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[Page 847]
Translated from the Yiddish by Leslie Train
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Joseph Teperman was born in Yedinitz in 1887 to Isaac and Mindl. He arrived in Brazil in 1910 and around five years later, by 1915, he married Hannah Gandelman from Romăncăuți (Bessarabia[1]). At the time, very few Jewish families lived in Brazil.
Without the language, and with no family, the emigrants felt out of sorts. On the initiative of the 23-year-old Joseph Teperman, a small chapel in his office in Bom Retiro (district of São Paulo) was fitout and turned into the first meeting place for friends and as an absorption center for the newly arrived immigrants. The next of his achievements was the founding of a Jewish library and a school for Jewish studies. Sometime later, thanks to Teperman's initiative, the Burial Society was founded, and a parcel of land was acquired for use as a cemetery. And thus, followed the establishment of one aid organization after another. Eventually, the Círculo Israelita was created – a social club for the old and young.
During World War II, Teperman helped in creating a committee formed to help refugees coming from Hitler's Germany. He was also the founder of the first B'nai Brith lodge, 'Moses Mendelsohn', volunteered for the Joint, etc.
Joseph Teperman was also a dedicated Zionist and cooperated in all endeavors for the benefit of Israel.
[Page 848]
He especially was committed to the idea of establishing a senior's home in São Paulo and served as its president until the last day of his life. The United Nations Organization recognized the institution as a model for senior homes.
Teperman's children, Isaac and Mendel, Esther, Sarah Mindl, and Bluma Kosinski follow in their father's footsteps in national and social affairs. Joseph Teperman had the merit of visiting the state of Israel, where he had many friends and landsleit [countrymen].
[Page 849]
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Zalman Teperman was born in Yedinitz and received a comprehensive Jewish and general education. He married Gitl nee Kaufman in Britschan. They arrived in Brazil in 1914. Zalman was a highly educated Jew, both in secular studies and in Jewish matters. Their home in São Paulo soon became a parlor for scholars and for all who had a connection to Judaism. Soon after arriving in Brazil, he became a first-class businessman. He was among the founders and often the president of the synagogues on Newton Prado, such as 'Hatechia' and other synagogues. He was among the founders of other Jewish social and religious institutions, such as the ritualarium [mikveh], the savings-and-loans bank, etc.
He spared no effort to give his children an intense Jewish and secular education. After the passing of his brother Joseph Teperman (about whom we have written separately), who was the president of the old age home, Zalman took his place as the president of the same institution. Reb Zalman was also very active in the affairs of the senior's home. Zalman passed away at a dinner given in his honor by the leadership and VIPs at the home. Before his passing, he succeeded in paying off all debts of the ritualarium. He merited to celebrate the founding of the state of Israel and passed away in 1949. He was distinguished by his humility, pleasant disposition, love of his fellow Jews and fellow citizens; he epitomized a life of 'modesty in one's ways'. May his memory be honored.
[Page 850]
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| Antonietta and Leon Feffer at a reception with the Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir |
Antonietta, daughter of Reb Zalman Teperman, together with her husband Leon Feffer (from Volhyn) are well-known figures in the Jewish social and Zionist circles of Brazil.
Mrs. Feffer is a VIP and a prominent leader of almost all social and society institutions in Brazil and São Paulo, such as the Zionist organizations, the 'Children's Home', Jewish schools, and philanthropic organizations; she is president of WIZO in Brazil and São Paulo and was proclaimed 'Mother of the Year' in 1963 in appreciation of her efforts. The Jewish kindergarten in São Paulo was named after her: 'Gan Yeladim 'al Shem Antonietta Feffer'.
Leon Feffer, in addition to his general social and Zionist activities, was also active in the economic development of the state of Israel and invested capital there. He has long been the consul of Israel in São Paulo.
The house of the Feffers in São Paulo is open to all who have an interest in Zionism and Israel and is the known place for visiting Israeli dignitaries. Their children, son Max, and daughter Fanny Cooper are following in their parents' footsteps. Antonietta and Leon have eight grandchildren.
Mrs. Feffer was active in the work on this book and made a generous contribution to the effort, for which we express our utmost thanks.
[Page 851]
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Mordechai Lakhterman was an extremely interesting figure. Originally from Lipcani, he moved to Yedinitz at an early age. In addition to his wife Masia, z”l, he had to support his six children, Tsina, Leizer, Avrom, Leib, Esther, and Yosl under very difficult economic conditions.
He was a highly educated Jew and known for both his open heart and open arms. He was a teacher. He instilled in his students the Jewish spirit and respect for all people who have engaged in the Torah, Jewish wisdom, and were of good moral character.
Although self-taught for the most part, he had a good knowledge of Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, and a bit of German.
In his day, he befriended the great writer Yehudah Steinberg, while the latter lived in Yedinitz. He was also noted as among the first and most well-known Zionists in the area.
He loved to draw, as well as to etch in wood and stone. In his home, one could find many literary anthologies and treatises on mathematics and accountancy (he taught those subjects).
From 1920 to 1926 he worked in the Tarbut school of Yedinitz.
He arrived in Brazil in 1926. Here too, he immediately became involved in civic affairs and often contributed to the Yiddish press.
The extended Lakhterman family – 4 generations in Brazil – bestow honor upon the Jewish community in general and the Yedinitzer community in particular.
[Page 852]
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Joseph Lerner was born in Yedinitz; his parents, Yidl and Beile, the daughter of Chaim Asher, were honest down-to-earth people.
He reached Brazil in 1912 and almost immediately his home became an 'official address' for the newly arrived immigrants coming from the old country. Joseph Lerner, the 'quiet, modest man of the people (according to the description of Ben-Zion Goldberg in the New York 'Tog')', was in effect the pioneer and co-founder of what was to become the illustrious Jewish community in the Brazilian capital.
He was the co-founder and close associate of the most important social and civic institutions, such as the Jewish Aid Union, the Immigrant Protection agency, the Mutual Insurance Fund, the library, the 'Sholom Aleichem School', etc. His favorite institution was the Savings and Loan Bank, which he helped found and where he served as a director up until the last day of his life.
In 1948 he was especially active in the United Emergency Campaign on behalf of the state of Israel. Starting right after the Second World War, he collaborated on the committee to rehabilitate the refugees who had survived Hitler's terror and worked with war orphans in Israel and Europe, etc. In his civic activities, he was always accompanied and supported by his wife, Yente Lerner.
He was respectful of all people and was beloved and admired by all.
[Page 853]
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Tuli Lerner is one of the most prominent residents of Rio de Janeiro. He was instrumental in the conception of the Jewish community and bore testimony to its growth and development.
His parents, Moshe-Hersh and Esther, sent him to a strict, traditional school in Yedinitz. Later, he continued his studies in Odessa. Returning to Yedinitz, he supported himself by lecturing. Afterward, like many young men for whom the Enlightenment opened new horizons, he too started to strive for a new world.
Tuli came to Brazil before the First World War and underwent all the well-known challenges of a new immigrant. He first settled in Salvador, Bahia state, and later moved to the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
'We had started building our place of refuge – the Sholom Aleichem library - during the years 1915-1918', he recounts. But then a difficult economic crisis arose, and the institution had to be closed. So, he took the books home with him and safeguarded them until the library could be reopened.
In the 1920's he was the chairman of the aid committee of the Jewish autonomous region of Birobidzhan.
He was among the founders and the first president of the Sholom Aleichem school, one of the greatest Jewish schools in Brazil; under his aegis, the management of the school arranged to have the well-known poet and fabulist Eliezer Steinberg, z”l, brought in to act as the director of the school from 1928 to 1930.
[Page 854]
With the arrival of the teacher and pedagogue P. Tabak in Brazil, Tuli Lerner helped with the founding of the new Eliezer Steinberg school.
During this time, he helped reorganize the Savings and Loan Bank and was elected its president. He was also the president of the aid campaign for those who suffered in the Second World War.
With the founding of the 'Brazilian Israelite Cultural Institute – Casa do Povo (Folkhoyz)', he was elected as president. He held the position for ten years. The above-mentioned institute supports schools, institutions of education, and the great choir ensemble, with over 100 singers.
We wish our fellow ex-pat Naphtali Lerner many years of further creative activity.
We take this opportunity to mention with reverence Tuli Lerner's life-companion – his unforgettable wife Toni Lerner, z”l, who died in 1963. She was his 'help-meet,' not only in his private life but also in his civic duties. His children – engineer David and his wife Leah, daughter Leah Goldstein, and the grandchildren, are all following in the parents' footsteps.
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We made the acquaintance of Chavaleh Lerner on a trip with a group of young students and workers in the town near Yedinitz called Zabritchan. It was in the 1930s when the echoes of world events, social changes, and battles resounded throughout the small shtetls of Bessarabia.
[Page 855]
One summer evening we dropped in on the home of Hanna Broitman, a daughter from a low-income household but one with a generous tradition of hospitality. Then we set out to the friends Lana and Chava'leh Lerner. We were met with a radiant, warm home; the father – a Jew with a big gray beard and a pair of intelligent, expressive eyes. The mother – a gentle, generous woman, embraces us with a warm smile. The whole scene is relaxed; we had a glass of tea with a bite to eat, said our goodbyes, and set out for a stroll.
Right up to today, that meeting with young men and women in the late evening is still fresh in my memory. We spoke of the shtetl life, village life; all in an unrestrained mix of hubbub, laughter, and song resounding in a belief in a better tomorrow.
Lightning-quick changes were coming to Europe. The economic crises, the rise of fascism, and anti-Semitism drove many young people to emigrate. Chavaleh left her small Bessarabian shtetl as well, and we met again in Brazil in 1936. She brought with her the idea of fighting for a brighter tomorrow. As soon as she became financially independent, she dedicated her free time totally to civic work, especially to the Sholom Aleichem library.
During the Second World War, she dedicated herself to the holy work of helping millions of war orphans.
She was modest. Her friends, however, held in very high regard her commitment to the fight for peace and her belief in a better tomorrow for everyone.
She was passionately enthusiastic about the historic events surrounding the proclamation of the state of Israel.
Shortly before her passing (she passed in January 1958) she expressed concerns regarding attracting young blood, Portuguese-speaking specifically, to ensure continuity of the civic work.
Too soon did death take her budding, tempestuous life. All those who knew her will remember her for all time.
[Page 856]
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Isaac and Tzivia Brand were born in Yedinitz and lived there for many years. After having survived the Holocaust, they arrived in Brazil in 1948. They settled in São Paulo, where they were to become two of the most prominent Jewish proprietors in the area. They became known as contributors to local Jewish causes and to Israel. They were the parents of the social mover Clara Kelmanovitch, the supporter who led the efforts for the publishing of the Yedinitz Book in São Paulo. Isaac Brand died unexpectedly in São Paulo in 1970.
Mrs. Tzivia Brand is an active member of the Pioneer Women's Organization and dedicates much time to its social goals. She presides over her social activities, which offer her some comfort. The photo of Isaac, z”l, and Tzivia Brand, may she live long, was taken at an official reception for prominent members of the society in honor of the President Zalman Shazarduring his visit to São Paulo.
[Page 857]
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Chaikele Brand, now Clara Kelmanovitch, was born in Yedinitz and sent to Transnistria. She married David Kelmanovitch in Brazil in 1951. Clara served as the secretary for the Pioneer Women's Organization in São Paulo and was elected later as its vice-president, spending much of her time in the community affairs. She is the mother of five children: Umberto, Lea, Sergio, Beno, and Lusu. She is the founder and heart-and-soul of the Yedinitz Yizkor Book in São Paulo. She has visited Israel, and there, she was recruited through the Society of Descendants of Yedinitz to work on this book.
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Tuli Meiler was born in Yedinitz. He is an important community member in a whole number of Jewish institutions, especially in the area of aid for the state of Israel. He is also a member of the Yedinitz Committee in São Paulo and supports all societal endeavors. His wife Mara, nee Weinschenker, is also active in the community.
[Page 858]
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Roza Weisenberg Zager is the daughter of Isaac and Beile Weisenberg-Magalnik. She emigrated to Brazil with her family in 1928 and settled in São Paulo. In 1929 she married Abraham Zager from Sikuran, a strong community supporter. Roza quickly became a prominent community activist, first in the local aid institutions and later in the Bessarabian Society, and in 1947 she became active in the 'Chaim Weitzman Club' (Haganah). She has been active in the Pioneer Women's Organization since 1948, first in the São Paulo branch and since 1966, she has served as the president of the Pioneer Women's Organization for all of Brazil.
Together with her husband, she has been active in the education committee and all areas of Jewish education, in the Hebrew movement, and active member in the 'Brit Ivrit Olamit'. Aside from all this, at the time of this writing, she is also the secretary of the Zionist Labor Movement.
Roza has undertaken many missions in the name of “Mapai” and the Pioneer Women's Organization in several South American countries. She was a delegate in the Zionist conferences, in the World Conference of “Ichud Olami” (Mapai), in the Pioneer Women's Organization, etc. She has visited Israel several times. She is also a leader in the Committee for Immigration to Israel (“Vaad Aliyah”) in Brazil. Recently, she was elected as the president of the Zionist Council in São Paulo.
Roza brings much honor to the society of Yedinitzers in Brazil.
[Page 859]
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Idel is one of the oldest Yedinitzer Jews in Brazil, one who arrived a few years ago from Russia.
His daughter Pesia Brajtman and son-in-law Moshe Fein are active in the community and are of great help to many Jewish causes. Their children are Esther and Miriam.
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Even back home in Yedinitz, Eliezer and Rokhl Zilberman were committed Zionist activists. As soon as they arrived in Brazil in the 1920s, he became a leading figure in Jewish communal and Zionist causes.
As a worker with the Keren Hayesod, he would visit every far-flung Jewish community in Brazil collecting funds for Israel and spreading Zionist ideology. He was among the founders of the 'HaHalutz' in Brazil and served as the chairman of the Committee for Agricultural Training (Vaad lemaan Hahakhsharah). He received a certificate of distinction from the world council of the Jewish National Fund in Jerusalem for his valuable Zionist efforts and his general services on behalf of the Fund and the State of Israel.
[Page 860]
Zilberman was also active in many other local Jewish institutions; he was the president of the Free Loan Society, was active in the “Joint,” worked on behalf of refugees from the Second World War, was treasurer of the Society of Bessarabian Jews in São Paulo, served as the director of the Home for the Aged, etc. His wife Rokhl, z”l, was a long-time active member of the WIZO Women's organization.
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Joseph Snitkowski is well-known as a community activist in the São Paulo Jewish society. He is especially active in various community social and cultural institutions. He is one of the founders and chief supporters of the Bessarabian Society in São Paulo. There is almost no campaign on behalf of local efforts, as well as in general Bessarabian goals, in which he has not taken an active role. At the same time, over the years, he has also been active in the area of collecting funds and other actions on behalf of the State of Israel.
Joseph Snitkowski warmed to the idea of publishing the Yedinitz Book. He was a member of the committee of Yedinitzers, and personally took part spiritually and materially, in the realization of this Book.
Mrs. Cecilia Snitkowski is also a long-time dedicated supporter of the community. There is almost no social cause on behalf of local causes and especially pertaining to the State of Israel, in which she has not participated with heart and soul. She is one of the founders of the Pioneer Women's Organization.
[Page 861]
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Born in Yedinitz in 1896. Emigrated to Brazil and settled in São Paulo in 1913. Married Roza, daughter of Gitl Teperman,z”l, with whom he had three children: a son, Morris Shanski, MD, two married daughters, six grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
A well-known community activist for local causes ('Ezra', the Home for the Aged, and the Albert Einstein Hospital) he was a major contributor to their campaign.
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Born in Yedinitz, they came to Brazil with their two daughters: Mina, who married Nathan Stein from Botosani, and Zina, the wife of Misha Ackerboim from Yedinitz.
[Page 862]
David and Raquel Brand
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David Brand was born and lived in Yedinitz. He survived the Second World War in the Transnistrian camps and came to Brazil in 1948, where he married Raquel Gandelman, also from Bessarabia. Both are recognized as supporters and donors to local causes in the Jewish community of São Paulo. They have three children: Selma, Sueli, and Silvio.
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A community activist in São Paulo. Contributor to many Jewish matters. Born in Yedinitz. In 1957 he lost his wife Rokhl, z”l, mother of their four children: Joseph, Raquel, Klara, and Dora.
[Page 863]
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Enrique (Herschel) Kuperschmidt was born and raised in Yedinitz. His wife Ida is the daughter of Jacob,z”l, and Fanny Bernstein from Britschan. He is the former president of the Bessarabian Society.
E. Kuperschmidt is also a long-time activist in the Bessarabian Society. He is also involved in many institutions and supports them. He is especially keen for the benefit of Israel. His wife Ida is involved in the Pioneer Women's Organization.
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Well-known community activist and philanthropist, he lives in Lima, Peru. His father, Gedalia Fishman, emigrated with the whole family from Yedinitz and settled first in Brazil, where Gedalia passed away. Pesach Fishman's wife, Sonia, also does important social work. They have two children, Gideon and Ramir.
[Page 864]
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Dr. Salvador (Shikeh) Rosenthal, originally from Yedinitz, holds an important position in the South American Jewish community, especially in Colombia, where he has been living since 1937.
Born in Yedinitz in 1912 to Israel (son of Yekl Ratunder), he emigrated from the shtetl at a young age. By 1930, he had already graduated from high school in Spain, where he also completed his medical studies. He threw himself into Jewish communal and Zionist life in Bogota and quickly climbed the ranks to a senior position. He represented the community at international Jewish conferences, Zionist Congresses, the Jewish World Congress, etc. He founded a pro-Israel committee to which belonged prominent local Christian personalities and politicians. He visited Israel many times, where he was received in the highest government circles.
For a time, he served as honorary consul of Israel in Bogota.
Dr. Salvador Rosenthal also holds an important place in the general intellectual world of Colombia and has led missions as an agent of the Colombian government.
Dr. Rosenthal is a polyglot; he is fluent in Russian, Romanian, English, Spanish, French, and German, but he is especially proud of his competence in Yiddish and Hebrew.
He has three sons with his wife Ruth nee Krieger.
[Page 865]
Our landsman Samuel Meiler is a member of the pioneer corps who built up the Jewish community in Caracas. There is not a single Jewish society or social institution in which he is not active. He has twice been elected as the president of the Centro Israel and the Union Israelita de Caracas. Through his efforts, he brought about the unification of the above-named bodies into one great representative corporation.
Samuel Meiler is actively involved in Jewish education and is one of the founders of the Colegio Moral y Luces (Hebrew School). When it came the time to finish the school building, together with four other philanthropists, he assumed a large loan of half-million Bolivar. He was among the supporters to purchase land for the Jewish cemetery in Caracas.
Samuel was born in Yedinitz to Yenkl Meiler, who died in Yedinitz in 1929, and to Sheindl nee Schneiderman, who perished in Transnistria. There were three children in the family; two brothers, Samuel and Mashke, who emigrated and live in Caracas. Their sister Hannah (may God avenge her blood) was killed in Transnistria.
Samuel came to South America in 1928. He has been involved in Zionist affairs for a while, taking part in all fundraising campaigns to benefit Israel: Keren Hayesod, Bonds, Emergency Campaigns, etc. He was a member of the South American delegation to the founding convention of Israel Bonds in Atlantic City in 1952. As the director of Bonds in Caracas, he led the campaign to great success.
The long-time wife of Samuel Meiler, his gentle wife Soniaz ”l, was born in Lipcan; she was the daughter of Borukh Shames and Chaike nee Geiman, long-time residents of Caracas. She was a woman of great character and good traits, a real 'help-mate' for her husband in his philanthropic efforts.
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During their visit to Israel in 1969, Sonia z”l, and Samuel, may he live a long life, were welcomed into the house of Alexander Melekhsohn through the aegis of the editorial committee of the Yedinitz book, at the head of which were M. Reicher,z”l, and Y. Magen. Sonia promised at that point to help with the book. Unfortunately, she passed away. Her husband kept her promise.
The Meiler household was known as a center for Jewish communal life. Their children, Anita Ben-Naim, Dora Zaidman, and Jack Meiler are following the Jewish nationalistic ways of their parents.
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A longtime community activist. Born in Yedinitz in 1911 to Meir Valevitch and Miriam Rosenblatt,zl. In 1929 he emigrated to Peru and in 1932 to Bolivia. There he became one of the developers of Jewish life in all areas.
[Page 867]
In 1953 he served as the President of Circulo Israelita in La Paz (Ashkenazic community) and of the United Jewish Central committee of Bolivia.
In 1948 he married Rita Kirmeir, who was born in Vienna. In the years 1937-39, on the eve of the Second World War, Abraham-Isaac Valevitch used the relationships he had cultivated with the 'top brass' in Bolivia to procure immigration visas for European Jews, thus helping to save them from extermination. After the Second World War, he merited to bring his parents, who had survived the deportation to Transnistria, to Bolivia. Both seniors lived out their last years in the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia, and both passed away on the same day, the 13th of Tammuz 5713 (June 26, 1953).
The family of Meir and Miriam Valevitch was one of the very few Jewish families that survived the Second World War without a single loss. At the parents' funeral, aside from Abraham-Isaac, the other two sons, Chaim-Alter and Joseph as well as the two daughters, Reizl (the wife of Isaac Slaves) and Sheindl (the wife of Pinny Parnes), who had also survived the hell in Transnistria, were in attendance. A third daughter, Etl Valevitch-Weinschenker, was in Montevideo at the time, where she had set up her residence.
In 1954 Abraham-Isaac Valevitch moved to Montevideo, where he joined the local social fabric.
In 1951 Rita and Abraham-Isaac Valevitch visited Israel and brought greetings and a gift for the president, Chaim Weitzman,z”l, on behalf of the Bolivian Jewish community and brought back the president's answer and his thanks.
Rita and Abraham-Isaac Valevitch have a son, Arye-David, and a daughter, Malka.
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A long-time worker on behalf of the community, Samuel was born in 1916 in the village of Terebna, in the Belzer county. At the age of just 2 weeks old he became an orphan when his father fell in the First World War fighting for the Russians. His mother worked hard as a seamstress in the village to feed and educate her two small children (Samuel and his older brother Isaac). He learned Hebrew from private teachers brought in by the twenty Jewish families in the village.
Out of economic need by the age of twelve, Samuel became a teacher in the surrounding villages. But he was determined to continue his studies.
He emigrated to Bolivia in 1938, where he became an active member of the Jewish social scene and the Zionist movement.
He helped the war effort on behalf of the Allied armies during the Second World War. In 1940 he married Etel Valevitch, born in his hometown. She became a dedicated WIZO member.
In 1949 Samuel moved to Uruguay. In Montevideo, he became a member of the regulatory body of YIVO, was the co-founder of the Non-partisan Zionist Union, and was involved in various Jewish institutions and organizations.
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