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The aforementioned rabbi was from a distinguished lineage of Cohanim and from the seed of the outstanding rabbis of the generations in Israel. He was the son of the genius, Rav Yoel, the presiding judge of Stanislavov.

Rav Yitzhak-Aizik Ha-Cohen already stood out in childhood for the breadth of his intelligence, his understanding, and his acuity. When he was eight, he went with his father to the city of Brody at a time when the leading rabbis of the generation had gathered at market day, so that his father could demonstrate his son's acuity before the great ones. The table before which the geniuses sat to hear the acuity of the boy was high and, since the boy, Yitzhak-Aizik, was very small, the geniuses ordered that a chair be placed for him so that he could stand on it at the time of his sermon. But the boy refused this and replied to them in wisdom: “Cohanim from a high table, indeed that's entitled.”

When he was twelve, his father went to the city of Stanislavov to take up the position of local rabbi. The cart caused him to drown in the river that was before the city and his young son eulogized him and mourned and his first words were: “And the water came and extinguished the flame” [=a quote from the Passover Haggadah]. Afterwards he sermonized for about two hours on the matter, “his loss and the loss of his father.” He continued at length in both law and legend and the people began to cry, and then Ha-Gaon Rav Chaim Ha-Cohen Rapoport, presiding judge of Lvov [=Lviv] and the region, and his son-in-law, Ha-Rav Aharon Ha-Levi Itinga, presiding judge of Raysha [=Rzeszow], put their hands on him to be a presiding judge and teacher in Israel.

At the age of Bar-Mitzvah, Rav Yitzhak-Aizik married the daughter of Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon Zvi-Hirsch Margaliot, presiding judge of the great Mezhyrichi, where he advanced further in his knowledge of Talmud, wisdom of Kabbalah, and Hasidic comportment.

When he was fourteen, the community leaders of Korets took him as their teacher and rabbi. In Korets, they worked at both the revealed and the hidden Torah and taught many students in Torah and for a diploma. The most important rabbis turned to him with their legal questions and he replied to all of them with his great wisdom. Among those who came to study with him in his yeshiva in Korets was also Ha-Rav Efraim-Zalman Margaliot of Brody, who later became famous as an outstanding genius and expert adjudicator and composed his famous work, “Beit Efraim,” and other important compositions.

At the same time, the large “enclave” in Ostroh, where the splendor of famous rabbis had served, was revived. The leaders of the Ostroh community sent a rabbinic certificate to Rav Yitzhak-Aizik, entitled “Presiding Judge and Yeshiva Head” of this enclave.

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However, the rabbi did not want to leave Korets, but in order to fill, in any event, the hereditary place of his forebears, he accepted the position at the aforementioned enclave, in a manner that he would come to them three times a year to preach.

Rav Yitzhak-Aizik Ha-Cohen is considered one of the first students of the Maggid of Mezhyrichi - R. Dov-Ber. It is told that, when he came to the Mezhyrichi for the first time - still being young - the Maggid got up before him, drew him close in affection and great respect.

He was also greatly erudite in the wisdom of Kabbalah. He expounded on all matters of this world and sat and studied in holiness and purity. There was an inscription on one of the walls of his house: “It is permitted to speak to the Rav about matters of the body - if it is urgent, but about matters of the soul - all hours are permitted for this.” And it was that everyone who came to the Rav's house and looked at the wall was as fearful to approach the Rav as approaching an Angel of the God of Hosts, who morning and evening wrapped himself in a shroud and poured out his heart before God.

The aforementioned holy rabbi died in 1787 and he was only 35 years old. His writings remained in the hands of his brother-in-law, Ha-Rav Mordechai, the presiding judge in Annopol, who served him in Torah and teaching. These letters on mysticism were published in 1795 in Lviv, a book entitled “Brit Kehunat Olam” [=The Covenant of Eternal Priesthood], by his brother, Ha-Rav Meshulam Ha-Cohen, who was the presiding judge in Korets. Ha-Rav Meshulam Ha-Cohen wrote a lengthy introduction to the book. Indeed, Ha-Rav Meshulam indicates that there remain from his brother, the author, many other writings on mysticism and innovations on Gemara, Poskim [=Jewish law adjudicators], and Tosafot [=annotations to the Talmud], and responsa he gave on legal matters. Ha-Rav Efraim Zalman Margaliot of Brody writes about the author: “Indeed these are the words that were spoken from Sinai and uproot mountains, the great genius, the famous one, the Hasid who is in the priesthood, the godly Kabbalist, who was the best of my youth.”

In 1862, the responsa of Ha-Rav Yitzhak-Aizik Ha-Cohen were published under the name, “Zikhron Kehuna” [=Memory of the Priesthood]. At the beginning of the book, the scholar, Yosef Cohen-Tzedek, wrote memories from the history of the author.

Ha-Rav Yitzhak-Aizik left one son and he is the well-known rabbi, R. Yisrael Ha-Cohen, the presiding judge of Evei [=Vievis]. His widow re-married with Ha-Rav Zev Wolf of Zhytomyr.

There was no headstone on Ha-Rav Yitzhak-Aizik of Korets' grave, but only a wall with two windows through which those who came would lay notes of requests and mercy on his grave, as is the custom of Hasidim.

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B. Ha-Rav Asher Zvi

Ha-Rav Asher Zvi was one of the students of The Maggid of Mezhyrichi and served as a Torah teacher and interpreter in Korets. He was born in Ostroh to his father, R. David, who was of great pedigree and the principal manager of the “Hevra Kadisha” [=burial society] there.

In 1760, R. Asher was named among the best managers in Ostroh and in 1780 he was appointed as preacher and Torah teacher in the city of his birth.

Ha-Rav Asher Zvi was one of the important rabbis of his time. His recommendations even appear on compositions of the type of “Mishnat Hachamim” by the genius, Meshullam Feibush, presiding judge of Kremenets, on “Meor Einayim” of Ha-Rav Ha-Tzaddik of Czernowitz [=Chernivtsi], where he was given the title of “The Righteous Rabbi, Man of the Holy God,” and on other books.

Around 1804 Rav Asher-Zvi became the presiding judge in Korets, but there, too, he signed himself as “presiding judge and Torah teacher of the holy community of Ostroh.” On the Midrashic book, “Yalkut Reuveni,” which was published in Ostroh in 1806, can be found “the recommendation of the true rabbi and genius, astute and expert in the revealed and the hidden, a man of God, a saint will say to him, our teacher, the rabbi Asher Zvi, presiding judge and Torah teacher of the holy community of Ostroh - living in the holy community of Korets.”

Ha-Rav Asher Zvi wrote the book, “Ma'ayan Chochmah,” which was published in Korets in 1816. On the front page of the book is written “that they are holy letters, from the holy and on high, pure sayings, from the lips of a pure man, carved in the Five Books of Moses and Psalms and Pirkei-Avot and legends, not from the lips of flesh and blood, but rather with the spirit of God that was upon him and His word will drip on his tongue.”

The recommendations of the famous rabbis appear on this book: R. Avraham-Yehoshua Herschel of Afta, known by his praise as “a famous man of God, astute and expert, a holy candle”, and so the recommendation of “the great, famous, glorious rabbi, Torah teacher, Mordechai, presiding judge of the holy community of Korets,” who marks the author of this book as “the astute rabbi, the famous Hasid, a holy candle.”

The life of Ha-Rav Nehemiah Herschenhorn is an important chapter in the historiography of Korets. An interesting period in the days of the city, which encompassed more than 50 years, is hidden in his personality.

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Already in 1864 he was the rabbi of the Korets community under the auspices of the Russian government. We know this from a letter that appeared in “Ha-Carmel” of that year (No. 34) in which it was written that, in that year, the Jewish community in Korets celebrated the birthday of Tsar Alexander II on April 17. The celebration took place in the large synagogue in the presence of all the dignitaries of the city. The community rabbi, Herschenhorn, spoke and the renowned cantor, R. Alter Spivak, sang the prayer, “He Who Gives Salvation to Kings.”

Ha-Rav Herschenhorn rescued the city from a great disaster already in the first year of his tenure. In that year, two farmers from a nearby village were lost and there was no trace of them. The farmers, residents of that village, came to the police and asked them to help them search for these farmers among the Jews in Korets because, perhaps, they had slaughtered them to consume their blood during Passover.

The police fulfilled that request, searched among the houses of the Jews of Korets, and did not skip over the house of the well-known rich man, R. Moshe-Leib Weinstock.

In his speech at the celebration of Tsar Alexander II's birthday, Ha-Rav Herschenhorn stressed that it was obligatory on the government to completely destroy the medieval story, the blood libel that, although the enlightened and educated among the Christians had stopped believing in it for a long time already, still it remained in force in the dark hearts of many, falsely accusing the Jews from time to time, this story that had no foundation.

Ha-Rav Herschenhorn explored much activity in the lives of the community of the Jews of Korets. The city was sunk in poverty and suffering. He saw his task as helping the hungry depressed to a piece of bread and he succeeded in influencing the few wealthy men in the city to increase their charitable work. In “Ha-Meliz” in 1866 he celebrated the three Korets wealthy men - Yaakov Kovilinski, Zeinweil Weinstock, and Yaakov-Yosef Hornshtein who, through their donations, saved many Korets Jews from starving. About R. Yaakov-Yosef Hornshtein, he wrote: “May He grant and increase men like him who do good, kindness, and charity all the days of their lives. One cannot imagine the righteousness of this philanthropist in Israel. How many souls has this rich man given life to with his money and none who come to his house go away empty-handed.”

About these three rich men he wrote: “The three of them are like the triple thread that will not quickly break. They do righteousness and spread their money among the poor in general, and in particular to the poor of our city who are great in number.”

In “Ha-Tzfira” in 1883 Ha-Rav Herschenhorn announced the charitable deeds of Avraham Bronstein, a native of Korets, who every year did much for the good of Korets, the city of his birth.

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Ha-Rav Herschenhorn saw his principal mission as educating the Jewish children of Korets. He stressed in his articles in the Hebrew press that it was obligatory to teach Torah to the Jewish young men because each one of them was required to serve in the army and to mix with the rest of the nation and if they would not learn Torah and its faith - they would mix with the Russians and be assimilated.

In “Ha-Tzfira” in 1874 he wrote: “It grieves the heart of a man in Israel to see that, in the high schools in our area, there are Russian and Catholic teachers who are educating the Christian pupils based on the Christian religion and the Jewish pupils there are like sheep without a shepherd, having no Jewish teacher from whose mouth they might hear the Torah of the Living God and the foundations of our religion and beliefs.”

Ha-Rav Herschenhorn suggested to take preventative steps by writing a letter to the government that it should make the study of Judaism in high schools an obligatory subject and should employ for that purpose Jewish teachers. However, he did not trust the Russian government to work for Jewish education, so he made a great effort himself and opened his own private school in the Hasidic Korets of those days.

Ha-Rav Herschenhorn informs us about this school in “Ha-Meliz” of 1866 with these words: “At present, there are nine students in the school that I opened, most of them children of the wealthy. In this short period of time, the students have done good work, coming on time every day and learning the Russian language and everything else with enthusiasm.” Nevertheless, he points out that the matter of the school is bad in the eyes of the educated because of much piety and in the eyes of the Hasidim because of much heresy. But he has faith in his path and writes with a heart at peace: “I will guard what comes out of my mouth. I will try with all my might to make the house that I opened a house of Jewish learning to educate the children of Israel based on Torah and ethics and courtesy and I put my faith in God that He will help me to bring what I have conceived to human action.”

Nevertheless, this school did not match the spirit of the Hasidim of Korets and they did everything they could to close it. In less than a year it closed due to a lack of students. Using various means, the Hasidim influenced the parents of the students to remove their children from the school and, in this fashion, it died a painless death.

We read these words, written by the reporter, Mr. Chaim Ben-Zion Temkin, in “Ha-Tzfira” in 1875 about the closing of the school: “I have come to arouse mourning over the destruction of the school of the wise man of God, Ha-Rav Herschenhorn, whose soul was satisfied with effort and work until he brought to fruition his good idea concerning improving the children of our city. And after effort and loss of time, he got a license from the government to establish this school, and quickly opened his house wide and announced in all

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the houses of worship: whoever wishes to educate his children for a life of happiness, let him bring them to Herschenhorn's school.

How happy he was to see that more than 25 wealthy people of the leaders of our city gave their children over to him. He did not spare his energy or his fortune and administered science and learning calmly, to teach them a foreign language and the language of the country and thought that there would be much respect for this house.

But his hope was dashed. The days of his school were few and bad and he did not see good out of his effort because his house was destroyed and there remained only mere words of flattery and hypocrisy, who have ears but do not hear the command of the new time that calls for wisdom and education. They slander, saying death is in this house to kill the spirit of Judaism.”

Nevertheless, Ha-Rav Herschenhorn did not despair and he advocated further to improve Jewish education in Korets and, first and foremost, for the local “Talmud-Torah,” which is a community educational institution and over whose improvements the heads of the community and its funders must be concerned.

In “Ha-Tzfira” in 1883, he cautions again that there is no longer a proper “Talmud-Torah” in Korets and no vocational school and, for this reason, the children of the poor are idle all day, without any education and work, and they do whatever their hearts desire, without a teacher or a director. And who is wise and has eyes in his head and cannot see what will come of this in the end.

In “Ha-Meliz” in 1883, he worries again about the situation of the children of the poor in need of proper education. “I will not speak,” he writes, “about the children of the rich, for whom proper education in a school is not the central thing for them and everyone has the ability to educate his children in his household as he sees fit. But what will the children of the poor do as there is no “Talmud-Torah” and no educational institution for them, and like a flock without a shepherd, mischievous, wild, naked, barefoot, and hungry youths move about all day in the outskirts of the town and do whatever they feel like doing and have no teacher or director. Are we not going to be held accountable for the desecration of respect for our faith and our people?”

He turns to the leaders of Korets and, in particular, to Zev-Wolf Weinstock with these words: “May you have the righteousness to call for a stop and to seriously consider how to fix the distortion, to find a way out with money, and to established a proper “Talmud-Torah” according to the needs of the place and time for the many poor who are with us.”

The public appeal of Ha-Rav Herschenhorn did what it needed to do and the leaders of the city rose up on behalf of the “Talmud-Torah.” We find information about the condition of the “Talmud-Torah” in Korets in 1903 in the lists of Mr. Yitzhak Nisenboim who published them in the daily newspaper, “Ha-Tzofeh.” He writes that already then the “Talmud-Torah” was a proper educational institution in a

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two-story house. The rooms were large, high, lovely, and clean, and about 80 students studied there Hebrew, Tanakh, Jewish history, Hebrew grammar, and also the language of the country. On the lower floor were a dining hall for the students, a prayer room, and a library. There was a large garden in the courtyard where the students worked with their hands, tilling the soil and planting vegetables, and also a seesaw for physical exercise.

This miracle, Mr. Nisenboim stressed, was due to the fact that Korets had an official rabbi, Ha-Rav Herschenhorn, who served there for more than forty years and whose heart was full of desire and will to educate the children of Israel and, without tumult and noise, without demands and enthusiasm, continued on his long and obstacle-ridden road over dozens of years to improve and enhance the house that was advancing the children of the poor in Torah and education until he was able to build this big and beautiful house.

Rav Herschenhorn also had a hand in building the Jewish hospital in Korets. With regards to this, he writes these particulars in “Ha-Meliz” of 1875 (Issue 51): “It's been about 10 years since they began to build a hospital for the poor - a house with walls built up to the attic, but until now the building has not been finished. And look, now this matter comes to completion through the work of R. Leibush Bar-Pesach Vatenmakher, who has lived here for more than 40 years, and he has directed all his fortune, his homes, and his rooms for the good of the city, and is directing four of the wealthy men: Aharon Lifschitz, Aharon Kristinfolier, Pinchas Weinstock, and at the head, the elderly Pesach Weinstock, who will be trustees over his estate and a great good for the community of Korets will be able to stem from this.”

The building was erected in 1883. This was a building made of wood with seven rooms and it cost about 1,500 rubles. It was equipped as it should be, but it suffered from a lack of physicians. In Korets there were, generally always, three physicians, but in that year, only one physician remained because one died and the second went into the army.

After the huge fire that visited Korets in 1881, Ha-Rav Herschenhorn worked very hard to restore the large Beit-Midrash that had burned up. With regards to this, he wrote these following words in “Ha-Meliz” of that year (Issue 18): “As is known, at the time of the great fire in Korets (1881), the synagogue and all the Batei-Midrash [=houses of learning] in the city burned and were destroyed (only on the other side of the river, three remained). The leaders of the city decided that all the residents of the city had to carry the expenses of building the synagogue.

Within one year, they built a lofty stone building, the likes of which had never existed in our city.

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The dedication of the building took place at Shavuot (1882). The building walls are higher than 10 cubits and there is a sheet metal roof over them, but the building is still not finished inside and there is no one to stand before the ark because there is no cantor in our city.”

And Ha-Rav Herschenhorn turns to the Jews of Korets with an emotional cry: “Strengthen your resolve and give it much honor in order that it might rise and be a place of Torah study for all our community.” By his words, they amassed in Korets the sum of 3,774 rubles for the building of the synagogue.

Much important cultural activity is tied to the name of Ha-Rav Herschenhorn - the establishment of the “Tarbut” library of which he was its patron and trustee. Over time, this library became sort of a spiritual center for the Jews of the city.

And tied to his name, too, was the establishment of the “National Credit Bank,” which was both a financial and a Zionist-national institution.

Ha-Rav Herschenhorn was a devoted Zionist throughout his entire life. He participated in the Zionist meeting in Minsk and became friends with Moshe-Leib Lilienblum. He soaked up the national fragrance already during the years of his study in the rabbinical seminary in Zhytomyr.

In Korets, he was among the organizers of the Zionist club and, together with Yehoshua Zaltzman, established lessons in Hebrew, which made an important contribution in deepening the Zionist idea among the Jews of Korets. He took an honored and important task upon himself - to lecture on the Sabbath on Zionist and literary topics. Both simple people and artisans streamed to these lectures.

When R. Nechemiah saw that these lectures were making waves in the broader community, he brought an overhead projector, through which he showed pictures of the giants of Zionism, of the holy places in Israel, and of the life of the Jews in agricultural settlements and villages. Rav Herschenhorn has an honored place in the design of a Zionist portrait of the Jews of Korets.

Ha-Rav Herschenhorn died on February 6, 1923. He reached a grand old age - more than the age of “being bent” - 90 years old. He was gathered unto his people in the soil of Korets, the soil on which his feet walked for more than 50 years.

Original footnote:

1. MTAH”M - under the auspices of the government. Return

The extraction of the “prodigy” is from Rabbi Leib Sarah's, that same miraculous saint, a contemporary of the Besht [=Israel Ba'al Shem Tov], whom Hasidism crowned with a halo of astounding legends and saw in him one of the hidden righteous.

In order to preserve the holy and pure extraction throughout the generations, the family of the “prodigy” called itself Schorin, from the name Sarah's (Sorah's).

“The Genius from Poltava” The brilliant rabbi, yeshiva teacher in Zhvil [=Novohrad Volynskyy] and in Korets Rabbi Yoel Sarin zatsa”l

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after he had brought the goat out, thunder hit the animal pen and it burned up entirely. The grandmother suspected him of having dealings with the powers of the heavens.

From childhood, the “prodigy” tended toward seclusion. He was always deep in thought and his spirit hovered in the upper worlds. While he was still young, the same spirit of study and research began to surge in him. Questions of divinity and the secret of creation began to engage his young and astute mind and he began to investigate what was beyond his comprehension.

These meditations of childhood caused indirect injury to his body and he remained crippled his whole life: once the “prodigy” returned from “Cheder” and, being deep in his thoughts, his foot tripped and he fell into a clay pit. At that same moment, a bloc of dirt was torn off from its place and covered the youth up to his neck. One of the cart drivers who was called to the place rescued the “prodigy” from the landslide, but his leg was crushed. The doctors did not succeed in curing the leg completely and he dragged it for his whole life. What was amazing in this was that this defect added adornment to the “prodigy” in his old age.

While he was still a youth, the “prodigy” was sent to a place of Torah - the yeshiva of Volozhin [=Valozhyn]. He amazed the head of the yeshiva with his brilliance and his astuteness and he was named “the prodigy of Poltava.”

After he was certified as a teacher, he married, returned to Ukraine, and settled in Novohrad Volynskyy (Zhvil).

He established a small “yeshiva” in a remote street in Zhvil, Karsana Street, and began to spread his ideas. But the “prodigy” dreamt of a large yeshiva that would be built for the groups and factions of Torah scholars who would flow to it. Matters developed and the “prodigy” saw the fulfillment of his desire. When he was in Kiev [=Kyiv], he entered the synagogue of Brodsky and sermonized on the lesson of the week. The rich man was impressed by the sermon of the young “prodigy.” He approached him and asked how he could be of help to him. The “prodigy” responded, if I have found favor with you, I would ask one thing of you: with your money, build a large “yeshiva” in Zhvil for the many young men of Israel who are thirsty for Torah. Brodsky immediately sent his engineer and he built a large and beautiful building in “Karetzer Gasse.”

However, the “prodigy” did not stay in Zhvil for long. On the night of the slaughter that the rioters perpetrated on the Jews of Zhvil at the end of the first World War, the “prodigy” took a Torah scroll from the ark and fled to Korets with 60 of his students. The “prodigy” walked all night with the Torah scroll in his hand, dragging his sick leg, and reached the city at dawn.

We lived then in a large and spacious house on Komisaria Street and the “prodigy” and his students were housed in one of the halls. They lived in our house for half a year.

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During those days a typhus epidemic broke out in the city and many of the students became ill. The “prodigy” took pity on the students, like a father with his children, didn't let himself sleep and tried to ease their suffering as much as he could. Under his influence, Dr. Zeitlin was willing to take care of the students for free, without money. Dr. Zeitlin became the doctor of the “yeshiva” and would lecture the boys occasionally on matters of sanitation (hygiene).

For a while, the “yeshiva” moved from our house to Hornshtein's synagogue. The “prodigy”'s wife, Chaya, died there. This heavy tragedy that came upon him influenced the entire direction of his life. He mourned his wife all his days and did not re-marry.

The reputation of the “prodigy” spread throughout the country and also the wide world and young men began to come to Korets from faraway places. When the “prodigy” saw that his place was too small, he turned to Rav Hornshtein, the government rabbi, and asked him to house the “yeshiva” in the “Talmud Torah” building. Rav Hornshtein acquiesced to the “prodigy,” but with the stipulated conditions that some of the outstanding young men from the “yeshiva” would teach Tanakh in a free and modern manner and also secular studies at the “Talmud Torah. The “prodigy” accepted the condition and sent his son, Yossel, who was an outstanding grammarian, to teach grammar and also sent his students, Yehoshua Pritzker, Hirschel Biloradker, Shlomo Goroshker, Itzik Serniker, and Shlomo Hulevker - to teach both religious and secular studies.

I was at that time a student at the “Talmud Torah” and I remember an incident in which the “prodigy” was revealed to be a generous man, anxious for the peace of Israel, and worried about its unity. The “prodigy”'s son-in-law, Baruch-Mordechai, gave the lesson in Tanakh at the “Talmud Torah.” Once Baruch-Mordechai was sick and we were excused from studying. By chance, the “prodigy” came to the “Talmud Torah” that day on one of his regular visits. He asked us where we were in Tanakh. We told him: “I Kings, chapter 12.” The “prodigy” got up to the lectern and began to teach us about that chapter and when he got to the words of Rehoboam, son of Shlomo: “My father chastised you with whips and I will chasten you with scorpions” - he broke out in bitter tears because the arrogant words of Rehoboam had led to the division of the nation and afterwards to its destruction.

The “prodigy” did not give classes at the “yeshiva.” He would appear from time to time and test the students. The actual head of the yeshiva was his son-in-law, Baruch-Mordechai, a native of Rovno [=Rivne], who had already known the “prodigy” in Zhvil. The “prodigy” thought a lot of Baruch-Mordechai and gave him his daughter, Rivka, as a wife. After her death, he gave him his daughter, Freydel, who was a modern and educated young woman.

The “prodigy” did not hold himself up high nor did he treat his students badly. There was no

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atmosphere in the “yeshiva” of “watch your mouth.” He did not check the political or ideological tzitzit [=ritual fringes] of the young men. There were members of various parties at the “yeshiva” and even some socialists, both secret and open. The “prodigy” saw the phenomenon of the parties as something with which he had to make his peace. He had a saying: The Second Temple was destroyed by the parties - the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Sicarii - and the Third Temple will be built by parties. Only one thing interested the “prodigy”: that the young men would know the page of Gemara with all the commentaries well because all who concern themselves with Torah is forgiven his sins.

And so, the boys of the “yeshiva” were not compelled to hide with the “Moreh Nevuchim” [=Guide to the Perplexed] in the attic. And when a “yeshiva” boy was caught with a heretical book like “Hattot Ne'urim” [=Youthful Sins] of Lilienblum, he was not looking at ostracism and expulsion. From this perspective, the “yeshiva” had the character of an academy. The winds of the future blew through it, even the son, Yossel, was a modern “yeshiva” boy, expert in grammar and in secular studies.

The “prodigy” limited his sleep. He studied at night and engaged in creativity. He maintained the opinion of Rav Shimon Ben Lakish: “the moon was only created for study.” And thus, he had only four cubits of Halacha [=Jewish law]. He also wrote various books. He had compositions about the Rambam [=Maimonides] and innovations of Torah, written in the style of the Mishna. From time to time, the spirit of song would descend on him and he composed rhymes. As far as I know, these compositions remained handwritten only and were never published.

Because the “prodigy” didn't sleep much, he was among the “greeters of the Ashmoret” [=morning watch] and appeared at the “yeshiva” to greet the Shma of Shacharit, one who could tell the difference between light blue and white or between light blue and green, that is to say, sometime before sunrise. He would remain wrapped in his tallit for a few hours, deep in contemplation, cut off from the material world, until they were forced to stop his thoughts in order to eat.

Although the “prodigy” was a weak Jew, I don't remember that he was ever confined to bed. And so we were dumbstruck when we learned of his illness - throat cancer. The doctors advised him to go to Berlin, to consult with famous professors. He went there with his son, Yossel. They operated on him, but without success. The “prodigy” felt that he was being called to the heavenly yeshiva and so, he asked his son to bring him back to Korets in order to die in his beloved city among the community of his students.

But he didn't get to have that. He died upon arriving in Warsaw and he was 61. He was buried in the Warsaw cemetery, on Gensha Street. The great of Torah in Poland participated in his funeral. A delegation of the students of the “yeshiva” also accompanied him on his final journey.

My grandfather, Rav Michal'eh zatsa”l, was born in 1843 to his father, the Tzaddik, Rabbi Yosef of Berezne, son of the Tzaddik, Rabbi Yitzhak of Berezne, who was the son-in-law of the Tzaddik, Rabbi Aharon of Chernobyl, and great-grandson and grandson of the Maggid of Stepan and of the line of the genius, the “Turei Zahav” Ha-Levi [=Rabbi David Ha-Levi].

Ha-Rav Michal'eh, aside from the fact that he was a giant in Torah and wisdom and delivered words of the revealed and the hidden Torah

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on Shabbat and on festivals when his table was arranged with his Hasidim - he was gifted with a powerful and pleasant voice. He would pass in front of the Ark on Shabbat and with the pleasantness of his singing, he drew hundreds of Korets residents to him, who then made his great synagogue their normal place of worship - “Brezner Enclave.” On “The Days of Awe” and on holidays, many of his Hasidim and admirers from Rovno [=Rivne] and Dubno thronged to him, he having visited these cities more than once by invitation from those who had heard his lessons.

Rav Michal'eh was accustomed to pass in front of the Ark on “The Days of Awe” and to pray “Shacharit” and “Musaf,” but when he got old, his son, Ha-Rav Leizer'el, may God avenge his blood, prayed “Shacharit” in the manner of his father, received from his righteous ancestors.

My grandfather acquired a large house with many spacious rooms. The house was open for the welfare of passersby from among the learned and good persons who lodged with him. The house was in a large fruit garden and in the spring and summer, residents of the city came to enjoy the pleasant air and the various fruits.

My grandfather died on the 7th of Tishrei (1916). He was 73 when he died. On “Rosh ha-Shanah” of that year, he still passed, in his usual manner, in front of the Ark for “Musaf” prayers.

Rav Michal'eh left behind three sons and three daughters. The oldest son, my father, ADMOR Rabbi Baruch'le, was a rabbi in Dubno for almost 50 years and died there on the 5^th of Nisan (1936). His second son, Rav Yossel'eh, was ADMOR in Kishinev [=Chişinǎu] for almost 40 years and was tragically killed, together with his family, in 1941. His third son, Rav Leizer'el, who filled his father's place as ADMOR in Korets, was killed in Korets, along with another 1,500 Jews at the time of the great slaughter that happened on the eve of Shavuot in 1942. His daughter, the Rabbanit Itta, along with her husband, Ha-Rav Shalom of Polonne, was killed in the Holocaust. His daughter, the Rabbanit Yocheved, with her husband, the rabbi of the city of Krutyye [=Kruti], were also tragically killed during the years of the Holocaust. His third daughter, the Rabbanit Chana'le, and her husband, Ha-Rav Pinchas'le, who were for some years in Korets and then moved to Lutsk - they, too, died in the Holocaust together with their entire family.

Of the popular figures of the rabbis of Volhynia and of the scholars who knew how to lead their congregations in pleasant ways. A native of the town of Zshetel in Lithuania and a student of the yeshivas in Volozhin [=Valozhyn] and Radin [=Radun].

The desire of the supporters of the public in our places was always to get and situate

So Korets, too, was honored in 1900 to bring in Ha-Rav Lidski as Mara d'Atra [=teacher of the place], who had been until then the rabbinic authority in Yezna [=Jieznas] - to which he came in 1890 when he was a young rabbi of 25.

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His greatness in Torah and reverence for God did not prevent him from being aware of everything that was happening in the Jewish street and to be familiar with the grating problems of our world. He did not limit himself to the four cubits of Halacha [=Jewish law] and did much work for the needs of the public. He did not only worry about matters of the “Talmud-Torah” and the “yeshiva” in the place, but also for the charity fund and so on.

As one of the students of the Chofetz Chaim [=Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan] zatsa”l, he saw an obligation to have fixed times for Torah study and, in keeping with the decision of the great congress in its day, he also conducted the study of the Daf Yomi [=Talmud page of the day] in his city.

Ha-Rav Lidski was among the organizers of the community committee in Korets in 1928 and since then was chosen as city rabbi.

The rebuilt Land of Israel was very close to his heart and, in his sermons on “Shabbat Shuva” and “Shabbat Ha-Gadol,” he touched on the importance of settling the Land of Israel and urged contributions to funds.

After the slaughter in Hebron in 1929, a protest meeting was organized in the great synagogue in Korets and Ha-Rav Lidski spoke at it. All the stores in the city were locked. In his speech, he expressed his emotional protest over the events in Israel. His words shook the members of the public who were present.

He participated in all rabbinic conferences and worked a lot all throughout Volhynia towards strengthening the religion, maintaining family purity, and so on.

He worked on behalf of his community and stood on high alert until the end of his life. He died on October 26, 1931 after a short illness at the age of 68.

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Meir Czudner was born in Korets in 1894 to his father, Moshe-Leib, who was a wealthy merchant and had business connections with the Polish landowners in the area.

Czudner received his first education from the teacher and scholar, Yaakov Freirman, who established an improved Cheder in Korets. The desire for art began to beat in him already in childhood

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to the night-time emotional sounds from the violin of young Meir and said that this Jewish teacher was created for great things.

With the meager salary that he earned from his position, Czudner subscribed to “Ha-Tzfira” and the “Haynt” and acquired a small library for himself.

He had great affection for the Tanakh from his childhood. Whenever he turned around, he would study the “Sefer Ha-Sfarim” [=Book of Books, i.e. the Bible] and he reached amazing expertise in it. The boy was deeply impressed by the wonderful poetry of the prophets and he even began to play his violin. At Bar-Mitzvah age, he began to write Hebrew songs. He would walk around the streets of Korets with a thick volume in his hand, which was the collection of his songs that he gathered in a thick bound volume. He called his songs by the overall name: “the writings of MML”T.” This was an acronym for: Meir ben Moshe Leib Tshudner [i.e., the Hebrew spelling].

At a very young age, Czudner became fanatical about the Hebrew language, a fanaticism that lasted all the days of his miserable life. The “Association of the Seekers of the Hebrew Language” was founded in Korets around 1908, whose founders were Mr. Pinchas Avisar (Schwartzman) and Leibke Gerstein. Knowledgeable people said to Mr. Schwartzman that, if he wanted to draw the youth of Korets to this association, he had to put a young man with a very special magnetism at the head of it. Czudner was endowed with this specialness. He was handsome, with a full and round face and curly hair. When he matured, he grew a large forelock like a Pravoslav priest and when he wore a hat, his hair, that went down his back, stood out.

The fact that he wrote Hebrew songs raised his importance in the eyes of the youth who saw in a poet a man who was head and shoulders above the crowd.

Czudner, who served as chairman of the “Association of the Seekers of the Hebrew Language,” began to visit the house of the family of a yeshiva boy, the place where the association was housed. In this house he came to know the daughter, Nechama, with whom he fell in love and in 1918, he married her.

Czudner developed widespread literary and community activity in Korets. In 1912, he, together with Mr. Schwartzman, published a handwritten Zionist newspaper, which contained news about what was happening in the city and in Zionism. In the same year, he established evening classes in Hebrew and on Shabbat, he would lecture about the pioneers of the Zionist movement and on the fathers of the new Hebrew literature.

At the age of 17, he discovered the great glory in the theory of Tolstoy and he became a vegetarian for the rest of his life. On walks with his friends, he would deliver his words on the righteousness of this world view.

With the growth of the wings of his poetry, Czudner felt that Korets was too small a place for him.

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He yearned for Odesa or Warsaw which, in those days, were big cities of wise men and writers and the giants of Hebrew literature lived there.

Fate summoned a savior for Czudner in the form of Ansky. In 1911, Ansky visited Korets under the auspices of the “Society for Folklore and Ethnography.” Czudner befriended Ansky, helped him with his work, became his permanent assistant, and accompanied him on his trips to the Jewish towns in the Volhynia and Podolia regions during 1911-14.

Ansky respected Czudner, recognized his excellence, and told him that his legacy would be snuffed out in Korets. He had to warm himself by the light of wise men, struggle in the dirt of the feet of writers and artists to get inspiration from them. He promised to help him and he kept his promise. During the years of the first World War, Ansky edited the newspaper, “Unser Leben,” in Odesa and he invited Czudner for literary work at this journal.

The motivations that moved him to go out into the wider world were not necessarily connected to his thirst to embody his poetry, but rather their source was also in the world view that he espoused. Already in his youth, when he was close to the Tanakh, Czudner began to investigate the wisdom of Greece and, as his students tell it, he was knowledgeable in the various ideas of the sages of Greece. Of them all, he esteemed especially the Stoic sages who taught that a philosopher has no homeland, but rather the whole world is his home.

Czudner, too, saw himself as a citizen of the world, as he expressed in his poem, “Facing Eternity.”

Who are you, poet? - I am an eternal servant.
What is your native land? - Every view, I lie there.
And your language? - The secret of the wind in the waves of the sea.
Your purpose? - There is no purpose in the flow of eternity.
In the pathways of the stars, in the loud chaos …
And the earning of your melody? - A wreath of thorns on the forehead
each nation will give me …

(“Ba-Derekh,” August 23, 1935)

In this poem, we see the philosopher Czudner, he sees in the poet a citizen of the world who was not born for one corner, but rather the entire world is his homeland.

The sad and tragic chapter of his life begins when Czudner goes to Odesa. His living in this city was a living of scorpions and we will imagine much around him. Storms and whirlwinds are well known and he was not given the sweetness of a private life. He went to Odesa in the middle of the years of the Russian revolution. A terrible famine existed then and Czudner was wrapped in hunger.

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Nevertheless, despite the famine leaving its marks on his body, Czudner continued his fanaticism for Hebrew. He secretly taught the Jewish children of Odesa Hebrew. Here is how Czudner describes the situation that he and the other teachers of the Jewish schools were in: “The Yevskis [=Jewish members of the Soviet Community Party] became strict as to the Jewish masses, all the “Tarbut” schools in Odesa were closed. In hiding and in secret, in forgotten corners, in attics and in basements, the zealous “Tarbut” teachers gathered around themselves classes of students and would teach them Torah and wisdom and Hebrew literature and would praise God in secret … with tears in their eyes, the pioneer Jewish teachers would tell their students from time to time about the prohibition decrees of the Talmud-Torah in evil Rome and about Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef, who was caught for the sin of spreading Torah in Israel and how they combed his skin with iron combs until he died on [the word] “One.”

In Odesa, the dream of his lifetime was fulfilled when he found himself among the fathers of Hebrew literature. And the day that he was able to stand with Bialik was enormous. Czudner met with Bialik frequently and he participated in a huge literary affair to honor the poet. He noted the episode like this: “a group of young Hebrew poets sat together and considered an important question: what would be the most appropriate rhyme [in Hebrew] for the name ‘Bialik’”?

- One said: “Who can disagree with the greatness of Bialik?”

- The second said: “Who would skip over the poems of Bialik?”

- A third tried: “It's impossible to push Bialik aside.”

But one of the young poets called out: “No one can disagree about Bialik.” This play on words spread quickly and, as they tell it, Czudner indicated that he was the composer.

Czudner wandered with Ansky through various cities in Russia and came to Petrograd [=Saint Petersburg]. It was there, in the hall of the Zionist student association, “He-Haver,” that he met Yosef Trumpeldor for the first time. He went to visit him at the pioneers' collective farm not far from “Krasnoye Silo” [=Krasne]. He met, likewise, with Ansky in his private apartment. Czudner tells that Ansky and Trumpeldor consulted each other over the matter of one military program: to establish a special Jewish military camp of 100,000 soldiers in Russia who would invade the Land of Israel via Caucasia and Armenia.

When Czudner spent time with Ansky in Petrograd in 1917, he met Gorky at a literary affair. He noted this occurrence from the mouth of Gorky: Shalom Aleichem sent Gorky a new volume of his writings that had appeared in a Russian translation, with a request that he give his opinion of it.

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Gorky replied to this in three words: “I read, I laughed, I cried.”

Czudner did not become integrated into the spiritual life of Odesa. His work at “Unser Zeit” wasn't enough for him because his wish was to be a Hebrew poet. At the beginning of 1923, he left Odesa and moved together with Nechama to Warsaw. In that year, the writers E. Steinman and T. Z. Weinberg published the monthly, “Kolot.” This was one of the excellent and high quality monthlies that were established for Hebrew literature. Unfortunately, it didn't last long and its publication ceased in 1924 when Mr. Steinman emigrated to Israel.

Czudner's first poem, called “Rags,” was published in this monthly (Issue 2, 1922). There is something prophetic in this poem. In it, Czudner conveys the approaching Holocaust, the end of Polish Jewry.

This poem should be printed in every Memorial Book, coming to immortalize the house of Israel in Poland that was destroyed. And this is its language:

Suffocated holy ones and punctured brains
Intestines that were hacked to pieces by a pitchfork and went out
Weakening struggles, hanging like strings
Chunks of hearts through sewer droppings!

The nothingness is cracked open -
And on the pierced belly of the world they crush
Horrors of all times …

They spread, they arise
The friends of the skeletons, the shocked skeletons
They will appear, they will gather - - -

In 1923, his book of poems, “Renanim,” appeared in Warsaw through the “Kolot” publishing house. This book is divided into five sections: 1) Longings (15 poems). 2) Wandering (7 poems). 3) Altars of Light (7 poems). 4) Views (11 poems). 5) In Your Hands (12 poems). The book received praise by the renowned critic, D. A. Friedman (“Ha-Tekufah,” Book 22, Tevet-Adar 1923, pp. 512-13.)

From where did Czudner stream his poetry? Dostoevsky established a great rule in the world of creativity. He said, in order to be a writer, one must suffer, be prepared to suffer, and know

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to suffer. Czudner's poetry was born out of the fate of pain and suffering. First he cried and then he wrote poems. In great suffering, he established the sanctuary of his poetry. His bitter poetry gave an echo of his voice through many colors of tears and horrors. Deep personal sorrow hovers over his poetry and it absorbs the pain and cries of a broken and anguished soul, wandering around in the path of torments, in the wasteland of life, without knowledge of the meaning of the suffering spread over the universe.

Nietzsche says: “Of all that is written, I only loved that which a man writes with his blood.” Czudner wrote his poetry with all his heart.

His book of poetry, “Renanim,” ends with a terrifying poem. Czudner sees in his mind's eye a terrifying vision and horror. The head of the devils, Ashmedai, approaches and he immerses the world in a river of blood:

Who?
Fragments of fire in the west, scattered, wild -
Frozen …
Labyrinth - and flags and blood pickles, torn! -
Who is it that will arise, who is it that will appear, who will burst out from the fire? …
A savage god? The bloody devil?

And the poet sees in his vision:
A river of blood, a world of blood
A world of steel …

In Warsaw, Czudner worked as a journalist. He was a member of the editorial staff of “Ha-Yom.” When “Ha-Tzfira” was resumed in 1926, he worked there until it closed in 1928. During this period, he translated “The First Tourists” by N.A. Ruvakin (Warsaw 1922 and Tel-Aviv 1936) and also worked on “Children of the Ghetto” by Zangwill (appeared in Tel Aviv in 1939).

In 1929, Czudner was invited to Vilna [=Vilnius] by Dr. Shalom-Yona Czerno to be a teacher of Hebrew literature at the seminar that he led. He came there with his wife and his two children. The children were very talented, spoke Hebrew among themselves (with an Ashkenazi pronunciation), and their father would compose for them children's poems and then add melodies to them.

Czudner was very active in the fields of culture and art in Vilna. From time to time he would lecture on literature and served as a literary advisor to “The Hebrew Drama Studio of Vilna,” under the directorship of Evo Gall, son of the composer, Jan Gall, of the great directors in Poland, who spent most of his days in Jewish Hasidic houses. Following the advice

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of Czudner, the Studio put on “The Cricket on the Hearth” by Dickens, “Masada” by Lamdan, and “The Destruction of the House of the Righteous” by Peretz.

Czudner was invited to Vilna both as a teacher in Dr. Czerno's seminar and as editor of “Galim,” a bi-weekly on literature and culture, the first issue of which appeared on February 1, 1929. In this issue, Czudner published a main article titled “Waves in Emptiness”: “You see,” Czudner says, “in every field of Hebrew in Poland and in the entire diaspora: waves, hawks, destruction. Isolated and scattered Jews, fading and unreliable Jews” … he saw in this journal a stimulus for the resurrection of the Hebrew language in the diaspora.

However, very quickly the hope that Czudner had pinned on “Galim” faded. This bi-weekly appeared for only 14 months and, with its closing, sorrow descended on our poet. He did not succeed in teaching and the sources of his livelihood came to an end. He went about sunk in bitterness and great emotional anguish.

And when Czudner felt as if everything had come to an extreme - the sun shone on him in Warsaw. And then the most interesting period of his life begins, when he reached the summit of his productivity and publishing - the period of “Ba-Derekh.”

In 1931, the cooperative, the “Haynt,” began to publish the Hebrew weekly, “Ba-Derekh,” under the editorship of A. L. Jakobowitz. The first issue appeared on September 1, 1931. Czudner was invited to join the editorial staff and later, when Mr. Jakobowitz emigrated to Israel, was appointed the principal editor and he served in this position until the weekly closed in 1937.

In “Ba-Derekh,” we see Czudner the fanatic fighter for Hebrew, the Hebrew book and the Hebrew newspaper. He took upon himself the vow that Yehuda Leib Gordon had taken in his time: “I am a slave to Hebrew for eternity, I have committed all my talents to it in slavery.” He burned completely with the holy fire, he was burned in the fire of the dream - to disseminate “Ba-Derekh” in millions of copies. In his letter to Daniel Perski on August 27, 1937, he wrote: “Tell me seriously: Isn't it true that one could acquire at least a million readers of “Ba-Derekh” in America? Please be so kind as to distribute “Ba-Derekh” in order to burst out and multiply into millions of exemplars in New York City and to reach the capital city, Washington.”

Czudner was not desperate. With the tenacity of a veteran fighter, he defended the fortress of “Ba-Derekh” with all his might so that it would not fall because that would be a hard defeat for the Hebrew movement in Poland.

However, breaking his heart, his cry, his siren did not provide the extension of days of “Ba-Derekh.” Three years later, the weekly died. The final issue appeared on Friday, December 31, 1937.

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With the closing of “Ba-Derekh,” Czudner's battle stick broke. He was deep in abject poverty and lived in a wretched room in one of the courtyards of Jewish Warsaw. The great tragedy that visited him with his wife, Nechama, the wife of his youth, going crazy, darkened his world. Dark clouds covered his skies. Indescribable sadness embittered his heart. He supported himself by giving lectures about Nietzsche. In Jewish Poland on the eve of the Holocaust, Nietzsche was in fashion. The Jewish learned were reminded with great fear that, in “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” Nietzsche spoke about the “inner beast” in man. Czudner was shaken by the horrible thought that this monster in man was manifesting itself in the form of Nazi Germany. And there was no shadow of a doubt in whom it would sink its claws first.

Czudner felt that Polish Judaism was standing on the edge of a deep abyss: that the same “savage god,” “bloody devil,” that he had envisioned in 1923 was coming and its ugly arms were closing on the House of Israel in Poland; that he could feel a flood of blood that would wipe out everything. He once wrote about this flood and now it was coming with dizzying speed. Now it was not a matter of poetry, of rhymes. Now Ashmedai stood behind our walls with the butcher's knife in his hand.

And then his songs went silent. His songs wandered. He hung up his violin, the sounds of its strings quieted. He suffered in his narrow room and his ears heard the waves of the sea of hatred storming around him. Pretty soon they would burst its banks. They would cover everything and the light of Israel would be extinguished.

And the worst came. Czudner was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto along with all the Jews of the city.

He looked at the stars, listened to the secrets of the Warsaw night on the eve of the Holocaust, and delved into the mysteries of the world that were beyond his comprehension. Soon an entire nation will be brought to slaughter, the evil of the nations gathered against us, and there is no one to rescue us from their hand. The heavens are silent.

His two sons slept. They appeared peaceful and calm. The miserable father looked at his children and, with the great fear in his heart, the terror of destruction. Soon the killers would come. His cared for children would go to their deaths and not even one to eulogize them would survive.

Mr. Hillel Zeidman writes about his end in these words: “Czudner's situation did not improve in the ghetto and, painfully, he took books from his library, put them in a cart, and stood at the corner of Novolipski and Carmelitzski streets and sold his books. He added other books to his books - and died of hunger.

When I would pass by Czudner's book cart, I would make it so he didn't see me. I was embarrassed to see a Hebrew writer in such a state.

When a small coin came, Czudner left his merchandise and managed to enter a “workshop”

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on Novolipya Street, but he wasn't happy with his lot. His heart was drawn to the community archives. There are more Jews there with whom one can speak about literature and about the chances for the future.”

Dr. Ringelblum brings an interesting detail in his book, “Notices from the Warsaw Ghetto” [in Yiddish]. He points out that Czudner did not sell all his books, but rather kept important books for himself. “A writer remains a writer” - Dr. Ringelblum concludes.

Even when a sharp sword was hanging over his neck, still a spark of hope flickered in Czudner that he might escape hell. However, fate decided otherwise. His end was like the end of others - expulsion and death.

Czudner left the dirt of Korets, but he did not return to it. And we do not know in which dirt his ash is buried. The poet did not even merit the curse of God to be fulfilled - “For - dirt you are and to dirt you shall return.” Czudner did not return to the dirt. In a crematorium in one of the extermination camps, he turned into disappearing dust.

And so the star of Czudner. He went up as a sacrifice as one of the great zealots and fighters for the Hebrew language, to it the holiness of his suffering and humility. As every mortal, he was not free from flaws, but “it is forbidden to speak ill of the dead.” Those whose bitter fate brought them a martyr's death in ghettos and extermination camps - they are freed from all their sins.

Czudner was sanctified in the cloud of fire in which his soul arose in purity. He was cleansed of all his sins and written in the book of the holies whose names will warn throughout the generations.

I thank the “Bio-Bibliography Institute” of the Organization of Hebrew Writers and Dr. Alkoshi who permitted me to look at the biographical and literary material of Czudner.

E. L.

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