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Ber'leh Katriel's The day grows, getting lighter, The sun spreads its magic power, High, up high the sparrow hawk flies --- The Spring is in its full force… The streets fill With the din of people, A variety of classes Differing in their gait. Jews in kapotes hurry, Their caps turned to the side, The eyes search fro a couple of zlotys – The yoke of making a living is oppressive… Among them also steps, The wise, lean and stern, Arbiter, ‘Ber'leh Katriel's’ The real estate broker. If there is any place in town, To rent out a residence, Ber'leh makes his move And begins to communicate it about town. He does not hurry, he knows his worth, Everyone must acknowledge him He will find a buyer, Even if he is under the ground. And if, in town, preparations begin For a Din-Torah, Both opposing sides Request that he be the arbitrator. His words – become renown A tongue like a spear It is plain pleasure to listen to ‘Ber'leh Katriel's’…

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On the Marketplace And they also rank in importance, Gently going step by step The doers of good and Yeshiva headmasters, The entire cream of the city. Children hurry off to Heder, With large strides, And the older ones – already mature males, Go to the secular schools. To the gymnasium in uniform, Unobservant trash, Who take pride in ‘studying’ And violate the Sabbath. And wise guys in caps, Uncultured working class youth, Who mock the pious And sing songs of freedom. And also Jewish women with cages With kerchiefs on their heads, They carry on, babble and warm themselves With fire-pots. Everything draws one to the marketplace, The son, right along with his father, It is, after all, Thursday, business; There will be haggling. Peasants arrive in masses, With fully laden wagons They occupy all of the streets From the halls up to the Synagogue…. And it hums like a beehive, One shouting down another, One voice reverberates like a bell, That drowns out everyone else.

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‘Hamai, Hamai, Hamai Wybieraj’ Socks, safety pins, suspenders, stockings! ‘Hamai, Wybieraj, dla baby raj’[1] Pins, beads, and bracelets… Near an outlet with finished goods, A peasant stands, trying on a jacket, His stomach is too big – what can you do, Just a bit is missing, a fragment, a bit. The Jew takes him in hand forcefully And squeezes him – like a rotten apple, He presses his stomach in with his knee And buttons up the button. Prima! – He slaps him on the back, And opens that response talk --? The peasant doesn't stop to think And counts out a couple of groschen for him…. Voices intermingle one with another Man and horse, Jew and Christian --- Apples! – Plump bananas! ‘Today for money, tomorrow for free’… A whole kilo for a tenner! ‘Come over here Ber, the driver!’ ‘Plump chickens, ducks roosters!’ Fifty groschen a kilo – Ladies! ‘Kvass-apples, gold-dates!’ It literally melts in your mouth – ‘And the voices demand, beseech With anger and crying.’ And suddenly screams break out, And a robust argument is underway, And the curses fall about, Like potatoes from a sack. And one is rewarded with dark imprecations With nails and teeth in the sight of the enemy, Two Jewish women are dragging a peasant by his legs They are killing each other over a customer there.

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Two porters, really solid characters Also begin to get involved– ‘Your father's father's father should get diseased, Going back to Adam, the first man.’ Until Max the guard arrives, Shouting out in Yiddish – ‘Say it yourself, this isn't nice!’ ‘Jews, go your way!’ An immediately how quiet and still it gets, People quickly move away, Only the horses whinny And the dogs bark angrily.

Hilkeh'leh A little old man, a bit green, With gray, flat eyes, Among cages full of chickens, Hilkeh stands with the Hilkeh business. Shrunken, scrawny and small, The wind plays with his beard, He no longer has any teeth in his mouth, He can barely utter a word. Despite this, he does a world of business, With roosters, chicken – without end, He has yet to be found short Of a real good, plump fowl. He does not shout, he cannot shout, He's too old for that, He won't be telling tales for much longer, It is so dear and – so what? He holds a rooster in his hand, And feels him like one should, It costs a zloty – with a ton He says – quietly and sharply. And from ‘Hilkeh’ you can get Chickens – and a large turkey, And also baby chicks – like wings Barely out of the eggs.

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And also Roosters from Kalekutsk, With red combs – fire! And also chickens -- thin as stick, But are egg layers. If you want ducks, geese, turkeys, Which will simply gladden your heart, Small ones, large ones – like a ram Red, yellow, white and black. You will get it all from him He has the goods aplenty He is always very busy – He has buyers without end. ‘Hilkeh’ sits among them all Like a king upon his throne He eats a roll with savor Holding a rooster in his hand…

Deaf Moshe and the Pony And here appears, With a scraggly beard, Dragging himself along, step by step, ‘Deaf Moshe’ and his pony. He keeps his pony pretty decently, And his poverty keeps growing larger – He tries to condition it away from Eating to much. And the customers joke – In horse lore – a great specimen He is raising it on fasting So it will get closer to its end… Every day a kilo less, Instead of oats – plain hay Despite the fact he is getting leaner, thinner, Still he drags along so-so. Practically weaned him entirely of eating A ‘Hey’ in the Siddur and ‘Oy!’ It has completely forgotten The taste of oats, and hay and straw.

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Until one time when it stood unmoving It didn't want to go anymore, that's it – Suddenly! -- he doesn't know from what It lays down and dies. He doesn't react too strongly to this, He doesn't even scratch himself, He runs over to the horse merchant And buys himself a fresh ‘cat.’ And so he drags himself, thank God, The sun shines on his bit of a beard, In the crowded market turmoil With his half-dead pony…

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Tomaszow, which lay in the area between Warsaw and Lemberg, had, as its principal thoroughfare, which we called a ‘szosai’ (a paved road) which cut through the length from Tomaszow. On the north side, it was called the Zamość Gasse, which started from the house of Yehoshua Bergenbaum, a grain merchant, and from the south, it was called the Lemberg Gasse, or as the Jews called it, the Kiri Szosai. It was on this street that all the municipal and district offices were concentrated, which ended with the building of the Starosta. In the [decade of] the 30's the settlement developed and became built up all the way to Blonder's factory.

In the center of the town was the marketplace, or as it was called, the ‘Rynek,’ a very large four sided area, which was built up with houses which in the front were businesses (stores), together with dwelling space. From the east, the Fatretzer Gasse was cut out, or as it was once called the Szkoler Gasse, which stretched to Sznury.

To the west went the Krasnobrod Gasse, which stretched to Rebbe Nachman's yard, and was later built out up to Rogozno, from the edge of the marketplace on the northeast, ran Starozamojska, which led to the cemetery; and from the southeast, was the Koscielna Gasse, which was entirely occupied by Jews. From the south west corner, was the Synagogue Gasse, which led to the Praga and Wola the most densely occupied poor Jewish neighborhood. Ulica Tadeusza Kosciuszki street stretched away to the west, which went as far as Baretsky's forest. Among the principal streets a labyrinth of side streets could be found, which was densely occupied by Jews. The Christians mostly lived on the outskirts of the city, and in the ‘Parcela.’

Despite the fact that a large number of wood products and grain merchants could be found, whose commerce was not tied down to the marketplace, nevertheless, the principal commerce was tied into the marketplace, which apart from the stores around the marketplace, and the side streets, four rows of stores were built in the middle of the marketplace about 150 years prior by the Jews, in which each block contained 50 stores. After Poland's establishment [as an independent nation], when the Jewish population grew larger, and there was no other means of making a living beside trade, the Jews constructed an additional four rows of new businesses which was called the ‘Halles.’ Ninety-nine percent of these businesses belonged to Jews, with the principal earnings coming on the market day, in which the travelers to the villages would also set up stands, but the competition was very great, and very little was earned. With the rise of the gentile ‘Spoldzielnias’ and the economic boycott, and the screwing up of taxes especially aimed at Jews, many Jews were ruined, and didn't have enough wherewithal to make it through the day.

After the First [World] War, the Jewish community brought in Dr. Shulman, the first Jewish doctor. Before the Second [World] War, three doctors were already living in town, apart from the Jewish lawyer, Mandeltort from Zamość and Nick from Lemberg.

In Tomaszow, the so-called corner scribes were still in existence who wrote applications in the Sand and the Magistrate, or Urzad Skarbowy. They were Abraham Steinworcel (der Nagid) and Itcheh Mekhalis.

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There were also two Jewish dentists: Eliezer Dornfeld, Secretary in the Magistrate, and Peltik Lederkremmer in the Tax office.

Despite the fact that the majority of the population was Jewish, the authorities never permitted a Jewish Burmistrz to be elected. Since the establishment of Poland, the Burgomasters were Krzyzanowski, an old drunkard, Ligowski, a very energetic man, he had all the streets in the city paved, Dr. Jablonski, and the last was a Colonel Emeritus, Jan Minar, from the AZAN Camp. Jews were represented in the elections for the office of councilman.

In the period between the world wars, Avigdor Eidelsberg, Lejzor Lederkremmer, Yaakov Lederkremmer, Shmuel Shiflinger and Henry Edelstein served in this capacity.

It was in keeping with the times. Up to the First [World] War, people were called by their father's or mother's name. After the First War, more by their family name, but part of the families had a collective surnames had been handed down from generation to generation. It is interesting that among the original family names one could find such names as Schwindler, Schmutz, Totengraber. The family nicknames were ‘Tsapes, Kozakn, Flei, Bmenokis, Zalupeh's, Nitz, Kaserchikeh's’, etc.

The older generation was entirely one hundred percent observant, and in general it was religious Jewry that put its stamp on the city. Not a single business was open on the Sabbath (apart from the hairdresser). When the market day fell on a Festival holiday, even the peasants didn't come to town, because all the places of business were closed.

The Synagogue, 2) The Great Bet HaMedrash, or as it was called, the ‘Plain’ Bet HaMedrash, 3) The Second House, where the simple folk congregated, 4) The Belz shtibl, 5) R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl, 6) The Bet HaMedrash of the Hasidim, where the Kotzk worshiped, 7) The Chelm shtibl, 8) R' Nachman's shtibl, 9) The Kielce shtibl, 10) The Sanz-Cieszanow shtibl, 11) The Ger shtibl, 12) The Radzyn shtibl, 13) The Husyatin shtibl 14) The Trisk shtibl, 15) The Mizrahi Minyan, 16) The Agudah Minyan, 17) The Zionist Minyan.

Rabbi Yerakhmiel Weinberg (The Rebbe of Krylov), Rabbi Ary' Leibusz Rubin (The Rabbi of Cieszanow), Rabbi Meir Abraham Frischerman (The director of Law), Rabbi Mordechai Shukh (Novardok Yeshiva), Rabbi Sholom Yekhezkiel Rubin (Netzakh Yisrael).

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Ritual Slaughterers

R' Mordechai Joseph Baum, R' Yaakov Schneider, R' Sholom Tarim, R' Wolf Ber Luszczanowsky Kaufman (The Shokhet of Zditicz), R' Baruch Sega”l Hurwitz.

It was considered an honor to perform this task, for which they did not receive remuneration, but did to discharge the mitzvah.

R' Yaakov Schneider, a slaughterer and inspector, R' Yekhezkiel Lehrer, R' Pinchas Goldstein, and R' Baruch Hurwitz, slaughterer and inspector.

Moshe Leasers, Elazar Shammes (The Synagogue), Nahum Zucker (The Great Bet HaMedrash), Abraham Reinman, Yitzhak Stern, Yaakov Prager, the Gabbai of the Rabbi of Cieszanow, who was also led services.

The Tomaszow Rabbis in the year 5691 [1931] gathering Maot Hittim From the right: R' Ary' Leibusz Rubin ז”ל (The Cieszanow Rabbi), and Rabbi Yerakhmiel Mordechai Weinberg ז”ל (Rabbi of Krylov)

Mizrahi Heder, ‘Yavneh,’ where the [children of] the modern and Zionist sympathetic parents were.

Agudah Heder, Yesodei HaTorah, where [the children of] the Hasidic and ultra-orthodox parents were concentrated.

Bet Yaakov (orthodox girls' school).

Apart from these, there were very many private tutors.

Elementary: 1) Abraham Shimon Hochman, Bezalel Kellner, Lejzor Zalman Schnur.
Beginner's Gemara: Pinchas Korngold, Zalman Bezhis Weltsher, Nachmi' Beinwohl, David Ofen, Meir Laneil, Mendl Laneil.
Gemara with Tosafot: Aharon Untzig, Simcha'li Herzog, Benjamin Tepler, Meir Klarman.

When the higher Heder classes were completed, the young lads went to study in the Cieszanow shtibl, [or] Rabbi Yehoshua'leh's shtibl. The Novardok Yeshiva, Bet Joseph, was located in the city for a short time, and the last to be organized was the Yeshiva Netzakh Yisrael, under the direction of the brother Rabbis Meir and Yekhezkiel Rubin, and a part of the young lads traveled to study in Yeshivas in faraway places.

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Secular Studies

The majority of Jewish youth did not attend the general school because they studies in the Agudah-Mizrahi Heders, or in the case of the very ultra-orthodox, who as a matter of principle, didn't want to send their children to the Szkola. They received their secular education from the private tutor Joel Handelsman (Badkhan) and Yaakov Szerer. Both were known in the city as teachers that taught the Holy Tongue, Yiddish, Polish, writing and arithmetic.

The lads who studied in a shtibl, but wanted to know Polish, applied themselves assiduously under Shevakh Wolkowsky's brief.

Despite the fact that there was a gymnasium in the city, only a small percentage of the Jewish children who completed the Powszecna Szkola proposed to continue their studies in the intermediate school, because of poverty, religious observance, and anti-Semitic limitations that were placed on Jewish children.

Apart from the Jewish congregation and the Hevra Kadisha, which oldest founded institutions, there existed: 1) A Gemilut Hasadim Bank, 2)Lekhem Aniyim, 3) Linat HaTzedek, 4) A Women's Aid Society, 5) A local school of the stocking factory,6) Family Purity Committee, 7) The Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess Charity.

However, it is worth remarking that because of the prevailing way of life, most of these charities were conducted as a result of private initiatives, on a single basis, and not organized. Also, each shtibl had its own assistance committee. To help their own people.

The Jewish Volksbank, the Merchants Society which was established in the period of ‘Grabski's Wagon,’ and led by Moshe Baretsky, a manual trades union, a small business society.

In the summer, young people would swim in Balan's river, not far from the slaughterhouse (a legend circulated in the city that the river must claim a victim every year). Also, one would go to get fresh air in Baretsky's forest, which was also called Siwa Dolina.

In the city, there was one cinema in Dom Ludowy, and one private cinema belonging to Mr. Galecki on the Lvov Street.

This is in addition to the events that were available to each person in his own [political] party.

Agudat Yisrael, Tze'irei Agudat Yisrael, Poalei Agudat Yisrael, Pirkhei Agudat Yisrael. Mizrahi, Tse'irei Mizrahi, Torah V'Avodah B'nai Akiva. General Zionists, Tse'irei Zion, Poalei Tzion on the Right, HaShomer, HeHalutz, Bund, Zukunft, Freiheit, Zionists, Revisionists, Betar, Brit Khayil.

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Emigration

Up to the First World War, the poor populace emigrated to America, and the large majority of them traveled only for a couple of years to make a few dollars and then return. After The First World War, when the gates of America were locked, the young people emigrated to the Land of Israel, and to South American countries.

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At a Wedding Reception From the right: Abraham Singer, Yekhezkiel Heller, Rabbi Sholom Yekhezkiel Rubin, Yerakhmiel Steinberg (the Groom) and Rabbi Meir Rubin Standing: Peretz Singer

A Complaint from [deleted][1]

With God's help

[In Hebrew]

To be publicized by R' Mendl Weissleder, how R' XXX was called to a Torah court, approximately four or five weeks ago, and did not comply, and after arriving, and officially received a personal subpoena that he should present himself, and after which he was sent for three times, and [still] did not present himself, and afterward he has a need to defend himself, permission is granted to R' Mendl Weissleder, to fine R' XXX with all manner of fines that he can levy against him, this being published, with God's help on the fifth day of [the portion] Tazria 25^th of Adar II 5798 here in Tomaszow, signed by Meir Abraham Frishman the Teacher of Justice of this location.

Let the Community See This, and Judge!

[In Yiddish]

As it is well-known according to law, a defendant who deliberately avoids trial may not be counted to a minyan, and quite obviously is not eligible to lead prayer services.

I inquire further, whether a community may discharge its obligation to have the Shofar blown on Rosh Hashana by such an individual.

Let the Heavens Hear!

Mendl Weissleder

The original is in my possession, and I can show it to anyone who would like to see it.

D. Z.

Jews listen to a fine orator in the Bet HaMedrash From right to left: Shlomo Knopf, Nahum Zucker (Shammes), Mendl Sykevich and Yekhezkiel Reisenfeld

Were I to desire and summarize the principal characteristics of our city, I would say the following:

The Synagogue was our beauty and our splendor, our pride and our brilliance, [it was] the greatness of the Jewish residents, and in it, we had something that we could take pride and elevate ourselves. It was among the very few synagogues in Poland with its beautiful artistic architecture, age and history.

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The Great Bet HaMedrash, the gathering point of the city, were all municipal and private issues were aired out, either privately, or in public.

The Hasidic shtiblakh, the living nerve of the city.

The organizations, the nest of the awakening and roiling young people.

The Cieszanow Rebbe, the strengthening of faith, joy and spiritual refreshment.

With the Rabbis, control over ritual life of the Jewish community.

The Shamashim, the implementation organ of the Torah-based regime of the Rabbis and the congregation.

Despite this, there is a desire to refresh one's memory, to extract additional facts in order to memorialize the way of life of our home city, where our cradles stood, and we brought our various dreams and striving to fruition, where our forbears raised generations of faithful Jews, who, under the most difficult circumstances, clamored with their last shred of energy to adhere to those sacred principles that we received at Mount Sinai. The city, that was a link in that great golden chain which was called ‘Polish Jewry.’ [It was] the heart and mind of the Jewish people, the great reservoir of life, the spiritual pool from which all countries all over the Diaspora, and with the Land of Israel at its head, drew their ethnic and spiritual force, it was such a fruitful community, which was so gruesomely and murderously cut down in an Amalek-like fashion.

It is, therefore, worth memorializing at greater length, and in greater detail their way of life, customs and practices, which will be for our own benefit and perhaps serve in some small way, to inspire our children, whom we must raise as faithful heirs and representatives of that great and highly valued Polish Jewry.

Our city was never too well off economically. There was a small number of wealthy people, and a small number of homeowners, but the majority consisted of the so-called Jews who were balebatim, storekeepers and the ordinary folk, which consisted of manual craftsmen and small time village traders, who worked hard for their living, and regrettably, most did not extract a decent living from doing so, and did not live in particularly comfortable dwellings. Up to 1916, there was no electric lighting, pipes were entirely unknown, water distribution was something we heard about, and one did not even dream of refrigerators and washing machines. Central heating was found in only one house in the entire city, this being Sejmik Powiatowy. Water was carried by a water carrier, and firewood for heating the house had to be provided by one's self, or in later times with coal. One would get up before dawn, to clean out the ashes, heat up the fireplace, getting up early in the morning and going to the Bet HaMedrash to recite a bit of the Psalms, or to study a chapter of the Mishna, Gemara, and to peer into a Hasidic text, and then to pray together with a minyan, and then come home.

Only then, did one take to work, opening stores, or beginning to do labor in the work places. All day long, a procession of Jews came through the stores and work places, not only the buyers, but those seeking a handout, for all manner of needs, for respectable impoverished people, who lived far away. To do this, young men went together as a team to do this. When one went home for the evening meal, a poor person was invited along to be given something to eat. As a Jew is wont to say, if there is provision for 8, then we can accommodate 9. All that is required is to add a spoon, and in many cases the guest was also invited to lodge. The children were pushed together, and a place was made. When children arrived, bunk beds were constructed. Weddings, circumcisions, signing of wedding contracts, redeeming the first born, all this was

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organized in the home. A Bar Mitzvah celebration was totally unheard of. Among a small number of the young boys from the ‘more well to do families’ a festive repast was held for a very tight circle of relatives and friends, or simply, a whiskey toast was imbibed. The wives of the balebatim baked their own Challahs, and cakes in honor of the Sabbath, and a few even baked and entire ‘baked bread’ to last for the entire week. Every one of the houses of the balebatim had a baking oven, and every Sabbath, that was the place where cholent pots were placed, and on the top of the oven, tea and coffee for the Sabbath.

For a wedding, the preparation of baked goods began months in advance. Among the wealthy, a cook was hired, while among the poor, relatives helped with the preparations. The wedding canopy was set up, and the ceremony was performed on the Schulhof, out of doors, but in every home where a wedding was due to take place, on the Sabbath before the wedding there was a ‘Prelude.’ The groom was called to the Torah, and in most instances was honored with the ‘Maftir’ aliyah. After worship there would be a Kiddush, and Saturday in the afternoon, a special party took place for the young men, the friends of the groom. If the groom had any acquaintance with scripture, he would deliver a short simple homily. One did not need to be an accomplished scholar to do this, because if one didn't come up with something original, one could learn what to say from a book, and in general, the groom could be certain that more than quoting the first verses from the Gemara or Rambam would not be possible, because the custom was to interrupt these remarks with a joyful march in order not to embarrass anyone who was not capable of doing this. Also, the girlfriends of the bride gathered around her to participate in her bidding farewell to her girlhood. Before the wedding, the groom and bride, separately, visited with Rabbis and Jews of good will to receive their blessing. On the day of the wedding they were kept apart under lock and key for the entire day, weeping, and doing repentance for the past, and prayed for a good future, especially reciting the prayer of being privileged to able to bring worthy and observant generations into the world.

A groom, who was from out of town, was anticipated, and was met on his way into the city with singing. Before the wedding ceremony, the young men would come to greet the groom, and immediately after the Rabbi came for the badeken, the young men departed, because it was considered shameful to tarry at the wedding ceremony, not to say the meal afterwards, unless you were among the close family. After reciting the blessing for the meal, a ‘Mitzvah Dance’ was performed, in which each of the fathers danced with the bride, holding opposite ends of a napkin. After the wedding, the bride had her hair cut off, and a number donned a wig, or put on a kerchief, but this custom waned over time. The escorts to the wedding canopy were largely the parents of the couple, meaning the fathers, from both sides, would escort the groom, and the two mothers would escort the bride. At the wedding of a second child, the parents did not do the escorting. At the wedding of the youngest child, the parents were adorned with a floral crown at the time of the ‘Mitzvah Dance.’ The groom wore a kittl during the wedding ceremony, and the Rabbi was the one who performed the wedding ceremony. The Ketubah was written by the town Cantor, or the Shammes, and for this it was necessary to pay all who officiated.. Among the very observant, the newly married couple were never called by their name, but rather ‘say you,’ or, ‘hear you,’ especially among the Rabbis who would refer to themselves as ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Rebbetzin.’

When the Good Lord helped out, and a child was expected, people engaged in a variety of deeds to secure a good result. Holy books such as ‘Raziel Mal'akh’ or ‘Noam Elimelekh’ were put under the pillow of the expectant mother. If a boy was born, then the happiness was complete. Every day, the Belfer would come to read the Shema with the little children at evening, on Friday night, a male, before the circumcision, on a weekday evening, and then the circumcision itself, with a party. The Hasidim were especially rigorous in their observance of this protocol. Being a Mohel was considered to be a calling of high honor, and therefore did not command compensation. In the end, the people who performed the role of a Mohel were: R' Yaakov

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Schneider the Shokhet, R' Yekhezkiel Lehrer, R' Baruch Horowitz, the Shokhet, and R' Pinchas Goldstein. Naturally, all of these men who performed circumcision followed through with oral cleansing of the cut (Metzitza B'Peh) without exception^[2]. The honor of being the Sandak was usually accorded to the Rabbis or Rebbes.

Until the age of three, a boy's hair was not cut, and on the day of the [first] haircut, the child was wrapped in a prayer shawl, and taken to the elementary school teacher who began to study the alphabet with him. From that time forward, every day, the Belfer would come to the home in the morning, to recite the morning blessings with the children, and to take them to Heder. Up to the First World War, Jews in general, did not send their children to [secular] school at all. As private teachers, there were R' Joel Handelsman, and R' Yaakov Lehrer, Jews with beards and side locks, who taught Yiddish, Polish, Russian and Arithmetic. After the war, girls [also] went to school, and boys - only from the modern households. The boys were sent to ‘Private Teachers,’ or ‘Talmud Torah,’ or the Heder of either the Mizrahi or Agudah. Young children would go to Heder in the evening up to the portion of Terumah, while the older ones would go until P'kudei,^[3] ending [the semester] with a party. At that point, those parents that wanted their children to be able to learn, and to remain observant Jews, were sent to a shtibl to continue their learning. Mostly, this was concentrated in the Sanz-Cieszanow shtibl, or R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl. That was where there was the largest collection of books in the city.

No [special] Bar Mitzvah ceremonies were carried out. When the boys got older, they began to try out Hasidism by attending the Tisch at the home of the Rebbes. The majority portion gathered at the local Rebbes, such as the Rabbi and Tzaddik R' Yehoshua'leh זצ”ל and his son, the Rabbi and Tzaddik R' Leibusz Rubin זצ”ל. Part of them traveled to Belz, and a very small part [went] to the grandsons of the Rebbe of Trisk who visited Tomaszow every year, or its vicinity. After the school period was over for the children of the common people, they took themselves to learning a craft, and the children of merchants provided assistance to their parents in the business. Only very few continued their studies in a gymnasium or a high school, and that, first after the establishment of [an independent] Poland. In contrast to this, a large portion of the modern young people joined up with the kibbutzim of the HaShomer HaTza'ir, until the ‘Mizrahi’ awakened the new flow of national Zionist feelings among the young people. It injected pride and vitality. In a second group, a folk and social movement took form which mostly coalesced around the Bund. As a result, the majority of the young people ascended to new paths with new expectations in life and the Jewish future. And the newly lit fires of ‘nationalism’ and ‘socialism’ that were internalized within the various parties that were established, from the left and the right, devoured the religious youth. Everyone tore hunks from the body of Torah-dedicated Jewry. In the final years, the Agudah itself was compelled to open up training with ‘Haluztim’ but it was already very little effective. The majority went off to the secular camps, leaving behind only the purely Torah-enlightened youth.

Community and religious life was carried out through the city Shamashim, meaning the two Shamashim of the synagogue (R' Moshe Lehrer's, R' Abraham Shamash, Reinman) of the great municipal Bet HaMedrash, R' Nahum Shamash, [and] from the Hasidic shtibl, R' Eliezer Shamash. Every proclamation of the local Bet Din, and the Rabbinical authorities was made known by way of the four Shamashim. They visited every

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house of worship (17 in number) gave a bang on the table, and began with the language of ‘in this manner we announce and make known by the authority of the Bet Din, Leaders of the Community, that….’ The Shamashim were used if t was necessary to summon someone to a religious trial, or. God forbid, if it was necessary to conduct a funeral ceremony for little children, all the necessary appurtenances to a ritual circumcision, weddings, and funerals, as well as escorting Rabbis to each function required of their position, such as kashering the mill, gathering charitable contributions before Passover, at community meetings, etc. They also invited people to the circumcision ceremony, or distributed written invitations to weddings. All of this was done through the Shamashim of the city.

It is worth noting the by-laws regarding the invitation of guests to celebrations such as weddings and circumcisions, signing nuptial agreements, as done specifically through the community Shamash. This has its origins going back to the by-laws of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, with the intent that the sitting elder of the month should be able to control the number of people that would be invited to the celebration, because the monies available for the repast were limited, in accordance with the financial circumstances of the celebrant. And in accordance with the closeness of family relation. Even though these by-laws became inoperative, the old ‘custom’ nevertheless survived, that only the Shamash should extend such invitations.

It is interesting to note, that in the last years, in anti-Semitic Poland, the Post Office forbade the Shamashim from distributing the wedding invitations, using the excuse that they are making light of the Postal Service. The same was true of estate managers, who would travel to Warsaw or Lemberg, who, many times before the trip, would undergo inspection by the police to see if they were not carrying letters with them, and if a letter was found on their person, they were always fined with a larger fine.

The municipal government had its own couriers and messengers, among them a Jew, Blind Hirsch. It is interesting that he was not able to read or write Polish. He was not familiar with the Latin alphabet at all, so his children would write addresses and direction on the flip side, and it was in this way that he oriented himself as to whom he had to make the delivery. News of a general nature was publicized in the city. The Shamashim would make these announcements every day in the synagogue, the entire marketplace, and even many side streets. On Friday, towards evening, all four of the Shamashim would go about in the entire city, and sound the call for worship and the lighting of candles.

Many marriages were arranged among local residents, with approximately 30% from outside the city, but almost all of them through [professional] marriage brokers. Since the time of the First World War, when the young people became modernized, with open eyes, a larger portion already sought for their life's partner on their own. Despite all of this, the occupation of marriage broker remained a good one. In general, the custom persisted among the more important balebatim. The father of the bride provided a specification, meaning, such-and-such a young man, a statement, as it were, in the following form: I, the humble man, undersign, assume the obligation of paying a dowry for my daughter… such-and-such, support, of so much for so many years. Such a note was only given to a serious marriage broker, and when he came to the home of the father of the groom, this note was evidence that this was not just a fantasy on the part of the marriage broker, but a genuine assumption of responsibility where it is possible to ‘talk turkey.’

In the final years, because of the economic boycott, want in sustenance, the uncertain political situation, and the harassment of Jews, in which everyone had the feeling that the ground under them was shifting, there was a drop in marriages. As a result, the number of older unmarried boys, and spinsters grew.

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The older generation, meaning those of middle age and higher, were almost 95% strictly observant and orthodox, not touching their beards, wearing a long khalat, with a Jewish cap on their head. On the Sabbath, the Hasidim would wear a velvet cap, a jacket with a deep split as Sabbath garb. Part wore long silk jackets. Only the Rabbis would wear a shtrymel. Hasidim would go each day to bathe in the mikva, and on Fridays, almost the entire city would go. Because the steam bath was part of the mikva, and since no private bathing facility was not available, almost everyone came to get washed up and to bathe, also to steam out their laundry, and to be switched as well, and then, while they were there, visit the mikva. Especially for the poorer classes, the bath was a matter of life and death, and a means to be refreshed. Without exception, the women of the city observed the protocol of ‘Family Purity.’ The younger generation had modernized itself. The young people wore shorter garments with a ‘maciejowka^[4]’ on their heads. The older ones wore regular hats, which was considered very modern (In the early twenties, they wanted to eject all the young men from the Husyatin shtibl who wore such hats). Worldly young people were entirely emancipated, but despite this, there was no open violation of the Sabbath. All the stores (which were 99% managed by Jews) were closed from the time of the arrival of the Sabbath. The gentiles already knew that on the Sabbath, nothing could be procured in the city. When the market day fell on a festival holiday, it was delayed, and no peasant would come to the city. Only towards the end, did the barbers begin to work on the Sabbath, and one soda water business (candy store) [was open].

On the Sabbath, the common folk would arrive in the synagogue and the Bet HaMedrash to recite Psalms, and the Jews who were balebatim would go to the shtibl for study. The ardent Hasidic youth, along with the young students would spend their time at the house of the Rebbe of Cieszanow, who presided over a Tisch three times during the Sabbath, where it was lively and spirited. In general, he was the backbone and leader of the young orthodox. The modern young people spent their time in their several party offices, and some with strolling along the Kiri highway. However, in general, the city found itself under the seal of religious life.

Most of the commerce in the city consisted of dealing in wood, wheat, and flour, food businesses, tailoring and notions, ironmongers, egg merchants, jobbers, estate agents, butchers, horse traders, clothing stores, mills and factories. There were no industrial enterprises. Craftsmen worked to satisfy local needs. The second-hand merchants were the exception, who worked at resale in the city, its vicinity, and at market days.

When there was a dispute, Jews would go to the Rabbi for a Rabbinical [Torah] court. Most such Rabbinical courts were presided over by the Rebbe of Cieszanow, who was regarded as a decent and wise man, well suited to the task, and not an idler. Usually, the Rebbe, on his own, would rule. However, if the issue was particularly difficult, and the protagonists wanted facilitators, they usually engaged R' Aharon Kiezel and R' Shabs'l Kawenczuk, who were aggressive facilitators. Sometimes, the following were also engaged: R' Yehoshua Goldstein, R' Yekhezkiel Lehrer, R' Pinchas Zilbergeld, R' Mikhl Yuda Lehrer, Avigdor Eidelsberg, and to be separated for long life, R' Zusha Kawenczuk נ”י. When a Jew refused to submit to a Rabbinical court, the Rabbi would issue a ruling which meant that the second party had the right to file a complaint in the secular court, as well as to apply a variety of moral pressures as well as boycott.

There were also people who made a living from ‘sacred callings’ apart from the ritual slaughterers, Rabbis, Judges, Shamashim and Cantors. There were also three book dealers, R' Chaim Yehoshua Licht, Yehoshua Hirsch Sofer ז”ל, and R' Moshe'leh Sofer, R' Aharon Sofer, who also did a bit of a business with tzitzit. R' Eliezer Gershon Teicher הי”ד was a special vendor who dealt in scholarly books. There were also seasonal merchants, 6-8 merchants who sold Etrogim and 20 matzo bakeries.

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In almost every house among the balebatim, the necessary holy writ was found, such as the Pentateuch, Mishna, Eyn Yaakov, a translated Pentateuch, Supplications, several volumes of the Gemara, the Mishna Berura, or Rabbi SH”A. Additionally there would be a couple of Hasidic texts such as Noam Elimelekh, Kedushat Levi, Avodat Yisrael, Ohayv Yisrael, Maor V'Shemesh, etc. Anyone who was something of a scholar owned his own complete set of Shas, and however more refined a Jew he was, he owned more books, which were considered the most beautiful and most important treasure, a bauble in which one took great pride.

Town politics, along with a variety of matters, and world news got a thorough airing at the small garden by the ‘Tchayneh’ (The Ludowy)^[5] where the ‘Jews with canes’ where the jobbers and people who worked on commission would stand.

When an orator would come to town, or someone who was a party spokesman, he would speak in the municipal Bet HaMedrash, which was the approachable platform for all of the people.

Before The First World War, a substantial immigration took place to America, but for the most part, it was only the men who went alone, leaving their family behind. After that, when they had accumulated a large sum of money, they would return home to the family. Later on, after the war, when the gates to America were closed, an immigration began to Latin America, and to the and of Israel where, no evil eye intended, hundreds of families form Tomaszow reside to this day.

And despite the fact that life back home was hard and poor, there is a longing ache for it, and there is a need to constantly remind one's self about our home city, with its customs, with the full-blooded Jewish life, which tragically has now been permanently destroyed. Let us, at the very least, leave behind a bit of a record for coming generations.

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Tomaszow Lubelski was a city full of life, with a variety of [political] parties on the left and right. During The First World War, the first Zionist organization was created in Tomaszow, led by the Reichenberg brothers and Yankl Dornfeld, and the first labor union with the worth comrades Weissberg, Schuldiner, and the writer of these lines at the head. At that time, two drama circles were created, one was Zionist, and the second Bundist. The first was led by our friend Dornfeld, and the second by the worth comrades Chaim Ikhl Horn, Schuldiner, Weissberg, Blank and the writer of these lines. Apart from this, activities were conducted by all the other Jewish organizations, such as the Agudah, Mizrahi, such that the entire shtetl pulsed with activity.

Who does not recognize the poor quarter of the city, the so-called Praga, with its craftsmen of various trades, the butchers, tall and strong, but with kind eyes, the ‘Second House’ where the tradespeople would worship, on Friday evening, their songs at the Third Sabbath Meal, the shtiblakh of the Hasidim, their praying and singing, their joy and liveliness, and in general, the sense of transcendence of the entire shtetl during Sabbaths and Festival Days.

Who does not remember the pious Pesach'l the dear Jewish man with a full heart and pleasant demeanor, and the childlike lively eyes, and the Shammes, of the Great Synagogue, R' Moshe Lesser's with his mournful refrain: In To The Synagogue!

And the second Shammes, the sacred martyr Nahum Zucker, with his face half flayed by the German beasts, was occupied to his last dying breath, with the slain, who lay in the streets of Tomaszow.

Honor their Sacred Memory!

The power of one's hometown birthplace is great, in that it remains in the memories of an individual until his last day. There are incidents that are of sufficient importance, that occurred a rather short time ago, and yet have been forgotten, out of one's heart, as if they never happened. In contrast to this, every time someone reminds me of Tomaszow, it suddenly stands before my eyes, it and its streets, byways, its Jewish men and women, gentile men and women, and here it is! I see it in my mind's eye, spread out in the palm of my hand.

I begin at the market, because it was the center of all that transpired in the city, and as such, was also the center of Jewish life. It was called the square, but the rounded shape was very much like a loaf of bread. On its periphery were stores, stores [one after another], and in the center, a row of tables [manned] by male and

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female vendors, especially women: [they would be] selling fruits and vegetables, keeping up a loud chatter with their neighbors, on all manner of subjects. The rumormongers of the entire city. Everything is known to them, and nothing escapes their cognizance. If there is a wedding in town: their faces radiate joy, they have to tell each other about all the wedding preparations going on, how many dresses the bride has, how many types of desserts have been prepared. Whether the bride is pretty or ugly, is the groom a scholarly sort, or an ignoramus. And if, God forbid, there is a funeral in town, their faces are sad. They relate the praises, or the criticism of the deceased, amidst the pained sighs, accompanying the use of the phrase ‘Rachmana-Litzlan.’^[1] At once, they have great power and repertoire with blessings and curses. Their blessings are among the most prominent in the entire city, and their imprecations cannot be found even with research.

The tables of vendors a re arranged in a half circle together with awnings. These are the vendors of swine flesh. These gentiles trumpet across the square with a call like swans. They are like an alien limb grafted onto a Jewish market, and they are separated from their Jewish neighbors. Each opposite one another: The Jews: Running, shouting, sweating a lot, curing and blessing. If a woman passes by with her basket in hand, and all the women vendors call out to her, praising their wares. The Gentiles: Standing silently, each at the side of their table, the carcasses of the pigs, with the dismembered parts in earthenware containers in front of them. If a buyer comes along, they will simply look at him, tranquilly, and wait until he [the buyer] makes a selection. In general, there is no contact between the Jewish vendors and the gentiles, however, at a time of danger, each one helps the other: when vagabonds, drunks, or troublemakers fall upon the Jews to despoil their goods, the gentile vendors will rise up to help their Jewish neighbors.

In the middle of the square there are three rows of stores. In these stores anything and everything is bought and sold. A farmer, when he comes with a wagon, it is laden full with the output of his labors: geese, ducks, hens, potatoes, beans, grain and fruit. He sits on the wagon, and waits for buyers. The Jews mill around the square, going from one farmer to the next, from wagon to wagon, buying the merchandise, dispensing the money into the farmer's hands. The farmer, on receiving the money, in exchange for his produce, goes out around the square to buy his provisions: a jacket for his wife, or shoes for his daughter, satin, a covering for boots, salted fish, thread, all of this is available in the large square. The tumult is especially great on Thursdays, which is Market Day in Tomaszow. On that day, the square becomes so filled with wagons, that it is difficult to traverse it, and squeezing between the wagons, the Jews try to maintain their balance, with the ends of their garments tucked into their belts, and their boots sunk into the mud. They conduct bargaining in order to increase their profit, and it is safe to say, that from this day, the ‘Market Day,’ was the day on which the livelihood of each and every Jew in the city hung. During the course of the week, the Jews of Tomaszow would pray for good weather on Thursday. And if a driving rain would come during the summer, or a drop of snow in the winter, on a Thursday, many of the residents of the city were left without sustenance for the entire week.

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The Houses of Worship

A Jew on his way to the Bathhouse on Friday

A Group from Betar Standing from the right: Aharon Goldstein, Chaim Ehrlich, Benjamin Bluzer, and Shimshon Goldstein (sitting)

A legend grew up among the children, and a person passed the Synagogue at midnight, and heard recognizable voices of people who had already died, coming from the Synagogue. When he paused a moment to listen, he heard that he was being called to come to the Torah. The man went to the Bima, and died the following day. Only several tens of meters from the Synagogue, was the prayer house of the Belz Hasidim. Immediately across form this was the bathhouse and the mikva. Every morning, it was possible to see the religious Jews coming out of the mikva trembling from the morning chill, and facing to walk past the Bet HaMedrash

Friday was bathing day. The bath house was constructing in the Turkish style: a large oven, fueled by wood, with waters poured on heated bricks would produce a cloud of steam that filled the bath house, furnished with benches in the form of stairs. It was on these stairs, that the Jews of the city would arrange themselves, each according to his ability to stand the heat, scraping their bodies and switching themselves, crying out in all manner of voice, from their pleasure. Not far from the bath house was the home of Zalman Schnur the Melamed, whose wife sold vinegar, made from old bread, and bran flour. My grandmother Zlata would tell that she remembers times when for one groschen, they would buy vinegar, add an egg, because there was a lack of small coins with which to give change.

Next to the house of Zalman Schnur was the ‘courtyard’ of R' Yehoshua'leh with the shtibl in the middle. In this courtyard, full of mystery, Rabbis and Torah scholars lived for generations with their families in poverty and want, who lever took so much as four steps from their place of study, learning the Torah day and night to fulfill the commandment, ‘thou shalt study it by day and by night.’ The entire courtyard and the shtibl was like a ghetto in miniature. The people of the courtyard knew of no other way, other than the path from the shtibl to their homes, and back. Two of the daughters of the courtyard were mutes. Eastward from the square was the entrance, at a slight distance to the fire house, made of wooden boards, in which the first

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movies were shown in the city. Inside was the restaurant of Michaelek, a short gentile, as lithe as a cat, an officer of the fire brigade, and someone with a good dramatic sense. The sons of the balebatim gathered about him, and ate forbidden foods. To the south, ran the Lwowska Street; the most beautiful street in the city. Here could be found the houses of the wealthy, and that of some city officials. In the evenings, boys and girls would promenade here, and take in the redolent air.

The street was especially full on Friday and Saturday nights. The street divided itself into two different parts: the left side and the right side. On the right side, ‘modern’ couples would promenade. And the left side, which was shadowed in darkness, served the more rigorously observant, the ones who might ordinarily be found on the benches of the Bet HaMedrash.

The town. The town of Tomaszow was unique in its kind, a town with a mezuzah on every doorpost in which most of its cohorts spoke Yiddish. Lejzor'l the secretary, who remembered by heart all the birth dates of the residents of the city, and the Blind Hirsch, who did not know how to recognize the outlines of a letter of the alphabet, brought every notice from the town to its recipient.

Beside the town, was a public garden called the ‘Kasseh Gorten,’ and it was here that couples would retire, to sit on a bench, when they tired of walking, of for other reasons requiring privacy. Or, also, the sons of balebatim, who were afraid to be seen smoking a cigarette publicly on the night of the Sabbath. Here were benches on which to lie down, and somewhat towards the middle a place for an orchestra.

At the edge of the garden, there was a pond in the midst of which frogs croaked. On one side of the pond there was a high fence, and on the second side was the Kuza Street called after the name of the jail. From the jail, sharp voices rent the air, and the singing of the inmates, which disrupted the whisperings of lovers, who were in various corners of the garden. Further on, from the jail, the street continued through descending streets, to the flour mill and the ‘round’ river, as it was called by the local people. Bathing would occur in this river, during the summer, and pleasure was derived from its refreshing waters that flowed from under the dams beside the mill.

The last house on Lwowska was that of the Starosta (the District Elder). When one turns to the right, and one goes downward along the descending streets, one passes over a mound of sand that was ‘consumed’ in part by the wagon drivers of the city for construction purposes and other requirements.

The forest. Only several hundred meters from the sand dunes the forest begins, without which it is not possible to describe the city itself. In this forest, the residents of the city spent a large part of their lives. It was in the forest that the first meetings of boys and girls took place, who organized the ‘HaShomer’ movement. On summer evenings, and during the Sabbath, their songs of longing for The Homeland would resonate. It was in the forest that the first of the soccer players gathered, playing with a ball fashioned from rags, with the goal consisting of and area sectioned off with two poles, and they began to practice playing soccer. It was possible to encounter Jews in the forest, who were suffering from all manner of distress, sitting in the shadow of the pines, inhaling the air to the full capacity of their lungs. R' Leibusz Burg, who suffered from asthma, did not miss a single day of the summer in which he visited the forest.

The town Cantor, and his coir would go through rehearsals of ‘Kol Nidre,’ and ‘U'Nesaneh Tokef’ on one side of the forest, while on the other side, Pan Jan, a Cossack of the White Guard sat, who fled Russia after the revolution, playing on a balalaika, and singing songs in Yiddish for the enjoyment of all the groups in his vicinity. And here is a song, that has remained with me in my memory, from the month of Elul, in honor

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of the approaching High Holy Days, sung by Pan Jan as follows:

Di Yomtovdikeh tegelakh haybn zikh on tsurikn hartziger tateh, A bisseleh vyn fun Yom Tov tsu farzukhn, is besser vi tsu laygn a lateh.

The Holy Days begin to draw near, dear Father, To taste a bit of wine from the holiday Is better than putting on a patch

The Cantor, and Panie Jan, accompanied by the chirping of the birds, was a concert that could only be heard during the month of Elul in the forest of Tomaszow.

Couple, couples would wander in various corners of the forest, and dreamt of futures in the shadows of the pines amid the chirping of the birds. Teachers would teach their students the Gemara in the forest, with Tosafot, and on Tisha B'Av the students would gather mushrooms, and forest berries for the wife of the teacher. In the forest, the gentile women would gather wood used for heating during the winter. The gentile women would rake the pine needles in the forest, and use them to cover the walls in their cottages, to keep out the winter cold. In the forest, there were ant hills, such that whoever touched them with his hand, or threw pine needles on it, sensed the odor of fermentation. Everyone believed that the odor was a deterrent against headaches. Many would gather around to inhale the ants, and they struck the ant hill with their hands, moving their hands quickly to their nostrils in order to relieve themselves of any distress in the head. Children who attempted to attack the ant colony by throwing a flaming match onto the ant hill, were educated by seeing how the ants put out the fire with their saliva, without the help of fire fighters.

My father, of blessed memory, was one of the regular visitors from the city, and it was from him that I got my love of trees and plants. He would get up early on evert Sabbath, and wake me up from my sleep, and took me into the forest in the capacity of his ‘bearer,’ since it was forbidden for him [sic: as an adult] to carry anything on the Sabbath. Sitting down at his regular hillock, he would look into a book until it was time to pray. When the hour of worship arrived, he would return to the city, and would go to pray at the shtibl of R' Yehoshua'leh. After noon, he would return to the forest until the Mincha prayer service time. My father, of blessed memory, was a man of strong character, stout-hearted, and did not stop his walks in the forest, even during the days of the predations by the followers of Haller. I remember one Sabbath of those days, when I sat by his side in the forest, on his ‘hillock,’ and suddenly, at a distance from us, I saw a soldier from the Haller ranks tramping in our direction, with a drawn sword in his hand. When I tried to importune my father that we should flee, he replied: I have never fled from a man, and I am not going to now. In silence, he sat, and waited for the soldier to arrive, and when the soldier reached us, to my dismay, he asked my father, whether he was aware of a certain type of white tree from which it would be possible to make brooms. My father explained to the soldier where to go, and my soul that had nearly burst – returned to me. Lag B'Omer was a forest day for all of the schoolchildren. All the schools, and the Heder classes, went out into the forest, as a group, under the direction of their teachers, and the melamdim, like an army going to do battle, armed with bows and arrows, full of aggressive spirit, each boy with his portion of food in his knapsack: ring cakes and a hard boiled egg, in an onion wrap, colored brown. Each ‘section’ under the oversight of its ‘leader,’ lit a campfire, ate its ‘rations,’ shot arrows, made camp and passed the time until the sun set.

Towards nightfall, a war took place between the various Heder students with stones and branches lashed together. The older boys fought without pity. One time, I came out of such a Lag B'Omer battle with a ‘mouse’ under one eye, such that my mother didn't recognize me.

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An inner emotion disturbs my rest – perhaps we will be too late! [It is this which] moves me to pen these lines.

I, one of the last of the generation of our city, in which we were raised and educated, despite the fact that we have been gone for decades. If we do not undertake to do this sacred task, it will not be done by the generation for whom that tie has been sundered.

It is a responsibility that falls on all of us, to memorialize for all time all of the scions of the city who were murdered, and put to death such that no man knows where they lie buried.

Let this book serve as a monument for us and the coming generations.

My pen trembles when I remember what happened to my relatives, and in general, to the Jews of Tomaszow.

[It was] a city that counted about twenty thousand residents, most of them Jewish, that, in its day, was privileged to have a leader of the city who was Jewish – Yehoshua Fishelsohn ע”ה, surrounded by an abundance of pine forest, which served as a meeting place in the summer for young and old alike.

It was a city that was not uniformly developed, and was partly neglected. It had no sources of economic activity, no factories, with most of its residents living in considerable want, yet rich in its Jews. No matter in which direction you would turn – Jews. Religious Jews, Hasidim, and even a small number of progressive Jews. There was an abundance of synagogues, houses of study, and Shtiblakh, that throbbed from Jews at prayer, and adherence to Talmud study, with a refrain that spilled out into its streets.

Slowly, slowly, the course of life flowed on. Night – day, with each day like the next. Today was like yesterday, and so would be tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow would be like yesterday. The railroad was at a distance of seven kilometers from town.

Life is manifested with a traditional imprint, in the deeds and legacy of ancestors, a chain of generations, in a set of links, where each resembles the other. It was in the same place, in the same house that one's father, father's father, and his father, that one lived one's self, as it was received by inheritance.

Even the forms of livelihood, though impoverished, and of a minimal nature, they too were handed down as a legacy: storekeepers, merchants, saloon keepers, the Jews that served the nobleman, sporting houses ‘forbidden,’ ‘Open Tobacco’ without permission, tradespeople, butchers, wagon drivers, water carriers, etc. All anticipate the ‘Market Day’ on Thursday, the day that will sustain them for the remaining days of the

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week, and especially to fund the preparations for the Sabbath.

‘Market Day’ was the basis for sustenance for hundreds of families. It is deeply etched into my memory, because my parents' home stood close to the place, and I was able to observe it for years.

In the heart of the city is a large, empty lot, around which goes a walk path shaded by trees, getting filled up from the earliest hours with hundreds of wagons from the village folk, with their wives, until there is literally no more room. Around the walk are stands on which are long white breads, black round loaves, pitas, rolls, and ring cakes. There are stands with fruits and vegetables, stands with ready-made clothing, shoes and boots. A Jewish woman with a barrel of salted fish, not of the best quality, whose odor could be sensed all around.

The women vendors sit under the burning sun in the summer, and in the winter they are cloaked in lamb's wool, with a pot full of glowing coals flickering under their dresses to keep them warm. They call out in loud voices to the lady villagers the ‘goyehs,’ ‘shiksehs’ praising their wares.

We must not, God forbid, skip over people in a higher station. However, the number of such people was not great, and these are the owners of stores that were pretty, and well-organized on the Lwowska Street, the merchants of forest products, Jews of means, wit leisure, standing and milling about with their walking sticks, leaning on the fence of the ‘public’ park that was set aside for the exclusive use of Christians. They would stand like that for hours, days, and years.

Life was sustained from these kinds of occupations, raising sons and daughters, paying tuition and giving charity.

On Fridays, with the arrival of darkness, everything vanished. The wagons, the market stands, the people, and the square remains standing deserted, abandoned as if it was orphaned. One hears the sound of keys turning, the scraping of doors and shutters. Jews are returning from the bath house – which does not operate according to all of the details of the sanitation code – inside it is flaming, with measured steps, and underneath the house are the dirty bricks that were laid out.

One person stands in his Sabbath rousers, with a vest over his fringe garment, polishing shoes in honor of the Sabbath. Women, with sweaty faces, sit outside, resting from the burdens of the labor of doing all the Sabbath preparations, and in the process, snatch a bit of conversation with their neighbors. Children in their Sabbath finery, with shined shoes, walk diligently and carefully while holding a bottle of sacramental wine in their trembling hands.

Snippets of the melody associated with Kabbalat Shabbat are waft from the synagogues, and the festive voices of the worshipers. An alarmed ‘laggard’ hurries home, whipping his horses with an angry nervousness, and the wheels of his wagon reverberate noisily on the stones of the street.

With morning, a shutter is opened, a woman, wrapped in a coarse housecoat, calls to the ‘Shabbes-Goy,’ strolling with his wife expansively, in the quiet of the street, in whose hands are bags of bread rations that they receive from the Jews for stoking the oven and removing the candlesticks from the table.

A Jew, in his house slippers, returns from his morning ablution in the mikva before prayer. Men, enveloped

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in tranquility, are walking to the synagogue. Their prayer shawls are tucked under their jackets, and on their heads is a yarmulke that sticks out from beneath a hat. Behind them are women in their Sabbath dresses, with the little girls behind them, carrying the prayer book, ‘Korban Mincha’ with a white embroidery wrapped around it.

During the festive afternoon Sabbath repast, children carry pots full of the warm food for the Sabbath from the nearby bakery ovens. Jews return from Kiddush amid vociferous discussion. The sound of Sabbath song bursts forth from the open windows. There is the rest taken in the afternoon, the pleasure of a ‘Shabbat Nap.’

The Jewish community was centered about the Lwowska Street. At its head, stood Mr. Shmuel Shiflinger, and its Secretary Aryeh Levenfus ע”ה. Its mission was highly circumscribed. It did not concern itself with the establishment of educational institutions, or cultural ones, etc. Sources of revenue were meager, and apart from a minor sum that came from the ritual slaughter of fowl and cattle, expenses covered building maintenance and the limited functions [of the community].

Accordingly, a certain vigilance was felt by the community leaders when it was necessary to retain a Rabbi, a ritual slaughterer, and the like. One of the tasks that required its sanction, was the retention of the first Jewish doctor, Dr. Shulman הי”ד. At the beginning, he was involved with the Jews, but after establishing a location, he consorted with the Christian intelligentsia for lack of such a group in the Jewish settlement.

A Bank Spoldzielczy was established that served both Jews and Christians before the First World War, at whose head stood Dr. Zawadzki, a liberal Christian, an enlightened man, who was a student of the Tanakh, and a lover of Israel. The bank employees were purely Jewish.

My father, of blessed memory, R' Kalman Ehrlich, was one of its original founders and employees. Most of his Jewish friends, storekeepers of middling status, who wrestled with survival. Were pressed to utilize loans and credit. It took over a central location in the town in a pretty and tended garden (Kasse Gorten) and its reputation went out before it.

After The First World War, the town placed its remains in the premises of the bank. It's Jewish Secretary, Eliezer Dornfeld הי”ד served in this position until the year of the Holocaust. The bank transferred to its new building opposite its prior location.

In 1930, a purely Jewish bank ‘Nadorkor’ was established as a workers bank. Its members were craftsmen, and diligent storekeepers. At its head stood Mr. Hirsch Meir Cyment, and Elazar Bergenbaum ע”ה.

The Gemilut Hesed existed only nominally. It could not respond to the demands of the needy, and its management was primitive. Many who came to knock on its doors did so in vain.

Our city was poor in educational institutions in general, and in Jewish ones in particular. Despite this, the government established a general school and a high school, but many of the Jewish children, especially the sons, did not attend them, for a variety of reasons, such as: to have to sit with head uncovered, boys and girls mixed together. Accordingly, there was a preference to send their sons to Heder, in which secular studies were taught at the margin.

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The high school was open to all capable children of the Christian residents, and to a limited number of the more fortunate among the Jews. There [sic: the Jews] numbers were smaller because of the ‘Numerus Clausus’ law.

The issue of observing the Sabbath, and the cost of tuition, foreclosed the gate with certainty. Among the results of this was the absence of a Jewish intelligentsia. Part of the young people streamed to the various houses of study, and to the shtiblakh, to study Torah, some went to work, and a portion went into the business of their parents, or simply were left idle.

In the year 1918, with the conclusion of The First World War, activists of the Mizrahi youth arrived, headed by Mr. Joseph Lehrer, who was found among us, from the Land of Israel. They saw a great responsibility, to the youth that was trying to get education, but without any Jewish schools. It was decided to establish a progressive ‘Mizrahi’ school. The curriculum consisted of integrated secular and religious subjects. Its first teachers were: R' Benjamin Tepler, teacher of Talmud and Pentateuch, and Alter Gitlin from Baranovichi, teacher of Hebrew and Tanakh. Nahum Dov Glass as the teacher of experiments. The school had forty students, and was located in the house of Yitzhak Maiman on the Zamoyski Street.

Two months had not gone by, when a great fire broke out and burned down the entire town, except for the northeast quarter. Despite the fact that the house that contained the school survived, the rooms were grabbed up by those who survived the fire, and the students were scattered about.

Thanks to the efforts of the teachers to preserve the school, they succeeded in obtaining two rooms in a timely fashion, in the home of Avigdor Eidelsberg, but after a short while, all their efforts came to naught, and in the end they were forced to close.

The Mizrahi activists did not remain silent, nor did they feel their work to be complete. Their sense of responsibility to the local youth, to assure they do not remain idle, and to educated them in a Zionist pioneering spirit, gave them no rest. At the end of the year 1919, with the visit of Rabbi Graubart ז”ל from Stacze, and the arrival of a group of Mizrahi activists to the office in the house of R' Israel Garzytzensky ז”ל, Among them were: Chaim Joseph Lehrer, David Yud'l Szparer, Zusha Kawenczuk, who [sic: today] are found in Israel. Kalman Ehrlich, Yaakov Lederkremmer, Sholom Zilberman, Leib'l Lederkremmer, Yankl'eh Arbesfeld הי”ד. After many deliberations, it was decided to, once again, open the school.

This decision was taken with great trepidation. There was the concern of how to sustain it financially, as well as other aspects. One of the issues was to find a suitable building. After extensive searches, it was decided to rent the house of Zvi Winder, even before the building was completed.

With its opening, the number of students grew to one hundred, and courses were conducted in accordance with their normal manner. With its expansion, the number of teachers also grew. To the two teachers that I have already mentioned, were added, the son of Rabbi Graubart of Stacze, as a teacher of Hebrew and Tanakh. The teacher, Frischleiser from Lvov was added to teach Polish and Arithmetic. After he left, we retained Zvi Edelstein and Yeshayahu Firger הי”ד.

The school did not have much time to breathe freely. After several weeks, with the outbreak of the war with the Polish-Bolshevik War, the normal rhythm of the school was disrupted, and there was a need to close it. With the end of the war, classes immediately started up again. As the Principal and a teacher, Abraham Huberman was retained, one of the teachers who excelled in both direction and leadership simultaneously.

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His influence contributed to the development and progress of the school.

In the year 1921, before the holiday of Shavuot, the Office of Education closed down the school because it was not recognized as a [sic: legitimate] educational institution. All attempts to nullify this order were ineffective. After its name was changed to ‘Torah V'Da'at,’ was permission granted in 1922 from the Office of Education, and the enlightened government administration to re-open it. It continued to function without interruption until 1929.

In that year, the school joined the network of ‘Yavneh’ schools in the Histadrut, from its foundation in Mizrahi. Even its name was changed to ‘Yavneh.’

Mr. Zvi Edelstein was retained as the secular principal, and teacher of Polish. In addition to the teachers that I have mentioned above, were added: Shmuel Blei, and Karelman as Talmud teachers, Joel Kaufman for Hebrew and Tanakh, and to be separated for long life, Mr. Shapiro, currently to be found in South Africa, Aryeh Arbesfeld, and Mrs. Sandberg who are in Israel.

With the expansion of the school that was [now] comprised of over one hundred fifty students, it was necessary to rent a number of rooms in ordinary houses. As you can understand, this had an adverse influence on the way instruction was implemented. In the year 1934, there was success in renting one large building that consisted of seven rooms, from Moshe Adler (Latter) on the Krasnobrod Street. The leadership of the school passed into the hands of Mr. Kessler. A number of years before the outbreak of The Second World War, a Kindergarten was opened, by the school, in which there were forty children, and for which a separate, suitable building was erected.

It is necessary to underscore the not-very-little amount of laborious effort and the sizeable dedication of Mr. Yaakov Arbesfeld הי”ד, in his role as the central technical director from 1925 up to his last day.

In the year 1938, at the twentieth anniversary since its establishment, this halfway jubilee was celebrated with a large assembly, with the participation of Dr. Sh. Z. Kahana, the Director of the Histadrut ‘Yavneh’ schools for all of Poland. Today, he is the director of the Ministry of Religion in Israel. The newspaper, ‘Das Jüdische Leben,’ of the Mizrahi Histadrut in Poland, published a special supplement that was dedicated to the halfway jubilee of the school, which got a lot of play in the vicinity. A generation was inculcated with a love of the Homeland, for the pioneering movement, and for the rejuvenation of the Hebrew language.

The first graduates continued at the ‘Takhkemoni’ school in Warsaw, in high school, and at universities throughout Poland. Many tribulations and crises befell the school. It survived only thanks to a group of activists, who saw a sacred duty in preserving it, and who contributed a great deal. The sowed with tears, but they reaped with joy.

My responsibility in setting down this record will not be properly discharged, if I do not underscore the dedication and tiring hard work, done without compensation, and performed by Mr. Chaim Joseph Lehrer. A man of noble spirit, full of activity, and able to energize others, who led the school from the day it was founded to its last day, when it ceased to function. He truly raise the standard of the institution during the fruitful and blessed era in which he led it.

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Talmud Torah

Facsimile of a Receipt from the Talmud Torah signed by R' Yisroel'i Farzitsensky[1] ע”ה, to R' Yitzhak Daks ע”ה a scion of Tomaszow in New York

In the year 1929, the responsibility to provide shoes was allocated to one of the respected balebatim, a Torah scholar, wise, of impressive appearance, and an Elder of the community, a man who had great influence – my grandfather, R' Israel Garzytzensky ז”ל, and, to be separated for long life, Mr. Yitzhak Karper, a forest merchant, well received both in the Jewish and Christian communities, and today with us in Israel. They gathered a number of other respected balebatim around them, Mr. Aharon Lakher, ז”ל, and others, who dedicated a substantial part of their time and energy to this undertaking. They linked up the Jewish community with other public institutions. After a while, a house was obtained for this purpose, and the number of students grew to about one hundred, receiving food, drink and clothing to wear.

How joyful it was, and how the heart beat, to see these children stroll off to the forest on Lag B'Omer, with bows and arrows. Wearing festive holiday clothing of their own, and new, shined shoes, with their teachers and melamdim, with packages of food for their adventure in their hands.

The Young Girls of the Mizrahi ‘Bruriah’ Among others, the following are found on the picture: Chaya Stang, Fanel, Mirachnik, Shayndl Arbesfeld, Rachel Lichtenstein, Gitt'l Fersht, Leah Arbesfeld, Feiga Goldman, Shayndl Zucker, Sarah Fersht, Masha Shaffel, Rivka Tanenbaum, Rivka Blank, and Katz

The General Zionist Movement Among others, the following are found on the picture: Jonah Zilberstein, Leib'l Lederkremmer, Sinai Putter, Yitzhak Borenstein, Israel Greenbaum, Hirsch Zilberberg, Avigdor Eidelsberg, Chaya Putter, Y. Minkowsky, Abraham Pfefferman, Zilbergeld, Chaim Goldzamd, Hirsch'l Ehrlich, Ary' Levenfus, Asher Herbstman, David Shapiro, Moshe Eilbaum, and Moshe Eidelsberg

The general Zionist movement, at whose head stood Avigdor Eidelsberg הי”ד assumed the central position and was the progressive group. A number of the Mizrahi membership went to the general Zionist movement

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because most of the city residents were religiously observant, and therefore this movement appealed to them. At its head stood Chaim Joseph Lehrer. He was one of the founders of the movement in the city, a man knowledgeable in literature, and who accomplished a great deal, a powerful protagonist without bounds. He was at one with his ambience, and stood at his post up until the destruction of the city. This movement established a training camp of Poel HaMizrahi at which tens of pioneers received their physical training and pioneering indoctrination before they made aliyah to the Land.

The Poalei Tzion group took a very respected position – Tze'irei Tzion at the head of which stood Fyvel Holtz הי”ד who dedicated his heart and soul to it. The youth movements of HaShomer HaTza'ir, HeHalutz, and Freier Skut all coalesced around it.

Hundreds of young people found a place in the movements, most of them in ‘HeHalutz.’ They went out to training camps, and were spread out all over Poland. Many of them made aliyah, and continue the legacy of Tomaszow scions in the Land of Israel.

The activities of the Zionist movements in the city were legion. They played no small part in the collection of donations to Keren Kayemet and Keren HaYesod, at parties, weddings, flower days, etc, that were arranged by the young people, and in which they saw a sacred duty.

And they suffered no little subversion by Agudat Yisrael, ordinary Jews, Hasidim, and fanatics, who saw in this work that was sacrilegious.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, at the time of the Mincha service, it was an accepted custom to give to charity, in order to redeem one's soul. On the ‘Balemer’ {the table on which the Torah scroll was placed to be read) plates were set out for all the various institutions that helped the poor, anonymous giving, the Talmud Torah, the Yeshivas, R' Meir Baal HaNess, etc. It was also the custom to put out a plate for Keren Kayemet and Keren HaYesod.

An incident occurred in the house of worship of Rabbi Yehoshua'leh, where most of the worshipers were Hasidim, known to be great fanatics. The writer of these lines volunteered not to skip this house of worship with a plate set out for Keren Kayemet. My decision was accompanied by great trepidation, because I know fully well, before whom I would be standing. Thanks to my family connections, I had the nerve to stand beside the ‘plate’ in silence, and to observe who might choose to seek redemption for their soul by making a donation to Keren Kayemet, and Keren HaYesod. This was in vain, since this plate was orphaned [among the others]. And then, an elderly Jewish man entered, bewhiskered with a long beard, with curly side locks, wet from his ablutions at the mikva, his lips moving silently in prayer. He approached the table with the platters, placing his coins in plate after plate. When he came to the row of the Keren Kayemet plate, he stopped dropping coins, and with an angry cry, he asked: ‘Who is the sheketz^[1] who had the nerve to place this abomination in this holy place?’

With frightened respect, and without moving, I indicated that it was myself. In one moment, he gave me two slaps to the cheek that were forceful enough, in front of the entire assembly of people. My reaction was not to move, and also not to remove the platter.

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A sense of dissatisfaction coursed through the worshipers in regard to the behavior of the individual who disturbed the mood of the prayer leading to Kol Nidre.

It was not trivial for the young Zionists to contest with the fanatics on one side, and the Bund and communist on the other side. Nevertheless, their resolve stood with them.

In part, the words of the prophet came to be: ‘and the wolf lived together with the lamb.’

Today, in the Land of Israel, can be found those, who in days past, were opposed to the State, as citizens with equal rights. A shame! What a shame! It is a shame that so many did not reach us, and no man knows where their graves might even be.

Let their memory be for all eternity!

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