of a great educator and the dream of every child from Jaroslaw was go back to his summer camp. To this day his memory has not disappeared from the hearts of the children of Jaroslaw, and every time I remember his summer camps, I remember Dulek's wonderful image.
Translator's Footnote
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