Strzyzow, Poland

The Book of Strzyzow and Vicinity
(Strzyżów, Poland)

49°52' / 21°48'

Translation of
Sefer Strzyzow ve-ha-seviva

Edited by: Itzhok Berglass and Shlomo Yahalomi-Diamond

Published in Tel Aviv, 1969

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Phyllis Kramer z”l

Our sincere appreciation to Genia Hollander & Helen Rosenstein Wolf
for typing up the English text to facilitate its addition to this project.

Our thanks to Stefanie Holzman for extracting the pictures from the original book,
enabling their addition to the project.

The Hebrew-Yiddish text was printed in Israel
and translated by Harry Langsam in Los Angeles, USA

Our sincere appreciation to Harry Langsam for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Strzyzow, Poland: Sefer Strizhuv ve-ha-seviva
(Memorial Book of Strzyzow and vicinity), Editors: J. Berglas, Sh. Yahalomi (Diamant),
Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Strzyzow in Israel and Diaspora, 1969 (H, Y 480 pages).

Note:The original books can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Strzyzow (1969) and Strzyzow (1990)

Purchase details for a printed copy of this translation can be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_Strzyzow.html

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
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JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
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Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Welcome to Strzyzow(Coordinator's introduction)

Dedication	1
Acknowledgment	2
Commemoration of Martyrs	3
Quotation from poems of Reb Yehuda Halevi, and Uri Tzvi Greenberg	4
Strzyzow my little town- Shlomo Yahalomi	5
The book of remembrance- Itzhoc Berglass	7
Do Not Forget- Shlomo Yahalomi	8

ABOUT THE RABBIS IN STRZYZOW - Shlomo Yahalomi	10-19

The spiritual Strzyzow	10
Rabbis who served in Strzyzow and became famous	10
Rabbi Aryeh Leib Halevi	11
The godly kabalist, Rabbi Eliezer Fishel	11
The Tzadik from Ropczyce, Rabbi Naphtali Horowitz	11
Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro	12
The holy Rabbi Elazar from Lancut and Strzyzow	12
Rabbi Israel Dov Gelernter	13
Rabbi Shlomo Shapiro	14
The Tzadic Rabbi Alter Zev Horowitz	19
The Assistant Rabbis in Strzyzow	19

STRZYZOW AND ITS INHABITANTS- Itzhok Berglass	21-61

Strzyzow my birthplace	21
The population in Strzyzow	23
How did the Jews make a living	24
The Rabbis in Strzyzow	24
Stryzow and its inhabitants	25
The Rabbi from Sassov	27
The community leadership. “The Kehillah”	28
The spiritual and social life of the Jews	30
Sabbath and holidays in Strzyzow	31
Family life in Strzyzow
Emigration	36
The synagogues in Strzyzow	36
The public bathhouse	39
The cemeteries in Strzyzow	39
Charity institutions and their activities	40
Jewish traditional education in Strzyzow	43
Secular education	47
Political parties in Strzyzow	50
The Zionist Movement in Strzyzow	51
Professionals and intelligentsia in Strzyzow	57
Negative types	57
Converts	57
The relationship between Jews and Poles	58
The Ritter story	58
The pogrom in 1898	59
Memories from the 1898 pogrom - Tzvi Sternberg	61
The pogrom in Strzyzow in 1918 - Itzhok Berglass	62
The blood libel in Strzyzow - Itzhok Berglass	63
Strzyzow and its inhabitants	66
These I Will remember - Shlomo Yahalomi	68
People who studied the Torah - Shlomo Yahalomi	70
The Yeshiva Eitz Chaim In Strzyzow - Shlomo Yahalomi	71
The cheders and the melamdim - Shlomo Yahalomi	71
Reb Mordechai Rosenbaum - Shlomo Yahalomi	72
Reb Yechezkiel Gorgel - adam's apple - Shlomo Yahalomi	72
Reb Yosl from Brzozow - Shlomo Yahalomi	73
Reb Israel Leib Karp - Shlomo Yahalomi	73
The Agudat Israel - Shlomo Yahalomi	73
The relationship between Agudat Israel and Zionists - Shlomo Yahalomi	75
One among thousand - Moshe Mussler	76
When did the Jews settle in Strzyzow - Moshe Mussler	77
First rays of progress in Shtetl - Moshe Mussler	78
The forbearers Of the Holocaust - Moshe Mussler	80
To you, Kaddish I say my dear shtetl - Pinchos Klotz Aloni	81
Strzyzow - Yechezkiel–Harry Langsam	84
The Bais Yacov School in Strzyzow - Gold Miller–Langsam	85
Hassidim in Strzyzow - Mordechai Schiff	87
My Shtetl - Eliezer Gruber	88
How Mordechai Goldberg save the town - Tzvi Elazar Sternberg	90
My Shtetl Strzyzow - Leah Loos	91

PERSONALITIES AND EVENTS

About the old Strzyzow A royal visit at Reb Aaron Kanner - Shlomo Yahalomi	96
Reb Joel Margalit, of blessed memory - Shlomo Yahalomi	98
Reb Itzikl Diller makes a choice between Sandz and Sadigora - Shlomo Yahalomi	98
How Rabbi Chaim from Sandz gave a thrashing to Reb Shlomo from Zyznow - Shlomo Yahalomi	99
Rabbi Alter Zev Horowitz - Shlomo Yahalomi	100
Rabbi Nechemiah Shapiro - Shlomo Yahalomi	103
The Assistant Rabbi Yacov Shpalter - Shlomo Yahalomi	106
Memories from Strzyzow - Itzhok Deutch	107
A Miracle - Itzhok Deutch	108
A Jewish Heart - Itzhok Deutch	110
Hanukkah in Shtetl - Harry Langsam	111
Piquant stories from Strzyzow - Heschel Diamand	113
An awful story about “Rev'EE” - Heschel Diamand	113
How Reb Yosl, the sexton, had suddenly gone deaf - Heschel Diamand	114
Reb Baruch Berglass - Shlomo Yahalomi	114
Reb Avrehmal'E Goldman - Shlomo Yahalomi	116
Reb Hershel Gelander who Chanted the Mussaf Prayers - Shlomo Yahalomi	116
My father, my teacher, Reb Joseph Diamand - Shlomo Yahalomi	118
Reb Elazar Wurtzel. The Man of hints and gestures - Shlomo Yahalomi	121
Reb David Wiener - Shlomo Yahalomi	122
Reb Feitel Last and his son Shlomo - Shlomo Yahalomi	123
Reb Chaim Mandel - Shlomo Yahalomi	126
Reb Yeshayahu Mandel Hacohen - Shlomo Yahalomi	127
Reb Chaim Yacov Nuremberg - Shlomo Yahalomi	128
“A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed” - Shlomo Yahalomi	129
Reb Yacov Schiff - Shlomo Yahalomi	135
Half of the rewards in the hereafter - Shlomo Yahalomi	136
“When the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty” - Shlomo Yahalomi	139
In memory of the faultless and the simple Jews - Shlomo Yahalomi	139
The righteous and the beloved, Reb Eisik Holles - Moshe Mussler	143
Reb Eisik the Sexton - Moshe Mussler	144
The Teachings of Moshe Mendelsohn - Moshe Mussler	146
A Tree Was Cut Down Prematurely - Moshe Mussler	147
The Faultless - Moshe Mussler	149
Meir Hertzkes - Moshe Mussler	150
The clever and the not so clever. Shlomo Bier - Moshe Mussler	151
Meir Ber who was intimate with the authorities - Moshe Mussler	152
The eccentric Heschel Holoshitz. “Heschel the peasant” - Moshe Mussler	154
The needy - Moshe Mussler	156
The unfortunate families - Itzhok Berglass	157
The first Zionist in Strzyzow - Itzhok Berglass	160
Rizhi, the righteous woman - Itzhok Berglass	161
There were four of us - Itzhok Berglass	162
Reb Simcha Feingold, of blessed memory - Ben Ami Feingold	164
The large, well–rooted families in Strzyzow - Shlomo Yahalomi	165
The Adest family, The Berglass family, The Diamand Family - Shlomo Yahalomi	166
The Holles family, The Kanner family, The Mandel family - Shlomo Yahalomi	168
The Mintz family - Shlomo Yahalomi	169
Reb Hershel Resler and his sons–in–law - Shlomo Yahalomi	169
The Rosen brothers, The Schefler Family, The Sturm Family - Shlomo Yahalomi	170
The Tenzer family - Shlomo Yahalomi	171

ABOUT DAILY LIFE AND TRIVIAL EVENTS IN STRZYZOW. ODD STORIES

Gentiles Reciting the Prayer “Shema Israel” - Itzhok Berglass	173
The District Commissioner's Party - Itzhok Berglass	173
The Thousands That Were Burned - Itzhok Berglass	175
The Prescription - Itzhok Berglass	175
A Conscientious Ignoramus - Itzhok Berglass	176
The “Resolution” by the Rabbis to Observe the Sabbath Twice a Week - Itzhok Berglass	177
The Relations Between the Jews and Gentiles - Itzhok Berglass	177
The Jews Extinguished the Fire in a Gentile House - Itzhok Berglass	177
How the Jews Saved Gentile Property during the Flood - Itzhok Berglass	178
The Zionist Movement and my Road to Zionism - Leah Loos	178
Repentance - Leah Loos	180
The Deal with the Ukrainians - Itzhok Berglass	180
The Elections to the City Government - Itzhok Berglass	181
The Unsuccessful Intervention - Itzhok Berglass	183
Jewish Contact with the Authorities - Itzhok Berglass	185
How the Word “Choshiver” was Changed to “Hashomer” - Itzhok Berglass	185
The Election to the Polish Parliament - Itzhok Berglass	187
The Kindergarten Inspection - Itzhok Berglass	188
This Also Happened in Our Town - Moshe Mussler	189
Long Live the Kaiser - Moshe Mussler	192
Books Burned on the Auto–Da–Fe - Moshe Mussler	193
Inference - Moshe Mussler	194

FROM THE DISTANT AND NOT SO DISTANT PAST OF STRZYZOW

The Man Who Was No Coward - Shlomo Yahalomi	195
A Proper Answer - Shlomo Yahalomi	195
A Clever Jew - Shlomo Yahalomi	195
The Merchandise is Already Packed - Shlomo Yahalomi	195
A Powerful Word - Shlomo Yahalomi	197
Everything Has To Be Her Way? - Shlomo Yahalomi	197
What was Reb Hersh Ber the Sexton Doing? - Shlomo Yahalomi	195
The Rabbi's Insinuation - Shlomo Yahalomi	198
The Righteous Who Never Sinned - Shlomo Yahalomi	195
Good Morning - Shlomo Yahalomi	198
The Story About the Treasurers Who Were Forced to Resign - Shlomo Yahalomi	198
Reb Baruch Diller Explained That the Willingness is the Essence - Shlomo Yahalomi	198
The “Dreadful Story” about Mother's Earrings - Shlomo Yahalomi	198
With or Without a Permit - Shlomo Yahalomi	200
What is a Mitzva and How Did Joshua's Spies Cross the River Jordan - Shlomo Yahalomi	200
He Used Hands Without Having Said the Proper Blessing - Shlomo Yahalomi	200
The special “Sabbatical Inspiration” - Shlomo Yahalomi	201
The Father and Son's Card Game - Shlomo Yahalomi	201
The Son Sued the Father - Shlomo Yahalomi	201
Reb Hershal'e Schiffs Eye Glasses - Shlomo Yahalomi	201
Reb Israel Gertner Opposed Buying on Credit - Shlomo Yahalomi	202
Such a “Repentant Sinner” - Shlomo Yahalomi	202
Yacov or Yacov Chaim - Shlomo Yahalomi	202
Every Rabbi Specializes in a Different Sickness - Shlomo Yahalomi	202
Which Fast Was the Best? - Shlomo Yahalomi	203
And What is Called a “Ruined Holiday” - Shlomo Yahalomi	203
“We Implore Thee, O Lord, Prosper Us” - Shlomo Yahalomi	203

MEMORIES FROM STRZYZOW

In The Days Past - Professor Dr. Ch. Lehrman	204
Contrasting Worlds - Professor Dr. Ch. Lehrman	217

THE HOLOCAUST AND THE AFTERMATH

The Second World War and the Holocaust- Itzhok Berglass	233
Children in captivity- Itzhok Berglass	253
After the war and the Holocaust- Itzhok Berglass	255
1967- Itzhok Berglass	259

WORDS OF CONTEMPLATION AND THOUGHTS

Judaism and Nationalism - Rabbi Israel Frenkel	262
A Partial Answer, Regret and Guilt - Rabbi Israel Frenkel	266
Our Strength Against a Hostile World - Rabbi Israel Frenkel	268
Martyrdom and the Sanctity of Life - Rabbi Isaac Glikman	269
I Shall See the Holocaust Before My Eyes Forever - Shlomo Yahalomi	272
Remembrance and Forgetfulness - Rabbi Samuel Nachum Frenkel	276

WRITTEN BY SURVIVORS

In Memory of My Family – Obliterated in the Holocaust - Itzhok Berglass	279
My Family - Shoshana Ginsberg nee Scheffler	281
My mother - Pinchos Klotz–Aloni	281
Father Said: Do Not Remain Here - Shulamit Grinwald–Hasenkopg	282
The Bitter Account - Shlomo Yahalomi	284
My Father Reb Chaim Itzhok Kalb - Ben Zion Kalb	289
The People of Israel Shall Live! - Leah Loos	290
In Memory of My Parents Who Perished Somewhere in Poland - Dr. Chanan Lehrman	292
Memories from My Father's House - Seryl Fishler–Mandel	294
My Holy Father the Martyr, Reb Abraham Kalb the Shochet, of Blessed Memory - Ben Zion Kalb
In Memory of My Father and My Town - Menachem the son of Moshe Kandel–Nuremberg
In Memory of My Family - Ruth Kremerman–Russ	298
In Memory of My Father, Sister with Her Family - Harry Langsam	298
Days and Years in Strzyzow - Chana Schiff–Shmulewicz	301
Eta Hacker, (From the Landesman–Diamand Family) - Shlomo Yahalomi	303
How I Found Out About the Town of My Origin, Strzyzow - Shlomo Neumann	304

FROM THE LEGACY OF THE MARTYRS

Naphtali the Son of Reb Chaim Mandel…May G–d Avenge His Blood	306
Why Did G–d Punish Me So Severely? - Eta Federbush–Diamand	307
Excerpt From a Letter Written to Leah Loos in Eretz Israel - Liba Greenblatt and Sarah Alta Mandel	308
Letter From the Nazi–Occupied Territory - Eta Falk–Dembitzer	309
A Letter to Itzhok Berglass in Pimia, Siberia - Chaya Feirush–Berglass	309
A Letter to Itzhok Berglass in Pimia, Siberia - Nechama Bernstein–Berglass	310
A Plea for Support to the Secretary of the Strzyzow Society in the United States	310
Letter of Recommendation from Itzhok Berglass	313
Letter of Recommendation from Abraham Tenzer	315
Letter from the Free Loan Society in Strzyzow To the Strzyzow Relief Committee in New York	315

THE VICINITY

The Little Towns - Itzhok Berglass	317
The Villages - Itzhok Berglass	318
The Village Lutcza - Itzhok Berglass	319
The Jewish Villagers were the Pillars of Benefaction - Shlomo Yahalomi	320
Reb Eliyahu Bilut from Lutcza - Shlomo Yahalomi	321
Reb Yechezkiel Wallach from Lutcza - Shlomo Yahalomi	322
The Large Diamand Family - Shlomo Yahalomi	323

MEMORIES FROM THE DAYS OF THE HOLOCAUST

The cup of sorrow from which I drank during the Holocaust years - Moshe Mussler	324
At the edge of the Sheol - Shlomo Yahalomi	332
On the third anniversary of my exile - Shlomo Yahalomi	332
Seven Rosh Hashanahs - Shlomo Yahalomi	333
Purim in jail - Shlomo Yahalomi	334
Passover. The festival of freedom in prison - Shlomo Yahalomi	337
Rosh Hashana 1940 in the Odessa prison - Shlomo Yahalomi	338
Shavuoth night, 1941 - Shlomo Yahalomi	339
Rosh Hashanah, 1941. In the collective farm “Mocry Maidan” near Saratov - Shlomo Yahalomi	340
Go ahead. Pray! Rosh Hashanah 1942 - Shlomo Yahalomi	341
“In the land of the free”. Rosh Hashanah 1943. “Peat Enterprises” - Shlomo Yahalomi	342
United with my brother once again. Rosh Hashanah, 1944. - Shlomo Yahalomi	343
Rosh Hashanah 1945. The last Rosh Hashanah in Soviet Russia - Shlomo Yahalomi	344
Memories from the land of Exile - Itzhok Berglass	345
The location of our exile - Itzhok Berglass	346
The protest - Itzhok Berglass	348
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good” - Itzhok Berglass	348
The holidays in Siberia - Itzhok Berglass	350
Memories of the first days of Poland's occupation by the Nazi - Simcha Langsam	352
The situation in Strzyzow - Simcha Langsam	354
Memories - Simcha Langsam	357
Zitomir - Simcha Langsam	359
Ben Zion Kalb saved many Jewish lives during the Holocaust - Shlomo Yahalomi	364
Letter from the Jewish Agency	365
Letter from Rabbi Weismandel to Ben Zion Kalb	369
A postcard from the valley of death	374
Letters to Ben Zion Kalb from Taivia Lubetkin and “Antek” Itzhok Zukerman, leaders in the Warsaw ghetto	374
My last Simchat Torah in Strzyzow - Harry (Yechezkiel) Langsam	379
Memories from the days of horror. Jumping off the death–train - Itzhok Leib Rosen	380
The struggle with the Jewish “Kapos” - Itzhok Leib Rosen	381
“Yiddishkeit” in the German concentration camps - Itzhok Leib Rosen	383
The horrible years. 1942–1945 -Hilda Mandel-Feit	384
Surviving in the Lion's den - Pearl Strengerwoski–Rosen	385
“Kol Nidrei” in Auschwitz - Joseph Weinberg	387
My road of suffering - Reuven Greenbaum	390

FOR THE HOMELAND

The Fighters - Itzhok Berglass	391
Yacov Feingold, of blessed memory - Itzhok Berglass	391
To the Laterbaum Sisters - Itzhok Berglass	391
The Casualties - Itzhok Berglass	393
Joseph Asher, of blessed memory - Leah Laos	393
My brother Michael Kalb, of blessed memory - Aryeh Kalb	397
Moshe Lehrman, of blessed memory - Aryeh Kalb	399
Parting, Eulogy by Rabbi M. Shapiro - Aryeh Kalb	399
My comrade Moshe - Shlomo Levi	400
Tzvi Navon, of blessed memory - Shlomo Levi	402
Tzvi Navon, of blessed memory, on the shloshim of his death - Zalman	402
To my brother - Chaya Levin	404
Aaron, the son of Yacov Kanner, of blessed memory - Chaya Levin	406
Aaron Kanner - Chaya Levin	406
Chanan Abraham Kalb, of blessed memory - Chaya Levin	406

THE DESTRUCTION OF FRYSZTAK

How the Nazis annihilated a Hassidic shtetl- Menashe Unger	408
The Rabbi of Koloszyce in Frysztak- Menashe Unger	410
The holy headscarf- Chaim Lieberman	412

LIST OF THE MARTYRS OF STRZYZOW AND VICINITY

Of thee I cry, my eye is shedding a tear - Simcha Langsam	415
The list of martyrs	417
The martyrs of Frysztak and Czudec	431
The departed in the Holy Land	433

IN MEMORY OF OUR BROTHERS, THE JEWS OF STRZYZOW

The Monument	434
The Torah Scroll	434
The text of the inscription on the plaque	440

REMNANTS OF THE COMMUNITY

Natives of Strzyzow throughout the world - Itzhok Berglass	441
Israel	443
United States of America	446
Canada, Latin America, Brazil	449

REMNANTS OF THE COMMUNITY IN EUROPE

Poland, Germany, England, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria	453-457
To the conclusion of this book - Shlomo Yahalomi	458
Update on Strzyzow	462
A memorial to Chudnov, in the district of Zitomir, U.S.S.R. - Harry Langsam	464
Pictures from Stryzow	466
Memorial Pages	497
Glossary	539
Name index	545 to 557
Photographs from Strzyzow	558 to 560

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