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Translation of
Sefer zikaron; Steibts-Sverzhnye ve-ha-ayarot
ha-semukhot Rubezevits, Derevno, Nalibok
Edited by: Nachum Hinitz
Published in Tel Aviv, 1964
Project Coordinators
Janis L. Datz and Melissa Rubin McCurdie
Our sincere appreciation to Haim Lungin, of the Former Residents of Steibtz
This is a translation from: Sefer zikaron; Steibts-Sverzhnye ve-ha-ayarot ha-semukhot Rubezevits, Derevno, Nalibok
(Memorial volume of Steibtz-Swerznie and the neighboring villages Rubezhevitz, Derevna, Nalibok), Editor: Nachum Hinitz,
Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Steibtz in Israel, 1964 (H,Y,E, 560 pages).
Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site:
Steibtz-Swerznie
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
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Yiddish translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund
Hebrew translated by Yocheved Klausner
| Hebrew | ||
| Since it reached me | Zalman Shazar | 5 |
| Foreword | 17 | |
| The Star of Stolpce | David Zakay | 18 |
| My Stolpce | Zalman Shazar | 19 |
| Zalman Shazar, the president of the State of Israel | (From the Press) | 24 |
| The speech of the President upon receiving honorary citizenship of Jerusalem | 25 | |
| The President, honorary member of the Capital's journalists | 26 | |
| The visit of the Pope in Israel | 26 | |
| The Monthly - published by Shazar in Stolpce in 1903 | 35 | |
| History of the City | ||
| The history of the Jews in Stolpce | Mordechai Machtey | 29 |
| My Shtetl Stolpce | Reuven Levin | 31 |
| At the outbreak of WWI | Mordechai Machtey | 35 |
| Rabbis | ||
| The Rav R'David Teveli; the Rav R' Simcha Shmuel; the Rav R'Benyamin b'Shmuel; the Rav R'Meir Noah Levin; the Rav R'Shlomo Mordechai Bronda; the Rav R'Avraham Yitzhak Maskil Le'eitan; the Rav R'Yoel Carmel Sorotzkin | M.Tzinowitz | 38 |
| The Rav R'Yoel Carmel Sorotzkin | Josef Dov Lachowitzky | 44 |
| The Rav R' A. Y. Maskil Le'eitan | The Rav R'Reuven Katz, of blessed memory | 45 |
| The Rav R'Yoel Sorotzkin | The Rav Zalman Sorotzkin | 48 |
| The Rav R'Yehoshua Dov Lieberman | Zvi Stolowitzki | 52 |
| The Rav R'Moshe Neufeld | Yitzhak Longin | 54 |
| The Rav R'Yerachmiel Leizersohn | The Rav Elchanan Sorotskin | 54 |
| The Chazon Ish | Getzel Reiser | 55 |
| Collected articles on the personality of the Chazon Ish | Tzwi Stolowitsky | 56 |
| The great scholar R'Reuven Katz zl | From Sha'ar Reuven | 58 |
| Rabbis Born in Stolpce | ||
| The Rav R'Yochanan Mirski; the rabbis R'David and R'Moshe Vilentchik; the Rav R'Yakov Vilentchik | M. Tzinowitz | 59 |
| Mirrored in the Press | ||
| Movements and Parties | ||
| In the old days | Getzel Reiser | 66 |
| Memories from the life of the Youth Movements | Dov ben Yerucham | 68 |
| The Youth in the Working Zionism | Baruch Aloni | 70 |
| The Hashomer Hatza'ir movement in Stolpce | Tamar Amarant (Rabinovich) | 73 |
| The Dry Bones | Dr. Israel Machtey | 73 |
| Institutions | ||
| Public Institutions; The cultural life; Schools; The Library | Mordechai Machtey | 76 |
| From all my teachers [based on Psalms 119:99] | Zalman Shazar | 80 |
| R'Chaim Itze Borsok; R'Moshe Leib Tzorlik; R'Yakov Meir Tzorlik; R'Bunia who taught Talmud in the Mir Yeshiva in Stolpce; The Hevra Kadisha [Burial Society] | Mordechai Machtey | 89 |
| The Tarbut School and its teachers | Eliezer Melamed | 90 |
| The school | Tamar Amarant (Rabinovich) | 91 |
| The new Bet Hamidrash | Mordechai Machtey | 92 |
| Religious schools: The Talmud Torah Horev; Bet Yaakov; The little Yeshiva; The learning circle Tif'eret Bahurim | Zwi Stolovitsky | 94 |
| Figures in town | ||
| Introduction | A.M. | 95 |
| The image of a Kohen - a memorial to my grandfather R'Eliyahu SHOV [the ritual slaughterer] | Dr. Israel Machtey | 95 |
| The teacher Alter | Menakham HaLevi | 98 |
| From my the Memory | Moshe bar [son of] Natan Akon | 99 |
| Nachum Reb Elya's | Getzel Reiser | 100 |
| R'Israel Yehuda Kaputchevski | The Rabbi Moshe Levin | 100 |
| Yitzhak Alter Yoselewitz | Shmuel Epstein | 102 |
| R'Meir Chayatowitz | Yitzhak Tunik, attorney | 102 |
| Scholars and Torah learners: the Rav R'Shlomo Chari; the Rav R'David Shmuelewitz; the Rav R' Moshe Giteles; the Rav R'Yakov Dominitz; R'Yehuda Leib Stolovitzki; R'Moshe Melamed; R'Yosef Miskov; the Rav R'Yeshayahu Borischanski | Tzwi Stolovitsky | 105 |
| Itche Margolin | Getzel Reiser | 110 |
| Hillel Akon; Shlomo Yosef Yichel | Mordechai Machtey | 111 |
| The model teacher | Dov ben Yerucham | 112 |
| One Kadish; the last rabbi of Stolpce | Rav Zalman Fiboschowitz | 114 |
| The Mesharet Moshe [wrote a book by this name]; the last rabbi; the last slaughterer | Mordechai Machtey | 115 |
| Tribute to the image of a dear friend of my youth | Rav Yitzhak Epstein | 117 |
| The Rebbetzin [rabbi's wife] Chasia-Miriam Sorotzkin | Rav Eliezer Maskil Le'eitan | 118 |
| Memories | ||
| A story of a dispute | Zalman Shazar | 120 |
| Memories from the days of my childhood | Mordechai Machtey | 124 |
| A poem | Yehezkiel ben Moshe | 127 |
| Memories | Gershon Rabinovich | 127 |
| My parents' home | Tamar (Amarant) Rabinovich | 128 |
| My family | Chana Bursuk | 129 |
| Our Home | The Prosinevski sisters | 129 |
| Between two regimes | ||
| The year 1939 | Dr. Ahron Machtey | 131 |
| A story of Wandering | Avraham Bursuk | 132 |
| The Holocaust | ||
| My Shtetl Stolpce | Nachman Flaksin | 134 |
| My escape to the forest | Shlomo Aginski | 135 |
| How I Survived | Zalman Aginsky | 137 |
| Going out of the Ghetto | David Levin | 139 |
| In Camp and in the forest | Aizik Bercovitch | 140 |
| The Shoah | Eliezer Melamed | 146 |
| On the death of my brother | Aizik Bercovitch | 160 |
| And you shall tell your son | David Levin | 170 |
| Dreamers and Fighters | ||
| Yosef Harkavi; Moshe Zaretzki; Boaz Axelrod; Hirsh Posesorski; Yakov Spiegel | Eliezer Melamed | 171 |
| Feive Aginski | Getzel Reiser | 176 |
| Yehoshua Peker; Yakov Reifeld; Meirke Machtey | Dov ben Yerucham | 177 |
| Asaf Shachnay | Miriam Shachnay | 177 |
| Sara Gershonowitz | Eli And Miriam Shachnay | 178 |
| Tanchum Rabinowitz | M. Neched | 178 |
| Elimelech Machtey | Dov ben Yerucham | 181 |
| Greetings at a party at the President's residence | Mordechai Machtey | 182 |
| President's greetings | 186 | |
| Yiddish | ||
| The Editors | 189 | |
| Foreword | Zalman Shazar | 190 |
| The Town and Its Development | ||
| Steibtz of the Past | Motl Machtey | 191 |
| A Lifetime With My Little Village | Zvi Hirsh Neyfeld | 196 |
| a. Sixty Years Ago | Mendl Machtey | 216 |
| b. The Ferry Over the Niemen River | Mendl Machtey | 220 |
| c. Designating Borders | Mendl Machtey | 223 |
| Movements and Parties | ||
| The Political-Social Life | Mordechai Machtey | 225 |
| Zionist Organizations | Shachne Shatskin | 228 |
| The Founding of Betar | Shachne Shatskin | 230 |
| Institutions | ||
| Social Activity Before the First War | Mordekhai Machtey | 232 |
| Stoibtz Firefighters | Mordechai Mirski, Betzalel Baskin | 235 |
| a. The Gmiles Khesed [interest-free loan organization] in Stolpce; b. Visiting the sick; c. The Craftsmen's Union | Getzel Reiser | 239 |
| Folklore | ||
| My Shtetle [small town] Stolpce | Ben Yerucham | 246 |
| Wagon Drivers | Mendl Machtey | 255 |
| Memories | Shmuel Miltsenzon | 257 |
| My memories of Shteibtz | Leibel Mirsky | 261 |
| a. He Kept His Word; b. My Last Lag Ba'Omer in Stolpce | Yitzchak Russak | 262 |
| Stolpce my town | Ahron Chayat | 264 |
| Memories | Roze Dvoretsky | 268 |
| A Family of a countryman | Israell Prashtsitsky | 270 |
| Gutkele | Roze Petshenik-Prusinovsky | 271 |
| Personalities | ||
| The Last Rabbi, Reb Yehoshua Lieberman | The Rabbi Nisan Waksman | 272 |
| The Rabbi, Reb Yehoshua Dov Lieberman | Yitzhak Aizik Shapira | 278 |
| My Stolpcer Melamdim [religious teachers] | Mordechai Machtey | 281 |
| A Bundle of Memories | Ahron Chayat | 283 |
| a. Two Communal Workers; b. Reb Leib Rozowski; c. the Kitojevitz Family | Getzel Reiser | 287 |
| Mulia Kaplan | Chana Borsok | 291 |
| Shlomo and Chiene Ruchl Mirski | Leibl Mirski | 292 |
| Elegy for Chazon Ish [Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz] | Chaim Grade | 293 |
| Pillar of Fire | Chaim Grade | 294 |
| Stars at Dawn | ||
| a. The Protector of the City; b. The Revenge of the Punishment; g. Wiera Yakowlewna | Zalman Shazar | 296 |
| Death | ||
| In the Ghetto and In the Camp | Getzel Reiser | 316 |
| With the Partisans | Sh. L. Aginsky, of blessed memory | 325 |
| Fragments from Forest in Flames | Josef Reich | 329 |
| From Those Terrible Days | Nakhema Inzelbukh | 336 |
| Fear and Pain | Ester Brukhansky | 338 |
| A Terrible Day | David Slutsak | 339 |
| How I Survived | Shimeon Epstein | 341 |
| The Death of the Jews in the Villages | Mendl Machtey | 342 |
| Memorial | Batya Miltsezon | 344 |
| I Remember | Betsalel Baskin | 345 |
| How Can We Forget | Nakhman Folksin | 347 |
| a. Back to Stolpce in July 1944; b. Official Report of the Session of Grief | Getzel Reiser | 348 |
| A Letter | Noakh Barsok | 351 |
| The First Letters from Stolpce | Rywka Kantorovitz | 353 |
| The First Letters from Stolpce | Azriel Tunik | 353 |
| The First Letters from Stolpce | Chava Tunik | 354 |
| A letter from a soldier of the Jewish Brigade | Dov Germiza | 354 |
| Letters from Africa and Argentina | Bashke (Basia) Milcenzon | 355 |
| Letters from Africa | Yehezkel Russak | 355 |
| Letters from Argentina | Henie Kushnir | 357 |
| Our Organization in Israel | The Editors | 358 |
| The bylaws of the Association | The Editors | 359 |
| Landsmanschaftn [organizations of people from the same town] | ||
| A Short Report of Our Activities | Roze Dvoretsky | 362 |
| A Report from Our Committee | Betsalel Baskin | 363 |
| The Stolpcer Spiegel [mirror] | From America | 365 |
| A Short Overview | Harris Malbin | 365 |
| My Memories of 30 Years | Sam Tunik | 366 |
| Pictures from Home | Dr. Seifert | 369 |
| A Story from the Childhood Years | H. Lempert | 370 |
| The History of My Childhood Years | Nakhum Rozovsky | 372 |
| Stolpce As I Remember It | Dr. Seifert | 373 |
| Stolpcer Landsmanschaft Sent Their Torah Scrolls to Israel | Forverts | 374 |
| Josl-Shaya the Melamed [religious primary school teacher] | Mordechai Machtey | 275 |
| To All Former Stolpcer Jews | The Committee | 376 |
| I Return | Zalman Shazar | 377 |
| Poems | Nakhman Flaksin | 377 |
| Two Stolpcer Golden Weddings | The Committee of the organization | 378 |
| The Book of Sverzhna [Svierzan] | ||
| Contents of the Book of Sverzhan | 381 | |
| Rebzevits (Rubezhevichi) | Mendl Machtey | 485 |
| The Destruction of Jewish Rebzevits and its Vicinty | Gishke Falayesh | 486 |
| From the Press [H] | M. Tsinovitz | 488 |
| The Rabbi Leib Pupka, the Son of the Chofetz Chaim, a Resident of Rebzevits | 489 | |
| My Shtetele Derevna | Ahron Broyda | 490 |
| The town Nalibok, its life and its destruction | Chaim Shlosberg | 491 |
| Conclusion | The Publishing Committee | 494 |
| Alphabetical list of martyrs | 495 | |
| List of Sverzhne martyrs | 504 | |
| List of partisans who have fallen in the forests and in battle | 506 | |
| List of former Stolpce residents who died in Israel | 507 | |
| List of former Stolpce residents who died in Argentina | 508 | |
| Obituaries - for their holy remembrance | 508 | |
| Family photographs | 517 | |
| Foreword | Zalman Shazar | IV |
| The History of Steibtz | VIII | |
| A Short Report of Our Activities | Rosa Dvoretsky | IX |
| A Short Report of Our Activities | Icheskel Russak | XIII |
| Germiston Pioneers Celebrate Golden Wedding | XIV | |
| How Steibtz Was Destroyed | XV | |
| The Founding of Our Society in Israel | XIX | |
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