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[Page 123]
By Yaakov Za”K
Edited by Dr. Rafael Manory and Erica S. Goldman-Brodie
When the First World War ended, the youth was flooded with news of survival, and it was only then that the Balfour Declaration became known to us. Even though there was a Zionist club in our city before the First World War, it was populated by youth that was far from the atmosphere of a Bet Medrash, made up partly of students and partly of youth that were idle, coming from rich homes; but the atmosphere of revival also penetrated the houses of study, and the various Kloyzes and demanded a clear response. The Land of Israel became a prominent entity, one thought came after another on Halutzim making aliyah to the home of the patriarchs, and from this the idea arose in the minds of several members, who learned in the Bet HaMedrash, to leave the prevailing apathy and indifference, to organize and do something in the name of Zion that is calling to its sons. And, as soon as the signs of organization were detected in the Bet HaMedrash and the Kloyz, a great deal of activity ensued among the Hasidim to stanch such organizational initiative. With threats against parents, and threats aimed at all the membership that they would be thrown out of the Bet HaMedrash, if God forbid, they
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would organize themselves for Zionism or, God help us, to Mizrahi, they began pursuing after all suspicions, God help us, leading to an organization. All these harassments had exactly the opposite effect, and we began to think about the form of an organization and how to make it real. We began to think of premises, where we could organize the mentioned group, which, by the way we came up with a name: How to name the newborn baby, to call it ‘Tze'irei Mizrahi’ or just ‘Mizrahi,’ or just ‘The Group of Observant Zionists’, etc. And, in order not to anger the Hasidim and other anti-Zionists, we decided to call the group ‘Agudat Akhim,’ with an agenda of
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national secular culture, without yet tying it to something Zionist. At that same time, the ‘Tze'irei Agudat Israel’ began to get organized in Poland, and the reverberations of this organizational initiative also reached our city, but it is important to stress that the opposition of the Hasidim was actually good luck for Zionism. After much effort, we managed to secure a small location made up of one room, with an attic, not far from the Husiatyn Kloyz, near Katz, an ironmonger's store, opposite Israel Rehr. We then began to function like a real association, or a ‘verein’ in local secular argot. After a short amount of time, the Hasidim began to try and influence us to close down the ‘verein,’ first with constrained words, and afterwards, with threats that they would throw us out of the Bet HaMedrash. But all of this was to no avail, and I remember being approached by Avrom'tzi Kisnuk who said to me: ‘Listen, I know that you are involved in the business of the ‘verein,’ what do you need this for, why do you collect money that you then send to Lvov? Is there a lack of poor people in our city who need our support?’ And no matter how much I explained to him that we are not involved in philanthropy and the allocation of charity, this activity struck him as a manifestation of Zionism, that money is collected and sent to Lvov.
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after the party to remember the aliyah of Yaakov Za”k to Israel |
The Hasidim, or more correctly, the ‘Flowers’ of the Hasidim could not forgive us for this transgression that was called Zionism. They began to harass us in all manners. A) They told the Shammes not to give us candles so we could study at night, B) They began to use wet rags to throw at us during the time we were studying. We organized ourselves defensively and all sat in a circle beside one table. This was the table at which there was a regular place for Chaim Berisz. As a result of this harassment, we began to speak Hebrew to one another, and as is understood, when they heard this, they intensified the harassment. I recall one day when a member of our group lost a Yiddish book written by Opotashu, and the ‘Flowers of the Hasidim’ found it and conducted an ‘auto da fe’ in public on the raised platform and amid shouts of ‘Ye shall burn out the evil amongst you’they burned the book in front of everyone. All of this strengthened our desire to confront the desires of this opposition publicly, and we planned to publicly announce the adoption of the name ‘ Tze'irei Mizrahi,’ hiring a large hall not far from Mr. Kindler and we began to open up a cultural Zionist
[Page 125]
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organization. We opened a religious school and this was not so easy, because it was difficult for us to find a teacher who could teach Hebrew-in-Hebrew and was also knowledgeable in the Torah. The curriculum of this school encompassed Gemara, Hebrew-in-Hebrew, and similarly, Tana”kh, etc. Until we were able to persuade Mr. Flack, “The Enlightened” man, to run the school. We began with a small number of students, until we succeeded in getting about thirty, after we released the parents from paying tuition. In that same period, we began organizing a ‘B'not Mizrahi’, group independently, because even according to our outlook, and the spirit of the times, it was not considered culturally acceptable for boys and girls to learn together. As general Zionists, and in the ‘Hitakhdut’ boys and girls were together, but in a Hasidic street such as ours it was forbidden for boys and girls to be together. Even for the independently organized B'not Mizrahi, it was not so easy.
Not all the daughters from the cohort of balebatim and Hasidim agreed to quickly join the B'not Mizrahi. This again was a case of ‘the king's daughter has her dignity within her,’ and not a matter of organization. However, it is necessary to recollect here, a number of young ladies who helped us organize the Agudah: Reiz'eh Rachel Flam, Juta Neyer, Chana, daughter of Meir the ritual slaughterer, etc. We arranged for the girls to get a lesson in Tana”kh, we rented a separate domicile for their exclusive use, near the dairy store of Katz, opposite Mendl Trefil, and I recall that one day after the lesson in Tana”kh, Rabbi Leib'eleh Dayan הי”ד (incidentally, whose daughter joined B'not Mizrahi) and said to me: ‘Well, it looks like we have an organized B'not Mizrahi’. Only for girls, and perhaps this is not so startling, but if boys come there to learn Tana”kh, this is contrary to an explicit statement, that says, ‘everyone who teaches his daughter Torah is the same as if he were teaching her the prayers.’
As you can understand, no explanation of mine in which I argued against the abovementioned quote helped, and he stuck to his own, and the Tana”kh class continued.
During this period the foundation of HaShomer HaDati underwent a trial, and it succeeded beautifully, and afterwards, it was disbanded for lack of interest and leadership, despite the fact that many young men wanted to join our
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organization out of suspicion of ‘What will the Hasidim say?’ One answer that I got from one of these young men was interesting, who married a daughter of our city and settled in Sokal, he personally was from Hungary, dressed beautifully to the point that we did not want to have him join ‘Tze'irei Mizrahi.’ His response consisted of the explicit sentence that was written: The House of Aaron Bless the Lord, the House of the Levites Bless the Lord, Those who fear the Lord, Bless the Lord, meaning according to him, that those who fear the Lord do not need a domicile (verein in local argot), just like the House of Aaron and the House of the Levites.
At the zenith of our development of Mizrahi, TzeIrei Mizrahi, and B'not Mizrahi, after we had settled all three of these organizations, we began to develop an initiative aimed at a widely-branched cultural activity, parties, strolling, and a library etc. We were very active in the tasks of the Keren Kayemet[1], headed by Dr. Kindler. Meetings were always held at his house, and it is important to note that in the collection of funds for the KK”L and other international organizations, we did not have to make use of the hall such as was done for periodic donations, otherwise we could not collect the overhead that was levied upon us.
Here I attempt to raise in my memory the widowers from our movement that because of many reasons did not live to see what we did, the establishment of the state, and their ashes are strewn in the precincts of the Holocaust, and it is my wish to recollect a number of members from a partnered committee:
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David Bard, Chair of Mizrahi, Moshe Kiehl, Chair of Tze'irei Mizrahi, Shmuel Szpilka, Tzipa Podhoretzer, Juta Neyer, and others who lost their lives, of whom I remember the names of Wolf Herald, Yaakov Glazer, Pesach Krochmal, Feivusz Struss, Chana Redlich, My heart, my heart, goes out upon them, deceased warriors for the shared ideal that for many reasons, were not privileged to make aliyah, and even during their lives, they had many satisfactory things happen to them, especially in matters of making a living, etc. How much did we have to battle against our parents,
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our rabbis, and teachers for the international concept, if it were possible to get
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the use of some synagogue or public gathering place at which some sort of collection of monies for international Agencies could be done in public. I remember the war on the Eve of Yom Kippur for the benefit of the synagogue platter passed around for the KK”L, or the great war to reach the Bet HaMedrash at the time of elections to the Sejm, in which it was necessary for us to forcefully break in so that Dr. Shimon Federbush would be selected for the good of the international ticket. It is important to note that this war was waged in partnership with all the Zionist organizations. And with this, I end this glorious chapter of the heroic battle against all manner of enemies, for the sake of making it possible to organize ourselves to proceed toward the voice calling us from Zion to come and participate in the building of The Land. Let the Lord enfold all of those who fought on alien territory, and did not live to participate in this building process, and see the rise of the State. Let their souls be bound up in the bond of life, and let the dust of their remains and bones rest in peace where they lie, until The End will come and those who reside in the dust shall rise.
Translator's footnote:
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