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By Leah Dornfeld
R' Yaakov Mordechai Dornfeld ז”ל
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Those who remember my grandfather, R' Ary'leh Dornfeld, know for sure what kind of a family he raised. He was one of the common Jewish people, God-fearing, and was a good brother to everyone. He was not learned, and supported his family by the labor of his own hands. He sewed and repaired the boots of the Cossacks who were stationed in Tomaszow. One wishes to believe, that when he sat by the study of the Mishna – or learning from Ein Yaakov, that he understood the material very well. This is why he raised sons who were scholars and enlightened people. Without a doubt, that if they would have had the means, many of them would have become outstanding personas among the Jewish people.
The younger generation from Tomaszow most certainly recalls my father, R' Yaakov Mordechai Dornfeld. He was practically the first one to organize young people for [aliyah to] the Land of Israel, out of which the HeHalutz, HaShomer, and Tze‘irei Tzion later grew. Despite the fact that he was left to support and raise his two young children, who were orphaned, and also was the secretary of the municipal council, yet he found time to devote to the young people.
He gave courses in Tanakh, Hebrew and Yiddish History, and the Geography of the Land of Israel. He spoke a fluent Hebrew. He was so thoroughly familiar with the geography of the Land of Israel, that it was as if he were born there.
There was nothing that could match his love for Israel. My father's single striving, was to make aliyah to Israel, but regrettably he did not succeed to go and settle there. However, he did live to see the establishment of the Jewish State. He died in New York, on 1 Elul 5713 ( August 1953)
by Ephraim Fishl Hammer
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Why was my father called Tevel'eh Madior? Because he married a Hungarian woman (his second wife), and that is why he got the second name added: Madior.[1] Well, a nickname in Tomaszow, as was the case in many other small towns of the Poland of those times, was practically an inviolate rule. The people already knew how to assign a name, to one by his trade, such as: Yaakov the Baker, Chaim the Watchmaker, The Dairyman, etc. Many, according to their appearance: The Blind One, Yoss'l the Deaf One, The Hunchback, The Crooked Head, and others, according to their standing or nature, for example: The King, The Pious Tevel, and once someone was tagged with a nickname, not only he, but his children were stuck with it.
My father was, actually, not native born to Tomaszow, but rather from Laszczow. He came as a son-in-law to Tomaszow. For a while, he also lived in the village of Rachanie, and for this reason, he was called Tevel'eh Rachaner. Our house in Rachanie stood at the splitting of the road in four directions, and as a result, our house was a way station. Many Jews would travel through every day of every week, some going to a market fair, others for commerce. Almost all of them would stop by us. My mother, Chana ΧΆ”ה despite her frail health (my mother died at age 27) attended to everyone by herself. No guest ever left hungry, whether they paid, or even those poor people who had to be given something to take along on their travels. My grandfather once told that he remembered that his grandfather did not speak Yiddish, but [rather] Spanish mixed with Hebrew, and that the family was descended from Sephardic Jews who came from Portugal to Poland, and that the family [name] was Don NAD. ‘Don' is a noble title, like ‘Sir' in English. However, in wandering from land to land, the name was lost, and the only thing that remained was the name, ‘Nat.’
The peasants burned our house down in Rachanie on a Saturday night, and we barely got out with our lives. Only the Sabbath Cholent was not burned, which was inside the oven that remained intact through the fire. We were left naked and barefoot.
The Russo-Japanese War breaks out, and my father, being a reservist, flees to America, where he stays for six years. My mother dies, and my father marries a Hungarian woman, and comes home with her to Tomaszow, before the First World War. My stepmother, Rivka הי”ד was a modest woman, good and possessed of good qualities, just like my own mother, and was very good to me, so that I could not ask for anything better. The neighbors had only good things to say about her.
My father was a completely God-fearing man, a man of integrity and simplicity, and wanted for me, his only child to be the same.
I was with my father for only a few years. Already, at the age of three years, I was sent off to my grandfather in Tomaszow, because a young boy of three was already supposed to be able to go to Heder to learn. I came home to Rochon only for the Sabbath.
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Well, for the six years that my father was in America, I was also at my grandfather's. From Bar Mitzvah to age 17 I sat and learned in R' Nachman's shtibl, and also in R' Yehoshua'leh's Bet HaMedrash. By the age of 17, I was already in Lemberg, and afterwards emigrated to America.
People who knew my father, and did business with him, have only praises to sing of his honesty. This was especially true of the landsleit who came to America after The Second World War, who had only good things to tell me about my father. He transformed his home into a guest house, and took in impoverished itinerants.
From my father's last letters to me, he had a great interest in making aliyah and establishing residence in the Land of Israel. However, he was overtaken by the Dark Catastrophe which put an end to his dream. The Nazi beasts ימ”ש immediately transported my father, and my good stepmother, along with all the other elderly Jews of Tomaszow, straight to Belzec and murdered and incinerated them. הי”ד
by Ephraim Fishl Hammer
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My grandfather was named R' Chaim Yochanan Sobel, but only, the letter-carrier knew the name Sobel, because everyone called him R' Chaim Yochanan. My grandmother was named Feiga, but she was called Die Chaim Yochan'the. And me, the writer of these lines, was called Fishl, Chaim Yochanan's grandson. As was the practice, this was the way many families were addressed in all of the little towns in Poland, and it was only the very few that were addressed by their family names, such as Goldstein, Szparer, Lehrer, etc. When I came to my grandfather and grandmother's home as a young orphan, they were already at an advanced age. My grandfather was a handsome man, of distinguished appearance, with a good-looking white beard, a tall man of distinguished appearance, a smiling man, much beloved by old and young alike. I never saw him angry. He prayed at the Great Synagogue where he was always among the first of the worshipers. I never saw when he got out of bed. No matter how early I would get up, my grandfather was already at the Bet HaMedrash, or the Synagogue. The sweet-sounding melody, of his recitation of the Psalms, rings in my ears to this day.
My grandfather would tell that his grandfather told him that according to his calculations, the family resided in Tomaszow since the time the town was established.
My grandfather was not any Rebbe's Hasid, however, when a Rebbe would come to the city, he was among the first who would hasten to greet the Rebbe. ‘I am a Hasid of The Master of the Universe,’ he would say.
The Sobel family grew into many large families. The Herbstman family is descended from my grandfather's sister, known as Tzip'eh the Park Baker. The same is true of the Fang, Baum and Greenbaum families, and a number of other families that were added after my departure from Tomaszow.
My grandmother Feiga ע”ה, as it became known to me later, when I was a grown boy, and had left home in Lemberg (Galicia), that my grandmother was a favored daughter, a ‘granddaughter.’ She came form the family of R' Simcha Bunim of Przysucha זצ”ל. When I was still a little boy, she would tell me many stories about her prominent grandfather that her father would tell her, and also about R' Mendele Tomashover זצ”ל (the Rebbe of Kotzk) who was a son-in-law who came to Tomaszow, and also lived in Tomaszow, until he was revealed to the world, and then took up residence in Kotzk, closer to Warsaw. ‘The Pharmacist’ would occasionally quip to my grandfather ‘ How can a pharmacist become a Rebbe?’ – ‘Here you see that, indeed, a pharmacist became a great Rebbe.?’ My grandmother replied immediately. As was known, that before R' Simcha Bunim ז”ל was revealed as the Tzaddik of Pszczew, he was a merchant, a writer and also a pharmacist, up to the time that the Hasidim appointed him as their Leader, known as the Rebbe of Pszczew R' Simcha Bunim. My grandmother Feiga was a chaste woman, fasting on all appointed days, Mondays and Thursdays, and the fast days associated with the destruction of the Temple; the Yahrzeit days of parents and those of her children that passed away while still young, and also every eve of a new month. ‘Fasting is for me only,’ grandmother would say, ‘ but poor people need to eat, poor children need to have a piece of clothing, a shoe,’ It was to this purpose that she, and one of her friends would go around every Thursday, to the stores and homes, gathering donations, and immediately distribute these funds to poor people for the
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[coming] Sabbath. She knew the Psalms and prayers practically by heart (she had very bad eyes). I would always be hearing her praying, or reciting the Psalms.
My grandfather R' Chaim Yochanan and grandmother Feiga attained a venerable old age. Following my grandfather's funeral procession, was an orphaned son, age 72 years. Their children in America supported them with dignity till the last days of their lives.
by Y. Liebowitz
Born in 5648 (1885) in Tarnogrod, his father Abraham was a scion of Tomaszow from one of the deeply rooted old Jewish families in Tomaszow, a brother of Mordechai Joseph and Pinchas Szparer and Pearl Szpizajzen, the wife of Sholom.
Abraham died at a very young age, and his wife, Gitt'l, of the Goldbaum family remained solitary and impoverished with her small children, who were taken into the house of the Rebbe of Sieniawa, R' Yekhezkiel Halberstam, because they were relatives. His father, [author of] the Divrei Chaim, of Sanz, was also from Tarnogrod, and closely related to the Goldblum family, and it was there that Moshe was raised.
Moshe married his wife, Chana, the daughter of Wolf Lieberman (Madiner). Moshe immediately began to do business in wood products, in partnership with his father-in-law, Moshe Lieberman, and they succeeded. In later years, together with other partners, they bought out Blonder's factory, and became substantially wealthy.
Moshe was a Radzyn Hasid, and one of the most prominent of the balebatim in the city. He was a very quiet man, and never wanted to mix into community affairs, but rather generously partook of every possibility of doing a good deed. He was a very smart and calm individual, and many people came to seek his counsel.
At the outbreak of the war, he and his family went off to Rawa Ruska, and from their, along with his entire family, he was sent away to Siberia. After the liberation, because of the amnesty (in accordance with the agreement of the Sikorski government in exile), he lived in Biysk. His home was open to its fullest extent to all those who found themselves in need.
Moshe died in Germany after the war. His wife, Chana, ע”ה with her children Pearl Esther, Herschel and Chanina, live in Brooklyn.
He was born in Tomaszow in 5648 (1888), studies at the shtibl, married Feiga Shayndl, the daughter of Aharon Woldman of Hrubieszow, of the prominent Hasidim. As was the custom in those years, he was subsidized by his father-in-law for a number of years, until he was drafted into the military, where he was designated as ‘fit for duty.’ He was required to serve three years in the Russian military in Jaroslawl. During that entire time, he strictly avoided forbidden foods, and was discharged in the year 1913. Because of the severe economic conditions, he went to America. In the meantime, The First World War broke out, and he remained there [sic: in America] until after the War. Not wanting to bring the family to America because of Yiddishkeit for the children, he came back to Tomaszow, and opened a shoe store, which was mostly run by his wife, a true Woman of Valor, while he himself took up hospital work in Warsaw.
Merchants accorded him the greatest sense of trust, because he always met his commitments faithfully. His word was honest, and his dealings correct. Even the non-Jews dealt with him, especially the pharmacist
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Franko who was a business partner of his.
Mikhl was a Belz Hasid, and Torah scholar. When he only had time, he would study Mishna, a Hasidic exposition, a Hasidic book. He never wanted to socialize, or get involved in community business. An exception to this was the Agudah Heder, and Beyt Yaakov, where his children studied. There, he was a member of the leadership, and the Treasurer, because his entire striving in life was to have Jewishly educated children. Because of this, he worked a great deal to help in the assurance of the existence of religious institutions.
The Rebbes of the Belz dynasty would have guest lodging at his home, such as the Rebbe, R' Pinchas Twersky, the Rebbe of Usytyl, Rebbe Nahum Rokeach, the Rebbe of Magierow, and others.
At the outbreak of the War, they were flung to Kovel', and later sent to Ural, and after that, Central Asia, where he lost his wife. In 1946, he returned with his family to Poland, from there to Germany, and afterwards to America.
His oldest daughter, along with her husband and children, died in Kovel'. His children Hirsch and Asher, who are active in the Yizkor Book Committee, and take part in the Tomaszow Relief, and the daughters Toba and Chana, with their families, live in Brooklyn. His Yahrzeit is 25 Shevat.
His full name was Henokh Henikh ben R' Shlomo Koch. He was born in Zamość.[1] His father was a Radzyn Hasid, and he married the daughter of Mordechai Joseph Wertman (The Dairyman) who was one of the closest of the adherents of R' Yehoshua'leh and took him along to Sanz, and afterwards to Sieniawa and Cieszanow.
Reb Mordechai Joseph was a fiery Jew, with the true ardor for Yiddishkeit. When a certain Maiman from among the Zamość Maskilim, who lived in Tomaszow, organized a library, R' Mordechai Joseph forcefully entered the city Bet HaMedrash with a loud alarm, proclaiming, ‘There is a Fire!!!’ The congregation became frightened. He shouted out that it is not wood that is burning, but rather Jewish souls. ‘Come to the rescue before your homes are exterminated by the library.’ Afterwards, he entered the library with another couple of Jews, and destroyed it. When the windows of the library were later knocked out, he said it was proper to do this, so long as the fire was extinguished….
Henikh Koch received his schooling at the home of his father-in-law, and indeed, he too, was a warm Jewish man, full of joy and ardor. He would make merry at every Festival holiday and Purim. He would solicit funds for Jewish causes, took home guests for the Sabbath many time more than his financial circumstances might otherwise allow.
He had a long, large beard, and when the Hallerists entered Tomaszow in 1919, he risked his life not to cut off his beard. Also, in the time of the Germans, he was the solitary Jew who remained in the city with a beard.
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He died in the home of Shlomo Akst, while studying a book. His wife, and his daughter Yuta were killed by the Germans in Lemberg, Leibusz by the Russians. Yitzhak and Chana survived, and they live in Brooklyn.
The son of Aharon Feldsehn, a Husyatin Hasid.
He was a partner with his brother-in-law, Yisroel'keh Lehrman, and were the wealthiest people in the city. Despite this, he remained a man of the people, not putting on airs, rather, opting for simplicity, helping those who were in need, one with a donation, another with an act of charity.
Because of his health situation, he did not take part in community affairs. The exception was the Agudah Heder, Yosdei Torah, where his children were schooled, and where he was one of the foremost leaders. He gave much financially to assure the existence of the Heder.
He suffered from hear trouble, and died at a young age, in Lemberg.
His wife, and daughter Malka, were killed by the Germans. Itcheh remained in Russia, and Jonah and his family are to be found in Brooklyn. Jonah is one of the organizers and leaders of the Relief Committee.
by Sh. Khanowich
Or as he was known, by the name ‘Dark Moshe. [He was] a religious Jew who wore the authentic costume, and [had the] authentic appearance, but had an understanding of the demands of the new era. He was a merchant and an honest man to the extreme, a truthful man, who unhesitatingly confronted everyone face-to-face, with the truth.
Along with his family, he rescued himself by going to Russia, and then making Aliyah to Israel, together with his family, where he passed away. His children are found in New York: Yehoshua, Mir'l, Feiga, Shlomo, and their families who play an important part in the activities of the organization of new arrivals.
[He was] a scion of one of the oldest and most respected of the Tomaszow families from generation to generation. He would travel to the Maggid of Trisk, and later to the ‘Divrei Yekhezkiel’ of Sieniawa, and his son, ‘Divrei Simcha’ of Cieszanow. He worshiped in the shtibl of R' Yehoshua'leh, and led the Musaf services there on the High Holy Days. He was a Hasidic Jew with a very good voice. He had a very large family, and part of his children assumed the leadership of the Jewish community. His son, Yud'l Ader possessed great wealth from a partnership in a factory. [He was] one of the principal leaders of the Hevra Kadisha, and a Dozor of the Jewish populace. The second son, Moshe'leh, was one of the prominent balebatim, and a Hasidic Jew. His son-in-law Avrem'eleh Gutwein, who is a Trisk Hasid, is today found in the Land of Israel. His son-in-law Raphael Bergstein who was one of the wealthy Hasidim of the city, a partner in a large factory, was killed in Zlakowo together with his son Avrem'eleh and family. His sons Yeshay' and Ber'l survived; Elazar's sons Yitzhak Mordechai of Warsaw and Yekhezkiel of Tomaszow were killed.
He was called Abraham Nagid. He received the nickname ‘Nagid’ [sic: A nobleman] when he won a lottery back in the Czar's time, and overnight became rich. He opened a printing shop and bought a large beautiful house on the Lemberg Gasse. Dr. Shulman lived at his residence. He was a Hasidic Jew, and knew Russian and Polish. He was a beautiful writer. In Poland, he specialized in notes and wrote applications from which he made a living. He, and his entire family were killed in the vicinity of Tarnopol.
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His father, Itcheh'leh, son of Munya, was one of the ardent Hasidim of Belz, and as such, he gave Yaak'eleh a very strict religious and Hasidic upbringing. However, the new winds, that The First World War brought with it, tore him away from his circle, and he went over to the ‘Mizrahi,’ where he became one of its most loyal soldiers, and afterwards, one of its leaders. He especially dedicated himself to Mizrahi education, and it is to his account that one can lay the success of the Mizrahi Heder in Tomaszow. As a teacher and principal, he put his mind and energy into [assuring] the existence and success of the Mizrahi Heder, which grew in strength day to day.
He would take part, as the representative of Mizrahi in municipal institutions, but he was not an aggressive party individual. By his general nature, he was a quiet individual, a gentle person, and this is the way he was in the party. Tragically, along with his entire family, he was killed by the Germans.
He was a physician who came from Lemberg, and was the first Jewish doctor in the city since Poland became independent, and as such he became beloved in the city. He did not belong to any political party, and was not active in the community, however he loved to make a handsome contribution. He was dedicated to his profession.
He was mobilized into the Polish Army and fell into Russian captivity and was killed in the well-known Katyn Forest.[1]
by Sh. L.
R' Shabtai was descended from a very respected family. Personally, he was a lettered and intelligent man, with very refined manners. He would greet everyone with a hearty good morning, accompanied by an affectionate nod of the head. However, he was not especially successful in business. Several times, he put his place of business under, and somehow he was not capable in this respect. He was always nicely dressed, and never complained to anyone. Nevertheless, he elicited sympathy towards himself. A little at a time, he worked his way into the mind of community as an unsuccessful person (God forbid this to us). Regardless of what he engaged in, it always went bad. This reputation grew so widespread, that people believed that he interfered with the success of everyone with whom he came in contact. It got to the point where people were afraid to accept his ‘good morning’ greeting. People simply avoided him, because it was believed that after receiving a ‘good morning’ greeting, from R' Shabtai, the day would not be a fortunate one. Towards the end, he had a small store in the Halles, as many others did, and as it happens, he was not the poorest of them. Despite this, he was very indebted to the people of the city. It got to the point that when one person wanted to incite another, he would curse him by saying: ‘R' Shabtai should only come in your direction.’ Despite all this, he was very much beloved by everyone.
He was a young man from Zamość,[1] who practiced law in Tomaszow. He, too, did not get involved in community affairs, but rather dedicated himself to his calling, but he had nationalist sympathies.
The son of Elazar Bernstein, who considered themselves relatives of the Radzyn and Izbica coterie. In his youth, he was a Hasidic young man, and married into a genuine Hasidic family in Lublin. He even put on a shtrymel for the wedding. However, the new movement of The First World War transformed him into a cosmopolitan young man. He also became one of the substantially wealthy people in the city. He owned a clothing store that was one of the largest in the vicinity. He was also one of the Zionist leaders and the first representative to the municipal Jewish governing body, however, his temperament was not that of a political partisan. He would partake in all of the Jewish social institutions through generous contributions. His chaste wife, Min'cheleh, who died at a young age, helped him a great deal, and transformed his house into an aristocratic house, and also exerted herself to preserve her spiritual legacy, despite the fact that their children attended gymnasium, they were of the modern religious persuasion. Their oldest daughter Baylah, became the daughter-in-law of Yaakov Lederkremmer, one of the respected people of the city. Tragically, none of them survived, only his former son-in-law: Yitzhak Lederkremmer.
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He was a man of the [common] people, a master builder, a very good craftsman and a wise and decent man. He studies only minimally as a youth, but he possessed an inborn intelligence and self-education. He was one of the most important activists in the Manual Trades Union, and was recognized and beloved in all circles and walks of life in the city, as a decent, righteous and upstanding man who is worthy of respect.
He worked, as an employee in the city council, during the first years of Poland's [newly-found] independence. From the time of the election of the new independent Jewish community, he served as its secretary, where he held that position until Poland was dismembered [sic: in 1939]. He was one of the leaders of the Zionist movement in the city.
A carpenter by trade, and a typical craftsman of the period, with a beard and side locks, an observer of the Torah and its commandments. He was one of the most important representatives of the Manual Trades Union in the city's social institutions.
Secretary of the municipal council (a position that was one of the few in Poland which was occupied by a Jew). At the time of the establishment of Poland, this position was occupied by Yaak'leh Dorenfeld. He immediately went to America, and [as a result] he [Eliezer] took it over, and held the position until shortly before the War, when because of the politics of the AZAN, he was cashiered. His son, Leib'l, was killed by a German bomb on that Bloody Thursday. He, and his family, went away to Rawa Ruska, where they were killed.
A founder, and one of the principal leaders of the Poalei Tzion movement in the Tomaszow area.
He was born in 1894 in Tomaszow, to parents from an observant family of balebatim. He received a strict religious upbringing, studying in private religious Heders, as was the practice in that era. By the end of The First World War, he was one of the first pioneers to disseminate the Zionist concept among the awakening Jewish youth. And it was with the total fire of his young, full and roiling soul, that he threw himself into the
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ideological work and founded the Poalei Tzion movement, and remained one of its dynamic leaders to the last day.
The party always pushed him out in front, to partake as its legitimate representative in all community and social institutions, where he distinguished himself as a representative to the municipal council where he was respected also by the non-Jewish councilmen.
He was regarded as his party's ideologue in the city. He would often appear to give an ideological speech. In this his acuity and sparkling thoughts were of considerable help to him, to interdict opposing speakers, which in the years of trial and stress, occupied a major place in the activities of Jewish youth, in the provincial towns.
He committed his force, blood, mind and full energy, for the party, for which he was very highly regarded.
During the German occupation, a couple of days after Rosh Hashana of 5700 [1939], the Germans took Fyvel and his two sons, and Yuda Goldman's two sons, Leibusz Berik's son-in-law, and Lipa'leh Kershiver, etc., into custody. They led them out of the city along the Belzec road, and regrettably, they never came back. The circumstances under which they were killed by the Germans is not known הי”ד.
A prominent Jew who was the son-in-law of R' Israel Sinai, and one of the activists who was a community representative to the Jewish council, and a community activist. He succeeded during The First World War, and built up the factory that was known up to the Holocaust as ‘Blonder's Factory.’
His son, Moshe, today in Israel, was one of the revisionist activists, and their representative to the community. He remains a community activist to this day.
by Sh. Licht
This the way R' Abraham Yehoshua Heschel Schlagbaum was called, who had the name of the Rabbi of Opatów who was a lover of Israel. He was a taciturn and respected Jewish man. He would travel to the Rebbe of Neszczyn R' Itzik'l and to the venerable older Maggid of Trisk, and afterwards to the Rebbe of Kuzmir, R' Mordechai'leh.
He had two sons. R' Shmuel, whose children today are found in Israel, and in America, Daniel Schlagbaum, and Yaakl'i Schlagbaum, with the son, Yitzhak Schlagbaum, who are located in Toronto. They were among the important Hasidim of Kielce, and prominent balebatim of the city.
Old Yaak'leh
Or as he was called, Yaak'leh Brafman, of the Radzyn Hasidim. He, already, would read the Yiddish periodicals, and take an interest in the news of the world. His children had a saloon on the Koscielna [Gasse] and were prominent balebatim.
Old Shmuel Mikhl'eh's (Bodenstein)
He was a Belz Hasid, who despite his very advanced age, still voyaged to Belz, in his nineties, by wagon. His son, Mekhl'eh was killed on the Eve of Sukkot by an electrical storm, and the youngest, Isaac is in New York.
by Sh. Licht
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Alter Stahl
One of the prominent balebatim, a Belz Hasid, and fishmonger. He was involved in community affairs, a member of the Talmud Torah Committee, a representative of the Agudah in the City Council. He was enamored of doing people a good turn, and would lend to other Jews gratuitously, for which he kept a separate account.
Many Rebbes took their lodging with him, especially the Belz Dynasty, such as the Rebbes of Magierow, R' Ary' Leibusz Rokeach of Rawa Ruska and his son, the Rebbe Nahum Aharon of Lemberg. He was one of the prominent Jewish people of the city, and also very close to the Hasidim of Cieszanow. His son, Ozer, who belonged to the ‘Tze'irei Agudat Yisrael,’ is found today, with his family, in Haifa, in Israel.
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He was from the elite of the city, a scholar and perceptive man, who was very wealthy and philanthropic. He was a Ger Hasid, and a relative of the Rebbe of Kotzk. All of his children were scholars and studious. He was the source of nourishment for the entire city.
He was born in Brisk, and was a son-in-law to Nathan Neu. He was a Jewish man with a sharp mind, a considerable scholar, and a Ger Hasid. After the First World War, he became impoverished, but despite this, remained an active leader in the Agudah.
When the Novardok Yeshiva came to the city, he pursued them, until he expelled them. He was asked: How can it be, why? To this, he replied: Because they are Litvaks, and a Litvak carries a crucifix in his heart. – [He was asked] R' Shmuel, from where do you come to know this? To this, he replied: I am a Litvak myself, and so I know it to be so first hand….
A very lofty Belz Hasid, someone who engages in good deeds and pursues justice. He was among the very few important people in the city. He was a big fanatic, who fought against every minor deviation from the Jewish path or tradition. He was a great man of deeds, and was respected by the entire city.
A Ger Hasid, who spent the entire week praying and who studied in the Great Bet HaMedrash. He was the principal provider for the acquisition of books, and a very lovely man. His smile constantly shone on his face. His wife, Rachel was the mistress of the house, and the principal merchant, and he occupied himself with Torah and charitable works. He was an unusual man of good deeds, never participating in any quarrel, or politics in the city.
His sons, Gedali' Sholom and Yisroel'keh were respected Hasidic balebatim, who followed in their father's footsteps. Thanking God, their children survived and they can be found in America and in Israel, and they occupy a respected position among the survivors from Tomaszow.
One of the Husyatin Hasidim. A very respected and decent man. He was successful in commerce, and had very talented children, and married them off to rabbinical families and prominent Jewish families in the
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country, procuring refined sons and daughters-in-law. His children and grandchildren were among the finest people in the city, wealthy and Hasidim, people involved in the community and people of action. His sons [were]: Yeshay' Yaak'li, Yisrael Hirsch, and to be set apart for long life, R' Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish man who was a scholar, a Hasid, and a wondrous soulful leader of religious services. [He lives today] in Brooklyn, and R' Nathan in Israel.
His sons-in-law: Ary' Heller, a son of the Rebbe of Frampol, Lipa Honigsfeld, a student of the Ilui of Macew, and himself a great scholar, Mott'l Hochman, a scholarly Jew, and Yaakov Weisser. There children, also, were among the most respected of the balebatim. Among them are the familiar R' Chaim Joseph Lehrer, the well-to-do longtime Mizrahi activist, and past president of the community, today in Israel. A portion of their grandchildren were saved, and find themselves in America and Israel.
Reuveh'leh Chay'tcheh's (Gartler)
A Jewish man who worked very hard to make a living, but worked even harder in Yiddishkeit. He would rise each day before dawn, and go to R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl to pray and to study. He was a Jew who was contented with his lot. He threw his entire energy into raising his children, in the contemporary Hasidic tradition. And this, indeed, worked out well for him. His two sins, David and Yitzhak Gartler, were young folk deeply steeped in the Hasidic tradition, as Cieszanow Hasidim, with a genuine Hasidic ardor, which meant that apart from studying and Hasidism, nothing else interested them. The already had young boys as children, sprouting like flowers, who studied continuously in the Sanz Synagogue. Tragically, not one of them was saved.
He had a small food business, but he dedicated little of himself to it. It was his wife, Yehudit, who concerned herself with making a living, and later his children. He traveled to Sieniawa to the ‘Divrei Yekhezkiel,’ and he would reside there for months at a time, and later, he would do the same in Cieszanow, to the author of ‘Divrei Simcha.’ During the time that he was at home, mostly he spent with Righteous Rabbi R;'Yehoshua'leh and his son, R' Joseph Leibusz זצ”ל, and he went after money only in connection with Jewish matters. He was the personification of goodness. His two laughing black eyes shined like those of a young boy. He was a Jewish man of good deeds who was always involved with Torah and worship. On his children, part are in America, and part are in Israel.
A Jewish man from among the balebatim, a Belz Hasid, full of energy and native intelligence, with a warm, Jewish heart. He, and his brother-in-law, Hertz Feldsehn, whose sister Yakhid (Yocheved?), was Yisroel'keh's wife, were among the wealthiest people in the city. The succeeded very well during the First World War. They had the biggest colonial business in the entire province, as well as building together [in partnership], the mill in Belzec with Birkh [sic: Bayrakh} Kessler.
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Despite his considerable wealth, Yisroel'keh remained a simple Jewish man of the people. He maintained a good fraternal relationship with everyone. He always liked a clever saying, even if he was prompted with one. The important thing, was the comment needed to be sharp and to the point….
He did not want to assume any official positions, which understandably, were presented for him to consider. He detested mixing in groups. However, he had a profound understanding for individual cases of need, personally helping out a fellow Jew with a handsome donation, or a special consideration.
He fell suddenly ill as a result of a stroke. The first thing he did, was to order that all assets he had taken as security were to be returned without charge. When the Rebbe of Cieszanow came to call on him while he was sick, he cried: Rebbe, pray that I shall live, and not die – I want to continue to live, because people will yet stand to benefit from my living. However, regrettably, he died in his early fifties.
His children were saved from the Holocaust: Pesha, and her husband Hirsch Melech Glantzer, with their children Shlomo'leh and Jonah who in his early twenties, left his father's fortune behind, and went to the Land of Israel as a Halutz, is today in America. The youngest, Shmuel, saved himself from the Germans by escaping into the forests, and is today in Vineland [New Jersey] in America.
Yisroel'keh Lehrman was quite the person in Tomaszow, and everyone intensely mourned his early demise. The entire city accompanied his remains during his funeral, as well as many people who came especially from the surrounding areas to pay their last respects.
He was born and raised in Tomaszow. From his earliest years, he had an inclination to oratory. He would ascend the speaking podium of the shtibl, wrap himself in a prayer shawl, and expound in the authentic tone and style of a Maggid. He would say, to his childhood friend, Mikhl Yuda Pflug, ‘when I wrap myself in a prayer shawl, I see, in my fantasy, a house of worship, or a Bet HaMedrash, packed with hundreds of listeners.’
The boys would throw towels at him, but this did not restrain him from developing proficiency in his oratory, as if some inner impulse impelled him to the Bima. He did not grow up to be a particularly impressive scholar, but oratorical skill manifested itself in him. In general, he was quite handsome, tall, and a very solidly built man. In America this would be called a ‘personality.’ He married [a woman from] Bilgoraj.
With the outbreak of The First World War, he went off deep into Russia, where he became active in the various societies for providing assistance to displaced persons. It was there, that he came in contact with the modern Jewish world, from which he learned modern rhetorical skills. In him, was created a synthesis of the motif of the Maggid and [modern] orator, perhaps better described as a ‘modern Maggid.’ He did not become a ‘journeyman Maggid,’ but rather a propagandist for the Agudah, who paid him a steady sinecure to travel around to the small Polish towns, to organize branches of the Agudah. Later on, he became the official emissary of the ‘Mesivta’ in Warsaw. Who was sent abroad to raise money. Later on, he traveled in this way, on behalf of other institutions. He was, by that time, referred to as the Rabbi, Anshel Szur. He always had great success from the speaker's platform.
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In a private conversation, he said that for this, he was grateful to the podium of the shtibl in Tomaszow, with the young lads, despite the fact that they threw towels at him…
He was a deeply rooted Tomaszow scion, going back many generations, wealthy, a philanthropist, and one of the most respected of the balebatim of the city. He was among the numbered few important people in the city that was not affiliated with any Hasidic shtibl. He worshiped at the Great Bet HaMedrash, but took place in every worth event that was carried out by the other houses of worship. He was a very quiet man, one of the greatest grain merchants in the area. He was an aristocratic man, and he had children who became important.
His son-in-law is the well-known community activist, and long-time president of the community, Mr. Shmuel Shiflinger. He, together with his brother-in-law, Yaakov Bergenbaum, and their children, are to be found in America.
by Sh. Licht
He was the son of Moshe Lehrer's, who was the Shames and Alternate Cantor in the Great Synagogue. R' Moshe Lehrer's was a gentle Jewish man, and had dear children. His son, Mott'l, was especially gifted. He was smart and handsome, with a sharp mind, a dedicated student and Hasid. He studied in R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl, and was one of the members of the guard of the Rebbe of Cieszanow. He was counted among the best of the young men. He was married in Karczyn, where he occupied an important position in community life. It was there that he was exterminated along with his entire family.
The son of Zekhariah, and the son-in-law of Shlomo Akst. He was one of the few of those numbered young men who remained true to the ways of the Torah and Hasidism, after the First World War, not being influenced by al the new ‘solutions’ and winds that blew in, even into his household, where his sister Gitt'leh was a fiery Zionist (the wife of Fishl Flaumenbaum). He was one of the most important of the trained Hasidic young men in R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl, and very directed. After his wedding, he worshiped at the Cieszanow shtibl, where he was counted as one of the most important of the young people.
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When Little Yoss'li was already a grown young man, with whiskers, and among the most prominent of the young men in R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl, he was still called ‘Little Yoss'li,’ because he was, indeed, short, and of small physical stature, but great in his deeds and actions. He was a great scholar, a great Hasid, who was God-fearing.
Born to poor parents, he never had enough to eat. But in the same way, he was unsatiated in Torah study. No mater how much he studied, it was insufficient for him. He literally swallowed whole pages of the Gemara. The balebatim in R' Yehoshua'leh's shtibl donated meals for him on a daily basis, and he grew, not physically, but spiritually. He would slake his Hasidic thirst at the Tisch and the worship services of the Rebbe of Cieszanow, as he would also periodically travel to Belz. He married in Karczyn in Galicia, where he was exterminated with his entire family.
by Leah Hertzig, Toronto
Born into a prominent, but poor home. On his father's side - a close grandson to the Rabbi & Gaon the Righteous Rabbi Leibusz Harif, known as the Rabbi of Plotsk זצ”ל.
From childhood on, he demonstrated a penchant for study. In the first yeshiva, he stood out as one of the best students of R' Nathan Melamed, at the great municipal examination that took place at the completion of a tractate of the Talmud [e.g. a Siyyum].
In those few years, of The First World War, when education almost entirely came to a halt, he threw himself with equal focus into the modern Yiddish literature. He almost is reckoned as someone ‘lost’ by his parents, meaning that he has strayed from the true path. However, he finds his way back to the study of Torah, and becomes one of the most profound of the Hasidic young men, which, towards the end, could only be encountered rarely. His piety and adherence to Hasidism, distance him from the seething environment around him. His place is always in the shtibl of R' Yehoshua'leh, by a Gemara or by a book. He also helps out in the soda business run by his parents. By nature, he is mostly a well-tempered individual. I do not know of any instance in his life when he ever got into a argument with anyone. In general, he was someone who did good deeds, and went out of his way for everyone.
He married into a more prominent family from Tyszowce, (his father-in-law R' Elazar Lerner, was a scholar), where he took up residence. In Tyszowce as well, one can find him in the Bet HaMedrash beside a Gemara.
In the time of the Hitler occupation, he leaves his wife Chava'leh and his little daughter in Tyszowce, and he flees to Rawa [Ruska] to the Russians. From there he is sent away to the far north, where the toes of his feet are frozen off, in the forests of Archangelsk, at work.
After the liberation from exile, he comes to the Shymkent region, in Central Asia, in a weakened state, to the town of Lenger, where he expires in the hands of his older sister, Rekhil, on 2 MarHeshvan 5702 [ October 23, 1941].
The collective farm where he worked, allocated four lengths of earth for his interment, where he lies, thousands of miles from his birthplace, and those of his kin that survived.
When the Day of Vengeance arrives, let this young life, cut off prematurely, also enter into the reckoning.
by Rekhil Friedlander, Toronto
[She was] the daughter of R' Shabtai Friedlander. She was honest and followed in God's ways, and possessed a deep understanding of modern Yiddish literature. She attached herself to the Zionist organization, from the outset, when it was established in our city. After her wedding, she runs a soda and tea business with her husband, David, in the Halles. During the war, her husband flees to Rawa [Ruska] from which he is sent to Siberia. Alone and abandoned, he later dies of hunger and disease, in Samarkand, in Central Asia. She, Frieda, remained in Tomaszow, with her two little children, Shlomo Elazar and Zlata'leh, together with her parents. From there, she was forcibly driven to Cieszanow, and afterwards to Belzec into the gas chambers. No trace remains of the children.
She fled the Germans, going to Rawa Ruska. There, she married Joseph Laneil. Both were killed there by the German cannibals.
by Y. M.
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Born in Tomaszow in 1910 to very poor parents, he was taught as a child by private teachers in Heder. Because of poverty, he begins to work in tailoring while still young. Being sensitive and dynamic, he throws himself, with the entire ardor of his young soul, into social partisan conflict, first in HeHalutz, and later among the ranks of those who came to believe that the liberation of all humanity was through social revolution.
In 1939, he emigrates with his mother to the Ukraine to find work. After Hitler's attack on Russia, he voluntarily joins the Red Army in Kherson, to fight, with his own life on the line, against the Hitlerist beasts. In 1942, he falls in battle at Rostov-on-Don.
Being someone of good nature, whether it was private, or public, he lived for others before he lived for himself, until the evil Germans cut his young life short.
He ended his life with a martyr's death.
Let his memory be held sacred.
By Sh. Lich
His real name was Yoss'l Scheiner (a brother of Yaakov Scheiner, one of the rich people who made their fortune after The First World War, and a Kielce Hasid). Yoss'l Wassertreger[1], a tall, and broad-boned young man, dressed in the full Jewish garb, with an unshorn beard, long black garments, with a black Hasidic cap on his head.
However, with this, he was not an exception among the water carriers, because many of his colleagues, in this trade, dressed in the same way. However, Yoss'l was an exception in the degree of his honesty, and the fidelity with which he did his work. He was simply a full-hearted and honest person in the extreme, and spoke infrequently.
He was especially careful not to permit, God forbid, a lie, to escape from his lips. Many times he suffered on account of not willing to permit an untruth to escape from his lips. He also paid very intense care, to assure that his water pails should be filled to the brim, and that no excess should spill from them along the way.
In the wintertime, when it was slippery, and it was not possible to carry two full vessels of water, or if some of the contents did spill along the way, he would deliver the difference at no extra charge. And when the balebatim would want to pay him for the extra delivery of water, he would not take it under any circumstances, and he would argue: ‘a measure of righteousness,’ is a special mitzvah in the Torah, and if one transgresses in this respect, the penalty is severe.
Every day, he prayed morning and evening with a minyan, supplementing his prayers with recitation of the Psalms. In the most severe weather, rain, snow, mud, and slippery conditions, he would discharge his labor faithfully. He was good-natured, and he was never seen to be angry. In the most difficult times, his good-natured smile could always be seen on his lips. He would save from his own meager provisions, in order to provide sustenance to the needy.
On the Sabbath, he would worship in the Kielce shtibl. And spent the entire day in study and recitation of Psalms.
His honesty and dedication was always a source of great wonder to all of the Jews of the city.
by Ephraim Fishl Hammer (Nad)
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The crooked head – that is what he was called in Tomaszow. Why ‘the Crooked Head?’ – It is easy to understand, because his head, indeed, was tilted to the side (as you can see from the picture). Nevertheless, he put together good matches…and indeed, many of them. It was said of him that he could pair off two walls together [if need be].
It was rare for someone to know his [real] name, which was: R' Moshe Goldbaum ע”ה. He was the matchmaker to my sainted parents, and he would have been my matchmaker as well, but I managed to slip out of his hands.
I am certain that many readers of these lines will also be reminded of this particular type of matchmaker, and entirely possibly that he was also the matchmaker of their parents, and possibly even their own matchmaker. And if you have no regrets over the match…you will remember him to the good. May his memory be for a blessing.
by Yaakov Schwartz
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Blind Nahum was a 48 year-old bachelor, stretched out, and as thin as a rail, possessing an aquiline nose, with a light yellow goatee of a beard, and two tiny eyes that barely could detect the light. He sidled along, exactly like a person trying to squeeze himself through a small door. He wore a greasy little Jewish cap, and on his body, only a faded torn robe, and if there was no breeze blowing outside, people did not see his private parts. He went barefoot summer and winter, because he could not get shoes for his large, swollen feet. He ate whatever people gave him, but he was perpetually hungry, and his face evinced a deep sorrow, such that it elicited sympathy from everyone. He was descended from a very prominent family. His father R' Moshe Graff ז”ל was a Gabbai of R' Yehoshua'leh ז?”ל, and had the reputation of being a substantial scholar. His mother ע”ה, who also was barely able to see light, was called ‘Rasheh the Holy Righteous Woman’ – a name that she fully earned, because she carried the burden of every poor household on her shoulders. To one, she would carry Challah for the Sabbath, to another, she would anonymously slip a couple of Gulden that she had scraped together on her own – and for everyone – she had a comforting word to say. She was respected and loved by everyone. Even while still small, Nahum demonstrated great talent for learning. His father ע”ה retained the greatest teachers for him (as he, himself, told me). Up to the age of 17, they lived in a village, until one time when Nahum was bathing in a river, until a gentile woman, who was called the witch, grabbed him by the hair. He struggled with her for a long time, and it appears that he was profoundly frightened, and returned home frighteningly deranged. He began to bark like a dog, such that all of the dogs in the vicinity came running to where he lived. His family, who suffered frightful tribulations as a result of this, traveled with him to a variety of Rebbes and Good Jews, abandoning their food store, and moved to Tomaszow. A goodly number of years passed, and Nahum got better, but… there were sufficient eccentric traits that remained with him. For example, for hours on end he would spin around in a circle, or shout out ‘He-He-He,’ or stamp with his foot. And during that time when this ‘attack of insanity’ would not seize him, when he became normal, then it would actually be a genuine pleasure to talk with him, or listen to him talk about something. And he always had a great deal to tell. His anecdotes, aphorisms, witticisms, that he would tell about Rebbes, and take from books, was literally a delight to mouth and ears. During the summer, he would sleep in the shtibl of R' Yehoshua'leh ז”ל, and in the winter, in the Hasidic Bet HaMedrash, under the heated oven, on a bare bench. And woe betide the pauper that would wander through Tomaszow all day, begging at the houses, and at night seeking to find some rest for his broken bones in the Bet HaMedrash at night, only to encounter Nahum, who would become possessed in the middle of the night, babbling from the stands, or stamping his foot, or shouting out ‘He-He-He,’ ceaselessly – at times like this the hapless pauper would flee to the land where black pepper was grown.[1]
On our street, Nahum was also known to us as “The Living Calendar.” He could tell you when the time was for candle-lighting, when it was permissible [sic: after the Sabbath] to light a candle, and when it was the beginning of the New Month, and the New Moon, on what day a Festival would fall, etc. Nahum was known by almost the entire city, young and old, small and big, gentiles, the police, and even peasants from the village. Everyone knew that one could get the exact clock time from Nahum, and he would answer everyone in a good-
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natured manner, telling them how late it was, and simultaneously be able to identify who asked him the question by the sound of the voice. Nahum also knew how old everyone was, and knew who had Yahrzeit, and before he would disclose this, people would give him a groschen. Nahum was also very useful to those who ran illegal places of drink, to which the host would retire to from the synagogues and various Batei Medrashim, after the Sabbath prayers were concluded. They would go to the saloon keeper, and one might take two shots of whisky, another four, and yet another five, simultaneously along with a variety of snacks. Many, and indeed, many people would indulge in this way at the end of the Sabbath, or a Festival Holiday, and at that time, Nahum would already be seated at the saloon keeper's, and precisely, without the slightest hesitation, would give him an accounting for sometimes seventy, and sometimes fifty or more men, who partook of everything, and the saloon keeper would affably write this all down. Nahum was also a good singer. His heartfelt monotonic tunes penetrated every part of the body. Nahum was also a composer. On summer night's by the light of the seasonal moon, he would conceive of a variety of melodies, with rhyming words from the Gemara. Most of all, he loved to relate sayings from the Rebbes about love, and at the time of doing so, would sing along, using a tune from the Gemara: R' Mendele Kotzker has said that ‘Love id life; the soul is nourished by love; indeed, love is not bread, but it is certainly the wine of life, and from it one can become strongly intoxicated.’
This reminds me of the considerable extent to which he had a sharp mind. He had asked me to write down a congratulatory message to a family of his, that was having a wedding in the shtetl of Tarnogrod. He dictated, and I wrote:
CongratulationsMay your new path forward shine like roses
And may your nights and days be filled with gladness;
May your future bloom like flowers
And may your life's song evolve like pure notes;
Let your new morning be woven from good fortune
And may all your old worries vanish away;
May you always enjoy what is good and beautiful
And my you always be greeted by the bright world;
I give you my blessing from the depths of my heart
And wish that the seed of good fortune take root and blossom with you.I wish you all this with great respect –
Nahum Graf
In the first days of the German attack, a German S. S. murderer saw him standing and tapping with is foot on the stairs of the Belz shtibl. In a thunderous voice, he asked him: ‘Jude hast du hunger?’ When Nahum shook his head in assent, the murderer put his revolver into Nahum's mouth and pulled the trigger. With a strangled exclamation of ‘Shema Yisrael,’ he fell down off the steps, and gave up his holy soul.
Honor his memory.
by A. H., Wroclaw
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Half-naked, overgrown, scrawny, bent over, He raises his two blind eyes to the heavens,
And looks over the rim of his cap,
He taps and twirls himself, step after step,
That's how he dances and spins himself, standing in his place,
And yet, this crippled one sometimes manifests wonder
Try him, ask him: What time is it now? –
‘Seven after Eleven,’ I think. Yes. It's good –
If someone forgets the Yahrzeit date of his great-grandfather,
His youngest daughter (he remembers this by heart)
Your great-grandfather was then seventy years old,
And thousands of pieces of data, names, birth dates
What day (a good trick)
Novel interpretations of the Torah to him
All know that ‘Nahum the Blind One’
It is sufficient for him to just hear someone's voice,
What he dealt in, and what going on in the world,
The War arrived, crisis and then,
All that transpired many years ago already,
He is still known for his poems,
Welded together with quotes from the Talmud,
And if he comes to attend a wedding,
Then he becomes merry, he rhymes for everyone,
For all the young men, and the Jewish daughters,
And though he is brooding and lives like a crawly creature,
He sleeps in the Bet HaMedrash, living on minimal rations,
He taps and he twirls himself around in a spin, |
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He murmurs and buzzes, just like a bee, And shakes himself, turns himself, hither thither and yon.
Children and adults all stand around,
He taps and buzzes, so long and so wide,
Until his nerves quiet down,
A group of youngsters returning from Heder
Tell me to whom I belong, and who am I?
He answers them all, and recognizes them all,
They push a few groschen into his hand,
For he knows the shtetl from beginning to end,
He lived his life like he always had
Before his eyebrow even flickered, |
by A. H., Wroclaw
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And lo, she makes herself visible, walking gently, Right there, in the middle of the street, She cracks thin candies, Her face somewhat pale.
Big eyes, wild and black,
When she starts to curse – you may know,
“Get burned and get buried,
And also Franck the Pharmacist,
And she is able to flatter well,
“You look good! You fixed yourself up
And should it happen that someone tricks her, |
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And in guarding the hitch For Pinchas the wagon driver, That is when she starts The real wailing.
One pushes the wagon off,
Pinchas! – she calls out, screaming so it is a fright –
She grabs the whip – I'll give it to you:
She curses and shouts at the top of her lungs,
No monies are denied to her,
She talks and smiles like a child,
And so, this is how she trundles along gently, |
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