The Dereczyn Memorial Book (Derechin, Belarus)

The Dereczyn Memorial Book
(Derechin, Belarus)

53°15' / 24°55'

Translation of Sefer Dereczyn

Published in Tel Aviv, 1966

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Our sincere appreciation to Mrs. Malka Bulkovstein, of the Derechin Association in Israel,
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Sefer Dereczyn The Dereczyn Memorial Book:
A Book of Remembrance Honoring the Communities of Dereczyn, Halinka, Kolonia--Sinaiska.
Tel Aviv: Deretchiners Societies in Israel and the USA. 1966

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Translated by Kevin Hanit

The Dereczyn Memorial Book

Publication Committee	4
Our Memorial Book by Yekhezkiel Raban [E & Y]	5
A Silent Kaddish for Our Dearest by Abraham-Kadish Feder [Y]	10
Deretchiner Yiskor Book Committee Letter by Abraham Feder, Sara Slotnick, Rose Siskind [E & Y]	11
Picture of the Deretchiner Yiskor Book Committee	12
To Our Dereczyn Brothers & Sisters in The U.S. by Malka Alper [Y]	13
On the Occasion of the Publication of the Book by David Rabinovich [Y]	14
Map of the Dereczyn Area	16

Once there was a Town…	17
Dereczyn of the Past by Chaim Rabinovich [Y]	19
They Exalted the Name of Dereczyn by Chaim Zvi Miller-Sinai [H]	42
My Grandfather Occupying the Rabbinical Seat of Dereczyn by Eliyahu Herenson [H]	45
The Dereczyn of My Youth by Shlomo Yudson [Y]	47
Three Tales from Dereczyn of Yore by Shlomo Yudson
1. Fear [Y]	52
2. An Eclipse of the Sun [Y]	55
3. To the Hakafot [Y]	58
The Sinai Colony by Chaim Zvi Miller-Sinai [H]	65
From the Mouth of My Mother, of Blessed Memory by Yaffa Prozbol [Y]	68

At the Dawn of the Twentieth Century	69
In the Days of Change and Transformation by Jacob Kobrinsky [H]	71
A Torah Scroll by Fanny Boyerman-Feder [Y]	73
Rabbis, Scholars and Teachers by Malka Alper [Y]	77
Our Town at the Beginning of the [Twentieth] Century by Naftali Ben-Dov (Dykhovsky) [H]	80
Haskalah, the Bund, Self-Defense by Chaim Rabinovich [Y]	81
Sent Off to Dereczyn by Ray Raskin [Y]	91
Stormy Years by Joe Silkovich [Y]	93
Once Upon A Time… by Feiga-Leah Abramovich [Y]	96
Memories from My Father's Tavern by Dvora (Dvosha) Kress-Beckenstein [Y]	97
Bitter and Sweet Memories by Nahum Bliss-Blizniansky [Y]	99
Jewish to the Last Breath by Moshe Kwiat [Y]	99
Those Pious, Upstanding Jews by Esther Nissenbaum-Bricker [Y]	102
A Night Ride on the Coach by Malka Alper [Y]	103
A Teacher in Dereczyn by Hannah Novick [Y]	104
From the Last Will and Testament of Simkheh the Storekeeper [Y]	106

In the First World War	107
The Years of War & Occupation by Chaim Rabinovich [Y]	109
In the Vise of the War by Malka Alper [Y]	115
Under the Yoke of the German Occupation by Jacob Rabinovich [H]	118
The Food Committee by Mattityahu (Mottel) Abelovich [Y]	120
A Charity Soup Kitchen for the Needy by Malka Alper [H]	121
War Chitchat by Malka Alper [Y]	122

Personalities & Their Achievements	123
David Alper
My Brother, David by Malka Alper [Y]	125
Our Unforgettable Teacher by Liza Katz-Bialosotsky [H]	126
The Alper Family by David Rabinovich [H]	127
David Alper, Our Teacher and Principal by Asher Shofet (Negbah) [H]	128
He Who Is Not Forgotten Is Not Dead by Naftali Ben-Dov (Dykhovsky) [H]	129
Rabbi Chaim Zvi Sinai-Miller
Our Father's Way by Khemda & Israel Artzi [H]	130
A Figure of Shining Light by Malka Alper [H]	131
My Mentor and Teacher by Kalman Abramovich [H]	132
I Was Proud to Call Him 'Uncle' by Gustav Sharon (Johannesburg) [H]	132
Chaim Lansky
A Difficult Childhood, A Hard Life by Jacob Rabinovich [H]	133
Lansky In His Town by Malka Alper [H]	135
A Poet Under Duress by Joshua Gilboa [Y]	139
My Friend Chaim, The Dreamer by David Rabinovich [H]	141
The Role of Home in Lansky's Poetry by Abraham Kariv [H]	142
Poetry by Chaim Lansky [Y]	144

The Last Generation	149
I See Her, Dereczyn by M. Izaakovich [H]	151
Our Synagogues by Jacob Rabinovich [H]	151
Dereczyn In No-Man's Land by Chaim Rabinovich [Y]	152
During the Stormy Days by Malka Alper [H]	156
Memories From Those Days by Jacob Rabinovich [H]	158
A Jewish-Polish Kitchen by Malka Alper [H]	162
Planting and the Harvest by Schraga-Fyvel Einstein (Chicago) [H]	163
Between Zion and Revolution by Malka Alper [Y]	166
Following Upheavals and Pogroms by Moshe Sedletsky [H]	169
The Tarbut School As Told By a Group of Students [H]	174
My Father, The Last Rabbi of Dereczyn by Meir Bakalchuk [Y]	178
The Holy Rabbi, Gaon of Dereczyn, Bakalchuk zts”l by Rabbi Chaim-Chaikel Grinberg [H]	182
The Yavneh School by Nekha Petrukhovich [Y]	184
Betar & Tzahar In Our Town by M. Bakalchuk, A. Beckenstein, K. Abramovich [H]	187
In the Service of the Dereczyn Community by Eliyahu Herenson [H]	193
Visiting the Sick & Overnight Sick Watch by Nekha Petrukhovich [Y]	198
Our Town in the Thirties by Isser Lev [H]	199
Hatred of the Jews on the Eve of Destruction by Malka Alper [Y]	199

Memories	201
This Is How We Lived in Our Town by Haya Kreslansky [Y]	203
My Grandfather, z”l ts by Tzirel Kamenetsky [Y]	206
Under the Bolsheviks by Mattityahu Abelovich [Y]	209
The Budding of Zionist Socialism in Dereczyn by Naftali Ben-Dov [H]	209
The Origins of the HeHalutz Branch by David Rabinovich [H]	211
My Grandfather & Grandmother, z”l by Dov Gorinovsky [H]	212
The Holy Sabbath in My Father's House by Sarah Basevitz-Slonimsky [H]	212
Festivals and the High Holy Days by Malka Alper [Y]	213
How Could One Possibly Forget!? By Dvora Smith-Shelovich [Y]	215
My Birthplace, Dereczyn by Shayndl Wilenczyk [Y]	216
My Grandmother & Grandfather by Sarah Teichman-Levinger [Y]	217
Hiemise Lider by Moshe Kahan (Minkvich) [Y]	218
Festival Time in Town by Chaya Beckenstein-Pilzer [Y]	220
My Husband's Family by Nekhama Petrukhovich [Y]	221
My Scholarly and Enterprising Father by Shimon Abramovich [H]	222
How I Took Leave of My Home by Miriam Pechersky-Slonimsky [H]	223
And This Is How We Emigrated to The Holy Land by Esther Dlugolansky [H]	224
My Last Sabbath in Dereczyn by Saul Gorinovsky [Y]	225
My Little Town, Halinka by Mina Liebreider [Y]	226
Enlivenment in Town – An Autobus by Chaya Beckenstein-Pilzer [Y]	228
A Comical Event by Shayndl Kamenitzer [Y]	228
A Master of the Tanach by Meir Ziskind [Y]	230
A Fire in Town by Leah Eliovich-Yatvitsky [Y]	232
I Met With My Very First Teacher by Rachel Alper [H]	233
My Family That Was Wiped Out by Shoshana Shapiro-Nozhnitsky [H]	234
Dereczyn No Longer Exists by Dora Birnbaum-Rothstein [Y]	235
A Visit to My Hometown by Rukhamah Ziskind-Abelovich [Y]	237
I Was a Witness to a False Accusation by Leah Shlechter-Shapiro [H]	239
My Brother Leibeh by Leah Elyovich-Yatwitsker [Y]	240
My Father's House on the Schulhof by Liza Katz-Bialosotsky [H]	241
The Pain of Memories by Rivkah Saglowitz-Dykhovsky [H]	242

The Destruction	243
My Town Dereczyn by Katya Klebnik-Bialosotsky [Y]	245
This Is How the Jewish Community of Dereczyn Was Destroyed by Masha & Abraham-Hirsch Kulakowski [H]	246
The Fate of the Feldman Family by Rachel Efrat-Feldman [Y]	256
The Germans Have Arrived by Sara Wachler-Ogulnick [Y]	258
From the Hideaway into the Forest by Yehudit Yankelevich-Lantzevitzky [Y]	259
Barely Escaping With Our Lives to the Forest by Pesha Feinsilber [Y]	260
We Were Slaves… by Y. Reich [H]	266
How Tzippel Beckenstein Committed Suicide by Pesha Feinsilber [Y]	267
I Was A Refugee in Oppressed Dereczyn by Shmuel Bernstein [H]	268
Escaped from the Slaughter by Gutka Boyarsky-Salutsky [Y]	283
Out of the Mass Grave by Musha Novitsky-Grachuk [Y]	284
The Destruction of the Dereczyn Jewish Community by Sh. Nieger [Y]	287
The Bloody Tenth Day of Ab by Tsirel Kaminetsky-Friedman [Y]	288
From the Memories of a Refugee by Y. Krimolovsky [H]	290
The Fate of My Family by Chaya Levin-Glicksfeld [Y]	292
During the Days of Slaughter by Katya Bialosotsky-Khlebnik [Y]	295
This Is How I Was Saved On the Day of Slaughter by Sarah Wachler-Ogulnick [H]	298
Remaining the Only One by Avraham-Yitzhak Medvetzky [Y]	300
The End of Halinka by Mina Liebreider [Y]	301
Tribulation, Torture and Death by Jekuthiel Khmelnitsky [Y]	302
Only I Remained from My Entire Family by Chaya Einstein-Osterovitz [H]	307
I Saw All This With My Own Eyes by Nekha Petrukhovich [Y]	308
To the Entire World by Regina Rabinovich [Y]	310
Al Tival and Money by Regina Rabinovich [H]	312

In the Forests	315
Two Years in the Partisan Forces by Masha & Abraham-Hirsch Kulakowski [Y]	317
The Only Imperative - Take Revenge by Jekuthiel Khmelnitsky [Y]	326
Hunger and Death in the Forest by Tsirel Kaminetsky-Friedman [Y]	333
Dr. Yekhezkiel Atlas – The Partisan Doctor by Dr. Y. Rockover [H]	336
With the Dereczyn Fighters in the Forest by Shmuel Borenstein [H]	340
The Whole Family Lost in the Forest by Gutka Boyarsky-Salutsky [Y]	349
I Saved Myself Along With My Children by Kayla Azaf [Y]	352
In the Partisan Camp by Yehudit Yankelevich-Lantzevitzky [Y]	356
Two Out of the Entire Family by Moshe Kwiat [Y]	357
We Were Saved from a Terrifying Trap by Masha Kulakowski [H]	359
My Life in the Forests by Haya Beckenstein-Pilzer [Y]	361
In the Forest With My Brother by Musha Novitsky-Grachuk [Y]	366
Anti-Semitism in the Forest by Moshe Kwiat [Y]	369
With the Partisans by Abraham-Yitzhak Medvetsky [Y]	370
My Sister Ruzha Falls in the Forest by Katya Khlebnik-Bialosotsky [Y]	371
The Zionist Dream in the Thickness of the Forest by Masha Kulakowski [H]	373

They Fell With Their Guns In Their Hands [H]	374

Wandering	381
Uprooted with the Maelstrom by Meir Bakalchuk [Y]	383
From The Foreign Land to the Homeland by Rivkah Becker [H]	392
Torn Out of the Pulpit at Sinaiska by Rabbi Israel ben Ch. M. Kaplinsky [H]	394

On the Ruins	397
Back in Dereczyn by Sarah Wachler-Ogulnick [Y]	399
No Where to Return by Chaya Beckenstein-Pilzer [Y]	402
On the Ruins of the Dreams of My Youth by Masha Kulakowski [H]	403
From Forest Bunkers to Mass Graves by Malka Bulkovstein [Y]	404
Orphaned, Abandoned, and Hopeless by Moshe & Israel Kwiat [H]	404
A Kosher Passover Among the Ruins by Mekhama Petrukhovich [Y]	405
Among Ruined Streets and Lanes by Meir Bakalchuk [H]	405

Derecziners in America	409
The Founding of the “Deretchiners Society” by Joe (Jonah) Silkovich [Y]	411
The Dereczyn Relief Committee in New York by Abraham Kadish Feder [Y]	414
In Memory of Our Friend, Nathan Bliss by Jonah Silkovich [Y]	418
Deretchiners in America by David Rabinovich [Y]	420
Sarah Slotnick-Yanofsky, z”l by Malka Alper [Y]	423
Her Son, Meir, z”l [Y]	424

Dereczyn Kinfolk in Israel	425
Relief-Work of the Dereczyn Kinfolk in Israel by Malka Alper [Y]	427
From Sinaiska – To the Land of Israel by Esther Dlugolansky (Petakh-Tikvah) [H]	430
Yaakov Izaakovich, A Chess Fanatic Among the Blind by Moshe Guter [H]	431
What I Learned from the Mouth of My Mother by Yitzhak Wachler [H]	432

In Memory of Deceased Dereczyn Landsleit	433
Remarks in Memory of David Rabinovich z”l by Kalman Lichtenstein [H]	433
My Father, of Blessed Memory by Ilan Rabinovich [H]	434
Elkeh Lichtenstein by Malka Alper [H]	435
At the End of the First Year by Miriam Musikant [H]	436
Elkeh Lichtenstein of the Dykhovsky Family z”l by David Rabinovich [H]	436
A Portrait of the Late Chava Sharar z”l of the Salutsky Family by Menahem Rahat [H]	437
A Portrait of My Mother, Bluma, z”l by Khemda Artzim of the Sinai-Miller Family [H]	438
In Memory of my Mother Shoshana Gutman z”l by Israel Gil-Or (Gutman) [H]	438
A Portrait of My Mother Dina Levitin of the Sinai Family by Naomi Mizrahi [H]	439
Israel Dror-Dereczinksy z”l , – The Man of Shfai'im by Malka Alper [H]	440
In Honor of His Person by David Gutsfurkht [H]	441
Hanan Abelovich z”l by Malka Alper [H]	442
To the Memory of Yerakhmiel Edelstein z”l by Dov Gorinovsky [H]	442
Yerakhmiel Edelstein z”l by Malka Alper [H]	443
Isser Lev z”l by Meir Bakalchuk [Y]	444
Rachel Eichenbaum-Walansky z”l by A. [Y]	444
Shimon Lusky z”l by Malka Alper [Y]	445
In Memory of Reb Mordechai Zolotkovsky by Abraham Baysman [H]	445
Ze'ev Ogulnick z”l by M.B. [H]	446
Moshe Izaakovich z”l [H]	446
My Sister Shoshana z”l by Y. Izaakovich [H]	446
Lazar Rosenberg z”l [Y]	447
Beba, (Nekhama) Wife of Reb Yoshe Rabinovich z”l [Y]	447
Eliyahu, son of Reb Yoshe (Joseph) Rabinovich z”l [H]	447
Ethel (Esther) daughter of Joseph & Beba Herenson-Rabinovich z”l [H]	447
Our Sister Rachel Alper z”l by Malka Alper [Y]	448
Rachel had Many Facets by Amiram [H]	449
With the Memory of Rachel Alper z”l by Meir Bakalchuk [H]	449
Rachel Daughter of Dereczyn by Y. Raban [H]	450
Liova (Aryeh) Greenwald z”l [Y]	451
Nachman (Nakheh) Goldenberg z”l [Y]	451
Alter Lobzovsky z”l [Y]	451

Memorial Pages [Y]	453

Necrology: Martyrs of the Community of Dereczyn [Y]	489

Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page

Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
Emerita Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
Contact person for this translation Kevin Hanit
This web page created by Max Heffler