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In the beginning of the 1920's, many small towns in which large numbers of Jews were crowded and squeezed together, were spread throughout Russia, Lithuania and Poland. They endured trying and difficult conditions. Six days a week they worked and toiled for their bread and their meager needs. Few were wealthy, even in towns that had merchant connections with the large and distant cities. But in these small communities the Jews lived their lives in companionship, as if one family; they watched over each other. The celebration of one was a celebration for all; mourning for one was a mourning experience for all. In these settlements, all were distinguished by leading their lives based on Jewish values, with holiness and piety, with modesty and simplicity. The religious atmosphere was solidified and fixed by their spirituality and with the application of the intelligence of learned Torah students.

From afar came rumors of the coming of railways and telegraph connections, but in these remote towns the daily activities still relied on carriages pulled by a pair of horses; the bustle and noise of the cities and the secular culture hardly reached the little towns. These poor settlements remained strongholds of basic Yiddishkeit (Jewishness).

Jews prayed and studied Torah. Much devotion was invested in their prayers and in reciting psalms. With fervor, they directed their hearts to the Father in heaven. Out of humility, they never raised their heads; their eyes were always lowered. Agudah “ambience” saturated their souls, made their lives sweeter, and inspired hope for redemption before long. Look into the eyes of a poor, humble man. Who knows? Perhaps he is Eliyahu Hanavi (Elijah the Prophet), here to bring us the Moshiach (Messiah). With deep faith they lamented that not soon enough in the future, there would be a bridge, even if only made of paper, that would allow them to cross to the Holy land, and that all following nations of the world would fall into the abyss below, though their bridge was made of iron.

At the head of these Jewish towns were distinct Rabonim (Rabbi-teachers), famous, God-fearing Talmidei-Chachomim, with high morals and abundant mitzvot that influenced the populace and inspired them with deep faith, espousing the maxim “Yisro'el the eternal is an actuality.” Kozanhorodok, in White Russia, in the district of Policia, was a typical example of these towns. It had a devout religious Jewish community for hundreds of years. A small town, it was inhabited by two hundred Jewish households, with a much larger Christian population. It was surrounded by many small and large Christian villages; and situated among those were a few additional Jewish families.

Kozanhorodok was noted in Policia for its great, important, Rabbis who functioned as faithful shepherds of their small flock. As testament to the long existence of the town was the old cemetery with its ancient headstones, graves of tsadikim (the righteous) and Rabanim. The cemetery held an important part in the daily lives of the Kozanhorodok Jews. On any day, one could always find a Jew prostrated over a grave, or a woman bent over a tsadik's grave baring her soul, or a maiden sitting there, praying, with no a dowry or redeemer; or a dangerously ill individual and so on, all with some adversity.

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Many are the stories about the healings or the help that came as a result of the pleadings that were spread over the graves of the Tsadikim – there was no physician in Kozanhorodok, not even after WWI.

Shocking and horrifying stories were related among the townspeople from the days of the Cantonists and the kidnappers. They kidnapped poor people's children instead of the rich children and delivered them to the government (army) and to their doomed fate. For many years, Kozanhorodok's women could not forget the screams of the unfortunate women whose children had been snatched from their arms. Their last cries to the little children was to never forget they were Jewish and called after them “Shema Yisroel.” It was said that after many years, the few that returned to the town indeed had the Shema Yisroel ingrained in them.

Outstanding among the ancient buildings, the pride of the town, was the “Cold” Synagogue. Its architecture was reminiscent of buildings of the late middle ages; many rooftops, all under a large dome. The entrance was unusually low – an entering Jew had to bend down, bowing in humility, but the inside was very high. The wide, circular ceiling containing images of holy animals, reached the upper dome. The Aron Kodesh, (Holy Ark) in the synagogue was unique; there was no other like it, even in the big cities. It was the supreme effort of a master engraver

The Holy Ark in the Cold Synagogue

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who had invested the best of his imagination creating all the engravings and the open fretworks. The talk in town was that only three such holy arks were constructed by this artist from Bialystock – one in our town, the second in Lachwa, which is 3 kilometers from Kozanhorodok, and the third in some unknown place. One had to wonder what the intent of this master engraver was in building these holy arks, purposefully in such small forsaken towns like Kozanhorodok and Lachwa. Indeed, great are the mysteries hidden in a person's heart…

And so this synagogue with its Holy Ark survived hundreds of years with its holiness and mysteries, with the countless generations that gathered there, during fires and riots, during invasions and marching troops and until the Shoah (Holocaust) of our time.

Attached to the Cold Synagogue was a small, low building, the “shtibel” (small room) in which services were held during the week. Only on Shabbatot (Sabbaths) and Holidays was the Synagogue used, or on other festive occasions, such as calling a Chosen (Groom) to the Torah before or on the wedding day – many were such “call-ups” for weddings held there. And here should be noted a prevalent superstition: It was believed that the dead visited the Synagogue at night.

Near the Cold Synagogue were two Batei-Midrashim (Houses of Learning). Stationed in one, was the Rav Yechiel Halel Gorelik (and his followers). The second was the Beit-Midrash of the Stolin Chassidim. Each day, between Mincha and Maariv prayers, the Shul yard was filled with the worshipers, learning and discussing related world events. This was their opportunity for relief and spiritual renewal after a hard day of toil and livelihood concerns, during a day of interacting with commoners and inhabitants of nearby villages.

In Kozanhorodok, connections with the “outside” was entirely in the hands of the horse-drawn wagon drivers. They would relate what they had heard outside the boundaries of the town. They also brought letters, notes and greetings from people who had gone to nearby Luninyets to work and earn their livelihoods.

Towards evening, the people of Kozanhorodok would go in groups, with their wives and children, to meet the drivers, to ask about mail (letters) and receive whatever may have been sent to them. There were maidens of the town who dressed nicely, combed and bejeweled, who went to meet the drivers, on the chance they may have brought them a letter from their intended (future) Chosen (groom) who went out to Luninyets each day of the week.

There were no flour mills in Kozanhorodok. Outside the town, on sandy yellow hills were many windmills – high, narrow, wooden structures with four large wings (blades). The wind during the day caused the blades of the windmills turn, and all the surrounds were filled with that noise.

Kozanhorodok was blessed with a river that passed and streamed through the town, rewarding it with beautiful landscapes. In various twists and turns the river traversed the town and surrounded it from three sides. To leave the town, one crossed over a long, wide wooden bridge that was supported on thick wooden pillars sunk into the water and river bed. In the summer, when the water was low, it was possible to cross the river in a few places by wading on foot and thus shorten the distance. The river was very wide, sometimes, long wooden rigs would be floating by, laden with wooden beams and various planks, on their way to the big cities. The river brought a sense of well-being and pleasure to the townspeople. Their herds drank its clear sweet waters. Towards evening as the sun set, the river edges filled with horses and cows drinking and wading in the water, their contented animal lows and nickers filling the surrounding air.

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Along the length of the river the towns' gentile girls gathered as well; among them also some Jewish maidens, all washing laundry. They would slap piles of plain or coarse clothes in the water, that after the washing glistened white as snow. They enjoyed their work and would sing hymns or Belarusian songs.

When the Jews of Kozanhorodok wanted a special glass of tea, for example after the end of Shabbat, or when inviting a guest, they would hurry to the river to fetch a pail of water. During the hot summer days the Jews of the town enjoyed bathing in the river. On Erev-Shabbat (Fridays) almost all the male Jews of the town, large and small, flocked to the river to bathe and purify themselves in the natural Mikvah.

Swimming in the river was the favorite activity and sport for the Kozanhorodok boys. Who in the town didn't know how to swim? They were experts in all the swim strokes. They did not know about bathing suits. In town were bath houses designated for men and women, separately. Occasionally, in the mischievous spirit of a rascal, one of the boys, an accomplished swimmer, would swim underwater towards the girls and surface suddenly among them, eliciting their screams and protests… The youths not only swam and bathed in the river, from the banks they also fished with fishing rods. And then there were those that rented a fishing boat to fish with a rod or cast a small trawl. In the boats, the boys and girls had their best youthful dreams by the light of the moon.

There was a small grove, called “Bobroina”, on the river bank at the edge of the town, near the watermill. The grove was a cluster of pine and oak trees, young and tall. They were reflected in the flowing river waters as if they were falling, and the pine needles were immersed in the water. The townspeople were charmed by the grove – during the week it rested in silence, but on Shabbat (Sabbath) afternoons, boys and girls flocked there, in a festive mood, wearing their best Shabbat clothes and an air of fresh enjoyment. They strolled around, lay on the pine leaves, skipped, jumped and gathered pine cones; the little ones played hide and seek. In the hours between Mincha and Maariv the adults strolled as well, the old and the young, enjoying God's world.

In main, the River was the source of livelihood for many of the Jews. In some seasons the trading in fish grew to large proportions. The gentiles were also involved in fishing – they were very proficient, in large fishing boats, with trawlers and other fishing equipment. They would sell their catch to the Jewish merchants who in turn would trade and send the fish to the big cities: to Warsaw, to Lodz and so on.

The entire settlement of the Kozanhorodok Jews was in the town center and its alleyways. Located there were their residences, the workrooms, the shops and the Beit Midrashim. There were no dedicated work shops; the shoemaker did his work in his living space, the tailor in his house and the sofer (scribe) in his home. In the wide space of the town's center was the town market in which was also the Orthodox Church. Every Sunday and on their Holidays the town's Christians assembled, dressed in white clothes with embroidered ornaments. Next to the church stretched the Priest's garden, surrounded by a high fence, which was closed, as a barrier to the Jews.

In the town there were also streets where the Christians lived; these were mainly in the suburbs and actually in some slums. There was a populated neighborhood across the river, in it were many fishermen and cattle breeders. That neighborhood was called “Meydan.” A single Jewish family lived there as well, the Saba family, which was much liked and respected by the gentiles. On a day of festivities, a celebration or a wedding, the heads of the Christian community would bring gifts and volunteer to bring invitees in their carriages to join the event or to ferry musicians from neighboring villages to the party. At the celebration itself the Christians joined in, eating and dancing and entertaining the bride and groom. Family secrets and the hidden affairs of the “ne'er-do-wells” in the community would be revealed to the household in great detail. The Christians knew well all of the Saba's grandchildren that would visit on Chol Hamo'ed, they knew all their ages and their family connections.

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The local government in Kozanhorodok was a rural government, at its head sat the elder of the village, called the “Walost.” Jews played an important part in this local government. They were appointed by the district government as village elders. The secretary of the Walost was always a Jew. Occasionally, two secretaries were in place, a Jew and a gentile. In Kozanhorodok, good neighborly relations between the Jews and Christians prevailed.

After WWI, when riots broke out in many White Russian towns because of the invasions of the murderers, no robbery or murders took place in this town. The Christians were not caught up in the wild incitements and the Jews were secure and safe. But during WWII, Kozanhorodok, with all the others, was completely wiped out. The “good” neighborly relations and all the Jews' money and gold, unfortunately, were to no avail.

The Cemetery in Kozanhorodok

[Pages 207-208]

I came to America in the year between 1904-1905. I was nineteen years old at the time, but memories of my shtetl have remained deeply imbedded in my heart.

As meager as was our way of life living in Kazanhorodok, I know only one thing for sure – that Kazanhorodok was a poor, beautiful shtetl, with its river, water mill and wonderful woods, scented by its young, tall pine and oak trees.

The older folk used to tell about plans for a much desired railroad that would cut through Kazanhorodok to enable more productivity. But they needed to bribe a certain person of authority there, and unfortunately the sum needed for the bribe was so large, that no way could the entire shtetl come up with it.

That is how Kazanhorodok was left without a train, and so the shoemakers, tailors and carpenters had to go to Luninetz – the neighboring town that was fortunate to have the railroad – to look for work to sustain themselves. This led to a rift that festered between the two towns. But the poor inhabitants of Kazanhorodok made a living from each other, and from the Gentiles who occupied the small villages that were close by.

There were fairs four times a year, twice in winter and twice in summer. These fairs were called Nicaul and Troyze. This is how life was, and we managed to get by. Certainly there were no great wage-earners and the whole salary frequently went for just bread and potatoes. There were many ways of preparing potatoes, many variations, some quite ingenious. I remember that they used to cook fish-potatoes. That meant there was no fish in the pot, but the housewives used to chop onions and use pepper, etc., mixed into the potatoes, and this was called fish-potatoes (Kartufles).

There were two rabbis and two shochtim (ritual slaughterers) in Kazanhorodok – the Horoduk rabbi's shochet and the Staliner rabbi's schochet. The number of non-chasidic people (mitnagdim) was small, but they had their own non-chasidic rabbi – Reb Itchi, the son of the rabbi from Lachver, who was a very learned and intelligent rabbi. Reb Itchi didn't earn a living merely by being a rabbi, but also had a store where he sold materials for tailors.

With a schochet, the non-chasidic Jews were not particular – they ate from any of the shochetim. Altogether, they didn't flaunt their differences with the Chasidim, but when it came to davening (saying prayers) in the same Bet Midrash (House of Study), they sometimes came to blows.

The respected teachers of the shtetl were Kalman (Shlomi's) and David Katzman. Kalman was a grain handler in the little village of Tzna, which was near Kazanhorodok. David Katzman was a saddler and harness maker. He used to leave Kazanhorodok for a couple of weeks at a time, going over to the larger towns to work for the Gentiles, getting their reins and harnesses back to shape. Katzman and Kalman used to teach the modest and simple folk in the shul on Saturday. They would sit around large tables and tell beautiful, heart-warming stories about the great rabbis. Their stories were educational, and at the same time moralizing, and they touched the hearts of the poor, toiling Jews.

There was not too much love from the Kazanhorodoks for the Luninetzer Jews, because they were envious of them. But one thing the Kazanhorodok Jews had over the Luninetzer – that they could be certain of – that after one hundred years the Luninetzers would have to depend upon them and come to them. The cemetery was in Kazanhorodok, and the Kazanhorodok Jews never caused any difficulty with the burial of the dead.

In the cold shul there were various paintings on the ceiling and walls. Also a cut-out Holy Ark, about fifty Bibles – large, middle-sized and quite small. For Simchot (celebrations) the musicians would play in shul at evening time. The shul looked like a fortress, with a high dome.

My great-grandfather, Hankel the musician, used to sit there in a corner by the eastern wall and pray. Since I was his first great-grandchild, I would always go with him to daven. He was a relative of the rabbi from David-Horodok, Chernavilar Magid. Since he was a young boy, of respected and proper parents, he taught himself music and “felsich”. As an orphan, he chose music as a profession. He was a special mentch, very charitable. He died in 1896. Also my Bubbe Basha was a very charitable person and took care of the poor. Every Thursday she would go all over the shtetl, gathering food for the poor. She also organized other women to help with this and to also donate, not only to gather from others in the shtetl. She would parcel out much from her own food. This is how she conducted herself and after leaving for Luninetz did the same mitzvoth there. Understand that portioning out the challah for Shabbat was done quietly and discreetly, to make sure that the poor Jews would not feel ashamed. A small shtetl with Jewish hearts!

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Welcoming Shabbat really began on Thursday in the village. They already worried in advance as to how they were going to provide for Shabbat.

In Kazanhorodok there were really very few families that didn't need to borrow in order to get food for Shabbat. Kazanhorodok didn't have too much money to give away. With God's help, every woman used to buy a few pounds of flour, a piece of calf's meat (or other parts derived from the calf). Some would buy part of a carp, a calf's foot for cholent, but the red meat our butchers would carry to Luninetz. On a special Shabbat there was usually fish. From the few pounds of flour our Kazanhorodok women would first of all bake a few pletzlach to eat Friday morning. Also a pirogue filled with blackberries or other preserves, three large challahs and small ones for the young children. Of course also a tin of kichlach for the special day of Shabbat.

Our women also did not forget the poor of the village and each one would bake two extra challahs for them. They felt very good about the mitzvah of bringing the challahs to the poor and for making them respect the Sabbath. Chopping, filling and cooking the fish, getting the cholent ready to be put into the oven, kept them very busy. Of course there had to be also a kugel for Shabbat!

For our Kazanhorodok women, nothing was too much work for respecting the Sabbath – cooking and baking; washing the floor; polishing the candles; hanging a clean covering over the hearth; and spreading yellow sand around the outside of the house – that was part of the preparation. The women shared the job of picking up the challahs for the poor for the Sabbath, asking for donations for the poor, the Talmud Torah, the Book of Psalms, and other various needs. How good the house smelled on the Sabbath! Of course the heads of the householders stopped working and all of their stores were closed.

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