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[Page 106]
By Moshe Kubler, Lawyer (Tel-Aviv)
Edited by Dr. Rafael Manory and Erica S. Goldman-Brodie
Tens of years have passed and what sort of awesome world events and personal experiences have shaken up your entire view… But nothing could wash off the memories of youth, which are connected with the youth organization ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’, and fill the substance of your life and that of tens of other young people from your shtetl of Sokal.
In the first thirty years of this [20th] century, the middle-class young Jews understood, that the time had come to organize and to occupy an active role in Jewish-Zionist life.
Jewish youth instinctively felt, that its future in the Diaspora contained no basis for them…that every day that goes by is a lost one.
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The humanitarian ideals, that were dominant on the Jewish Street at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with their high-sounding solutions of freedom and equality of peoples and lands – and to have broad circles of Polish Jewry blinded with their illusion of the possibility of reaching salvation in the form of ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘Assimilation’ – vanished like a dream in the night.
Their place was taken by new ideals and solutions that enchanted the hearts of the young generation, and the ideals of the social revolution now dominated their entire awareness.
However, it became apparent immediately, that these ideals were not a solution for the Jewish masses, who lived in the dark pall of the Diaspora. All the foreign objects lay broken on the Jewish Street, and no one could restore them into a recognizable form.
Until the period arrived, when the Jewish youth, children from the middle class, who constituted the majority in numbers and did most of the building of the Jewish people in the Diaspora…this Jewish youth took its fate and future into its own hands.
It was this way that in Galicia, as well as in other parts of Poland, Lithuania, and other countries of the Diaspora, the youth groups ‘Akhva’ [Brotherhood], ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’ [The Zionist Youth], ‘Akiva’ and others, began to be founded amongst the ranks of the general Zionist movement. This writer, who had dedicated his young years to the ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’ movement in our shtetl of Sokal, set forth the modest goal that, in general, stressed and portrayed our essence, the goals of this organization, as they were reflected in their daily lives. I hope, and my belief runs deep, that I will succeed in achieving this goal.
Jewish life in our shtetl seemed hopeless. The organized anti-Semitism of the Poles and Ukrainians began yet even with more force to drive the Jews out of their economic positions, especially from trade, which was the principal source of income for the Jews. Need and hopelessness became a steady guest in Jewish homes. These difficult circumstances, as you can understand, also had a reverberation on the mood of the young generation.
[Page 107]
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It is therefore no wonder that Jewish youth, looking for a ray and substance in life – began to stream to the Zionist youth organizations, and the ‘local’ as these organizations were called – replaced the home. The ‘local’ that used thousands of steps, drew and bound the youth to them, and it did not have a premises where to gather, – just a place, where the national awareness of the young Jews was deepened… where it was strengthened and hammered out.
Courses in all kinds of subjects were organized, and were divided into sections, and from them, the youth obtained a fundamental education in Jewish, as well as Zionist history, the geography of the Land of Israel, and the like.
Obtaining fluency in the Hebrew language and Tanakh had an honored place in the daily work of the organization, and because of this also the sports activities in the gymnasium arena were not neglected.
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[Page 108]
From time to time, trips were planned to the surrounding green fields and forests… There, not far from the city, our young Halutzim spent their free time playing games, singing, and discussing various themes. These trips were particularly good when outings of this sort were organized in partnership with other organizations in the vicinity.
Every year, during the great school recesses, colonies were established, where the youth of practically the entire surroundings spent from three to four weeks in free natural surroundings and took part in a variety of physical and cultural events.
It is worth stressing that these summer colonies provided for children of non-paying parents, who, thanks to the help of the ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’ organization had the means to send their children to such a necessary institution.
It was the older comrades who bore the entire burden of the organization. Until late into the night, they would tarry in the ‘local,’ searching their thoughts for the best plans and future day-to-day work in the organization.
The Land of Israel was always at the top of their list of concerns. Our thoughts were dedicated to this holy land, over all other thoughts, and were manifested in the assumption of our tasks to bring our ideal to fruition.
Every one of our mature members considered it a sacred responsibility to take part and excel in the work for the good of the institutions, that were linked with the building of the Land of Israel, manifesting itself in work on behalf of such as K.K.L., Keren HaYesod, support for Halutzim and a variety of party funds.
With the active help from our organization, we founded a training facility for Zionist Halutz youth. We spared no means nor energy to create work for the Halutzim, and needed material help and necessary efforts for a quicker aliyah to the Land of Israel. The reputation of our Halutz-Kibbutz had a broad response in the entire area around Sokal. The leaders of the general Zionist organization took pride in the Halutz youth and held it to be a great honor to take part in this activity for the realization of the Zionist ideal.
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[Page 109]
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[Page 110]
The active Zionists in our city understood that just words alone will not suffice and that these beautiful solutions must be turned into reality through deeds. For this reason, the numbers of our older membership grew, who were readying themselves to make aliyah to the Land of Israel, and were it not for the shameful politics of the English Mandate authorities, which directed the limitation of Jewish immigration into the Land of Israel, in the end – were it not for the frightening Holocaust destroying most of European Jewry, which was carried out in the most gruesome fashion by the Hitlerist murderers – many more of our comrades, loyal to Zion, sons and daughters, together with those of us here who were freed here – in the free Land of Israel… in the death camps, in the gas chambers, they gave up their lives… our heart weeps with tears of blood… and there is no consolation.
The leadership of the ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’ organization did not satisfy itself with the cultural work in the society-local. It took part in the cultural condition of the Jewish populace in the city. Our Drama section had significant revenues in this regard, which had taken upon itself with arranging in the larger, open ‘local’ Yiddish theater presentations– including among others: ‘Shver Tzu Zyn a Yid,’ by Sholom Aleichem, and ‘The Stranger,’ by [Y.L]Gordon.
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[Page 111]
Apart from the amateur group of ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’, the organization also occupied itself with presenting such stars of the Yiddish stage as Jonas Turkov, Ida Kaminska, the singer Hilda Dolitskaya and others, along with our comrades they filled an important cultural goal on the Jewish Street in Sokal.
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Moshe Kubler is sitting to the right |
You can understand that such a well-branched activity demanded help and a joint effort from additional forces. And these forces were given by the older generation.
The energy and sacrificial work of Chana Horowitz, Tuvia Beri, Moshe Badad, RikelWecker, Lim'chehTzigman – may their memory be blessed – and a wish for long life to Penina Lieber, Rachel Bruner, David Waldman, Mendl Wecker, Yehuda Frazer (Schrager), from this writer and many others, we have to thank for all these achievements.
Only a few of these comrades were privileged to realize their ideal and make aliyah to the Land of Israel… these were barely small twigs from the fully branched tree that was so terrifyingly torn out and exterminated.
May these lines – a bloody description of my weeping heart – serve as a symbolic gravestone to
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the eternal memory for all of the young, loyal sons and daughters from the Zionist organization ‘HaNoar HaTzioni’ in Sokal, who were not privileged to free themselves together with us, in the free Jewish State of Israel – the sacred goal of their ideals. The memory of our tortured brethren is deeply etched in our hearts, and to the last breath of our soul we will recollect them.
A pity that we have lost them, and we will not forget them.
We take it as our sacred duty to offer our respect to the eternal memory of the committed Zionist activist Dr. Joseph Schmider ז”ל, the hearty friend of our organization. He spared no time, energy, and money, to help us with our development. There was no instance in which he refused his participation and tireless activity, to fulfill the goals that we had asked him to take on.
May his memory be eternally blessed!
[Page 112]
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With awe and respect, we also recollect the tireless effort of Mrs. Dr. Menkes, who, with indescribable commitment of the soul. carried help to the poor populace in our shtetl and always found the time, both with advice and with actual doing to help us in our day-to-day work.
She was a wonderful person to behold… also later, after we had made aliyah to the Land of Israel, she continued her tireless philanthropic activity and when the dark night of the ghetto fell upon our shtetl, she exerted the greatest effort with all of her might, and with all her strength she made the greatest strains, to lighten the difficult suffering of other Jews, to bring at least a ray of hope into their hearts.
Let her memory be blessed for all eternity!
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[Page 113]
We also have the local Zionist committee to thank a great deal with the tireless, generous Zionist activists headed by Dr. David Kindler – may he have good and long years – and with his members, the significant committed Zionist activists such as David Byk, Moshe Weniger, Dr. Leon Honig, Zelig Linsker and Eydel Israel. Let these lines serve as a grave marker for all of these generous activists who excelled in their sacrificial work for the good of the stress to realize the Zionist ideal – and were not privileged to free themselves with its realization.
To everyone's joy, our beloved and guarded Dr. David Kindler, is to be found among us with his family. We wish him added long and healthy years together with us, to continue the sacred work for the good of our joint and lofty goal.
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