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One of the first members of the branch of “Tzeirei Zion” in Sokyryany and one of the head activists of “Tarbut.” There was no Zionist or cultural project that Shalom Shochet z”l did not participate in, as fund raiser or contributor, for twenty years. In this respect he was one of a few in Sokyryany. In addition, he was called and responded to every public enterprise and was alert and active in everything. He showed great activity in the establishment of the building of “Tarbut” school, cared for the existence of the institution and also for the existence of the rest of the public institutions in the city such as the library, kindergarten and others. He mostly took care of “Shaarei Zion” synagogue where he served as a Gabbai from the first day of its establishment.

Shalom Shochet

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As many like him, S. Shochet did not live to enjoy the radiance of Israel despite his twenty years of dedicated work for its construction. During the Soviet regime he suffered greatly because of his Zionist past and if not for the war he would have been sent to the land of exile. He was among the exiles to Transnistria. His frail body could not withstand the torment of exile and he died in a foreign land. 

His wife, Malka, who helped him in his business and also in his Zionist work, and his three sons who received a Zionist education at home, managed to reach Israel after a lot of wanderings.

May his memory be blessed.

Of the finest youth of Sokyryany, one of the first founders of the branch of “HaTehiya,” and later one of the active workers - the driving force of “Gordonia.” At the end of her life she was among the loyal workers of Tzeirei Zion who devoted themselves to “Young WIZO.” By nature, she was gifted with a healthy mind and strong logic, was fearless and had a great power of persuasion, was involved in social life and accepted by all. She was alert and ready to help each sufferer and needy.

Yochevd Brill

All work given to her was done with dedication and precision. She was diligent in her actions, moderate in her thoughts, and above all, she loved to read and sought knowledge.

She was energetic and full of life before the Soviet invasion in 1940, but soon, her spirit broke and when she was exiled to Transnistria she could not bear the shame of hunger and humiliation.

She perished together with all of her family in Transnistria's hell.

May her memory be blessed.

My beloved brother, Yakov z”l, found his rest in a foreign soil, far from his homeland and his family, in the Jewish Brigade Cemetery in the city of Ravenna, Italy.

He was born in Sokyryany in 1921. Was alert and active since childhood, had a great athletic ability and was an instructor at the local chapter of “Gordonia.” He immigrated to Israel on 2 September 1939 in the illegal immigrant ship “Tiger Hill” - a day after the outbreak of the Second World War. He immediately joined his group that shortly thereafter ascended to Hanita. He was among its loyal builders and protectors.

He wanted to join the British army immediately after the first mobilization call, but his many duties in the kibbutz prevented him from doing so. However, after he received the bitter news about the loss of our mother, sister and grandmother in exile in Transnistria, there was no power in the world that could stop him. He wanted to avenge the death of our family in the hands of the terrible oppressor that rose on our nation.

He asked to join the “commando,” in order to leave immediately for action, but only out of special consideration to the nation's responsibility to establish the Jewish battalions he agreed to join the Jewish infantry. With the establishment of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group he was given the opportunity to fight the enemy face to face and expressed his full satisfaction in his many letters from the front in Italy.

He fell on 5 Nisan 5705, 19 March 1945, by a German bullet in the first attack of his unit (the second battalion of the Jewish Infantry Brigade) on enemy positions.

Our family paid a very expensive price in the terrible Holocaust that befell our nation, mother, sister and the whole family perished on the way to Transnistria's inferno, Yakov fell

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in the Italian front and father z”l died from a serious illness when he came to Israel after many years of wanderings in the American Diaspora. May their souls be bound in the bond of all the Jewish martyrs.

Yakov Butnikl

R' Leib Beider z”l, who was called Leib Doctor, was born in 1833 in the city of Bar in Podolia. He was orphaned from his parents at a young and tender age and was brought up by his sister in very difficult conditions. It was during the notorious period of the “Cantonists”

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who ambushed Jewish children, especially abandoned orphans, and handed them over to the Czar's army. For a long time he lived in a Christian home, disguised in “gentile” clothes. Eventually, he and his sister left the city and reached the city of Kalis [Kalyus]. From there, they crossed the Dniester by ferry to the village of Neiparatova and from there to Sokyryany where he settled and lived as a doctor for close to sixty years, until the day of his death in 1920.

R' Leib Doctor and his family

The extensive Zucker family, who lived in Sokyryany, was also related to our family. The family of Shmerel Zucker took the orphan Leib to its home, dressed him nice and sent him to the “Heder.” The boy excelled and made good progress in his studies. When he grew the question of “purpose” aroused: what will be his future? Out of self-decision the teenager left Sokyryany and traveled to Kamianets-Podilskyi. There, he entered to work at the Jewish hospital as a simple sanitary worker. Because of his knowledge and his command in the Russian language, he was given the opportunity to study to be an assistant surgeon, and at the end he also received a diploma. He earned most of his knowledge in medicine from his experience at work. He was especially an expert in children diseases and orthopedics. For sixty years he managed to heal and take care of several generations of Sokyryany's people and was liked by them until young and old called him “uncle Leib Doctor.” When someone fell ill in Sokyryany, they first turned to him and after setting his diagnosis he directed the patient to the right doctor.

For many years Leib Doctor walked to visit his patients. Only towards old age he bought a cart harnessed to a white horse and in this manner he traveled to his visits. In the winter he used a winter cart. Who, from the people of Sokyryany, cannot remember him?

They came from all the villages in our area to his house which turned into kind of a small hospital. He also had a small pharmacy at home that provided all kinds of powders, pills and ointments to his patients. He was especially liked by the poor. Not only that he did not ask them for a payment, he also gave them free medication from his pharmacy. At time of need he added a gift of money or the equivalent of money: a butchered chicken, eggs and potatoes to revive the soul of the patient who didn't have the means to buy them.

With his death, Sokyryany, and the surrounding area, lost one of the best men that was loved by all who knew him.

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R' Chaim Yona, son of R' Yehoshua Heshel Dayan z”l, was born in 1848 in Ukraine, in the town of Kalush on the bank of the Dniester River, and died in Sokyryany at the age of 83. In his childhood he studied in various Yeshivot and was famous as a prodigy in the entire area. He especially excelled in excellent memory. He was more than just gifted - he had a retentive memory.

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R' Chaim Yona, son of R' Yehoshua Heshel Dayan z”l

After his marriage he settled in Jarczow, Podolia, and a short time later moved to live in Sokyryany, a place where he engaged in teaching for the rest of his life. He was respected by his students who were educated, under his guidance and influence, in the lap of the Talmud and its commentaries. Many of his students still live in Brazil and there are also many in Israel - most of them know Hebrew.

In addition to the extent of his humility he was also gifted with virtues. He didn't want to get rich and was satisfied with little. He didn't do his job to exploit it, just to earn enough for his humble existence. He was a prayer leader at the synagogue where he prayed, but not for a financial gain.

He was the first in Sokyryany to establish kind of a school for simple people and craftsmen. Every Sabbath, or holiday, he read before them

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from the weekly Torah portion, taught them Pirkei Avot or preached on current affairs and Jewish customs, and, of course, free of charge. The masses adored him because of this and raised him to the level of a saint.

All his life he lived the life of poverty and hardship, and despite that, when he was offered the job of a rabbi in Brazil, he refused from the grounds that it will be difficult for him to observe the Jewish customs there.

He died a sudden death, on Sabbath eve, when he left the bathhouse. Those close to him saw in it a good sign because his pure soul left in purity.

His offspring, his sons and their sons, carry his name with pride and honor - the name Dayan.

My mother, Gitel, daughter of R' Zev Mendel Dayan, was born in Mogilev-Podolski. She came from a distinguished lineage and the signs of her attribution were evident in her gentle manners. As a woman of valor she helped her husband to support the family. If it was ever said: “too much wisdom was given to a woman” - the intention was to a woman like her. And indeed, she was called a “man's brain.” Many came to ask her honest advice. She was the announcer at the women's section and many waited for her to speak. She engaged in public needs with trust, every needy person turned to her for help and she responded to the best of her ability.

May the memory of our parents be blessed for the members of our family and all who knew and admired them when they were alive.

As a graduate of the first classes he also saw his main role in the research of ancient literature and its integration in the new Hebrew tools. He saw it as a great destiny and therefore, dedicated to it most of the time that he saved from the few hours of rest that were left to him after a hard day at work. He loved the Greek literature the most, not only because of its rich content, but because of the climate in it. It seemed to him that we lack the intellectual climate, in which things are expressed, and the serenity that hovers over the Greek work. This is the accurate and quiet language, not a

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fiery language, but a language of warmth and growth. He thought that it would be a great deed if he will help to inject this spirit into our literature. He studied Greek, translated it, and intended to do a lot with it. His last work was the translation of Aristotle's book “The Art of Poetics.” He wrote an explanatory preface that can be used as a general introduction to the beautiful Greek literature.

Three virtues were rooted in his soul. He loved to study and read, loved the Torah in the full sense of the word, and it is possible to say, without exaggeration, that if there is a victim for the love of learning he was a victim of this love. He lived the life of poverty and hardship for many years, his living conditions were meager but he has not given up on the interest in which he found the reason for his existence. He literally killed himself for the study of the Torah. The purpose of his study wasn't for a career or a climb in the social scale, but for the study itself, what our forefathers called “Torah for its own sake.” Nowadays this phenomenon isn't very common. The articles he wrote, and his translations, prove that he earned a deep knowledge in the subject he dealt with and everything that was entailed in it. He was meticulous and careful with every fact and every line. He had scientific integrity and everything he had done was an act of a mature adult, a literary asset.

He loved people, always showed affection and fondness, concession and forgiveness. Was careful not to say something that might offend a person and has done nothing that might do harm to someone. And this, not because he lacked the will to do so, but because of the attitude of holiness for all people that was rooted deep in his soul. Despite his limited means of existence, he supported and helped those who were humble like him. Who did not recognize the man in the big reading room at the National Library that graciously answered those who asked and guided those who sought knowledge? He was able to listen and absorb the tune playing in the soul of every person because he loved people.

He loved life in the lofty and deepest sense of the word. He hated bustle and noise, but was excited with the morning breeze, the spark of light, the beep of a bird and the laughter of a child. He loved life in its beautiful manifestation.

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There was love in him for the Torah, love of a person and love of life and everyone drew from the source of rhythm that beat in his soul. This dry philologist, why did he researched the “scales” and clarified the tempo of Hebrew poetry? Why did he saw to translate the “poetics” of Aristotle? He loved the rhythm, the comparable sound, and indeed, in the moments when his emotion overcame him, he took the violin that he brought from his homeland, Bessarabia, and strummed the sounds of rhythm for himself.

In this world, where there's a lot of pushing and shoving and agitated people, the heart is breaking that the life of a humble working man, who lived in purity and contributed to Jewish culture, came to an end.

He originated from Medzhybizh, the town of Baal Shem Tov. Was related to an important rabbinical family and his name, Heshel, testifies to that. He was named after the Apter Rebbe, Avraham Yehoshua Heshel. He came to Sokyryany after he married my mother, Ita z”l, who was also not a native of Sokyryany. Her father's nickname, HaRav Mordechai Mirshov, testifies to that. As a daughter I find it hard to give an objective assessment about my late father, this has been done by Mr. Igret. I knew that he was respected by the residents of our town and was called by all “a fine young man.” He was mostly respected for his honesty, his knowledge and his practical wisdom. His proverbs, sayings and parables were said by all.

He built his life - our life - on strong foundations of love for others, love of Israel and, especially, the important values of Jewish culture. We were four children at home - three daughters and one son, and he prepared each of us towards our duty in life. Despite his difficult material circumstances he didn't prevent us from studying at school. He saved bread from his mouth and supported us when we left to study abroad.

The four of us immigrated to Israel thanks to his great influence on us. He spoke day and night in praise of Israel, and when one of us became a heretic, father felt it immediately and tried to expel the evil “spirit.” I remember, that once I was caught to the left, father saw that his words and his admonition no longer had an impact, so he said: “my daughter, do me a favors and immigrate to Eretz-Yisrael, and there, I'm sure, you will be cure from your illness. And so it was, I immigrated, and later my sisters and my brother also immigrated.

With our immigration to Israel he also saw immigration for himself and thought that we would help him. All the time that we were here he begged us in his letters to do something for him,

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but we didn't do enough and because of that we missed the opportunity and the hour. He, who loved the country and dreamed about it, rotted in poverty and hunger, illness and loneliness, and died in a defiled land far from those that he loved.

My beloved father, I know your birth date - Lag B'Omer, but I don't know the date of your death and probably would never know. I didn't nurse you on your death bed and I didn't close your eyes, may your name, and the name of our beloved mother, be blessed for eternity.

He wasn't just a teacher, but a teacher in the full sense of the word. He established generations of students and developed, in all of them, love for the Torah and good deeds, and especially to Eretz-Yisrael.

He respected others and also knew to appreciate his students. For that reason he was respected by all. He was kindhearted and humble by nature. He did not speak pompously, hated the authority and fled from honor. I once heard from one of his students: “R' Mordechai from Yarishov was the principal of a school for higher education in Judaism, he was a teacher for teachers.”

Before his death he called his only son, my uncle Mendel who also had my grandfather's spark, and told him in the presence of my father z”l:” You must know that the family's livelihood precedes Kaddish” and with these words he passed away. May his memory be kept forever.

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