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Hundreds of years ago, the place was covered in forests and owned by nobleman Potocki. He bequeathed it to his daughter, Countess Potocka, who loved to organize hunting trips. The countess asked Meir-Wolf Klinger to build a hostel and tavern for the use and comfort of her guests. Meir-Wolf agreed under the condition that he be allowed to bring with him a slaughterer, a rabbi, and other Jewish craftsmen, without whom a Jew cannot fulfill the mitzvot. The permission was granted. He was also given land. Meir-Wolf built himself a magnificent house. The house still stands today at the end of Saniatynska Street on the road to Słobódka.

Meir-Wolf cultivated the fields he received and bequeathed them to his children. They held them until the Second World War .The Russians confiscated all the lands and turned them into a kolkhoz. One of the heirs was Sheina-Reize z”l, mother of Arye Hazenfratz. I remember my visit to her in the holidays, and the pear jam that she served us with a glass of cold water.

Yehudah Klinger, my grandfather, my mother's father (Turtzia Mendel of the Klinger family), originated in Vilna. Several generations ago, during the time of the Vilna Gaon, many Jews were killed in a pogrom. A relative of the Vilna Gaon, Sheina-Reize1, remained a widow with a young boy and turned to him for help. The Gaon sent her to Kuty, to Meir-Wolf Klinger, to help her. Sheina-Reize went through a long and difficult journey with her child, until she arrived to Meir- Wolf in Kuty. Meir-Wolf received her with open arms, took care of all her needs, and adopted her as a family member. Sheina-Reize changed her surname to Klinger - the name of her sponsor.^[1]

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About a hundred years ago, when my father, Menashe Mendel, was a baby, scarlet fever epidemic raged in the city and two of his brothers passed away. My father also contracted the disease. He had complications in his kidneys and was swelling up. My grandmother was desperate, and when she heard that the Rabbi of Kosow was going to pass through the town on his way to Vizhnitz [Vyzhnytsia] to visit the rabbi there, she took the sick child and ran with him to meet the rabbi's carriage. When she saw the carriage in the distance, she lay down on the road, and the convoy stopped. The Hasidim tried to drive her out, but she refused to get up until the rabbi approached her and asked her what she wanted. She burst into tears, recounted the deaths of her two children, and pointed at the sick baby. The rabbi approached her, told her to get up and return to her home, and promised that the boy would recover.

On the way, when my grandmother returned to her home, she met a gentile she knew. He looked at the boy and gave her some grass roots. He told her to boil them in water and give it to the boy to drink. She had done as he instructed, after a while the kidneys began to function, the swelling went down, and the boy recovered.

I have been told the story when I got scarlet fever when I was twelve years old. I was very sick, and my father was very worried. He was sure I wouldn't get out of it. But there were already other methods, and Dr. Bartel cured me very successfully. I was in quarantine for a long time, and until I was allowed to leave, no one entered my room except my mother and Aunt Bluma Klinger who played cards with me and told me stories from the past, stories that I loved to hear.

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I am happy for the opportunity given to me to commemorate in a few lines the memory of two beloved people, righteous in the full sense of the word, from the community of the destroyed city of Kuty - Shlomo and Bela Scherf.

My uncle, Shlomo, was a scholar. In his youth he was a student at the Vizhnitz Yeshiva, and in his adulthood one of its supporters and builders. Every Sabbath, he hosted students in his home and followed their progress in Judaic studies.

Next to him worked, modestly and secretly, my aunt Beila, his devoted wife. Her main work focused on providing economic relief to needy families. If the concept of “secret giving” exists, then it was fulfilled in her actions in the fullest sense of the word. At night, she went out with me, both of us loaded with various food packages, and we distributed them to families in need. We put the packages by the front door, anonymously, so as not to embarrass or offend the recipients, that among them were also respectable people, but destitute.

I will suffice with these two examples to describe the nobility of the soul of Shlomo and Beila z”l.

I also want to add that my grandfather, David Scherf, Shlomo's brother, was among the founders of Vizhnitz Yeshiva.

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There was a Jewish town
And no longer exists
There was a vibrant Jewish life
And they no longer exist
A wonderful family nest was created
And it was destroyed.

There are people who mention Kuty with longings. There are people who praise the wonderful landscape, with the mountains and valleys in it, rich fields and forests, flowing rivers and green vegetation. Some nostalgically mention the pleasant climate, the abundance of blessed rains, and fertile soil. But not me! It wasn't mine! The land was not ours. The abundance and natural wealth were not ours. We were hated and foreign subtenants there - and when the opportunity came, they killed us.

I don't see the surrounding landscape in my imagination, but the people. I see the Jews of our city and the neighboring towns, bustling and toiling, worrying and hoping, living and fighting for their economic existence and national uniqueness. Their lives in all places involved adapting to the hostile world in which they lived. While, at the same time, they diligently shaped and built their Jewish and communal lives according to religious tradition. I see them before my eyes, the small shopkeepers, competing for every buyer, the small craftsmen, diligent in their work, and earning their living with great effort. Among them are lively youth, active, and sensitive, breaking conventions and traditions. Youth, who break away from the shackles of religion, and fight for lofty ideas of equality and reforming social order.

My home was there - my parents' home. Everything was erased from the face of the earth with the active assistance

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of the people we lived among. Therefore, I can't long for it - just to grit my teeth.

The standard of living in the city at that time was low, as was the level of services. It was difficult to maintain cleanliness and personal hygiene without running water, not at home and not outside. Water was pumped from the nearest well in a distance of several streets from the house. In order to enable the elderly Jewish population to bathe in the winter towards the Shabbat, the leaders of the Jewish community built a bathhouse. There was a big oven there that was heated with large wooden planks. The floor was paved with stones. When the stones got hot, buckets of boiling water were poured over them. This created heat and steam, which caused a lot of sweating. For the sake of the women a mikveh was also built there.

On Friday, a special bustle was noticeable. Everyone was in a hurry. The women finished their cooking and cleaning towards the Shabbat. Already in the late morning hours the men ran with a bundle under their armpit, and a small broom in the hand, to the bathhouse. It was very crowded there, and they all rushed to climb on the benches. Everyone was equal there, there was no class difference. Those who could bear the heat climbed higher. Those who couldn't remained below. Jews stood on the benches and whipped each other with small brooms. On the side, a small bucket of cold water was prepared to refresh in time of need. Purified for the Sabbath, they left the bathhouse for their homes.

When the sound of the shamash footsteps, and his knocks on shops doors, was heard, it was a sign that the Shabbat was arriving. The shops closed, and the streets emptied. Shabbat candles were lit in the homes, and soon the sound of Shabbat prayers will pour out from the synagogues. These were the town's Jews, who have taken off their everyday clothes and dressed in holiness.

A few words about education in Kuty. The boys went to the cheder from a very young age. Every parent saw it as a sacred duty to send the sons to study in the cheder already at the age of three. Girls were exempt from this mitzvah. They went to the Polish elementary school. There was no more than that in our town. The only high school was in Śniatyń or Lwow [Lviv], and few could afford this luxury.

At school we learned the history of Poland, about its wars and its national heroes, its literature and its celebrated poets. They developed their national pride, and I envied them. We developed our national spirit in our parents' home. We heard stories from them about Jewish heroes, as they were imbued with longing for Eretz Yisrael. Many of us went to private lessons with the Hebrew teacher Spiegel.

At that time, a national Zionist awakening took place in the Jewish street. The youth, both studying and working, were active in all the parties and existing movements: General Zionists, Poalei Zion, Dror, Hashomer Hatzair, the Revisionists or the Communists. All of them convinced the others of the righteousness of their path. They devoted all their free time to actions for the common good. There was almost no home that

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didn't have an active member in one party or another. Moreover, there were cases in which several streams clashed in the same home. So was the case in our home - HeHalutz, Hashomer Hatzair, Poalei Zion, Communists, and two younger brothers who remained faithful to religion, that is, to our religious parents. The awakening stemmed from the fact that with the end of the First World War, new national states were established, among them Poland, and many nations gained independence. Poland was revived. The Jews, who were active in the uprisings, hoped that the sun of freedom would shine for them, too. The disappointment was bitter. Instead of equality and freedom, they received a wave of pogroms, which swept through Eastern European countries, including Poland, Ukraine, and Slovakia. The Jewish tragedy was revealed in all its cruelty. The Jewish youth could no longer be content with self-defense. They began to think about a fundamental solution to the plight of the Jewish people. Youth movements arose from all walks of life. The first, and most dominant, was Hashomer Hatzair. The movement was founded in Eastern Galicia and the best youth joined it. We learned to recognize a vital and interesting worldview. We saw the ultimate goal and the path to achieving it. Life in the “Federation” (group) was very diverse. It was rich in content and values and allowed an outlet for the emotional needs of the youth. It is no wonder that the members of Hashomer Hatzair saw the “federation” as their home (heym – in Yiddish).

By belonging to this movement, I felt that my life was not empty. I saw a goal before me. The road was paved with countless pleasant experiences: scouting, nature walks, dancing in a circle and the romance of singing in a group at dusk. All this created a special atmosphere of closeness and belonging. Together with this, a wide-ranging educational activity was conducted, which included developing the mind and broadening the horizons. It was done through group discussions, various courses, and reading books. It is worth noting that our library was very rich. Other movements, such as Gordonia and Poalei Zion, also had rich libraries, and exchanging books was our routine. From a cultural point of view, our town was well-developed, although many of the youth were not granted formal education. Many were skilled in various fields and had the ability to express themselves. All this was acquired with the help of books, self-education, and further education in the movement.

The carpet industry began to develop in the late 1920s. In the following years it expanded to the entire surrounding area. The production of carpets was carried out at the workers' private homes, on primitive wooden device purchased by the worker. The raw material for weaving, threads and wool, was provided by the contractor.

The work was hard and primitive. They worked with their hands and feet, with great agility and skill. The work lasted twelve hours a day, and while standing. Young people, adults, and even children were engaged in this work. Most of the youth who didn't study made a living by weaving carpets. After finishing my primary school education, I was unable to continue my studies at high school. I also turned to this occupation.

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Early 1930s. In Weimar Germany Hitler rose to power. The anti-Jewish slogans, carried over from Germany, were well received in Poland. The Polish nationalists engaged in anti-Semitic activity that was well evident in all areas of life. activity is reflected both in higher education institutions that have introduced the Numerus Clauses (limiting the number of Jewish students) and also in the imposition of economic restrictions and a boycott on the Jewish economy. The anti-Jewish economic policy caused the paralysis of Jewish trade. The process of impoverishment of the Jewish bourgeoisie began. The Jewish youth, who didn't find a place for himself in commerce, was forced to make a living from public works projects. In general, the work was despised in the eyes of the middle class, but, in light of the situation, there was no choice, and they turned to carpet weaving.

Slowly, a Jewish working class began to develop. Although we are not actually talking about railway workers, metal, mines, or heavy industry, but about people who work and make a living in public works projects. As a result of this development, workers began to organize, both in trade unions and in political parties, such as the Jewish Labor Parties. At the same time, the national bond among Jewish youth also deepened and was expressed in increased Zionist activity.

In light of the events in fascist Germany and anti-Semitic Poland, the Soviet Union emerged. The Jewish youth yearned for equality, and was deeply impressed and fascinated by the revolutionary ideas of social justice and national equality. The youth were open to absorbing new ideas and solutions. The members of Hashomer Hatzair movement showed a special sensitivity to the power of attraction of these ideas. Since social equality was one of the cornerstones of the movement's ideology, the path from Hashomer Hatzair to communism was short. The difference between the two movements lay in the Jewish nature of Hashomer Hatzair movement as opposed to the universal nature of communism.

The events of 1936, and the White Paper^[a] policy, created the feeling that the Zionist path was utopian, while at the same time the solution to our problems seemed on the horizon with the establishment of the Soviet regime. When the Soviets officially declared the elimination of all forms of discrimination against minorities, it seemed that the end of anti-Semitism had come. Changing the social structure of the Jewish people and integrating them into the family of nations as equals was now seen as an achievement. The Jewish street was buzzing with movement and party activity. There were heated debates on social and political issues, and the war for every soul was in full swing. This situation caused a serious crisis in the movement. Even in our own branch, doubts and uncertainties began to arise about the rightness of the path. There were departures towards communism. I was also among those who left. We didn't abandon our problems as Jews, we only believed that this was the way for a solution.

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At the same time, the situation of the carpet weavers was very bad. The employers took advantage of the influx of carpet weaving and the lack of a weavers' organization and lowered their wages as they pleased. There was an urgent need to go on strike to defend their wages. Therefore, it was necessary to go on an explanatory mission that encompassed thousands of weavers' households scattered throughout the region, and to convince them to join the strike. In all, this was a small Jewish bourgeois element of the towns and sons of farmers from the surrounding villages, who had no class consciousness. The explanatory work was carried out by members of the Communist Party, mainly under the auspices of the Weavers' Trade Union. It was a huge achievement when the strike broke out (the “Great Strike” in the early 1930s), which encompassed thousands of unorganized workers. The strike was stopped only through the intervention of the police and arrests.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Soviets arrived and settled in the city. All public institutions were staffed by party activists and sympathizers, as well as by the Ukrainian nationalist intelligentsia. We knew that they were hostile to the government and to the Jews. When the Soviets arrived, the Ukrainians changed drastically and became followers of the regime. We warned the authorities against them, but they preferred the Ukrainians, who were a large and powerful minority. This was a source of frustration and caused an initial disillusionment, but the faith was still strong. Likewise, I no longer had to take risks and began to socialize and enjoy the many opportunities to study and work for a living under more comfortable conditions. I was appointed manager of the municipal library, which included all the libraries that existed before the war, including the Polish Municipal Library.

The organization of the library involved a lot of work. The number of readers grew day by day and my workload increased. But I had satisfaction from my work.

One day, the party secretary appeared at the library and called me to accompany him to Chaim Shechter's bookstore. I had to inspect the books in his store and reject every reactionary book. I was in a very uncomfortable position. I examined several books and finally voted on several fine volumes that had no value, worthy of rejection. Fortunately, I was able to fulfill my obligation at a particularly low price.

Cultural life in the city was conducted with great intensity. Kindergartens were opened, a children's library, and an evening school for adults. Lectures were given and cinemas were opened. All this was free and at the expense of the state. Of course, we took advantage of all the possibilities to enjoy life.

We were not given much time to live in peace. In the twenty-second of June 1941, the Germans

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attacked the Soviet Union. Within a few days the Soviet army escaped from our city. They set up a network of wagons for the population to escape. I escaped. We thought innocently to ourselves that only young people were in danger, and that nothing would happen to adults. In general, there was no time to think, to consider, everything was done under the pressure of a limited time, in haste and confusion.

We moved away from the city and traveled through the villages in the direction of the Russian border. Ukrainian villagers came out of their houses, cursed us, threw stones at us, and were about to beat us. At the end, the Ukrainian cart driver abandoned us, and returned with his cart to his house. We continued on foot to the border.

We crossed the border. Desolation and destruction. Not a soul alive, a terrible disappointment. The darkness of the night covered the confusion and worry. Fatigue increased and dictated a night rest in the ruins, but I could not fall asleep. I was struck by a sense of self-reflection - I felt that the circle of life was closing in on me, and a chasm opened between me and my loved ones who remained at home. Everything was lost and there was nothing to do. The moment - the separation was complete. Suddenly I understood that my illusions were false: I was among the forces of darkness, and I was haunted by the terror of the Nazis with a lack of certainty about what awaited me - my war to survive began. And then I cried bitterly into the night.

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I left Kuty when I was ten years old. Today, when I try to raise memories from the depths of the past, I find that I am mostly left with memories of beautiful landscapes and a special way of life. My memories are centered on the natural beauty of my town, surrounded by forested mountains and at their foot is the Cheremosh River, where we bathed in the summer and saw the barges sailing in the river.

In our yard we grew vegetables, flowers and also plum trees. The plums were picked in the fall and cooked in a large copper pot, so we had powidl [plum] jam for the winter months.

From our house I could see the schoolchildren exercise every morning to the sound of a song that still lives in my memory.

Every May, a trumpeter climbed on the roof of the municipality building and played the anthem in honor of Poland's Independence Day.

I remember our town's rabbi and his family, especially his young daughter who was my best friend. In his yard was an orchard and also fruit-bearing shrubs. In the summer the yard served as a kindergarten.

I remember the Poles' religious processions and funeral ceremonies with the cross that instilled in us feelings of fear and alienation.

With God's help, we left the place in time thanks to our father z”l. What a pity that most of the residents were trapped in the field of slaughter. May HaShem avenge their blood.

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The branch of Hashomer Hatzair in Kuty was founded by three students, Gershon Hazemfratz, Shlomo Drechsler, and Meir Tannentzapf. It was the first and largest Zionist youth organization in the city, which organized youth from the age of twelve onwards, and conducted many extensive activities.

We saw ourselves as educators of the young, and tried to provide our members, through cultural and educational activities, with everything they didn't receive at home or at school.

First of all, every member was required to know Hebrew. For this purpose, we organized special courses. We also held lectures on Zionist theory, history and geography of Eretz Yisrael, history of the labor movement, and more. We ran a rich library in Hebrew and Yiddish and required the members to read the important books.

Over time we organized a drama club. The club was led by a professional instructor who was a supporter of the movement. We put on several plays. I especially remember the play “The Robbers” by the famous poet Friedrich Schiller. The play was a great success since it dealt with social justice. It discusses robbers who robbed people not for money, but with the aim of distributing the loot to the poor. The actors identified with the roles that were close to their hearts. Another innovation was the talking choir, which first appeared on the stage in Kuty.

Since the youth who came to us were at the age of puberty, we talked freely about the physiological phenomena associated with this age, based on scientific material that we found in appropriate books. This discussion was a useful innovation since the subject, which was taboo, was ignored at home and school. We gave a first-hand explanation and not from an invalid source - the street. Thanks to these explanations, the relations between boys and girls were perfectly normal and without any exceptional case.

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In addition to courses on Zionist theory, there were also lectures on topics related to the labor movement and Marxism. The courses were conducted by the group leaders after they received meticulous training. Our internal circulars were written in Hebrew.

It should be noted that the youth came in droves, from all strata of the population. We also managed to organize the youth from the working class, from Shnaydergas )Tailors Street(, the center of the craftsmen and workers in our city.

On 20 Tammuz, the day of the death of the visionary of the State of Israel, Theodor Herzl, we held a procession with the flags of the movement and participated in public meeting organized by the local Zionist organization accompanied by a choir. We helped the Zionist organization's activists to raise funds for Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [Jewish National Fund] and Keren Hayesod [United Israel Appeal] and installed the blue box in most of the houses in the city. In later years, when the Gordonia federation was founded in the city, they also engaged in this work. We often walked in the forests and mountains surrounding the city, especially the magnificently beautiful Oidiush Mountain. We held scouting and camping activities in the great outdoors.

In order to increase the number of group leaders and instructors, the main leadership held seminars and short courses on various current and educational topics. Among the lecturers were members of kibbutzim from Israel, who described the life in the country. These lectures aroused great interest and encouraged immigration.

By the order of the movement's main leadership, every graduate, who completed his studies at the gymnasium, was tasked with fulfilling the Zionist ideal and joining the nucleus preparing to immigrate to Israel. For this purpose, we conducted training on farms in the area. The training was in the format of a kibbutz, a kind of springboard for future life in Eretz Yisrael. The graduates engaged in all kinds of agricultural work. Some graduates, who specialized in a particular profession in the city, returned after work hours to this temporary social setting. At the end of 1932, I immigrated with two members of our federation. We joined the nucleus of our kibbutz, which was temporarily located in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa. We left behind dear friends, worried parents, and a large and beautifully organized youth organization, in which we invested our best strength and efforts. We left to start a new life, and to fulfill the Zionist ideal in our country, Eretz Yisrael.

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A) Yitzchak son of Leibka Feiner. In his store he served his customers with great agility. Later, he leased the flour mill. He only fixed his teeth close to Passover so that he could chew the matzot. On Passover eve he warned his wife Beila-Feiga: “if you make me angry, I will throw you into the cellar and you will not be my queen.” On Isru Chag he used to say: “All I have left from the holiday are empty dishes, the matzo basket, sacks and potato peelings, but I also have the queen (his wife).”

B) Mendel Moshkowitz son of Chaya Dvorah. In his youth he owned a carriage farm and employed several coachmen. But when he had to transport a dignitary, such as a district officer or a judge, he rode himself. While traveling, he established contacts with the authorities and managed to obtain a license for an official Chevra Kadisha. When rich people died, he demanded excessive burial fees. When the rich man, R' Alter Stener, died, the family didn't compromise with the carriage farm owner on the amount of payment. The deceased remained lying in his house until his stomach burst open. Later, Mendel was a property owner, traded in firewood, orchards, and more.

C) Yakov Mendel, son of R' Alter Gester, was a Vizhnitz Hasid. All his days his mouth never stopped learning. He literally fulfilled the verse: “You will eat bread and salt,

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you will drink measured water, you will sleep on the ground, and you will live a life of suffering, and you will labor in the Torah” (Pirkei Avot 6:4). A Kabbalist who knew the secrets of secrets, secretly. It is said that he helped with the writing of the book, Tzemach Tzadik [“Righteous Sprout”], dealing with Hasidic matters. On a certain day, when he stayed with his students in the town of Peczeniżyn, he told them that tomorrow he would not be among the living. The next day, when he returned to Kuty, he died there as he said the night before.

D) R' Zecharia Stein. An educated man with deep and broad knowledge and a philosophy researcher. He knew the entire Mishnah by heart. Was a Husiatyn Hasid and opponent of R' Mendel the Admor of Vizhnitz. When the Admor passed through Kuty, he threw straw after him as they had done to a priest. He used to say: “it is better to study a Gemara page then going to the Admor.” At first, he was an extremely rich estate owner. The Admor, R' Mendel, said that “R' Zecharia was poor and destitute. Later, he lost all his assets. He sold the polonina (sheep-herding meadows( very cheaply, and when he died, he was wrapped in shrouds^[i].”

E) Gershon Winshtock, son-in-law of R' Ashrel Schreiberthe the Admor of Krakow. He played the violin on Saturday night to please his Hasidim, and they cried out of excitement. He collected funds in America and distributed them for charitable purposes. His widow, daughter of R' Gershon, lives in Bnei Brak.

F) Roter. The religion teacher at the elementary school was a very absent-minded man. He used to wear two pairs of pants, one on top of the other. During class, the students shouted, and he became very angry. In all the classes he taught by heart in Polish until the principal came in. When he reached the chapter of the Ten Commandments, he only spoke in Hebrew. He was not successful in his work and used to say: “When I come among the gentiles, I joke at the expense of the Jews, and when I come among the Jews, I make fun at the gentiles.” Over time, people met him in Lwow [Lviv] walking from house to house and asking for alms.

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G) R' Mendil Erlich. Sat day and night in Beit HaMidrash. His livelihood - in a liquor brewing house. On the Sabbath he taught chapters from Midrash Tanhuma and the weekly Torah portion in Beit HaMidrash. For a long time, he was involved in litigation with Anshel Boller regarding their shared house. He lost the trial and only the cellar remained in his possession.

H) Gershon Stolzenberg. A teacher, his wife's name was Ester. He was smart and gifted with a sense of humor. In the winter he used to say: “What do I care about if it's cold outside if my apartment isn't heated!” On Rosh Hashanah, when the city's women passed by his house on their way to the synagogue, adorned in their elegant dresses and beautiful hats with artificial flowers pinned to them, he called his wife and said to her: “Look and see, flowers grow on these women, and on you even grass refuses to grow.”

I) Avraham Maurer. A teacher of the intermediate type (between a teacher for young children and a teacher of Gemara). He also owned a public laundromat that provided him with part of his livelihood. While he was outside splitting wood with his axe to heat the water in the laundromat, his students were sitting inside the room, next to a long table, and memorized the weekly Torah portion and translating word for word from Hebrew into Yiddish. When they encountered a word whose meaning they didn't know, Avraham interpreted it for them from outside, through the window, while chopping wood. His son was a well-known labor leader in the capital city of Vienna. Avraham's sister, Golda, was a ritual bathhouse attendant. She helped women with their immersion after their menstruating by trimming their fingernails or cutting the brides' hair before their wedding.

J) Dr. Marcus Olsker. Lawyer, Zionist and public activist, and the guardian of the orphanage. As a lawyer, he took on cases that he had no chance of winning. Even when he was convinced that the case was a hundred percent lost, he would not let go of it as long as he had clients to support himself. That is why he was hated by the judges.

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K) Zeida, son of R' Yakov Goldsheir. A grain merchant. When Zeida Hirsch asked him about the interpretation of the verse, “And I will give grass [esev in Hebrew] in your field,” he said: “what is Esav [Esau] doing in the Siddur?” He replied, “When we are worthy, Esav will cultivate our fields.”

L) Yakov Yosel Nestowitch, Husband of Sara Brush. Used to dress up on Purim and pass through the mountain villages with his friends. When a certain woman closed the door of her house in his face, he vowed to take revenge on her, and so it was. In the summer, after a flood destroyed the bridge over the Cheremosh River, he made a living by transferring people on his shoulders. By chance, that woman also needed his help, but she didn't recognize him. When they were in the middle of the river, he took her off his shoulders, uncovered her dress, dipped her in the water several times, and recited to her the short verse from Song of Songs.

M) Zeida, son of R' Abalas Feldman. A bad-tempered Jewish butcher. In his butcher shop, he addressed female customers with impoliteness. When a woman turned to him and said: “Make me a kilogram of meat,” he said: “Please stand up straight and I will make you a kilogram.”

When she protested the insult, he said again: “'Whore, did I say something to you?”

N) Mordechai Schport. A butcher, stepfather to Meir Drokman called “Nadan,” because his mother brought him as a nedunya [dowry] to her first husband, Mordecai. His wife's name was Elka. Once, she was sitting outside and guarded a piece of meat he brought from the slaughterhouse. Crows came and ate from it to their heart's content. Then, her husband Mordecai said to her with bitter mockery: “How did the crows know that Elka was sitting next to the meat?!”

O) Chaim Mendel, the tailor, remained in Kuty when the Russians captured it in the First World War. The Jewish refugees left all their possessions in their cellars. What this

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Chaim Mendel took from them… He took the Hasidim's turbans! When the Jews returned from exile, they stopped wearing turbans. As opposed to them, Mendel continued to wear a different turban every Sabbath. From time to time his son Yakov sent him dollars from America. Wanting to protect himself from his son-in-law Yehezkel (Haskel), he pulled a plank from his apartment's floor and hid the dollars under it. Two years later, he remembered his buried treasure. He picked up the plank but found that all the bills were eaten by rats.

P) Atle, daughter of Berko Bregman, used to say: “I am traveling to Kosow to enjoy life.” If she was reprimanded for the deep cleavage in her dress, which covered a little and revealed twice as much, she replied: “Did I steal it from someone?”

Q) Yosef Gotlib. A poor kleizmer. When there was no wine for the Shabbat - there was a trick. With a thick green bottle, into which he poured about a quarter liter of water, he went to Chaya Dvora's tavern and asked for a quarter liter brandy. After they poured it for him and demanded to pay, he said he had no money and was forced to return the quarter liter brandy. Of course, in the meantime, the wine mixed with the water. He had done the same at the distillery, until he brought home a quarter liter of brandy free of charge .

R) Koppel Orenstein, son of Yosef Shmuel, a restaurant owner and wine merchant, stuttered a little. Once, when he was in court, a judge who stuttered like him sat in judgment. The judge asked in a stammer: “What is your name?” and Koppel answered him in a stammer. The judge screamed: “You will pay a fine of two hundred kroner” (Austrian money). Koppel immediately responded in German and said, “Mr. Judge, are you the only one who has been granted a license to stutter?!”

S) R' Yehezkel Bregrin. His wife's name was Malka Sara. He was a small merchant of sheepskins. His wife, Malka Sara, extinguished embers for people who were terrified, and also whispered against the evil eye. She removed the navel from a sick chicken stomach, and all this not for the sake of receiving a bounty.

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T) R' Yosi Berli's, son of Dov Bregman. A peasant clothing dealer. It's being told that in his youth, when his wife was still young, an Armenian man desired her and gifted her with the largest house next to the municipality building. All his life he participated in the lottery of “Lorita Brin” and won many times. Once, before the holiday of Passover, he put the numbers eighty, sixty, eight, as the word Pesach is calculated in gematria, and won.

U) Alter Zekler, a descendant of Zacharia Stein. When he started wearing short clothes, they said about him: “have you ever seen a stain on the back? So is Alter's face in his short jacket.” He had a fabric and cloth shop. He gave his customers free rein to measure and cut the fabrics they bought from him, and, of course, they used it to their advantage. He was a mohel [circumciser] not for the sake of receiving a bounty. A God-fearing man. Instead of a Hasidic turban, he wore a hat on his head, wide-brimmed, tall and round like a top hat. His sons and daughters immigrated to America. His son, Chaim Zekler, had a general education. In the days of Mayor Blitzky, before the First World War, when Chaim was his deputy, he voted against installing a water pipe in the city, claiming that it would lead to an increase in taxes. In 1919, he blessed the Polish army when it entered the city and received its commander with salt and water. Henrich Zekler, Chaim's son who lived in Prague Czechoslovakia, was a journalist and art critic for the newspaper Prager Presse [Prague press]. He was burned in Auschwitz by the Nazis along with his nephew, Mark, who was forced by the Nazis to participate in the orchestra that played for the Jews being led to the gas chambers.

V) Chaim Peshe Roize's (Shoiman), and his wife Mentzi, were childless. He served as the gabbai of the Great Synagogue. Several times he wanted to divorce his wife because she didn't cook him pancakes for the holiday of Shavuot. HaRav Chaim Glernter zt”l, always made peace between them and brought them to reconciliation. On one Simchat Torah holiday, after drinking at the home of Yosel Yupiter, when they returned together to the synagogue and passed by the High Beit Midrash, where they also drank and were busy with the joy of the holiday,

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his group of friends picked him up and threw him in through the open window. Chaim, who was quite drunk at the time, woke up and joined in the joy. Every Purim holiday, early in the morning, he dressed up as a gypsy so that he would have the courage to collect donations, which were sacred for Maot Hittin [Wheat Money] to aid the hidden poor in the city. They gave him the donations generously. Even the stingiest of stingiest couldn't avoid him, and then they were forced to give as much as Chaim demanded of them. At all weddings he played the role of announcer. He stood on the table, holding the married couple's gifts and announced loudly, “So-and-so, son of so-and-so, gave so-and-so to the bride and groom.” And woe to him who changed his mind.

W) Matzye Shechter (brother of R' Meir the ritual slaughterer), and his wife Yocheved, didn't have sons. He knew palmistry and died young. Before his death he said: “I see only one more generation.” He prayed the prayer Av Harachamim [Merciful Father] and died five minutes later.

X) Avrhamtzi Zuckerman. Yosef Lendman used to say about him in Yiddish that can be translated in two ways. The first - “If you saw what kind of woman of valor is sleeping with Zuckerman, you would be resurrected.” The second - “If you saw the woman of valor (referring to the Shabbat eve hymns) that Zuckerman was singing, you would be resurrected.” Zuckerman was a regular cantor at the Kosow Hasidic synagogue. As the owner of a men's and women's clothing store, he liked to measure and fit the stockings and corsets to his female customers.

Y) Eliezer Manale Avner's Shoiman (brother of Shimon Shoiman) drank brandy from the Tefillin House. He once told Rabbi Yaakov Schor: “I dreamed that I won a thousand kronor (Austrian money) in the lottery.” And the rabbi asked him: “Did you buy a lottery ticket?” “No,” said Eliezer. “Then you won't win either,” said the rabbi decisively.

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In the town, Itzikel the slaughterer was once asked: “How is your son-in-law, Zeyde Socher, who has been living with you for several years and eating your food?” And Itzikel the slaughterer answered: “Very good. He, the son-in-law, Zeyde, would like to continue but he doesn't know how.”

Itzik-Leib Shechter (son-in-law of Yosef Yisrael the slaughterer), used to say: “the merchants in our town are witty. One sells a kilogram of oil at a cheap price. That is, for one penny less, in order to attract buyers. The second one lowers the candles by half a penny, the third lowers the sugar, and so on. But the women are smarter, they buy every item at a different store where the price is cheaper…”

Moshe Kozorovitzky, the Russian teacher, owned a small grocery store that his wife ran. He offered the goods – prunes. The buyers, who were used to “Bosnian prunes” with an authentic Bosnian label, asked for this commodity. Then, he explained: “Bosnia prunes, it's just a label, and the labels are fake. I'm selling you just prunes, even though I could sell them as “Bosnian prunes.””

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R' Alter Zekler (Chaim's father), owned a fabric store. R' Alter trusted the Jewish women of Kuty to serve themselves. He let them choose the fabrics they wanted, measure themselves, and cut the desired goods. And they, the women, in a short time, caused him to go bankrupt…

Unlike Alter Zekler, Avrhamtzi Zuckerman had a slightly different approach. He behaved courteously in his trading house and offered his services to women. He offered them his help in trying on socks and girdles.

The town's merchants had no problem bringing in poor quality or unsuitable goods. The main thing - that they would be cheap. And so told Berel Luker about Dudel Riber (der mark zitser - sitting in markets). Dudel brought a cart of gloves from some factory. He opened the packages of goods at the market, the buyers stood around and grabbed the gloves that were at a bargain price. They started to try them on and discovered, to their amazement, that they were all right-handed. R' Dudel, they asked, “Where are the left-handed gloves?” And R' Dudel got angry: “You provincials, don't you know that modern people only wear one glove and keep the other one just for decoration? And who will come to you to take a look and check which hand the thumb is on…”

When R' Dudle Sheref (uncle of Sara-Gitles) brought shoes, and the type, or the size, didn't match, the buyer commented to him: “One shoe is longer.” Dudle replied: “it's okay, we'll put a piece of paper inside.”

It is said about Berale Bregman, son of Yeshayahu: In the town's market center there were a large number of empty shops that belonged to Berale Bregman. The shops had no floors - only a ground floor. When the shops were sold, he stipulated, and also wrote in the deed of sale, that the buyer

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is forbidden to build above the store without his consent. In the end, all the houses in the town center remained without floors.

Another “clever” thing they tell about Yeshayahu Bregman: after the great fire of 1902 he owed a large sum of money to a merchant in Vienna. He sent a telegram to Vienna in this language: “Alles Todi” (everything is dead), meaning, that he, Yeshayahu Bergman and his property were burnt, and he is unable to pay his debts.

In 1915, Gershon Weinshtock, a war refugee from Kuty, settled in Vienna. There he engaged in the trade of precious stones. Being honest, he explained to his buyers the reason for the high, or low, price of the goods. He used to say: “With this I only earn 4% because I paid a high price, and with this I earn 20% because I bought a bargain…”

R' Shimshon Fugel, a veteran grain merchant, lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Also, his relative, Moshe Fugel, was from the same closed circle of liberal professions. Moshe was given the nickname “thief,” and why? It is said that while grinding wheat in the flour mill, they slept next to their baskets and stole from each other, and Moshe Fugel said: “I steal and steal, and the same is in the baskets.”

Moshe was also a merchant in plums for jam (powidl). When he bought plums, he marked the quantity of plums he bought. He bought the plums in a measurement called geletke (a wooden container of approximately twenty kilograms). To know how many measures he received (for payment to the seller), he put one plum aside after receiving the container and then counted the plums. The sellers, who were weak in arithmetic, didn't object, but Moshe used to take a plum and swallow it. Based on this, he didn't pay for one measure (20 kilograms) after the counting. That's why they said: “Moshe Fugel eats a measure of plums all at once.”

While buying fruit or vegetables from a gentile farmer, there was a small-town custom: they demanded from the seller to add a little to the size or the weight. This was, of course, after the price had been agreed upon. R' Shlomo Orenstein, a Jewish merchant with “real” and large hands, turned to the Ukrainian seller after the payment and said to him pritshinev, meaning, add more, and himself put his hands inside the sack and took out of it quite a big addition. The farmer got angry and said: “Sure, I should add to you, but with my own hands, and not in big handfuls like Shlomo's.”

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Shlomo Okstein's brother-in-law, R' Hersh (Tzvi) Freid, engaged in buying fields and plots of land from the farmers of the village of Stari Kuty (old Kuty), and not always paid in cash. It happened that the gentile farmer came to collect the debt, and he had no cash in the place. So, he turned to the farmer: “Take the sheytl” (wig). His wife wore a wig, according to the custom of religious women. It should be noted that R' Hersh Freid was a scholar and didn't speak the Ukrainian language.

It is told about R' Yehudah-Leib Klinger that he got rich from buying sacks of grain from the Polish landowner from Ispas (a village across the Cheremosh River, in Bukovina, near Vyzhnytsia). As agreed with the landowner, after each sack was weighed, he put a small Austrian coin (zeksrel) into an empty glass. The landowner calculated the number of sacks according to the number of coins in the glass. But, more than once, Yehudah-Leib pretended not to know and forgot to put a coin in the glass.

The first decimal weight in Kuty was introduced by Bertzi Socher. While buying grain the farmers wanted to cheat him by using measurements they brought from home. But Bertzi firmly demanded to buy only by weight, adding: “I only accept the grain according to what Barko's weight shows.”

Mrs. A., mother of Moshe A., helped her son sell peasant sandals made of soft leather. The sandals were called postuli in Ukrainian, and the Hutsuls, the peasants who lived in the mountain villages, wore them. The Hutsul chose the sandals very carefully so that they would not be wrinkled or thin. The woman A. intentionally replaced the sandals in such a way that the gentile wouldn't notice, but she usually erred in favor of the buyer, instead of wrinkled or broken ones, she would give better or heavier ones. When Moshe,

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her son, realized it, he raised his voice at his mother: “Mother, what did you do?” And the mother replied: “Yes, that's right, but he won't get what he had chosen.”

Feibish Solomon (son of Schprinzes) was a merchant of Hutsuls' clothing (Ukrainians living in the Carpathian Mountains), and other goods. There were times when he sold a package of cotton wool whose standard weight was five kilograms. But since the package had been in the store for a long time, it had dried out and lost weight. The gentile who bought the threads wanted to pay less and demanded to weigh the package. Feibish told the gentile a certain story and meanwhile inserted a half-kilo weight between the yarns to fill in the missing weight. After the farmer paid and walked a little distance from the store, Feibish ran after him, caught up with him, and shouted at him: “Hey, little thief, you stole a funt (half a kilo) weight from me.” The farmer returned the weight, claiming that he didn't know how it happened. He often stopped a Hutsul woman, greeted her according to her custom, hugged her, sang a Hutsul tune, and led her to the store. To this he used to say: “For the sake of earning a living, I even dance with a shiksa [gentile woman].”

Moshe Bergman, who own a delicatessen in the city center, used to say: “My brothers! Help me to fight with myself! Only a madman would sell such good things. The truth is, I wouldn't sell, but I need the money.”

Zeide Grau was a fruit merchant. He sold fruit to a wholesaler from Stanislaswow, Mark Knippel, who arrived in Kuty in the autumn season. There was a case that Zeide miscalculated and only felt after the act. So, he turned to the wholesaler Knippel, claiming: “A mistake never comes back, and you must return the money to me.” The wholesaler Knippel replied to this: “yes, my son, you are right, but if I return the difference to you, I wouldn't be able to sell the goods at a profit.”

R' Chaim Shnitzer said after the death of R' Hersh Mendel: “Death is not a revenge, but convenience. Convenience for you, R' Chaim Shnitzer, your competitor died.”

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Do you know how shopkeepers banished boredom when they waited for a customer on days when they didn't have a lot of income? On a day, when there was no income in his fabric store, R' Yosi Stener (Berel Luker's grandfather), composed poems in biblical Hebrew (this was at the beginning of the twentieth century). R' Chaim-Shlomo Stein, who owned an iron store and fairy tale books in Yiddish, sat and recited Psalms. But, in a later period, after the First World War, on a day when there was no profit, it was dangerous to walk through the market. It was especially dangerous to pass by the corner where the flour and grain merchants gathered, because that's where they threw rotten potatoes. Especially excelled in this :Moshe Koren, his son Asher Eizik Koren, Zeyde Goldschmid and Zeyde Kez. On Fridays, two merchants stood in another corner of the market, Yosef Buller who had a peasant clothing store, and Yosef Lendman who had a clothing store, and challenged each other. Lendman boasted and showed the carp he had prepared for the Shabbat, and Yosef Buller boasted and showed a big fat chicken he had bought. It was known that in both houses they ate the best food.

If we told a little of Kuty's folklore, about merchants and trade, we also want to mention bakers. In the years before the First World War Kuty's Jews loved the delicious egg bagels of R' Yohanan the baker, a former resident of Viznitz. He sold his goods in large quantities and, wanting to increase sales, he organized a bagel raffle. R' Yohanan, the baker of good bagels, was also known as the “baker” of lies. He told his lies in such a way that they could not distinguish between truth and fabrication. Thus, if someone in Kuty managed to tell an unbelievable story, or fabricate a lie, the listeners asked him: “Where did you bake the lie - at Yohanan's?”

About Berish (the baker) Feigenboim, it is said that he was consistent in his actions and was not afraid of anything. One Friday - market day, when his profit was large, the government tax collector appeared at his place, taking this opportunity to collect the taxes that Berish owed for a long time and had not paid. It was difficult for Berish to pay his taxes because his house was full of small children. His wife gave birth every year. The tax collector opened the drawer

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containing all the daily profits and put it in his bag. Berish got angry, slapped the tax collector in the face, and forcibly took the money from him. It is clear that after the attack, a complaint was filed with the court, but at the time of the attack, Berish showed courage.

R' Leibker Feiner (neighbor of Berish the baker), was known as a baker of delicious homemade bread, even though he suffered from asthma. He walked by himself to the well in the market, which was known for its good water, and brought from there a couple of buckets full of water on his shoulders. He kneaded the dough himself.

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Kitov is the Jewish name of the town of Kuty in the Eastern Galicia region of Poland. The origin of the name Kuty, which means corner in Ukrainian, is in the fact that for many generations the town was located at the meeting point of three countries. In the seventeenth century they were: Turkey, Hungary, and Poland. Whoever reads the map of the Austro-Hungarian Empire discovers that the Galicia region is locked in the southeastern corner of the mountainous region between Hungary and Bukovina. After the First World War, the borders of Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Poland met there. On the map of Poland Kuty is also found in a corner. This is the southern corner that was called “Lesser Poland.”

The area around Kuty was called “Pokotzye,” meaning, “around Kuty.” The district, which included the cities Kosow, Sniatyn, Horodenka, Nadvorna, Kolomyia and more, belonged to the Stanisławów Voivodeship. This is also the area where Ukrainian ethnic group, the Hutsuls, lives. Therefore, the entire area is also called “Hutsulshchyna” (the Hutsuls' country in Hebrew).

The raging Cheremosh River, which flowed in the city's outskirts, formed the natural boundary between Poland and Romania, and separated Kuty from Vizhnitz [Vyzhnytsia].

During the Austrian period (until 1918), the two cities were almost one city. With the establishment of the political border, ties were severed, and families were separated against their will.

Kuty was blessed with a rich natural landscape: water, forests, boxwoods, fir and acacia trees.

A typical landscape of the Carpathian Mountains. The beautiful Oidiush Mountain, the Kamianets Mountain with its famous channels, and the legendary Sokilsky Mountain, which threatens with its lofty height and sharp peak, rise over the city. The mountains are covered in vast forests, with clearings popping up here and there. The Cheremosh twisting like a snake and on it the barges carrying construction wood from the forests.

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Across the river is the city of Vizhnitz whose main part was populated by the Hasidim of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe. The city lies on the upper slopes of the mountains, and a little below it is Dolina - a suburb of Kuty.

Kitov's orchards are known throughout Poland for the wide variety of its fruits: apples, pears, plums, nuts and cherries. Fertile grain fields stretch along the main road leading to Rozhniv and Zabolotiv.

The mountains dwellers in their colorful clothing, as well as the wonderful bathing in the Cheremosh River, contributed to the fact that the entire area was a holiday location that attracted many visitors. During the period between the two world wars, Kitov, as well as its neighbor Kosow, gained a reputation as resort cities.

In its great beauty, Kitov sometimes looked like a magical city. The well-known poet, Itzik Manger, fell in love with the city and wrote the famous poem about it, Between Kosow and Kitov.

Between Kosow and Kitov
There is a golden well
In its deep clear water
I found the sun.

(translated from Yiddish: Binyamin Tene)

The settlement of the Jews in Kitov began in 1715, after General Józef Potocki, who was the governor of the Kiev District, which also included the Kitov estate, allowed it to be developed as a city. General Potocki gave the Jews the right to settle there. Among other rights, the Jews received permission to establish a synagogue, the construction of which was exempt from paying taxes.

The right to settle was bought with money.

In 1775 there were 124 Jewish homeowners in the city (of 360), and in total the community numbered 972 Jews. In 1771, the city and its surroundings belonged to the Polish princess, Ludvika Z'mnishkov of the Kashtelanova dynasty from Kraków.

In May 1772, Eastern Galicia was annexed to Austria. The annexation opened a new era of life of freedom and equality. The Jews enjoyed equal rights and some even received government and municipal positions.

In 1890, there was a community of 3,045 people in the city. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Jews constituted about half of the total population.

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Until 1918 it belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the reign of Kaiser Franz Joseph. At the end of the First World War, Bukovina was a part of Romania, and Kitov and Eastern Galicia were passed from hand to hand. At first, a Ukrainian government was established with Stanisławów as its capital city. Later, it was given to Romanian rule, and in the end the League of Nations gave the rule to Poland.

A dramatic change occurred in Jewish life after annexation of Eastern Galicia to Poland. Despite solemn promises that Jews would enjoy full equal rights they became second-class citizens. Officials were forced to resign from their positions. Young Jews were prevented from studying at universities, in the name of the Numerus Clausus principle that limited the number of Jewish students. Even though Kitov's Jews covered more than 70% of the municipality's budget with taxes, not a single penny was approved for Jewish institutions such as synagogues, orphanages, and more. The representation they received in the municipal administration was also minimal and out of all proportion to the number of residents and the amounts of taxes they paid.

The Jews' social life in Kitov was diverse and played a central role. The shaping of community life fell mainly to the educated youth who were among the first to learn Hebrew.

Even though they grew up in an atmosphere steeped in anti-Semitism, when the Poles sought to deprive the Jews of their rights, a tendency towards Jewish nationalism developed in the city. This tendency increased after the Balfour Declaration, and the Zionist movement began to be a factor of attraction. The Zionist leaders in the city, such as Berel Luker, contributed to laying the foundation for the Zionist movement in the city.

Kitov was mainly famous for its Admors and rabbis. Over the generations, hundreds of Torah scholars emerged from it, but three in particular were known by their name “Kittever,” R' Gershon Kittever, R' Moshe'le Kittever and R' Chaim Gaon Gelernter. And, of course, Kitov is also known as the city of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hassidic movement. It is said that he lived in the surrounding forests before his revelation as a tzadik [righteous man].

On 1 September 1939, the Second World War broke out. At that time the Jewish community numbered about 3500 people. Poland was occupied by the German army and later divided between Russia and Germany in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Kitov was included in the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviets established a civil administration, located their headquarters there, and built fortifications in the surrounding mountains that were integrated defense systems on the Soviet Union.

On June 22, 1941, Germany violated the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and declared war. That day Kitov was bombed from the air.

Two days later, the military commander convened a residents' meeting and announced the evacuation of the city.

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People who served in the framework of the Soviet administration were required to evacuate eastward together with the army. To transport the evacuees, the authorities mobilized all means of transport at their disposal, especially Ukrainian carters with their wagons. Due to the shortage of wagons, the evacuees were forbidden to take their families with them. There was great anger and irritation. To calm the residents, the Soviet administration spread a rumor that the front would stabilize in the Kitov area which, as mentioned, was part of the Red Army's defense system. Since the separation from the Jews? who were in the Nazi-occupied territories from 1939 was complete, there was no information about their fate .There were Jews who remained in the city in the hope that their situation would improve with the arrival of the Germans.

Immediately after the departure of the Soviet army, gangs of Ukrainians took over the city and reigned terror among the Jewish residents. Several days later, at the beginning of July 1941, Romanian soldiers entered the city and instituted terror. Later they were replaced by the Hungarian army. The Germans arrived two months later.

In the days of the Nazi occupation, news arrived of the extermination of Jews in the surrounding towns and villages. The belief that the spirit of Baal Shem Tov protects the city spread among the religious community in Kitov. But soon, time came to an end.

On the morning of the last day of Passover 5772 (10, April 1942), Germans and Ukrainian collaborators raided Jewish homes and set them on fire. Nine hundred and fifty people were murdered in that Aktion.

On 24 April, all Jews without work permits were ordered to leave by foot for the nearby Kolomyia Ghetto. Many found their death in this “death march.”

At the beginning of September 1942, about eight hundred Jews were sent to Kolomyia. From there they were all sent to Belzec extermination camp.

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When I come to bring up memories from Kitov, four revered figures, whose memory is as vivid as if I still meet them every day, rise and stand before me.

First and foremost, my rabbi from the cheder, R' Yosel Yupiter z”l. With him we studied Chumash with Rashi's commentary. Hebrew from the excellent book Sefat Ameno [“The Language of Our People”], grammar, Mishna and the Bible. When we arrived to the weekly Torah portion Vaychi [“and he lived”], we studied the Blessing of Yakov to his sons in the melancholy and special melody of R'Yosel which excited the students.

In grammar, we studied the seven binyanim [constructions] and the inflection of verbs. In Bible lessons we learned Trei Asar [“Twelve Minor Prophets”] and Yeshayahu. The rabbi wrote down interpretations and explanations for us in the margins of the pages. Our rabbi was the highest-level autodidact and a man of many talents. He was an excellent canter, and with a slight pride he boasted that if they opened the Chumash and read three words to him, he would continue to recite by heart with the cantillation notes. He lived a life of poverty. His apartment consisted of two rooms. One served as a living space for his small family, and to supplement his income, he placed a loom in it, and his stepmother and her daughter wove in it.

The rabbi who taught me Gemara was R' Semshole (the source of the name might be Shimshon). He was a short and very religious Jew. He taught me at home and walked every day to reach me. Mother, may she rest in peace, served him tea with lemon in the middle of the lesson, and he, out of humility, protested that she was wasting a lemon on him, “after all, it's possible without this.”

When I immigrated to Canada, )and then I was a boy of Bar Mitzvah age), he guided me in letters he sent me on how to behave and what to learn, so that I would be a good Jew in a distant country.

The third figure that I met every Saturday at Seudah shlishit [third meal] with R' Yetshes z”l, was Chaim Shatner. A teacher by profession who taught orphaned and poor children

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at the town's Talmud Torah. I always imagined that he resembled Avraham Avinu as I saw his picture in the book Tz'enah Ur'enah. In the aforementioned Seudah shlishit, he sang Mizmor leDavid [“A song of David”] in his pleasant voice and in a special melody. He used to teach the youth new melodies. To this day I remember the melodies, and I was also able to pass them on to my children and grandchildren.

The fourth figure, one of the wonderful cantors I knew, was R' Shmuel Libergall. A Jew, who symbolized beauty, delicacy, and tenderness. His head was tilted slightly, and his well-groomed beard reached down to his shirt collar. Silence reigned in the synagogue when he prayed so that his melodious clear voice could be heard better. The residents, who had finished their prayers in the various synagogues, stood outside and strained to hear his pleasant melodies.

My grandfather, Moshe Goldshmidet z”l, and , prayed for a certain period with the town's Admor. He was an innocent and God-fearing Jew (without ancestral lineage) who, because of his religious nature, was crowned with the title of “Rebbe.” His synagogue bordered the priest's orchard. One day, we decided to crawl through a hole in the fence and pick nuts. Suddenly the guard dog started barking. We panicked and started running as fast as we could. We moved the nuts to our attic and left them to dry. A month later we went up to check the loot and we found that all the nuts were empty. We must have stolen them too early. It was the first and last time.

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When the snow began to thaw, and strips of ice remained along the sidewalks, one boy showed courage and appeared barefoot on the town's streets in the month of Adar (or because he didn't have shoes). It was Froykele, an orphaned boy, who wasn't accepted into any educational framework, and occasionally got into trouble with the law, in the form of the two police officers who made up the police force in our town.

We had four plum trees in the yard. Every year we shook the trees, collected the fruit, cooked it in a large copper pot that stood in the yard, and prepared powidl [plum jam] for the winter months. These trees bordered a dead-end alley and were a source of attraction for the neighborhood children, who coveted the plums. I took on the role of watchdog and tried to keep them away by shouting and also by throwing stones.

One day, Froykele appeared before me and offered himself as a guard. That is, he will sit on one of the trees and make sure that no one would pick the fruit. The offer seemed suspicious to me, but in the end, I gave in to his pleas and agreed. He immediately sat down on one of the trees, took out a slingshot, and was ready to shoot at any approaching thief. And here a big surprise awaited me. Before he could start his new job, the two policemen appeared, ordered him to come down from the tree, and respectfully led him to prison.

A few days later we left Poland and immigrated to Canada. Oh, how sorry I was that the poor boy had to go through this, at a time when I thought I could rehabilitate him. It's a shame, but his memory is still in my heart.

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My childhood years were spent in the town of Kuty in Poland. Our house stood close to the city center, some distance away from the Cheremosh River. I was the second daughter out of eight children in the family. My parents worked hard to provide for our large family. My father, Moshe, was engaged in the leather trade and my mother, Miriam, took care of all our needs at home. Despite the financial difficulties, my parents invested a lot of effort in our education. And it was not easy. For a long time, five of the children attended school at the same time. My parents also took care of our musical education and that's how my late sister Rosa, and I, learned to play the violin. When I was 15 years old, my parents sent me to study teaching in the city of Lviv, which was unusual in a small town like Kuty.

Our friends were always welcome and accepted in our home, which was filled with happy voices all the time. On holidays, relatives who lived outside the town came to visit us and to spend the holiday time with us and thus there were a lot of joy and happiness in our home.

My mother, with her generosity, secretly supported needy families. Many years after I immigrated to Israel (1933), I met people from Kuty, who immigrated to Israel after me, and they told me about the support and help they received from my parents.

Unfortunately, I lost most of my family in the Holocaust, my father Moshe Altman and my mother Miriam from the Grau family, my sister Shoshana (Rosa) and her husband David Grau and their son Ezra, my three younger brothers: Ephraim, Haim and Shimon, and other relatives from the Altman, Grau and Oifzahar families. May their memory be blessed.

Israel 5752 – 1992

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