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[Pages 190-192]
(Glod, Romania)
47°43' 24°05'
Romanian: Glod
Hungarian: Glód
Translated by Jerrold Landau
Edited by Yocheved Klausner
| Year | Population | Percentage of Jews in the General Population |
| 1830 | 67 | [664 residents] |
| 1920 | 225 | 22.9 |
| 1930 | 218 | 21.4 |
We have no information about when the first Jews arrived in Glod. Apparently, it was not before the latter third of the 18th century. In any case, no Jews are noted in Glod in the Jewish censuses of the 1720s, 1730s, 1740s, and 1760s.
In the census of 1830, the following heads of family are listed in Glod (number of individuals in parentheses):
Mihai Appel (7), Hirsch Glazer (7), Yitzchak Glazer (3), Marco Leichter (5), Mozes Farkas (2), Hirsch Appel (4), Tzipa Gross (4).
The community became organized during the first half of the 19th century, when the cemetery was opened and the ritual bath [mikva] was erected. A wooden Beis Midrash was constructed at the end of the 19th century. It was renovated and expanded during the 1820s. The mikva was beneath it. From among the communal institutions, it is worthwhile to mention the women's charitable and benevolent organization. The ritual slaughterer [shochet] Reb Leibush was a great scholar. He also served the neighboring villages of Slanita, Polienele Glodului, and Botiza.
Glod never had an official rabbi. The community was affiliated with the rabbinic district of the community of Rozavalea. At the end of the19th century, a great scholar, who was ordained as a rabbi by the Torah giants of Hungary and Galicia, settled in Glod. He was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Margolis who was born in 5635 (1875). He married the daughter of Reb Shmuel Zanwil Kahana of Dragomireşti, who was the son-in-law of the well-known Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Modran of Sziget, one of the choicest students of the Geonim Rabbi Eliezer Deutsch of Bonyhád and Rabbi Yehuda Greenwald of Satmar. In Glod, he earned his livelihood from commerce and became wealthy. He was the spiritual leader of the Jews of Glod, directing their way in Torah and adjudicating questions of what was permitted and forbidden. In 5668 (1908) he answered the call of his Hassidic rabbi, the Admor of Ottynia, and moved there. There too, he served as a preacher of righteousness, a rabbi, and a disseminator of Torah to the students. He delivered a public sermon every Sabbath without expectation of remuneration. He left behind many Torah commentaries in manuscript form that were not published. After the First World War, he was chosen as the rabbi of Horinesti (see entry), and died in sanctification of the Divine Name in Auschwitz.
While he was living in Glod, his rabbi responded the following responsa to him:
Responsa Pri Hasadeh Section I, paragraph 112 (5666 / 1906): Your pleasant lines reached me, in which you sent us strong comments on the words of the Rashba”m on the Torah (Portion Bo) that are very confusing…
Ibid. Section II, paragraph 24 (5666): … You asked about the situation where your father of blessed memory died, and the thirty day mourning period concludes on the 14th of Nissan, whether you would be able to shave on the eve of Passover…
Ibid. Section III, paragraph 53 (5664): Regarding someone who was married, and lived with his wife for ten years without having children. He thought that the issue was with her, so he divorced her and married another woman who already had children. He lived with her as well for ten years, and they did not have any children. Now it was clear that the issue was with him since his wife had previously given birth. He went to a physician… who must examine his semen to see if it is possible to cure the situation… and now he is very bitter… regarding the serious prohibition of releasing semen in vain, G-d forbid…
Reb Mendel Yaakov Stern, a great scholar and wealthy man, from the prominent Stern family of Săliştea, was among the first Jews to settle in Glod. He was an enthusiastic Hassid of Reb Menachem Mendel
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of Visznitz, the author of Tzemach Tzadik. He made aliya with his grandson in the middle of the 19th century and settled in Safed.
The son-in-law of Reb Mendel Yaakov Stern was Reb Chaim Aryeh the son of Reb Shraga Feibush Kahana, a fourth generation descendant of the author of Kuntrus Hasfeikot. He too was a scholar and a wealthy man. He earned his livelihood from raising livestock on a large scale. After fattening up the livestock, he would separate out a tithe for the poor. He died at an old age in Sziget and is buried next to the burial canopy [ohel] of the author of Kuntrus Hasfeikot.
The son of Reb Yosef Mordechai Kahana settled in Sziget. He disseminated Torah and the fear of Heaven for many years. He had a unique methodology of instilling the love of Torah and fear of Heaven in the hearts of his students, distinguishing him from the rest of the teachers of the town. He perished in Auschwitz on 26 Iyar 5704 (1944).
The administrators [parnassim] and notables of the community of Glod during the 1880s, before the First World War, were Reb Hirsch Lipman, Reb Itamar Rosenfeld, Reb Shlomo the son of Reb Yitzchak Zelig, Reb Shlomo the son of Reb Shmuel [their family names are not noted], Reb Tzvi Salamon, Reb Yaakov Salamon, and Reb Yaakov Greenfield.
The vast majority of the Jews of Glod were Visznitz Hassidim. Some of them were Hassidim of Krechineff, Spinka and other Admorim. Their livelihood was no different than that of the rest of the Jews of Maramures: small-scale agriculture, raising of cattle and sheep, acting as agents, and small-scale commerce. At the end of the summer, they would make plum jam for sale, and would also be involved in the export of fruit, especially of apples, for the land produced such in abundance. A unique source of livelihood for the Jews of Glod was the quarrying of millstones from the mountains of the region. The millstones were known for their high quality. Between the years 1934-1940, a branch of the JCA (Jewish Colonization Association) organization existed in the village, which helped with constructive loans for the improvement of agricultural works and products. Some of the Jews of the villages were supported by their relatives who immigrated to the United States.
Until the end of the 1920s, the Jakubovitch family maintained a sawmill, from which Jews of Glod also earned their livelihoods. However, it closed. Levi Yitzchak Jakubovitch owned two water-driven flourmills. The village notary was for the most part a Jew. During the latter inter-war years, Mendel Polak and Velvel Glazer filled that role.
The well-known philanthropist Menachem Chaim (Max) Glazer was a native of Glod. His father Reb Elia the son of Reb Shimshon Glazer was a G-d fearing Jew who was engaged in benevolent acts, and pursued charity and kindness. He had nine children, including seven sons. Three of the sons perished in the Holocaust (Yehuda Leib who perished in Ukraine, Avraham Meir, and Shmuel). Four of them live in the United States and are very active in Jewish life. Max Glazer donated large sums to the Jewish natives of Maramures in Israel as well as to the Memorial house to the martyrs of Maramures. He visited his native village of Glod in 1937, and from that time, he, along with his brothers, would send significant sums to the poor of the village, especially before Passover and Rosh Hashanah.
Mr. Menachem Chaim Glazer died suddenly during a meeting of the Federation of the Jews of Maramures on 22 Sivan 5841 (1981) at the age of 72 in New York.
This was a great loss for the federation, for he was dedicated for many years to issues of the Jews of Maramures in New York and Israel. He was one of the major donors to the federation, and he also donated a significant sum to the establishment of the Maramures House in Tel Aviv to perpetuate the memory of his parents. In his will, he commanded his sons to follow in his path and to donate of his fortune in the future to the federation in New York and to strengthen the Maramures House in Tel Aviv.
Rabbi Yehuda Yoel Deutsch, one of the prominent leaders of the federation wrote in his eulogy for Menachem Chaim Glazer, among other things, the following words: He had a warm Jewish heart, and was prepared to assist anyone who turned to him. “He arrived in New York 50 years ago from the small village of Glod and tried his luck. With the passage of time, he succeeded to become a respected, large-scale shirt manufacturer. He supported Yeshivas, Torah institutions and the State of Israel.” “The crowning achievement of his communal work was in the framework of the federation.” (Algemeiner Journal, July 24, 1981). Indeed, a man who was the living spirit of the Federation of the Jews of Maramures has departed from us. He stood at its helm for many years.
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| Mr. Menachem-Max Glazer and his wife Sarah, the chairman of the Federation of Jews of Maramures in the United States, at the laying of the cornerstone of Maramures House |
The second brother, Moshe Glazer, who moved to Spinka before the war, wrote his memories and impressions of Jewish life, especially of his family in Glod. Some of his words were included in this article.
When the Hungarians entered Glod in September 1940, they began to systematically confiscate anything that came to hand: cattle, grain, clothes and other valuables. In 1942, several Jews of the village were drafted for forced labor and sent to Ukraine. The vast majority of them perished there. On the other hand, the gendarmes snatched Jews on their own accord for local work: carrying rocks for paving roads, digging ditches, and other such things.
At the end of April 1944, the Jews were gathered together and sent to the Dragomireşti Ghetto, from where they were deported to Auschwitz for annihilation.
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Survivors of the village returned to Glod after the war (in 1947, their numbers reached 38), but they left the village after a short time, and most of them made aliya to Israel.
Today, there are no Jews in Glod.
Bibliography
Nachman Cohen: Glod and its Jews, Maramures-Sziget [Journal in Hebrew, Yiddish and Hungarian] edited by Yehoshua and Helen Reich, Tel Aviv, Issue 39, 1968, page 8.
Moshe Glazer: Memories of Glod, and especially of his family, in a Yiddish manuscript.
Shmuel Noach Gottlieb: Oholei Shem, Pinsk 5672 / 1912, page 214.
Reb Eliezer Deutsch: Responsa Pri Hasadeh, Section I, Pécs, 5666 / 1906, paragraph 112; Section II, ibid. 5669 / 10909, paragraph 24; Section III ibid. 5673 / 1913, paragraph 53.
Archives of Yad Vashem: MIE/2600
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