The Book of Strzyzow and Vicinity
(Strzyżów, Poland)

49°52' / 21°48'

Translation of
Sefer Strzyzow ve-ha-seviva

Edited by: Itzhok Berglass and Shlomo Yahalomi-Diamond

Published in Tel Aviv, 1969


 

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Phyllis Kramer z”l

 

Our sincere appreciation to Genia Hollander & Helen Rosenstein Wolf
for typing up the English text to facilitate its addition to this project.

Our thanks to Stefanie Holzman for extracting the pictures from the original book,
enabling their addition to the project.

The Hebrew-Yiddish text was printed in Israel
and translated by Harry Langsam in Los Angeles, USA

Our sincere appreciation to Harry Langsam for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Strzyzow, Poland: Sefer Strizhuv ve-ha-seviva
(Memorial Book of Strzyzow and vicinity), Editors: J. Berglas, Sh. Yahalomi (Diamant),
Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Strzyzow in Israel and Diaspora, 1969 (H, Y 480 pages).

Note:The original books can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Strzyzow (1969) and Strzyzow (1990)

Purchase details for a printed copy of this translation can be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_Strzyzow.html

 


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Welcome to Strzyzow(Coordinator's introduction)
 
Dedication 1
Acknowledgment 2
Commemoration of Martyrs 3
Quotation from poems of Reb Yehuda Halevi, and Uri Tzvi Greenberg 4
Strzyzow my little town- Shlomo Yahalomi 5
The book of remembrance- Itzhoc Berglass 7
Do Not Forget- Shlomo Yahalomi 8
 
ABOUT THE RABBIS IN STRZYZOW - Shlomo Yahalomi 10-19
 
The spiritual Strzyzow 10
Rabbis who served in Strzyzow and became famous 10
Rabbi Aryeh Leib Halevi 11
The godly kabalist, Rabbi Eliezer Fishel 11
The Tzadik from Ropczyce, Rabbi Naphtali Horowitz 11
Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro 12
The holy Rabbi Elazar from Lancut and Strzyzow 12
Rabbi Israel Dov Gelernter 13
Rabbi Shlomo Shapiro 14
The Tzadic Rabbi Alter Zev Horowitz 19
The Assistant Rabbis in Strzyzow 19
 
STRZYZOW AND ITS INHABITANTS- Itzhok Berglass 21-61
 
Strzyzow my birthplace 21
The population in Strzyzow 23
How did the Jews make a living 24
The Rabbis in Strzyzow 24
Stryzow and its inhabitants 25
The Rabbi from Sassov 27
The community leadership. “The Kehillah” 28
The spiritual and social life of the Jews 30
Sabbath and holidays in Strzyzow 31
Family life in Strzyzow
Emigration 36
The synagogues in Strzyzow 36
The public bathhouse 39
The cemeteries in Strzyzow 39
Charity institutions and their activities 40
Jewish traditional education in Strzyzow 43
Secular education 47
Political parties in Strzyzow 50
The Zionist Movement in Strzyzow 51
Professionals and intelligentsia in Strzyzow 57
Negative types 57
Converts 57
The relationship between Jews and Poles 58
The Ritter story 58
The pogrom in 1898 59
Memories from the 1898 pogrom - Tzvi Sternberg 61
The pogrom in Strzyzow in 1918 - Itzhok Berglass 62
The blood libel in Strzyzow - Itzhok Berglass 63
Strzyzow and its inhabitants 66
These I Will remember - Shlomo Yahalomi 68
People who studied the Torah - Shlomo Yahalomi 70
The Yeshiva Eitz Chaim In Strzyzow - Shlomo Yahalomi 71
The cheders and the melamdim - Shlomo Yahalomi 71
Reb Mordechai Rosenbaum - Shlomo Yahalomi 72
Reb Yechezkiel Gorgel - adam's apple - Shlomo Yahalomi 72
Reb Yosl from Brzozow - Shlomo Yahalomi 73
Reb Israel Leib Karp - Shlomo Yahalomi 73
The Agudat Israel - Shlomo Yahalomi 73
The relationship between Agudat Israel and Zionists - Shlomo Yahalomi 75
One among thousand - Moshe Mussler 76
When did the Jews settle in Strzyzow - Moshe Mussler 77
First rays of progress in Shtetl - Moshe Mussler 78
The forbearers Of the Holocaust - Moshe Mussler 80
To you, Kaddish I say my dear shtetl - Pinchos Klotz Aloni 81
Strzyzow - Yechezkiel–Harry Langsam 84
The Bais Yacov School in Strzyzow - Gold Miller–Langsam 85
Hassidim in Strzyzow - Mordechai Schiff 87
My Shtetl - Eliezer Gruber 88
How Mordechai Goldberg save the town - Tzvi Elazar Sternberg 90
My Shtetl Strzyzow - Leah Loos 91
   
PERSONALITIES AND EVENTS
 
About the old Strzyzow
A royal visit at Reb Aaron Kanner
- Shlomo Yahalomi
96
Reb Joel Margalit, of blessed memory - Shlomo Yahalomi 98
Reb Itzikl Diller makes a choice between Sandz and Sadigora - Shlomo Yahalomi 98
How Rabbi Chaim from Sandz gave a thrashing to Reb Shlomo from Zyznow - Shlomo Yahalomi 99
Rabbi Alter Zev Horowitz - Shlomo Yahalomi 100
Rabbi Nechemiah Shapiro - Shlomo Yahalomi 103
The Assistant Rabbi Yacov Shpalter - Shlomo Yahalomi 106
Memories from Strzyzow - Itzhok Deutch 107
A Miracle - Itzhok Deutch 108
A Jewish Heart - Itzhok Deutch 110
Hanukkah in Shtetl - Harry Langsam 111
Piquant stories from Strzyzow - Heschel Diamand 113
An awful story about “Rev'EE” - Heschel Diamand 113
How Reb Yosl, the sexton, had suddenly gone deaf - Heschel Diamand 114
Reb Baruch Berglass - Shlomo Yahalomi 114
Reb Avrehmal'E Goldman - Shlomo Yahalomi 116
Reb Hershel Gelander who Chanted the Mussaf Prayers - Shlomo Yahalomi 116
My father, my teacher, Reb Joseph Diamand - Shlomo Yahalomi 118
Reb Elazar Wurtzel. The Man of hints and gestures - Shlomo Yahalomi 121
Reb David Wiener - Shlomo Yahalomi 122
Reb Feitel Last and his son Shlomo - Shlomo Yahalomi 123
Reb Chaim Mandel - Shlomo Yahalomi 126
Reb Yeshayahu Mandel Hacohen - Shlomo Yahalomi 127
Reb Chaim Yacov Nuremberg - Shlomo Yahalomi 128
“A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed” - Shlomo Yahalomi 129
Reb Yacov Schiff - Shlomo Yahalomi 135
Half of the rewards in the hereafter - Shlomo Yahalomi 136
“When the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty” - Shlomo Yahalomi 139
In memory of the faultless and the simple Jews - Shlomo Yahalomi 139
The righteous and the beloved, Reb Eisik Holles - Moshe Mussler 143
Reb Eisik the Sexton - Moshe Mussler 144
The Teachings of Moshe Mendelsohn - Moshe Mussler 146
A Tree Was Cut Down Prematurely - Moshe Mussler 147
The Faultless - Moshe Mussler 149
Meir Hertzkes - Moshe Mussler 150
The clever and the not so clever. Shlomo Bier - Moshe Mussler 151
Meir Ber who was intimate with the authorities - Moshe Mussler 152
The eccentric Heschel Holoshitz. “Heschel the peasant” - Moshe Mussler 154
The needy - Moshe Mussler 156
The unfortunate families - Itzhok Berglass 157
The first Zionist in Strzyzow - Itzhok Berglass 160
Rizhi, the righteous woman - Itzhok Berglass 161
There were four of us - Itzhok Berglass 162
Reb Simcha Feingold, of blessed memory - Ben Ami Feingold 164
The large, well–rooted families in Strzyzow - Shlomo Yahalomi 165
The Adest family, The Berglass family, The Diamand Family - Shlomo Yahalomi 166
The Holles family, The Kanner family, The Mandel family - Shlomo Yahalomi 168
The Mintz family - Shlomo Yahalomi 169
Reb Hershel Resler and his sons–in–law - Shlomo Yahalomi 169
The Rosen brothers, The Schefler Family, The Sturm Family - Shlomo Yahalomi 170
The Tenzer family - Shlomo Yahalomi 171
   
ABOUT DAILY LIFE AND TRIVIAL EVENTS IN STRZYZOW. ODD STORIES
 
Gentiles Reciting the Prayer “Shema Israel” - Itzhok Berglass 173
The District Commissioner's Party - Itzhok Berglass 173
The Thousands That Were Burned - Itzhok Berglass 175
The Prescription - Itzhok Berglass 175
A Conscientious Ignoramus - Itzhok Berglass 176
The “Resolution” by the Rabbis to Observe the Sabbath Twice a Week - Itzhok Berglass 177
The Relations Between the Jews and Gentiles - Itzhok Berglass 177
The Jews Extinguished the Fire in a Gentile House - Itzhok Berglass 177
How the Jews Saved Gentile Property during the Flood - Itzhok Berglass 178
The Zionist Movement and my Road to Zionism - Leah Loos 178
Repentance - Leah Loos 180
The Deal with the Ukrainians - Itzhok Berglass 180
The Elections to the City Government - Itzhok Berglass 181
The Unsuccessful Intervention - Itzhok Berglass 183
Jewish Contact with the Authorities - Itzhok Berglass 185
How the Word “Choshiver” was Changed to “Hashomer” - Itzhok Berglass 185
The Election to the Polish Parliament - Itzhok Berglass 187
The Kindergarten Inspection - Itzhok Berglass 188
This Also Happened in Our Town - Moshe Mussler 189
Long Live the Kaiser - Moshe Mussler 192
Books Burned on the Auto–Da–Fe - Moshe Mussler 193
Inference - Moshe Mussler 194
   
FROM THE DISTANT AND NOT SO DISTANT PAST OF STRZYZOW
 
The Man Who Was No Coward - Shlomo Yahalomi 195
A Proper Answer - Shlomo Yahalomi 195
A Clever Jew - Shlomo Yahalomi 195
The Merchandise is Already Packed - Shlomo Yahalomi 195
A Powerful Word - Shlomo Yahalomi 197
Everything Has To Be Her Way? - Shlomo Yahalomi 197
What was Reb Hersh Ber the Sexton Doing? - Shlomo Yahalomi 195
The Rabbi's Insinuation - Shlomo Yahalomi 198
The Righteous Who Never Sinned - Shlomo Yahalomi 195
Good Morning - Shlomo Yahalomi 198
The Story About the Treasurers Who Were Forced to Resign - Shlomo Yahalomi 198
Reb Baruch Diller Explained That the Willingness is the Essence - Shlomo Yahalomi 198
The “Dreadful Story” about Mother's Earrings - Shlomo Yahalomi 198
With or Without a Permit - Shlomo Yahalomi 200
What is a Mitzva and How Did Joshua's Spies Cross the River Jordan - Shlomo Yahalomi 200
He Used Hands Without Having Said the Proper Blessing - Shlomo Yahalomi 200
The special “Sabbatical Inspiration” - Shlomo Yahalomi 201
The Father and Son's Card Game - Shlomo Yahalomi 201
The Son Sued the Father - Shlomo Yahalomi 201
Reb Hershal'e Schiffs Eye Glasses - Shlomo Yahalomi 201
Reb Israel Gertner Opposed Buying on Credit - Shlomo Yahalomi 202
Such a “Repentant Sinner” - Shlomo Yahalomi 202
Yacov or Yacov Chaim - Shlomo Yahalomi 202
Every Rabbi Specializes in a Different Sickness - Shlomo Yahalomi 202
Which Fast Was the Best? - Shlomo Yahalomi 203
And What is Called a “Ruined Holiday” - Shlomo Yahalomi 203
“We Implore Thee, O Lord, Prosper Us” - Shlomo Yahalomi 203
   
MEMORIES FROM STRZYZOW
 
In The Days Past - Professor Dr. Ch. Lehrman 204
Contrasting Worlds - Professor Dr. Ch. Lehrman 217
 
THE HOLOCAUST AND THE AFTERMATH
 
The Second World War and the Holocaust- Itzhok Berglass 233
Children in captivity- Itzhok Berglass 253
After the war and the Holocaust- Itzhok Berglass 255
1967- Itzhok Berglass 259
   
WORDS OF CONTEMPLATION AND THOUGHTS
 
Judaism and Nationalism - Rabbi Israel Frenkel 262
A Partial Answer, Regret and Guilt - Rabbi Israel Frenkel 266
Our Strength Against a Hostile World - Rabbi Israel Frenkel 268
Martyrdom and the Sanctity of Life - Rabbi Isaac Glikman 269
I Shall See the Holocaust Before My Eyes Forever - Shlomo Yahalomi 272
Remembrance and Forgetfulness - Rabbi Samuel Nachum Frenkel 276
   
WRITTEN BY SURVIVORS
 
In Memory of My Family – Obliterated in the Holocaust - Itzhok Berglass 279
My Family - Shoshana Ginsberg nee Scheffler 281
My mother - Pinchos Klotz–Aloni 281
Father Said: Do Not Remain Here - Shulamit Grinwald–Hasenkopg 282
The Bitter Account - Shlomo Yahalomi 284
My Father Reb Chaim Itzhok Kalb - Ben Zion Kalb 289
The People of Israel Shall Live! - Leah Loos 290
In Memory of My Parents Who Perished Somewhere in Poland - Dr. Chanan Lehrman 292
Memories from My Father's House - Seryl Fishler–Mandel 294
My Holy Father the Martyr, Reb Abraham Kalb the Shochet, of Blessed Memory - Ben Zion Kalb
In Memory of My Father and My Town - Menachem the son of Moshe Kandel–Nuremberg
In Memory of My Family - Ruth Kremerman–Russ 298
In Memory of My Father, Sister with Her Family - Harry Langsam 298
Days and Years in Strzyzow - Chana Schiff–Shmulewicz 301
Eta Hacker, (From the Landesman–Diamand Family) - Shlomo Yahalomi 303
How I Found Out About the Town of My Origin, Strzyzow - Shlomo Neumann 304
 
FROM THE LEGACY OF THE MARTYRS
 
Naphtali the Son of Reb Chaim Mandel…May G–d Avenge His Blood 306
Why Did G–d Punish Me So Severely? - Eta Federbush–Diamand 307
Excerpt From a Letter Written to Leah Loos in Eretz Israel - Liba Greenblatt and Sarah Alta Mandel 308
Letter From the Nazi–Occupied Territory - Eta Falk–Dembitzer 309
A Letter to Itzhok Berglass in Pimia, Siberia - Chaya Feirush–Berglass 309
A Letter to Itzhok Berglass in Pimia, Siberia - Nechama Bernstein–Berglass 310
A Plea for Support to the Secretary of the Strzyzow Society in the United States 310
Letter of Recommendation from Itzhok Berglass 313
Letter of Recommendation from Abraham Tenzer 315
Letter from the Free Loan Society in Strzyzow To the Strzyzow Relief Committee in New York 315
 
THE VICINITY
 
The Little Towns - Itzhok Berglass 317
The Villages - Itzhok Berglass 318
The Village Lutcza - Itzhok Berglass 319
The Jewish Villagers were the Pillars of Benefaction - Shlomo Yahalomi 320
Reb Eliyahu Bilut from Lutcza - Shlomo Yahalomi 321
Reb Yechezkiel Wallach from Lutcza - Shlomo Yahalomi 322
The Large Diamand Family - Shlomo Yahalomi 323
   
MEMORIES FROM THE DAYS OF THE HOLOCAUST
 
The cup of sorrow from which I drank during the Holocaust years - Moshe Mussler 324
At the edge of the Sheol - Shlomo Yahalomi 332
On the third anniversary of my exile - Shlomo Yahalomi 332
Seven Rosh Hashanahs - Shlomo Yahalomi 333
Purim in jail - Shlomo Yahalomi 334
Passover. The festival of freedom in prison - Shlomo Yahalomi 337
Rosh Hashana 1940 in the Odessa prison - Shlomo Yahalomi 338
Shavuoth night, 1941 - Shlomo Yahalomi 339
Rosh Hashanah, 1941. In the collective farm “Mocry Maidan” near Saratov - Shlomo Yahalomi 340
Go ahead. Pray! Rosh Hashanah 1942 - Shlomo Yahalomi 341
“In the land of the free”. Rosh Hashanah 1943. “Peat Enterprises” - Shlomo Yahalomi 342
United with my brother once again. Rosh Hashanah, 1944. - Shlomo Yahalomi 343
Rosh Hashanah 1945. The last Rosh Hashanah in Soviet Russia - Shlomo Yahalomi 344
Memories from the land of Exile - Itzhok Berglass 345
The location of our exile - Itzhok Berglass 346
The protest - Itzhok Berglass 348
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good” - Itzhok Berglass 348
The holidays in Siberia - Itzhok Berglass 350
Memories of the first days of Poland's occupation by the Nazi - Simcha Langsam 352
The situation in Strzyzow - Simcha Langsam 354
Memories - Simcha Langsam 357
Zitomir - Simcha Langsam 359
Ben Zion Kalb saved many Jewish lives during the Holocaust - Shlomo Yahalomi 364
Letter from the Jewish Agency 365
Letter from Rabbi Weismandel to Ben Zion Kalb 369
A postcard from the valley of death 374
Letters to Ben Zion Kalb from Taivia Lubetkin and “Antek” Itzhok Zukerman, leaders in the Warsaw ghetto 374
My last Simchat Torah in Strzyzow - Harry (Yechezkiel) Langsam 379
Memories from the days of horror. Jumping off the death–train - Itzhok Leib Rosen 380
The struggle with the Jewish “Kapos” - Itzhok Leib Rosen 381
“Yiddishkeit” in the German concentration camps - Itzhok Leib Rosen 383
The horrible years. 1942–1945 -Hilda Mandel-Feit 384
Surviving in the Lion's den - Pearl Strengerwoski–Rosen 385
“Kol Nidrei” in Auschwitz - Joseph Weinberg 387
My road of suffering - Reuven Greenbaum 390
   
FOR THE HOMELAND
 
The Fighters - Itzhok Berglass 391
Yacov Feingold, of blessed memory - Itzhok Berglass 391
To the Laterbaum Sisters - Itzhok Berglass 391
The Casualties - Itzhok Berglass 393
Joseph Asher, of blessed memory - Leah Laos 393
My brother Michael Kalb, of blessed memory - Aryeh Kalb 397
Moshe Lehrman, of blessed memory - Aryeh Kalb 399
Parting, Eulogy by Rabbi M. Shapiro - Aryeh Kalb 399
My comrade Moshe - Shlomo Levi 400
Tzvi Navon, of blessed memory - Shlomo Levi 402
Tzvi Navon, of blessed memory, on the shloshim of his death - Zalman 402
To my brother - Chaya Levin 404
Aaron, the son of Yacov Kanner, of blessed memory - Chaya Levin 406
Aaron Kanner - Chaya Levin 406
Chanan Abraham Kalb, of blessed memory - Chaya Levin 406
 
THE DESTRUCTION OF FRYSZTAK
 
How the Nazis annihilated a Hassidic shtetl- Menashe Unger 408
The Rabbi of Koloszyce in Frysztak- Menashe Unger 410
The holy headscarf- Chaim Lieberman 412
 
LIST OF THE MARTYRS OF STRZYZOW AND VICINITY
 
Of thee I cry, my eye is shedding a tear - Simcha Langsam 415
The list of martyrs 417
The martyrs of Frysztak and Czudec 431
The departed in the Holy Land 433
   
IN MEMORY OF OUR BROTHERS, THE JEWS OF STRZYZOW
 
The Monument 434
The Torah Scroll 434
The text of the inscription on the plaque 440
 
REMNANTS OF THE COMMUNITY
 
Natives of Strzyzow throughout the world - Itzhok Berglass 441
Israel 443
United States of America 446
Canada, Latin America, Brazil 449
 
REMNANTS OF THE COMMUNITY IN EUROPE
 
Poland, Germany, England, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria 453-457
To the conclusion of this book - Shlomo Yahalomi 458
Update on Strzyzow 462
A memorial to Chudnov, in the district of Zitomir, U.S.S.R. - Harry Langsam 464
Pictures from Stryzow 466
Memorial Pages 497
Glossary 539
Name index 545 to 557
Photographs from Strzyzow 558 to 560

 


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