[Page 167]

Volkovysk at the Beginning
of the Twentieth Century

A Corner of the Wide Boulevard Right: Perekhodnik's House; Center: The Newspaper Kiosk of Blond Kalman Lev

Volkovysk became enriched in the year 1906 with the establishment of a new institution: the Volkovysk Savings & Loan Bank.

The city had always felt a lack of funds that could be borrowed – especially by middle class and less prosperous laborers. The poorer classes were in the hands of usurers and weekly lenders who would soak the borrower for his entire week's wages. The Savings & Loan institution put an end to these practices. I was personally among the founders of this new financial institution. I developed an understanding with the directors of the JCA^[1] and traveled in accordance with their direction to the Governor in Grodno. I brought the relevant local application to him, and received the necessary permissions. And we immediately undertook the realization of our goal. A leadership was elected that consisted of the following people: Aaron Lifschitz, Yaakov Avromsky, Yitzhak Neiman, Yaakov Cantor, Jekuthiel Bereshkovsky, Shabtai Ziss'l Lev, Zvi Mazover, Dov Pinkhosovsky and myself.

Our first difficulty arose from the fact that JCA demanded of us that we first needed to create an initial investment of capital, and only after that would they assist us – they promised – with financial resources. Based on my initiative, we floated 'shares' and set their value at 30 rubles apiece. For the less wealthy participants, we arranged a payment of a monthly instalment for these shares. At the same time, we approached a number of wealthy merchants in the city, with the request that they buy shares outright to create loan capital, without demanding that the bank formally borrow from them. It was in this manner that we were able to amass the initially required capital. This undertaking proceeded well. I would like to mention here, to the extent that I can recall, with consummate praise, those people, who in their serious commitment to the new institution, helped

[Page 168]

so much in its establishment and development. Among them was the lawyer, Chaim Ozer Einhorn, who immediately contributed a sum of fifty rubles (all the members of the management contributed thirty rubles apiece). A number of the Volkovysk balebatim and merchants also bought shares. To this, was added the contribution of one hundred rubles from the Heller brothers. In this manner we amassed a sum of eight hundred rubles. JCA immediately forwarded its share of three hundred rubles, and the bank began to function. Thanks to the JCA, the bank was managed in a strictly cooperative fashion.

In the final years before the First World War, the loans of the bank attained the level of three hundred rubles per shareholder. This was a highly desirable outcome, being the first manifestation of a cooperative movement in Volkovysk.

In the great fire of the summer of 1908, almost the entire center of Volkovysk, including the Schulhof, was burned down. However, it didn't take long, about two years, and the city was newly rebuilt, even more beautiful and more modern. Many helped in this effort, beyond the Volkovysk Jewish community, including the Jewish communities of the surrounding cities and towns, who responded generously to Volkovysk's appeal for help. The Schulhof was entirely rebuilt. The new synagogue became the jewel of the city. Also the Talmud Torah, whose old building was almost entirely consumed by the fire, was completely rebuilt on a much stronger foundation thanks to the generous donation of the Gabbai Joseph Berestovitsky who donated a thousand rubles for this purpose.

In those years, Zamoscheh was built up. The Zamoscheh Bet HaMedrash was reconstructed and it was named 'Jeshurun.' It is appropriate to recall the Gabbaim here: Leib Ditkovsky, Ze'ev Kaplan and Joseph Leib Rubinovich, who richly deserve a great deal of thanks for their energetic work. Many worshipers helped them, such as: Ben-Zion Lifschitz, Abraham Milkov, Ze'ev Velvelsky, Moshe Avigdor Taran, Mordechai Tarma, Aaron Smazanovich and others. Also, Volkovysk landsleit in America contributed to this effort.

In the year 1914 when the First World War broke out, a sorrowful page was begun in the history of the Volkovysk Jewish community.

Volkovysk immediately fell into the occupied territories, and the conduct of the normal Jewish way of life came to a halt.

I fled by myself in 1915, on the eve of the arrival of German occupation forces in Volkovysk, and returned to my old home, Ukraine. A couple of years after the outbreak of the Bolshevik revolution, I once again set out on the road with the objective of reaching Volkovysk. With a great deal of exertion I reached Minsk, and wished to set my course for Volkovysk from there. However, because of the Russo-Polish war, I needed to detain myself in Minsk for a short while. In Minsk I then met a large number of young people from Volkovysk and the Volkovysk environs, who had been forcibly taken there by the Bolsheviks. Hungry, naked and sick, they dragged themselves around the Minsk streets. Among them at that time was Moshe Rubinovich – who would later be the last leader of the Volkovysk community, The teacher, Sholom Rubinstein, Dr. Yanovsky and his

[Page 169]

wife (from Grodno), Yud'l Novogrudsky and Yaakov Gubar. I helped them all as best as I could to return them to Volkovysk.

On December 26, 1920 after great difficulty, I finally returned to Volkovysk with all my companions.

When I arrived in Volkovysk, I found the city largely in ruins. Many merchants who were men of means had been impoverished. Poverty was unusually great in the Jewish streets. The new Polish regime was powerless to establish order in the city, and the Jewish population mostly had to fall back on its own energies. But it didn't take long before the energy and vitality of the Jews made an impact in every walk of life. Taking no note of the fact that the Polish government did not even accord the Jews equal rights as citizens, the Jewish masses managed to get back on its feet a little bit at a time, and undertook the work of reconstruction.

A new city council was established at that time, which was joined by: Sholom Barash, Ephraim Barash, Yaakov Kantzopolsky, Alexander Makov, Joseph Leib Shipiatsky, Melekh Khantov, Yekhiel Pshenitsky, Shlomo Mandelbaum, Shmuel Kaplan, Moshe Leib Khmelnitsky, and also Rozhansky (the Bialystoker Baker's son-in-law). They immediately undertook to secure the political and economic rights of the Jewish populace.

Ephraim Barash

Engineer Barash understood that without strong financial institutions, it will not be possible to rebuild the ruined commerce of the city, and put the workers back on their feet. Therefore, one of his first goals was to establish a financial apparatus, which would be the property of the Jewish community, and service all of its needs.

[Page 170]

The Credit Unions^[2] of Volkovysk

At the beginning of the year 1922, Engineer E. Barash visited the 'Joint' director Gitterman in Warsaw and engaged him in the serious issue of a credit union for Volkovysk. The 'Joint' required that initially the Volkovysk Jewish community first had to put together the initial capital for such an institution, and then it would contribute its share of the financing. The maximum contribution of the 'Joint' to such newly-founded banks at that time stood at between two and five hundred zlotys. But Engineer E. Barash convinced Director Gitterman through his stubborn presentation that he should, on an exception basis, support the Volkovysk bank with fifteen hundred zlotys, with the stipulation that the Jewish populace of Volkovysk would raise a matching amount of fifteen hundred zlotys for the initial capital. Ephraim Barash then returned to Volkovysk, called a special public assembly, presented the entire question to the gathering, and intoned the exceptionally great importance of founding such a financial institution. An enlarged committee of 41 people was immediately elected, among which I was the Vice-President. However, because of the great poverty in the city, there was no way the required sum of money of fifteen hundred zlotys could be raised. On his personal word, engineer Barash obtained a loan from a wealthy resident, Hona Kavushatsky in the amount of six hundred zlotys, which was in the amount of the shortfall in assembled funding. The remainder was raised among the members of the Committee – on the order of twenty zlotys apiece. And this is how engineer Barash came by the sum of fifteen hundred zlotys from the 'Joint' and with the initial capital injection of three thousand zlotys, the bank was founded. The energetic accountant, M. Tarma was designated as the Director of the bank (today in Haifa).

Shortly afterward a second such bank was founded, a Small Business Credit Union – also at the initiative of engineer Ephraim Barash. Before I emigrated to the Land of Israel I donated fifty zlotys to each of these previously mentioned credit unions.

The credit unions were of great help to the Jewish populace, especially the small businesses, craftsmen and laborers. But engineer Barash did not content himself with the good, positive results from his first endeavor in this area, and he decided to approach the local Jewish merchants, who had not yet managed to recover their positions from the heavy consequences of the First World War. The Jewish bankers of Volkovysk from the pre-war years all had gone under. As a result, the Jewish merchants of Volkovysk lost their access to credit, which they had previously obtained from the local banks. The consequences of this were severe, because exchange credit was not re-established. Commerce had not yet stabilized after the great destruction wrought by the war. Warsaw, Lodz and other great commercial centers of Poland, conducted business on a cash-only basis.

The Polish regime issued an order from the first day that it came to power, to take control the foreign exchange, especially American dollars, that used to be sent from relatives in America to the Jews for support. These

[Page 171]

dollars would first be exchanged by the government for [German] marks, and later – into local zlotys. In this way, the Polish government managed to accumulate a large foreign exchange position – thanks to its Jews – which served as the initial capital for the establishment of its central bank – Bank Polski. Branches of the bank were immediately opened in all of the larger Polish cities, but everywhere credit for the Jews was severely circumscribed – limited to the minimum. The chauvinist Poles hoped that in this way, they could interdict the ability of the Jews to conduct business, and thereby concentrate all of the Polish commercial activity in Christian hands. But the government forgot one thing, that beside requiring funds, this undertaking requires unusually strong energy, the right management apparatus, and most essential of all, business sense – a thing that Jews happened to have.

In 1926, engineer Ephraim Barash approached the task of setting up a Jewish banking framework in Volkovysk. In the course of a few weeks, he obtained the permits to open a cooperative bank for Jewish merchants. This required significant startup capital, and this was raised thanks to the dedication of the initiator Barash, who immediately proposed to the management that they lend the required sum of money to the bank for four months without interest. To set an example, he immediately provided, along with his father Sholom, the sum of one thousand dollars. It was in this manner that the required startup capital was raised, and the bank began to function in short order. This was a severe blow to the Polish bankers. The Jewish bank, form the beginning of its existence, manifested a formidable level of activity. It won the patronage of many other bank and business establishments, which trusted it with their banking accounts. The bank obtained re-discount credit facilities from the central mercantile cooperative, and later through the Polish Central Bank.

At the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding of this Jewish banking institution, the statement of bank operations showed a turnover of several million zlotys, with its own independent capital base. At the suggestion of the founder and president, Engineer E. Barash, the founding members agreed to leave the annual shareholder dividends in the bank, in order to bolster the bank's reserves – an act, that along with the other earnings, placed the bank on a very sound foundation. In the years of 1935-1936, the time of the severe crisis in the Polish banking system, when many Polish and Jewish banks had to close entirely, the Volkovysk Jewish Merchants cooperative bank, thanks to its proper financial plan, that of its president, E. Barash, was one of the few banks in Poland that made it through the severe crisis and remained respectably in existence. In the management of the bank were: Engineer E. Barash, Director; Shlomo Mandelblum, Ozer Kaplan, Moshe Rubinovich, Y. Medvedev, Eliyahu Shykevich, P. Kazatsky, Herschel Mazover, A. Velevelsky, Akiva Yudzhik and P. Kapchevsky; On the Bank Committee were: Milistovsky, Anshel Bliakher, Kalman Bartnovsky, Shimon Feinstein, Y. Dwortesky, Y. Inker, Hona Kavushatsky, Y. Lidsky, V. Potakovsky; In the Revision Committee were: Engineer M. Pshenitsky, Provisor Nakhum Kroll, and Hona Shiff.

It is also appropriate to recollect here, the genteel lady Fruma Kavushatsky, who from the first day that the bank was founded, admonished the president to come to her for help in the eventuality of a financial need, should the bank require her personal support. Her commitment was sacred to her for the longest time, and she came through with substantial loans to the bank.

The bank demonstrated great cooperation and allegiance to the credit unions. And it is appropriate here to record the bank's support, which it provided to the credit unions in the form of interest-free annual loans for the purpose of assisting the poor shopkeepers each year to pay for their licenses on time, and thereby avoiding a government fine.

[Page 172]

The Cooperative Bank of the Owners of Fixed Assets^[3]

Shortly after the founding of the first cooperative merchants bank, a second cooperative bank was founded by the society of Volkovysk property owners, at the initiative of the young banker, Farber. This bank also developed rapidly, and in 1938, it owned its own building which had previously been the home of Eliezer Shaliota.

Because of his substantial earnings in the banking business, in the year 1937, Engineer Ephraim Barash was elected as a member of the management of the central cooperative merchants society in Warsaw.

Engineer Ephraim Barash was counted as one of the most important public figures in Volkovysk. Apart from his outstanding activity as the chairman of the city, founder of the credit unions, and a variety of commercial banks, he was also the principal leader of the Zionist movement in Volkovysk and was very active for the benefit of all the important national Jewish institutions and funds, as also for the benefit of the Hebrew school system in Volkovysk.

In 1937, Engineer E. Barash was invited to take the position of Director of the famous Bialystok community. It was very difficult for him to leave the town where he was born with its very important institutions, of which he personally was the founder and which had developed so well under his sterling leadership. But he assumed the new position even though he remained a president of the cooperative merchants bank, and proposed that he take part in the Volkovysk municipal institutions, when occasions arose that he might be needed. In Bialystok also, he distinguished himself with his dedicated work to strengthen the social welfare of the working classes, and other less wealthy segments of the population. His popularity grew vigorously in the city, and when Bialystok went into the Russian sphere at the onset of the Second World War, the Russian regime took his popularity and activities in the city into consideration, and turned over the management of all the factories in the city to him. Thanks to his exceptional skills, he was able to satisfy both the workers and the industrialists. He created many places for work on behalf of the poorer Jewish populace. When the Russians pulled back from Bialystok, Engineer Barash, thanks to his accomplishments and good connections had every opportunity to leave the city and be evacuated to Russia. But he didn't do that, because he felt that the responsibility lay with him, as the leader of the Jewish community, to remain with his brethren in their time of need – and he remained in the city. When the Germans entered Bialystok, it was his fortune to be able to win their confidence initially, and it was in this way that he presented his influential work, maintaining order in the manufacturing system, and permitted no unemployment among the Jewish Bialystok population – a condition that extended the life of the Jewish community, and delayed the extermination of the Jewish population, which was a part of the Nazi program. His position was not an easy one. He had to constantly be on the alert and protect the local Jews – as well as the Jews who came into the city from the surrounding towns, who had been sent to the Bialystok ghetto – as a consequence of the severe decrees of the bloodthirsty Nazis.

An historical document, written by the well-known writer and editor Pesach Kaplan, was printed in the Bialystoker Stimme of January 1947, that had been found along with other archival material from the Bialystok ghetto. The following is written in this historical document, among other things, about the leader of the Bialystok Judenrat:

[Page 173]

Engineer Barash is regarded by the broad public as the dictator of the ghetto. He is in fact the only one who continuously holds the rhythm of the place, and unceasingly carries on the battle on both fronts: with the Germans, to satisfy, or reduce, or eliminate harsh decrees, and with the Jews – to satisfy deficiencies and grievances, for our own good. His principal virtue is his incredible energy, patience, stubbornness, unbelievable punctiliousness, and most essentially – clean hands. With a head held high, with pride derived from self-righteousness, he looks everyone in the eye and mercilessly demands the exact same thing from all his co-workers.

He is also characterized as a quick study, unusually straight-thinking, and logical in thought and word. His talks have impact, are short and substantive, without extra words, and with a marvelous integration and clarity. The dictatorial power is perhaps well suited to his character, but not with his political leanings. That is why, for every undertaking of responsibility, he consults with the Presidium, even up to several times a day. From time to time the governing council meets, with formal minutes taken (written by R. Gutman). And in very serious moments when a danger courses through the ghetto, and something needs to be addressed, large open meetings are called in the “Linat Tzedek,” where the principal event is the speech by engineer Barash which in the ghetto was always interpreted and repeated as if they were the words from Urim and Thummim.^[4]

Subsequently, he was taken away, along with the other Jews, on one of the Bialystok transports to Maidanek and he met his end there. His two sons died with him. His wife, Dr. Jocheved Barash was later killed at Auschwitz. One son of his, ho at that time was already in the Land of Israel, and later served in the Jewish Brigade, upon learning about the fate of his family, took sick and died at the age of 28 years.

Translator's footnotes:

1. The Jewish Colonization Association (JCA, in Yiddish ICA) was created in 1891 by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigration of Jews from Russia and other Eastern European countries, by settling them in agricultural colonies on lands purchased by the committee, particularly in North and South America. Return
2. It is not completely clear how to align this type of financial institution with modern American banking terminology. The Hebrew appellation, “Gemilut Hasadim” is used as a modifier of the German “Kasse” (bank). Such organizations always extended credit on a preferential basis, quite usually even on an interest-free basis. The term, “Free Loan Society” could probably also be used with no loss of accuracy, however, the connotation associated with a Credit Union seems somewhat better. Return
3. In this context, it probably refers to those who owned real estate, probably in the form of buildings, land and manufacturing facilities. Return
4. The biblical breastplate of the High Priest, from which oracular powers were believed to emanate, also requiring interpretation. Return

[Page 174]

The Volkovysk Orphanage

Noah & Baylah Lev

Orphanage Building

When I returned to Volkovysk with my family in December 1920, I was immediately struck by the large number of orphans and impoverished widows – victims of the war – and the idea of establishing an orphanage in Volkovysk was born in my mind at that time. The image of the bloodbaths in Russia were still fresh in my mind, where so many young lives were taken in the bestial pogroms of the Ukraine, and despite the fact that my economic circumstances were then bad, I decided to pursue the goal of establishing a Jewish Orphanage in Volkovysk, that will look after the solitary orphans.

When I communicated my decision to the Rabbi of Volkovysk, Rabbi Abba Yaakov Borukhov, he expressed his satisfaction with this objective that I had undertaken, and he wished me well in my efforts. I immediately made contact with a number of the prominent balebatim of the city, who promised to provide me with the required [financial] support. Dr. Rosa Einhorn, whom I knew as a gymnasium student in Grodno, gave me a great deal of help at the beginning. She had a good heart, and notwithstanding the fact that she came from a family with means, she was always prepared to do whatever she could to support the Jewish masses, for whom no task was too difficult for her to undertake. I was also assisted by Mrs. Chana Sarah Yudzhik, who had an inborn sense for community service; Pearl Lev (daughter of the Bialystoker Baker), who was distinguished for her good character, and the great scholar, Rabbi Abraham Zalman Kurtz.

We then established a group that also had the following members: Anshel Bliakher, Boruch Yunovich, Shabtai Gordon, Eliezer Kapelyushnik, Joseph Leib Shipiatsky, Mordechai Giller, as well as the head of Huaver's kitchen – Eliyahu Schlossberg.

On April 6, 1921 we had the first general meeting, in which the entire question of the welfare of orphans was examined from all sides. I declared for the assembly the urgent need to establish an orphanage for these homeless children of our city. A leadership was elected that included: Eliyahu Schlossberg, President; Eliyahu Shykevich, Vice-President; Dr. Rosa Einhorn, Treasurer; Anshel Bliakher, Recording Secretary; Rabbi Abraham Zalman Kurtz, Eliezer Kapelyushnik, Chaya Sarah Yudzhik^[1], Pearl Lev, Boruch Yunovich, Mordechai Giller – members of the leadership.

[Page 175]

As it happened, delegates from the Volkovysk Landsmanschaft in America happened to be visiting Volkovysk at this time: Abraham Berg, Avigdor Perlmutter, Chanan Nakhumovsky and Berel Domovsky. They took an interest in the issue of the welfare of the orphans, and allocated a sum of four thousand marks, and in this way assured us that they would take up this issue in earnest with the Volkovysk landsmanschaft in America. This sum of money was barely enough to renovate the Guest House that had been wrecked during the war, that consisted of two rooms and a kitchen. We immediately admitted 25 destitute orphans. It is difficult to communicate what we first went through upon opening this orphanage, so urgently needed at this time. The children were brought in singly, dressed in rags, and in horrifying sanitary condition. I immediately traveled to Bialystok, where I obtained a bit of goods, and light clothing from the “Joint,” for the children, and a certain amount of foodstuffs. A little at a time, we also obtained foodstuffs from Huaver's kitchen. But things began to get better a little at a time, and we drew greater energy from this progress in order to enlarge on our work.

We sent our first appeal to the American Jews to accelerate the arrival of their help as much as possible. We met for any number of meetings at Dr. Rosa Einhorn's house, where we undertook the issue of whether we should buy a location where a planned orphanage could be constructed, even before we had any funds to underwrite such a project. We relied on our strong will, and the unshakeable belief, that we would find the necessary people who would come to our assistance. After a great deal of searching, we found a place in the city, on which there stood a destroyed, burned out building that had belonged to Noah Lev (son-in-law of Yaakov Ahareh), and his wife, Bayl'keh, who lived in America at that time. We decided to write to Noah Lev in America, and approach him with the proposition to donate this piece of unused property to us, on which we would build the first orphanage in Volkovysk. Initially, we were pessimistic about what results we would get from our proposal, because we know the owner of the property was not a man of means, but a hard-working man. But his positive response to our proposal overwhelmed us all. In addition, Noah Lev underscored his great satisfaction in his reply to us, that he had been accorded the privilege of providing this parcel and the burned out house, for such an important purpose as constructing an orphanage in the very home town, where he himself grew up as an orphan. As a supplement to his great gift, he also sent along a substantial sum of money.

Then it became clear for everyone that our dream would rapidly become a reality. Rabbi Abraham Zalman Kurtz the serious and dedicated committee member, who received this answer from America, immediately came to tell us the good news, and heartily congratulated me for the good results of my effort.

In September 1921, with the consent of Rabbi Borukhov, the leadership of the Orphanage Committee decided to lay the cornerstone of the new building on the first day of Selikhot. We prepared the entire plan of the house, along with the building material, which we salvaged from the old burned down structure that stood on the parcel. A warm invitation was disseminated through all the Volkovysk synagogues to the entire Jewish population on the eve of Selikhot, asking people to partake in the mitzvah, by attending the laying of the cornerstone of the orphanage.

Quite early in the morning of the first day of Selikhot there were already set out well-provisioned tables on the site of the future orphanage, ready to receive the expected guests. The first places were occupied by the important guests in the persons of the Rabbi, Abba Yaakov Borukhov and the Dayan, Rabbi Yaakov Berestovitsky, and surrounding them sat the members of the committee. The Treasurer, Dr. Rosa Einhorn was there as well, and the secretary with the guest book, awaiting a large turnout. One could begin to discern a certain level of activity start to manifest itself on the usually quiet Kholodoisker Gasse. The Volkovysk Jews began to stream in – fathers, mothers and children – to offer their congratulations to the energetic committee members on the future orphanage, and to wish them continued success. These were the Jews who were the first to respond so warmly to the call for assistance to “The Orphan and the Widow” with the unanimous answer,

[Page 176]

“We will do, and we will listen!”^[2] The first to address the crowd was Rabbi Abba Yaakov Borukhov, and after him came the other speakers. The crowd absorbed every word intently, because everyone knew how to appreciate the importance of this planned institution for the Volkovysk community. Then the important and venerable community elder, Reb Yitzhak Novogrudsky stepped forward, with his wife, Fradl, and they approached the head table. He picked up the goblet, made the appropriate blessing, and added SheHekheyanu in honor of the new institution, and then in a loud voice, declared: “Mazel Tov, Jews! Help to support this cause. This is our great responsibility and honor!” He immediately tendered his own contribution, and in this way enhanced the auspicious nature of the occasion. The Jews began to crowd the table in order to give their contributions – each according to his own means. But everyone gave his contribution gladly, because they considered it a privilege and an honor to do so. In addition, it was a great mitzvah for the coming New Year. And this is the way it continued for the entire day. The leadership sat at the table, greeting the people with the greeting of “Happy New Year!”

It took a full year of very strenuous work before we reached the point of celebrating the dedication of the newly constructed building for the newly established institution of the orphanage, on the donated parcel provided by Noah & Bayl'keh Lev. The three-story new structure dominated the entire street. Also, the interior decoration was very good, comprised almost entirely of personal donations: twenty beds of nickel were donated by the philanthropist Horaczy Heller; thirty additional nickel beds were purchased with the funds sent by the Volkovysk landsleit in America; the beautiful and clean white goods came from the collected contributions of the Volkovysk women; the entire wardrobe for the children, costing one thousand dollars, was a donation of the American merchant and former Volkovysk orphan, Matityahu Rutchik; the isolation room and the Holy Ark were donations of Saul Barash (of America), given in the name of his parents, Jekuthiel & Mikhlah Bereshkovsky; the new equipment for the kitchen – a donation of the Chicago Ladies Society under the leadership of Sarah Perliss (Sarah the Fishmonger); the bedding and bed coverings – a donation of the New York Volkovysk Ladies Society; the sewing machine – donated by me; the plumbing – a donation of Shmuel Malakhovitsky; the ten sets of knives, spoons, forks and teaspoons – a gift of the Volkovysk Youth. The big hall with electric lighting, and modern decoration – everything, everything bore witness to the great and unrelenting effort and strain undertaken by the Volkovysk Jews on behalf of the institution.

Even more tangible testimony were the young orphan children themselves, who were taken in and raised there. For hundreds of abandoned street urchins, who were on the road to a certain death, or in the best case, to become a dark element in the underworld, the institution became their secure home, and the management committee – devoted step-parents substituting for their own parents who were taken from them so early. The devoted and committed personnel of the institution demonstrated, at all times, a great understanding of the responsibility to which they had been summoned, and carried out their duties with great dedication. The service of the dedicated head of the orphanage, Shabtai Gordon, and the Governess Sarah Bibergalik (today in Rishon LeZion, Israel) were especially substantial.

If our hearts were fearful, at the time that we laid the cornerstone of this institution, that we might not successfully carry out the construction of this three-story orphanage, then we had a completely different attitude at the time the building was dedicated. We came to that dedication with a track record of successful accomplishments. And if on that day, the first day of Selikhot, when we went to lay the cornerstone of the institution, the abandoned orphans were still scattered about, suffering hunger and cold, by the time of the dedication of the building, they came well-dressed, with happy and healthy faces. They lined themselves up on

[Page 177]

the stairs in front of the entrance to the orphanage, and welcomed the guests, singing the psalm, “Let Us Sing a Song of Dedication^[3],” with all their might.

The leaders of the surrounding cities and towns came to celebrate the festive occasion of the dedication of the building. Among these guests were members of the Bialystok Central Committee for Orphan Welfare, leaders of the Warsaw-based central “Tzentas,” many leaders of a variety of orphan committees from the entire area, and also the leaders of all the local community institutions. The ceremony left a deep impression.

The management also decided to arrange a banquet for all the government leaders of the local military detachment, and the leaders of communal institutions, the purpose of which was to underscore to these military leaders, and the leaders of the communal institutions that this new institution had a right to demand their support, just like any other existing institution of similar character. Dr. Rosa Einhorn took on the responsibility of inviting many of her influential patients, and to explain the goals of the newly founded institution to them. The results of this effort were very good, and the banquet was very successful.

Initially, the Jews felt a need to set a good example, and they came forward with fine contributions, and at this point, the Christians donated generously to the institution. Also, the government leaders came forward with much praise for our accomplishment, and as a result, the orphanage was placed on the list of those institutions that received periodic support from the municipal government.

Leadership and Children of the Orphanage in the Year 1920 Right to left, first row, bottom: Dr. P. Bebchuk, Mordechai Giller, Batya Kovensky, Mikhl Zohn-Mazya, Chana Kaganovich, Eliyahu Schlossberg, Eliyahu Shykevich, Chana Khmelnitsky, Mrs. Lev (daughter of the Furniture Turner), Mrs. Mushatsky, Mordetsky's daughter, Mrs. Yefim Renzon Second row: Aaron Smazanovich, Geller (The Garment Seamer), Unknown, Eliezer Kalir, Shabtai Gordon, the last four in the row are unknown

Persons Active on Behalf of the Orphanage In the management, seated right to left: Shabtai Gordon, Chana Kaganovich and Eliyahu Shykevich

[Page 178]

build the institution. He was however taken aback, when he visited Volkovysk, seeing that the building was entirely complete. And before I even had the chance to take up the issue of subsidies from the “Joint”, he came out with the question: “And what do you think should be the Head Committee's share in this successful initiative?”

From year to year our monthly and annual income was always larger. We took over first place among all of the committees a little bit at a time. All our proposals received the most careful attention, and we served as a role model for many other institutions. After a while, we had become so independent, that the “Joint” no longer felt it was necessary for them to take a part of our budget. And in a communication full of praise for our accomplishments, they discontinued their part of the subsidies for our institutions, claiming that we were sufficiently endowed to carry on this community work on an independent basis.

With the growth of institutional activity, which continued to expand, monthly expenses understandably also rose. The management therefore needed to find other sources of income. It was decided to expand the management group and to draw in additional resources. The following members were elected to the management: Eliyahu Shykevich, President; Mordechai Giller, Vice-President; Eliyahu Eliyovich, Treasurer; Shimon Feinstein, Recording Secretary; members; Lipman Itzkowitz, Moshe Zelitsky, Aaron Lifschitz, Sholom Lev, Naphtali Lisitsky, Shmuel Malakhovitsky, Dr. Jocheved Barash, Dr. T. Berman, Dr. M. Shlackman, Chana Khmelnitsky, Sarah Lev, Chana Heller, Chaya Sarah Yudzhik, Leah Lifschitz, Rachel Lev, Manya Meshengisser, Sh. Sedletsky, Dr. Press, Reizl Farber, Chana Kaganovich, Batya Kovensky, Bayl'keh Kaplan, M. Kaplan, Paulia Shkolnik, V. Shereshevsky, R. Renzon, Chana Mushatsky, Z. Gershuni, and Tz. Leibowitz.

The oversight committee was joined by: Dr. Rosa Einhorn, Mikhal Zohn-Mazya and Eliezer Kapelyushnik. In place of the deceased Dr. H. Aaron son, Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky was appointed as the doctor of the institution.

Following the example of the Ladies Society organizations of the Volkovysk Societies in New York and Chicago – whose good works were already well-known throughout Volkovysk for their fine monetary contributions, especially for the abandoned orphans – at the initiative of Rebbetzin Kossowsky, a Society of Volkovysk Jewish Ladies was established in Volkovysk as well, which set coming to the assistance of the orphanage as its first priority. The membership contribution of the Ladies in the first months came to between 200 and 300 zlotys a month, which was a very significant element of support for the orphanage. In time, the Ladies organized themselves into an independent institution, which concerned itself with a full spectrum of charitable initiatives. Despite the onset of several years of difficult crisis in Poland, and not counting the local tribulations, the management of the orphanage elicited considerable understanding on behalf of its objectives, and the institution made it through these difficult years unscathed, insulating the children in the institution and in private orphanages.

The Leadership of the Orphanage in the Year 1924 Right to left, first row, bottom: Aaron Smazanovich, Reizl Farber, Chana Kaganovich, Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky, Eliyahu Schlossberg (President), Lipman Itzkowitz, Eliyahu Shykevich (Vice-President), Levin (from the Kholodoisker Gasse) Second row, standing: Sh. Kapushchevsky, Mrs. Sh. Levin (Instructor for Ladies Tailoring), Sholom Lev, Eliyahu Eliyovich (Treasurer), Mordechai Giller, Miss H. Friedman (Governess), Eliezer Kalir

[Page 179]

At the beginning, when we had just admitted the first 25 children, the first goal of the leadership was fix up the two rooms and the kitchen of the temporary orphanage, prepare good meals for the orphans, by cleaning the temporary quarters, install the requisite measures of sanitation, and to provide the children with decent clothing as a replacement for what they wore while wandering the streets.

The sum of a thousand marks, that was turned over by Rabbi Abba Yaakov Borukhov, who had received it from the American delegates for the care of the orphans, was far and away too small to cover all the necessary expenses. It barely covered the renovation of the small building. We therefore had to obtain loans, against which the management members gave their own personal guarantees, eliciting thereby their intense will to complete their work under all circumstances.

In order not to have to rely on the good will of others inordinately, we initially made do with putting up simple bunk beds made out of wooden boards, with a sack of straw underneath, one for each child. We did this, because we didn't want to impose on the populace with excessive demands. By doing this, we wanted to acquire additional supporters for our undertaking. The first who helped us were: the elderly ladies, Sukhowalsky & Berg from Zamoscheh; the elderly couple, Hillel Lev-Koshchilker; Mikhlah Einhorn; and Fradl Shiff. They donated small pillows and sheets for the children. We searched for bedding at the old age home from the elderly that had passed away. The president, Meir Shiff gave us several pillows, and after we carried out the appropriate disinfection of all the acquired goods, we attained the necessary number to give a pillow to each of the children. The ladies began immediately to respond with donations of towels and sheets. This substantially lightened our burden in caring for the orphaned children for the entire year before the new building was completed. There, all the appointments were already of a modern standard: beds made of nickel, fine bed linens with mattresses and other things.

In the temporary orphanage, the principal meals of the children were dairy. In hindsight, the dairy products from Huaver's kitchen were very useful to us. Because of supply shortages and a lack of ready cash, we were unable to purchase meat. However, the situation changes almost immediately. A number of the butchers took responsibility for supplying the institution on a daily basis with meat products. It was Yehudit Yunovich, the mother of Herschel Yunovich the butcher, who exerted herself especially in this matter. Thanks to them, the first Sabbath at the orphanage was inaugurated with a delicious cholent and a fat kugel, that the children ate for the first time in their lives since they were orphaned. The food situation got better with each ensuing week, thanks to efforts of the management embers, and from the Jews of Volkovysk in general. Shortly afterwards, a daily “menu” was worked out, which became a permanent feature, because the institution always had a reserve of foodstuffs that could last about three months. A Mothers Committee was also established which looked after all the small details that would give the institution a homey atmosphere.

Do understand, that no Jewish festival went by that was not celebrated at the orphanage. I took it upon myself personally as a sacred duty to arrange for the children at the institution every year at the time of the appropriate festivals, all the traditional Jewish foods, such as latkes on Hanukkah, dairy blintzes on Shavuot, and sugared hamantashen on Purim. All the workers and activists who supported the institution were invited to these celebrations, and these celebrations were conducted with great joy, including singing and dancing.

[Page 180]

The First Fund-Raiser of the Orphanage

As quickly as an orderly routine was more or less established in the orphanage, the leadership decided to arrange a fund raiser in order to bring in a specific amount of money for the institution. We invited the Volkovysk community to come to the institution, to acquaint themselves with the local care of the orphan, with everything that the institution had been able to give to the orphan in the short time it had existed, and what yet remained to be achieved in this respect, in order to emphasize the importance of the fund raising goal. It is superfluous to add, that everyone who visited the institution and saw the good condition and appearance of the orphans, who had not long before been out wandering the streets, felt a very deep sense of gratitude to the committed workers, and donated a very fine sum to the institution.

After providing shelter and clothing, it was extremely important to assure the children have suitable sanitary and medical oversight. This demanded a permanent doctor for the institution and the required direction from a higher oversight authority, as for example, the “Joint.” But this was before we had engaged together with the “Joint.” We put a system in place, where we invited a different doctor each week, to examine the children in the institution. In the event of illness, the child was sent to the doctor under our aegis. It is appropriate to mention the very fine relationship of the doctors to the orphans. It was in this manner that, for example, when Dr. H. Arianson and Dr. Rosa Einhorn, – seeing one of the children in their waiting room – would let their other patients wait, and take care of the orphans first. A short time afterwards, Dr. F. Bebchuk came to Volkovysk, who assumed to the responsibility of examining the children on a weekly basis free of charge. When he was appointed to a permanent position in the community organizations, Dr. H. Arianson took over for him at the orphanage, who gave the Jewish orphans – without obligation – a great deal of his energy and paternal affection, cementing a friendship between himself and these orphans to the last day of his life. Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky took over for him when he passed away, and also assumed the presidency of the institution after I left for the Land of Israel. He discharged the obligation of his post with great distinction.

A Class in the Orphanage Right to left, first row, bottom: Aaron Smazanovich, Reizl Farber, Chana Kaganovich, Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky, Eliyahu Schlossberg (President), Lipman Itzkowitz, Eliyahu Shykevich (Vice-President), Levin (from the Kholodoisker Gasse) (In the picture is Miss Friedman, a teacher)

The Leadership and Children of the Orphanage in the Year 1929 Right to left, from the leadership, first row, seated: Unknown, Reizl Farber, Chana Kaganovich, Mrs. Markus, Miss Alpert (from New York), Eliyahu Schlossberg, Mrs. Alpert (from New York), Chaya Sarah Yudzhik, Bayl'keh Kaplan, Paulia Shkolnik, Mrs. Sedletsky Second row, standing:Unknown, Panter, Shepsel Gordon, Mrs. Zelitsky, Moshe Zelitsky, Aaron Smazanovich, Eliyahu Shykevich, Issachar Lidsky, Sholom Lev, Eliyahu Eliyovich, Mordechai Giller, Feinstein, Shchupak (The Tailor)

[Page 181]

his young body was freed from dirt, and parasites that had fed on his blood. He was no longer inhibited and depressed, and learned how to express his concerns without tears, in a more cheerful childlike way, and often with a light and uninhibited humor. These were the good results of the dedicated care by the orphanage. The child no longer was ashamed of his appearance, clothing, coat and shoes, when he went out into the street, or when he went to school. He was on a par with all the other children – his friends. He no longer stood in any old place in the school, perhaps near a door, or in a corner, hungry, at the time when the other students with happy faces would be eating their meals that they had brought from home. He too had his lunch bag, that he had been given to take along by the orphanage.

The children of the orphanage went to the Tarbut Schools as well as the Hebrew Gymnasium, where they prepared themselves to be collaborators in the building of the Yishuv in the Land of Israel. We must here remember, to good purposes, the leadership of the Volkovysk schools, who discharged the children of the orphanage from paying any tuition.

Training in a craft occupied a special place in the institution. Each child, up to the age of fourteen, received an elementary education. A number completed the Tarbut School, and extended their education in the Hertzeliya Gymnasium, and others occupied themselves with developing skills for a specific trade. The leadership set itself the goal, that between the ages of fourteen to eighteen, each child would be trained in a specific trade, so he would become sufficiently skilled to be able to become independent, and take care of his own existence after leaving the institution. In a specific measure, we would already begin acquainting a child as early as the age of twelve, with a craft in which he seemed to show an interest, so that by the age of fourteen, he generally had a good idea for which trade he wished to be trained. Towards this objective, we established a sewing factory for ladies garments and underwear in the institution, under the supervision of the teacher, Carmela Yushinska Slavin (today in Haifa). Children from the institution of age fourteen were under her tutelage, as well as children of the same age from homes that gave private care, and did not cost the orphanage anything. The twelve year old children, after their days' study in the Tarbut schools, also had an opportunity to become more closely acquainted with this craft at our factory, during specific afternoon hours. Do understand that this was only a limited part of training in craftsmanship in the full sense of the word. This didn't touch on other areas, such as ladies coats, carpentry, mens' tailoring, lock smithing, photography, art and other areas of study, which at that time we were as yet unable to make available to our children.

Later on, we implemented a system where we would send the child to a good craftsman, whom we paid a specific sum of money, for example fifty dollars, and who assumed responsibility to teach the child his craft during the course of six months, after which the child would receive some wages. You can imagine that the craftsman took this obligation seriously, because he didn't want to have to pay a wage for nothing. After one year, the young person would become eligible for a permanent wage. For this reason, the members of the leadership always would maintain regular oversight of the craftsmen with whom they had contracts, and visited them quite frequently. During the training period, the child would take his meals and sleep at the orphanage, and would also receive clothing from there.

It is not for naught that the children of the orphanage entered the ranks of the skilled laborers as knowledgeable and respected craftsmen, in whom the institution took great pride. The great initiatives of the president of the Trades Committee, Mrs. Chana Kaganovich, and the vice president, Aaron Smazanovich (the shoemaker), must be recalled here, under whose guidance the craft training of the children was placed on a higher level.

[Page 182]

The Religious Upbringing in the Orphanage

The children from our institution grew up in to good people with respect to God and their fellow man. There were among the orphans, children from strictly religious homes, and the leadership always took account of this. One of our children first received an education at the Talmud Torah, and afterwards, thanks to the efforts of our own Yeshiva Headmaster, Rabbi Yerakhmiel Daniel, was sent to Rabbi Yogel at the Slonim Yeshiva (born in Piesk and today in Jerusalem). The young man later received ordination as a ritual slaughterer. Also, a second orphan studied at the Yeshiva in Baranovich. Reb Zvi Leibovich (today in Rishon LeZion), took part in the religious committee of the institution.

There were instances when the leadership of the orphanage had to carry out a very difficult task: separating children from the same family who had the same parents. A child that was older than eight years could not be admitted to the institution. We would send our children to school at the age of five and six years of age, and therefore, the older children would have posed a problem in aligning themselves in the ranks of the orphanage activities. Nevertheless, we also took care of the older orphaned children. With help from the “Joint,” with whom we were already cooperating at that time for a period of ten years, we arranged internship facilities in the city. We arranged evening courses there where the children would receive the necessary education, as well as meals. This demanded an even larger expenditure than maintaining the child in the institution. Nevertheless, even after the “Joint” discontinued its financial support to us, we took over the entire oversight of this home-based care of the poor orphans, giving them the appropriate education until such time that they could stand on their own two feet. And the results in this respect were very good.

A [Passover] Seder in the Orphanage in 1930 In the center standing, left to right: Shabtai Gordon, Eliyahu Shykevich, Mordechai Giller, Sholom Lev – Eliyahu Schlossberg hosts the Seder

1. Beginning at the age of twelve, the institution began to familiarize the child with a craft that the child considered appropriate to himself. And despite the fact that the work that the child produced during the first couple of years was not meaningful, the child would be subsidized by the Trades Committee in terms of a wage amounting to approximately six to ten zlotys a week, and didn't take note of whether the child did the work for the institution or for someone privately – when the child got older – the leadership would take the small wage and put it towards the child's account in a book at the bank. In this manner, after the passage of a number of years, from the age of twelve to eighteen, a significant sum of money would accumulate for the child's benefit.
2. The institution supported the child until the age of eighteen with all his needs, and in doing so, gave him the means to save his wages.
3. From age eighteen to twenty, if the orphan had not yet married, and needed a home, the institution would

invite him for all holiday occasions as an extra guest, just as if he were going to his own parents.

4. Upon leaving the institution, the orphan received three complete sets of clothing, underwear and shoes, sheets and towels.
5. A farewell evening was organized for each child on the occasion of their departure. The entire leadership would take part in the festivities, and everyone would bring along gifts of necessities for the child. If it was necessary to furnish his room with furniture, the leadership would donate a specific sum of money for this purpose. The leadership normally paid one full year's rent in this instance. The relationship to the children who left the institution did not end even later. In this fashion, the leadership was always present at every celebration, such as weddings and birthdays. The orphan's joy was also the joy of the leadership. For children who had friends and relatives who wanted to take them to other countries where they lived, the orphanage would provide all the required documentation and funds for the trip expenses to their new homes.

The Children of the Orphanage and the Leadership in the Year 1930 Right to left, first row sitting: Aaron Smazanovich, Chana Kaganovich, Chaya Sarah Yudzhik, Eliyahu Schlossberg, Dr. Shlackman's wife, Mrs. Jesierski, Reizl Farber, Mordechai Moorstein Second row: Khien'keh's friend, Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky, Shepsel Gordon, wife of Mikhl Zohn-Mazya, Mrs. Wilk

The Polish economic crisis of 1934-36 increased the number of such indigent children, and along with that the number of such children that would wander aimlessly about the streets of the city.

In 1937, a short time before I went to the Land of Israel, I was approached by the respected and loyal head of the orphanage, Shabtai Gordon, and presented me with a plan to establish a home for indigent children. This was to be my final good deed for Volkovysk before taking my leave of the city. I accepted this proposal with great happiness, and we decided to take the first step even before we would present the plan to a meeting of the

[Page 184]

leadership of the orphanage. We wanted to position the leadership with an already existing fact. We therefore aligned ourselves with the local sawmill operators, Abraham Shapiro, and Meir Seletsky and the owners of lumber businesses, Margalit, Movshovsky and Smazanovich. We put forth our decision to come to the aid of the poor children of Volkovysk, and to erect a building for them. These people willingly volunteered to donate the lumber free of charge. Also, the Jewish carpenters volunteered to make the required benches, chairs and tables, and to construct the wooden building, adjacent to the orphanage. Only then, did we present the plan to the leadership of the institution, which gladly approved it. It was in this way, that a day care facility for poor children was opened at the side of the orphanage.

The beloved head of the institution, Shabtai Gordon, carried out the decision of the leadership forthwith. The poor children from the ages of four to six were immediately registered. Understand, that this did not necessarily please all of the parents, who also wanted to send their children who were older than six years. However, we were not then in a position to take them. However, we did work with the “TOZ” organization and the heads of the schools to have them assume oversight for these children who were over six years of age. We registered about sixty children. The first thing we had to do was look after their clothing, because they were almost all dressed in rags. We made purchases of the necessary quantity of merchandise, in the manufacturing establishments where the owners knew us well, and who gave us good prices, and the clothing initiative was completed in three days time. We made a special appeal to the Jewish populace, and the response was a glistening one. All our costs were covered by voluntary contributions.

We installed a special governess, who was dedicated full time, for the entire day with the small children. The parents would bring the children before eight o'clock in the morning, on their way to work, and came to pick them up at seven in the evening, on their way home. During the day, the children would receive three full meals a day and tea and cookies twice a day. They had appropriate toys and reading books, which they played with, sitting in painted little chairs beside little tables. Many of the toys, coloring and pens were donated by Jewish youth.

During the first days, the children received their meals from the orphanage. However, since the place stood as an accomplished fact, the leadership invited the steering committee to share a glass of tea in honor of the inauguration of the children's day care center. At the reception, the membership of the committee, led by Mr. Domeratsky, upon seeing the wonderful work, the existing institution for the poor children – and do understand, they immediately voted on a permanent monthly subsidy, which practically covered our entire expenses. The journalists also responded warmly to the establishment of the new institution, and much good was written in the local Jewish newspaper, Volkovysker Leben about the day care center. Many residents of Volkovysk began to visit the new institution, and understand, always with a donation prepared already and a package in hand.

The institution benefitted a great deal from the good and loyal leadership of Shabtai Gordon, and from the serious oversight given by the governess, and it developed quite rapidly. It was in this fashion that the poorer children received a fine upbringing and good preparation of elementary school, instead of being left to wander in the streets.

It is difficult to enumerate all the sources of the variety of support, incomes and gifts that were sent to the orphanage by organizations, societies, and individual friends of the solitary child. Here, I can only recollect the names of a few donors, whose contributions were substantial in this respect: Matityahu Rutchik, Bayl'keh &

[Page 185]

Noah Lev, Saul Barash, the Volkovysk Synagogue in New York, the Volkovysk Society in New York, the Volkovysk Ladies Society of Chicago, whose president was Sarah Perliss (Sarah the Fishmonger), and the dedicated secretary Liebeh Bartnovsky, and also a large number of individuals from America, who donated generously on behalf of the institution, but whose names I cannot recollect. We went through a variety of times in the institution, also periods when circumstances were literally catastrophic in financial terms, but at not time did it have an impact on the solitary child. In those bad times of financial crisis, we always had a fine and generous response from the Volkovysk Jewish community, that would contribute in a broad-hearted manner. It was because of this, that we, the leadership, could always proudly carry our emblem “For the Orphan and Widow,” which was never disgraced in our city.

In order to properly round out the chapter about the orphanage, it is necessary to add a few words concerning the way the orphan children were married off. In this eventuality, the members of the leadership would look after the child as if they were the real parents. The couple was equipped with every possible item they might need. The Volkovysk Jews always had an open heart when it came to the needs of the orphans, but they were especially forthcoming in the instance of a wedding for an orphan, and helped to set the solitary ones up on a permanent basis.

The marriage ceremony under the Huppah mostly took place in the institution itself, with the participation of all the members of the leadership as the surrogate parents at the Huppah, taking the place of the prematurely deceased real parents. For me, as president of the institution, as also was the case of the other members of the leadership, the opportunity to participate in this joyous occasion was a greater happiness even than for our own family, because it was then that we would see the ripened fruit of our multi-year unrelenting work on behalf of that child.

I remember how the very first wedding ceremony was carried out to this day. At the request of one of the members of the leadership, Zvi Leibowitz (today in Rishon LeZion) it was arranged in his home. Rabbi Yitzhak Kossowsky (today in Johannesburg) was at that time the one who performed the wedding ceremony. The wedding couple was decked out in the best finery. In connection with the clothing and related appurtenances, I personally, together with Reizl Farber, visited a number of the members of the leadership, who responded to our appeal with great generosity. When I came into the home of the wife of Dr. Press in connection with this matter, she opened up her clothes closet, and directed me to take anything that I wanted. I pointed at an item of clothing with a trembling finger, which was a brand new overcoat, which she just had made for herself a short while ago. She immediately took the garment out of the closet and gave it to me along with a number of other items. Velvel Kaplan of the Kholodoisker Gasse (today in Tel-Aviv) made a donation in a similar fashion, giving a number of good dresses from his daughters. Dr. Rosa Einhorn-Pshenitska and her husband, Engineer Pshenitsky who donated the required dishes for the new home of the bride and groom; Alexander Makov who gave sheets from his business; Leizer Zamoschansky, who provided two bedspreads; Yaakov Goldberg, who donated tablecloths. Also, many other of the Volkovysk Jews brought their donations with great generosity.

The weddings themselves often evolved into city-wide celebrations, because apart from the relatives, and the members of the leadership, and friends, other Jewish residents of Volkovysk would come to partake in the festive occasion. There, they saw a sumptuous affair, that didn't come into being as a result of walking from door to door with an alms box, thanks to the responsibility assumed by the surrogates of the deceased parents,

[Page 186]

whose final wish was brought to fruition in this manner. We, the members of the leadership were the sponsors, and in these months, we would re-live the same joy as if we were escorting our own children down the aisle to the Huppah.

The sons & daughters of Volkovysk in America never forgot the city of their birth. They always had a warm and brotherly relationship to their relatives and landsleit in Volkovysk, and were always prepared to offer help to the Volkovysk community institutions. It is no wonder therefore, that there was a time when Volkovysk took great pride in its American landsleit who accorded it great deference.

The Volkovysk Jews on the American continent, in keeping with the old traditional ways, were close to one another, always remembering their kin and friends in the old home town. A number of individuals were philanthropically outstanding in providing donations for the necessities of their brothers in the old home town. Among them, it is worthwhile to record names such as that of Saul Barash – who inherited so many good traits from his parents, Jekuthiel & Mikhlah Bereshkovsky – who never forgot to send along their generous donation twice a year. Their donations went a long way towards supporting our orphanage and day care center over a period of many years. For this purpose, Saul Barash would also raise funds from other Volkovysk landsleit, and American Jews in general, whom he would interest in the Volkovysk Jewish undertakings. He would receive help in connection with his highly visible fund raising efforts from the late Meir Segal & Matityahu Rutchik, who thanks to their assistance, many people in Volkovysk were saved from going under. It would be appropriate in this place to record [the names of] a number of other Volkovysk landsleit, who always on a very regular basis, donated for the benefit of their brethren in Volkovysk, but I cannot recall their names.

Apart from individuals, we must here recall the united Volkovysk Societies, such as the former Volkovysk Ladies Society of New York, the Volkovysk Ladies Society of Chicago, the Volkovysk Synagogue in New York,

and other Volkovysk societies in [North] America, such as the Canadian Volkovysk Society – who thanks to their strong support, many Volkovysk institutions and individuals owe them their very existence. The two ladies societies in New York and Chicago distinguished themselves in a special way by their support for the orphanage in Volkovysk, apart from their regular contributions which they gathered from among the Volkovysk landsleit and other American Jewish circles, through their generous response to our appeals for help. The two founders were very active in the Chicago Ladies Society – Sarah Perliss (the fishmonger) and Liebeh Bartnovsky, who at the time of their emigration from Volkovysk to Chicago, assumed the burden of helping as much as possible the poor orphans, the aged, along with all the other community institutions, that were struggling to survive. They fulfilled their promise by founding the Volkovysk Ladies Society of Chicago and drew upon the substantial Chicago Jewish circles for assistance in all support initiatives, not only people from Volkovysk. Active members with them were: Sarah Rivka Bartnovsky, Sh. Bart, Mrs. Louis, Mrs. Berlinger, and others.

I wish to recall here the Canadian Volkovysk Society for their help that they have already demonstrated for the benefit of a number of Volkovysk refugees, and refugees from other towns, since the end of the Second World War. The following people from Volkovysk showed an interest and were especially active in this connection: M. Mirman-Shykevich, Abraham Shykevich, Khmelnitsky, Rip, Davidovsky, Koss, Yunovich, and Mrs. Ben-Zvi. All of these people, who today live in Canada, were at one time active in Jewish community life in Volkovysk. They helped to build the city, took part it is happiness and its suffering. Thanks to their support, we have already, here in Israel, provided the first necessities, such as clothing and financial help, to the small

[Page 187]

number of refugees from Volkovysk, who after indescribable suffering during the final years of the last war, managed to finally reach the shores of our land. We are now in a position to accept in a fine brotherly fashion, additional people out of the very few of our brothers and sisters from Volkovysk who managed to stay alive.

The Volkovysk Synagogue in New York distinguished itself with its substantial fund-raising activity on behalf of Volkovysk from the time of the First World War. At that time, it was [already] the center for help for the Jews of Volkovysk, who had suffered greatly because of the war. Delegates from the synagogue and from the Volkovysk relief committee would regularly come to Volkovysk with financial support for relatives, friends, and Jews in general, who had a need for help. And there was no lack of them in the city at that time. Tens of families that were completely ruined because of the war, were able to get themselves back on their feet thanks to the synagogue and the relief committee. Their substantial support came not only in the financial resources that they would personally bring to the Jews of Volkovysk, but also in the bringing together of relatives and friends from faraway places, and also for sending help remotely to the needy.

I am taking this opportunity to also recall the names of a number of Volkovysk women: Malka Krinsky (a relative of Ephraim Beckenstein the Veterinarian from the Wide Boulevard), Dvora Weiner (Shalkeh Yunovich the artist's relative), Nye'sheh Shneur, Chava Asnes and Beryl Alpert (the secretary), who helped put together the first fourteen hundred dollars for the orphanage, by arranging a theater benefit performance, whose entire proceeds went to the institution.

Also, after the Second World War, the landsleit in America showed themselves able to quickly put in place the necessary support mechanisms for the unfortunate remnants, for which a meaningful number owe them thanks for their quick absorption into the Land of Israel.

Translator's footnotes:

1. Elsewhere also named Chana Sarah Yudzhik. One or the other is a misprint. Return
2. Literally the reply of the Israelites to Moses when challenged to accept the Law. Return
3. Psalms 30. Return

  Vawkavysk, Belarus     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 13 Feb 2023 by MGH