Lublin, Poland [Page 200]

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[Page 200]

The Mizrakhi Organization
by Avrom Tsvi Mayzels

Translated by Tina Lunson

The public appearance of Mizrakhi as a political organization in Lublin took place in the time of the First World War, in the years 1916-1917 while Lublin was occupied by the Austrians.

The Mizrakhi propagandized the Zionist idea among the religious masses. A young rabbi had appeared in Lublin – the Rov Rapaport, from Andzsheyev near Lodz, who later became Rov in Lutsk. He was a very gifted and talented public speaker. His lectures drew large crowds of religious Jews. Rov Shpetman (now a rov in London), and Rov Gutman Rapaport (now in Toronto, Canada) also presented speeches in the shuln [synagogues] and bes-midrashim [study-houses] in favor of Zionism. The heads of the Mizrakhi committee at that time were the brothers Y. L. and Y. A. Shper, Mayer Srebrenik, Yankev Kantor and others.

The Mizrakhi youth organized at almost the same time under the name Tseirey Mizrakhi. That was organized by a schoolteacher from Shper's high school, Dr. Tshatshkes.

In 1917, when the first town council was elected in Lublin, the then-leader of Mizrakhi, Y. L. Shper, was elected in the name of the Zionist Party. And in the Jewish Council elections a Mizrakhi representative was elected to both the Council and to the board of directors. For a certain time – until his departure for Erets-yisroel – the Mizrakhi representative in the Jewish Council, Elieyzer Mokotovski, was the vice chairman of the Jewish Council.

An important activity of the Mizrakhi organization in Lublin was the creation of a religious-national folks-school under the name “Yavne”, in which more than 200 children received their education.

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