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A. Basic Overview

The Zionist Organization in Zamość in the year 1922 In the middle of the front row is the teacher, Sholom Weiner

Invitation Card to an Evening of Traditional Dance from Keren Kayemet l'Yisrael in Zamość in the year 1927

Lottery Day of the Zamość HeHalutz Organization for the Benefit of “PAF” (Palestine Arbeiters Fund)

The “Freiheit” Organization in Zamość, photographed on September 21, 1929 at the time of the aliyah of their leaders, Menachem Zilberstein and Sholom Kruk to the Holy Land

The Youth-Pioneering organization “Gordonia,” in Zamość, photographed on January 15, 1931

The Sport Club, “HaPoel” from the right-wing Poalei Zion in the May 1st demonstration of the year 1935

The adherents of Zionist concepts in that time were recruited from the ranks of the worshipers at the Bet HaMedrash. During the time of the Czarist regime in Poland, the movement was illegal. Despite this, Zionist
activity was palpable in our city, which manifested itself in a variety of forms.

During that time, a variety of Zionist advocates visited Zamość, such as Rabbi Nissenbaum, Kuratko, etc., who brought support for the Yishuv in the Holy Land to a level of practical activity. Zionist work, at that time, found its expression in the distribution of funds, initiatives taken for the colonial bank and gathering funds for the Keren Kayemet l“Yisrael.

Among those who were active, the exceptional workers were: Dr. Yitzhak Geliebter, Elkanah Geliebter, Hirsch Handelsman, Yaakov-Joseph Schneerson, Gedalia Hoffman – from among the youth; Yitzhak Frenkel, Aharon Nadler, Shmuel Grossbaum, Yehoshua Fruchtgarten, Azriel Shafir, Chaim-Jospeh Gebet, and others.

From the year 1905, the movement began to penetrate circles of young people from various directions: such as the youth of the Bet HaMedrash, folk youth, and Maskilim. Hirsch-Chaim Geliebter, who had returned from the Holy Land as a student at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jaffa, had a great influence among the young people at that time. The work for strengthening the dissemination of the Hebrew language and culture was strengthened at that point, and in 1909, a community Hebrew school was established, by the name, “Heder Metukan.” In this school, pupils were educated in the renewed Hebrew culture.

In the year 1914, with the outbreak of the war, activity came to a halt, principally because of the fact that many Zionists and activists left the city, and were dispersed throughout the entire length and breadth of that one-time Russian Empire. (Among them was also the activist, Hirsch Handelsman, who later was active in the movement in Russia – Berdichev).

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With the Austrian occupation of the city, in the year 1915, possibilities opened up for the organization of a legal movement. In Hirsch-Chaim Geliebter's home, youth meetings took place, with the objective of founding a Zionist youth organization.

News arrived from Warsaw at that time about the formalization of the “Tze'irei Zion” movement and the movement attracted many adherents among the young people of Zamość. A location was rented, and the establishment of a “Tze'irei Zion” organization in Zamość was proclaimed.

Poland at that time was partitioned into areas that were under wither Austrian or German occupation. And because in the part under Austrian occupation no regulation existed for the existence of “Tze'irei Zion”, the organization in Zamość was formally incorporated into the center for the Zionist movement in Vienna, under the name, “Kadima,” because it was from there that it received legal sanction, even if form a practical point of view, it drew its substance from the “Tze'irei Zion” center in Warsaw.

The composition of the first committee of “Tze'irei Zion” in Zamość was as follows: Zvi-Chaim Geliebter, Hirsch Gebet, Israel Roset, Yekhiel Goldwag, Shlomo Tziffel, Shimon Finkman, Tuvia Stern, Reizl Goldberg-Roset, Shifra Levinson-Zegen, Nehemiah Feiler, and others.

The organization at that time embraced the largest majority of the Jewish young people in the city, and its activities were multi-branched. Collections were taken up for Keren Kayemet, Funds were distributed, a broadly-based propaganda effort was conducted, and Hebrew evening classes were established, a dram troupe was established. The courses, and in general the broad cultural activity, were conducted by Zvi-Chaim Geliebter and the teacher Joseph Chessler, who at that time had arrived from Pinsk.

The organization in Zamość at that time, served as a district committee for the surrounding towns. Zvi-Chaim Geliebter at that time visited the surrounding towns of the province, and with his inspiring speeches, he awakened the youth to undertake Zionist activities. At that time, there was a rather complete network of organizations in the province, such that in 1917, there was a district conference held in Zamość of all the Zionist organizations in the vicinity. The “Tze'irei Zion” in Zamość at that time opened branches in the principal sections of the city, there was a branch in the Neustadt, the activists of this branch were: Simcha Zworyn, Yaakov Feigenbaum, Levi Rosenman, Stern, and others.

The activities among the young people also had an impact on the circle of the citizenry of the city, and in the year 1917, the “Mizrahi” organization was established in our city, and among the founders were: Mordechai-Joseph Kronfeld, Mordechai Vogsholl, David Cooperstein, Baruch Sobol, Israel Rosen, among others. With the initiative of “lMizrahi,” a religious national school, “Yavneh,” was established, under the supervision of Mr. Anshel Sobol. The teachers were: Vitlin, Weinstein, among others. Hebrew courses were also given at the school.

With the Balfour Declaration in the year 1917, the work intensified, and Zionist influence was permitted to make a mark in all of the social institutions of the city. When, in 1918, the initiative for “Keren HaGeulah” was proclaimed, it was taken up with the greatest inspiration by most of the Jewish populace. Significant sums of money were collected and other assets such as precious items. Jewelry, gold and silver and precious stones.

In the middle of 1918, the Zionist organizations were disbanded by the disciplinary authorities of the Austrian occupation, under the suspicion that they were collaborating with the English and then for a short while, the Zionist organization went underground, but its activity was not disrupted, and it found many ways to conduct its work.

In the year in which the Russian border was opened, many Jewish war refugees returned to the city, among them, Yitzhak Funt, who had spent a great deal of time working in the central organs of the movement in Warsaw, as well as other comrades from among the young people, who had been influenced by the ideology of the “Tze'irei Zion” movement, which had developed during the time of the revolution in Russia: the group under the direction of Yitzhak Funt, helped a great deal with the crystallization of the Zionist-Socialist concept in the original “Tze'irei Zion” in the city, and carried on the ideological discourse with opponents of Zionism in labor circles: the Bund and communists.

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At the end of 1918, when sovereignty passed from the fallen Austro-Hungarian Empire, to the newly established Polish regime, the danger of anti-Jewish excesses by anti-Semitic Polish elements appeared, and the “Tze'irei Zion” organized a self-defense organization in Zamość, and a specific amount of arms came into their possession for this purpose.

In the year 1920, at the time of the Polish- Bolshevik War, the Hetman [Semyon] Petlura had control of Zamość, for whose account their were a large number of Jewish martyrs, who were murdered by his armies in the Ukrainian villages. At that time, it came to pass that a meeting took place between him and the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Military, [Josef] Pilsudski, in Zamość, about concluding an agreement concerning mutual support between the Polish military and the Ukrainian Cossacks. Among the membership of the “Tze'irei Zion” in Zamość, a plot was hatched to assassinate the murderer Petlura and to avenge the spilling of innocent Jewish blood. R' Abraham Hartz volunteered himself in order to carry out this attempt. The “Tze'irei Zion” committee after a very serious deliberation of the issue – looking ahead and seeing that the consequences of the attempt could elicit a wave of pogroms against the Jewish population, which suspected the Jews of being sympathetic to the Bolsheviks – decided to cancel the implementation of the attempt.

The first democratic elections to the city municipal council in Zamość took place in 1921. “Tze'irei Zion” appeared here with an independent slate and carried out a decisive struggle with opponents on the left and the right. The bloc of assimilationists and old-line community activists was broken, who up until that point had represented Jewish Zamość: “Tze'irei Zion” succeeded in electing three members to the city council: Hirsch-Chaim Geliebter, Israel Roset, and Stern. For the first time ever, the proud words of the programmatic declaration of “Tze'irei Zion” were heard within the walls of the Zamość magistrate building, which were read by Israel Roset, eliciting stormy protests from the anti-Semitic councilmen at the extreme. Demands for national rights were heard for the Jewish minority, such as: schools for Jewish children in the Hebrew and Yiddish language; independent self-government and autonomy in connection with internal issues of the Jews, etc.

Also, in the professional movement of Jewish workers, the “Tze'irei Zion” organization had an influence, and through it, a professional society was founded of people involved in commerce, and was led entirely by its own members.

At that time, the “HaShomer HaTza'ir” organization had a great influence on Zionist youth, which produced may pioneers for the Third Aliyah to the Holy Land, and among their activists were: Chava Fuchs, Joseph Fuchs, Mattityahu Weiner, and others.

In 1921, the sports organization “Maccabi” was founded in Zamość, which fulfilled an important role in the development of sports among the young Jewish Zionists in our city, and many of their members were active in a variety of areas of Zionist endeavor. Among their activists were: Moshe Luxenburg^[1], Simcha Geliebter, Yaakov Bajczman, and others.

With the aliyah of the activists of “Tze'irei Zion” to the Holy Land, Zionist activity was measurably weakened, the membership of “Tze'irei Zion” fell with replacement by of those elements who did not have as deep roots in the movement and were members of the Jewish labor parties, in opposition to the Zionists, such as the Bund and the communists.

In time, the idea arose among the Zionist youth in the city to found an apolitical Zionist youth organization, whose purposes would be: practical Zionist work, such as the collection for the Zionist funds, distribution of monies, and cultural work, in the Zionist spirit among the youth. In the year 1921, a Zionist youth organization called “Tzionim Tze'irim” was founded. Among its founders were: Moshe Rubinstein, Abraham Fekher, Shmuel Shmarak, Benjamin Rosen, and others.

The organization embraced all the young Zionists from all different streams, and excelled in its practical activities along the entire length of the Zionist front in our city.

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Within it, a Hebrew circle was founded, called, “Hovevei Sfat Ever,” which founded the first community Hebrew library. The members of this organization excelled in their activities on behalf of the Zionist funds. There was one especially highly influential group in this organization, which sympathized with the idea of the working man in the Holy Land, and took part in collections for the Palestine Arbeiters Fund (PAF) and also disseminated the initiatives of Bank HaPoalim. Among this group, the active members were: Leib Brandwein, Mottel Lastikman, among others.

In the year 1922, during the elections for the Polish Sejm, the Chairman of the Zionist organization in Poland, Yitzhak Greenbaum, founded the nationalities-bloc as a response to the proposed election ordinance proposed by the anti-Semitic priest Endek Lutoslawski, which had the purpose to diminish the representation of the Jews and other national minorities in the Poland of that era. The bloc of national minorities put up a slate of candidates, in the Zamość area among others, wanting to assure a proportional representation for the oppressed national minorities.

The concept of the proud struggle for equal rights for Jewish citizens in Poland threw down roots among the youth in our city and motivated them to unusual activity. The members of the “Tzionim Tze'irim” committed themselves to this election work, and stood at the point of the entire election campaign. The youth was also motivated to this national work by the aged Zionist worker, Dr. Yitzhak Geliebter, who spared no energy or financial measures for this initiative.

The slate of minority candidates in the Zamość vicinity achieved a resounding victory, sending two deputies to the Polish Sejm: a Ukrainian, and the second was Dr. Yitzhak Szyfer.

In the year 1924, indications of differentiation began to crystallize among the members of the “Tzionim Tze'irim” along the existing ideological lines of the parties, within the Zionist movement.

The “Tzionim Tze'irim” organization was disbanded, and its members went off, each to the party with which they were ideologically near to.

Abraham Fekher, Yaakov Neimark, and others, founded a branch of the Zionist-Socialist Party, 'Dror.”

Yohanan Morgenstern (who later transferred to work in the central instantiations of the movement) founded a branch of “Tze'irei Zion” (Tz.S.). The location of the branch was found in the Neustadt among the activists: Gershon Zucker, Levi Rosenman, Yitzhak Unterracht, and others.

Meir Goldhaar, Shmuel Hechtman, Moshe Schliam, and others, founded a branch of the Zionist Labor Party, “Hitakhdut.”

Shlomo Velichker, Yehuda Kornblitt, founded a branch of the Zionist Revisionists.

There was a general Zionist organization founded, and among its membership were: Chaim-Hirsch Geliebter, Sholom Weiner, Israel Roset, Mordechai Vogshall, and others.

In time, the “HeHalutz” organization renewed its work among the youth of the city, and among its activists were: Yaakov Neimark, Menachem Zilberstein, Shmuel Dulcher, Menachem Zingerman, and others. The organization carried out a multi-pronged facilitation effort, for cultural and physical conditioning for the Holy Land, and embraced a broad cohort of youth. In this organization, there were circles that studied the history of the Zionist movement, the labor movement in the Holy Land, problems of the “HeHalutz” movement, and prepared themselves to address the challenges of pioneers in the Holy Land. In order to encourage the transition to productive physical work, they founded groups for wood-cutting, and baking of matzohs.

After assembling a meaningful sum from the income associated with the previously mentioned labors, they approached the creation of a land development farm on the parcel that had been provided through Avigdor Inlander on lease to the “HeHalutz” organization without cost. On these twenty dunams of land, in the Zamość vicinity, the land development farm of “Avigdoria,” was established, which prepared halutzim for agricultural work in the Holy Land. This farm did

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not exist for very long, because of the lack of need by its members, who worked in it, struggles with financial difficulties to sustain the group of members who lived there, and it had to be liquidated, but in the short time of its existence, it served as a gathering point of the youth, who on every Sabbath would stream there and have lively discussions, which was tied to their future aliyah to the Holy Land.

At that time, the “HeHalutz HaTza'ir” organization was founded within “HeHalutz,” which had the objective of training young cadets as future implementers of the pioneering concept. Among the activists of this organization the outstanding members were: Yehuda Eisenfeld, Chaika Funt, Rachel Zuberman, Moshe Horenfeld, and others.

With the unification of Poalei Zion (right) and “Tze'irei Zion” (Tz. S.), in which the membership of “Dror” participated, a strong party, Poalei Zion Tz. S. was created in Zamość, whose influence was palpable in all community institutions of the city. The party took part in all of the elections for the municipal council and the Jewish community. Its representatives in the institutions were: Moshe Herman, Levi Rosenman, Moshe Tzaler (to the city council), Meir Pelker, Yehuda Wagner (the community). The party had a strong youth organization, “Freiheit,” which had a large expense from educating the youth in pioneering objectives. Among the activists of “Freiheit” the following stood out: Lipa Ehrlich, Israel'itskeh Gol[d]graber, Nissan Vogshall, and others.

Members of “Poalei Zion” in Zamość published the only weekly periodical in the Yiddish language, “Zamośćher Stimme.” The initiator and first editor was Yohanan Morgenstern and the publication of the periodical was later chaired by Leib'tzi Goldgraber.

The party was active in the work for the Zionist funds, and its influence was also palpable in the professional movement of the Jewish workers in the city. It was through it, that a professional union of leather workers was formed, under the leadership of Yehuda Wagner. The members of Poalei Zion had large expenses for erecting the league for the workers n the Holy Land, in the city, which, apart from taking in the members of the Zionist-Socialist parties, also encompassed the sympathizers of labor in the Holy Land without party affiliation. A special activity on this behalf was demonstrated by the members Leib'tzi Goldgraber and Mottel Lastiksohn.

In the years 1933-1938, the league distributed more than 1000 shkalim in the city and at the election campaign of the Zionist Congress, it achieved a complete victory. In the league, it also organized a sports organization, “HaPoel,” which apart from providing physical education of the young, directed a cultural activity in spiritual matters for the laborers in the Holy Land.

After its debut in the year 1924, the branch of the Zionist Labor Party, “Hitakhdut,” stood out in its activity in all areas of Zionist concern. The party founded the first people's university in the city, in which debates were conducted on general and Zionist themes, by the teachers at the Yiddish Gymnasium and Hebrew Volksschule, “Kadima.” Among the debaters were: Wagmeister, Weiner, Zeidman, Mannheim, and others. The debates were heavily attended and elicited an intense interest by young people. The party also had a folk-pioneer youth organization called “Gordonia.” Despite the fact that “Gordonia,” in its last years in Zamość suffered from the work of communist elements, who had penetrated the organization, a majority of the membership still followed in the path of developing themselves as pioneers. In its last years, the party suffered from a decline in the number of its members, which had left for a variety of reasons, but the party always had a loyal core of active members in all branches of the Zionist organization. The activists of the party were active in the work of the Zionist funds, “HeHalutz,” organization and assisted greatly in the establishment and development of the Hebrew Volksschule, “Tarbut,” in the city.

In the election campaign for the Polish Sejm in 1928-1932, when the independent Zionist slate had to put up with the attacks from the Polish government's half-fascist Sanazia-party – when many Zionist activists withdrew, under the pressure of the attacks – the members of “Hitakhdut” carried out all of the campaign work with energy and without fear about their own backs. It is worth recalling the fact that the City Elder invited the previously mentioned venerable Zionist activist, Dr. Geliebter, and attempted by a variety of means to have him withdraw from election work, and Dr. Geliebter answered with pride: – if the presentation of a Zionist slate is not in the interests of the authorities, then it is certainly good for the Jewish populace, and our lines of activity can never be made the equivalent.

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When the repressions of the regime against the Zionist slate took on more sharp forms, and the Zionist slate became practically canceled for the Senate, the national circles in the city voted for the canceled slate as a protest, and the previously mention Dr. Geliebter openly threw his ballot into the ballot box for the disqualified national ballot (paying no mind to the ordinances that made it forbidden to vote for a disqualified slate).

Both Zionist labor parties, Poalei-Zion Tz. S. and “Hitakhdut,” had a common field of endeavor in “HeHalutz,” and the League for labor in the Holy Land. In the year 1923, despite the fact that organizationally it didn't have a large number of members, its activities always stood at the point of Zionist activity in the city, such as activity for the Keren HaYesod, Keren Kayemet, and help for the support of the Hebrew Volksschule, “Kadima,” and “Tarbut.” In 1929, the work of the organization was strengthened by the founding of the youth organization, “HaNoar HaTzioni,” among its activists, the following stood out: Sarah Shlafrok, Asher, Zegen, Shmuel Berger, and others.

During the crises, which would break out in the Holy Land after each aliyah, the waves of the Zionist movement would break over the youth in the city, and during the time of the outflow of the conjuctor-elements from the ranks of the Zionist organizations in the city, there always remained behind individuals who were like rock fortresses in their loyalty to their movement, and carried on their backs the entire burden of the Zionist endeavor in the city.

The activists were recruited from all of the Zionist parties in the city, from all their streams, and it is a duty to recall with awesome respect the names of these activists, who were cut down by the Hitlerist murderers and were not privileged to see the realization of their ideal – the establishment of a the Jewish State in our times: Dr. Rosenbush, Mordechai-Joseph Kronfeld, Mordechai Vogshall, Israel Roset, Moshe Rubinstein, Benjamin Rosen, Aharon Shlafrok, Yaakov Goldgraber, Aharon Shmuel Neimark, Chaim Dickler, David Dulcher, Moshe Zoberman, Mrs. Fuchs, Shmuel Lehrman, Shmuel & Leibl Schmarak, Abraham Fekher, Gershon Zucker, Leib'tzi Goldgraber, Shayndl Hechtkopf, and Yohanan Morgenstern.

* * *

B. The Movement for Hebrew in Zamość

Facsimile of an announcement by “HeHalutz” of a Yizkor memorial service

As is known, the editor of “HaMelitz,” Zederbaum, was born in Zamość, and I. L. Peretz produced his first works in Hebrew.

Zamość, as a city of the Enlightenment was known among the Jews in Poland, and among the up-and-coming intelligentsia of that time, which came largely out of the ambit of the Bet HaMedrash, which excelled in its understanding of the ancient Hebrew literature, loyally attended the first step in the construction of the modern Hebrew literature.

It speaks for itself to say that Nahum Sokolov chose Zamość as the place for the raising and education of his son, whom he sent to study in the government gymnasium of Zamość, in order that he be able to simultaneously learn Hebrew and Jewish studies under the well-known Maskil, Hodock (who later moved to Warsaw and there was the official government censor for Hebrew and Yiddish literature).

There were always individuals to be found in the city who founded modern Heders, and these were the modern teachers: Goddel, Chaim Brisker, and others, who taught their pupils Tanakh, Grammar, and Jewish History. These Heders were the first undulations in the affairs of their time, on the front of modern national education.

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In the year 1909 a community school was founded under the name of “Heder Metukan,” which, in its program, were: learning the language using the method of “Ivrit Be'Ivrit,” Jewish studies, and a large measure of secular studies. Among the founders of the school were: Hirsch Handelsman, Schneerson, Zusha Falk, and others. The first teachers were: Sholom Weiner, Hirsch-Chaim Geliebter, Anshien, Rosenblum, Kalman Engelstein, and others. The school had many opponents from the religious-fanatic circles, who declared a Holy War against the “Apostasy.” But the school held on, and developed, drawing in the young generation because of the worth of the renewed Hebrew culture. With the outbreak of the First World War, in the year 1914, the school was closed down, because the activists, as well as the teachers, together with other war-refugees in the city, were impelled [to flee] into Russia.

In the year 1916, the “Tze'irei Zion” organization established evening courses in Hebrew, and in the year 1917 Hebrew evening courses were also established by the “Mizrahi” organization. The teachers of these courses were: Joseph Chessler, Geliebter, Witlin, Weinstein, among others.

In the year 1917, through “Mizrahi,” thanks to the initiative taken by Mordechai-Joseph Kronfeld, the national-religious school, “Yavneh,” was established, in which many of the young people of our city were educated, in the spirit of the traditional and renewed Hebrew culture. This school existed up to the year 1923.

In the year 1918, Sholom Weiner returned from Russia, and with the help of the “Tze'irei Zion” organization, a Hebrew Volksschule, “Kadima,” was opened which educated the younger Jewish generation in secular knowledge. Many of the members of the Zionist youth organizations from all walks of life, got their spiritual preparation in this school. At the same time, the teachers of the Hebrew schools and courses conducted a broadly-based cultural endeavor. Various appearances were organized in the Hebrew language, such as debates, evening get-togethers, literary directions, which influenced the young people to draw nearer to the roots of the Hebrew language and literature.

In the year 1922, the society “Agudat Hovevei Sfat Ever,” was founded in out city through the initiative of the organization “Tzionim Tze'irim,” which opened the first community Hebrew library in our city: among the initiators: Abraham Fekher, Berel Edelsberg, Mottel Lastiksohn, Aharon Koppelman, and others. This library was created by young people from the ages of 16-18, developed year-by-year, and gathered around it the nationalistic youth, who craved the new Hebrew written word, and found spiritual satisfaction there. This library reached an apogee in development in the years 1924-1926, when the new management in cooperation with the members: Hechtman, Zilberstein, Schliam, Eilbaum, Rak, Fekher and Mandelbaum attained a strengthened and more active level, and was able to show an increase in the number of books to over 1000. It was at that point that it was able to get official legal recognition from the authorities, under the name of “Community Hebrew Library, of David Frishman.” This legalization created possibilities for the expansion of financial sources for the support of the library, and various improvements were introduced such as: evenings, ticket-days, lotteries, and many of the Zionist youth were activated to participate in enlarging the library collection. At that time the latest books that were published, were purchased. In the reading room of the library, all Hebrew periodicals could be found, weeklies and monthly publications, collections, such as “HaShaluakh,” “HaTekufah,” etc. A Herew circle came into being at the library, which met every week fro debates and free discussions on a variety of themes, all in the Hebrew language. Among the readers at the library were many Maskilim, and even children of the Zionists.

In the final years the number of activists around the library shrunk, and the number of readers declined, the financial difficulties were great, and the library needed to be moved from location to location until it found a home in the new building, which had been erected by the “Tarbut” School in our city.

The “Kadima” School developed from year-to-year, and attained the level of seven grades and received government certification.

From the year 1930 one could sense a certain decline. Parents became enamored with the idea of country “objective” for their children, and began passing over the idea of providing a national education, sending them to unfamiliar [sic: Polish] schools. Part of the parents began to demand that some subjects be taught in the Polish language. The number of students fell and the school had to wrestle with great financial difficulties. The school continued to exist thanks to

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the exertions of its principal, Sholom Weiner, and the assistance of the Zionist supporters, Leibusz Levin and Mordechai Vogshall. The fact that the school exhibited a local character, and didn't come to depend on the central institution of the Hebrew movement in Poland, the school, which in the end, suffered from the lack of a clear educational program, and withstood pressure from a part of the parents, who wanted to diminish its Hebrew character, adopted the curriculum of all the “Tarbut” schools and emerged onto the broad plain of visibility and development.

Among the activists who gave much of their energy for the existence of the “Tarbut” Hebrew School in our city, beginning in the year 1935, were found: Mordechai Vogshall, Aharon Shlafrok, David Dolcher, Zimmerman, Shmuel Berger, Itamar Ehrlich, Asher Zegen, Baruch Sobol, Joseph Dickler, Jerusalimska, and others. The last leaders of the school were: Rubins, Kaplan.

In the year 1938, a place for the “Tarbut” School was set aside in the location of the Jewish community, where a building for a Jewish Gymnasium had been put up thanks to the donations of the well-known philanthropist, Yitzhak Margalit (where studies were taught in Polish), thanks to the stubborn struggle put up by the Zionists , who pushed through the expansion of the building and adding another story to the edifice, in order to accommodate new students, who came from year-to-year to the “Tarbut” School in our city.

The bloody wave which cascaded over Polish Jewry, beginning in the year 1939, abrogated the efforts aimed at the completion of this building for the “Tarbut” School in Zamość.

Translator's footnote:

1. This spelling is distinctly not the same as the one used for Rosa Luxembourg. It is not clear whether this is some relative, of hers, or not. Return

The prominent role of our city in ancient times and its one-time great Torah scholars, their good deeds and wisdom, had already been told. This latter has a bearing on more recent times, to the last few generations leading to the eve of the Destruction.

In addition to being world-renown for its culture, Zamość also influenced the religious sector of Jewish life and played quite a significant role in the life of the Jewish community.

There was a rather large number of Heders with teachers. Teaching was done there by the prescribed methods. We also had a yeshiva, which produced many scholars and Torah sages.

The yeshiva was directed by the great Gaon, Rabbi Joseph Shlomo-Shabtai Hurwitz, זצ”ל, and also the Scholar-Teacher Rabbi Chaim Goldschmid זצ”ל who personally gave lessons to the students. Apart from them, other teachers and Torah sages taught the other classes.

For certain specific reasons, the yeshiva ceased to exist, and there was a set period of time where there was no such institution in the city. Before the Second World War, a yeshiva was established yet again. The Head of the Yeshiva was the great Gaon, a brother-in-law of the renown Gaon Rabbi Aharon Kottler. In the yeshiva, there was also a kitchen for the poorer students.

Over one hundred young men studied at the yeshiva.

We had an array of houses of worship, minyanim and shtiblach. Apart from the Great Synagogue, there was a small synagogue of butchers and near the synagogue was a “community-shtibl,” which called itself the “Hevra-Nose'im” synagogue. Next to this synagogue was the Great Bet HaMedrash, which was renown for its large library of books, especially in Responsa. That location literally hummed like a beehive. The sounds of learning Torah never ceased there. Scholarly Jews, ordinary balebatim, and also working people, who after a hard day's work, would tear themselves away, and hasten to the Bet HaMedrash to absorb a page of the Gemara.

In the Bet HaMedrash, one could always count on running into such Jews as R' David Montog, R' Moshe Nets, R' Yaakov Frenkel, Volvish Melamed, the Hazzan of the Bet HaMedrash with his grandson, Mendel Veltcher, Itcheh'leh Brumer, Joseph-Yudel Geliebter with his son, Berish, Abba the Hallikes, Eliakim Melamed, and others.

The Shammashim were recognized names. They played an important role in this sector – who didn't know the name of R' Shlomo Dalus and R' Sholom Mittlpunkt, known as R' Sholom Shmulker. Also, past Shammashim need to be remembered, Netanel'eh, Mikhl Shammes (who was I. L. Peretz's teacher) who was a scholar and a Hasid of the Kotzker sect.

There was a minyan at “Linat HaTzedek,” at whose head stood R' Berel Blum, R' Yaakov-Baruch Meldel's, R' Yaakov Hechtkopf.

In the community hall there was a Schul of “Mizrahi” Zionists and ordinary balebatim. Here at the head, stood R' Ben-Zion Lubliner, R' Elkhanan Eidelsberg, R' Mordechai-Joseph Kronfeld.

Each of these little places of worship had its own direction. Here would be a small Schul where everyone studied the “Daf Yomi,” and where the completion of a major tractate of the Talmud would be celebrated in grand style, in which

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the leader of the study group, R' Chaim Goldschmid זצ”ל, would sing a fine “Hadaran,” interwoven with much pilpul and medrash.^[1]

It was his effort to organize and conduct a Seder for the Jewish recruits of the Zamość garrison.

He also was the overseer of all of the eruvs.^[2] Every Friday, towards evening, he would go out into the city, with R' Noah the Shokhet, to exercise control over the eruvs, and assure that they were not broken, or to assure that, God-forbid, there was no suspicion cast on the permission to carry things on the Sabbath.

There also was a small Bet HaMedrash, headed by the teacher, Rabbi Yitzhak Lubliner. He had instituted there, that every evening, ten verses of the Psalms would be recited between afternoon and evening prayers. He. Literally. Was called “Der Tehillim Yid.” The great philanthropist, R' Eliyahu Zwillich was among those who initiated the recitation of the Psalms. In this same small Bet HaMedrash, every evening, there was a lesson in the “Daf Yomi” from the Gemara, conducted by the great scholar and God-fearing man, Rabbi Shmeryl Vorslavitzer.

In the last decades, Zamość had the privilege of having in its midst, the Kielcer Rebbe זצ”ל. He was renown for his heartfelt prayers and melodies. Miracles were attributed to him, but the most important thing was his comportment – the “tischen”^[3] that he would arrange for hundreds of Hasidim.

The tailor's had their own little schul. Apart from that, there were a number [of Hasidic sects] who had shtiblach – the Gerrer, Sandzer, Belzer, Radziener, and Trisker. In these shtiblach, time was spent immersed in Torah and Hasidism. And in all of these, in accordance with their custom, there were “tischen” arranged, “hilluls, melaveh-malkehs, etc.^[4]

Every sect had a process for receiving guests and also maintained a charitable fund. Everyone had a place to go and unburden himself of the bitterness in his heart.

Rabbi Yohanan Wolfenfeld dedicated himself to the mikva. He dedicated himself full-time to making it a hygienic facility, with both energy and full-hearted commitment.

R' Aharon Geliebter had his institution – the “Old Age Home,” which in his time, was established by R' Eliyahu Margolies, at his own expense. Geliebter, as the director of the institution, demonstrated boundless self-sacrifice in order to be able to support the sixty senior men and women, and obtaining what was required for their needs.

R' Ben-Zion Lubliner concerned himself with the charity fund, “Gemilut Hasadim.” He was the principal activist on behalf of this institution for years on end. Who helped so many people without means get back on their feet again.

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My heartfelt unforgettable mother, the Righteous Woman, Rebbetzin Mrs. Eidel Goldschmid הי”ד – her work consisted of “canvassing all the homes,” – when she would come into a house, it was already understood that it was for an important reason – ranging from simply being able to rescue a respectable family that needs to be assisted discreetly; perhaps on behalf of some sick people and not omitting the possibility that it is altogether for “dowry money” – and she would be generously given donations and not asked for whom or for what. She always had time for the other person...she was, indeed, called “The Mother of Zamość.”

Jews such as R' Shmuel Reisenfeld and R' Abraham Feltl need to be mentioned, such that if a Rebbe would come to town, of an ordinary person of good-will, he would have to stay with him. With him, such a guest had all the amenities. There was no single thing that was good, or a yeshiva for which he would not make a donation in a generous full-handed manner.

Who does not recall the two elders, R' Zvi-Hirsch Ehrlich, and R' Chaim Inlander, who for all of their years were involved with supporting the Zamość Talmud Torah, concerning themselves with making sure that the teachers and the melamdim were paid their salaries on time. They would canvass the city, going up the longest flights of stairs, in order to collect the monthly fees for the Talmud Torah.

There were tens and tens of them, these individuals, God-fearing, who did their sacred work without recognition, not wanting that their names should be known. They didn't want recognition for their good deeds in this world, because they knew they would receive recognition in the world to come.

These righteous people of integrity, scholars and God-fearing people, shared in the same fate as our entire Zamość community, as our six million martyrs. May their memory never be forgotten among us.

Translator's footnotes:

1. “Hadaran” is the Aramaic word for “We shall return.” It is part of a standard formulation recited at the end of each tractate of the Talmud, in which the reader intones that “We shall return to you, Tractate of so-and-so.” Pilpul is casuistic reasoning, and medrash refers to the detailed commentary and explanation of the Talmudic text. Return
2. An eruv is an unobtrusively cordoned off area, within which there could be a relaxation of Sabbath restrictions regarding the movement or carrying of items. In effect, the eruv symbolically extended the boundary of one's own home, permitting observant Jews a certain set of conveniences they otherwise would not have on the Day of Rest. The person who oversaw these constructs had to make sure that their integrity was correct, and that the cordoning was not broken, or removed, thereby nullifying the ritual value. Return
3. Literally, “tables.” Refers to the common custom among Hasidic Rebbes, of having a combination repast and study session in a large hall, surrounded by their disciples and followers, during which time the Rebbe “presides” over his flock. Return
4. All various sorts of festive events, combining study, eating , singing and merry-making. Return

Rabbi Mordechai HaLevi Sternfeld, the Rabbi of the Neustadt, photographed with his two grandsons, the children of his daughter, Tzireleh, at the time they were at a “Dacha.”

Who knew the Jews of Zamość better than him? Their joy and sorrow, their economic circumstances, their family suffering? Who felt so strongly, and understood so deeply the responsibility [that he had] to the community, and carried that responsibility with such love on his shoulders? Whose home more than the Rabbi's, was constantly open for every person, without exception, regardless of economic or social standing?

I would like to pause at an episode, which took place a short time ago in Chicago, and mad a profound impression on me.

As it happened, one day I chanced into a Jewish delicatessen store. I fell into a conversation with the owner of the store. From our conversation, I learned that he was a Jew from Rumania.

– And where do you come from? – my friend asks me.

– From Zamość, Poland.

– From Zamość? So you must undoubtedly know the Rabbi of the Neustadt, Reb Mottel'eh?

What sort of connection does a Rumanian Jew have to a Rabbi in Zamość? And that he knows him well enough to refer to him by an endearing form of his first name?

This Jewish man answered me, and here, I will attempt to make his long reply brief:

Years ago, before the First World War, my friend, as a Russian soldier, served in Zamość, and along with him, many other Jewish soldiers also served, most of whom came from faraway places, from Rumania, the Ukraine, Russia, etc.

Naturally, the Jewish soldiers felt they were in a strange place, and lonely, and they would gather in the Rabbi's home. The Rabbi's home, this Jewish man told me, was a second home to them. There, they forgot their troubles, the hardship of life in the barracks; there they felt heimish.

Many years had passed, and many things had transpired. My fried had lived through a lot. But this Jew from Rumania still remembered the Rabbi of the Neustadt. He speaks of him, not like any ordinary orthodox Rabbi. But rather as a loving man, a loyal friend...

The recollections of my friend elicited a form of longing within me, a nostalgia. And so, as the mood is nostalgic, recollections surface in my memory of that distant past and images of bygone Zamość flit before my eyes.

* * *

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The house in which my grandfather lived stood on the Hrubieszow Gasse. From the exterior, there was nothing remarkable to distinguish this house from other houses in Zamość. Inside, however, it was entirely different. What differentiated my grandfather's house from others on the inside, and what gave it a specific character was – the Bet-Din in my grandfather's house.

I will never forget the Bet-Din in my grandfather's house. The big table, with the long benches. Next to the table was my grandfather's reading stand. On the table next to the reading stand there was always a book. I remember the large bookcases full of books, and the white heating oven.

On cold early winter mornings, the women of Zamość, who would sit in the marketplace, would come to my grandfather's house. From this little cooking stove, they would take hot coals for their fire pots. When the coals in the fire pots started to glow, the women would throw in a few potatoes to roast. The fire pot was a gift and a blessing. It warmed their cold feet, and simultaneously enabled the preparation of roasted potatoes....

I have to admit: to this day, I do not understand how the fire pots didn't cause any major conflagration... the women, each day, surely had to recite the “Gomel” prayer.^[1]

The women who sat in the marketplace were sharp-tongued women. Their tongues could stitch a wall to a wall. They would sit in the marketplace and sell a variety of products: fruits, vegetables, bagels and bread boards [pletzlakh].

The bread boards from Zamość were famous throughout the length and breadth of the area. Not only were they delicious, they were presented with a little bit of democracy...in the morning, after prayers, one ate a pletzl, young and old, small and big, poor and rich, everyone, without exception. It is even told that the biggest pletzl was consumed by Zanvel the Water Carrier, an impoverished Jew. If this were true, this is then an indication of the democratic spirit of the pletzlakh of Zamość...

My grandfather's cane stood in a corner of the Bet HaMedrash. It was a black cane with a white bone handle. There was a child's story about this cane.

We, the Heder children of Zamość, would tell each other all sorts of tales. These were tales about magicians, spirits, demons, jesters and ne'er-do-wells. There were also stories about the old Zamość cemetery.

At twelve o'clock, midnight – the story goes – the dead rise out of their graves, in order to commit mischief on ordinary passers-by. They pull on your garments, tug at the sleeves, put out a foot [to trip with], and perpetrate other antics....

Most fantastic of all was the story of the Great Synagogue of the Neustadt. It is told that past midnight the dead gather in the Great Synagogue. They come wrapped in their prayer shawls, and they are called up to the Torah....

When I would hear this story, I would be beset by fear. I do not recall the details of this fantastic tale. I only remember that my grandfather's cane occupied an important place there. – My grandfather's cane is the hero of the story.

* * *

In the Bet-Din always swarmed and overflowed with people. There was always something to see and to hear. The people, their appearance, the way they comported themselves, their dress, placed before me a gallery of all the types of people in Zamość.

Jews came to the Rabbi with their disputes. They came to obtain a ruling according to Torah law. Rich merchants came to have differences straightened out. Ordinary Jews of Zamość came seeking right and justice, rulings and righteousness. No one rested until a wrong was righted. It was here that brides from poor families were wed, and widows and orphans

[Page 279]

were tended to; balebatim came to seek advice and the poor and downtrodden – to pour out their bitter heart. The chasm, that separated the distinguished people of the city from the common folk, vanished here with abruptness.

But not all matters were things that concerned issues in this world. Learned Jews would enter, Jews who dug deeply into the fine print. They constantly spoke of earnest issues; they would in a simple way, allow themselves to slip into discussions of the interpretation [of the law]. Every remark by a Tanaitic Scholar, or an Amoraitic Scholar, every commentary by Tosafot, was like gold to them. My grandfather would say of some of them, that they were unusually gifted intellectually.

Also, modern, worldly Jews would come in. Many of them – former students of my grandfather. Once they were pious young men, and would learn with deep conviction. Later, they wandered off in various directions, and they became “flawed.”

I want to tell a story here. It is a record of human responsibility and human duty.

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the balebatim of Zamość decided to abandon the city. The Russian military had suffered one defeat after another, and the German army, flush with victory drew nearer and nearer to Zamość. The city was in danger of coming under fire from the German positions. There was no other alternative but to flee. The people packed on the way. Most of them were the well-to-do. A frightening confusion seized people. This was characteristic of those days.

In those days, my mother ע”ה, pleaded with her father, the Rabbi, that he should also abandon Zamość. The Rabbi answered her:

– My daughter, so long as a single, solitary poor Jew remains in the city, I will remain here with him...I will abandon the city with the last of the poor Jews leaves the city...

* * *

The Neustadt had, Thanks-e-to God, all manner of paupers. There were quarter-paupers, half-paupers, and full-paupers, or “round” paupers. It was these “round” paupers that would canvass the houses in order to gather up some bread.

So it happens, on one day, that several balebatim come to the Rabbi, who had a high opinion of themselves, with a complaint:

– There is a rumor going around that the poor are not eating the bread. That they are selling the bread that they collect and using those funds to raise goats, and this is a terrible transgression – they argued – that must not be permitted....

– Listen to me, fellow Jews. Is it acceptable to you that human beings should eat nothing more than only dried out bread? It seems that they must be selling off a part of the bread in order to buy a little bit of onion, a little bit of potato, and is this, God forbid, such a bad thing? What do you want from them? A complete accounting?....

* * *

Our mothers were always busy. Some with housework, some with helping their husband make a living. Young boys went to Heder. So, if it happened that a question had to be brought to the Rabbi, most of the time a little girl was sent.

When a little girl would come to the Rabbi with such a question, and it appeared that [in a matter of food] it would be necessary to rule trayf [sic: unfit for consumption by observant Jews], the Rabbi would turn inwards and think for a while. He would bend down to the little girl, give her a pat on her little cheek, and quietly ask her:

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– Who's [child] are you, little girl?

A serious issue. There is something to think about here.......

* * *

The Eastern Part of the Market Square (“Rynek”) with the Covered Walkways (“Potchinehs”)

He carried himself modestly and simply, in his relationship to people. And indeed, because of this trait, he developed an unusually fine reputation among the Jews, both from the Neustadt and the Altstadt.

The Rabbi's three laudable attributes: Torah, patience and common sense, made him famous as an accomplished arbitrator. This capacity, to be skilled at arbitration would often take him out of his Bet-Din at home and caused him to travel the Polish cities and towns.

When the Rabbi held forth with a sermon, the Synagogue would be filled to overflowing. Small and large came to hear him. His sermons were always directed to the common man. And, indeed, thanks to this warm relationship to common people, he was listened to with great attention, and with exceptional interest. His speeches would make a deep impression even on those who were far removed from religious Judaism.

Personally, a deeply religious man, he simultaneously recognized Jewish-secular problems. For this reason, he appealed to both the older and younger generation.

In the book, “Zamość in its Glory and Destruction” Yekhiel Goldwag writes: ... “The Rabbi in the Neustadt, Mordechai HaLevi Sternfeld, זצ”ל, who was the only Rabbi who remained in Zamość during the Nazi occupation (p, 237).” In the same book, Shlomo Schwartzberg writes: .... “Rabbi Mordechai HaLevi Sternfeld-Horowitz, ז”ל (murdered by the Poles at the beginning of the War)” (p. 274). From these cited extracts, it is possible to see, that just as was the case in the days of the First World War, also in the days of the Second World War, he remained with his community of Jews. He was killed in the destruction of Zamość.

The Rabbi had two sons and four daughters. The oldest son, Rabbi Joseph HaLevi Horowitz-Sternfeld, a Torah sage, possessed of all virtues, and the younger son, Mendel, a formerly active member of the Bund, are both found in America. The Rabbi's daughters: Sarah, Zelda, and Tzireleh ז”ל, were killed in the Jewish Holocaust. His daughter Henneleh, ז”ל, (my mother) died in America in the year 1953.

The Gaon, Rabbi Mordechai HaLevi Sternfeld, from the family tree of the Seer of Lublin, occupied the rabbinical seat of the Neustadt in Zamość for nearly fifty years. His life was one long road of Yiddishkeit and love for his fellow Jew. A long road of full-hearted commitment, from which he was so tragically cut off.

With the death of my grandfather, part of the old way of life of Jews passed away from Poland. A way of life rich in tradition, rich in culture, which had existed for hundreds of years and has vanished forever.

With the passing of my grandfather, the last Rabbi of Zamość has gone away.

May the memory of a Righteous Man be a Blessing!

Translator's footnote:

1. The classic prayer thanking God for saving a person from some potential misfortune. Return

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