[Page 8]

We debated for a long time:

How should we express the searing pain while preserving for eternity our holy dear ones and the community of our town, which had existed for centuries, and was completely destroyed by the foul Nazis, and their helpers, the cursed Poles?

We planted one thousand trees to honor them in the Forest of the Martyrs; we put up a memorial plaque in the Chamber of the Holocaust; but we knew that it was not enough.^[2] These are only metaphors and symbols, and cannot describe the horrors endured by the Jews of our town. Such a description can be found in the memorial book, which recounts the history of our town as well as the culture typical of Jewish communities in Poland, and the particular features of the Wysokie–Mazowieckie community.

When we began to put our plan into motion, we encountered many difficulties, in collecting materials and gathering the financial means necessary for publication. The many considerations and efforts involved in these preparations – which took almost ten years – finally culminated in this result. True, the book is modest and short. We could not present detailed descriptions of many events as well as figures who left an impression on the town thanks to their talents and good deeds.

In addition to the limited financial means at our disposal, we had imposed another constraint on ourselves: we decided to describe only public and social events, and as few individuals as possible. We did this in order to prevent arguments and complaints on the part of our fellow townspeople, who might have been offended by the non–inclusion of their loved ones in the book (as has been the case in memorial books by survivors of other communities).

Nonetheless, the effort has been worthwhile, even though only several episodes have been included. First and foremost, the description of Holocaust events as set down by the Bialystok center for documentation, and as recounted by the following survivors:

[Page 10]

Peysekh Segal (may his memory be for a blessing), Leyma Plishka, Yaffa Rozenberg, Leya Zlotolow, Shlomo Vaynberg, and Avrom Hirshfeld. The List of Martyrs in this book is extremely important for the memorialization process.

The chapters on the life of our community before World War II, along with the images and the descriptions of a few typical characters and groups of community activists, combine to complement the last section–that of the tragic end and obliteration of our community.

Let this book be a modest monument and true witness to our sorrow and grief over the Jewish community of Wysokie–Mazowieckie, which was wiped from the face of the world so gruesomely.

Translator's Footnotes:

1. This section is translated from Hebrew. Return
2. The Forest of Martyrs, on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, was planted as a memorial to those who died in the Holocaust. It contains six million trees, symbolizing the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis in World War II. The Chamber of the Holocaust, a small museum on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, was established in 1948, and was Israel's first Holocaust museum. Return

[Page 9]

We debated for a long time:

How should we express our burning pain, and preserve for eternity the memory of our dear martyrs, and of the community of Wysokie, which existed for hundreds of years and was wiped out so gruesomely by the foul Nazis and the Poles, their cursed helpers?

We planted a grove in their memory, in the “Forest of the Martyrs”; but felt that it was not enough. These are only signs and symbols, which fall short of presenting a picture of the horrors and ghosts of the terrible fate that befell the Jews of our town. A Yizkor Book, however, can depict a partial picture of the events; such a book can recount the history of our community, the features that were typical of most Jewish communities in Poland, as well as the qualities specific to the Jewish community of Wysokie–Mazowieckie.

When we began realizing our plan for the Yizkor Book, we encountered serious difficulties – both in gathering the materials and in collecting the financial means for publishing the project.

Our doubts and efforts concerning publication of the book lasted for almost ten years, until we finally succeeded in creating the book that we had aimed at. True, the book is modest, and it lacks many details of important events and interesting figures who lived and were active in Wysokie, and left their mark of their talent and good deeds on the town.

Besides being limited by our small budget –which rendered the publication of the book difficult –we consciously limited ourselves by deciding to describe only important social and community events, and mention very few individuals, so as to avoid arguments and complaints by townspeople whose families and loved ones were not mentioned.

On the other hand, even the publication of a few chapters on Jewish life in Wysokie was worth the effort. Above all, describing the events of the great destruction, as provided through the Bialystok center for documentation, and setting down the memories of people who lived through

[Page 10]

the horrible period and survived it: Peysekh Segal (may his memory be for a blessing), Leyma Plishka, Yaffa Rozenberg, Leya Zlotolov, Shloyme Vaynberg, and Avrom Hirshfeld. Of special importance for their memorialization is the list of martyrs from our town in this book.

The chapters on Jewish life in Wysokie before World War II, accompanied by pictures of typical characters, and community activists, present an authentic image of Jewish Wysokie, and complete the last section of the book: the scroll of the tragic, terrible, murder of our community.

Let this book be a modest monument and a true witness to the pain and sorrow that fill us whenever we recall the Jewish community of Wysokie–Mazowieckie, which was so horribly wiped off the face of the earth.

Book committee:

Dov Kaspi (Srebrovitsh), Moyshe Zak, Yisro'el Inbari (Burshteyn), Shloyme Reshef (Hirshfeld), Mikha'el Avigad (Ubanevitsh).

Translator's Footnote:

1. This section is translated from Yiddish. Return

[Page 11 - Yiddish] [Page 16 - Yiddish]

Wysokie–Mazowieckie, near the Brok River, seven kilometers from the Szepietowo–Bialystok–Warsaw railway station, is one of the oldest settlements in Mazovia Province, Poland. It is mentioned as a settlement as early as the first half of the 13^th century (in 1239). On the recommendation of Prince Aleksander, it was founded in 1494 by Hinczow as an urban settlement.^[1] In 1503, it received privileges and rights as a city from King Aleksander, according to the Magdeburg rights of Germany. These rights were reconfirmed by kings Zygmunt III and Stanisław August. In the early 16^th century, the town became the property of the Princes Radziwill, and belonged to the Princes of Nieswierz in 1582–1670. It was destroyed in the wars with the Swedes, in the mid–17^th century. Following the third Polish partition (1795), it was annexed to Prussia. In 1807, it became part of the new Duchy of Warsaw and in 1815, following Napoleon's defeat, part of the Russian–controlled Kingdom of Poland. In 1866, it became a provincial capital.

There is no information on the beginnings of the Jewish community in the town. It is first mentioned in the records of the Council of the Four Lands, three centuries ago, in connection with taxes that were imposed on them.^[2] A document of 1725 refers to the Jewish community of Wysokie–Mazowieckie directly, and recounts a quarrel between the Jewish communities of Węgrów and Ciechanowiec concerning which of them had authority over the Wysokie–Mazowieckie community. According to the document below, Wysokie–Mazowieckie was under the authority of Węgrów at the time; the leaders of the Ciechanowiec community disputed that authority. The dispute came before the Council of the Four Lands. The judges were Rabbi Yehoshua Levi and Rabbi Berish Segal, of Krakow, and representatives of the Ciechanowiec and Węgrów communities were present. As neither of the parties could prove their claim, the decision was that the Jewish community of Wysokie–Mazowieckie should be under the authority of neither.

“In the matter of a legal dispute between the leaders of the Ciechanowiec and the Węgrów communities, concerning Wysokie, and as the leaders of the Ciechanowiec community claim that Wysokie is under their authority, they appeal to the leaders of the Council of the Four Lands, may God, their redeemeer, preserve them.

[Page 12]

Wysokie–Mazowieckie in the 17th–18th centuries, up to the dissolution of the Council of Four Lands (1764)

[Page 13]

“We, the undersigned, sit in judgment in order to determine who is in the right, and have brought both parties here to present their arguments in person. They have not exhibited their rights to us, saying that they do not possess the documents.

“Therefore, based on our judgment that all the claims of these parties are entirely oral, and as the parties have left, we have decided to postpone the trial until after the fair at Międzyrzec in the winter of 1725–1726. In the meantime, taxes collected for the royal treasury, on September 29, 1727, shall be paid in the following way: each community shall pay half of the poll tax imposed on it. When the trial resumes, we shall notify the parties to appear with their rights. Neither of them will have authority over the other on any legal matter. Only the two undersigned people shall have authority over them. The poll tax for this year totals 120 Polish crowns. Thus, 60 crowns must be paid by the leaders of the community of Węgrów, and 60 crowns each by the leaders of Węgrów and Ciechanowiec.

“We set this forth, and both sides agree to be bound by it and to make no changes, God forbid.

On the fourth day of Sukkot [September 24], 1725

Signed by Yehoshua HaLevi of Krakow (currently located here) of Ciechanowiec, member of the Council of the Four Lands.

and by Berish Segal of Węgrów .”

The trial was held in Sterpin (known as Asterdin by the Jews) near Ciechanowiec.^[4]

(See Historishe Shriftn, vol. 2, published by YIVO, the article by Dr. Mahler; and Pinkas Va'ad Arba Ha'aratsot, by Professor Yisra'el Heilprin.)

Apparently, the issue of authority over Wysokie–Mazowieckie by one of the large provincial communities was not resolved by the verdict of the Council of the Four Lands. Forty years later, the Polish census of 1764 lists Wysokie–Mazowieckie as a semi–autonomous community. The census was overseen by a local committee, consisting of a “deputy leader” (deputizing for the community leader), the local rabbi and the manager, besides an “inspector” and a Polish noble assigned by the authorities. The fact that the town had a leader, a monthly leader as well as a deputy, a rabbi, and a manager, is evidence that the Jewish community was well–organized by then. However, it was small, and turned to the provincial town of Ciechanowiec for approval. Oddly, the Wysokie–Mazowieckie community was under the authority of Ciechanowiec, which was relatively distant, rather than under

[Page 14]

that of Tykocin, the oldest Jewish community in Mazovia province.

(The document about the 1765 census appears in the chapter “The History of Wysokie–Mazowieckie” (in Yiddish) in Hebreish–Yidishe dokumentn fun di folkstseylungen in poyln, by Dr. Raphael Mahler.)

A century later, in the second half of the 19^th century, there were 600 Jewish families in Wysokie–Mazowieckie. A report in HaTsfira of July 1, 1879, states that the town's house of study was old and very dilapidated, and barely accommodated all the attendants.^[5] (There was also a wooden synagogue, which burned down in one of the conflagrations that were common in the towns of Poland and Lithuania – most structures in these towns were wooden–and was never rebuilt.) It was apparently in such poor shape that the local police had issued an order prohibiting its use for prayer. The heads of the community decided to raise money from the residents and also sold seats, in order to construct a new house of study that would be fitting for a community of 600 people. In the meantime, however, the community leaders had quarreled, and the house of study was not built. The Ha–Tsfira report from Wysokie–Mazowieckie is presented below:

“The town includes six hundred Jewish families, but there was only one house of study, which was old, and dilapidated and unsound due to its age. It was also too small for the number of attendants. Finally, last summer [1878], the police issued an order prohibiting prayer in the structure, as it was too dangerous. When the townspeople saw that the doors had been barred, they collected contributions, and also sold seats, to facilitate a proper new structure; they made all the preparations. However, in the meantime, a quarrel broke out between the leaders of the community; therefore, their initiative flagged, and they withdrew from the building project. This is a sin against God and the people of Israel, because the provincial governor, Mr. Antonow, was pleased to contribute 150 rubles towards the construction of God's house; the leaders are to blame for its not being built, and that is a disgrace.”

HaTsfira, July 1, 1879.

As in all the towns of Poland and Lithuania, the Jews of Wysokie made their living as storekeepers and artisans. Few were wealthy or well–off, with the exception of the Frumkin family, which owned an estate near the town. The Frumkins were one of the richest and most prestigious families

[Page 15]

in Lithuania and Belorussia. One branch of the family had settled in Grodno, and owned an estate in Wysokie. The family provided a livelihood for many Jews, as well as being itself very generous. Especially noteworthy in this respect was Mrs. Rivka Frumkin (wife of Eliyahu Frumkin), who was very generous and charitable. Mrs. Rivka Frumkin died on March 11, 1895. A eulogy of March 11, 1895, in HaMelits,^[6] includes the following description: “… and in her home town of Wysokie–Mazowieckie, the poor are inconsolable, as she was like a mother to orphans, like a sister aiding widows and ill people who had survived the cholera epidemic that affected the town last year. She also prevailed upon her husband to open a food kitchen, where about 150 people received free food daily for about five months, until the epidemic ceased. This generous woman also took care of the last survivors and provided them with charity. “She opened her arms to the poor and extended her hands to the needy, near and far.”^[7]

The Frumkin family left Wysokie–Mazowieckie many years before World War Two.^[8]

[Page 16]

The old house of study, built at the end of the 18th century)

1. I was unable to identify Hinczow. Return
2. The Council was the central body of Jewish authority in Poland from the second half of the 16^th century to 1764. Return
3. This text is in the style of rabbinical legal documents of the time; I have presented its substance, and attempted to preserve some of the original flavor. Return
4. I was not able to identify the location of Sterpin and Asterdin. Return
5. Ha–Tsfira was a pioneering Hebrew newspaper published in Poland in 1862 and in 1874–1931. Return
6. HaMelits was the first Hebrew newspaper in the Russian empire. It was founded as a weekly in 1860, appeared as a daily starting in 1886, and continued intermittent publication until 1903. Return
7. This sentence is a paraphrase of Proverbs 31:20. Return
8. The remainder of p. 16 as well as pp. 17, 18, and the first part of p. 19, have not been translated, as they duplicate the material on pp. 9–15, except for the figures. All the figure captions are included in this translation. Return

[Page 19 - Yiddish] [Page 31 - Hebrew]

This article recounts the town where I was born and grew up, and which I left in 1918, when I joined He–Chalutz in Lithuania, en route to the Land of Israel.^[1]

The first event that impressed itself on me as a small child, and left a lasting effect, was the 1905 revolution. Social and political events caused upheavals in the enormous Russian empire. Galvanized by the revolution, the absolute monarchical regime made lavish promises to grant the peoples of Russia freedom and democracy, and form a parliament (Duma) elected by the people. At the same time, the authorities suppressed the revolution brutally, and caused much bloodshed. In order to divert the masses, the tyrannical regime directly encouraged pogroms against Jews, carried out by unruly Cossack troops, and did so indirectly – by inciting the Russian Orthodox masses to abuse the Jews and rob their property. “Beat the Jews and save Russia” was the slogan under which the Black Hundreds led the inflamed masses to take revenge for “Great Russia” on its most dangerous “enemy” – the Jews.^[2]

The 1905 revolution and its after–effects did not skip over our small town, which was set in its ways. Its monotonous life was quiet. However, in order to provide background for the events that took place in my home town, I would like to describe its Jewish population and the groups that comprised it.

The Jewish population of Wysokie–Mazowieckie consisted of three more–or–less distinct groups: a) merchants; b) craftsmen; c) laborers, mainly apprentices,

[Page 20]

who learned their trade from the craftsmen they apprenticed with, and hoped to become independent craftsmen themselves once they became proficient.

The laborers (or apprentices) copied the actions of workers in the large cities, and especially in nearby Bialystok, where there was a large number of laborers, mostly textile workers. Shifts of older workers came by daily to stop the apprentices' work if they exceeded eight hours. There were also monitoring shifts during strikes. The rebels also carried out “expropriations,” by imposing tax quotas on the rich merchants (there were no real bourgeois in Wysokie, except for Frumkin, the landowner) for the benefit of the striking workers. Those who did not pay the tax voluntarily was punished by tactics of intimidation and terror.

Especially vivid in my memory are the tactics used against my grandfather, Simkha Kaplan (may his memory be for a blessing). He had a large store, where his daughters and sons–in–law worked. When he was unwilling to pay the tax, they used the fact that my uncle and aunt, Simkha Zak, and Rashka (may their memory be for a blessing) were about to get married. They ruined all the clothes of the family–the silk dresses of the women, and the satin clothing of the men, by pouring sulfuric acid over them while the bride and groom were being led to the khuppa ceremony in the square near the synagogue. That did not satisfy them – one night, a large stone was thrown through the window of my grandfather's house. Miraculously, no one was hurt; but my grandfather was so upset that he became ill, and did not recover until his death.

The most remarkable event was certainly the famous robbery of the Russian State Bank, the “Kaznachiestvo,” by members of the Polish Socialist Party (P.P.S.), headed by Joseph Pilsudski–later the liberator of Poland from Russian authority, and who led Poland until his death in 1936.

Wysokie was the provincial capital, and housed the institutions of the provincial authority, including the State Russian Bank, which served the entire province. Among its other functions, this bank contained the salary money for thousands of government clerks throughout the province. At the end of each month, a large sum of money was brought to the bank for salary payments the next day. The bank was guarded by a small number of policemen, armed with pistols, with one stood at the bank's entrance. The guard was maintained around the clock, with changing shifts. The guard unit was reinforced by a company of about 100 soldiers (rota) that was housed outside town, with a bell connecting the barracks with the bank, in case of robbery. The company would be replaced every month by a different company, sent from the military base at Zembrów.

The change of guard unit took place as follows: the company that had completed its task left the place on the last day of the month, and the replacement company arrived the next morning. Members of the Polish Socialist Party utilized that interim period. One such night, forty men came, armed

[Page 21]

with rifles and explosives, cut the telephone lines, took the guards' weapons and handcuffed them. The operator of the bank's safe was then forced to hand over the keys; they emptied out all the contents of the safe: bills as well as gold and silver coins. They even took the copper kopeks.^[3] The booty was loaded on to a few carts that had been forcibly expropriated from their owners (the owners were later compensated lavishly), and the robbers fled in different directions, to towns and villages nearby. Policemen from Wysokie and Zembrów pursued them; about ten of them were shot and killed during the chase. None of the robbers was injured.

A few days later, the P.P.S. sent the Russian authorities a formal receipt for the money taken (after all, they did not consider it a robbery, but a revolutionary act supporting the liberation of the Polish people). As is well known, it was Josef Pilsudski who initiated, planned, and carried out the operation.

Obviously, the residents of Wysokie did not sleep at all that night. The revolutionary robbers warned them not to leave their houses during the night. The residents actually did stay awake all night and did not set foot outside, for fear of their lives. No one was injured, except for one young man, Noakh Visotshek, who reported that he had taken a pistol and rushed to save a family of friends, who lived above the bank. He was shot in the leg, and returned home wounded.

The robbers forced the cart–driver, Yosef Lifshits (may his memory be for a blessing), who immigrated to the Land of Israel after World War One, and died there, to drive the sacks of coins to a nearby village. The sacks were then loaded onto another cart, and the robbers fled.

The daring robbery, which was organized and executed out successfully, left a strong impression on all of Poland, as well as on other parts of the Russian empire. The residents of our town, who witnessed the audacious, violent robbery, were greatly affected by the event.

I have titled this chapter “Our Town in 1905–1918.” However, the chapter should actually be divided in two sections, 1905–1914, and 1914–1918.

What was the town like in the decade of 1905–1914? I will try to describe it, based on my memory.

Like most towns in Poland and Lithuania, Wysokie–Mazowieckie was stagnating. Life was peaceful, and focused on two topics: making a living, and leading a rigorously observant life. Relations with the outside world were limited to merchant travel to the large cities of Bialystok and Warsaw, to buy merchandise, and to Łomża, the provincial capital, for dealings with the authorities. The Hasids in our town would travel to their rabbis' “courts,” and the young men who wanted to become scholars went to study in yeshivas; first to the Łomża yeshiva, and then to the great yeshivas of Lithuania (Slobodka, Mir, and Radin) as well as to Lida, where they could also study secular subjects.^[4]

[Page 22]

The House of Study

The peasants in the vicinity were the main source of livelihood for the Jews of the town. Many Jews had shops around the “market” – the town's main square – and along several nearby streets . However, Jewish commerce was not limited to shopkeeping. There were merchants who dealt in timber, grain, and animals (horses, cows, geese, and the like); these traded with the landowners. They sent the goods they acquired to the large cities of Bialystok and Warsaw, and some even exported goods to eastern Prussia. The other field of enterprise was craftsmanship. The Jews in our town were tailors, hatters, cobblers, metal–workers, smiths, carpenters, ironworkers, glaziers, construction workers, and watchmakers. Some of them had shops in which they sold their wares.

The main business days were Monday and Friday, when farmers would throng to the town to sell their produce as well as purchase goods they needed, such as oil, kerosene, fabrics, tools, and housewares. They also bought objects such as hats, boots, shoes, and metal wares. Business was most lively during the “fair” days (occurring several times a year), when large numbers of farmers and merchants from the nearby and more distant vicinity congregated in the large “market” square. The square became filled with dozens of stalls, which sometimes collapsed under the weight of the goods they brought.

As a provincial capital, Wysokie enjoyed many customers; many people from the surrounding towns and villages needed the services of the government offices located there.

[Page 23]

These included the provincial offices, the court, the census bureau, and the state bank. The army draft office was also in Wysokie, where draftees from the entire province were instructed to appear. Call–up day was once a year. On that day, the town buzzed with hundreds of draftees – termed rekruts– and the parents and other family members who accompanied them. The young men (non–Jews) who were found to be fit for service spent the time between approval by the draft board and entrance into basic training camp by rioting throughout the town (knowing that they would not be punished); their rowdiness was primarily directed at the Jews, but they terrorized the entire town.

The draft office gave rise to another “source of livelihood”, which was no great credit to our town. These were the fixers (makhers), who had connections with members of the draft board, and bribed them to let off draftees. The fixers, who were very competitive, informed on each other to the authorities. Obviously, this was not considered an honorable profession, and our town became “renowned” as “Wysokie makhers.” However, many towns were given nicknames. For example, the neighboring town of Zambrów was called “Zambrow gangs,” after the gangs that traded in stolen horses there; Tykocin was termed “Tykocin snobs,” as it was the oldest town in the region. As is well known, Tykocin is ancient; the the records of the Council of the Four Lands state “Bialystok, near Tykocin.” Of course, that was before Bialystok became a large city. Yet the residents of Tykocin remained proud of their lineage, although the town remained small.

Luckily, our town did not suffer from conflagrations, although most of its buildings were constructed of wood. This was not the case with nearby towns such as Zembrow and Czyżew, in which major fires occasionally broke out and burned down dozens, even hundreds, of buildings. As is well known, the fires served as time markers in many towns: “so and so many years after the first fire,” …” the second fire,” etc. These towns changed their appearance after the fires, as many stone buildings were then constructed (especially in Zembrow). Wysokie, though, was an exception, as there were hardly any fires there. According to local legend, the town had been saved from fire thanks to the blessing of the old rabbi, the tsaddik, that it not be ruined by fire. When I was a child, I remember people coming on pilgrimage to his tomb in the old cemetery, near the synagogue. The small wooden houses were passed down from one generation to the next. Over time, brick buildings began to be constructed.. Especially imposing was the large structure of the provincial offices in the center of the “market,” with a row of shops nearby. Imposing, privately owned, stone buildings could also be seen on other streets.

The Jewish landowner Frumkin had special status in our town, with his grand castle, brick buildings, and offices, at the end of “Courtyard Street.” Mr. Frumkin himself did not

[Page 24]

mix with the residents of Wysokie. The heads and leaders of the Jewish community, along with Polish landowners and high officials, were invited only to important family occasions.

At the end of the first decade and the beginning of the second decade of the 20^th century, extremist Polish nationalists announced a boycott of Jewish commerce in Poland; for some reason, our town was one of the main fronts of this battle of the nationalists with the Jewish merchants.

As is noted elsewhere in this book (the correspondence of Netanel Zilbershteyn in Ha–Tsfira), the local priest who led the incitement organized his accomplices to carry out various operations against the Jewish merchants. Let me add that the anti–Semitic campaign was accompanied by some violence, and even the murder of Jews. Among them was my uncle, Shoul Kaplan (may his memory be for a blessing), who was shot in the neck while traveling from the nearby Shepetewo train station. His attacker was not arrested or brought to court.

During the period covered here, many young children studied in the only educational establishment available in Jewish neighborhood, the kheyder.^[5] Our town had many kheyders devoted exclusively to religious studies(for boys only; girls did not attend them, but studied with tutors how to read the prayer book and a Yiddish translation of the Torah). The youngest boys learned to read Hebrew, and older boys read the Torah with Rashi's commentaries; the oldest boys older studied the Talmud.^[6] In theory, the kheyder students were supposed to gain secular knowledge in the state school (the szkole), but in actual fact the Jewish students turned up there once or twice a year, when the state's Ministry of Education inspector visited.

At one point, the governor of the province was about to force the girls to attend the state school, and the community leaders opposed this edict. Their slogan was “nie źylajem szkołes” (“we don't want schools”). The decree was canceled. At the time, secular studies could only be done with the teacher Bogatyn, who had a short Russian beard. He arrived in our town from one of the cities in Russia. Along with his sons, who had studied there in gymnaziya, he disseminated secular education in our town.^[7] Bogatyn and his sons opened a private school for Russian, mathematics, and othr subjects. His wife started a stationery store and sold books as well.

As noted, there were many kheyders in Wysokie, each at a different level. The first kheyder, or the lowest level, was for 3–year–old boys. Shilem was the melamed.^[8] He was a nearsighted old man, with a white beard. Unlike other melameds, the students did not come to his house; rather, he taught them in their own homes. He used a pointed branch to indicate the letters, and the student would repeat after him until he learned to recognize

[Page 25]

the entire alphabet. He taught the children to read the prayerbook without teaching them the meaning of the words.

The second–level kheyder, which boys started at age 4, was run by Avigdor, the amputee. He used to be a cart–driver before he lost his legs in an accident; with no means of livelihood, he decided to become a melamed. He would teach the first sections of Genesis. As he was legless, he would sit on the floor, with the students around him.

The third–level kheyder, for boys aged 5–6, was taught by Reb Khayim–Leyb the melamed^[9]. He kept srict discipline in his kheyder. The students had to come at a specific time, and pay attention, understand the material, and learn it by heart. Reb Khayim–Leyb taught all the sections of the Torah, in Hebrew and in Yiddish translation. He wielded a strap, and enjoyed beating the bare buttocks of any boy who didn't know the lesson by heart, or misbehaved.

The next level was for boys aged 7–8, taught by Reb Mates (Matityahu) Rozin, who later emigrated to Israel, was the sexton of a synagogue in Tel Aviv, and died at a ripe old age. Boys there studied Talmud (“a page of the Gemara”).^[10] Reb Mates had a pleasant voice, and served as a volunteer cantor, especially in the Ger synagogue during the High Holy Days.^[11] He was a polite, agreeable person, whom students liked, and therefore learned his material willingly. He taught other biblical material (mainly the Former Prophets) on Saturday afternoons.^[12]

The fifth–level kheyder, for 9–10–year–olds, was run by Reb Mendl Berman. Reb Mendl was imposing in appearance, and a scholar who had to apply his knowledge to earn his livelihood.^[13] He taught mainly Talmud, with all its questions and intense critical analyses and argumentation, sharpening the students' wits and logic.

The topmost level in town was for 11–12–year–olds, who were taught by Reb Velvl Kapusta, a misnaged (all the other teachers were Hasidim).^[14] He was a scholar, with broad knowledge and a sharp analytical mind. His kheyder was mostly attended by students who intended to continue their studies in yeshivas. Unlike the other teachers, who ran their schools in their own homes, Reb Velvl taught in the small synagogue near the House of Study. His aim was to prepare the students for yeshiva study. Besides to these schools, the town also maintained a talmud–toyre for students whose families could not afford tuition.^[15]

The yeshivas – beginning with the Łomża yeshiva and continuing with the great yeshivas of Lithuania – were the institutions of higher Jewish education, which prepared rabbis and teachers of Jewish religious law. Most of the students from our town did not use their education for making a living, but studied the Torah for its own sake. The yeshiva of Lida offered secular studies as well. The other yeshivas were exclusively dedicated to the study of the Talmud and its commentaries. Secular studies, including literature, were strictly forbidden. The prohibition was especially observed in the yeshivas that followed the mussar tradition.^[16]

[Page 26]

Yet in spite of all the bans, the young students of the yeshivas were attracted to Hebrew literature and adopted the idea of the revival of Hebrew and the resettlement of the Land of Israel. Yeshiva students from Wysokie brought the message of modern Hebrew literature back to town, and disseminated it among our young people.^[17]

This was also the time when the large daily Yiddish newspapers Der Moment and Haynt began to appear in Warsaw.^[18] Thanks to them, many young people became familiar with Yiddish literature, and acquainted themselves with secular education as well.

The new synagogue

During the decade 1905–1915, there were no real political parties in our town. However, the ideological movements adopted by the Yiddish and Hebrew newspapers had their sympathizers. The only Zionist in the town was Reb Ya'akov Ratski (may his memory be for a blessing), who made sure that there was a contribution bowl for the Jewish National Fund among all the other bowls in the synagogue, every year on the eve of Yom Kippur.^[19] This was no small task, as the synagogue managers opposed the Zionist bowl. But Reb Ya'akov Ratski fought for the rights of Zionist settlement in Palestine, even in the synagogue. He also disseminated the Zionist shekel, and earned the nickname “the shekel merchant.”^[20]

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Hasidim and Misnagdim

Almost every Jew in Wysokie was either a Hasid or a Misnaged. The Misnagdim were the majority, and prayed in the synagogue and the House of Study. The hasidim prayed in the shtibls (small synagogues), each of which drew the followers of a particular Hasidic leader. The largest shtibl was that of the Ger Hasidim, which was located in a building on the Hinter Gas, near the river. The other shtibls used rented apartments. The most important of these were the Hasidim of Aleksander and of Vurke.^[21]

Hasidim and Misnagdim had different world views and habits, but usually refrained from inciting disputes. However, wherever the community had to select a rabbi, ritual slaughterer, or other religious functionary, the differences between the factions rose to the surface, leading to much controversy in the town. The town rabbi, Rabbi Aharon Ya'akov Perlman (may his memory be for a blessing) was a patriarchal figure, a great scholar, and a pleasant person. He was a Misnaged and prayed in the House of Study. Thanks to his personality, he often decided in favor of the Misnagdim.

In addition to these centers of Hasidim and Misnagdim, our town also included a prayer group of young men and yeshiva students, called Tif'eret Bakhurim, which gathered for prayer only on Saturdays and holidays. They were not particularly observant, but “one must pray,” as the writer Y. L. Peretz noted; as they did not feel comfortable in any of the other synagogues, they established their own congregation.^[22] It should be noted, in their favor, that many of them volunteered to teach the talmud toyre students how to write in Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as arithmetic and other subjects.

The war years did not cause much disruption in our town. However, it was a time of major changes, which affected the town's future development. The changes began when the town was liberated from the tyrannical czarist regime, which hampered the Jews in all fields of life.

The retreat of the Russian army from east Prussia, and the town's occupation by the German army, were the start of a difficult period. As is well–known, the retreating Russian army was instructed to leave “scorched earth” behind it. The Cossacks, who were the last to leave, started to burn the buildings so as to destroy the town. The community leadership sent a delegation, headed by Rabbi Aharon Ya'akov Perlman, to the Cossacks' commander, begging for mercy and to leave the town intact; they even tried to bribe him handsomely. However, he did not respond to their plea, rejected the bribe, and fires broke out at the edges of town, at the Makom market square (in which Poles lived), and in the Hoyfishe street, where the post office was located.

I remember Cossacks bursting into my parents' shop and demanding kerosene in order to set the buildings on fire. My father (may his memory be for a blessing) claimed that there was no kerosene in the store, but the Cossacks did not believe him. They searched and found several barrels of kerosene in the warehouse. One of the Cossacks drew his sword and attacked Father; but my brother Yosef (may his memory be for a blessing) sprang towards the attacker, embraced him, and said, “Leave the old man alone. Come with me, and I'll help you take the kerosene.” At that very moment, the Germans entered the town, and the Cossacks

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fled before they had the chance to set fire to the town center, with its Jewish residents. Three or four buildings in the Hoyfishe street burned down, and a similar number – in the market area. It was in this way that the town was saved and survived intact. Life resumed its normal course a few days later. During World War I, under the regime of Kaiser Wilhelm, the Germans did not harm the Jewish population, and even granted them rights that they had been denied under Czarist rule. This was done in order to gain their sympathy and the sympathy of Jews all over the world – above all, of the large Jewish community in America. Very shortly afterwards, military rule was replaced by civilian authority. The German officials, who were mostly middle–aged, treated the Jews with tolerance and even formed friendships with the Jewish families they had dealings with.

It is worth noting that public and social activity among Jews, which was officially prohibited under the Russian regime, flourished during the German occupation.

The Ark of the Torah in the New Synagogue

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Zionist activities were permitted, as well as secular cultural activities. Under the Czarist regime, such work had been extremely limited. Young Jews, anxious for education, thrived under the German authorities, who did not intervene in internal Jewish life; they began to develop various cultural and public enterprises.

The first project was the establishment of a public library. The initiators and main movers, who also constituted the first library committee, were Shlomo Zarembski, Ya'akov Litvak, Ayzik Levinski, Berish Serebrovitsh (Dov Kaspi), Moshe Kaplan, and the devoted, industrious librarian, Przebar. Once the library was established, education–starved Jewish young people had a path to Yiddish and Hebrew literature, as well as to world literature in translation. The library committee did not limit itself to a rich supply of books, but also invited lecturers and writers from Warsaw to speak, and organized debates by locals on various literary topics.

After the prohibition of Zionist activity was rescinded, Zionist organizations developed in the town in order to spread the idea of a national movement among the young people, as well as among other segments of the Jewish population. The first was a branch of Tze'irei Tziyon.^[23] The first activists were Tzvi Galishinski (chairman), Moshe Kaplan, Sarah Burshteyn (now Sarah Tuvia, living in Israel), Benaya Tomkivitsh (now a lawyer in Israel), Yisra'el Brener, Ribko the teacher, and Moshe Tomkivitsh. The organization had a large clubhouse (next to the home of the Ya'akobi family), where it carried out many activities aimed at disseminating the Zionist ideal and intensifying it. Their practical activity consisted of collecting contributions for the Jewish National Fund, selling the Zionist shekel, organizing cultural evenings with nationalistic content, and the like. One of the most impressive events was the annual gathering on the twentieth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of Herzl's death; this event included varied activities.^[24] Zionist awareness became so widespread that a rally was held in the synagogue for the first time. The house of study, which was used mainly by opponents of Zionism, did not invite Zionist activists. Especially vivid in my memory are the speeches of young Benaya Tomkivitsh, who spoke with great fervor, in a strong voice that echoed in the large hall with its high ceilings, and inspired his listeners.

Some time later, a branch of the Po'alei Zion party was founded in Wysokie, at the initiative of Khayim Bar–Nakhum –Skutshendek (may his memory be for a blessing).^[25] It was active among young people, where it spread socialist Zionism, and the idea of emigration to the Land of Israel, after agricultural training.

At that time, a branch of the Maccabi sports organization also opened in the town. The first coach was a German soldier named Meichsner, who had served in the German occupation army. He took on this job, not because he loved Jews, but because he enjoyed leading young people in drills. We would meet several times a week on a lot outside town, and spend many hours drilling, marching, and running. At the end of each meeting we would form two teams and play handball. Each team did its best to win.

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That was the first sports club in our town; it was active for a number of years, and its members were the best children in town. After sports clubs were organized in neighboring towns, a convention of all the sports clubs in the region was organized in Zembrów; each club's delegation carried its own Zionist–sports flag.

Education also took a turn for the better under the German occupation. The traditional kheyder was no longer predominant; modern, progressive educational institutions developed alongside it. Reb Nokhem Skutshendek, who had come from Jedwabne on the German border (the town was burned down in the war), founded a “modern kheyder.” The Vysochek family organized a school for boys and girls; classes were taught in Yiddish.

David Ya'akobi (may his memory be for a blessing) organized an amateur theater group consisting of young men and women, and trained them for theater performance. This theater mounted plays by Ya'akov Gordin, Avraham Goldfaden, and others.^[26] The troupe was almost entirely run by Ya'akobi. He was the director, set constructor, and the star of the productions. This first theater in our town existed for many years. David Ya'akobi was also active in public affairs, and was for years the deputy chairman of the city council; he was later elected council chairman. One of his major roles was in the Tarbut organization.^[27] He was also a photographer, and most of the images in this book are his work, as well as that of his student Sonia Kolodny (may she live long), who now lives in Israel and is continuing her work.

Thus, the years of German occupation during World War One signaled an important improvement in the social, cultural, and political lives of the Jewish community in Wysokie. These trends continued later in independent Poland.

Dluga Street – the long street

1. He–Chalutz was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel. Return
2. The Black Hundreds was a reactionary, monarchist and ultra–nationalist movement in Russia in the early 20^th century. Return
3. The kopek was the smallest denomination of the currency. Return
4. Hasidism began as a spiritual revival movement in what is now Ukraine, in the 18^th century. A Hasidic community is organized in a sect known as a “court,” led by a Rebbe (also known as a tsaddik – righteous man). Hasidim were categorized by their leaders' place of residence. Akin to his spiritual status, the Rebbe is the supreme figure of authority, as well as the administrative head of the community. Sects often possess their own synagogues, study halls and internal charity mechanisms, and ones sufficiently large also maintain entire educational systems. A yeshiva is an advanced school of studying Talmud and rabbinical subjects. The Slobodka yeshiva was founded in the Slobodka suburb of Kaunas in about 1881. The Mir yeshiva was founded in 1815 in the Belarusian town of Mir. The Radin yeshiva was founded in the town of Radun (Belarus) in 1869. All three yeshivas continue to exist in various locations. Lida is in Belarus. Return
5. The kheyder is a religious elementary school for boys. Return
6. Rashi (the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzkhaki, 1040 – 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and on the Hebrew Bible. His commentaries remain extremely popular and are widely studied to this day. Return
7. The gymnaziya was a secular secondary school. Return
8. Melamed is the term for a kheyder teacher. Return
9. Reb is widely used as an honorific for men; not all Kheyder teachers were rabbis. Return
10. Gemara is the Aramaic term for the Talmud. Return
11. The Ger Hasidic group, founded in Poland in the mid–19^th century, is one of the largest and most influential groups. Its center today is in Israel. Return
12. Ultra–Orthodox education does not usually include portions of the Bible other than the Torah. The biblical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings are known as the Former Prophets. Return
13. In this traditional culture, scholarship is pursued for its own sake, and, ideally, should not be used for mundane purposes such as earning a living. Return
14. The ideological split between Hasidim and their opponents (termed misnagdim, from the Hebrew root for “opposition”) was very strong. Return
15. Talmud–toyre students received an elementary education in Hebrew, the Torah, the Talmud, and some religious law. Return
16. The mussar movement, which developed in the 19th–century Lithuanian Jewish community, focused on education towards an ethical life. Return
17. European Jews used Hebrew exclusively as a sacred language up to the mid–19^th century, when secularists began using it for everyday purposes. The secularist use of Hebrew became identified with Zionism, which aspired to resettle the Jews in the tradition homeland. Return
18. Der Moment (1910–1929) appeared in Warsaw, as did Haynt (1906–1939). Return
19. The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement Return
20. Purchase of the Zionist Shekel gave the purchaser the right to vote for delegates to the Zionist congresses. Return
21. The Aleksander Hasidic group originated in the city of Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland, in the early 19^th century. The Vurke group was founded in the early 19^th century in the town of Warka, Poland. Return
22. Yitzkhak Leyb Peretz (1852–1915) was a major European Jewish writer and cultural figure, whose works were very popular. Return
23. Tze'irei Tziyon was founded in Russian (1903) as a Zionist, Socialism–oriented movement of young Jews who supported emigration to the Land of Israel, physical labor, and the Hebrew language. Return
24. Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) is considered the founder of political Zionism. The Jewish month of Tammuz typically corresponds to late June or early July Return
25. Poa'lei Zion was a Zionist socialist political party in Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, founded in 1906. Return
26. Ya'akov Gordin (1853–1909) and Avraham Goldfaden (1840–1908) were major figures of the early Yiddish theater. Return
27. Tarbut was a widespread network of secular, Hebrew–language schools in Poland, Romania, and Lithuania, during the interwar period. Return

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