[Page 18]

As mentioned, this settlement of Jews in Ostrow Mazowiecka in this initial period was “illegal.” Official prohibitions and warnings on the part of the leaders of the Council of the Four Lands accompanied the settlement of these first settlers. They did what they did not out of any particular love for the immense forests of the area, but rather out of a lack of any other option for survival and in the course of endless wandering to find economic sustenance.

Polish Jewry in this period experienced a spiritual efflorescence and growth that had continued on from the bright and glorious period since Poland had become the center of Torah. But along with this was a life based on starvation and deprivation, on poverty and the absence of even the most limited means of sustenance. This was because of the extremely limited economic areas in which Polish Jews were permitted to engage in order to eke out their meager livings.

This was also a tumultuous period in which the highways and byways of Poland ran with blood. In the southeast of the country, in Volhynia and its neighboring areas, the Chmielnicki murderers left hundreds of communities destroyed and devastated. Countless victims, the elderly and the youth, women and girls, children and babies died terrible deaths. Masses of Jews, lacking everything, took up their wandering staffs in search of a place to lay their heads.

No sooner had the battles with the bloodthirsty Chmielnicki rebels ended when the soldiers of the Polish General Czerniecki began to rampage with incomparable cruelty in Western Poland following the war between Poland and Sweden. Jewish life became chaotic. Jewish blood flowed endlessly. Both large and small communities were devastated and destroyed mercilessly. So to the masses of Jewish refugees from eastern Poland were now added refugees from western Poland.

During this period veteran communities like Pinczow or Opatow turned to the leaders of the Council of the Four Lands with a request and a demand to ban Jewish refugees from either western or eastern Poland from settling in their communities. Major impediments were stacked up in the paths of these homeless people, burdened with large families, from settling in the largest communities in Poland that in effect became virtual closed ghettos.

This was due to the fact that the residents of those veteran communities were also seriously impacted by the bloody events. They worked under great difficulty just to maintain themselves, burdened as they were with supporting their local poor. The veteran and highly regarded community of Opatow was crowded into one single, not very large street, under extremely difficult housing conditions. The Polish authorities and residents, local and regional, absolutely refused to expand the Jewish residential borders by so much as even one meter.

It was not possible for the majority of communities in Poland to absorb the masses of homeless. Nevertheless, their difficult financial situation––and the burden of debt that hovered over the Council of the Four Lands and over every community, small or large––did not prevent them from providing major financial assistance to the homeless refugees and to come up with succor and aid to them as they wandered the roads of Poland. A few, those with the means and the strength, went to Germany, Moravia, Bohemia or Hungary. But the majority sought a new home in Poland.

[Page 19]

Thus, while Jews were originally loath to become “infiltrators” into the Czersk region and other areas of Mazovia into which the entry of Jews was prohibited by law, the need to find a home and shelter overcame other considerations and other official bans of the Council of the Four Lands and the leaders of the communities. People no longer looked upon these new residents of Mazovia as “criminals” as they had been officially labeled from the rostrums of the communities, but rather as unfortunate ones who lacked any alternative.

But settling in Mazovia entailed serious risks. The most dangerous weaponry was in the hands of the Jew baiters, as the bloody libels against them were accompanied by wild incitement. This was especially true in those areas where these enemies were just looking for an excuse to work against the Jews or to expel them from their places of residence and to steal their meager property. Great efforts and unlimited initiatives were invested by the Jews of Poland against such false accusations.

But Jews came and took that risk. They settled in Ostrow Mazowiecka and in tens of towns around her near and far. Did they actually suffer serious difficulties? Did they actually pay a price in blood for this step? The later generation of residents of Ostroveh and its environs were unable to tell, as there remained in the hands of the community no written record that could uncover the treasures of the past or that could recount the events of the first settlers.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that great suffering was the lot of the first Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka, much as the authorities of Mazovia had known how to embitter the lives of the Jews of Plotzk and its environs. They knew how to oppress them, but were oblivious to the fact that due to the initiative and hard work of the Jews this region ceased to be the prime example of a failed and undeveloped one.

From partial records it is clear that the first Jews of Ostroveh were the pioneers in exploiting the enormous forests in the area. They developed business ties with the owners of the great estates and developed the natural resources. The Jews worked very hard and made a modest living, with only a few amassing any wealth, while the owners of the estates and the rulers of the area prospered. Therefore, they prevented or did not allow the expulsion of these early Jews from the city and its surrounding area.

Well established and chosen communal institutions of the kind that were typical for other communities in Poland were in fact lacking in Ostrow Mazowiecka until after World War I. During the very long period of Russian rule in Poland the community had no legal basis, serving merely as a committee of the municipal council, which was never elected but rather appointed by officials of the Russian authorities.

The officers of the community were the wealthy of the city, those who paid substantial taxes or who took out important commercial licenses. Their appointment was made in accordance with the list of those who paid the etat (the community tax) and those who attended the galewka, the celebration held on the birthday or other major event of the family of the Russian tsar. Such celebrations were held at the old beit midrash [study hall] on Komorowo Road, with the participation of the rabbi, the dazars (the officers of the community), and some government official.

The Chevrah Kadisha [literally “Holy Society,” i.e., the burial society], which was the oldest and without doubt one of the first in the city, strictly observed an internal protocol. This protocol proved that among the founders of the community or among its first settlers were those who came from Volhynia and other communities in southeast Poland. The protocols of the society, which were maintained until the destruction of the city, were copied from the protocols of similar societies in those regions.

For example, one of the provisions of the Society relating to acceptance of new members was that each new member had to undergo a certain period of “internship.” In this period, called salozhveh (service) from the word melodzi (youth), he had to perform every difficult duty that was asked of him by the veteran members. He had to serve all the members having full privileges at all their banquets and to carry out all their instructions.

Such banquets were held by the Chevrah Kadisha of Ostrow Mazowiecka as a group every Rosh Hashanah eve after the Yom Kippur Katan ^[1] service in the old beit midrash. The principal annual banquet was held on the fourth day of Adar, the day of the death of Moses Our Teacher, peace be unto him, according to the custom of all Chevrot Kadisha [pl.] throughout the Jewish Diaspora. The

[Page 20]

many other banquets that were held every month were paid for by the society and were conducted in Ostroveh as a local custom.

From the records of the society from the early period of its existence we learn nothing about any additional functions that may have devolved upon them beyond their limited scope of operation. In various other communities, especially in eastern Poland, the Chevrah Kadisha would in effect function as the community council and as the body that represented the entire community in all realms, even though the income of the Society came exclusively from the burial of the dead and from the sale of burial plots in the local cemetery.

The protocols of the Chevrah Kadisha of Ostrow Mazowiecka did not contain any special provisions or customs that were not customarily followed in other places, which would indicate that the Society was founded and functioned along the lines of other societies in the area. And while drastic fires had not beset the city in later generations, no document was extant that would have indicated the manner of the formation of the Society or its character.

The communities of Crakow, Lwow [Lviv, now in Ukraine], Lublin, Ostroh [Ostrog], Poznan and Brisk [Brest–Litovsk] had different protocols and customs that were meticulously preserved over the course of many generations. Many communities had special holidays or memorial days to commemorate events or overt miracles that had occurred in those communities. Ostroveh in this sense was considered a new community without any particular traditions or special provisions or unique or interesting customs in general.

The residents of Ostroveh in the last period before the Holocaust did not themselves know very much about their distant past. While the residents of other cities were proud of their golden eras and their glorious pasts, the Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka were proud of their present and of the reality that they created in the 250 years of the existence of the city and community, and especially in the course of the later generations that preceded that destruction and devastation.

While the pride of Crakow and Lublin lay in the rabbis who served in those communities in earlier times, the pride of Ostroveh lay in the rabbis who served with distinction in their community specifically in the later generations. They transformed the rabbinate in this community into a very important position that brought honor to the community and its supporters.

Like the residents of Ostrow Mazowiecka itself, its rabbis came from various different camps and movements. The Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Leib Gordin and the Gaon Rabbi David Shlomo Margaliot (whose acronym was the Maharshdam) represented the camp of the Mitnagdim and Torah scholars in the city, while the Hassidic rebbe Rabbi Gershon Chanoch of Radzyn or the Hassidic rebbe Rabbi Yosef of Amshinov, who were elected as a result of the hard work of the Hassidim of the city, represented the Hassidic camp in Ostroveh, and the great, highly regarded and ardently Hassidic Gaon Rabbi Meir Dan Plotzky, who also represented the Hassidic camp.

Who was the first rabbi of the city? Who held that position in the first period of its existence? The residents of Ostrow Mazowiecka were unable to answer this question. It was clear, however, that the position of av beit din [chief of the rabbinical court, often also the town rabbi] did not go unfilled. The first rabbi that the people of Ostroveh remembered was “the Rabbi from Koil” (Kolo, near Kalish), without even remembering his name or when he served in the city.

When this rabbi from Koil, whose name was not even etched in the memories of the people of Ostrow Mazowiecka, arrived was no longer known by the locals. Various stories about the rabbi of Koil, his deeds and his works were bandied about by the locals, especially about his position in Ostroveh. Apparently he left the city and the position and went somewhere else. Where? Even to this question the local residents had no answer.

They said that he was the son of a wealthy and respected family, and that he himself was also wealthy, and therefore did not need the salary from the people of the community. He did not receive any compensation from the residents, nor any financial benefits whatsoever. On the contrary, he supported the people of the city from his own funds, and made long–term loans to those residents of Ostroveh who came to study with him. It was particularly the latter who paid him more than the usual honor.

The residents of Ostrow Mazowiecka mentioned the “rabbi from Koil” as the first rabbi whose memory was preserved among the residents of the city. Among the many rabbinical books of questions and answers that were published in this period throughout Poland there is no mention of the rabbi of Koil who served

[Page 21]

as the rabbi of Ostroveh, nor is there any mention in any other document.

The second rabbi that was remembered by the residents of the city was Rabbi Feivel, who was referred to by the locals as “Rabbi Feivel Sokolker.” He was a Lithuanian gaon who apparently also served in the rabbinate of Sokolka, but it is not clear whether he came from Sokolka to Ostrow Mazowiecka or the reverse, from Ostroveh to Sokolka. The period of his service in the city is not known either, when he arrived and when he left. Nor was his gravestone to be found in the cemetery of Ostrow Mazowiecka.

The third known rabbi of Ostrow Mazowiecka was the Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Yudel from Brok, one of the Hassidim and students of the Hassidic rebbe of Ger [Gur or Gora Kalwaria], author of Chidushei Harim [The Novellae of the Rim ^[2]]. He was both a gaon and a fervent Hassid who did much to raise the level of Hassidism in Ostroveh. He had first served as rabbi in Sokolow Podlaskie, and from Ostroveh he went on to serve as the rabbi in the larger and longer established community of Plotzk.

Why did he leave Ostroveh and move to Plotzk? There were no relevant documents left in the hands of the city's residents. But undoubtedly the difficult battle that was then being waged between Hassidim and Mitnagdim in Ostrow Mazowiecka over hegemony in the city found its full expression in the stands of the rabbis and their work there. It is quite likely that work of the [future] rabbi of Plotzk––as recalled by residents of the city [of Ostroveh] after he left––to fortify the Hassidic movement there directly caused the controversy that resulted in his leaving Ostroveh.

Thus, there came to fill his place as chief of the rabbinic court the Gaon Rabbi David Shlomo Margaliot, who was well known and remembered locally by the acronym the Maharshdam because of his book, Chidushei Hamaharshdam [The Novellae of the Maharshdam]. Much as his predecessor Rabbi YehudaYudel was appointed with support of the ardent Hassidim, so too was the Maharshdam appointed with the support of the extreme Mitnagdim.

The Maharshdam arrived in Ostroveh in the year 5643 [1882–1883]. His name preceded him as a brilliant gaon and a man of high standing. Two volumes of his book Chidushei Hamaharshdam had already been published, at the beginning of which appeared enthusiastic endorsements from giants of the Torah in those days, who described the author as a great gaon, a right hand and the descendant of holy people. Prior to his coming to Ostrow Mazowiecka he already held the position of rabbi in Kalwaria, Lithuania, in Lukow, in Dzialischzeh [Dzialoszyn, Zaloshin], and in Neustadt near Crakow.

In his youth the Maharshdam had studied with the Hassidic rebbe, the gaon and righteous one Rabbi Abraham of Ciechanow, about whom he wrote in the introduction of his book : “… and I studied with the late gaon and tzadik [righteous man, often a title for a Hassidic rebbe as well], leader of the Diaspora, the chief judge of the rabbinical court of Ciechanow, when he taught at the higher yeshiva. He placed upon me the heavy yoke of the Torah and accustomed me to both study in depth as well as to homiletics by which one can broaden one's knowledge.” (Introduction to Volume I of Chidushei Hamaharshdam, Vilna: 5637 [1876–1877]).

Despite the fact that this teacher of his was one of the pillars of Hassidism in that period, the Gaon Rabbi David Shlomo Margaliot was an extreme and sworn Mitnaged [s.] his entire life. So it is most likely that this very fact caused an intensified struggle against him on the part of the Hassidim of the city, who were undoubtedly very insulted after their rabbi, the Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Yudel, was forced to leave the community as a result of his affiliation with the Hassidic movement.

And so in the year 5646 [1885–1886], just three years after his arrival in Ostroveh, the Maharshdam was forced to leave the city because of the sharp opposition of the Hassidim to his appointment. At this point the hand of the Hassidim grew in strength over that of the Mitnagdim, whom they paid back in kind for their attacks on their movement. Added to this internal battle in the city were now added groups of Maskilim [enlightened ones or modernists]. And while they did not scrupulously observe the mitzvot [religious commandments], nevertheless they, too, began to involve themselves in matters of religion and in the issue of the selection of the rabbis of the city.

A few months after the departure of the Gaon Rabbi David Shlomo Margaliot from the city the various local factions––with the exception of a few ardent Hassidim––united and decided to choose the Hassidic rebbe Rabbi Gershon Chanoch Leiner of Radzyn as the rabbi of the city. But this rebbe and gaon only served as chief of the rabbinic court for half a year. At the beginning of the year 5647 [1886–1887] he left.

Editor's notes:

1. It was customary in some communities to designate the eve of each new month as a day of fasting and atonement, thus a “small” (katan) or “minor” Yom Kippur. Return
2. Acronym of Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Rothenberg Alter (1799–1866), the first rebbe of Ger. Return

  Ostrów Mazowiecka, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 12 Dec 2016 by JH