 |
The ceremony. The banner at the top reads, “I have made a vow to remember everything. To remember, speak and not forget.
|
[Page 280]
“Let us Remember” - this is the name of the 50-page booklet that was published by the Geulim School of Bat Yam, which adopted the community of Jonava for itself.
The teacher Riva Shalovich, the organizer of the adoption activities, tells:
“I was raised with the stories and memories, as my late mother used to tell and describe, so that to me, Jonava became a living and well-known town, even though I only spent the first two years of my life there.”
The commemoration ceremony was organized on the 9th of Tevet, 5730 (1970). The occasion was particularly impressive and very moving. The guests - including many Jonava natives - felt anew the experiences of those days, and could not stop the emotions that came to the fore.
The ceremony left a great impression even upon the students who played an active part in or witnessed the proceedings, to the point where they were able to identify with the fate of the people of the town. This is expressed through their impressions:
“I felt literally as one of the survivors of Jonava. Tears began to flow from my eyes,” writes Rivka Shami.
Chaya Loberbaum also testifies to this, “I felt as if I was in that town of Jonava and participated in all the experiences… The identification filled my entire essence… This evening imparted a great deal to me and to all those who were present.”
The rests of the students in the booklet confirm this.
On the memorial day on the 9th of Tevet 5731 (1971), the memorial corner, that is the perpetuation room, in which the students invested a great deal of work and dedication, was opened.
The ceremony began with the words of the school principal Rachel Angel. Then, Menachem Levin and Yitzchak Burstein spoke. A representative of Yad Vashem also spoke.
|
|
The ceremony. The banner at the top reads, “I have made a vow to remember everything. To remember, speak and not forget. |
[First unnumbered page after 280]
|
|
|||
|
||||
[Second unnumbered page after 280]
|
|
|
|
[Third unnumbered page after 280]
|
|
|
[Fourth unnumbered page after 280]
|
|
|
|
Next to him is the principal Rachel Angel |
[Page 281]
Many students participated in the performance. They gave expression to their identification in skits, words, and song. Actor Meir Tsoref [Goldshmidt] read an excerpt from Holocaust literature.
This was a ceremony of unity that left a strong impression on all the participants.
On top of all this, we express our esteem and thanks to the efforts of those who led and carried out the adoption efforts - the teachers and students together.
For strengthening our hands - let your hands be strengthened!
by Riva Shalovich from “Nir”, the publication of the students of the school.
A large group gathered from various places in the Land. They came especially to participate in a memorial evening for the general Holocaust Day, and to open a perpetuation room for the community of Jonava of Lithuania that was wiped out in the Holocaust.
It was obvious that the evening was very precious to everyone. Many years have passed since then, but the memory of the town with all its personalities and people is etched upon the hearts of everyone as a living picture. The gathering evoked memories of youth that ended in pain and great sadness.
The perpetuation room was opened for visitors. The small room includes so much in it - a full world of the life that once was. I looked at the faces of the visitors. Emotion overtook them. They were searching for faces and childhood landscapes that they recognized in the pictures. Stories and trivia were dredged up from the recesses of the past. It was hard to leave the place.
One felt that one was situated in a corner of communion with the destroyed home of one's parents; a corner that is the connecting link between that generation that witnessed the events of the Holocaust with its own flesh and the younger generation that grew up free and secure -- children who attempted to the best of their ability to understand the magnitude of the tragedy, and to feel the pain of the nation.
The adults feel gratitude toward the following generation who are learning to recognize the Jewish towns of the European Diaspora by delving into stories of the life in the town.
Let this be their comfort, and it is no small comfort, for all those who lost their dear ones and for those who survived the Nazi inferno.
By Riva Shalovich,
by Riva Shalovich
… I was deeply impressed by the perpetuation room, as if we had been in that community of Jonava (Elana Zavdon).
… We heard the sounds of weeping from among the audience present at the ceremony. Our tears also choked our throats. It was only with great difficulty that we held them back. Our part in the ceremony came. We ascended the stage with the feeling that we were part of those people. I must admit that we did not fully understand the meaning of the word “Holocaust”; but after we had heard from the natives of the town what had happened to that community and its people, our hearts were filled with feelings of honor and understanding for them, and for all the people of the Jewish communities who were overtaken by the Nazi destruction.
(Yitzchak Levi)
From the impressions of the students present at the perpetuation ceremony, from the same publication.
[Page 282]
|
The memorial ceremony opened a wound that may not heal. Perhaps? Is it possible to forget?
The burning question: How could such an atrocity have taken place?
The drama club of our school put on a performance of a chapter of lives of the children in the ghetto, which brought us to tears. It was obvious that memories were brought forth in the hearts of the audience. I attempted to control my tears, with the prayer in my heart that such a Holocaust never be repeated, that we will never again have to weep over communities of Israel.
Orli Mendelson, a grade 8 student.
On the 9th of Tevet 5732 (1972), we gathered together to recall the victims of the Holocaust, as is our custom.
The ceremony began with the reading of Yizkor, and the recital of Kaddish and Kel Maleh Rachamim[1].
Mr. Shani spoke in the name of Yad Vashem. The editor of the book of Jonava, Shimon Noy, spoke about unique stories of the Jews of the town, the youth, and expression of resistance[2].
The actor Meir Tsoref [Goldshmidt] read sections of the book of Jonava and described some of his personal wartime experiences. His words were spoken in Yiddish and were directed primarily to the new immigrants.
The dramatic club of the school, under the direction of Ruth Lifschitz, presented skits of the life of the children in the ghetto. The material of the skits was culled from the books “The Children of Mapu Street,” and “There are no Butterflies Here.”
The meeting between the youth who grew up in the Land and did not know the terrors of the ghetto with the natives of the town blew a spirit of support and hope into all those present.
With this, we fulfill the commandment: Remember, and do not forget! We also emphasize that such a Holocaust will never take place again.
Riva Shalovich, the coordinator of the adoption effort.
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 283]
Yitzchak Pogirsky
by Dr. Shimon Zak from the book “Banim” (“Sons”)
We were both born in Jonava, and we were approximately the same age. I knew Yitzchak (Itzel) already from his childhood, even though we did not study in the same school, for, in accordance with the will of his father, he received a more religious education that I was given.
When we returned to Jonava at the end of 1921 after the expulsion, I met Yitzchak in Kovno as a student of the Real Hebrew Gymnasium. In 1922, we were both accepted to the medical school of the Lithuanian University. The friendship between us strengthened. We sat on the same school bench for two years, always did our practical work in the same group, and prepared for exams together. In 1924, he decided to continue his studies in France. We met again in Strasbourg. He moved to Paris in 1926, where he completed his studies.
When I returned to Lithuania in 1932, I found that Yitzchak had established a family in the interim, and served as a physician in the Lithuanian Army.
|
He made aliya with his family to the Land in 1933. I made aliya in 1934. He remained in Tel Aviv, and I joined a Kibbutz. We met on occasion, and I always enjoyed my encounters with my old friend.
In 1941, fate brought us together once again. We were drafted into the British Army as physicians. Yitzchak was sent to Egypt, and I was sent to Sudan and Ethiopia. In 1943, I received the news that Yitzchak was no longer alive. He had fallen in October, 1942…
The following are some of his personality traits, as are guarded in my memory. First of all, he was particular and diligent. If he set times to study, nothing could move him from his learning. He had internal integrity. He would carry through to completion anything that he believed in. He was exacting in fulfilling the commandment of “the produce of the Land.” Despite the fact that he was well off, tall, strong and handsome, he did not desire to stand out and did not take any pride in doing so.
The strand of his life was snuffed out in his prime, when he was only in his early 40s.
May his memory be a blessing.
[Page 284]
Published by Ein Harod
Yerubaal Lavie
|
|
Yerubaal, the son of Rachel (nee Zisla) and Shlomo Lavie-Levkovitz, was born on the 1st of Tammuz 5684 (1924). He was born, raised and educated in Ein Harod. He was orphaned from his mother during his childhood. He was modest in his deportment and upright and of pure heart in his way of life. From his childhood, he was known as being responsible and dedicated to any matter to which he was given responsibility. When he left school, he participated in farm work and the course of life. He was active in local defense activities. His regular work was in the shed. He enlisted in the Hebrew Brigade of the British Army in the latter part of 1944. His stops included Sarafand[1], Egypt, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and France. When he returned from the army, he joyfully returned to the work of the farm and the realities of life at home. He was employed as an orchard worker. In the latter, turbulent period, he found his role in defense, and dedicated himself to this with his full energy and strength. He became known as a competent leader and filled his role of company commander with responsibility. On the 8th of Adar II, 5708 (1948), he hurried the reinforcements to assist his friends in the Battle of Gilboa and fell.
Hillel Lavie
|
|
Hillel the son of Rachel and Shlomo was born in Ein Harod on 11 Av, 5689 (1929). His mother died when he was a year and three months old.
From his childhood, he stood out from among his friends in his independence and storied spirit. With the passage of time, when he set out with his classmates from the school and entered the farm along with his friends, he naturally became the center of the group, and the instigator of the spiritual and social activities of his friends.
He chose work in the home garden as his regular occupation.
With the outbreak of the disturbances and the war, he immediately played an active role, at first among the local ranks and later as a leader and trainer of youths and adults. He participated in the Battle of Gilboa in which his older brother fell. Then, he was sent to a national course for leaders. On the night of the invasion, he volunteered to go from the course to the incursion unit of the Palmach in the Negev, and participated in all of its daring activities.
He set out in a convoy of jeeps to bring help to Kfar Darom on June 6, 1948, after the first ceasefire. On his return from the village, on 7 Sivan, 5708 (1948), he was hit by an Egyptian shell.
His body was brought to burial in the soil of Ein Harod on the first anniversary of his death.
This Was His Mother
Hillel was born to a mother - oh, what can one say about this mother? Wellspring of love flowed from her to all that surrounded her. With all these, she was able to keep the depths of the wellsprings of her love for her children…
In one of the letters that she wrote to the father of her children when he was away from home for a few days, we find a praise for Hillel: -- -- -- “Now I think, how great is the power of the children, as I think of Hillel, I feel that all the chambers of my heart are filled with light, joy, and love. It seems to me as if the light of the sun and the chirping of the birds exist only in the merit of children. Everything is wonderful in its beauty and goodness…”
We called him Hillel. She said that our oldest son is called Yerubaal. “He will destroy the idols[2], and he will be the heir to your fighting spirit… This one will be my heir, like Hillel the Elder in Jewish tradition; he will seek peace, calm, and love.”
This was the mother of our children.
Father
Translator's Footnotes
[Page 285]
by Shoshana and Gershon Vilan
|
|
I first met Motti at the beginning of 1964, when I came to lead the Hachorshim Brigade of Hashomer Hatzair in Ramat Gan. I met a unique youth, central and active.
Motti loved nature, and especially living beings, very much. He visited the Negba on the Feast of First Fruits of 5724 (1964)[1]. That entire day, Motti was filled with excitement about the horse races. He wandered around the stable, visited the horse, and inspected it from head to hoof.
Finally, the competition itself came. Motti galloped on a horse with blazing eyes - on the grass at the center of the Kibbutz. Our truck was waiting, and the driver was blowing the horn (in order to return to Ramat Gan). The travelers were already seated and ready for the journey - all of them, except for Motti. He could not part from the horse. “Go, I will return myself,” he shouted to us.
His great knowledge of agriculture astounded me at the time. He took interest in crops, irrigation, machinery and tractors a long time before he began his studies in Hadera.
With his love of nature, he was an ideal member of the youth group.
Motti studied in Hadera for three years.
I only followed him during the first period, at the beginning of his path there. I felt that the period of time in the agricultural school was an important milestone for Motti along the path toward independence and adulthood.
I visited the school twice. I chatted with Motti's advisors. I recall his many stories of his status and his feelings toward the school and the group - how he operated the mechanical equipment for plowing and the equipment in the garage, how he worked as the operator of agricultural implements for the farmers of Hadera. Motti indeed found his place in that school, despite the fact that he had uprooted himself from Ramat Gan, his friends, and even in pushing off his army service.
The connection between us continued even after I returned to Negba. On occasion, on Sabbaths, Motti would come to visit us, bringing some of his friends along. I will admit that each visit left a unique feeling with us.
I remember Motti as a soldier in army fatigues and high army boots, standing in the darkness and stubbornly entering the children's room to take a glance at his sleeping baby. This seemed slightly strange to us, but it was so true to his nature! The older daughter already knew his name and remembered him from visit to visit.
[Page 286]
There were also meetings in the field, several kilometers from the farm. Motti would appear in the field and come to me. I was not at home, and he went to search for me in the field, full of happiness and a smile. He would give me professional advice on the tractor and on cultivation. He was full of joy and faith in life, all exclamation marks with no questions.
My final meeting with Motti was after he completed his course as an armor officer. A mature officer sat next to me, a lad in whom the Israel Defense Forces had placed great responsibility. We exchanged impressions on Sinai and the Suez Canal. Motti told us about his plans in the army. We parted, and he entered his white “Saab”, started it and set out on his way. Shosha, who was standing next to me, said, “See, we knew a land and now he has grown up. Did you ever believe that your “wild” Motti would become a captain?”
Motti had a deep sense of volunteerism: to forge forward, to do, to help, to succeed, to prove himself. How proud was he of his deeds during the Six Day War in Kibbutz Haon, when he took an ambulance and transported wounded people himself, even though he was only a lad in national service.
It seemed that there were no bounds to his wellspring of energy… However … however … Motti is no more; Motti, with whom we were so connected and whom we liked so much, who was so full of youthful plans: flourishing, laughter, and renewal. The heart refused, the logic contradicts, but the reality screams out.
Translator's Footnote
He was born in 1913 in Vilna and was raised in Jonava. He made aliya in 1933. He fell in the War of Independence, in the Western Galilee in the area of Nahariya, on June 27, 1948.
|
|
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
Jonava, Lithuania
Yizkor Book Project
JewishGen Home Page
Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 11 Jun 2023 by LA
