[Page 293]

Until a few weeks ago, a journey from Memel to Telshe was a difficult undertaking–about ten hours on the train–but now that the new Telshe–Kretinge line is complete, it's a short jump of just a few hours.

All the Jewish cultural organizations and institutions can be found in Telshe, as in all Lithuania.  These include two Hebrew kindergartens, a public school and a high school of the Yavneh group where the entire Jewish youth receive their education.  The high–school is only for girls, but it provides an ample amount of the knowledge and subject matter that boys study, the majority of whom are preparing for the large world – famous Yeshiva.  If the Hebrew poet Yehuda Leyb Gordon could see his Telshe now, where he had been a teacher of Russian, he would be amazed at the great advance and enlightenment that just a couple of generations have achieved.  He would also surely have celebrated the Jewish daughter, who is now entitled to receive an education and has equal rights to study Torah and related subjects.  There is now a Benot Ya'akov (Daughters of Jacob) society where women recite Chumash (The Five Books of Moses) with Rashi (medieval rabbinic commentary) –– and I'd venture to suggest that they are doing no worse than the male “reciters” (students) in their own societies.

The town also has active institutions, such as the OZE humanitarian organization, the Bikur Cholim (visiting the sick) Society, a Free–of–Interest Loan Fund (Gemach), a people's bank, the associations: Maccabi, (sports organization), Brit–Trumpeldor, HaShomer HaTza'ir, and Zionist parties of all persuasions.  It is interesting to note that in contrast to other cities where the expression “He is a Zionist” indicates a community activist engaged in Zionist affairs, there it indicates, “He sympathizes with Zionist thought”– just like in the old times when Zionism was first arising.

The influence of the Yeshiva on the city is strongly felt.  The Sabbath is observed – people don't go to the movies on Shabbos.  The public is more observant than anywhere else.  There is also an overall orientation toward learning.  When Zionists of different philosophies have arguments or disputes, they do so as scholars, precisely and not superficially.  They show that they are conversant in their own as well as in their opponent's ideology.

And what about earning a living?  Jews are groaning; it's hard times, like everywhere.

1. Morgen Post, March 1, 1933 return

[Page 301]

In its appearance and size, Telshe was perhaps not different from other Lithuanian shtetlach.^[1] But in quality, Telshe occupied a very important role in Jewish life, not only in Lithuania, but also beyond its borders. Telshe was the site of the renowned [Telshe] Yeshiva, which was a spiritual center of European Jewry. The Yeshiva attracted many young people who came there to study all the way from the depths of Russia, from Germany, [and] even from America.

One of the leaders and founders of the Yeshiva was the well-known Telsher Rav and Gaon, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon. He was beloved and esteemed by the entire Jewish population. After his death in London, in 1910, there was a photograph of him on the wall of almost every home.

Before my time, about 300 young men studied at the Yeshiva. A large proportion of them came from poor homes. For this reason, they participated in the custom of essen teg (“eating for a day”), meaning that each day they ate in a different local home.^[2] But the poverty did not prevent them from learning, and of them it could be said, “Bread and salt shall you eat; measured water shall you drink; and on the ground you shall sleep …. – that is the path of the Torah.”^[3]

The Yeshiva's doors were open 24 hours a day and young men were constantly sitting and studying with great diligence and dedication. The accomplished prodigies and dedicated full-time learners would study through the long winter nights. These were the character types who were celebrated by Chaim Nachman Bialik in his poem “Ha-Matmid – The Dedicated Talmudic Student.”^[4]

With time, after the First World War, the Yeshiva established a series of educational institutions for the religious and traditional youth. In those institutions, they studied general subjects in addition to religious studies and the Talmud. The Yeshiva also founded the Yavne Teachers' Seminary, with one division for male teachers and a second for women teachers. A full 8-grade Yavne gymnasium [an advanced high school] was established for girls as well as a Yavne elementary school.

After the First World War, the non-religious circles also became more active: The Zionists [and] the Bundists began to carry out more activities, organized various courses, [and] established lectures about literary and political topics, and similar subjects.

And when it was all developed and flourishing at its peak – the terrible Holocaust came.

Telshe will be engraved in my heart as long as I live.

[Page 302]

Around the cliff, next to a grove of fir trees, There flows a creek Where a bridge was built with stones. There is my little town of Telz. Around the market with butchers' shops Houses stand in rows Children are playing with their slingshots. Proud Jews are going to pray. The Great Synagogue and the tailors' house of prayer Are filled with Jews, just as is the market. Yeshiva people from every house Are strolling from the tzerkve[1] to the Green Hill.[2] In the old, deep well The water is as clear as a mirror. I am looking in it as if I am in a dream Where has all of this gone? Wind, take into your embrace my prayer Of longing, accompanied by a tear. The heart melts For my little town which is no more.

1. The term for a Russian Orthodox church. The St. Nicholas Orthodox church was built on Vilnius Hill in 1867 upon the site of a Catholic church. In 1932, during the Lithuania's initial period of independence, the Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania transferred the church and lands back to the Catholic community. return
2. The Samogitian Museum “Alka” (Lithuanian: žemaičių muziejus „Alka“) is situated on the Green Hill. return

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