[Page 209]

R' Yitzhak Meir Liebeh's ז”ל, a scion of Lubliniec near Cieszanow. R' Yitzhak was an outstanding scholar from an aristocratic family. ת.נ.צ.ב.ה

The Jewish people in the Diaspora have endured many tribulations, and this is not the first time that cruel nations, who are godless and without good will and compassion, who lack faith in the core values of justice and righteousness, have consigned us to oblivion, destruction and to being torn down, but we have prevailed… despite the clouds filled with thunder and lightning that have darkened our lives, the nation has had the unique privilege of seeing the sun, and the light that is hidden behind it.

Even today, those of us who believe in the Zionist concept, see not only ominous clouds, we are able to see not only the light of the sun, but also to show the entire Jewish people, the rays of that sun, Our enemies have attacked Israel, they let the clang of their swords be heard; the sound of their airplanes, cannons, mortars and tanks resound throughout our beloved land, but Tzahal stands as a powerful force, and increases its physical and spiritual power from day-to-day, not only to protect the independence of our nation, but also to strike the enemy on its own soil, in his land.

Diaspora Jewry, day by day, and minute by minute, erects a fortified wall around the State of Israel, and those that are found in the Land of our Birth, in which are included all of the Émigrés from Cieszanow, my dear comrades, men and women alike, are tied about the State of Israel for three purposes:

1. By giving a defined part of their financial assets through the trusted distribution channel ‘HaMagbit HaMeukhedet’ – for the strengthening and enhancement of the State.
2. The drafting of stout-hearted young men to serve the Country in all walks of her life.
3. All our brethren in Israel give their beloved sons and daughters to all aspects of defending the homeland.

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‘Lo, for with you, gathered from the corners of exile,
His bitter cry has aroused you all –
And here the great vision appeared,
And the tear will burst forward from its loyal source,
Great, pleasant, bright, warm.
To her we will pray profusely.

The tears of our nation will fall together also,
They will come in one skin from the ends of exile,
We have no mother of redemption – our redemption yet lives,
And how that great hour will arrive,
And it will raise the last from the dust –
The first to found the return.’

Many days have passed from the day when the national poet wrote these lines, as a memorial to the first Zionist Congress in Basel, many of the progenitors from that Zionist era saw with their own eyes the establishment of the State, but for a variety of reasons, the concept has become weakened, and a spiritual crisis pervades World Jewry, but the leader of the people stands at his post and shouts: Is the sacrifice of six million Jews that were murdered solely because there were Jews not enough? Enough! No more will a Jew be cremated in a furnace, and no more will a Jew be sentenced to be murdered! The Guardian of the independence of Israel will never nod off or go to sleep! I believe that a day will come, and it is not distant, that new, fresh forces, will ally themselves to the ranks of those who yearn for redemption, and they will step forward energetically, in all fields of work and endeavor, in order to advance the country of our birth, to push its borders outward, and to nullify the bitter exile and to fulfil the enchanting dream, the dream of freedom, a symbol of that stirring force. The yearning for redemption is a synthesis of our past dignity, and the greatness that awaits us in the future, a wonder and a miracle of the existence of our nation in the world.

In these difficult days – in the days of war against our many external enemies, and against the assimilation in the far reaches of Jewry and within our borders, the following objective stands before us: Victory in all aspects of our lives. The difficult struggle with our enemies – and with white blood – the sweat – in taming the swamp lands, the erection of cities, and kibbutzim, the nurturing of the kibbutzim, and labor settlements, with the lofty effort to establish the State of Israel, to produce bread from the desert…

And now, we will continue that struggle, for the establishment and continuity of our people and the Land of our birth. Under the gaze of those heroes who fell in the War of Independence, in all the ghettoes, in every rebellion against the Nazis, and in all the revolutions against anti-Semitic regimes, in each and every location, we return to our vow: to realize the agenda of the dream of redemption in which can be found: the freedom of our people, and the redemption of our Land.

We have received the mandate of history: to disperse the ominous clouds from the skies of Israel, to gird the forces of the people of Israel to have courage, and to go on to victory.

Good fortune to you, scions of Cieszanow, that you are participating this day in this national undertaking, whose name is: From the Eternity of Israel – To a Brilliant Triumph.

A Triptych
Rachel Tepper ע”ה		Gittl Tepper עמ”ש		Esther Tepper, ע”ה

Mr. Mikhl Eichler and his Family Mr. Eichler, may he have good health, was born in Cieszanow – and is today a prominent Canadian citizen, with his former wife Chana and their two little children who were killed by gentile murderers along with their mother. God – Avenge the spilling of their innocent blood.

R' Chaim Joseph Markdorf and his wife

R' Chaim Joseph Markdorf, his wife Rachel and their daughter Faiga, exterminated by the murderous German bandits. R' Chaim Joseph ז”ל, – A nice individual, a scholar, someone who lead prayer, and a donor to charity, and his wife was also blessed with a warm, Jewish heart. May God Avenge Their Spilled Blood

Berish Eichler and his wife

Berish Eichler and his wife were both killed in the camp at Janów in Lemberg ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

		G-d in Heaven Pour out your wrath on the Nazi Germans and their helpers, the Poles, Ukrainians, and on all those peoples and nations that participated in the extermination of a third of the People of Israel, men, women, and children, in the years of the Holocaust 5639-57-04. For they have consumed Jacob and laid waste to his essence. Pour out your ire on them, and let the fire of your nostrils reach them, pursue them with anger and annihilate them from under the heavens, as is written: take heed nations of His people, for he shall avenge the blood of His people, and he will take vengeance upon those who have assaulted them. Expiate the earth with them, and find a suitable resting place under your wings for the sacred souls that gave their lives in the Sanctification of Your Name. Master of Mercy – bind their souls up in the bond of life, the Lord is their portion, and may they rest in peace on their biers. Amen.
Facsimile of the memorial stone in memory of those from our town that fell [during the Holocaust] in the Holocaust Cellar on Har Zion in Jerusalem. A gift of Aryeh Koenig ז”ל, of Antwerp.

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Mr. Mordechai Eichler and his wife, Leah

Our landsleit in Canada, may they enjoy good health

Rachel Leah Schwartz

A genuine ‘Yiddishe Mameh’ a righteous woman revered and loved. May she rest in peace.

The Renner Family

The father, Benjamin, Mother Dwora, and their three children: Ben-Zion, Blume, and Michael.

The Weber Family

From right to left: Issachar Weber, his father, R' Leibusz and his wife Min'cheh, may they rest in peace. In the middle: their child that saved herself.

The Bienenstock-Weber Family

Brother and sister Mrs. Moll Bienenstock-Weber and her son, David, and her brother, R' Abraham Weber.

The Eichler brothers
R' Eliezer and R' Zvi Hirsch Eichler, sons of R' Joseph ז”ל, from Cieszanow, were among the young intelligentsia and did a great deal for the benefit of the community during their lives. R' Eliezer died of natural causes, and R' Zvi Hirsch fell at the hands of the Nazis ימ”ש. ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

[Page 213]

Each generation and its advocates,
Each generation and its sages,
Each generation and its compassionate women,
Each generation and its righteous women,

In our Jewish history, among the famous men – a series of famous women appear, who through their deeds, have adorned and beautified our nation.

I wish to present a small collection of famous women, as for example, the women of the Tanakh: Miriam, Deborah, Yael, Yehudit, Esther and later one from the time of the Talmudic Sages, such as ‘Bruriah’ the wife of the great Rabbi Meir, the famous women of the earl and late Middle Ages, who defended the honor of the people, such as the legendary ‘Rachel’ who in that tragic and famous year of Ta”kh was forced by one of Chmielnicki's Cossacks to agree to become his wife, and going with her so-called groom to the priest, past a river, threw herself off the bridge into the river and vanished forever into its depths, in order to rescue her honor, the essential thing being – the honor of her Jewish people.

Our history also displays for us the stories of thousands of such Jewish women – heroines, such as: the Golden ‘Rosa’ of Lemberg, Glikl of Hameln, and thousands of unknown women, and among them Ethel Koenigsberg ע”ה, who mindless of her own well-being, when the German and Ukrainian murderers came to take them – shielded her children with her own body, protecting their lives for a few more minutes, but the murderers tortured all of them to death, and their last words were:

Shema-Yisrael, we die for the honor of the tortured Jewish people.

Honor their memory.

We extend a heartfelt thanks to our brothers and sisters in Canada, for their warm participation in this great mitzvah of erecting a monument in the form of a ‘Sefer HaZikaron,’ to the eternal memory of our beloved martyrs who lost their lives at the hands of the murderers of the Second World War: Hitler– Stalin ימ”ש.

We offer special thanks to our comrades: R' Abraham Weintraub, the brothers R' Paltiel and R' Luzer Sztam, R' Mikhl Eichler, R' Meir Willner and our cherished sister, Mrs. Yetta Eichler and others, for their moral and financial support, which literally, at the last minute, rescued our great work so full of our effort from failure.

To memorialize the sacred and cruelly cut down lives of Cieszanow Jews, transports me far away in memory, to the home of my grandfather, מוהר”ר Yitzhak.

It was a house and a mainstay for sages open wide to all those in need. Despite the fact that he was engaged in Torah study, fulfilling the commandment ‘and thou shalt study it by day and night,’ he was also a community activist, and whoever needed to hear an explanation and receive advice, found in him a cocked ear, and one left him with a light feeling. He had a persuasive skill that enabled him to ‘say little, but do much,’ and achieved a great deal though being laconic.

Before the First World War, when the Cieszanow Rabbi, R' Simcha Issachar Ber ז”ל passed away, and his son, who remained after him was only of Bar Mitzvah age, and a problem ensued regarding a Teacher and Spiritual Director, until he could be able to assume the Rabbinate, my grandfather ז”ל was approached to temporarily assume the position of a Teacher and Spiritual Director. Despite the fact that commerce demanded his time, he did not refuse and was the Teacher and Spiritual Director for many years, and he spent this time in resolving questions and presiding over Jewish courts without taking any compensation.

I can aver with confidence, that he discharged his responsibility faithfully and to the satisfaction of all.

He was also the Head of the community and assumed considerable burdens on behalf of the community with the Mayor of the city, and the provincial officials, and with is approach and sagacity, he won favor and obtained that which was necessary.

I see before me an obligation also to recall my grandmother, Mrs. Reizel'eh ע”ה, ‘You will be blessed by women in your tents’ who in many instances lightened the burden on my grandfather, ז”ל, enabling him to carry out his obligations faithfully.

My grandfather passed away at an advanced age, and up tot he final minutes, he was in possession of his faculties, and did not let go of his Torah study.

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