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Edited by Dr. Rafael Manory and Erica S. Goldman-Brodie
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By Dr. David Kindler (Ramat-Gan)
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To the end of the 19th century, the city of Sokal was still a fortress of Hasidism and pious [religious] observance. Especially so, when after the passing of the Rebbe of Belz R' Yehoshua ז”ל in the year 1894, and his son R' Shmuel, became the Rebbe in Sokal, the tradition of Yiddishkeit became stronger there.
The Rebbe, R' Shmuel, rigorously stood watch over the old Hasidic way of life in the city, relentlessly fighting every attempt to undermine the traditional strength of the Torah in the Jewish settlement of Sokal.
The Enlightenment movement at that time, wrangled with a whole array of cities in Eastern Galicia – such as Tarnopol, Brod, Buczacz – pitted against the opposing forces which concentrated themselves around the Rabbis and orthodox leaders.
But as early as the last two decades of the 19th century, the pioneers of the Enlightenment movement saw that all attempts to reconcile the weighty Jewish-question by means of complete emancipation, did not yield the needed results and in observing the deeper Galician need on the one-time Jewish street, there was a lack of understanding by all of the attempts at emancipation.
The first rays of ‘Love of Zion’ appeared in Galicia, the first sounds were heard for the rebuilding of the Land of Israel, and this even from prominent Rabbis, who held that only in the Land of Israel can the Jewish faith be rescued. The idea of a return of Jews to the Land of Israel had, at that time, already found some more adherents. Already, in this pre-Herzl period, Zionist enthusiasm shone and a small group of inspired idealists were already active, with concrete Land of Israel work, and made the greatest effort to found colonies there and to send colonists there as well.
The Zionist thinking in this pre-Herzl period manifested a visible expression in the conference of the ‘Hovevei Tzion’ membership in Katowice, in the year 1884, with the purpose of coordinating the colonization effort of the time in the Land of Israel, using a variety of groups, carried out in Russia and Romania as well as the ‘Ahavat Tzion’ societies in Galicia.
At that time, the atmosphere of a strict orthodox way of life held sway. The city breathed Hasidism and [religious] piety. While in neighboring towns, the young people, thirsty for knowledge,
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already had the energy to break through the wall of resistance and community ossification on the Jewish street – a like-minded and strong rabbinical political régime reigned over the Jewish street, which did not permit access to any spark of Enlightenment effort. It was forbidden to even learn the Polish language. Despite the legal requirement of those times, for Sokal Jews to send their children to government schools, they simply did not learn, but rather attended those schools until they reached the age of 10, when they were freed from the obligation to attend school.
And if it arose that in the Yeshiva, in the Bet HaMedrash or another Kloyz, a young man lusted for a bit of knowledge, or after a little news about the Land of Israel, he faced going through an intense struggle, because Hasidic Sokal, with the formidable influence of the orthodox Rebbe, R' Shmuel Rokeach זצ”ל at its head, carried on a stubborn battle against the minimal indication of [the presence of] the Enlightenment movement, seeing in it the greatest danger for the preservation of faith and the Hasidic way of life in the city.
But little-by-little one could encounter in the Bet HaMedrash, that fortress of the stern opposition to every Enlightenment activity, boys, who from time-to-time smuggled in Hebrew newspapers, which they would read in secret, hiding them from the melamdim and even from their own parents.
At this period of time, it was in this manner that the still weak rays of the Enlightenment encountered the Belz and Czortkow Hasidic fanaticism, which was uncompromising and intolerant.
In the later years – in the final decade of the 19th century, one encountered in Sokal, a cohort of well-to-do balebatim who were in business contact with Enlightened Jews from the Western Austrian monarchical countries, and derived their spiritual nourishment from the Viennese ‘Neuer Freie Presse.’
During this time, there was a small group of so-called intelligentsia that had no influence on the Jewish street, and lived within the ambit of German-Polish assimilation, distanced from Jewish values and tradition.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Dreyfus Tragedy shook up the mood of European Jewry. A wave of anti-Semitism flooded the lands with Jewish settlements. In Austria, and specifically in Galicia the leaders of the Christian-Socialist Party incited the local populace against their Jewish citizens. There was a spiritual outbreak in the Jewish cities and towns in Galicia that penetrated into the houses of study, schools and Yeshivas which had lived in peace and now began to understand the necessity of finding a solution to the weighty Jewish question.
An analogous spiritual process took hold in Sokal, where during the decade of the eighties in the 19th century became familiar with the tradition of the Russian Jews, who here – in this border city looked for a place of refuge against pogroms aimed at Jews, which at that time were rampant all over
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Russia. The stream of emigration passed through Sokal, which consisted of Jews who had suffered under these pogroms, and this occurrence opened the eyes of the Sokal Jews and awoke their community activity.
As a result of the Russia defeat by Japan in their war of 1905, a revolution broke out in Russia that forced the Czarist rulers to relax the absolute monarchy grip of the régime. At the same time, however, reactionary Russian circles choked off the penetration of freedom of the Russian peasant masses by using a sea of Jewish blood. It was now that bloody pogroms against the Jews spread throughout all the cities and towns from the Pale of Settlement outwards. Jewish emigrants who were victims of pogroms, in a pandemonium of fear, filled all of the Galician border places. A Russian refugee, Yitzhak Bloch came to Sokal, who already had experience with the ‘Hovevei Tzion’ initiative. He also did not rest in his new domicile, and immediately took to his Zionist work. Apart from his efforts to win over students for the Hebrew language, he began to look for contacts with the youth of the schools and Yeshiva, where there had arrived weak but recognizable signs of the Zionist ideal.
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Even though a Zionist Society already existed in Sokal in 1905, headed by Dr. Wolfram, his initiatives encountered severe difficulties. The first of the Sokal pioneers, would come together in Honig's synagogue, where the Zionist press from Warsaw was read and especially the ‘Lemberger Tageblatt,’ and it was in this way that actual Zionist problems were discussed among the many. Among the first Zionists, the former Yeshiva student David Byk distinguished himself with his commitment, who was actually engaged in Zionist work in the city. Before the seventeenth Zionist Congress in the year 1905, he carried out the first fund-raising initiative in Sokal, and had, at the time, sold 20 tickets, which in the one-time a feat that was thought to be a great Zionist success. Among the Jews who bought tickets at that time, there was the respected orthodox Jewish man R' Shmuel David Engel, an ardent disciple of the Zionist ideal. Before he passed away in the year 1920, he left a will, saying that his family should make aliyah to the Land of Israel. In the year 1924, the
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first emigration to the Land of Israel was his son Nahum, and a few months later, his widowed wife Sarah Engel, made aliyah. Mrs. Engel took up residence in Tel-Aviv and lived in her own house on Rashi Street. During the time that her house was being built, she personally carried bricks and other building materials. Her daughter Rachel came into the Land in 1925, with her husband R' Zalman Kurtzman. In 1935, the son, Mordechai, made aliyah along with his family. It was in this way the deeply held wish of this deeply committed Zionist was fulfilled, who personally was not privileged to be among the first of the pioneering builders of the Land of Israel namely – that the closest members of his family should participate in the work of the ancient Jewish homeland. The wife, Sarah lived out the remainder of her life in Tel-Aviv and died in the year 1940. She was a dear Jewish woman with deeply held love of Zion in her heart… she was buried on the Mount of Olives.
Yitzhak Bloch found a close comrade in the young Zionist activist, David Byk. In partnership, they both created a connection with the youth of the Yeshiva and revealed to them the vision of national liberation in the old-new homeland in the Land of Israel. Yitzhak Bloch became very popular in Sokal thanks to his Zionist articles that he had printed in the ‘Lemberger Tageblatt’ and it was under his influence that David Byk also began to write and publish his essays in that periodical.
This explanatory Zionist activity from such tireless propagandists as Bloch and Byk, did not lie around with no influence on the Jewish street in Sokal. As the concepts and energy of the these first pioneers were put out in public, it caused the weakening of the power of the orthodox excommunication against the Zionist ideal. The Zionist propaganda literature and the Zionist press, such as ‘Vskhod’ and the ‘Lemberger Tageblatt,’ was already being read in Jewish Sokal houses without fear of harassment by the opponents of the attempts to revive [Jewish] nationalism.
And when at the Cracow conference of Galician Zionists in July 1906 they decided to take part in the elections to the Austrian parliament as a separate national-Jewish party on the basis of their general voting rights, the Zionist influence in Sokal was already strong enough, that immediately after the call from the Zionist central office in Lemberg to prepare for the election initiative – a group of young aggressive men was found in Sokal, who with their full ardor threw themselves into the work, in order to take up the battle from one side against the political indifference of the Jewish populace on the second side, against the circles for assimilation, which had penetrated the ranks of the Jewish intelligentsia.
It was not easy to carry on this struggle in Sokal. But despite all of the disadvantages, for the first time, these young Zionist idealists showed themselves to the weak as stubborn and ready to sacrifice national powers.
In the Sokal circle, the Viennese Rabbi, R' Shmuel Bloch became a candidate, the publisher of ‘Bloch's Weekly,’ which vigorously fought against anti-Semitism in Austria. He lost the election, but the election campaign that was carried out in Sokal with commitment and exceptional dedication, strengthened the Zionist arrays and it opened the way for a national-Jewish politics for the Jewish
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masses. The young Zionists in Sokal came out into the open and with full energy and heartfelt commitment exerted themselves to broaden and strengthen the Zionist influence on the Jewish street.
In the first few years of the first decade of the 20th century the Zionist movement in Sokal lacked headquarters, a social gathering place, from which a systematic organizational program could be carried out, in order to win over a larger segment of the Jewish populace. After much effort this writer was first in the year 1910 and was able to found an official Jewish society under the name: ‘Volks-leyen-zahl’ which became a central gathering place for the members and sympathizers of the Zionist ideal.
However, without tactical reasons, in order to make it easy to obtain legalization from the Starostva, and not to repel the broader segment of the Jewish populace, the Society was given a general non-understandable name. In reality this was a pure Zionist Society led by members of the Zionist organization.
In this Society an intensive broadening of Zionist activity was carried out, and therefore cultural work stood on a high level. We were greatly helped in that work by members of the chancellery of the Zionist lawyers Dr. Frenkel and Schneider, the longtime member of the Zionist party council in Eastern Galicia, the later lawyer in Drohowycz, who had large expenses for the development of the Zionist organization in Sokal.
Apart from this, Dr. Inslicht and Dr. Wolfram – (the younger) – the brother of the already mentioned veteran of the Zionist movement in Sokal – Dr. Wolfram, distinguished themselves in Zionist activity.
Dr. Bikel-Szpitzer incurred very great expense for the Zionist organization in Sokal in that time, and also was a lawyer until the year 1914, when after the outbreak of The First World War, he went over to Lemberg and took over being editor of the Zionist ‘Tageblatt.’
This writer participated in this society's activities, but only during free summer time, when he would come home from Vienna, where he studied medicine.
Almost all of the Zionist activities, all gatherings for the Land of Israel Fund, the elections to the Zionist Congresses took place in this Zionist location.
This untiring activity by the first Zionist pioneers in Sokal strengthened the Zionist organization and raised its prestige on the Jewish street. The Zionist movement in Sokal became an important factor in the social life of the city.
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Even among the minor number of Jewish gymnasium students in the city, who were already being raised in Zionist homes – the Zionist ideal penetrated, and a student circle of Zionists was established, which was given the name ‘Tikvah’ and it carried out a clandestine Zionist propaganda initiative among the Jewish gymnasium students in Sokal.
The power and influence of the Sokal Zionist organization became manifest during the elections to the Austrian parliament in the year 1911, when the energetic and active elections committee, led by the local Zionist steering committee brought a large increase and strengthening among the Zionist ranks in the city. Even though the Zionist candidate in the Sokal area, the Eastern Rabbi of Lemberg, Dr. Rapaport did not get elected, during the election process, he brought in a light and understanding even in the smallest quarters off the Sokal voting circle, and an understanding of Zionist thinking and awakened the nationalist awareness among the broad Jewish masses.
In Sokal the city itself, Dr. Rapaport got the highest number of votes despite the anti-Zionist pressure on Jewish voters from the Polish official bodies, who were supported by a voice that called from the Belz courtyard. But the Sokal circle was so divided, that the Jewish votes were drowned in the sea of peasant votes.
This election campaign led the Sokal Zionists from the narrow rows of being just a society. They had now achieved the position of a political party on the Jewish street.
Also the national Zionist organization increased its sense of value for the Zionist organization in Sokal, especially after the upsetting and changes wrought of the election campaign of the 11th Zionist Congress in Vienna, when the Sokal voting bloc put up Dr. Mandel as a candidate, he being a lawyer from Rawa-Ruska.
The outbreak of the First World War, in the Fall of 1914, destroyed the normal activities of the Sokal Zionist organization. In that same year during the Passover holidays, Sokal still had the opportunity to absorb the former leader of the Zionist organization in Eastern Galicia, the brilliant speaker, Dr. Leon Reich, who with his debating style elicited an unusual invigoration of the spirits of the masses of the Jews there.
However, with the outbreak of the war, every Zionist and community endeavor was put to a halt in the city. Hundreds of Jews were mobilized and when Sokal was occupied by the Russian troops, a brutal régime emerged of Russians carrying out pogroms, the Jewish populace was mercilessly exhausted.
It was first in the year 1917 – the Jewish gymnasium students in Sokal came to themselves, who had to take a lot to live up to the Zionist activity, in those difficult war years. They organized a clandestine youth-organization ‘HaShomer HaTza'ir’ which during this period still manifested a general Zionist character and with boundless commitment they spread a variety of Zionist solutions among the ranks of the Jewish youth, and awakened in the older generation making them shake off their apathy and despair. Until the end of the First World War, this was the only Zionist organization in Sokal.
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In the meantime, incident in Jewish life kept on going on. On November 2,1917 the Balfour Declaration was declared, which was understood as an act of creating a Jewish state in the Land of Israel and elicited a wildly vigorous impression in the entire Jewish world.
A year later, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. An independent Polish country arose, which also took in Galicia.
In Sokal, the Balfour Declaration elicited an elevated response and now, both younger and old people gathered around the Zionist flag, who had often demonstrated their sympathy for the Zionist ideal.
Former Zionist activists began to return from the front, who immediately took up the work, in order to, once again, build up the Zionist organization in Sokal. This writer returned in May 1919, and barely on the first day, he took over the position of assistant in the municipal hospital, but to do so he had to intervene with the hospital director, Dr. Weigel, who represented the Polish national committee, in order that he release two Jewish gymnasium- teachers who had been arrested for organizing a memorial service in the school, relating to the pogrom against the Jews in Lemberg. These were professor Zeinfeld who came from Stanislawow, and was an active member of the Zionist party council in Eastern Galicia and the second was Rauchwerg, a gymnasium-teacher sympathetic to the Zionist cause. On the very day that I intervened, both teachers were released from arrest. Their thanks were endless, as well as the happiness of the Jewish populace in the city.
In order to strengthen the slack in the Zionist ranks that had come with the War, this writer with the help of professor Zeinfeld called for a general meeting of active Zionists, in which a Zionist local-committee was elected, which immediately linked up with the Zionist Executive [committee] in Lemberg, and establishes normal Zionist activity and work.
In order to broaden the Zionist influence on the Jewish street and to make possible a larger mass staff to carry on with Zionist activity among older and younger Zionists, the organization ‘HaTekhiya’ was founded, whose first chairman was Abba Frenkel and after him Israel Donner. In this local branch, which was located in the house of Mr. Sobel, a vibrant cultural activity was carried out. The books from the pre-war prior libraries were gathered together there and a modest library was yet again organized with Hebrew and Yiddish books. All facets of Zionist work was concentrated in this branch, such as collections for Keren Kayemet L'Israel, selling of lottery tickets, initiatives by ‘Keren HaYesod,’ which since 1921 were carried out under the direction of the exceptionally dedicated Zionist- activist, Moshe Ekker, a well-know charitable man, whose two sons were in Israel. One of them – Henryk Ekker was among the first of the Halutzim who built Bet-Alpha and in the year of 1923 went over to Sharon, where he established the Ramat Sharon settlement, and lives there to this day with his entire family running a model business.
After Moshe Ekker emigrated, the lawyer Ephraim Menkes took over running the ‘Keren HaYesod’ committee, whose only son, Dr. Efrat Menkes works as an agronomical engineer at Bet Dagon.
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The approach of the Bet HaMedrash in Sokal to the Zionist Society ‘HaTekhiya,’ was not a light one. By performing systematic clarifying work which consisted of a number of open lectures, discussions, and a number of cultural- impressions, such as theater presentations and literary evenings, a Zionist atmosphere was created in the Jewish street, which contributed a great deal to the success of the various Zionist initiatives taken in the city.
The elevated moment the Sokal Jews experienced, in connection with the San-Remo Conference in the month of May 1920, in which the Balfour Declaration was finally established and the leadership of Palestine as Mandate country was given over to England, which was charged with realizing the Balfour Declaration. These decisions at San-Remo evoked a stormy lift in spirits across the entire Jewish world.
The Zionist Society in Sokal arranged for a celebratory evening, in honor of this historic event, at which the Senator Dr. Ringel had, to a rapt audience, spoken about the great significance of the international declaration that favored the realization of the Zionist ideal. After the gathering, a celebratory banquet was held in honor of the respected guest, in which the entire Zionist active membership participated, and a great number of Zionist sympathizers.
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The Sokal Zionists took part in the entire Zionist set of political initiatives with great ardor and fire, which now took place in independent Poland and of the attending masses of people's gatherings, the
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Sokal Jews with fully earnest attention and great interest, adopted all of the presentations of such important customs from Lemberg – where the Rabbi Dr. Meir Geier was located, the Senator Dr. Schreiber, Dr. Max Lezer ז”ל, and to be blessed with long life, Dr. Zvi Heller, and Dr. Stoop and others. These folk-gatherings were developed into mighty demonstrations by Sokal Jewry for the benefit of Zionist initiatives.
The activities of the Zionist representatives in the community (among others David Byk and the Eastern [Galician] leader R' Yitzhak Birnbaum – who lives today in Haifa with his family) – as well as in the municipal council, disseminated much respect for the Zionist movement in Sokal and the popularity of the Zionist representatives in a very large measure helped lead to the fact that in later elections to these bodies of control, up to the Holocaust, the Zionist candidates always emerged with a full victory. Also the last election to the municipal council under the chairmanship of Eng. Schwartz, this writer became a member.
The activists of the Sokal activist committee also did not desert its practical missions aimed at the Jewish populace in the city, and we detail that activity in another place.
Apart from all of these important economic and community activities, in addition, did not forget that first place in all their Zionist endeavors had to be taken with regards to the Land of Israel Funds.
This initiative was carried out immediately for the first time in 1919, under the direction of this writer.
The fruitful activity for Keren Kayemet L'Israel in Sokal is witnessed by the monthly reactions of the gatherings for this Fund, which in its hour, were publicized in the Zionist press. According to the report of K.K.L. No. 1 – which appeared first in the Lemberg ‘Khvoyla’ of 1.8.1919 – In the months of March and April 1919, the sum of 596.20 Crowns was raised – which according to the measure of that time was a great sum.
According to the K.K.L. report of the month of August 1919 (Khvoyla N0. 240), the Zionist activists Flax, Szargel, Donner, Steinbrook, Szitz, Levy, Constantine, Zindl and Moshe Zucker, collected 700 Crowns for the Herzl Forest.
Of greater significance was the initiative to expand the purchases in the Land of Israel of parcels of land in Djebalya, latter day Bat-Yam. This initiative was carried out with great success and more parcels were purchased.
And when the delegate of the Bank HaPoalim came to Sokal from the Land of Israel – Leviatov, in order to gather up capital for this institution, an intensive collection initiative took place under the direction of this writer and eighty bank-notes were sold in the city.
The local-committee of the Zionist organization in Sokal also had the goal of maintaining contact with the Zionist groups in neighboring areas, that belonged to the Zionist Sokal sector. In order to
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strengthen this contact, and to become acquainted with the state of these organizations area conference came together in Sokal on May 7,1922, in which representatives, apart from Sokal, took part from Kristianopol, Tartakov and Varenzh – with the participation of the General Secretary of the Lemberg Executive Dr. Lezer, who even before the opening of the conference, gave a substantively researched piece in the ‘Dom Narodny’ about ‘The Meaning of the Land of Israel to the Jewish People.’
In the evening, in the Hebrew school, came forth the recommendations of the area conference, which was opened by the chairman of this area conference, who was myself. After the speech by Dr. Lezer about “The Goals of the area-committee and actual Zionist questions,” a discussion ensued, after which a new area-committee was elected with this writer at its head, and one member from each [significant] location.
This infers that the ranks of the known Zionists increased, who stood at the service of the Zionist movement in the city, demonstrated by the fact, that at the gathering of the Zionist academics, which took place on May 14,1922, there was also a delegate from Sokal.
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(Standing from the right): Tuvia Beri and Moshe Bard |
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In the same year of 1922 the Zionist Organization in Sokal, this writer entered, with the support of his Zionist activity, in ‘The Gold Book’ of Keren Kayemet L'Israel. Later on, after the Holocaust, an inscription was added to the Golden Book of the K.K.L. by a landsmanschaft of Sokal Jews in Israel – for the fully committed community worker Leon Fyvel ז”ל of Milano (Italy), who died earlier in Milan. To be granted long years, Kreminer of Canada was also entered into the book, who was a loyal Zionist and a great donor and philanthropist, who maintains a hearty and warm contact with his Sokal landsleit in Israel. For their generous activity for the good of the surviving remnants of Sokal Jewry, the landsleit Fyvel Joseph and Levy were also entered into the K.K.L. golden book.
The intensive activity of the Zionist organization's local committee in Sokal caused an increasing growth [in membership] from year-to-year, in all areas of general Jewish National and social life.
Of first priority the work for the benefit of the Israel Funds produced better results every time. The collections for K.K.L. became very popular and every Keren-HaYesod initiative elicited a broadly based response from the Jewish populace. We read such in the ‘Khvoyla’ of 3.5.1924 – that the Keren HaYesod commission in Sokal, during the great Keren HaYesod push in Galicia ‘without the help of the central office, initiated this action with their own resources, which thanks to the cooperation of Moshe Ekker and Dr. Kindler it was fortunate to produce good results.’
The Zionist organization in Sokal showed a special interest in the Hebrew School, which fought hard to maintain its existence. The principal goal was to assure that there were adequate funds for the necessary items in the school budget. The Zionist local-committee would arrange for various types of events, in order to cover part of the expenses of the school. The ‘Lemberg Tageblatt’ tells us in No. 209 of 7.9.1923 via a correspondence from Sokal, in the days of August 25, 1923 under Rezhi and Adler, without Drohovyzh the ‘Village-Youth’ from Kobrin was carried out – and for the benefit of the Hebrew School located there.
In time, the Sokal Zionist organization contributed to a strong growth in the number of Halutzim, for whom the fulfillment of this pioneering initiative was not just a simple phrase. Impatiently, they waited for a possibility, by legal or illegal means, of a way to make aliyah to the Land of Israel.
As we already mentioned elsewhere, Mrs. Sarah Engel ז”ל, the widow of the Zionist veteran from Sokal, Shmuel David Engel ז”ל, and his son Nahum were the first pioneers who emigrated from Sokal to the Land of Israel.
Later on in the year 1925 – when the World Zionist organization had received 8000 certificates of entry from the Mandate Government, the ranks of the Halutzim came to life, and a strong aliyah of Halutzim streamed into the Land of Israel. The ‘Hitakhdut’ organization did a great deal for this initiative in Eastern Galicia, and among the pioneering group then assembled for aliyah– there were also Halutzim from Sokal: Margulies, Bard, Schatz and Any Nyer (who worked in neighboring orchards). This group in Petakh-Tikvah founded a spot in the name of the deceased Zionist leader and Senator of the Polish Senate, Dr. Max Bienenstock who had worked in neighboring orchards. From there the group prepared to take over the work in Magdiel to dry out the swamps.
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There was a meaningful upswing and growth that the Zionist Organization in Sokal achieved at the time of the elections to the 15-th Zionist Congress in Basel in 1927. This was a time when the entire world Zionist movement found itself under the pressure of the difficult political and economic crisis in the Land of Israel – the Jubilee Congress after 30 years since the first congress (1897) and stood for great expectations to mobilize all the creative energies of the Jewish people.
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For the first time, elections took place on the basis of an entitlement ticket and a new voting organization. It was now that the difference between the programmatic differences between the separate factions that participated in the election became visible.
A model process for elections to the congress took place in Sokal by the local inter-party election committee headed by Dr. Kindler. The congressional clarifications of the election committee had a general Zionist character and especially attempted to deepen the understanding of Zionism coming from the Zionist camp.
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There were many consequences to the growth of Zionist influence in the city, engendered by the trips to the Land of Israel taken by this writer in the years 1930 and 1934. Every time I returned from such a trip to the land of Israel I told about the heroic work of the pioneer Halutzim at gatherings in the school, and about the results of the Zionist rebuilding effort in the Land of Israel. It was in this fashion that a living contact was created with the Land of Israel, and along with it and interest and love for the Land of Israel grew.
A testament regarding the strong influence of the Zionist organization in Sokal in this period of time, is the fact that in the year 1932, 873 tickets were sold.
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And so the strength of the Sokal Zionist Organization grew from year to year. In the struggle with those who opposed the Zionist ideal – with the extremely orthodox and assimilationists on one side – and with the Bundists on the second side, the Sokal Zionists hacked a path through to the Jewish masses using systematic Jewish information work, by creating a strong economic and socio-cultural positions, and drew to itself most of the Jewish populace to the veracity of Zionism.
The Zionist activity in the city during the later years until the outbreak of the Second World War penetrated almost every corner of Jewish life, and left its imprint on the entire Social structure in the city.
This richly successful Zionist work in Sokal was possible thanks to the meaningful number of activists, who loyally and tirelessly fulfilled their Zionist responsibility. The last Zionist branch in Sokal has the following as members: Dr. Kindler, Dr. Freier, Lustik, Levin, Auerbach, Kiel, Dr. Begleiter, David Byk, the lawyer Shmuel Fass, and professor Isaac Fass.
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Dr. Begleiter is seated fifth from the right in the second row |
With the outbreak of the terrifying Second World War in September 1939, every Jewish cultural and social activity was disrupted. The Zionist initiatives were hacked off. All social and Zionist institutions were closed down as were all the Jewish societies on the Jewish street.
Sokal Jewry was annihilated in suffering and pain, in the death camps, in the gas chambers. The large camp of dedicated tireless Zionist activists fell in Sanctification of the Name.
Pay homage to their memories!
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