[Page 165]

Getzl Druker

He was one of the endeared and respected personalities among the Lancut Jews. He grew up in the “Haskalah” period in Galicia and, as it was known, the progressive Galician Jewry related to him with respect and sympathy as an intellectual Jew.

Druker knew to merge in his personality the belief and general intellectuality. Even though he immediately changed his “shtreimel” and silk overcoat after his wedding to modern clothing, he continued to be a believing Jew who clung to religious tradition. He was always willing and ready to conduct the Shabbath services in the big synagogue and he acquired a right of claim on Tisha B'Av to recite the Lamentations with a sad and deep traditional intonation.

He was among the first subscribers of Hebrew newspaper, the “New Free Press”, a newspaper published in Vienna in German which was popular among the Jewish intellectuals in Galicia. Druker dwelled in philosophy and read “Haskalah” and German literature. Sometimes he also studied the Talmud with its commentaries.

Belief and knowledge, humanity and Judaism had merged in him in one unit. He was involved with orthodoxy and was accepted by the progressive intellectuals as well. He did a lot for the city having been for many years the only Jewish representative until the arrival of Zionist representatives in the city council. He made himself be heard where Jewish problems were concerned. The Zionist movement, which had increased in presence in Lancut, brought in additional representatives in the city council and continued Druker's activities for the benefit of the city, taking care of the special needs of the Jewish population in Lancut.

Druker had a strong position as a member of the council even though his fluency in Polish was not at its best. The Polish council members listened to him because he stood out with his logic and wisdom. They respected him and in recognition, named a street with his name.

He was also, for many years, a member of the Jewish Community leadership and even though he was well qualified to be head of the community, he did not want the public post because the heads of the community were sometimes forced to use means and manoeuvres that were strange to his spirit. He was a straight-forward man and Jewish honour was dear to him.

Druker was among the first Zionists in Lancut. He was the first chairman of the Foundation Fund and a participant in all public and cultural campaigns, to establish and stabilize the public and national institutions. As a fiery intellectual and a lover of the Hebrew book, he devoutly acted for the continuity of the Hebrew school in Lancut.

With the purity of his character, with his simplicity and humbleness, he earned the sympathy and trust of all segments in the Jewish public. He served as an arbitrator in disputes between Orthodox groups and the Zionists. He peacefully and quietly listened to the arguing parties who accepted his verdict, based on deep understanding and clear mindedness.

He lived a modest life and did not misuse his public position for his private benefit but, he was always ready to help the needy.

A memorial service to the “Shloshim” of his departure was held in the big synagogue which turned into a demonstrative mass mourning. Engineer Shpatz and Anshel Katz eulogized the outstanding departed who was an excellent personality devoted to his community. May his memory be blessed.

[Page 166]

Engineer Abraham Shpatz

“If I am a Zionist, I am a Zionist under any condition”. This pronouncement I heard from Engineer Shpatz, of blessed memory, the first time I met him at a Zionist meeting while he was still wearing his officers' uniform of the Austrian Army.

These words expressed the personal devotion to Zionism by Engineer Shpatz who was, for many years, the chairman of the Zionist Organization in Lancut, a member in the community leadership committee and, at one time, chairman of the committee. He was the president of the orchestra “Hazamir” society and a leader of many Jewish public institutions in our city.

With his enthusiasm and devoted consideration, he attracted followers in every Zionist cultural and public institution in our city.

Even though he was raised in an assimilated environment, he was a national Jew with body and soul. His greatest joy was when he spoke at meetings and gatherings in his mother tongue “Yiddish” and did not have to use either German or Polish.

In time, his national Judaism served him as a background for his outlooks and activity. He was close to the Orthodoxy and found a common language with “Mizrachi” party with which he sympathized.

His Zionist activity had excelled with simplicity. The Zionist youths admired him for his idealism and purity. They respected him for his heartfelt and alert relationship to all complicated activities of the pioneers' movement; for his readiness and devotion to helping Zionist youths in their striving and struggle to emigrate to Eretz Israel.

He was a city council and energetically and with honour, managed to defend the interests of the Jewish population in Lancut. He demonstrated before the Polish council members a new image of a Jewish activist who proudly declared his belonging to the Jewish People and his belief in Zionism. The Polish council members appreciated and respected him in spite of the fact that on many occasions, the heard truth that was hurtful.

Shpatz was one of the Zionist activists in the Zionist Organization in Western Galicia and Silesia. He was a member in the activity committee and was elected as a delegate to Zionist conventions. He was a brave and devoted fighter for the rights of the Jewish People. This modest and quiet man, who tirelessly acted in every venue of Jewish life in Lancut, was tortured and murdered by the Nazi together with the people of his community – the martyrs of Lancut. May his memory be blessed.

Strange rumours circulated in Lancut about the Ramer family. The Orthodox people had told that gentile habits had stuck to this family. The head of the family, Abraham Ramer, had an employment agency sending farmers to Germany to do farm work. In his home, there were always Polish workers who stayed there until he had a sizeable group to send off to Prussia during the farming season. Abraham Ramer was an energetic and initiative person and was helped running the business with his two sons. They too were very diligent in this profession.

At that time, Ramer was the only Jew who knew how to adapt to the Polish society without paying attention to the opinion of the pious Jews in the city and dared, on the Sabbath, to sit in the known Polish restaurant in the company of Polish intelligentsia. He was involved with Austrian officers and, while in the restaurant, would read the “New Free Press” newspaper.

However, on holidays and High Holidays, Ramer showed up in the synagogue wearing a smoke(?) and a top hat and occupied the most respectful seat at the “Eastern” wall. In spite of his way of a “Goy” life, he was a proud Jew, a folk Jews who was always ready to help the needy.

Down-trodden people in the city found in Ramer a trustworthy advisor, a devoted patron and his home was open for every Jew that needed help.

Abraham's son, Tzvi, followed in his fathers' footsteps and invested a lot of energy in public activity. He was among the founders of the “Help the Indigent” Society which, during his leadership, had developed into a model of a charity institution. His devotion to the society served as a model to activists that were active with him. Under his guidance, many people devoted their time and funds to fortify the society. The society had indeed become an institution which engulfed, with its social activities, areas that the community had not means to support.

Tzvi Ramer joined the ranks of Zionism in the city before World War I and became a member in the “Ahavat Zion” society. In the framework of the society, he organized a musical group which served as the foundation for the later, popular, “Hazamir” band in Lancut.

Tzvi Ramer experienced a hard life during World War I. He was a prisoner, imprisoned by the Russians. He escaped from the prison camp and organized a partisan group of ex-Austrian war prisoners whose small groups fought against Russian soldiers. As soon as he returned from the war as an experienced soldier, Ramer joined the Jewish self-defence in Lancut, which was organized in the first days of Poland's liberation. In his speeches, he urged the Jewish youths to defend themselves and became the life spirit of the self-defence movement. He was made the commander of the defence and when the mob threatened the Lancut Jews with murder and robbery, Ramer knew, as the chief of defence, how to protect the lives and honour of the Lancut Jewry.

After the riots, Ramer left Lancut and emigrated to Germany but he died somewhere in the cold Siberian steps. His memory shall be blessed.

[Pages 167-170]

The negative instinct came and teased me. This job is not for your sick heart. The heart trembled and the hand shivered. You will not resurrect them. Your description will be poor, dull and pale for the dead in their graves. Those who are alive will not recognize them. No one will say. These were the good friends. It wasn't enough to take the chance and continue when they are in their graves. It is not enough that you had matured without them and you sat and looked at how the master of laziness had enticed you to erect a monument for my hearty soul friends. I will not succumb and will not listen to him. I cry about those four who I will not respond to me.

He was born in Lowich near Lodz in 1901 and married Shprintz, the daughter of Reb Yitzhak Weisman, and settled in Lancut. As a young man, he used to travel with his father to the Rabbi from Alexander, and he loved to talk about those good days. How he tied himself up with his sash to the window shutter in order to get a better view of the Rabbi's untainted table. When he grew up, he came in touch with factory workers and began reading the books of Zitlowski, Peretz and Borochow. He read and became affected, finding out about the miserable life of Jewish workers in the Diaspora. It touched his heart.

In Lancut, he became active in the local Zionist Committee and worked for the Jewish National Fund and the Foundation Fund, and it became a part of his life. Even though he was busy in his business, he devoted much of his time to the Hebrew school where he was also a member of the committee and wound up to become its chairman. After Chairman Sh. Rozenblit passed away in 1933, he served as chairman until the outbreak of the World War.

He was swift to do a good deed and whoever had not seen his bright, shiny face when he extended a helping hand discreetly to a needy person, had never seen a happy face in his life. I was, many times, witness when this happened and about one such event, I would like to tell it for the future generation.

The daughter of the woman that was delivering milk to his house had reached the age of marriage. The mother of the poor bride went through so much pain and sadness until she finally was able to see her daughter led under the wedding canopy. Suddenly, a dispute broke out just before the ceremony between the in-laws. The groom refused to go through the marriage ceremony until he would be paid the promised sum of the dowry. The milk woman and her husband Zisl, were in despair. There was not too much blessing in the milk cans and miracles did not occur. How would they be able to suffer the shame and the shame of their daughter? Discreetly making sure that he was seen by no one, Shlomo snuck into their home and later left discreetly, the same was as he had come. He went over to the in-laws and stuck into their hands a bundle of banknotes. They counted the cash and ordered the “Klezmorim” to play a “Freylechs” announcing loudly: “We are leading the pair to the wedding canopy for the ceremony”.

At the start of 1940, when the bands of Asmodeus entered the city and expelled the entire Jewish community, he remained because of his bad health with a small group of Jews who were released from being expelled. After the Germans installed him as the head of the “Judenrat”, he was forced to deliver people for forced labour. The people that went to work never came back but the Germans demanded replenishment. He told them he would deliver new people but only if the ones that had left would return. He knew that he was putting his life in danger. They warned him: “workers or death!” Hence the Jewish rule says: “If Goyim demand one of you, and if not, they will kill everyone, so be it, but don't give them one of you”. Which means that it is God's will. From this we derive the percept of sanctification of God's name. Weisman stood up and accepted his destiny. He was shot in the yard at the Jaroslaw prison by the hands of the defiled on the 2nd day of the month Av, 1942, and you Gods are eternal.

He too was not a native of Lancut. He was born in Krosno in his father's house, Reb Chaim the watchmaker. He learned this profession from his father and in 1905 after he married Roza, the daughter of Reb Baruch Goldman, he settled in Lancut where he opened a silverware store, watches and a watch repair shop. Soon after, all newly married young men who smelled the smell of “Haskalah” and their hearts were warmed toward Zionism, sat in his store. It was fun to sit there, enjoy his jokes and listen to his sharp ironic remarks because our David was sharp-witted and clever. He was educated, loved Hebrew and Yiddish literature. At some time, he was a member of “Hashachar” which was founded by Western Galician young men. And with his arrival, he brought the Zionist flame to the city where, at that time, Zionism and conversion seemed to be equal in the eyes of the majority of the Jewish population in Lancut.

After experiencing the wanderings during the First World War, 1914-1918, he decided to tour Eretz Israel as a sort of relaxation. This enduring decision brought repose to his soul and it seemed as though he had reached a status of relaxation, about which he talked day and night.

It just happened that he turned to his cousin, Dow Kimchi (Kimchi still remembers the letters he had received from him with a picture among them, as he stood between the mirth bushes with an endorsement below in his own hand writing: “Finally has Berish become what he always wanted to be: a Hebrew writer in the Hebrew land”. In the letter he asked for help to get him an emigration permit for him and his family. Kimchi cooled his flaming soul as many “relatives” in Eretz Israel did, in those days, telling them that mother Zion could not provide them with a livelihood as long as they lived “comfortably” in Galicia.

In the meantime, there was the celebration of San Remo in the shtetl and David brought all his golden coins that he had in his store and handed them over to the Committee of “Redemption Fund” while his face shone with joy.

After he was elected to the community committee, he served there until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. He introduced many changes in the committee and fought against ruling by a single person who had a tendency to push through resolutions single handily. His favoured quote from the Bible was: “Select a King, but the king should not have a big stable of horses”. He fought against old routine procedures until he succeeded in having a modernized committee which contributed to national funds and provision for cultural and educational needs for the Jewish community. He was, for a long time, an active member of the Hebrew school committee and helped carry the burden.

His letters to us were very hearty. He had an inner push to escape the Diaspora and a strong yearning to see us rooted in Eretz Israel.

How painful it was to read his letters of a later period that sprout forth resignation. In a letter dated 15^th day of the month Iyar, 1939, he wrote to me: “I don't have any special news to report from Lancut. Nothing has changed here for the better. What is new in Eretz Israel? What is the subject of conversation there? From our newspaper, one cannot get any wiser. According to the “Moment”, we have lost everything. Heaven forbid. The “Haint” keeps consoling and I don't like these consolations either. I know that you are as much informed in politics as well as we are, but still, you are closer to the source. Oh! How I want to escape to a restful place and not hear or see what is taking place in the crazy Europe! But where to? This is the question. I always though that for us, Eretz Israel would be the place. Apparently, it will be but not in our generation”.

In his letter from the month of Elul: “Maybe relief will come soon, and you will be able to come here as a tourist, or we will be redeemed and come to you in Eretz Israel. In any case, I still hope that we will see each other. I am confident, however, in the meantime, Hitler is fighting with us a war of nerves”.

In the last postcard written on June 3,1941, from Kozowo in Eastern Galicia, he informed me that Roza and his two daughters, Esther and Sheindl are with him but “Tulek, Olek and Saltche, his daughter-in-law, is in Zbarazh, not far from here”.

Since then, the curtain went down. Were they all banished to Russia?

Where are your graves, my friends? And where are your children's graves?

His father, Reb Yosele'h was a Hassid of Dynow-Blazow, and because of his business, he lived permanently in Vienna. Yechiel used to travel periodically to Vienna to be with his father. In Vienna he absorbed intellectuality and European manners. He knew how to play the violin, something that was not customary in Hasidic homes, and he spoke German.

According to the historian, N.M. Gelber (“Mizrachi Anniversary” book, page 296, footnote 47), he was a delegate to the World Convention which took place in Vienna in the summer of 1913.

Before the above details of his life, he already had a connection with Lancut when he became engaged to Esther, the only daughter of Reb Israel Leib Shikler, and often came to our city. In the meantime, World War I broke out and he was mobilized into the army. After the world settled down at the beginning of 1918, he married in Vienna and came to live in Lancut.

Even though he was busy in his wholesale grocery business, he devoted part of his time to the community. First, he was the vice-chairman of the Mizrachi branch in Lancut and from 1936, he was the chairman of the branch. His friends and non-friends, all respected and admired him for his fine manners. When he was elected a s member to the city council, he was made head of the social welfare department, where he helped many poor and needy.

After the outbreak of Asmodeus War, I found out through the Red Cross that his wife and Saltcha, his daughter-in-law, were left in Lancut. Yechiel and his sons were among the expelled. Later, I used to get pieces of information about their wandering path: Zieniawa, Holoszic, Lubachow, Lwow and then Russia. As it was said: “A person wanders in search of bread”, and so did Yechiel, the pampered. He wandered to Samarkand and that was the end of him. He became ill with typhus and died on 24^th day of Teves, 1942. He was buried in Samarkand.

I can still see him standing and listening to a newlywed whose store was empty and had no money to restock a new inventory. He helped as much as he could, and even more. To one person, he gave a loan to be repaid after Market Day and to some, he would give a loan until he would be able to repay. To a fruit businessman, he would give money to advance a farmer for the fruit when it would ripen. Sometimes, he would run out of cash and he would run over to someone who had and borrow. How sad he was in cases when he could not help.

The inhabitants of little shtetels had become impoverished and many had become beggars. The wood market would fill up daily with carriages loaded with the wretchedly poor, wandering from town-to-town with their wives and children. A minute did not go by that someone would not stretch out his hand and beg. The poor storekeepers were interrupted when they would take care of a customer expecting to make a sale and at the same time, was forced to hand the poor the alms, which made him angry.

Therefore, the good people in town had established a “kindness to the poor” society and the poor began getting charity from their cashbox. On whose shoulders did they put the above cash business which the poor would not have to bother the storekeepers? On the shoulders of Moshe so the poor would be able to insult him and cuss him because it was impossible to satisfy every indigent and give him as much as he needed.

Moshe patiently and gently spoke to the poor and respected them as the offspring of our patriarchs, Abraham, Izaak and Jacob, and explained to them that the balance in the cashbox was low, as though they were partners to the cashbox and would have to know about it. For consolation, he added to some of them, a quarter loaf of bread, a few buns to other and to the rest, a bagel for their children. If some, more decent poor, whose looks showed finesse which came down on his luck, he talked to him quietly and gave him a little more than average, after which he sent him away with his blessing. At the end, the man who came in, in a bitter mood, left with a good heart and good spirit and even blessed Moshe with many blessings, while leaving with an upright statue, in contrast to the way in which he had come in.

Moshe's home was a gathering place for many comrades, especially during the long winter nights of the Teves month. They sat around and told different stories about the people in town and other shtetlach. Light and joy reigned in the house, which was helped by Hindze, his wife. She respected all her husband's friends and comrades.

In the beginning of 1937, Moshe was elected to the elective community committee and all the city people benefitted from his help and encouragement until he was expelled from Lancut, together with the rest of the community leaders by the Nazi.

All the good things that he did for those who needed help, did not help him. When he was starving in Siberia, the place of his exile, he began to wander in search of bread and reached Samarkand, the so-called, city of bread, where he got infected with typhus and that was the end.

May his soul be bonded in the bond of the living.

[Page 170]

With my back luck (ironically), I married the daughter of Reb Chaim Wolkenfeld from Lancut, a city of Hasidim and Torah scholars.

Reb Chaim Wolkenfeld stood out among the others by being a scholar and a community activist of many activities. He was an advisor on behalf of the Rabbinate, chairman of national campaigns, a member in the elective community committee and a fiery Zionist who gave his children a national upbringing.

To my great regret, I did not have a chance to live with him because he passed away before my wedding. He fell on his post during a meeting of the city leadership, when the subjects of helping the Lancut Jews needing help was considered.

The widow of Reb Chaim Wolkenfeld, Mrs. Esther, may she rest in peace, and her five children, Leah, Berish, Shimon, Bashe and Kalman, continued in his footsteps and the spirit of the head of the family. They all took part in national activities.

Kalman Wolkenfeld as a soldier in the Polish Army

My father-in-law had two brothers, Moshe and Israel and a sister, Gitel Zissapel. From Moshe's multiple family, only the youngest daughter Rivka emigrated to the United States, where he passed away. From Gitel Zissapel's family, her son Efrayim was left and who lives in Tel-Aviv. He emigrated illegally to Eretz Israel.

[Pages 170-172]

From right: Moshe Feilshuss, Shimon Wolkenfeld, Leyzer Fas, Chaim Habenshtreit, Getzel Estlein, Michael Rozmarin, Menachem Baumel and Nachman Kestenbaum

In time, each of us found, for himself, a field of activity according to our talents and capability, after which, a comm and active partnership developed between us.

Two of our friends, Menachem Baumel and Michael Rozmarin, joined a pioneer group after World War I and emigrated to Eretz Israel. However, both of them were not able to adapt themselves to the hard conditions in those days and came home. After Menachem Baumel returned, he devoted himself to Zionist activity. He was especially active in the building of the “Beit Haam”. When he was in Eretz Israel his health was damaged from which he never recovered and he died prematurely.

After Michael Rozmarin returned from Eretz Israel, he also became one of the Zionist's activists and was one of the best actors in the drama club. He perished together with the community during the Holocaust.

The third of our group was Moshe Feilshus, the only one who was not a native of Lancut. He came to Lancut after World War I and immediately adapted himself to the new surroundings. He worked with exceptional devotion for the “Hazamir” orchestra as a conductor of the orchestra. His material hardship did not prevent him dedicating all his musical talents to the orchestra. All his free time he spent for the financial stabilization of the “Hazamir” Association. He also extended a helping hand to building the “Beit Haam” and was also a member of the local Zionist Committee. His wife, Gitel, of blessed memory (née Sheinman), should also be mentioned because she stood out with her activity for the Jewish National Fund and was a talented actress in the drama club, beloved by the audiences.

The murderous hand reached the endearing family Moshe Feilshuss and his two talented and charming children in Zholkow. His wife Gitel perished in Lancut.

And how can Shimon Wolkenfeld and his two brothers not be mentioned? Shimon was one of the first members of the “Hazamir” and never spared his time or money in support of it.

His job in the Association was to acquire musical instruments, detect new musical talents among the young people and educate them in the framework of the organization. Being himself a musical talent, he served as an assistant conductor of the orchestra and was also discovered as a composer, having composed a Jewish march called: “Der Kabcansker Marsh”.

He was a Zionist activist since his youth and after Zhabotinski's appearance, he joined the Revisionist movement and founded a revisionist branch in Lancut of which he became the leader until the outbreak of World War II (1939). He was a Hebrew language lover and an active member in the “Haivriya” Association. This dear comrade was also murdered with the other martyrs of Lancut during one of the “actions”.

Leyzer Fas (married to the translator's cousin, Rivka Both), was a veteran member of the local Zionist committee. He possessed a volunteer spirit and always accepted every Zionist or communal function for which he completely fulfilled with perfection. He was outstanding in his acting as secretary of “Beit Ham” and worked tirelessly for this institution. He was helped in his communal work by his wife, Rivka (née Bot), who was one of the first members of the “Haivriya” Association and the first Hebrew speaking person in the shtetl. The Nazi hatchet also fell upon them and their tragic destiny was the same as the rest of our comrades.

And last but not least, from those who are no more with us, the most agile among us, a comrade of character without a blemish, a friend with heart and soul – Chaim Habenshtreit. Devotees to the Zionist ideology acted devoutly to achieve his goal. He was a member of the “Haivriya” and an enthusiast of the new Hebrew literature and language. A modest and disciplined worker in every cultural and Zionist institution, running away from accolades. He contributed his energy to the “Hazamir”, “Beit Hamm”, Jewish National Fund and Hebrew cultural activities, by organizing parties and celebrations, distributing Hebrew books and newspapers. Chaim Habenshtreit materialized his belief in Zionism and emigrated to Eretz Israel. He was always ready to help those who needed guidance and advice. The Lancut Jews that were exiled to the Siberian “Taigas” will remember him favourably as an activist in the “Natives of Lancut Society” in Israel, for receiving food packages and clothing which made their lives more comfortable in the Russian exile. He helped the Lancut newcomers in Israel with advice and jobs.

Our colleague Habenshtreit the good and pleasant to others with his specific characteristic, knew how to keep the eight of us united in spite of our different characters and inclinations. We admired him like an older brother, as a sensible guide to whom we gave the fullest devotion, upon whom we could always lean on, whenever we needed the moral support.

Walking on Alenby Street in Tel-Aviv, his heartbeat stopped and he fell to the ground His death imposed a heavy grief to the remnants of the Lancut Jews in Israel and abroad.

These were my colleagues that brutal destiny cut short their lives. Let their memory be blessed.

[Pages 172-173]

These were the strange shtetl dreamers on national and social renaissance of the previous generation who aroused the eccentric and alarmed the Orthodox Jews and the best traditional observants. They felt that the youths would shake the foundation of Jewish life in the shtetl. Among the above-mentioned young people, the image of Shmuel, the handsome, alert and effervescent boy stood out with his yearning in his sparkling eyes. His hair was combed upward even wearing a wide-brimmed black hat, the symbol and remnant of tradition that was still resting upon shoulders of young men who aimed for a change of values in his life and the life of his people.

Shmuel and his colleagues had nominated themselves to be the little, unknown representatives of the Zionist Organization with all its different political views. Shmuel had three loves: Love for the city and its people; love of the Jewish nation and love for Eretz Israel.

These three loves were the three soul movers which awakened in him the adulterated integral enthusiasm, belief and desire to realize his personal and national ideology. His devoted hands were mixed in everything. He was among those who brought the Hebrew tidings into the streets of the shtetl, the 'clear language', as he called her then, where the Sephardic pronunciation was mixed with Ashkenazic by the first Hebrew speakers in town.

The Jewish National Fund and the Foundation Fund, which at that time were the main financial instruments to the realization of the rebuilding of the land, had found in the young group, devoted emissaries and Shmuel was among them. The city was getting ready to send the first pioneers to Eretz Israel. In the meantime, Shmuel was between the supporters and helpers until his emigration to Eretz Israel.

When election time arrived, whether the General Zionist Congress or to a local institution, he was literally the youngest propagandist. Shmuel had recruited souls for Zionism and for Eretz Israel.

It was the time when the birth and growth of youth organizations had formed the new character of city life. Shmuel was among the effervescent and made others to be the same.

And here it was; the first Sport Association of the young muscular Jews; the orchestra association “Hazamir” of music lovers; the orchestra of the Lancut young men, amateurs who performed for amateurs in all of these above institutions. They were the activists of the best youth in the city and among them was Shmuel, the devoted activist. The aspiration for a renewed life, the responsibility of the renaissance and the life in the community, taking over the leadership of the community, the struggle with conservative Jews in the rabbinic dispute or the post for an assistant Rabbi, nothing escaped him.

Shmuel was a person who did what he preached to others. He left his beloved Lancut and emigrated to Eretz Israel.

His training and his upbringing toward materialization in the land were the same as other young people of his social status. From an ideological point of view, his training was variegated with permeated with basic folks and national content. Therefore, upon arriving in Eretz Israel, he did not have a consistent line of materialization of his goals. That is why he pained, like many other new immigrants. However, he did find his place like a regular member from the ranks as a devoted working settler. When the Holocaust came upon us and an outcry for help from the Lancut people in Siberia had reached us, Shmuel was among the first to respond to the tortured and became one of the founders of the Natives of Lancut organization in 1943. With the warmth of his heart and his energy, he tried to help as much as was possible. He was one of those who remembered the city that was destroyed, his first love that gave him no repose and yet, he joined them.

With Shmuel's passage, a typical image of a stratus of Jewish folk youths in the Diaspora in one generation, played an important role in the renaissance movement which formed a characteristic good citizen on which the State of Israel is based. Shmuel was one of the shtetl dreamers who merited to see the establishment of the State of Israel, the materialization of his youthful dreams.

[Pages 173-174]

When I got the urge to portrait an image from a Jewish shtetl, which no longer exists, the image of my grandfather, of blessed memory, from Lancut appeared before me. In my opinion, he was the dearest and best grandfather in the world. But I know that even if I would be lucky enough to describe his wonderful image without objectivity, without being overtaken by my emotions, I would be able to describe only an average Jewish man from the shtetl, but not this special image and not the special attributes that only belonged to him. Should I mention his devotion to God? About a known and sickly man who got up daily at 4 a.m. and went to the big Beit Hamidrash to study and pray? Should I praise his generosity and righteousness, his hospitality, his respect for Torah scholars, his distancing himself of falsehoods and gossip? His feeling that obliged him to bring up his sons and grandsons properly? It might become a shining picture but still a general picture, because he was not special.

There were many like him in the small and bigger Jewish cities in Poland and Galicia, which were the strongholds of Torah learning, piousness and Hassidism. But it is different if I had wanted to draw the portrait of my grandmother. Although it would be hard for me to picture her for the eyes of the reader and mention all the impressions that are enshrined inside me, nevertheless, I will try to find the special characteristic attributes about her and her personality. Elka Puderbeitel was not a plain woman of valour who knew how to run a business and the household with diligence and wisdom, but she was blessed with a special sensibility to community problems with perception of contemporary times.

I remember my grandmother in the last 12-13 years of her life. She was not young anymore and all her daughters and most of her sons had already left the nest. Most had families of their own and carried the yoke of making a living. The hardship of bringing up children that parents had to bear, grandfather and grandmother continued to bear the trouble of bringing up the children of their offspring. But at the time when the grandfather was at peace with himself and God, firmly looked with confidence into the future, like any believing Jew, grandmother was struggling to overcome destiny and succeeded. A daughter was giving birth, a grandmother had to be there to advise, to guid and to buy the first presents. A grandson or granddaughter became ill, a grandmother would stand on the right side of the doctor, prodding him and if needed, she would help him. She did not spare her energy until she celebrated victory over the sickness or malady.

She felt and understood that new winds were blowing in the space of the world from which you could not isolate yourself, adhering only to a Jewish way of life. The iron curtain was raised that separated the Jewish world from the gentile, the stranger, the evil which was winking and breaking into the traditional sanctity of the Jewish family. Therefore, grandmother decided to adapt to the new times. She was not against having her sons and grandchildren educated and acquire secular knowledge by sending them off to school, and she did not oppose that I, an alumnus of the Lublin Yeshiva, should take exams in order to receive a maturity diploma. On the contrary, she urged me to do it. She also understood that he had to worry about her daughters; that their job in the family was as valuable as what her sons were doing. Laughingly, she used to say: “A woman was created from Adam's rib, but I am also capable to make feel his ribs that he will never forget”. She was a woman with good humour and often was full of optimistic laughter.

Thanks to these characteristics, she succeeded in all her deeds as a community activist and as the chairlady of the “Women's Association”. It was not an easy function to head such an organization in a Polish town. The number of problems was almost equal to the number of Jews. Problems of support and help; domestic problems; livelihood and helping poor brides. All these problems were on the shoulders of the association which she headed. There were not too many people that were wealthy enough to help in these shtetlach. The authorities were not helping and in cases when they did help the poor, they discriminated the Jews. The situation in Lancut for the Jews was somewhat better because of Count Potocki who helped a lot of the Jewish poor. However, the number of the poor and the needy were very big. Many of the younger people who saw no future for them in Lancut had left to seek their luck in distant places.

Many were of my grandmother's concern but the crown of her communal activity was the founding of the “Bais Yaacov” school in our town. She had to fight the Hasidim of Belz and Koloshitz on the one hand, and the enlightened on the other to both the school was faulty and the financial situation was also a big obstacle. She fought stubbornly and won. Sarah Shenirer, of blessed memory, was proud of the school and of my grandmother. She took note of the stubborn will of this Jewish woman who knew how to play an important role in national life and family at the same time.

Maybe it is also worthwhile to speak of her encounter with the authorities? Her nephew, Mendel Shternheim, when he served in the Polish army, was arrested for slapping a Polish sergeant in reaction to having been called “Zhid” which was intended to insult him. The nephew was jailed in Lublin and faced a heavy punishment. My grandmother turned to Rabbi Shapiro, of blessed memory, to intervene on his behalf. When she came to the Rabbi, he contacted the authorities but to no avail. The grandmother, however, decided to contact the military prosecutor on her own. I was a child then and do not know what took place but Mendel was released. Not only was he released but his time spent in jail was considered as he had served in the army.

The Rabbi, the righteous Reb Wolwish from Lancut, was the grandson of Rabbi Elimelech from Lizensk, the author of the Hasidic book “Noam Elimelech”. He was called “Reb Wolwish Lancuter” by the people in the area.

His grave is located at the entrance to the grave of Rabbi Naftali from Ropczyce. In the “Divrei Chaim” book, part wo, he has two responses in “Yore Deya, paragraph 119, where he was addressed as follows: “To the distinguished Rabbi, the Hassid Zeev Wolf, the assistant Rabbi of Lancut” and in “Even Ezer” paragraph 117, mention of Reb Wolf is also mentioned as the assistant Rabbi in Lancut.

His son, Reb David Oster, of blessed memory, was an “outstanding Hassid and holiness”. Reb David's daughter, Mrs. Bluma was the daughter-in-law of Reb Shmuel Tzvi Weiss, of blessed memory, the authors of “Pri Levanon” book.

He was seventy years old when he died. He was born in 1850, in a small shtetl called Wodika near Przemysl in eastern Galicia, in a respected family. His father, Reb Abraham Bels, of blessed memory, was very revered in his community. He was a distinguished scholar, a God-fearing Hassid who possessed superlative manners. The attributes that he was blessed with he instilled in son, who was my grandfather. My grandfather, who was outstanding since his youth and with his diligence and perseverance in his studies. He grew up in a Torah environment, Hassidism and resourceful Judaism. When he was a lad of eighteen, his father married him off to a daughter of a scholar, and this was my grandmother whose name was Mali. She accompanied him until his last day of life. A year after they were married and with the permission and order of the Rabbi from Belz, he travelled to learn to become a kosher slaughterer (shochet) and upon the recommendation of the Rabbi of Belz, he became the shochet of his town, which was a great honour. He became known as a special shochet and cantor conducting the prayers. His name reached Lancut. Thanks to his fame, the community leaders, the mighty and wealthy Reb David Tenenbaum and his assistants, Reb Chaim Lindbaum and Elimelech Pearlmutter, of blessed memory, invited him to report to the local Rabbi, Reb Simcha Spiro and to the rest of the community leaders. During his visit, he conducted the services in the big Beit Hamidrash.

It was Shabbath Hanukkah in 1874 and worshippers from all the prayer houses came to hear him “Daven”. Everybody, Hasidim and opponents of Hassidism, simple folks. They all came to hear him conduct the services. Soon after, he became the shochet of Lancut which was approved by the seven community leaders, by Rabbi Simcha and by Rabbi Mendele'h, and the local Rabbis. He was accepted unanimously as the permanent shochet of Lancut, a city of fame, known for its wise men, scribes and thinkers. A city which was a model to many small and big cities in central and eastern Galicia. He moved to Lancut in the month Adar of the same year, where he served as a respected and admired shochet for thirty-seven years.

My grandfather was very hospitable and his home was always open for the needy. He warmly welcome everyone with a smile. Pursued peace and distanced himself from public squabbles. He participated in community affairs, circumcised thousands of children free of charge, married off his daughters to Torah scholars, among them the distinguished son-in-law, my father, my teacher, Rabbi Joseph Mushel, of blessed memory, in Oshpizin (Auschwitz) and chief of the Rabbinical court in Dortmund, Germany for sixteen years.

He was recognized as a distinguished scholar who was ordained by geniuses of his contemporaries. He passed away on the 12^th day of the month Nisan, 1933 and was buried in Dusseldorf, West Germany.

Every year when the month Elul arrived, there was a big commotion in my grandfather's house where he rehearsed with his choir and was getting ready for the High Holiday services. The choir boys and his assistants were charming young men. They were local Beit Hamidrash dwellers and among them were the revered young men Reb Mordecai Flashen, Reb Yitzhak Wiener (called Itche Shayes), David Wolfman, of blessed memory, (David Chayches), Yitzhak Sauerhaft and others. They all turned out later to be respected men that became known as decent cantors. The versions of his pleasant prayers and melodies had attracted the hearts of people and were inherited by all the cantors in Lancut, decades after his absence. This was one way to perpetuate his name forever.

[Page 175]

Reb Hillel Shochet was the son of Reb Yitzhak Shochet. His mother was the daughter of Reb Aaron Weber, the Shochet of Tarnow. Reb Hillel continued the chain of a lineage of shochtim. Reb Hillel's wife, the righteous Tzirl, was the daughter of Reb Manis Friedman from Radymno.

Many traits and good habits were ascribed to Reb Hillel and to his family for which they earned a special status in the shtetl where the majority were extreme Hasidim and a minority were intellectuals and intelligent Zionists.

In the house of Reb Hillel Shochet there was a deep religious ambiance and an enlightened tolerance to national values, of inner devotion to the vision of the redemption of Zion. The source of such ambiance and a merger of Judaic spirituality, was thanks to the personality of Reb Hillel who was a man of good habits and a lover of people and enjoyed the well being of others. He derived a living with the toil of his hands and with honest decency. His solid cleverness, his inner innocence and his clear mindedness, without a jot of jealousy, rose him above the throngs of the conservative Hasidim. All of the above was the reason why he related, with understanding, to his son-in-law, Reb Anshel Katz, and thanks to his initiative, the house of Reb Hillel became a gathering place for those who were active in the Zion cause. He did not care about the criticism nor the extremists' defamation.

He passed away 9th day of Shvat, 1940

The habitual hospitality he had inherited from his father, Reb Yitzhak. All the poor wanderers put down their bundles in his house. He treated them with breakfast and they stayed for lunch. His home was a home of a Hassid who was the son of a Hassid. It was open to every Zionist emissary, whether young or old, beginning with “Hashomer Hatzayir” emissary and ending with a “Beitat” emissary. They were all guests in his house who filled it with a flood of conversation and political discussions.

I remember, once, the pious young men in which it was told about the sanctity of the Holy Land and the importance of redeeming it. He called me over, pulled out another flyer from his pocket and asked me to paste it on the wall, to replace the one that was torn down.

Out of the love for the Holy Land, he decided to accepted, together with his family, the pain and the hardships of absorption in Eretz Israel. He sold his house which he had inherited from his parents and to which he was sentimentally bonded, resigned from his job and the compensation to which he was eligible to receive from the community after his retirement for all the years of service as a Shochet. He paid no attention to the Orthodox critics, the opponents of Zionism who criticized him for emigrating to Eretz Israel where most pioneers were non- “observant” Jews and aiming at the unknown.

Reb Hillel merited to emigrate to Eretz Israel with his family and live there because he did not see any contradiction between believing in the Messiah and rebuilding the land.

[Pages 175-176]

Among the people who lived in Lancut their entire lives, there was like a covenant that bound them to different and added stories which took place within one generation. Among the people, there was one popular who stood out of the crow and that was Reb Zisele the scribe from the elite of Hasidim of Kotzk in our town which merited to see the pleasant face of Rabbi Mendele'h the great from Kotzk and hear from him, the forever popular witticism. Even though he was considered one of the outstanding Hasidim of Kotzk, and he admired his righteousness and his version of Hassidism, he did not abhor other Hasidic systems. He respected and admired the great Tzadikim from every stream. In person, he was a Torah scholar which attracted many with his way of life and behaviour, and in conversations with people he was like a challenger.

He supposedly was the grandson of Rabbi Elimelech, but it wasn't clear. Was he a grandson of Rabbi Elimelech from Lizensk or was he the grandson of Rabbi Elimelech Weisblum from Rudnik? He was the type as though he was in charge of things and the officer in the synagogue of Rabbi Mendele'h, of blessed memory, from Lancut for more than thirty years. In the city and vicinity, he was known endearingly by the name of “Reb Ziseleh Soyfer”. He was this way by everyone facing him or not. He outstood with his expressions to the point which were sometimes demonstrating a sharp mind. He was an erudite learned man, humble and with behavioural modesty. He was, maybe, one of the legendary thirty-six righteous in the world. He was spiritually a dear Jew that had never stopped studying the Torah his entire life. When he walked from his home to the Beit Hamidrash and back, he would always recite Psalms.

He used to travel annually to Rudnik to celebrate Purim with a relative, the local Rabbi of that city who was also a grandson of Rabbi Elimelech from Lizensk. In those days, which was approximately fifty-five years ago, Reb Zisele'h used to be called to the Torah on “Shabbath Zachor” as the Purim Rabbi of Rudnik. And, by the way, the actual Rabbi of Rudnik was not a big scholar. He got his job because of the greatness of his grandfather who, besides being the local Rabbi, was also a “Rabbi” to many Hasidim. He had the assistant Rabbi, who actually was the rabbinic authority where community “Kashrut” problems were concerned. For instance, supervising kosher meat slaughtering and arbitration between disputing parties which was customary at that time, to come to the Rabbi in many Galician cities. Reb Zisele'h used to stay there until after the Purim holiday.

On Purim, after reading the Megilah, Reb Zisele'h and his relative, the local Rabbi, would go home where the local Rabbi welcomed and greeted Reb Zisele'h with great joy and gaiety, as the Purim Rabbi saying: “Welcome Purim Rabbi. Blessed be he who enters under my roof”. He would then call out to his wife: “Bring in the refreshments”. After they sat down at the table, the Rabbi asked Reb Zisele'h: “Revered Purim Rabbi. Do you know how to study the Torah? If you do, tell me some nice Torah about Purim”. And Reb Zisele'h responded immediately: “Of course I know how to study the Torah. If I wouldn't, I would not have been elected to be a Rabbi all year round.

Many sharp-witted jokes and sayings went around in our town which were attributed to his name. They were very praise-worthy but here is not the place to dwell over them. However, what he said about the Balfour Declaration, I do feel it worthwhile to mention here.

As it was known, the Balfour Declaration was proclaimed by the British government on November 2, 1917. One year later, November 2, 1918, the Austro-Hungarian kingdom fell apart. World War I ended on November 1^st, 1918. One day later, on November 2^nd, the Zionists in Lancut celebrated the issuing of the Balfour Declaration in the big synagogue on the evening after the “Maariv” services. A day before the Zionist celebration, the Poles celebrated the falling apart of the Austro-Hungarian kingdom and the independence of a new Poland. How did the Poles celebrate their independence? They celebrated with pogroms against the Jews, robbing Jewish properties and beating up Jews in the streets. Ignoring the tumultuous situation, the Jews had the nerve to celebrate the Balfour Declaration. On the evening of the Zionist celebration, the admirers and neighbours of Rabbi Elazar were in his house for evening services, as they usually did. The Rabbi at that time lived a little further from the Beit Hamidrash. After the services, the subject of the conversation was about the current events.

Reb Zisele'h asked who is this guy “Belfer” (twisted name of Balfour) who decided to help the Messiah to bring the Jews to Eretz Israel? What a surprise! He is probably one of the righteous gentiles, may he be blessed and may God energize and strengthen him. But my question is, should he not first take us to the railroad station because outside the Jews are beaten up and we cannot get there by ourselves. Next, he made fun of the foolish Zionists who stubbornly relied on the promises of some “Goy” and refused to wait for the Messiah. I am sure that he did not mean what he said.

[Page 176]

In the body of Reb Simcha, the teacher, a few characteristics have merged, based on the influence that came from different sources. Ancient tradition, education, the environment, special atmosphere and character. The traits which Reb Simcha possessed had crystalized in a climate of refined and rooted Judaism, effervescently in strong belief. The man excelled in his diligent work by serving God with learning Torah prayers, with charity and untainted manners.

Reb Simcha was in Lancut one of the personalities that had merged Torah with good deeds. With his erudition, he could have served as a Rabbi in any big city but he did not chase after fame. Instead, he chose teaching and even in this profession, he excelled to a certain degree to be considered a first-class teacher. Not everybody could have become his pupil. As a young man, he was a teacher in the house of Rabbi Elimelech Weisblum, the Tzadik from Rudnik, where he taught his son, Rabbi Elazar, when he was a youngster.

Reb Simcha's outer appearance was reverence. He was a fiery Hassid of the Rabbi from Sandz. He was a man filled with “brightness”. His life was dedicated to studying the Torah and to do mitzvot until his last day of life. He mustered a great influence upon his town people.

His base was the Beit Hamidrash where he was a permanent worshiper among a community of Hasidim which were permeated with Judaic warmth and religious devotion. To his Gemara lessons, which he publicly taught in the Beit Hamidrash, he used to invite people from the poorer stratum. He had a friendly nature, always welcoming people with friendship. That is why he was named: “The pupil of the house of Hillel” (a moderate ancient Sage). He had a special affinity to coachmen enticing them to participate in his teachings. He lived in modest quarters, lead a meagre life, was poorly dressed and never had anything on his mind except charity and kindness. Every Thursday he would collect donations for the poor and being warmly welcome by the donors. He used to buy challah meat which he sent to the needy, never taking a penny for himself. On market day he bought bundles of firewood and personally delivered them to the needy.

As a teacher, he had an outstanding ability of explaining matters. He loved to be with his students and demonstrate his explaining capabilities.

He passed away in 1912 and on his gravestone, it was written that he had requested not to shower him with praise. He was not forgotten by the natives of Lancut. They remembered him with kindness about his public educational activities.

The grandson of Reb Simcha was the chairman of natives of Lancut in the United States. He visited Israel in 1962 and was warmly welcomed by his town people.

[Page 177]

Reb Bereleh's special talent was to influence his students and awaken them to the desire and willingness to study. Among the children who studied in “cheder” were some who were afraid of him. They cried and wanted to go home, but the teacher restrained them, not with yelling or anger, but by lecturing them gently. Even though the small children did not actually understand the “purpose” of studying with the hope to grow up and become a scholar or a Rabbi, they were attracted to him by his heartfelt talk and the loveliness of his talk which hit the point to which he was aiming. The conversations between the mature teacher and the small children at their level of understanding, had won trust and they were responsive by making an effort to fulfil his wishes and study hard. A lot of children learned how to pray. They then began to study the Bible and Gemara because Reb Berele's desire was that the children should absorb everything that he taught them.

This “Melamed” was also called “Berele'h Cohen” because of an episode that happened when he was young. At that time, he was a teacher in a village and there was a tavern keeper who had a daughter who bore a child from a gentile boy when she was still single. In time, this affair was forgotten and the girl later married a young man from a distant place. After nine months, she gave birth to a boy and as is customary, a big celebration took place after the circumcision. Afterward, the tavern keeper asked Berele'h to recommend a decent “Cohen” to make the customary “Pidyon Haben”, and Berele'h responded: Why do you have to look for a “Cohen?” I am a Cohen”. And so it was, he was the Cohen and was paid for the “Pidyon Haben”, fifteen crowns (Austrian currency at that time), and everything was in order. After a while when Berele'h was already a teacher in Lancut, the tavern keeper came to the city to buy some merchandise and beverages. Since it was the yahrzeit of one of his parents, he came to the Beit Hamidrash to pray and say Kaddish. It was one of the days when the Torah was read in the middle of the week, or maybe, it was “Rosh Chodesh”, in any case, the tavern keeper noticed that Berele'h was called to the Torah – the third person and not the first as a Cohen. The tavern keeper wondered how come? He knew that Berele'h was a Cohen. He asked the bystanders how come Berele'h was the third person to be called to the Torah, being a Cohen, he ought to have been called the first. Then the tavern keeper found out that it was swindled by Berele'h.

What did the tavern keeper do? He went to Rabbi Simchale'h Spiro, who at that time lived near the Beit Hamidrash and told him the whole story. At the same time, he asked the Rabbi what he should do. Would he need to make another “Pidyon Haben” with another Cohen? Secondly, he wanted the Rabbi to summon Reb Berele'h to be tried and get back his fifteen crowns. He also demanded the Rabbi should proclaim publicly that Berele'h was a swindler and that he was not supposed to be a teach, teaching Torah to Jewish children. He piled some additional charges against the culprit.

The Rabbi sent the sexton to summon Berele'h for an urgent trial. In the meantime, the story spread all over the Beit Hamidrash. Berele'h went to the Rabbi and listened to the tavern keeper's complaints. Reb Berele'h then responded: “The way a child was a first born to his mother, the same was I was a Cohen. As for the blessing that I made in vain, I will ask the Rabbi how to “repent”. Since that episode, Berele'h was nicknamed in this town as “Berele'h Cohen”.

Reb Shalom Estlein (Langzam) was a special character who served as an officer and shofar blower in the big synagogue. He was a man of all trades. He was a member in the Burial Society and one important public activist. He was a half doctor beginning by getting rid of an evil eye and applying cupping glasses (Bankes). He distributed all kinds of remedies, visited the sick even in the middle of the night when he was called upon. He helped the poor as much as he could. On the Sabbath afternoons, he taught the simple folks “Ethics of our Parents” in the big synagogue.

Rabbi Elazar Weisblum, the Tzadik from Rzeszow, loved to visit Lancut often and was beloved by the masses. He was a clever Rabbi. To his Hasidim who complained that they could not make a living, he used to say: “Sell everything you have, your shtreimel, the golden watch with the chain, your wife's jewellery and go to America. I will give you my blessing to succeed and you think about me over there”. That way, he saved many people from the Nazi.

His father-in-law, Reb Joseph Rokach, lived near the Rabbi Reb Mendele'h Spiro who was a grandson of the founder of the Belz Dynasty and also considered himself to be a Rabbi but not a great Rabbi. Women and people from the poor stratum came to him with notes, requesting blessings and giving him donations.

The “Hakafot” which used to be held at Reb Mendeleh's brother, Rabbi Simcha, was famous not only in Lancut but also in the vicinity. He had a special conductor who conducted the “Hakafot” and was in charge of distributing the honours on Simchat Torah. The “Hakafot” were conducted according to the version of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech from Dynow. It was a procedure which lasted for hours. Nevertheless, people never tired of singing and dancing. The melodies which were sung during the “Hakafot” were traditional melodies.

Reb Hersh Milrad was the head of an admired family in Lancut. They were all wealthy and many admirable stories were told about his spouse, Frieda, the righteous. She used to distribute meat, Challah and also money for the Sabbath (in the weekdays too) to women in confinement and to poor families. The story went around about her that in her youth, and being an orphan, she was raised and brought to the house of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech. She got a blessing from him for longevity, wealth and good children. The Rabbi's blessing materialized and members of the Milrad family married into elite and rich families and were considered in Lancut as a very prosperous family.

In Lancut there were four bar keepers and they were:1: Berish Weinbach which was called “Berek” by the farmers that came to market day in Lancut. 2: Berek Shiniawski (originally from Sieniawa) but his real name was Berish Milch. His place was near the Beit Hamidrash and the synagogue and people could drink in his place on the Sabbath holidays, beer and garbanzo beans, on credit. 3: Berish Dampf, called “Shiwy (gray) Berek” by the farmers because he was very old. 4: Berish Wolkenfeld. His nickname was “Stary Berek”.

The first in line, Weinbach, was of short statue and the most important among the bar keepers. He lived near the estate of Count Potocki, who knew Weinbach since he was a boy. Whenever Count Potocki came to Lancut, he would travel daily in the mornings from five to eight, touring his estate and always met Weinbach, who greeted him by removing his hat and bowing, greeting him as follows: “Good morning your Majesty the Count” which was the custom. However, the Count spent most of the time in the metropolis of Europe, often visiting Paris, London and touring the world. Apparently, this Count had no knowledge of the existence of Hasidim among the Jews until the trial of Mendel Beilis in Kiev, Russia. During the days of the Beilis trial (1913), The Count was once travelling with his coachman and adjutant in his coach, hitched to six strong horses, heading to tour his estate. Low and behold! He encountered Weinbach, the bar keeper, who was on his way to the synagogue carrying his Talit bag under his arm. The Count signalled to the adjutant to stop the coach and asked Weinbach to approach him. The man fearlessly went over and spoke to him as his equal. This time, however, the Count was a little nervous and asked Weinbach: “Tell me Berko, are you a Hassid?” (During the trial Beilis' prosecutor, who was a sworn Jew hater, had declared that there were among the Jews a sect of Hasidim that were using the blood of Christian children to bake matzos for Passover. The prosecutor said that Hasidim were the ones who wore long overcoats, beards and ear locks and “shtreimlech” on their heads). All the Jews of Lancut, except a few individuals wore beards, ear lock and on the Sabbath and holidays, they wore Streimlech and, therefore, it was hard to know who was or was not a Hassid. That is why the Count asked Berish if he was a Hassid. And Berish responded; “no”. The Count knew of only a few Jews in Lancut with whom he had business relationship or met with them during some celebration in the synagogue of Kaiser Franz Joseph's birthday.

The Count then asked again: “Is Dozhi (David Tenenbaum) a Hassid?” (He too wore a beard and side locks and a shtreimel on the Sabbath). And Weinbach replied: “No”. The Count continued to ask him about other two Jews whom he knew and Berish responded negatively. “If so? Who is a Hassid?” And Berish replied: “Zelig Fartig, Reb Yantche Peterzeil, Reb Moshe Chaya-Eidel and others”. People which the Count did not know. The Count suspected that Weinbach refused to divulge the secret of the Hasidim out of fear that they would be arrested and accused of the use of children's blood for matzos. The Count angrily told him to go away “you swine. You refuse to tell me the truth”. The Count told the coachman via his adjutant to drive off. It was told that a few days later the Count had asked Reb David Tenenbaum if there were any Hasidim in Lancut, and who were they. He told the Count that all Jews were Hasidim but it was hard to know who was real and who was not. And the Count believed him.

[Pages 182-183]

Michael Shiffer

by Tzvi Landau, Ramat-Gan

 

 

Awful and wonderous were the roads of a Jew in this Holocaust generation and the outset of the redemption on his land. The wandered way of Michael Shiffer, of blessed memory, was no different from the ways of the hundreds and thousands of fire brand survivors of the European Jewry.

The Jewry of this generation were familiar with wanderings since World War I. Michael Shiffer grew up in a well-to-do family which a business in grand and grocery. Because of the business, he was in contact with many gentiles in the vicinity. He had access to local rulers who showed consideration when he intervened on behalf of the Jews in the city. He helped craftsmen with credit and interest free loans to the needy. He considered it an honour to give loans to people who emigrated to Eretz Israel, knowing well that these loans would never be repaid. That was his routine way of life until the Nazi foe came. Michael packed up his belongings and wandered off together with the rest of his town people, escaping from Hitler's bands to the other side of the Russian border. He left his orderly home, the big family, colleagues and friends. Thousands of people occupied the roads and temporary inns. Humanity turned into dust, streamed with the hope of saving their lives. Among them was the lonely Michael accompanied by the horrible scenes on the roads until he reached the other side of the mountains of the abyss, the awful steppes of Siberia.

How did this little, lean Jew, withstand the Siberian steppes where he was threatened by the white death of the snow storms? It was one of the wonders of the “Eternal Jewish Wanderer”. His escape of thousands of kilometres from Siberia to the warm country of Uzbekistan, was one of the wonders. At that time, Uzbekistan was a place where many exiled Jews had concentrated. Where they starved, speculated and clung with their fingernails to life, with the hope of returning to their native land and find the family and start from the beginning.

The conquered murderous German armies had retreated into their country. The surviving refugees had returned from Russia to a giant cemetery where the dearest and sanctified were buried. This time, the stream of survivors was streaming west. The young people had organized themselves into a great escape organization to emigrate to Eretz Israel in any way possible. Michael was looking for a fatherland, a home and friends. After the establishment of the Jewish State, he came with the mass of immigrants and was sent to a tent camp for new immigrants. Like a thousand others, he travelled from place-to-place, to visit comrades, acquaintances, relatives and enjoyed the fragrance of the land. He was sent to work in a cooperative store for new immigrants in upper Galilee. The working conditions were very hard. He had to work in compressed barracks filled with sacks and barrels. Michael worked from sunrise into the nights, by the light of kerosene and lux lamps. He finally wound up in a big immigrant camp in Chalsa, at present it is Kiryat Shmoneh which has become a small gathering of several Diasporas, Yemenites, Kurds, North Africans from India, etc.

He lived in barracks and was actively involved in the life of the camp. More than often, he used to come down to lowlands to visit with friends and relatives. His pockets and his attaché case were always filled with gifts for the children and adults. At the end, he left the cooperative store and moved to Safed where he tried to establish a cooperative restaurant, but the plan did not materialize. He worked for the Eged bus station because he loved to be in touch with people. He loved the hearsay, to help people with advice and treat people with a soda on credit. At the station he felt as one of the” people” and often helped with an interest free loan. He helped some poor brides the same as he used to do in Lancut.

At that point, he was subdued by a malignant illness and was buried in the lowlands, but his soul remained in the city of Cabbalists-Safed. In his will, he requested that his money be distributed among the children of the new immigrants, the needy in Safed, the secular organization of Working Mothers and the “Talmud Torah” in Safed Yeshiva. May his memory be blessed.

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[Page 183]

David Har
Passed away third day in the month Teves 5721 (1961)

Michael Walzer

 

 

David was the son of Feivel and Freida Har. He was born on December 2, 1894 in Lancut. He was alert to social problems since his youth and dedicated much of his time to public activity. In 1910, he joined the “Poaley Zion” party and was active in this party until his last day of his life.

In 1914, he arrived in Vienna with a wave of refugees from World War I and was active in “Poaley Zion” in Vienna. When he returned from the army in 1918 to Lancut, he established a branch of the party and from then on, he was involved in the camp of the working Eretz Israel on the one hand and was connected with Jewish Folks Culture on the other.

During the years of economic vacuum in Poland after World War I, in which a wide segment of the Jewish population was hurt. Therefore, a cooperative store was founded in Lancut to make it easier for the troubled poor of the city. At the head of the management was David Har. He followed his father's footsteps as his father was also a public activist and helped the needy, being active in the Tomchey Aniyim Society in the city.

Thanks to his strong activity, the impact of the “Poaley Zion” upon social and political life had increased and they acquired a respected position in the city and nationally.

Between the two loves that David Har possessed, the first for the Jewish People and the Jews of Lancut, and the second was the Love for Zion. He was overtaken by the “Poaley Zion” idea and he, therefore, decided to become a labourer in Eretz Israel.

Indeed, in 1929, David Har was among the first realizers among the “Poaley Zion” members to emigrate to Eretz Israel with his wife and two sons. He worked hard as a construction worker (floor tiles) in Tel-Aviv. He went through the hardship of settling in the land.

He never deviated from his path which he had chosen in his youth but followed the communal and political line with devotion and diligence. He bonded his destiny with the workers whether it was in his private life or as a party activist.

In a battle for Sharona, during the British mandate in 1943, his son Shragay, of blessed memory, fell. He was a member of the “Haganah”. That is how Har and his wife gave to the land, the dearest to them.

In Eretz Israel, David Har remained devoted to the natives of Lancut and was among the founders of the “Natives of Lancut” society in Eretz Israel. He was the treasurer and helped in giving interest free loans to Lancut newcomers.

In 1942, when the horrible information from Holocaust survivors arrived, he was active and activated his colleagues to extend help to the Lancut brothers that wandered in the steppes of Siberia. Since that time, he was the biggest activist in the organization.

 

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