'Sefer Zolkiew' was written to satisfy two purposes. One was to revive a rich period in Jewish life. Secondly, through the chronology of the history of Jews in the European Diaspora, the hand of time aims to make us forget, and we have the obligation to erect a permanent monument to those of our brethren who were killed in the destruction of our community. It is possible that the deep and lasting connection that Zolkiew imprinted on the inner recesses of the minds of its former residents who have managed to reach this far, could be the driving force that nourished us during all the episodes of writing this book, and gave us the possibility to overcome the difficulties imbedded in this endeavor.

'Sefer Zolkiew' is the realization of an idea that began about ten years ago. In its essence, it documents the life of the Jewish community founded in the year 1610 and cruelly erased from the earth after 333 years. It would be a distortion of true history to see Zolkiew as a typical Jewish town that was to be found in Europe at the beginning of the 20^th century. Both the scions of the resident community and those from the surrounding areas sensed its uniqueness that found expression in the spiritual people that it produced for the world. Her Houses of Study were rich with large numbers of Torah Sages and physical splendor. It was saturated with an international Jewish atmosphere that defied the darkness that fell on some of its people who did not wholeheartedly identify with the Zionist concept. Yet each and every one faithfully supported this international concept and breathed life into it.

Of that worth preserving, the source of the town's pride was the spiritual strength of the many who lived there through their respective generations, and the Great Synagogue that stood on its hill for about 250 years. It is through this institution that the town acquired its reputation, and it was a symbol of the town itself. Also, that which was destroyed was not forgotten, not in its character or its appearance, and was initiated with this book, as if it were itself a 'synagogue' in the city of Beersheba.

We are far from thinking that the totality of our writing in this book covers everything about our town, but in a large part, it served as a focal point for the survivors of the town to shed the heavy emotional burden that they carried within themselves, and also to engage the interest of others in the emotions and experiences that were part of them.

There are five principal chapters in 'Sefer Zolkiew:'

1. The Chronology of the Jews of Zolkiew
2. Chapters of Memories
3. Movements and Institutions
4. Personalities
5. The Holocaust and Destruction

In the first chapter we summarized an historical view developed by the historian of note, Dr. G. M. Gelbar ^[1]ז”ל, who describes the evolution of Zolkiew and its Jews. In the second chapter a free hand is given to the scions of Zolkiew who brought ideas for the book from their memories of everything that attests to the atmosphere of the town.

The third chapter relates tales of the Halutzim^[2], the stories of the pioneering initiatives of the young, that found fertile soil in which to nurture their dreams, and those that aroused an international spark in the hearts of its people that had remained dormant for so many years. Much of the color of the spiritual life in the city is expressed in its personalities, who are the focus of the fourth chapter. There is little room to recall all of its great people, and so we were content to memorialize a portion of them, among whom were people of faith and belief, people of ideas, scholars and Enlightened individuals. The fifth part is dominated by the destruction of the town. Emphasis is placed on descriptions and details communicated in words that arose from diaries of people who emerged from their hiding places in the depths of the earth, and who witnessed the destruction of their town. Here we include writings, reports and letters that were written literally in the shadow of Death itself, in the concentration camps.

To our disappointment, our work was not made any easier by the indifference of some of our scions in The Land and external to it, and who were not responsive to our requests to try and produce material for this book. Because of the limited number of those willing and able to participate in this way, we were compelled to dedicate a great deal of time to carry out research for material in archives and libraries both in The Land and the Diaspora. After assembling this material, we tried, by whatever means possible, to be faithful to the chronological order of the events and to provide a full description of the link between the written material and pictures, and to those places that were fundamental to the tribulations they had to endure.

In order to express the respect and value we feel for all scions of our town, those who were not privileged to be saved, and those that are found with us, we declined to publish family pictures in the book, as well as 'Yizkor' sentiments normally accepted by other books of this kind, despite the fact that publishing this material was tailor-made to lighten the financial burdens that had to be assumed to produce this book.

After a lengthy assessment we agreed to publish the book in the Hebrew language only, as most of the original material provided to us was written in Hebrew. Also, the extensive surrounding text prevented us from including material in other languages. It is clear that technical reasons prevented us from incorporating more than one language in the publication of this book.

Our thanks go out to everyone who tried to support our endeavor, whether with the finances for our expenses and/or the content along with advice, and especially with the publication of “The Encyclopedia of the Diaspora” who partnered with us in the publication of this book.

Translator's footnotes

1. You will see many instances of this Hebrew acronym for: 'Of Blessed Memory.' Return
2. The singular of this word is Halutz, and is used to describe a (Jewish) individual who makes aliyah to the Land of Israel. Return

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