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For all intents and purposes, the final phase of the Jewish community of Ostrow Mazowiecka began with the outbreak of World War I. These twenty–five years were under the disintegrating government of the harsh Russians and under the government of the Polish enemies, who excelled in their oppression of the Jews, in the undermining of their economic status, and in the absence of any continuous period of calm. The foreign and alien Polish land that tolerated the presence of the eternal people over hundreds of years suddenly began to burn beneath the feet of the Jews, so well versed in suffering.

The dark clouds that covered the sky of the Jews of Europe in general, and the skies of the Jews of Poland in particular, with the arrival of the Holocaust, could already be seen from afar at the outbreak of World War I. The Poles, who were never known for their love of the Jews, despite the loyalty shown to them at every opportunity, increased their hatred of the Jews. The hatred of the Poles towards toward the Jews was unparalleled during this period.

The understandable enmity of the Poles towards the Russians, derived from their subjugation and oppression, was transformed into hatred for the Jews. The bitterness that had accumulated within Polish nationalism caused their leaders to turn on the weak Jews, as it is always easier to attack the weak, to express their hatred vis–à–vis the Jews rather than toward the Russians, the powerful rulers. The average Pole, the farmer and the worker, the clerk and the landowner, readily accepted the narrative that said that all the troubles that had befallen the Poles were because of the traitorous Jews.

In the eyes of the Pole the Jew was to blame for everything. The influential Catholic clergy stirred up incitement against the Jews at every turn. They portrayed the Jew in the eyes of those Poles, who were loyal to the clergy, as an inferior creature, for whom treason was a basic and natural characteristic. He only came to Poland to suck the good blood of the Poles and to poison the pure Polish environment. Because of the Jews the natives of the land had lost their independence. And meanwhile they were not able to free themselves from the great powers that suppressed them.

Therefore, it was not the harsh, cruel, violent Russian policeman who was the principal enemy of the Poles, nor the German Junker who thirsted after conquests and sought to oppress his neighbors, nor the Austrian officer, who sought from afar to rule lands that did not belong to him, who was conceited and who mocked the Pole and all Poles, and who despised their culture in Galicia. No, the true foe was the Jew, and only when the Jewish Diaspora in Poland was destroyed would the Pole succeed.

Anti–Semitism was not only the province of those loyal to the Catholic clergy or of the broader nationalist circles. Rather it was also a part of the labor and farmers' movements, the revolutionary organizations and even of the left. Writers and fighters for freedom who worked hard for the independence of Poland were unable to conceal their anti–Semitism, which found full expression at every opportunity. The constant worship of the Poles, of Polish culture, and of everything Polish by the assimilationists and partial assimilationists of Jewish origin did not change matters one iota. The Jew remained a Jew in the eyes of the Pole, one whom he hated with all his heart. Hatred of the Jews became second nature to the Poles,

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an integral part of their existence and their core character. The Polish child suckled anti–Semitism already in his cradle. The ignorant Polish lad knew that “thief meant the Jewish merchant, cheat the Jewish artisan, child killer the Jewish doctor, and rabbi, the one who collected the blood of Christian children for the baking of matzot [unleavened bread] for the Jewish holiday of Passover.”

Even when the Poles needed the assistance of the Jews they were unable to conceal their strong anti–Jewish feelings that beat within their hearts, and this was even before the anti–Semitism of the Poles increased even more in the decades before the Holocaust. As early as the year 1863, when Polish nationalists rose up against the cruel Russian oppressor, the Polish commanders of the rebellion issued enthusiastic calls to the Jews asking them to join the ranks of the fighters, calling upon them as “brother” residents fighting against a foreign occupier that must be expelled. Many Jews responded to these calls, fighting heart and soul. But the Poles did not hesitate to re–pay the Jews in kind. Immediately after the suppression of the revolt by the Russians, there were pogroms against the Jews in Warsaw and other cities. The Russians, who were angry about the help given by the Jews during the rebellion, stood aside and did not prevent the Polish mobs from carrying on. The Polish clergy, which stood behind the rebellion and preached ceaselessly on behalf of nationalism, also benefitted. If it did not achieve the main goal of freeing Poland from the Russians and from the Orthodox Church, at least another goal was accomplished, namely that pogroms against the Jews were conducted.

When World War I broke out, and the possibility of liberating themselves from the yoke of Russian occupation first arose for Polish nationalists, the anti–Semitic Poles nevertheless saw it as their first duty to incite the Russian authorities against the Jews, “those perpetual traitors, those spies on behalf of the Germans and the Austrians.” The Russians were never philo–Semites, so they readily accepted the Polish accusations. There was no lack of extremely committed anti–Semites among them who were only too glad for the opportunity to carry on and oppress “the Jewish spies”, and to inflict pogroms upon them.

During the early days of the war a large Russian army passed through Ostrow Mazowiecka. Made up of divisions that resulted from the great draft, it was under the command of General Samsonov, and was assigned to penetrate into East Prussia. They succeeded in capturing a number of cities and towns, to the glory of tsarist Russia as a whole. Not long passed, however, before it became clear that these were illusive victories, a trap thought out in advance by the commander of the German troops in East Prussia, Marshal Hindenburg. He tricked the huge army of General Samsonov into a steel trap in order to wipe out this force and then to attack the Russian rear behind the Russian lines along the Vistula River.

The Russians figured out the German trap too late. The Russian defeat in this first stage of the war was total. Masses of confused soldiers began to flee. Gigantic columns of soldiers in tatters, many of them lacking weapons, some with shoes and some barefoot, retreated via Ostrow Mazowiecka further inland towards Russia. Suddenly it was revealed to the Russian command that which many knew beforehand, that the Russian army was riddled with spies, and that the Russian officer corps––which lacked any Jews, as they were prohibited from being admitted––did not lack for traitors. These were mostly Poles or Germans who were residents of Russia, Ukrainians, as well as Russians who did not shrink from taking bribes.

The Russian command, consumed as it was with hatred of the Jews, did not seek out those who were guilty where it was possible to find them. It rather preferred to follow in the footsteps of Polish incitement, to see the Jew as the spy, as the guilty one. The Jew was selling out Russia and Poland to Germany. The Poles knew how to explain to Russian soldiers how they had found a telephone in the synagogue that connected the rabbi to the German command at the front. The Jews were collecting information and transmitting it to their rabbi, who would immediately ring up the German commander. The largely ignorant Russian soldiers believed these accusatory stories with all their hearts. They saw the Jews as the cause of their retreat and of the deaths of their comrades. So it was no wonder,

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therefore, that they pounced on every Jew that they encountered.

In Ostrow Mazowiecka, located at the crossroads of the main highways from East Prussia, the impact of the great Russian disaster was fully felt. Hatred of the Jews on the part of the defeated Russian commanders and officers grew day by day. Jewish leaders were arrested for no reason and exiled to Siberia. Jews who were evicted from nearby towns that were closer to the German front filled the houses in Ostroveh. And the shadow of an expulsion order against the Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka hovered in the air. Fear beset the city that was full of refugees who were lacking in everything and without any means of support, fear that was well founded as people looked forward to a future that was obscured by an ominous fog.

The taste of war was already felt in Jewish Ostroveh in the first days after the outbreak of World War I, when a German bomb exploded in the municipal horse market, directly causing the death of three Jewish teamsters, Chaim Hirsch, Yitzchak and Avika (the father). As the failures of the Russians increased, so did the suffering of the Jews. The battle lines shifted from East Prussia to Poland itself, between the Rivers Narew and Bzura. Ostroveh increasingly filled with refugees from the surrounding area. All the Jews of Rozan, Chorzel [Chorzele], Myszyniec, and other towns were expelled. The Jews of the city were concerned that an order of evacuation of the city would be proclaimed any day.

The merchants were pauperized, the artisans had no work, many suffered the humiliation of hunger at extreme levels. But many of the residents exhibited devotion and resourcefulness. They helped the refugees and took care of the poor. Trusted leaders did everything for the expellees, who had arrived naked and lacking everything. The heads of the community obtained large quantities of tobacco and cigarettes, and distributed them generously to the soldiers who passed through Ostrow Mazowiecka in their retreat so that they would not carry on too much, so that they would not pillage the Jews. For who can trust an embittered soldier who is subject to unremitting incitement?

Most of the houses of Ostrow Mazowiecka in those days were made of wood, hence were highly flammable. Therefore the Jews were afraid lest there was truth to the rumor that the Russians would burn the entire city down the moment that they would have to retreat from the area and abandon the place. Sad news that came from various places indirectly seemed to confirm these worries. The fact that many Jews of substance in Ostroveh had been expelled to the interior of Russia and even to Siberia depressed the remaining leaders, but did not weaken their hands.

The leaders of the community did everything to avert a disaster. The military commander of the area, General Dudenko, was one of the more liberal officers who served in the Russian army. He related to the Jews with some sympathy, and promised a Jewish delegation that he would save Jewish Ostroveh, and actually stood by his promise. In the winter of the year 5675 [1914–1915] a relative calm came over the front. The Germans fortified themselves along their new lines, re–organizing their positions in anticipation of a summer offensive. The Russians sent forces to the new lines, and prepared for the next stage. The Jews looked forward with dread to what would come.

In the summer of 5675 [1915] bitter battles broke out. The great, well–planned German attack began. Once again the weakness of the Russian army became apparent, consumed as it was by rot, full of spies and traitors. The Germans knew all the weak spots in the Russian front. They were updated on all the movements of the tsarist command and knew in advance all its movements. The Russian espionage service was shown to be worthless, lacking any information of significance. The little information that it did have was in fact prepared by the German intelligence service in order to send the Russian forces into snares and traps.

The fact that some Russian commanders and officers, governors and civil servants, were found to be spies did not prevent the defeated Russian authorities from casting the blame on the Jews, and from killing hundreds, even thousands of Jews

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who were completely innocent, in order to satisfy their murderous desires or to cover up their failures and helplessness. The situation of the Jews grew worse from day to day. The supreme Russian command ordered that Jews be expelled from the battle zone, but General Dudenko kept his promise. The Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka remained in their homes and breathed more easily when the first soldiers of the imperial German army appeared at the gates of the city.

But the German occupation, which brought with it relative security, also brought starvation and want, and in their wake illnesses and plagues. As soon as German rule was established locally the new occupiers began to systematically requisition every supply of value. Commerce was completely shut down. Immediately a complete lack of everything was felt. Even bread was not to be had. In exchange for ration coupons every resident was given 220 grams of bread per day. Long lines were seen every day near the bakeries, which found it difficult to supply even the reduced rations. The bread was baked with cheap flour, sometimes mixed with waste. Everything of value was taken by the Germans and sent to Germany, which was already hungry for everything.

In difficult, abnormal circumstances, albeit in relative personal security, the Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka lived through three years of German occupation. The condition of the Germans got more serious day by day. Scarcity of everything was felt. They requisitioned everything of value. The hunger resulted in illnesses and plagues, while the imperial German authorities were not concerned with the situation of the residents of the occupied areas in general, and of the Jews in particular.

As always, the Germans were harsh and cruel, given to strict discipline, but did not have a specifically anti–Jewish policy. On the contrary, the Jew, whose Yiddish “jargon” was his mother tongue, was able to speak to the German by adding some German or German–like words into his Yiddish. By the same token the Poles did not understand German, and the Germans had never heard Polish. The sounds of Slavic were completely alien to the ears of the descendants of the Teutonic tribes. The Jew usually served as interpreter and intermediary between the German ruler and the Pole, which was a benefit to the Jew.

In the beginning of the year 5679 [Fall 1918] the entire German front broke down and the militaristic rule of the kaiser completely disintegrated. Confused and afraid, the Germans retreated back to Germany. The Poles received full political independence in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed at that time. A large Republic of Poland arose, which stretched from Silesia and Pomerania in the west to Ukraine and Belarus in the east. The Poles rejoiced as they freed themselves from the chains of captivity of the Germans, the Austrians and the Russians. But the fullest expression of their joy was to be found in their wild carryings on against the Jews. Priests incited their church goers and officers and their soldiers. It was dangerous for a Jew, especially a Jew with a beard, to pass by a military base. The draftees from the districts of Poznan and Pomerania, under the command of the hostile General Haller, were particularly noted for their wild behavior.

The head of state, Marshal Pilsudski, the fighter and dreamer of Polish independence, was not among the virulent anti–Semites in the military service. In his youth he was member of the Polish socialist party, and many of his friends and colleagues were Jews. But neither was he particularly concerned with the fate of the Jews either, which was at times unbearable. He did not intervene against criminal acts that his officers carried out against the Jews. He was preoccupied with the restoration of the Polish state and the establishment of the Polish army that would successfully defend the borders of the state. Only in very rare cases did he intervene on behalf of the Jews, to put down incitement and blood libels against them.

The western borders of Poland were with the defeated Germany, which had to accept the international terms that were set down in the Treaty of Versailles. On the other hand, independent Poland never came to an agreement about borders with Soviet Russia, which had signed a peace treaty with imperial Germany immediately after the revolution against the tsar^[1]. Having been based on very temporary armistice lines, independent Poland, with the support of the West, was interested

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in establishing borders deep inside Belarus and Ukraine, arguing that these territories were once Polish and were appropriately placed under Polish rule. On the other hand, the Bolshevik Soviets did not agree with this aspiration. Attempts to resolve the dispute peacefully went nowhere. In the summer of the year 5680 [1920], the Red Army invaded Poland. After very brief battles it began to conquer broad territories and to gallop towards Warsaw, the Polish capital. The Polish armies under the command of Marshal Pilsudski quickly fell back to battle lines set up along the Vistula River, which crosses the entire length of Poland.

Serving as Commissar for Military Affairs and as commander of the Soviet Russian troops at the time was Leon Trotsky. He had no ties whatsoever to Jews or Judaism, from which he stemmed. But in the eyes of the masses of Poles, Trotsky symbolized the Jews, Jewish rule. The anti–Semites in Poland had no doubt in their assumption that the millions of Jews in Poland were loyal to Trotsky without hesitation. They were representatives of the communist regime in Russia, were serving as spies on his behalf and saboteurs against the Polish army, and committing every crime and providing every assistance to the Bolshevik occupation forces.

There was no limit or end to the bloody accusations that usually ended tragically for the Jews of Poland. There were only a few communities where Jews were not hanged without justification as Poles exulted. False witnesses, malice and wickedness were never lacking. The Polish authorities never investigated very much when a Jew was accused of espionage or sabotage, and quickly came to a judgment of death without much discussion.

Once two members of the Polish provisional assembly, who were representatives of Agudat Yisrael, the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Tzvi Perlmutter and the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Eliahu Halperin, appeared before Marshal Pilsudski and pleaded before him to vacate one such an evil judgment. It had been based entirely on falsehoods and resulted in a death sentence against a young Jew, the only son of his parents. The head of the Polish general staff replied with great anger, “Today two Christians accused of treason were hanged, and not a single priest came to argue on their behalf. And now one Jew is about to be hanged for the crime of treason and two rabbis come to intervene on his behalf….”

The soldiers of the Red Army did not last long in Poland. They reached the gates of Warsaw, which is on the other side of the Vistula River. But they did not succeed in organizing their forces for a final attack on the sections of Poland to the west of the Vistula. They had quickly captured vast territories, but their supply lines remained long, some 500–600 kilometers or more. The Russian forces were scattered across great distances. And before they were able to organize appropriately, the Poles launched a counter–attack. After brief battles, in which the Red Army lacked arms and ammunition and organized contact with their command positions, the startling great retreat of the Russians began. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers ran away in confusion, some lacking clothing and exhausted. They ran for their lives, abandoning any attempt to slow the pace of the Polish advance. Large territories were re–captured by the Poles, who called these victories “the Miracle on the Vistula”.

Bolshevik Russia was forced to recognize these expanded borders of Poland, though it did succeed in restoring its rule over central Ukraine. Peace now prevailed at the borders between Poland and Russia. The victorious Poles once again carried on out of joy, and once again turned against the Jews. Much Jewish blood was spilt. On August 17, 1920, the Poles returned and captured Ostrow Mazowiecka and the entire area from the hands of the soldiers of Red Army, which had ruled there for only a few weeks. Immediately seven innocent Jews were arrested and without much ado were hanged before a rejoicing crowd of Poles. The legal authorization for such murders always arrived after the poor Jews were taken out to be killed. The Poles had all kinds of excuses: that the Jews cooperated with the Bolsheviks and that leftists circles assisted the Bolsheviks during their brief rule.

Much time elapsed before things calmed down,

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and life entered upon a more or less normal track under anti–Semitic Polish rule. The economic condition of the Jews of the city was difficult. Many had become impoverished as a result of the war and the pogroms. Not a few merchants and people of means lost their assets and were not able to recover. A new class of modest wage earners and small scale entrepreneurs now arose, but this was a very thin stratum. Most of the residents found it hard to make a living in independent Poland since the new state was established. A policy of discrimination and bigotry against the Jews was carried out. Many emigrated abroad^[2]. A few managed to get certificates of entry and went to Palestine.

The authorities of independent Poland worked hard to establish organized municipal institutions and organized communities that began to operate within the framework of the law, as elections were held on the basis of full democratic rule. Since Ostroveh had been established the leaders of the municipality had never been elected by the residents, but rather had been appointed by the Russian occupation authorities. And despite the fact that about half of the residents were Jews they had no representation in the institutions of the municipality. The law on municipalities and local councils that had been passed by the Polish parliament officially guaranteed the right to vote to every resident and to democratic elections. But secretly the Poles in fact worked to discriminate against Jewish candidates, to minimize their representation, and to favor their own representatives.

In the year 1919, immediately after the establishment of the Polish republic, municipal elections were held, the first in the city's history, after having had the mayor and his assistants being appointed by the Russians. The Jews did not participate in these elections out of fear of antagonizing the Poles, who were carrying on against the Jews anyway. The municipal institutions remained closed to the Jews, and the city government took on a distinctly anti–Semitic character until 1927, when new elections were held for the city council, in accordance with the law. At that time the Jews participated in an active way. Ten Jews were elected among the twenty–four elected members of the council. Thanks to the Jews a Polish socialist was elected as mayor of the city, one of the few who was not known for his hatred of the Jews. The local anti–Semites did not give up and declared war against the new city council. After a year or so the mayor was removed by the central authorities, along with about half of the members of the council. By–elections were held. The authorities carefully oversaw them to minimize the Jewish representation, despite the fact that the official law provided the right to vote to every resident. They found the means to accomplish this anti–Jewish objective. Only five Jews remained on the city council of twenty–four. From then until the destruction of the city the Jewish representation never grew any larger, which as mentioned did not reflect the percentage of Jews among the residents of Ostrow Mazowiecka.

On the other hand the Poles were also concerned with there being more or less honest and democratic elections in the Jewish communities of Poland. Officially recognized communities functioned under the Russian occupation, but these community institutions were not elected in a democratic fashion. Officially there were election protocols here and there. But in fact each district or community had its own election rules as they saw fit or in accordance with the regulations that the Russian rulers of the district issued. The right to vote, whether active or passive, was accorded to every Jew who paid the community tax (or etat).

This is how the community elections were organized under Russian rule: an officer of the authorities would appear in the old study hall on the day of the elections, holding in his hands the list of all those who had the right to vote which had been presented by the heads of the community. Every voter wrote four names on a piece of paper, candidates for the administration of the community. The Russian or Polish official would place these ballots in the ballot box, and those who received the greatest number of votes were elected. Participation in the vote was always very limited. The masses generally did not have the right to vote. And for some reason people who were recommended by the leaders of the community themselves were always elected.

The election law that was passed by the Polish authorities, however, required secret and democratic elections, proportional elections according to lists

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of candidates that were submitted in advance to the official authorities. Every local Jew had the right to vote. In the larger communities a council was elected, the size of its membership determined by the number of members of the community. The elected members of the council themselves then chose the executive. In the smaller communities an executive of at least eight members was chosen directly.

In the year 5684 [1923–1924] the first general elections for the community of Ostrow Mazowiecka took place in accordance with democratic election procedures. In effect it became the first confrontation between the parties and movements within the Jewish community. A bitter battle was conducted between the three lists that appeared in the elections, the Zionist and Mizrachi [religious Zionists], the non–partisan artisans' list, and Agudat Yisrael. The Agudat Yisrael list won a decisive victory, receiving an absolute majority, this despite the difficult battle waged against it by all of the Zionist and artisans' movements.

Twelve members of the council were elected, seven from the Agudat Yisrael list: Reb David Lichtenstein, Reb Meir Leszcz, Reb Avraham Yaakov Fridman, Reb Moshe Pokrzywa, Reb Yaakov Schwartz, Reb Yosef Wolf Rekant, and Reb Meir Gabinet. There were two representatives of the Zionists and Mizrachi, Reb Michael Teitel and Mr. Yitzchak Yaakov Podbielewicz, and three representatives of the artisans, Mr. Chaim Dessel, Mr. Mendel Kozuchowicz and Mr. Reuven Wengerka. The Agudist leader Reb David Lichtenstein was elected chairman of the council.

The council elected an executive committee of eight members. From the Agudat Yisrael faction the following were elected: Reb Aharon Yashinsky, Reb Yosef Suravich, Reb Eliahu Lach, Reb Baruch Silberstein, Reb Yitzchak Elbaum and Reb Yitzchak Yechiel Emert. From the Zionist and Mizrachi list, Reb Aryeh Margolis (Margoliot) and Reb Mordechai Cohen. Reb Aharon Yashinsky, one of the leaders of Agudat Yisrael in the city, was chosen as chairman of the executive committee. Up until the destruction of the community general elections were held twice, but Agudat Yisrael maintained its absolute majority until the end. Its representatives ran the community and its institutions until the outbreak of the Holocaust, when the group of elected leaders changed from time to time. In place of Reb Aharon Yashinsky, Reb Anshel Knorpel was elected chairman. He, too, was a leader of Agudat Yisrael and one of the heads of the Ger Hassidim.

The community of Ostrow Mazowiecka ran an organized and diversified range of programs until the day of its destruction. The institutions of the community were exceptionally well organized and successfully administered. As with other Jewish communities in Poland, the community of Ostrow Mazowiecka did not limit itself to matters of religion and religious services. In accordance with the law, it became the address for every Jewish problem and for every Jew, whether in the realm of hospitalization and care for the sick or the concern for the poor, the orphaned or the suffering. The executive of the community served as the representative of the Jews in all internal as well as external matters. The heads of the community of Ostroveh carried out this mission honorably and successfully up until the very last day of its existence.

Despite the dominant and very influential status of the elected community, there remained a number of public institutions in the city that enjoyed full autonomy. The most notable was the kosher meat slaughtering enterprise, which originally was run by the slaughterers themselves, but which was transferred to the authority of the community in 1924 under continual pressure from the Gaon Rabbi Meir Dan Plotzky, the rabbi of the community, who demanded that the slaughtering fund be transferred to the ownership of the community. Since then the community did not add any other institution to the network of its projects.

Thus, the Chevrah Kadisha [literally, “Holy Society”, in fact the burial society] operated independently up until the destruction of the community, not changing any of its customs or traditions. Every member had to undergo a period of salozhveh (service), during which period there were no real privileges. One's status was that of melodzi, which meant intern. Only after a certain period of time––after he had carried out various difficult tasks––was the candidate accepted as a member with full privileges. The members of this society were the most important of the city's residents.

This society was always wealthy and had substantial income. It demanded and generally received substantial sums as burial fees. And if a wealthy person died, the members of the society demanded money for the burial ground. If refused, the heads of the Chevrah Kadisha would deny

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the dead person a place of honor for burial. People would frequently grumble about the practices of the society, but always accepted its control over the dead. The income was invested by the members of the society first and foremost in the maintenance of the graves, in the care of broken gravestones and in the acquisition of additional land. Any overage they distributed to charity as the officers of the society saw fit.

Similarly there operated in the city the Linat Hatzedek [Righteous Respite] society, which had a long tradition of extensive activities. Its purposes included providing every kind of aid to the sick: sending a doctor to the home of a poor ill person at no cost to them, supplying the needed medicines, making sure that there was someone to attend the sick person at all times, especially at night, so that members of the family of the ailing person could get some rest. The heads of the society also made every effort get the person hospitalized in Warsaw or elsewhere.

The activists of the society, simple Jews, performed their tasks as volunteers, with no expectation of reward. Among them were those who worked heart and soul, with unparalleled self–sacrifice, to perform this holy work. One of its leaders in the later years, Reb Efraim Rybka, became a symbol through his actions. A poor artisan, he made his living selling hats to peasants, which necessitated his traveling from city to city wherever there was a fair for peasants, whether near or far. Reb Efraim would go there with his merchandise and spread it out on the counter and wait patiently for a peasant to buy something. More than once he would return home the way he left, with no sales at all. This was especially true in the last years before the Holocaust, when feelings of anti–Semitism grew and the majority of the peasants began to boycott Jewish peddlers and artisans. More than once he would return home tired, exhausted after distant wanderings with nothing in his hand to show for it. Then he and his wife and ten children would taste the flavor of real hunger and deprivation.

But the heart and soul of Reb Efraim was not wrapped up in hats for peasants and their sales, but rather in the Linat Hatzedek society. He would barely finish his meager meal after a tiring trip and the hard work of sewing hats that preceded that trip and would immediately direct his steps to the office of Linat Hatzedek. He was interested in knowing what was happening in the society, had anyone had taken ill that needed its help? Was there another task that needed to be done? Reb Efraim was prepared to do anything. If someone was needed to serve on watch next to the bed of an ill person, Reb Efraim was the first to volunteer. His tiredness never bothered him. He was always prepared to fulfill any task that was asked of him with enthusiasm and good will.

There was no connection between the efforts of the Jews to assist the sick and the poor and the official Polish institutions, whose responsibilities including providing welfare and assistance to the sick. The latter took no interest in the fate of poor and sick Jews. They used all government and municipal welfare funds for Poles who needed welfare and help, albeit in a limited, distant and cold manner. The Pole did not know about sacrifice and devotion for the other. The concern and burden for the Jewish poor, sick, and so on was placed squarely on the shoulders of the Jews, without consideration of the fact that the Jew, as a Pole, was a citizen with equal rights, and it was his right to benefit from the government or municipal budget. The Jews no longer complained about the reality of such discrimination, as this policy was not limited to any one field.

Just once in the last decades before the Holocaust and destruction were the Jews and Poles partners in mourning and pain over an accident which befell the city and its residents. A bus that was traveling from Warsaw to Ostroveh and the surrounding cities overturned when it crossed over a narrow bridge over the River Bug and fell into the water at a depth of eight meters. All twenty–one passengers were killed in this horrific accident, among them seventeen Jews, some of them residents of Ostrow Mazowiecka and some residents of Lomza. Volunteers, soldiers and policemen worked very hard until they were able to recover the bodies from the river. With tears and wailing the Jews of the city accompanied the victims. All the stores and workshops were closed during the funeral. Traffic and worked ceased everywhere. All the residents, Jews and non–Jews, without exception participated in the gigantic funeral.

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The Old Study Hall

The central place of prayer for the Jews of Ostrow Mazowiecka was without doubt the old study hall [beit midrash]. It was there that during the days of Russian rule elections were held for the heads of the community. And in those days the representatives of the government and its officers came to participate in the official prayers for the welfare of the monarchy. It was to the old study hall that Russian officers came to listen to the beautiful and enchanting lectures in rich literary Russian by the Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Leib Gordin, where he frequently spoke when he served as rabbi of the city.

The congregation of the old study hall was very diverse. There were among them great scholars, honored ones of the community who sat along the eastern wall, heads of the community and leaders sitting alongside artisans and butchers, teamsters and porters, peddlers and just plain poor folk. These were Jews who in their conversations or in the conduct of their business, be it in their homes or in the street, would fill the air with their noise. But in the study hall they observed silence, speaking quietly, out of respect for the place and its worshippers.

They had in the past set up a place of honor along the eastern wall of the old study hall for the honored and important ones among the city's residents: Reb Leizer Antipriner, son–in–law of the Hassidic Gaon Rabbi Ben–Zion, the teacher and head of the Hassidim in Ostroveh; Reb Nachman Goldberg, the respected son–in–law of Feige Zissel Bromberg, the richest of all the Jews in town, who served for many years as head of the community; Reb David Bandrymer, father–in–law of the Gaon Rabbi Menachem Mendel Albek, the famous protégé who served as chief of the rabbinical court of Zyrardow; the wealthy Reb Dan Bromberg and Reb Hirsch Yitzchak Wizenberg, Reb Yaakov Moshe Flatau, and others. Almost all of them were Mitnagdim who observed long–standing traditions of generations without deviation. For decades serving as cantor of the old study hall was Reb Cheikel, whose voice was most pleasant and whose wonderful prayers could be heard from a distance. A special role was carved out by the aged shamash [shames or beadle], Reb Tanchum, who became an integral part of the ambience of the study hall and who was always pleasant and happy.

The old study hall was located on the road to Komorowo. It stood for generations as a central place for Torah and prayer. It was always full of worshippers, and at all hours of the morning and evening there were minyanim [prayer quorums] of Jews praying there one after another. In the study hall there were places for the elderly and for young men, Jews reciting the Psalms and residents who gravitated there towards evening for various study groups. In the years before the Holocaust the students of the Beit Yosef [House of Joseph] yeshiva^[3] studied there. The old study house was always warm from the crowds and the sound of Torah and prayer could be heard from afar.

Before World War I the gates of the old study house had never been locked. Day and night Jews would be sitting there and studying. Young single men and newlyweds studied there regularly at all hours of the day. Towards evening each table would revert to its regular designation. At one table there would be seated the members of the Mishnayot [pl. of Mishnah] study group to hear a regular talk from a lecturer. A second table would be taken by the study group on Chayei Adam [The Lives of Man], a third was the place of the study group for Ein Yaakov [The Well of Jacob]. Until the wee hours of the night the most devoted among the students would remain and articulated the sound of Torah. Before they would return to their homes the early risers could already be seen, who would take their places alongside the open volumes of the Talmud. The voice of Torah was not silent even for a moment.

Every Friday night, at two o'clock after midnight, Reb Leizer Lava, a simple, good–hearted Jew, innocent and loyal, would pass through the streets of the city crying, “Jews, awake to worship the Creator”. Whether in the summer or winter, in the rain or in the frost, he always fulfilled his mission with devotion. Every Sabbath evening the fearful sound of those who recited the Psalms at the old study house could be heard as they poured out the bitterness of their hearts to the Creator of the world.

The site of the new study hall was on Brok Road. It did not succeed in competing with the old study hall. Its worshippers also included some of the respected people of the city, scholars and the wealthy alike, who were also overwhelmingly Mitnagdim and sharply opposed to Hassidim and Hassidism. It was a place of Torah and a place of prayer for the elite, but the masses were not to be found there. Before

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the Holocaust a number of its worshippers joined the Zionist movement, even though some of them were loyal to Agudat Yisrael. Along the eastern wall of this study hall prayed Reb Dov Ber Shapira, who was wealthy and learned, son of the Gaon Isaac Charif, the Rabbi of Slonim, Reb Gedalyahu David Morgenstern, Reb Avraham Yaakov Freidman the protégé, the respected Reb Mordechai Drozdowski, Reb Motel Miller, the excellent and well known scholar, and others. During the brief period of service of the Gaon Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin in Ostroveh, when he had been chosen chief of the rabbinical court of the city, he had established at the new study hall a group for the regular group study of the Talmud. Rabbi Sorotzkin soon left the city, moving on to serve as the rabbi of Lutzk, but the Talmud study group that he founded rapidly developed. There were days when it counted some one hundred members or more who would assemble every night to study a lesson of Talmud together. Serving as lecturers were the gabbai [officer of the congregation], Reb Yitzchak Yadover, Reb Avraham Yaakov Freidman, Reb Aryeh Margolis, Reb Motel Miller, Reb Avraham Tzvi Polkowitz the shochet [ritual slaughterer] and Reb Gershon Srebrnik, all of whom were killed in the Holocaust. Serving as the shamash of the study hall for many years was Reb Hirsch Balbier, a Jew who was respected and honored by everyone, and who excelled in his flawless and beautiful handwriting. Among his responsibilities was to record all the births and the couples who got married with the municipal authorities, according to the law. He would frequent the city hall as the permanent representative of the Jews to the department of population registry and such.

The Hassidic prayer houses held a special place in the city. The largest and most active among them was the Hassidic house of Ger [Gur or Gora Kalwaria]. Several hundred people worshipped there, where the balance of Torah and prayer never let up day or night. In the last years before the Holocaust increasing numbers of young men knowledgeable in Torah and Hassidism chose this Hassidic house as their permanent home for study. This organized and united group of young Ger Hassidim operated similarly to those in hundreds of other cities and towns in central Poland. Young men from other Hassidic movements joined them, and the group grew from year to year.

The group operated with a strong internal discipline and according to permanent procedures determined in advance. In the very early hours of the morning the young men were already to be found in the Hassidic house. They studied in pairs up until the fixed time of prayer of Ger Hassidim in recent generations, precisely 7:30 a.m. After a brief break for breakfast, all the members of the study group reconvened in the Hassidic house and studied in pairs until the afternoon. Then came a very brief break for lunch and then studies continued until evening prayers. The most devoted among them continued to study enthusiastically until the late hours of the night. Others turned to the study of Hassidism in the evening hours. They often ate their evening meals together.

The young members of the group were aware of every need for charity and good deeds. They never refused any assignment, no matter how difficult. When any worthy guest or a poor person came to town, the members of the group went out to collect funds for them, always out of joy and willingness. For every holiday and special occasion they would travel to Ger, to the court of the rebbe. They would travel together and stay over in Ger together, praying and studying, with joy and dancing. They would eat and live together, sharing funds, making due with the very least, with two or three young men serving as managers of the common household, going out to the market and buying supplies and cooking and baking themselves, living in a room or a few rooms that they would rent for the time they stayed in Ger. They were one big, united family, full of enthusiasm, among hundreds of other groups of young bachelors and married men amidst the masses of Hassidim who filled the court of the rebbe of Ger. They basked in the glory of the great rebbe, from his Torah and his behavior.

The Hassidic house of Ger in Ostrow Mazowiecka not only served as a center of Torah and Hassidism but also as a center for every community activity that served to guard the Judaism of Torah and for the battle for everything holy, and against secular and anti–religious movements. Those who attended the Hassidic house of Ger were those who founded and built the Agudat Yisrael movement, who led it and were devoted to its affairs heart and soul.

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With the sacred enthusiasm of true Hassidim the Hassidim of Ger were not deterred by any difficulties or impediments in their battle for pure Judaism, for Torah education and an orthodox environment.

It was they who established all of the Agudat Yisrael institutions in the city, the Yesodei Hatorah [Foundations of the Torah] schools [for boys], and the Beit Yaakov [House of Jacob] educational institutions [for girls], as well as the B'not Agudat Yisrael [Daughters of Agudat Yisrael] and Batyah [Daughter of God] organizations. With diligence and steadfastness the Hassidim of Ger worked hard to firmly establish the institutions of Agudat Yisrael and to guarantee a faithful future for the Judaism of Torah.

People of other Hassidic movements were also organized within Agudat Yisrael, as were those who were opposed to Hassidism. Nevertheless, the Hassidim of Ger served as the most motivating and activist force in Agudat Yisrael. In other Hassidic houses and in the study halls members of Agudat Yisrael and Mizrachi, or non–partisan people, sat side by side, supporters of Agudat Yisrael and those who opposed its way, those loyal to Torah education and those opposed to it. The Hassidim of Ger, under the leadership of the Hassidic rebbe Rabbi Avraham Mordechai, saw in their attachment to Agudat Yisrael and in their opposition to all non–orthodox movements an integral part of their being and their identity. In the Hassidic house of Ger or in its membership there was no place for indifference or non–partisanship. The mission of Hassidism and the mission of Agudat Yisrael had a common aspiration to fortify the ramparts of Judaism.

A person who changed the customs of generations, who sent his children to be educated in an institution that was not fully orthodox, a person who allowed a non–religious newspaper or a secular book to enter into his house, a person who changed his dress from the traditional one that was accepted in Poland was not to be found in the Hassidic house of Ger. He was forced to move to another Hassidic house, to one of the other six Hassidic houses in the city that willingly accepted anyone who wished to pray there, without checking on the minutest details of his observance and without demanding absolute identification in all his actions and utterances and in all the activities of the members of his household with the principles of that Hassidic house.

The Hassidim of Ger in Ostroveh, as in hundreds of other cities and towns all across Poland, were considered therefore extremists in their behavior and zealots in their ideas and outlook, as extremely consistent and stubborn fighters vis–à–vis the secular movements, the Zionists and others.

Despite their loyalty to pure and avid Hassidism, the activists of the Ger Hassidim who were devoted to Agudat Yisrael also exerted much effort in organizing orthodox girls and in the education of girls in the city. After lively prayers and long study sessions, the activists of the Hassidic house of Ger went out, dressed in fine silks and wearing full beards and side locks, to deliver timely lectures or just regular talks to the members of B'not Agudat Yisrael gathered in their clubhouse. The unofficial leader of B'not Agudat Yisrael in Ostrow Mazowiecka was the Hassidic Gaon Rabbi David Mintzberg, who later served as the spiritual adviser at the yeshiva of Chachmei Lublin [The Sages of Lublin]^[4]. Heads of the Ostroveh community, such as Reb Aharon Yashinsky, the chairman of the council, and Reb Anshel Knorpel, were among the activists of the Hassidim of Ger.

There were seven Hassidic houses in Ostrow Mazowiecka. The largest of them in terms of the number of worshippers and that also served as a fortress for community activity, Torah and the education of the younger generation was, as mentioned, the Hassidic house of Ger. A large and diverse crowd also prayed at the Hassidic house of Alexander locally, and Warka/Amshinov guarded the Hassidic tradition of Warka. A special status adhered to the Hassidim of Amshinov, which grew and thrived since the rebbe of Amshinov, Rabbi Yosef, served as chief of the rabbinical court of the city, and many of the residents were counted among the friends and admirers of the rebbe. The Hassidic house of Sokolow in fact replaced that of the Hassidim of Kotsk, while the Hassidic house of Radzymin brought together modest Jews, peddlers and artisans.

Two yeshivot [pl. of yeshiva] functioned in old Ostrow Mazowiecka. The city yeshiva was founded in the year 5610 [1849–1850]. Serving as heads of the yeshiva were the Gaon Rabbi Nisan Lewinsky, sharp and broadly knowledgeable and one of the outstanding Hassidim of Amshinov, and his son–in–law Rabbi Yehoshua Leib, Rabbi Wolf Ber, a well known scholar, and Rabbi

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Herschel Yaglowitz, who had an unparalleled ability to explicate. During all the years of its existence the yeshiva had great and noted scholars as faculty members and lecturers. There were times where there were as many as 150 students. Many of the graduates of the yeshiva later became well known as educators, and some served as rabbis and judges.

The wealthy Mrs. Feige Zissel Bromberg donated funds to construct the building of the yeshiva. When that building burned down, Feige Zissel Bromberg contributed again to re–build the structure. In the building of the yeshiva was also located a Talmud Torah [religious elementary school], in which some 200 children studied, mainly children of the poor, whose budget was covered in part by allocations from the community. For many years Rabbi Meir Itzi Augustower, a gifted pedagogue, was the head of the Talmud Torah, whose instruction was enjoyed by the children and gave them much pleasure. In the last years of the existence of the community, serving as heads of the institution were Rabbi Yaakov Kagan and Rabbi Zeev Shulman, assisted by and under the supervision of Rabbi Asher Rosenblum. Members of the Board included Rabbi Avraham Petziner [Pecyner], Rabbi David Mintzberg [Mincberg], Rabbi Yosef Mandelkorn and others.

In the year 5682 [1921–1922] there was established in Ostrow Mazowiecka the Beit Yosef [House of Joseph] yeshiva of Novhardok. The Gaon Rabbi Yoel Kleinerman, son–in–law of the founder of the movement of the yeshivot of Novhardok, the Gaon Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horowitz, headed the yeshiva. The principal of the yeshiva was Rabbi Aharon Ogolnik. The yeshiva developed rapidly, and on the eve of the Holocaust it numbered nearly three hundred students, most of whom were killed. The yeshiva's influence on the life of the city and its residents was great. It contributed to the inculcation of the idea of devotion and sacrifice on behalf of the Torah and ethics among wide circles. (There is a separate chapter on the yeshiva, its heads and leaders, below.)

Editor's notes:

1. The Treaty of Brest–Litovsk of March 3, 1918, which had ceded vast territories of the western part of the former Russian Empire, including most of Poland, to Germany. Return
2. Among them was this editor's great–grandmother, Leah Gittel Feinzeig, who had run a successful military supply business in Ostroveh. She left in 1920 for New York with the younger of the surviving 11 of her 17 children to re–join her husband, Chezke, who had left in 1911; as well as his grandfather, Rabbi David Tzvi (Hershel, later Harry) Schiff, a shochet, who left in 1922, followed by his wife, Malka Feinzeig Schiff, and their seven children (two more were born in New York), including his father Jacob (Yaakov/Yankel), in 1924. Return
3. Part of a network of yeshivot by this name that had originally been established in Novhardok [Navahrudak, today in Belarus], which had been shut down by the new communist government and which, therefore, now opened schools in independent Poland. See also p. 76 and Chapter 11 below. Return
4. This grand yeshiva was established and headed by Rabbi Meir Shapiro under the auspices of the Agudat Yisrael movement in 1924, and was housed in an impressive modern five–story building on a grassy campus that was completed in 1930. It housed a major Judaica library, a large synagogue, as well as a dormitory for its 200 rabbinic students. Immediately closed down by the Nazis, after the war it was home to the medical school of the University of Lublin, but has more recently been returned to the ownership of the Jewish community, and its synagogue restored. See also footnote, p.102. Return

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