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This town that sits on the eastern edge of Western Galicia in Poland on the shores of the San River with its neighboring city of Rzeszów in the north, and Sanok in the south, (cities that are larger and better known)—its glory wasn't in the size of the place or in the number of its population, and not even in the number of Jews who lived there. Its greatness was because the Jewish settlement of Dynów was blessed in the most outstanding of all ways by being made up of the three ingredients on which the Jews of Poland, (and actually, the life of the entire nation rested throughout the generations), are based—Torah, good works and charity.

One of the characteristic marks of it's greatness among the men of Torah and wisdom of the Jews of Dynów was that the great Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapira was born to Jews of a village who struggled, who worked hard for the livelihood of his family, and observed and kept watch on the lifestyle of the Jew who was pure and faithful in his fear of God. When the rabbi was a boy, he was nursed as it appears, from deep roots, nourished and fertilized with the ingredients of life, strong for blossoming and growing a mighty spirituality that brought him upon his maturity, which for him occurred much earlier than for most, to the level of Gaon^[1]. A great man of genius, wisdom in The Torah, until he was capable of bestowing from his spirit and his wisdom on the multitude of Chasidic Jews, students of Torah, those thirsty for knowledge, with influence far, far beyond the boundaries of Dynów. In this way was created a wellspring of spiritual warmth that warmed the hearts of Jews, and served as a source and a motivation for exalted aspirations— but first and foremost it served to nourish for the Jews of Dynów an unequaled level of spirituality in the settlement of the Jews in Dynów.

Over the course of many generations the Jews of this little town drew Jewish and human pride from the simple fact that among them flourished, developed and led in holiness a man that in their eyes was far beyond their level.

We remember very well the extent to which the Jews of Poland with the various uprisings around them. They relied on exceptional personalities to whom they could bind themselves in order to feel connected to the Jewish population in general, not by law, not in any official way, but someone they knew could, through kind words, through attention, through words of Torah; someone who could serve them as a teacher and a guide, and also to address their pains, and to give a light of hope for the situations which have no solution, and to problems that from time to time settled around their necks.

The additional side in this strong tie between the people and the scholars of Torah, enlightened Jews, and simple Jews, and all the rest—how they were tied to these Torah scholars, to men who served the holy jobs of the communities, like the rabbis and the rebbes, was the fact that it was steeped in faith and hope that the Jews placed in their belief in the creator, their existence as Jews could not be explained in any other way except through the spark of God—he who sits on high, in His Omnipotence. He can

[Page 12]

shield them against the punishments and the attacks that came on them both from natural causes but especially from hateful people. The Tzaddick was in their eyes, the trusted emissary of God, and the supreme watchmen that through these holy men, through the Tzaddick, people could see the connection of someone who was entirely trustworthy and faithful.

The Jews of Dynów lived over a period of years with a clear awareness that such a Tzaddick, such a personality lives among them. Even after the death of the Bnei Yiœaœkhar [as Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech was referred to based on his well known book], and even to this very day passes through the midst of the Dinover people the trembling of holiness, even to hear someone just mention his name.

The specialness of Dynów, as the home of Tzvi Elimelech put on that community a serious heartfelt debt —connectedness, and that stood strong for people of Dynów since it was the signpost and the path of the rabbis of Israel. This also helped create a philosophy of walking gently or of sweet paths from many people among us because of the emotional feeling of this spiritual light. Out of the feeling of spark of spirit there was the striving for truth, and for Jewish faithfulness on a sublime level.

*

I wouldn't be the one breaking to you the news if I were to tell you that the spiritual wealth that enveloped the Jews in the communities of Dynów as a general framework and brought to their lives a festive character that surpassed the daily worries that their spiritual force did not come as a substitute for the true travails of living—after all man does not live on the study of Torah alone. The worries of daily life were not spared of the Jews of Dynów. In the sad reality that ruled Poland, towards its Jewish minority who were village (shtetl) dwellers for the most part, (even though here and there, even in Dynów, you had some Jews who were settlers in agricultural areas), they had no other choice except to grab some opportunities and make a living in business, or light industry or trades. In short, work and business are service industries.

But whoever wants to minimize the value of this kind of work that the Jews did, is sadly mistaken. This was a life of hard work, of business and dealings from morning until night, struggle, diligence, running around in rain, and in dust, services dedicated to bookkeeping, accounting, requiring much knowledge, excellence in medicine, in law— all of this was the lot of heads of families among the Jews of Dynów, and frequently, not just the head of the family but also the wives and kids of these families would be working in these different occupations. Most of the Jews invested into their work every one of their 248 bones [According to the Talmud you have 248 bones and 365 tendons in the human body.]. Because if there is no wheat, there is no study [reference to Torah].

The achievement of the Jewish community— in terms of the high standard of living, the possibility of sending their children for higher education —was the fortune of very few people, namely those for whom showed particular initiative or ambition, and skill in business of lumber industry, or in the flour mill, or in the mining industry, and in the commodities industry of selling wheat, and then there were some individuals that were involved in the free trades. That aspect of people who make money and support others consisted of ten percent of the Jews in Dynów.

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All the rest lived very modest, humble lives, but respectful —but without wealth, and without the show of the rich people.

In contrast, there were those who lived lives of indulgence. They passed from living ordinary lives to living sanctified lives, a time when they gave up their mundane existences, and devoted themselves to hours and days away from work in order to study, to look into books, to pray, and to thank God, and to enjoy the traditions and rituals that the religion gave them, in keeping the Sabbath and the holidays, observing the joyous family occasions, the public and community events, but first and foremost the prayers of Friday night and Shabbos, the holidays and high holidays— celebration of Chanukah and Purim- and oh my, who can compare them, who can be like them. Their mission was striving for spiritual greatness—not satisfied simply to meet the minimum requirement, but rather devoted themselves with all of their soul, sunk themselves into the vision of the Other World which has no materialism to it— pure spirit, a world where the human person can become united with the supreme spirit who nurses them towards essential happiness during their time on earth, that teaches them the capability to be a part of the generations. This work of theirs connects them with the Jewish people in every special way— this nation that in each time of suffering had a miracle happen to save them. This nation for whom all its oppressors eventually meet their punishment, and for all of the punishments that they suffer, they eventually find a redeemer.

The manner of distancing oneself from the troubles of daily life for the individual Jew and for the community as a whole, was expressed in song, in melodies of grief, melancholy, tragedy, sorrow, supplication, and of fervent entreaties for salvation from The Almighty. Whether in the Shabbos and holiday songs sung in the family, whether in the melodies sung in prayer, whether in dance, song at gatherings in the Rebbe's Court— and in such moments they knew the taste of strength, and they grasped the essence of this community, forged together by a single awareness, namely — 'the eternal destiny of Israel will never falter' (Netzach Yisroel Lo Yishaker).

*

In the years between the two world wars a new class developed in the Jewish population of Dynów. I would call that the class of the 'Innovators,' which includes the youth. This group introduced 'general studies,' elementary school and high school; they were interested in secular Jewish literature, and in general they were busy with technological innovation going on in the world, which from time to time they heard about, and exploring the growth of the Zionist movement, which was expanding. They joined organizations, parties and movements that arose. No small number of them came under the influence of was going on all across Europe at the time.

Just as between the old generation there were people; not a small number of people, that saw in the Chassidic movement visions of the future, so too that happened that in these younger peoples movements they found hopes for the future, that they invested all of their passion of their youth, and diligence in the creation and the existence of these different organized frameworks, mainly the Zionist, and the pioneering ones and others like them. And you can't ignore the fact, that even among the elderly, you found many people

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who saw in the Zionist movement and in the settlement of Israel the way they expected would be the future for the people. Out of joining with this movement, they would go out to conferences and committees. They heard lectures, and obtained materials to explain this ideology and they invested time for local activism that was organized.

The first groups of pioneers, who were from Russia and had chosen for themselves a path to realization of their goals, carried the message of practical Zionism to every corner where there was a Jewish settlement. Understandably in Dynów, there was a Jewish settlement, and there were Zionists who joined this large camp of pioneers, and they even began taking active steps in that direction. They left their parents homes, they joined communes, pioneering preparatory programs and camping groups as preparation to eventually go very soon to the land of Israel. This fact influenced many people among the youth of various groups and it turned this issue of Eretz Israel into a central one in the life of the Jews in the town.

But most of the public work still focused on topics and issues that were tied with existence of the community itself. The desire for mutual responsibility ran deep in the Jewish community and extended and continued from the time the community was established in Dynów. Different events and incidents over the years deepened the symbolic meaning and activism of the quote, 'all Jews are interconnected and responsible for each other.' The individual necessities and the specific mentality was exemplified in the 'parnassim.' [The parnassim are the people who have a little extra money who can take on burdens to help others aside from their own family.] These are parnassim, the heads of the different parties and the intellectuals to give their attention and their activism to lead organizations to help the weak and needy, and for someone whose world that had been turned upside down, [referring to loss of family, or a parent],…help for the poor. Organizers of these groups to help the poor and the sick, a bed to sleep for someone who needed it one night, looking after the widows and orphans, taking care of the poor brides who needed to get married, the costs of that— all of these were at the top of the agendas of the activists whose main foundation was in the synagogue, and that includes independent agencies and institutions. And you find many individuals who would take on these duties— people with financial means, and among them people whose independent economic capability was also very limited. [In other words, even people with limited capability would still be those who would take responsibility to help others.], they struggled; they worked with their energies quietly to help the poor. The help that they brought to the poor people was done anonymously, in secret, and it was called, 'Secret Gifts.' [Mattan Besetter].

If I were to phrase in a short term, that which I value in the area of this activism, the beautiful and exalted aspect of Jewish life of the shtetl, I would say that we remember the Jewish Dynów as an isolated singular island of brotherhood, of mercy and kindness in the midst of an ocean of hatred— of revenge and murder which surrounded it, but it could not stop, or disturb the Jewish settlement from actualizing its special character in which it fed every person of their community and turned the poor people into assets and made them a part of the Jewish tradition with its values and its morals.

*

With the increased activism among the youth, which included organized hiking, founding of and support of summer settlements for their leaders and followers, which were mostly in the

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lap of nature in the villages, in the woods, in the fields, along the shores of the rivers— namely the yearning for viewing landscape, vegetation, and the search for that aspect of nature that gives one happiness and joy— love of flowers and trees, and the need for pure fresh air that reinvigorates the soul— and Dynów was blessed with all that in great measure. Beautiful hills and valleys, wide fields with rich vegetation and forests in many sections on the mountains, which was lifted as a well that surrounds this little village and its community that lived there, with the San River that flowed through the entire length of the city, and in the summertime served as a magnetic attraction for people to come into her, and to go swimming in its pure, clear waters that brings calm.

We can describe for ourselves the heartfelt picture, the time when many groups of Jewish youth would stream to the river— even very old people and young people from many directions crossed the expanse of land from all over to reach the San River. Across the forest and around the hills, across to the river below, to the other side with the wheat fields that were growing, and the smell of the fragrant flowers, we arrive at the awareness that the Jews of Dinov had this thought, and in fact they did, of the breadth of beautiful sustenance — not just from the fine fragrances of the Torah, and the teachers and rabbis, not just from the wonderfully organized congregation, not just of the fact of the ability to find work in a respectful way, but also that which The Creator had prepared for them and for their breath, for their work and activism—One might say the natural environment complimented for them all of the beautiful ornamentation in the framework of their lives.

*

The Jews of this small community—which without doubt could serve as the model of Jewish kahilla in every single one of the shtetlach of Poland— suffered through three tragedies, one harsher than the other. The first was the illusion of tolerance of the people among whom they lived. True— in various periods of the Polish nation there were kings, lords, landholders who would invite the Jews to come and live among them to help develop it and to feel as welcome citizens. True—that with the rise of modern Poland after the first world war they included in their constitution paragraphs equal rights for national minorities, but take a look— after the establishment of modern Poland specific groups among the Polish parties, the “Patriots” of the “Patriotic” Poles began to sound the alarm that their country is coming under the “control of the Jews,” and they began to demand a tightening on the Jewish steps in the daily lives and limiting the organization of their communities. They began to spread among the masses of their people the poison of anti-Semitism of the most murderous type. They would not wait for the “Bible” that would come from the west from Hitler's Germany because they had started with that and “excelled” in this area many years before Hitler. The hate message of many groups in the Polish nation against Jews brought more than once the simple folk in the towns and villages to mete their punishments on Jews when they found them vulnerable and tired.

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The further we got away from the “Glory Days” establishment of modern Poland (of course we remember the deeds of the “Poznanchiks”^[2] and the Halerchiks”^[3] during the war against the Bolsheviks in 1920) and the closer to our great sorrow, we arrived at the period of awful catastrophe for the Jews of Poland. It began with the oppression through taxes, called The Days of Grabski^[4], and the shutting of the path to higher education for the youth in the universities; [Numerous clausus]; the blocking of Jewish people from the civil service; the unification of distant segments for the purpose of municipal and parliamentary elections in order to limit Jewish representation, and more. The heavy pressure this placed on the common folk coming with the “silent” support of the national government of Poland created a new perspective regarding security that made it possible for the Polish people towards the Jews to do whatever they want, including riots with full force.

The second tragedy was the lack of spiritual and physical resources to oppose the use of force by the various rioters. The Jewish people in the towns and villages of Poland did not have the right or the possibility to protect themselves. They had an outstanding youth, trustworthy, with unlimited possibilities. Many were themselves military veterans who had excelled in Polish military service, and they could have been ready to protect themselves. We know of individual cases that at the time when Jews instinctively gathered to protect their brethren— not always did they come out defeated. In any case in all of these instances, the resistance became a cold shower on the heads of the rioters and the attackers. What was missing —was the dependable leadership based on a view of what was coming, understood that only by showing physical resistance can you put fear into those pulling the strings of hate and even the rioters themselves from being so confident in planning their steps against the Jews. The Jewish population of three and a half million in Poland with independent institutions galore with an army of men of spirit and intelligent people recognized people with money and property if they would only get out from the façade of passive sheep and could show their “nails,” well then our enemies would have restrained themselves a little bit, and you can't know if they wouldn't have changed their program, which was being organized against Jewish people after that, in readiness, and alongside the time the Nazis that were doing their cruelty on the rest of Europe.

With their great faith our brethren in Dynów never considered that a day would come that some people would connive to undo them, to destroy them and wipe them out, if only because they were insulated, separate for good reason from their neighbors. In their daily lives they made efforts along with their family responsibilities, to help others, to value thought and spiritual values, to rely on the Torah leaders, with which their community was blessed with such giants, literally adorned with a crown of glory. It never entered their mind that they would need security

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for their community from without so that they would not fall prey to human beasts, and they also put their trust in The Creator, that He would protect them from all evil. And then came upon them the third tragedy, the worst of all, which they could never in their worst, blackest dreams ever anticipate — the murder of the entire Jewish people of all of Europe at the hands of the German Nazi monsters and their collaborators, battalions of death dealers, among whom lived large Jewish communities. The best of all these destroyers were the murderers among the Poles. We have no basis to doubt that the land and earth of Poland, most selected for this satanic work of destroying the Jewish people, not only because in this country it was the largest concentration of Jews, but also because there in Poland, as mentioned above, the stage had been set to help the Nazis. There the German SS felt right at home. There, masses of Polish non-Jews were waiting with wide eyes to destroy their Jewish neighbors, to inherit their belongings, their money and their property— the property of the martyrs who were innocent of any wrongdoing.

How could every drop of humanistic culture, every feeling of dignity, shame, of embarrassment drift away from this nation! How could they give the citizens of the small town of Dynów in which everyone knew each other, how could they give it over to the ugly murderers whose wish was to destroy all Jewish life and community in that place— that community from which derived generations upon generations of benefit and blessing, through that community all the people who lived there— Jews and non-Jews were able to develop themselves and have a good life. How could this happen? Could nature nurse this evil group of people? How come the river did not flood its shores in order to keep pure places where these Tzadikim, these charitable and innocent people lived? How could nature be quiet? Why didn't the river overflow, and flood all this terrible action for the sake of keeping this town with its holy people, its philanthropists, its good people, keeping it clean— why was there no earthquake underfoot of these disturbed people? Massive and cruel of these enemies of man and of Jews, the destroyers of the Jews of Dynów will never be cleansed of their guilt because their evil deeds were one large compilation of treachery, wickedness, murder and destruction.

*

The tragic memory is what ties all of the people who came from Dynów one to the other, graves of parents, of brothers and sisters, and dear friends. It made them one unit never to be separated. It made us the remnants, survivors of this terrible Holocaust— into one living body, those alive with the past, which continues its mission.

For the graves of our beloved there is no tombstone. Our hearts turn to them always with genuine kindness—that is our debt to them. And we also will not forget that in the diaspora in the gigantic country of Russia, there are also scattered many graves of our dear ones— additional martyrs of debasement, humiliation and murder at the hands of other criminals. The anonymity of those martyrs obscured with a searing insult to humiliation, the demeaning of the dignity of the Jewish person.

In writing this book we are eternalizing the larger picture of this defined Jewish community that came to life in a Jewish shtetl and formed

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its own patterns creating a framework of Jewish significance and relevance through institutions of Torah and prayer of rabbinics, of an organized kahilla, with charity, mutual aide— it built for itself a bridge that in its time we can use to cross over into the days of the Mashiach [Messiah], into a world of redemption [Ge'ullah].

With this book of memory for the martyrs of Dynów we come similarly to establish a memorial for our beloveds, and internal memory for their names, which will rest among us for generations to come. Let this be our answer to the intentions of the cruel destroyer that wanted to erase their memories from the face of the earth. We're also fulfilling with this book the commandment of honoring our parents [Kibbud Av Va'Em], brotherly love, and keeping faith with our friends. We will try in this way to perpetuate the flame by which light we will entreat that our children and our next generation of Jews will be proud and independent thinking about their heritage, and about the places of their birth. More than a generation has passed since the Shoah, when our holy kahilla was wiped out, but the memory and the terror of those days will never leave us, and even today it lives in the hearts and souls of people from Dynów, witness of that fact is this book, which we are presenting here.

*

I cannot pass over noting the volume of effort and hard work that was invested in preparing and publishing this book; the survivors of Dynów in Israel are few. They do not have much power. They don't have the resources that their fields of occupation are tied up with publishing a book. We don't have professional writers or authors, but we have a devoted chairman who never lost resolve from the task and with the help of fitting ideas and advice overcame all the challenges until completion of the project. Yitzhak Kassa is one of two editors of this book and the most important of his writing is here, a poem about the shtetl Dynów, in Yiddish, which puts before us the images, streets, the alleys and present the context of our subject in great detail.

Special recognition to Rabbi G. Ortner and Rabbi M. Wunder who helped to participate in this book through their work on the topic of Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapira and of the rabbis and judges [dayanim] of Dynów. Thanks also to Mr. A. Mosinger who went to great effort and contributed his piece about the shtetl, its Jews, and their occupations.

Translator's footnotes

1. A Gaon is considered a genius of Jewish learning. It harkens to the Saadia Gaon, who lived in the 900s, which was a period of exemplary scholarship in Talmud. Return
2. Polish soldiers from Poznan region who were very active in cutting off beards of Jewish men, throwing Jews from trains, and other such acts. Return
3. General Haler's soldiers during the time of pogroms in Lvov and Kielce. Return
4. Wladyslaw Grabski, a leader of the anti-Semitic National Democratic Party and former Polish Premier. He also was Minister of Agriculture and twice Minister of Finance. As Finance Minister in 1924 and 1925 he introduced currency reforms and an anti-Jewish taxation policy so severe that it resulted in a great immigration movement to Palestine, known as "the Grasski Aliyah." Return

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