Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Marian Rubin

 

With appreciation to Mrs. Klara Ma'ayan, Tel Aviv, president of the Rzeszow (Reisha) Landsmanschaft, for granting permission to translate the Reisha Yizkor Book and put it on the JewishGen website, and with thanks also for his consent to Mr. Stanley Low, New Jersey, whose father, Irving Low, played a major role in publishing the original book.

With appreciation and thanks to Aliya Middleton (nee Senensieb) and Eda (Ester) Senensieb (nee Kraut) for their generosity with their skill and care in proof-reading, beginning in late 2000.

This translation is funded by contributions from the following people: Jonathan Ansell, Robert Atlas, Eleanor Bien, Ilan Blech, Michael Franzblau, David Geller, Gary Goffin, Sally Goodman, Eden Joachim, Nancy Koretz, Joerg-Rein.Kropp, Robert Lebowitz, Harry Low, Stanley Low, Ryan Luft, Charles Reich, Robin C. Rodney, Marian Rubin, George Salton, Joel Shield, Pearl Shottenfeld, Robert Silverstein, Carol Skydell, Renee Steinig and Claude Trink, Alfred Amkraut, Susana Leistner Bloch, Louis A. Fine, Steven Hellinger, Molly and Roman Nadel, Gedalia Sharon, Perl Wohlfeld.

This is a translation from: Rzeszow, Poland: Kehilat Raysha; sefer zikaron (Rzeszow community; memorial book),
Editors: M. Yari-Wold, Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Rzeszow in Israel and the USA, 1967 (H,Y,E, 762 pages)

Introductory remarks

from the coordinator of the Rzeszow Yizkor book Translation Project, Marian Rubin:

Mrs. Klara Munzberg Ma'ayan, Tel Aviv, president of the Reisha Landsmanschaft, has dedicated her life to the remembrance of the Reisha community. Mrs. Ma'ayan arranges the annual yahrzeit (memorial) service for the Reisha community in Israel each year. She initiated a project resulting in a beautiful memorial site in the woods of Glogow where approximately 5,000 Jews from Reisha and nearby towns were murdered by the Nazis. Mrs. Ma'ayan spoke eloquently at the ceremony to dedicate the memorial site on June 26, 1995. In June 1998, Mrs. Ma'ayan and some members of the Landsmanschaft attended a ceremony in Rzeszow to dedicate a plaque placed in the synagogue in memory of their lost community.

Mrs. Ma'ayan and her husband Artek Ma'ayan, who died in Israel in 1994, and whom Mrs. Ma'ayan speaks of in her story, have three children, and several grandchildren.

Hebrew Section

Contents		5
Photographs		8
A Note by the Publication Committee		10
Editors' Foreword		11
Lament	Shlomo Tal	13
Reisha	Berish Weinstein	14
Map of Rzeszow & Vicinity		16
The History of the Jews of Rzeszow	Dr. N. M. Gelber
Note from translator
Chapter 1: The Development of the Town		17 - 24
Chapter 2: The Beginning of Jewish Settlement in Rzeszow Until 1772		25 - 31
Chapter 3: Occupations and Livelihood of the Jews		31 - 36
Chapter 4: The Community		36 - 42
Charper 5: The Rabbis of the City		42 - 45
Chapter 6: The Cemetery		45 - 47
Chapter 7: The Period of Austrian Rule, 1772-1848		47 - 54
Chapter 8: Rzeszow from 1849-1919		55 - 63
Chapter 9: Rzeszow from 1919-1939		63 - 64
The Goldsmiths of Reisha	Dr. Moshe Yaari Wald	65
Pages of History	Dr. Henry Y. Wachtel of New York	66 - 67
Jewish Reisha	Zvi Simha Leder	68
Faith & Tradition in Rzeszow
The Rabbis of Rzeszow		71
Reishe	Abba Apfelbaum
The City and the Rabbis	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	72
1. The Early Kehilla
2. The Rabbis of the Kehilla
3. The Rabbi and Gaon Reb Shmuel Halevi and his sons
4. The Gaon Reb Aryeh Leib, son-in-law of the "Hacham Zvi", and his son the Gaon Reb Jacob Jolles, author of "Melo Haroim"		80
My Grandfather, Rabbi Nathan Levin	Rabbi Dr. Isaac Levin	82
Traits of Rabbi Nathan Levin	Shlomo Tal	85
The Rabbi, Reb Aaron Levin	Rabbi Dr. Isaac Levin	86
My Father, Rabbi Dr. Ezekiel Levin	Isaac (Kurt) Levin	91
Rabbi Nathan Levin and his Bet Din	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	93
My Father, Rabbi Yekutiel Arieh Kamelhar	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	95
Rabbi Nahum Reuben Felsker	Rabbi Issachar Berish Halperin	100
Rabbi Berish Steinberg	Rabbi Moshe Halevi	100
Reb Joseph Reich	Shlomo Tal	101
Hassidism in Rzeszow
Rzeszow in Hassidic Circles	M. Sh. Geshuri	103 - 107
Hassidic Courts	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	107 - 115
The Rabbi of Blazowa and His Dynasty	Shlomo Tal	115 - 118
Religious Education in Rzeszow
Yeshivot in Reisha	M. S. Geshuri	118
Shamashim (Synagogue Attendants)	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	119
Cantors and Synagogue Music in Reisha	M. S. Geshuri	120
Meir Diener	Pessah Diener	123
Dov Menahem Konvisser	Herzl Konvisser	123
Prayer-Leaders for the Days of Awe		124
Synagogues in Reisha	Eng. David Davidovitch	125
In the Haskala Press		128
Before and Between the World Wars
Rzeszow in the Past	Leon Weisenfeld	132
During the Interregnum	Dr. Moshe Yaari Wald	134 - 136
The Chaos of 1918	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	137
The Pogrom of Rzeszow	Naftali Hakhel	137
The Sejm (Parliament) Committee, and the Ministers from Rzeszow	Dr. Yechezkel Lewin	138
The Morgenthau commission in Central Galicia	Yosef Storch	140
Organizations and Factions
"Hashachar" in Rzeszow	Dr. N. M. Gelber	141
"Shulamit"	Dvora Abramowitz	142
A. General Zionists in Rzeszow	Dr. Moshe Yaari-Wald	143
Untitled	Shlomo Alweis	144
B. The First of Poalei Zion		145
History of Poalei Zion in Rzeszow	Michael Walzer-Fass of Hod Hasharon (Hadar Ramataim)	146
"Hashachar" "Haivria" and "Hechalutz"	Alter Tishbi (Sitz)	151 - 153
Organizations and Societies in Rzeszow	David the son of Avraham Tuchfeld	153 - 157
Religious Parties	Naftali Hakhel of Tel Aviv	157
The Founding of the Mizrachi	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	158
The History of "Mizrachi" in Rzeszow	M. S. Geshuri	160 - 171
"Agudas Yisrael"	Shlomo Tal	164
Revisionist Movement (its beginning and development)	Avraham Mussinger	165
Organization of Jewish Academics in Rzeszow	Yehoshua Alexander Rosner (Keller)	169
Youth in Rzeszow during the 1930s	Pepa Wachspress-Lisak Tuchfeld	170
The Birth of Hashomer Hatzair	Meir Yaari	172
"Hashomer Hatzair" in Rzeszow from 1924	Abraham Mussinger	173
The "Hashomer Hatzair" Chapter in Rzeszow That Shaped Me	Sara Altman (Batist)	175 - 177
Hashomer Hatzair Members Make Aliya	Eva Kirsch	177
Rzeszow Emigres in Hashomer Hatzair Kibbutzim	Tuvia Yaari	177
In Memory of the "Hechalutz" Chapter	Lotka Kleid (Schlisselberg)	178
Years of Setback	Marcus Dornfest	179
Jewish Members of the Communist Party in Rzeszow	Dr. Moshe Yaari	180
The "Noar Tzioni"	Yehoshua Strassberg	181 - 183
Between the Years 1924-1939	Klara Ma'ayan (Munzberg)	183
The Hebrew School	Professor Yitzhak Weiss	186
Once Upon a Time There Was a School	Sabina Schneeweiss	187
The Nucleus of the Hebrew School	Dr. Mauricy Ungar	188
Sport In Rzeszow	Lawyer Alexander Joshua Rosner-Keller	189
The "Bar Kochba" Sport Association	Avraham Ungar	191
The Society for the Preservation of Health	Dr. Mauricy Ungar	192
Workers' Children's House in Rzeszow	Louis Estherman	193
Beit Haam and the Hospital in Rzeszow	Michael Walzer-Fass	195
The Publishing House of M. Goldberg	Lotka Goldberg	198
Demographics of Rzeszow Jewry in the Year 1939	Manes Fromer	199
Memories and Experiences
A Portrait of Rzeszow at the Beginning of the 20th Century	Dr. Moshe Yaari Wald	201
Some Memories	Dr. Shlomo Horowitz	225
A Heritage from a Reisha Home	Meir Yaari	228
Childhood in Reisha	Anda Amir Pinkerfeld	228
Rzeszow Jews and Censuses	Ben Zion Fett	229
Reisha at the End of the 1st World War 1914 - 1918	M. Ungerfeld	232
Early Years in Reisha	Irving Low	234
One in a Thousand	Uzzi ben Moshe and Ronni Wechsler	235
Reisha in the First World War	S. An-ski	238
Reisha	Professor S. I. Penueli	239
Maskilim and Writers
From "the Sages of the City"	Gershon Bader	243
1. Moshe David Geschwind		243
2. Abba Apfelbaum		244
3. Isaac Holzer		244
4. Oswald Henigsmann		244
5. Leon Wiesenfeld		244
6. Moshe Wiesenfeld		244
7. Asher Simha Weissmann		245
8. Wilhelm Turteltaub		245
On Abba Apfelbaum:		245
1. Writer and Communal Worker	Raphael Rosenzweig	245
2. Founder of the Teudat Israel School	Dr. Ovadiah Barshal	246
3. Historian and Scholar	Dr. Moshe Alter	248
Dr. Moshe Alter		248
Naphtali Ashriel-Glicksman	Hanina Mizrahi	249
My Father Hayyim Wald	Dr. Moshe Yaari Wald	249
My Brother Moshe	Leon Wiesenfeld	252
Leon and Esther Wiesenfeld	Michael Walzer Fass	253
Berish Weinstein	Professor Dov Sedan	256
Berish Weinstein	Moshe Starkmann	257
Berish Weinstein and his Reisha	Nathan Yonathan	258
Dr. Henry Isaac Wachtel	E.P.	259
Dr. Benjamin Schlager	Simha Seiden	259
Zwi Simha Leder	Leon Wiesenfeld	260
On Professor S. I. Penueli	G. Kressel	260
Simha Seiden	Zvi Simha Leder	261
Ben-Zion Fett	Isaac Estreicher	261
The Violin of Nahum Sternheim	Manes Fromer	262
Personalities And Characters
Reisha Personalities	Dr. Moshe Yaari	264
1. Jacob Alter
2. Meshullam Davidson
3. Dr. Felix Hopfen
4. Dr. Aaron Arthur Wang
5. Asher Juda Silber
6. Levi-Leon Hayyim
7. Dr. Zvi Henryk Kanerek
Meshullam Davidson	Tuviah Yaari	271
Naphtali Tuckfeld
Anna Kahana	Leon Wiesenfeld	272
Elimelech Katz	M. S. Geshuri	272
Irving Low	David Ben Joseph	273
My Father Shlomo Minzberg	Klara Maayan	274
Rabbi Dr. Zvi Koretz	Simha Seiden	275
Jacob Elimelech Knecht and his Wife	Isaac Estreicher	276
Joseph Sheinblum	Zeev Zohar	277
Moshe Wang	Abraham Wang	277
Isaac Estreicher	Leon Wiesenfeld	278
1. Motish Eckstein's Family		280
2. The Mintz Family	Shlomo Tal
Jewish Judges	Moshe Reich	281
Personalities	Naphtali Hakhel	282
Moshe David Ashriel	Zvi Livneh	283
Eliyahu Ashriel Glicksman	E. P.	284
Joshua Ashriel Glicksman	E. P.	284
Personalities and Occasions	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	285
Reb Menahem Mendl Reich	Rabbi Moshe Reich	289
My Brother Israel	Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar	289
The Dear Ones of Reisha	Yitzhak Isaac Nebenzahl	290
The Holocaust
Pour Out Thy Wrath (Drawing)	Menahem Ronn	291
Facing the Holocaust	Meir Yaari	292
Remember	Klara Ma'ayan	293
The Martyrdom of the Reisha Community	Dr. Asher Alexander Heller	294
The End of the Reisha Community	Mala Krischer Munzberg	307
Meidanek, God	Berish Weinstein	311
I Shall Not Die, But Shall Live	Lotka Goldberg	312
During the Nazi Occupation	Klara Ma'ayan Munzberg - Tel Aviv	322 - 325
I Escaped Death	Dr. Michael Schneiweiss	326
Attempts at Resistance in Reisha	Dov Zucker	331
The Last Jews of Reisha	M. Hoffstetter	332 - 333
Memories of the Occupation	Lola Weiss Immerglick	334
Reisha Women in Auschwitz	Dinah Strassberg Einhorn	335
Hava Wuszka Jolles, A Girl Who Fought	Menahem Levenstein	336
Reisha in 1946	Marcus Dornfest	338
A Daughter of Reisha in Revold	M. Weinstein Lazer	339
Golla Mireh, an Anti-Nazi Fighter	Dr. Moshe Yaari Wald	340
The Fate of Reisha Jewry, 1939 - 1944	Franciszek Kotula	342
Synagogues and Cemeteries		342
Some Memories		346
The Catacombs of Reisha (How Jews Vanished a Day Before the Liquidation of the Ghetto)		348
Polish Evidence on the Extermination of Reisha Jews	Jan Forczek	350
Memories	Professor Juliusz Kyas	352
Map of the City	Abraham Mussinger	352
A Walk Through Reisha	Abraham Mussinger	361
Small Towns and Villages in the Reisha District	Dr. Moshe Yaari Wald	365
The Liberation	Moshe Reich	367
Reisha Revisted in 1962	Haya Shlisselberg Tamari	367
Five Hundred Years; A Summing Up	Manes Fromer	368
Obituaries
Abraham Altman	Sarah Altman Batist	369
Abraham Teitelbaum		370
Mordechai Ben Elhanan Lipschitz		371
Simha Ben Mordechai Lipschitz		371
Eighteen Years of the Organization of Rzeszow and the District in Israel	Isaac Estreicher	372

After a Thousand Years	Berish Weinstein	376
I. On The History of the Jews in Rzeszow
Pages on the History of the Jews in Rzeszow	Dr. Abraham Chomet	377
The History of the Rzeszow Cemetery	Dr. Moshe Alter	423
II. Before and Between the Two World Wars
From Beginning to End	Simha Seiden	426
Jewish Rzeszow	Zvi Simha Leder	428
Bygone Rzeszow	Leon Wiesenfeld	449
Poalei Zion in Rzeszow	Michael Walzer Fass	466
The Jewish Workers' Children's Home in Rzeszow	Louis Estherman	472
The Bar Kochba Sports Society	Abraham Unger	475
Hassidim of the Rebbe of Dzikow	Mordechai Sacher Sternberg	476
The Tailors' Synagogue	Dr. Aharon Rosenbaum	476
A Meeting with the Hebrew Teacher of my Old Home Town	Berish Weinstein	477
Memories of the Past	Dr. Aharon Rosenbaum	478 - 480
My Home Ticzin		481
Memories of the Past	Joseph Falk	483
Rzeszow Jews	Jacob Beller	484
Ballad of Radiant Grandsires	Berish Weinstein	486
III. Figures
Some of our Figures	Zvi Simha Leder	488
Naphtali Tuchfeld	David Tuchfeld	492
The Seventieth Jubilee of Abba Apfelbaum	Simha Seiden	493
The Philosopher and Poet Dr. Benjamin Schlager		494
Mrs. Anna Kahana	Leon Wiesenfeld	495
My Brother Moshe		496
Zvi Simha Leder		497
Irving Low	Joseph Ben David	502
Berish Weinstein	Moshe Starkman	505
Berish Weinstein's Birthday	A. Tabatchnik	506
Nachum Sternheim	Jonas Turkow	508
IV. The Destruction
Meidanek, God	Berish Weinstein	512
The First Days of the War	Joseph Laufban	513
The History of the Destruction of the Rzeszow Jewish Community	Dr. Asher Alexander Heller	515
From Rzeszow by way of Wroclaw to America	Israel Beck	537
What I saw in the Old Jewish City of Rzeszow	Dr. Haim Shoshkes	538
Rzeszower & Province Landsmanschaft of Montreal		543
In Memoriam - Memorial Tributes to Families		545-620
Index of Names ( Names from pages translated. More will be added as translation proceeds.) There is also an English section of the book.
Rzeszow Yizkor Book Overview
Notes from the translator
Overview of Hebrew section of Rzeszow Yizkor Book

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