[Page 741]

Pinchas was my neighbor on the street and my friend in the movement. We met all the time and debated the ways to action. These arguments led to connections of brotherhood and friendship between us that did not end until his last day.

The 1917 Revolution, too, did not skip over our city. Together with all the youth, Pinchas, too, was swept up in the mighty stream of the revolution. However, he sobered up and asked himself:

“For what joy is this?” What's for us with the revolutions of the gentiles? Because we're Jews who are yearning for Zion and we are obligated to overturn the economic systems and the society of our people. And then we started to become organized in Zionist organizations. Pinchas joined the “Tze'irei Tziyon” party (Z. S.). Member Bar'am, Member Hadas Moshe (Bliman) - may they live long! - and the author of this article joined the party along with him.

During the years of the revolution, the time when the government passed from hand to hand, our city suffered from rioting gangs of looters and it was necessary to defend ourselves from them. A defense group, in which Pinchas took an active part, was organized in Monstriska Street. The center was in Shmuel Wernick's house. We hid our weapons there - two rifles and two pistols.

With the conquest of the city by the forces of Petliura, we dissolved the defense group and went underground. Pinchas decided to leave the city of his birth and to emigrate to Israel.

I remember an episode connected to Pinchas from this time: when the Poles entered Korets, the city served as sort of a way station for Russian refugees on the way to Poland. We got the information that we had to move a famous family from Russia to Poland the next night. Pinchas, Avraham Hornshtein, and I were recruited for this operation, together with some local “gentiles” who got a decent “present.” We transferred the family peacefully - them and their belongings. This was the family of the well-known author, Tchernowitz, whose son, Mr. Yaakov Tzur, served as the Israeli representative in France and whose daughter, the author, Yemima, was the wife of General Avidar, general director of the Ministry of Labor. Pinchas actually carried Yaakov Tzur on his shoulders.

[Page 742]

Pinchas emigrated to Israel in 1920 and immediately undertook physical work. If I'm not mistaken, he worked in the Goldberg orchard on the new road to Netanya. Shortly after he emigrated to Israel, he brought his sister, Sarah, z”l. He wrote letters home, full of wonder at the beauties of Israel. When the riots of 1921 broke out, Pinchas joined the “Haganah” and took an active part in its activities against the Arab rioters within the borders of Jaffa.

In 1925, Pinchas married and built his private life. But he didn't forget his family and he brought them to Israel even though it was difficult for him to support two families. However, his connections and love for his family were very strong and he did not notice the difficulties connected with bringing them to Israel. Distant relatives and also new immigrants from our city, whom he was always ready to help, enjoyed this love. His home was always open and those who needed help found an attentive ear there.

With the coming of the terrifying news concerning the destruction of our city, Pinchas did not rest until he established a connection to the survivors. Together with a number of other friends, he organized the Former Korets Residents Association in Israel and began to work to provide help to the needy. And how Pinchas was happy when he succeeded in handing out the desired help. He worked for the organization committee until his last moments.

With the establishment of the State, Pinchas was called to an important service in the Ministry of Defense. Here, too, he stood out as a community man, loved and welcomed by the staff, who believed in him and chose him as a member of the national committee of the Ministry's workers.

By virtue of his position, he was sent abroad numerous times and, while he was in the United States, the bitter rumor that Pinchas had died reached us, while he was still at the height of his strength and energy. I lost a good and dear friend with his death and the organization lost one of the best of its true and committed members. May his memory be blessed.

The wave of riots, which the Jews of Russia experienced with the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, did not skip Kameny Brod. Almost all the Jews of the town were slaughtered by the rioters at that time in the large forest near to the town. Only a few escaped from the slaughter. Gilman was among the sole survivors

[Page 743]

who fled to Korets with his relatives. He was drawn to teaching his entire life and he aspired to attend the Teachers' Seminar in Vilna. But the disrupted ways of life due to the First World War and the difficult living conditions did not allow him to realize his aspiration. So he turned to the pedagogical courses in Zhytomyr. However, because of the insane days, he was forced to return to Korets. And here, after a short period of time, he got the opportunity to engage in educational work. He was hired by the Orphans' Home founded in Korets by the “Joint,” to which were gathered all the unfortunate children who were parentless and had no refuge at the end of the First World War. Due to his understanding of a child's spirit, he was given the youngest age group. Unending love filled his heart for these tender children who lacked everything. He shared with them every barrier and pain. He took care of them with great mercy during their difficult hours, but he knew how to get them to smile in the hardest moments.

But his heart was drawn to the teaching of Hebrew, to speaking Hebrew. And this desire was granted him with the reopening of the “Tarbut” school in the city. Here a broad pasture for educational and instructional activities opened before him. Already here in Israel he would tell us about his memories of those days, when he worked to foster the Hebrew language, to enrich the spiritual world of the children, and to gain for them the values of culture and Judaism. He saw this work as a mission.

With the establishment of the Zionist organizations in Korets, Gilman joined the Zionist Labor party, “Hitachdut” (“Ha-Po'el Ha-Tza'ir” - “Tze'irei Tziyon”), with complete enthusiasm and was counted among its most active members. He was one of the committee members and one of the organizers of the Drama Circle and so was active in the work of the local Israeli office. From then, he participated in all the activities in the field of Hebrew-Zionist-Worker culture in the city until he emigrated to Israel in 1926 with his family.

1926 was an economic depression in Israel and there was a terrible shortage of work. Veteran teachers were let go and new ones were not hired. So he was forced to make a living as a day laborer. The beginning was not easy. But the fact that he was in Israel, the fact that he was a worker on the land of Israel, gave him the strength to endure the suffering and sometimes even hunger while he still had small children and elderly parents in his house.

In 1927 he was hired by the electric company where he worked until he died. Being a laborer felt like a great privilege to him and even when his lungs became weak, he didn't want to transfer to much easier clerical work. He lived and breathed the work in the factory. He followed with all his heart the struggle of the workers for good and more honest social conditions and rejoiced over every achievement of the individual and the collective. He was awake and listening to every hard heart and needy person and more than once he composed written requests for his co-workers.

His tendency to acquire knowledge did not disappear while he was a laborer. And so he organized evening lessons in Hebrew for his co-workers and taught there as a volunteer. How he trembled at every class. How he rejoiced over every achievement of his students. And thus he saw the fruits of his labor. He also tried his hand with the pen of authors. He left behind not a few lists, stories, and articles. But he loved the Tanakh more than anything. More than once I saw him sitting, after a hard day's work, reciting out loud, reading and leafing through the Tanakh. He loved nature, too. And in that small piece of land next to our house, he grew a vegetable garden. With love and devotion, after a day's work, he would take care of every plant and shoot. And with what joy he shared the fruits of his garden with the children of our family, our neighbors, and our friends.

[Page 744]

The horrible Holocaust wounded him mortally. And then, with all his strength and might, he undertook the search for former residents of Korets. He did not spare any effort and labor to reach former residents of the city in Israel in order to encourage them in the shared activity of helping the survivors and he was one of the first members of the Korets committee. He saw this as holy work and he sought ways to connect with every survivor who came to Israel.

He still had many plans and aspirations. How he wanted to see the State of Israel big and strong, quiet and flourishing. But death arrived early …

Upon being released from the army, he turned to teaching at the “Tarbut” school in Korets, where he taught mathematics and drawing. Afterwards, he was sent under the auspices of “Tarbut” to a continuing education program in Warsaw. After he completed this program, he was invited to teach at several schools in Warsaw. He settled in this city in 1929 and married there.

In addition to teaching, he devoted himself to creating educational games, drawings, and graphics, in which he achieved notable success, and took on orders as a freelancer for graphics and publishing jobs for the Ministry of Transportation of the Polish government.

However, his aspiration was to emigrate to Israel, which he achieved in 1933 together with his family. He did not want to continue working in teaching in Israel and changed to manual labor.

With the emigration of the administrators and activists of the “Tarbut” schools in Warsaw who knew Aryeh from his pedagogical work abroad, they began to try to convince him to return to teaching in the schools in Israel. He acquiesced and was accepted by the education division. He settled in Haifa and was engaged in teaching in the public schools. He acquired an apartment in this city on the border of Hadar Ha-Carmel - the lower Arab city.

He dedicated himself to the activities of the “Haganah” and his home served as a work-station for the activities of the organization.

In 1938, he was imprisoned in Akko “for the misdemeanor” of having weapons in his home. He didn't leave where he lived despite the danger because he recognized the obligation to protect the place. He continued to live in this house until he fell in the War of Independence, shot in his home by an Arab sniper.

With the coming of the first information from the Korets survivors in Russia, Aryeh was shaken to the core. He

[Page 745]

saw in his imagination the terrible horror of the destruction of the city and, from then on, did not rest. He dedicated himself with all his great energy to the activities of the committee, working and encouraging others. He saw this work as holy. He served as the Haifa representative to the national committee and carried on the public work of the Former Korets Residents Association in Israel for years.

Various unique qualities were mixed in Aryeh and, because of that, they valued him and loved him. He cleared a path for himself and his connections were a sign of his devotion to friends and family. His sudden death at the height of his power caused deep mourning for all his acquaintances and friends.

This death uprooted something deep-seated, basic, from the view of the Jews of Korets. The trunk and roots of Zawdi were firmly established in this view, which was the place of his life and from which the folk simplicity that characterized his behavior was drawn.

A person's soul is engrossed in, and enriched by, devotion to the community, to the public. Zawdi was connected, with all the strings of his heart, to the Jews of Korets, participated in their worries and their joys.

Whenever Zawdi was asked to speak in praise of Korets, I was reminded of the story that tells that, in ancient times, they wanted to burn a certain history book because it contained matters of heresy. As they were about to throw the old pages into the fire, someone from the crowd jumped up from his place and announced: burn me, too, please, gentlemen, because I know this history book by heart. Zawdi knew Korets “by heart.” He was a kind of geniza for all the ways of life of the Jews of Korets over the last decades.

Zawdi's youth was short on satisfaction and long on effort. He was one of the faithful of the poverty house. While he was still a boy, he already tasted manual labor and served as an artist's assistant.

Two great lights illuminated the years of Zawdi's childhood - the poets, Y. Y. Segal and Meir Czudner. They made an impression on him with character and attributes like inalienable assets. He acquired his poetic soul from them, his mixed cheerfulness of pain and tears, and his thirst for knowledge and study. Czudner's influence on him was great. He began to study Hebrew with great diligence, swept away by the idea of national renaissance, and had the privilege of being among the “door setters” of the Zionist movement in Korets.

[Page 746]

The storms of the time brought him to Odesa and he was privileged to warm himself by the fire of the “sages of Odesa” and his joy was great when he was lucky to speak face to face with Frishman, whom the war had brought to that city.

He emigrated to Israel in 1926. In the first years of his immigration, reality did not smile upon him. He knew many days of unemployment and idleness. Zawdi loved to draw upon a writer's pen in secret. He authored an extensive work about the lives of Korets and Mezhyrichi entitled, “A Wedding in the Town,” which earned him a prize under the auspices of the Society for Folklore and Ethnography. And so, it is natural that Zawdi was among the architects and builders of the memorial book honoring the holy ones of Korets.

It is very sad that Zawdi had the privilege of being among those laying the foundations of the “Book of Korets,” but did not manage to be among the builders of its rafters.

Emigrated to Israel in 1923, with the Third Aliyah, and immediately joined the Histadrut [=Zionist Federation] and the “Ahdut Ha-Avodah” [=Unity of Labor Party]. With the merger, entered the “Poalei Eretz Yisrael” [=Mapai, workers' political party].

Served as a teacher of young girls at the “WIZO” [=Women's International Zionist Organization] school, was among the founders of the educational institution in north Tel Aviv, and was one of those who laid the foundations for Workers' Neighborhood A and for the regional school, named after Rosa Cohen z”l, in Givat Ha-Shlosha.

Sarah was also a member of the central parents' committee in Tel Aviv and the cultivators of the workers' education network in Israel. Was also among the founders of the working mothers organization and served as its secretary until her last day; a member of the Tel Aviv Workers' Council, of the administration of “Mish'an,” and of various socialist, Yishuv, and Histadrut committees. Participated also in recruitment and security committees during the war years and after.

With the founding of the “Le-Ahdut Ha-Avoda” party, joined it and was a member of the center and of the national, and her local, councils.

After the Second World War, was also a member of the organizing committee of the Former Korets Residents Association in Tel Aviv and helped greatly in aiding every survivor who immigrated to Israel, whether in arranging housing or arranging work and the like.

With her death, a faithful and committed socialist-Zionist figure, who dedicated her entire life to the masses and the workers' movement, left us.

  Korets,Ukraine     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2025 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 11 Apr 2025 by JH