[Pages 357-373]

The Family of Yaakov Ginsberg

The owner of the largest wholesale grocery store was Yaakov Ginsberg, the son of Moshe Avraham. He married his cousin Chana Rivka, the daughter of Herzel Gutman. Yaakov was an energetic trader. In his store, other than groceries, he had notions, cosmetics, textbooks and writing materials.

Yaakov's oldest son Shmuel died in his youth after World War I. His younger son, Yona, married a teacher named Selina who taught in the government school. Yaakov's daughter, Rachel, married Moshe, the son of Shlomo Olsha, an educated and industrious man.

Yaakov Ginsberg's brother, Shammai, lived in Warsaw, where he managed a soap factory for the well-known company Omega.

The third brother, Motti, emigrated to Holland, where he was employed in the diamond trade. Their fourth brother, Alter, married Ida, the dentist, and managed a leather business in Sokoly. During World War II, Alter served as the head of the Judenrat. He is mentioned in the prior chapters of this book.

(sitting, left to right) Yona Ginsberg, Pella Olsha, Chana Rivka, Shusha Gutman, Shammai Gutman, Selina (standing, left to right) Rachel Olsha, Alter Ginzberg and his wife Ida, Monik Roseman

Alter Raczkowski was the owner of a notions and writing materials store. He supplied goods to retailers and peddlers in the villages. He was one of those who learned in the new bet medrash. Alter was the father of two sons and two daughters. The sons, Zeidel and Chaim Zvi, were excellent public speakers. During the Nazi occupation, Zeidel was a member of the Judenrat. His oldest daughter married a man from Warsaw. The second daughter remained single. Alter was the son-in-law of Sara Tilka and Shmuelke the tailor.

Shmuelke lived in America for some years in order to find proper bridegrooms for his two daughters, Hinda and Esther Rachel. He worked very hard there, all for the good of his daughters.

For his daughter Hinda, Shmuelke picked Alter Raczkowski as a son-in-law, and he gave him a nice dowry so that he would be able to open a store. From time to time, he gave him additional, not insignificant, funds for expanding his business. The mother, Sara Tilka, worked hard with self-sacrifice, all for her daughters. The younger daughter, Esther Rachel, married a scholar, Reb Shimon David from Zambrow, who became very ill immediately after their wedding, reaching such proportions that he had to arrange a conditional divorce. At that same time, they gave the sick man the additional name Chaim, and from then on, he was called by his triple name, Chaim Shimon David.

When Chaim Shimon David recovered from his illness, he received the position of head of the Proskurov Yeshiva. After the progroms against the Jews of Proskurov [Kamenets-Podolski], the family emigrated to America. There, their sons acquired a higher education. The son Avraham became a lawyer and was drafted into the American army. He rose to the rank of major and was active in the World Jewish Congress. Chaim Shimon David's daughter finished college and married a scientist.

Chaim Pajus was one of the scholars who learned in the new bet medrash. He was near-sighted, but in spite of this fact, he did not wear eyeglasses and was accustomed to bringing the books he read close to his eyes. Chaim was a humorist and loved to tell jokes. He, and his only son Alter, managed a notions store. Alter was blessed with the talent of an actor, and he was excellent in comic roles. Before the War in 1939, Alter was married to Feigel, the daughter of Kadish Lachower.

Alter Pajus, z”l, may G-d avenge his blood		Taibe Lachower and her husband Leon, z”l, may G-d avenge their blood

Chaim Pajus' daughter Malka married a man in Szwietowo [Zhivatov, Ukraine?] who had a transport company. Both of them were murdered in the Holocaust. They left an only daughter, who now lives in the U.S.

Eliyahu Leib Yanovsky was the son-in-law of the blacksmith Avraham Itzkovsky. He was one of the leaders of the prayers in the new bet medrash on the High Holidays. He was a strong and handsome man, the father of five sons and two daughters. One of his sons, Kalman, emigrated at a young age to America. His son Yosef managed a textile factory in the city of Grodek [Horodok]; his son Chaim Itze established himself nicely in the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, during the period of the czars when the Jews were forced to live in the Pale of Settlement and it was difficult to get permission to live in St. Petersburg or other cities outside the Pale. Chaim Itze obtained such a permit and succeeded in opening a store selling manufactured goods in the center of the city. Before that, he had worked as a weaver in Bialystok. After a number of years, a large fire broke out in the quarter where he lived and all his possessions were burnt. Chaim Itze received a reasonable sum from his insurance company, and this time he opened a food business. He was an important supplier of these products, and his goods were even supplied to the czar's court. Chaim Itze Yanovsky brought his two brothers, Yaakov and Alexander, to St. Petersburg. Yaakov was a pharmacist and Chaim Itze found him work in a pharmacy there.

Mordechai Surowicz

Their father, Eliyahu Leib, died suddenly in Sokoly at an age not much older than 50 years. His oldest daughter married a man who was well established in Grajewo. His second daughter, Rivel, married Yaakov Golden, the son of Yeshka Dinhas, who was regarded as a wealthy man. He, along with the two Kolodzansky brothers, Yankel and Chananya, and Mordechai Surowicz, opened a textile factory in Bialystok after World War I, and they all became wealthy. Each of them bought himself a large, nice house.

The members of the Golden family were among the oldest families in Sokoly. The eldest, the richest and nicest of all them was Leibel Dinhas Golden. Most of the houses in the town, the forest and the fields, were his property. His noble and handsome appearance stood out from everyone in the entire area. He was of the type [mentioned in the Bible] “from his shoulders and higher than the nation” and “he stands before kings.”

His face was radiant, and aroused great respect. He was so charismatic that whoever came before him was struck with the feeling that he stood before a king. When Leibel walked through the bet medrash among the congregants during the repetition of the Shmoneh Esrei [18 benedictions] or to the Torah reading, looks of respect accompanied him.

Leibel Dinhas' son Yisraelke lived in St. Petersburg. I saw him only once when he came to Sokoly after his father passed away in order to arrange the matters of the inheritance. At that time, he sold the Sokoly court building, which belonged to his father. He also was of handsome appearance. I do not remember details, because this happened over 70 years ago and I was then but a young lad.

Another type of person in this family was Leishke Dinhas, Leibel's brother. He was a simple Jew. In his youth, he owned a tavern and he had a permanent quorum in his house on Sabbaths and holidays. On Simchat Torah, he would hold a celebration for the entire day, and when the celebrants became drunk, they would lift their gabbai, Leishke, on their shoulders, calling out, “Long live the gabbai!” This custom was accepted also in other places.

In his old age, Leishke began to smoke thick cigars, and he was almost never without one. His hobby was to lead the prayers. He also bought huge quantities of lottery tickets.

Leishke was the father of three sons and a daughter. His oldest son Yeshayahu was a business manager in Bialystok; the second son learned in a yeshiva and died at a young age prior to his army service. The third son Yaakov became wealthy, and was one of the four partners in the textile factory in Bialystok mentioned above.

The rest of Leibel's brothers were not called by their mother's name, “Dinhas”, but rather carried the family name, “Golden”.

Berel Golden was a G-d-fearing, honest man who guarded his tongue. His only son, Alter, was an energetic trader; he was Yechezkel Morashkevitz' son-in-law. Alter sprinkled his conversations with quotations and proverbs. Berel's daughter Alta was married to a boy from Warsaw named Yehoshua Wolf Meizler, a sermonizer and lecturer. He travelled through the cities of Poland, fascinating crowds everywhere with the words from his lips which sprouted gems. He became famous in all the cities of Lithuania as “the Maggid [lecturer] from Sokoly.”

Berel's brother, Moshe Golden, owned a house in partnership with Barish the shochet. Moshe worked outside the town and came to Sokoly once every few weeks for the Sabbath. One of his sons married a woman from Zambrow, and the second son emigrated to America. His daughter, Raizel, married Mottel Burstein, and they opened a fabric store although they also had a grocery. The couple had three daughters and a son. The son emigrated to America. One of the daughters married Moshe Levis, the second married the young Weiner from Lapy, and the third, Stira, married Zundel Sokolowitz, Alter's son. Zundel completed his studies at the Gymnasia in Vilna and later received a medical degree in Prague, the capitol of Czechoslovakia. After he married Stira, the couple emigrated to America. Zundel had an excellent rhetorical talent. When he was only 15, he amazed his listeners with his rhetoric.

It is worth pointing out that the name Stira was given to his wife after her Aunt Stira, who was the wife of Rabbi Baruch Fridenberg from Moscow, passed away. The entire family prided itself on her righteousness and good deeds for the community.

The third brother, Yudel Golden, was a quiet and modest man. He had two wonderful sons-in-law: Zelig Kolodzhansky and Shmuel Hirsh Kravitz.

Other than the above-mentioned Golden family, there was another family named Golden in Sokoly. The two families were not related to each other. I refer to Berche Golden. Berche was a quiet, modest and religious man, who lived in the marketplace next to the old bet medrash, opposite the water pump.

Berche's son Michael was a Hebrew teacher in Warsaw and worked under the auspices of Rafael Gutman in the Jewish Community School. He was married in Warsaw. The couple had a daughter, who died at a young age.

Berche's second son, Alter, married a woman from Trestiny [Trzcianne]. They had a son named Chaim. Alter lived with his parents. He managed an oil press and also dealt in trade in the market. His wife, Mushale, died before the Jews were expelled from Sokoly. All the rest of the family were murdered in the Holocaust.

Apart from the four wealthy men mentioned above, there were a significant number of young men in Sokoly who achieved financial success and established careers for themselves after World War I. I will recount a few of them:

Yitzchak Meir Lachower owned a bank in Bialystok. Shlomke Olsha's son opened a commercial firm in Bialystok selling paints and chemical products.

Yitzchak Meir Lachower, z”l, of blessed memory

Neta Zolty, Berke's son, was a quiet young man and not at all a trader type. He was one of the group of yeshiva students who learned in Bransk and Lida. Among this group were also Reuven Lev, the son of the shochet Shmuel Lev, and also Yisrael Elgrod.

Neta Zolty also learned and was educated at the yeshivot where he studied. He emigrated to the Land of Israel after World War I, where he changed his name to Natan Zahavi. Also in his group of immigrants were Nachum Yachnes, several of his brothers, the children of Hertzel Gutman and a number of other young people. Even though Neta was not familiar with trade, he succeeded in business more than his companions and revealed serious commercial initiative. In a relatively short time, Neta became a large trader of building materials and coal in Haifa. Neta brought his parents and sisters to Israel and settled them nicely from an economic standpoint. His father Berke lived to the age of 90.

Yitzchak Morashkevitz, the son of Yechezkel, the iron trader, also opened an iron business in Sokoly where he sold iron products, tools and building materials. Immediately upon the invasion of the Germans in Sokoly, Yitzchak was expelled together with Alter Pajus. Where they were taken and what happened to them is unknown, but not difficult to imagine.

Opposite the Rabbi's house, on Bathhouse Street [where the bathhouse was situated], there was a stone house that was called “Pariser's Moyerel.” In that house lived the family of “the Parisian”. The Parisian himself, Shlomo Yosef Elgrod, was seen in Sokoly only very rarely because he lived for many years in Paris. The local youths did not know him at all. Once every few years, he would come to Sokoly to spend a few weeks with his family during the period of the High Holidays, or at the time of a family event, such as the weddings of his two daughters. He came before the wedding of his oldest daughter, Sarah Mirka, and later before the wedding of the younger daughter, Dina, so that he could bring them to the wedding canopy.

Shlomo Yosef Elgrod was a pleasant Jew with a patriarchial beard. The reason why he didn't move his family to Paris was because his wife, Miriam Feigel, was very religious and she objected to her daughters being influenced by the free lifestyle of the big city. Shlomo Yosef

Shlomo Yosef Elgrod, of blessed memory

Yisrael Leib was active among the community in London, especially in the more respected Orthodox circles. He was one of the few who established a private school with an initial 17 students, that over time expanded to 300 students and was recognized by the authorities.

Before the establishment of the State of Israel, he was the treasurer of the Mizrachi movement in London and afterwards of another organization [Y.Y.A.].

Yisrael Aryeh Elgrod at the dedication ceremony of the new school, under the auspices of the Chief Rabbi of England, Dr. Israel Broide

Yisrael Elgrod and his family

Feivel Elgrod		David Elgrod and his family

Yisrael's only son, Morris, is active with his father in the London diamond trade. To his great sorrow, his wife passed away a short time after their wedding.

Yisrael's brother, David, is a partner in the same business. David Elgrod's wife is the daughter of London Rabbi Yosef Lev, who was formerly a rabbi and rabbinical judge in the Warsaw community. David Elgrod is the father of two sons, Shlomo and Michael. The eldest son, Shlomo, is a graduate of a law school in London and does research in the field of criminology at Bar Ilan University. He manages a London law firm and is active in the Zionist movement. He was a representative at the 28^th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. The second son, Michael, is also a law school graduate, from England's Birmingham University. He holds the position of general secretary of the Bnei Akiva movement in Great Britain and Ireland.

Yisrael's youngest brother, Feivel Elgrod, learned in yeshivot. He was a brilliant student and had a talent for rhetoric. Everyone predicted a brilliant future for him. Unfortunately, he died of typhoid fever during the Russian Revolution, when he was learning in the Slobodka Yeshiva in Kremenczuk.

Shlomo Yosef Elgrod's oldest daughter, Sarah Mirka, married Chaim Velvel Olsha from Sokoly. They had three children: a son, Yona, and two daughters, Rachel and Sirka. Chaim Velvel was a businessman and earned a nice living. Tragically, when a typhoid epidemic broke out in Sokoly, it took Chaim Velvel's life.

Shlomo's son Yona grew up and emigrated to Canada. His daughter Rachel married Reuven Bidenovitz in Sokoly. They opened a small candy store. The daughter Sirka was educated at the gymnasia in Bialystok. She married Nissel Lapchinsky. During the Soviet period, Nissel held an important position. He was killed in a tragic manner during the second German invasion of Sokoly.

Sarah Mirka and family

Shlomo Yosef's youngest daughter, Liba, married a man from Mezeritch [Ukraine]. They both were murdered in the Holocaust.

Shalom Barkat, a soldier in the Polish army		Dina Barkat and her family

Malka, Sarah's daughter, built a two-story wooden house in Sokoly, where she established a restaurant and guest house. She led a comfortable lifestyle, having acquired for herself all manner of comforts. Her husband, Shlomo Kafka, lived for many years in the U.S., where he worked both as a barber and a musician. In America, he managed a barbershop in partnership with his friends and he established an orchestra. He wanted to bring his wife Malka to join him, but she took shelter in her restaurant and preferred to live comfortably, surrounded by servants. Their only son, Chaim Leibel Kafka, travelled to his father, where he acquired a high school education and then returned to his mother, to Sokoly. He later travelled to France, where he specialized in agronomy and received a diploma in that subject.

A few years before the War broke out, Malka's husband arrived from America for the purpose of remaining permanently in Sokoly. Occasionally he travelled again to the States, since he was a citizen there, and immediately returned to his home in Sokoly. In the end, he became ill and died close to the time the War broke out.

In Sokoly there were families with many branches. The heads of these families walked around with the feeling of patriarchs. One of them, for example, was Mordechai Shlomo Blaustein, the mailman, or, more correctly, the one who brought the mail. His house was his “kingdom.” He regarded his sons, Yossel, Gedalia, Avrahamche [Avraham], Yechielke [Yechiel] and Meir, as his ministers and advisors. He also had four daughters: Dubche, Chaiche, Zissel and Frieda.

On the Sabbath, after the fattening noon meal of cholent and kugel, the family would sing Sabbath songs in a unified chorus, and the echoes of their singing spread far and wide. On occasions such as weddings, circumcisions and the like, the family conducted celebrations that lasted until dawn.

A similar situation existed also among the rest of the wagon owners. Moshe Avigdor and Moshe Hirsh brought merchandise and supplied it to the traders in Sokoly. Tall covers were attached to their wagons, and one night they all travelled together in an orderly fashion to Bialystok where they spent an entire day, and the next night returned to Sokoly.

Traders and shop owners would frequently cross the thresholds of the wagonners' homes, so it is not surprising that the many additional requests of the general public made them feel important and superior. Nevertheless, the sons of the wagonners were drawn to other occupations and businesses. Of all Blaustein's sons, only one, Yechiel, remained faithful to his father's profession, even though he winked an eye at other jobs.

Yechiel's main income came from business with the Treasury Office and the archives in Wysokie Mazowieckie. He supplied commercial licences, professional certificates and the like, to individuals and to shops. From these matters he had such a significant income that his transport business became a sideline. Slowly, slowly, he became wealthy. He bought Lifnowitz' house, which he extended and remodeled.

The son Yossel Blaustein and his sons dealt in the chicken and egg business on a wide scale, and his son-in-law Mordechai Sorosky sold crops; for this purpose, he built two storehouses.

Yaakov Yitzchak Rachelsky, the son of the wagonner Moshe Avigdor, was an agent for smuggling people over the German border so that from there, they would be able to get to America. He also equipped his customers with tickets for travelling by ship. At a later date, he dealt in supplying yeast to the bakers and shops. Yaakov Yitzchak sent his sons to learn and get an education.

Over time, Moshe Avigdor's house was transferred to the ownership of his grand-daughter, Hinda Rachekovsky.

Shlomo Leibel Itzkovsky, the son of the waggoner Moshe Hirsh, emigrated to America. From there, he sent money to his wife Rivche. She built a two-story house for herself in Sokoly. The daughter Molly married Mendel Fleer, and the daughter Rachel married the teacher Avraham Wasserman, who had a higher education.

Rachel Wasserman, nee Itskovsky, and her son Reuven

Felek Blumenkrantz, Shlomo's son, left the wagon business and became a supplier of goods to the shops. Felek and his father were not well established, but they both were talented and were good speakers. In Sokoly, they called Shlomo “the Landowner” because he wore heavy gold rings on his fingers after he returned from America.

Pinchas Hershel Burstein (the older people called him “Chaim Velvel's Pinchas Hershele”) ran a soda water factory in a number of houses at the corner of Mountain Street and the marketplace, opposite the bridge. His daughter Chaiche was a midwife in Pultusk near Warsaw. She had an inclination for writing poetry, and was married there to the writer Neiman. Over time, all the members of the family emigrated to America. According to news received from there, Chaiche and her husband worked in America on the staff of a newspaper.

Before the War, Yaakov Goldberg was occupied in selling ceramic pots and pitchers. He was not well-established, and loved to fool around, telling jokes and entertaining people. After World War I, Yaakov received a large amount of dollars from America, compensation for his son, who had been killed in their army. That is how Yaakov Goldberg became wealthy. Before the War, he lived in a run-down shack behind the Court building on Gonsovki Street. After he received the dollars, he bought a lot from Avraham Pinkevitz, where he built a luxurious house with a wide yard and storage sheds. Yaakov bought a place on the eastern wall the bet medrash, next to the holy ark. He made donations to the bet medrash and other communal institutions. He also gave loans to private producers and became a partner in their factories and businesses. During his last years he was one of the opinion-makers in the town. He was highly regarded, and lived in luxury, having plenty.
His oldest daughter, Chanche, was married before her father became wealthy, to the son of the tailor Yosef Greenberg. Her father later gave her half of his house.

A tragedy befell the above-mentioned son-in-law. He underwent an operation, and he died under the knife.

Yaakov gave his second daughter a respectable dowry, and bought a pharmacy for her husband, the pharmacist. A few years before World War II broke out, the couple moved to Bialystok, where they ran a pharmacy. When the NDK (an anti-Semitic organization) oppressed the Jews in Poland, Yaakov Goldberg rented out the house where his son-in-law's pharmacy was located to a Christian, who opened a store, thereby harming the income of the Jews. The Jews who were harmed turned secretly to the local Rabbi, asking him to excommunicate Yaakov Goldberg, to forbid praying with him and calling him to the Torah. The Rabbi found reason to do so, and answered their request positively.

The Rabbi suggested that if Yaakov would be stubborn and refuse to leave the bet medrash, they should wait an hour and then split up into small groups, and pray in private homes. If Yaakov would appear in the middle of the prayers, they should continue the morning prayers up to the Torah reading and then wait patiently until Yaakov left the place. If he would still be stubborn and refuse to leave, they should leave him alone and go outside until he left, and only then were they to proceed with reading the Torah.

In the beginning, Yaakov accepted the excommunication easily. He organized a quorum for prayers among his friends and neighbors, and they brought a Torah scroll to his house, where they prayed.

Yaakov's resoluteness and ambition did not allow him to surrender to the Rabbi and the leaders of the congregation, for he was a nobleman and owned half the town. He decided to struggle against his opponents. One Sabbath, he went to the bet medrash and sat in his regular place. The prayers began and continued up to the Torah reading. Nobody dared to approach Yaakov and convince him to leave. The congregation waited an hour, but Yaakov remained stubborn. The Rabbi, with a number of congregants, tried to go from the bet medrash to the synagogue, to read the Torah there. Yaakov followed them, and they turned their backs to him there as well. His decision to fight for his honor was firm and absolute. The incident repeated itself on the following Sabbaths. Yaakov did not give in. He wanted to take revenge on his opponents. He began to be extremely angry, and in the end, he suffered greatly from the entire matter. After a short time, he had a heart attack and died.

In the old burial society in Sokoly, there were a few dozen members. One needed special “merit of his forefathers”, as well as a large sum of money for the registration fee, in order to be accepted as a member. The old burial society requested large sums from the relatives of the departed one, if he had not been a member of the society during his lifetime. There were cases where the burial society left a departed one for an entire day without preparing him for burial, as long as his heirs had not paid the requested amount to the society. The giant sums that the burial society accumulated were not spent for purposes important to the public, but were all spent on an annual dinner that they held every year on the day before Rosh Chodesh Shvat. On that day, the society conducted a public fast.

The manager of the mikve prepared a hot mikve at an early hour before the morning prayers, just like on the day before Rosh HaShana or the day before Yom Kippur. After they went to the mikve, the members gathered in the bet medrash for the morning prayers. They read the Torah reading of “Vayechel” as is done on every public fast day, and said “Aneinu” in the Shmone Esrei prayer. After they read the Torah, they would read the names of the departed members from the register, and say the Yizkor prayer. The sextons brought braided rolls and sliced cakes to the wives of the members. Before the afternoon prayers, they said the “little Yom Kippur” prayers, and after the evening prayers, all the members went to a dinner at the home of the burial society's gabbai. The meal was laid out and set for a king. There were a lot of drinks such as beer, wine and whiskey; and stuffed fish, soup, rice, and three kinds of choicest meat, followed by fruit. The next day, the gabbai made an additional meal from the leftovers. According to the stories of the senior members, the best meals were prepared by Shaki the baker (Zalman Dugolitz' brother), when he was the gabbai of the burial society.

Once, a few important homeowners in Sokoly gathered together, with Zalman Yachnes as chairman. Most of the members of this group had elderly parents whom they supported, and they were afraid that the burial society would eventually require enormous sums as payment for the burial of their parents. For that reason, they attracted a great number of people in the community and convinced them to start a revolution; they would request the establishment of a new burial society. The arguments of the initiators of the rebellion were that the old burial society was exploiting the public and was stripping the skin of the dead and alive alike by demanding enormous sums for burial and then spending this money not on important public matters, but for dinners and celebrations. The members of the above-mentioned meeting decided to establish a new, democratic burial society of the people, and its members would be chosen from the general public, and its management would consist of only two or three of the more educated people. Anyone would be free to join if he wished and become a member, without having to pay a registration fee. They also established new regulations: they would not collect any burial fees from the poor; the middle-class and more established families would pay only a minimal amount that would be donated by each person according to his wishes.

After these decisions were made, there was a great commotion in Sokoly.The old burial society did not want to easily part with the control it had exercised for decades. There were lawsuits and Torah judgments. They invited a few Rabbis to preside as judges, headed by the Rabbi of Siedliszcze. The rabbis mediated and made a compromise between the societies. The new and old burial societies established a single burial society, with certain changes and amendments to the rules, and the dispute faded away. The results of the first revolution in Sokoly were that it blew a new spirit of life into the broad levels of the public, who had begun to take all the public institutions out of the hands of the learned homeowners, or, as they were called, “the streimelach.” If they were unable to take the management of all the public institutions away from the “streimelach,” at least they would have the determining power to do as they wished.

The public in Sokoly began to be active and to be involved in public affairs for a long time before World War I. The power pushing the public was the great revolution that took place in Sokoly from the time of the establishment of the new burial society. A large group was organized that was called “The Bnei Yaakov Company.” At first, the company held its meetings in a small hall, one room of the second house of the new bet medrash. Afterwards, the company had to enlarge its hall several times over, until there was room for a few hundred people to enter. The company established a free loan fund, which gave interest-free loans to its members with small payments of one rubel per week. All the people in Sokoly – the craftsmen, the butchers, the wagonners, the merchants in the market, and the peddlers in the villages – joined the company.

The Bnei Yaakov Company became the determining power in all the important public issues in the city, except for religious matters. The Company was the one who dictated to the heads of the congregation, that its opinion must be considered. There were no completely ignorant people in Sokoly without the spirit of Torah. A large portion of the craftsmen belonged to the mishnayot club. They had a rabbi who read them a chapter of Mishna every day. Some of the craftsmen belonged to the Torah club. They had a rabbi to taught a chapter of Chumash with commentaries every day, as well as ”Chayei Adam.” In the tailors' bet medrash, there was also a special rabbi. Many of the craftsmen were yeshiva students in their youth. There were dozens of craftsmen in Sokoly who took Torah scholars as bridegrooms for their daughters. Many of the craftsmen and ordinary, simple Jews, even though they did not have sons who were Torah scholars, did have sons who were talented, educated intellectuals and were skilled in business. Almost every family had one or more talented sons whose parents were proud of them. Thus, the simple Jews of Sokoly did not feel themselves to be of a lower stature. On the contrary, they felt themselves to be greatly distinguished. They were proud of their sons-in-law, their sons, their brothers and their sisters.

The well-known flour millers were Shalom Esterovitz and his two sons, Shabtai and Yitzchak. After World War I, they established a steam-operated flour mill in Sokoly.

Chaim Lev and his sister Henya

Another miller known in Sokoly was Berel the Miller, who was called “Der Bargever Milner.”

In his youth, Avraham Yankel Olsha owned a tavern in one of the villages. Later, he opened a bakery in Sokoly. He was a religious, intelligent man and was an Alexander Chasid. He was the father of six sons and four daughters. The sons were Moshe, Berel, Aharche, Shlomke, Hershel and Chaim; the daughters, Leah, Rachel, Toybe and Liba. His wife's name was Beila Rivka. Avraham Yankel Olsha's children were active in the congregation. The eldest daughter married Aharon Velvel, the son of the blacksmith Goldberg.

Shlomke Olsha married the daughter of Benyamin Rabinowitz, from the rabbinical family. He opened a paint store in Sokoly and managed the business with the help of his sons.

The son Hershel actually managed his father's bakery. When he served in the army, he was wounded in the leg, and limped for the rest of his life. He married a woman named Esther Leah, from Wysokie Mazowieckie. The couple had two children. Their son Fishel completed medical school and emigrated to the Land of Israel. He died young and left a wife and two children. Hershel's daughter Rachel also emigrated to the Land of Israel. She married and is the mother of three children. Hershel Olsha died of a heart attack after the Jews were driven out of Sokoly by the Germans. His wife was murdered in the Holocaust.

Avraham Yaakov Olsha and his wife Beila Rivka

Avraham Yankel's daughter Rachel was the mother of the famous Zionist Eliezer Shupakewitz who is in America. Another daughter, Toiba, married a boy from Zambrow named Yosef Solarz. They emigrated to the Land of Israel, where they opened a bakery. They later bought an orchard and house in Kfar Saba. Yosef Solarz recently became ill. He had a stroke, became paralyzed, and passed away.

Zvi Olsha, of blessed memory		Esther Leah Olsha, may G-d avenge her blood

Rachel Olsha-Shupakewitz, may she rest in peace		Dr. Fishel Olsha, of blessed memory

Another baker was Yechielke Somovitz. His bakery was on Bathhouse Street. He bought a neighboring house from Shlomo Zalman the painter and joined the two houses into one large house.

In his youth, Yechielke transported beer to the taverns. He was a wise Jew, the father of three sons and three daughters. His oldest son Yankel was a professional wagon maker, and was nicely established financially. His son Chaim worked with his father in the bakery. In Sokoly, he was known as “the philosopher” because he was an excellent daydreamer and loved to quote proverbs and prose. Yechielke's son Hershel completed elementary school and wanted to learn languages and to read scientific books. He was an intellectual in every meaning of the word, and was an expert in social and state problems. Hershel was married during the Soviet occupation to a girl from Pultusk.

Yosef Michel Solarz, of blessed memory

The fourth bakery in Sokoly belonged to Dina Burstein. Dina's husband, Avrahamke, was a lathe operator. In addition, every day he would bring containers of milk to town from the large farms in the neighboring villages. Aside from the bakery, Dina also sold milk from her house. She was an organized housewife. She received the bakery from her predecessor, Chaya Leah, who had emigrated to America. Her daughter Duba married Yankel, the son of Moshe Rachelsky; her daughter Rivka married a women's tailor, the shoemaker Chaim Yitzchak's grandson. The shoemaker Chaim Yitzchak had another grandson who was a women's tailor, who was known in Sokoly as Hershel Skok.

A fifth bakery belonged to the teacher Yisrael Hirshman. He was not personally involved in the job of baking. This, his wife Liba did with all her might, with the help of her son Nachum and her son-in-law, who was a professional baker. Yisrael Hirshman's oldest son, Meir, emigrated to the Land of Israel. He died a short time later at a young age. The rest of the Hirshman family was murdered in the Holocaust.

There was one more bakery in Sokoly, which belonged to Yankel the Bialystoker. He lived in the house of Moshe Koppel the shamash, and the bakery was there. He was an expert at baking cakes and cookies with onions and poppy seeds. Before the War broke out, he moved from Sokoly to Bialystok.

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