Beloved and Unforgettable Kurenets (cont.)

Days passed and all the members of Charut Vetchia in the main headquarters went to Israel and the whole movement was almost cancelled. But we didn't give up. We made contact with Gordonia and we established other youth movements like Ha'Chalutz and Ha'Chalutz Ha'Zair. The period of the establishment of Ha'Chalutz was a very splendid period.

Ken Hashomer Hatzair (Socialist-Zionist youth movement) Kurenets 1929 Sitting right to left: Sara nee Meirovitz Eizen, Luba nee Gurevich Bardan, Zlata Zimerman, Chana Alperovich, Bela Meltzer, Batya daughter of Rabbi Oshpol, Chaya Sara Shmukler, Dvusha Kopilevitz, Daughter of Shlomo Mayzel, Fraydel Zimerman. Second line sitting, right to left: Michael Meirovitch, Shlomke Alperovitz, Nechamia Alperovitch, Israel Gvint, Dvushel Zokovski, Aharon Meirovitch, Yitzhak Gurfinkel, ?, Hirshel Alperovitch, Eliyahu Zimerman, Standing next: Yechiel Alperovitch, ? Third row Right to left: Zev (Wolf) Rabunski, Henya Dimenstein, Chaim Yitzhak Zimerman, Shlomo Mindel, Shmuel Limon, Yermiyahu Alperovitz, Shimshon Zimerman, Velvel Rodinski, Aharon Alperovitz, Yakov Dinerstein, Yosef Markman. Top row right to left: ?,?,?, Rosa nee Chosid Rabunski, Mendel Levins' daughter, Menuchka Kopilovitch, Chaya Altman, ?,?, Sara Eisak.

My writing would be lacking if I didn't say a few words also about Hashomer Ha'Zair in Kurenets, that came to town like a spring wind, bringing with an intoxicating blossoming. This was in the year 1928. IT was after I returned from my training in Kibbutz Rayuvka that was located somewhere between the towns of Ilia and Krasne. At that point, the Yeshuv [Jewish settlers] in Eretz Israel went through some hard times. After the Fourth Immigration it was very difficult to get certificates for a few reasons. First there were very few being given by the British. Second, it was very expensive to travel. Third, and most importantly, it seemed like the town lost the beautiful dreams. It was as if autumn came. Most of the active members left. Some went to Eretz Israel, others went into serious studies, and a few got busy with jobs. I remember one reading in the house of Shabtai Gordon. We spoke about the difficulties in Eretz Israel and about the difficulties of the pioneer movement. The main thing on everyone's mind was how to renew the old days in town. As a first step a decision was made to commit to improve the situation of the Tarbut school that was having financial difficulties. Clearly, Zalman Gvint took this job, and I was his assistant from a technical point of view, since at this point I had no other job. At that point, Dvozhel Zokovski [perished in the Holocaust] arrived in Kurenets. She had just finished her studies in the Hebrew gymnasia in Vilna, and now she was accepted as a teacher in the school. She, together with others who were visionaries, among them Aharon Meirovich, who was filled with Hebrew culture and traditional culture by his father Ben Zion, who was the first person who established in town so many years ago the teaching of Hebrew in Hebrew. Anyway, Dvozhel Zokovski and Aharon Meirovich established a ken [a local movement] of Hashomer Ha'Zair. My writing ability is too dull to describe the character of Dvozhel and all the special gifts she was blessed with. It's all to her credit that the movement caught the youths with a new excitement that was similar to the good old days.

Kurenets 1929 – Hashomer Hatzair Garden The working young men: Michail Meirovitz, Aharon Meirovitz, Yizhak Gurfinkel. Two young girls in front: Nyoma nee Alperovitz Rabunski, Rivka nee Gvint Dudik.

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