[Page 516]

Society

The First Committee of the Vishnevets Society in America Seated, center, is Mr. Levi Parnas, of blessed memory

[Page 517]

It was a Sunday in July 1912 when I came to New York from Philadelphia. That same day, Zisye Kleynberg took me to a picnic in Liberty Park held by the Vishnevets Society.

That was when I became aware that there was a Vishnevets Society. I was 19 years old at the time.

At the next meeting, I became a full–fledged brother, as the president, Meir Baral, may he rest in peace, assured me at the swearing–in ceremony; and he entrusted me with the password: lev tov [good heart].

At that time, there were just two presidents, Meir Baral, may he rest in peace, and Levi Parnas, our long–serving president. They exchanged places every other year.

World War I broke out in July 1914, and the “Jewish street” stood up to help our unfortunate sisters and brothers on the other side of the sea.

“Peoples' Relief” was created, and committees of young men and women went from door to door all summer to collect support for those suffering from the war.

A movement took shape among our fellow townspeople to set up our own relief fund, specifically for Vishnevets. Until then, most young people from Vishnevets did not belong to the Society.

After some negotiations between the Society's leaders on one side and the leaders of the relief movement on the other, a general relief committee was established under the Society's supervision to help our fellow townspeople in Vishnevets. This was in 1916. The name of the committee was “Young Friends' Aid Fund for War Victims in Vishnevets Volhynia,” overseen by Benevolent Society members.

Society meetings were revived. New young members came to every meeting. Although the Fund was independent, all its activities were reported at Society meetings.

The Committee was very active. It collected money in several ways, starting with nickels (which had just become a coin at that time) up to dollars, which most fellow townspeople felt the duty to pay weekly.

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It is worth noting that not only were the committee members not paid for this, but also paid any expenses out of their own money.

1917–Our America was also dragged into the demons' dance that is called war, and many of our young people put on uniforms and went off to save the world for democracy. Of course, aid was halted because of the war.

1919–The war officially ended. Most of our young men turned toward home. The relief fund was renewed, but there was no longer any connection with Vishnevets.

The committee gathered and worked out a plan to send $300 to Vishnevets in the name of three respected proprietors, in the hope that it would reach Vishnevets by Passover and help relieve the needs of the town's poor.

And it was successful. The money reached them in time, and regular correspondence began, with a dual purpose: to bring aid to the town in general and to specific individuals in need, because the Polish government manipulated the exchange of dollars so that there was simply very little money left for them. And secondly, to transfer affidavits from local relatives and about financial opportunities, so that those who had the chance to leave Vishnevets and come to America could do so.

Member Levi Rotman, who was active in the Society and relief fund, decided to travel to Vishnevets personally to bring his family back. The committee came to an understanding with him to act as Society representative and take along as much money as he could so as to be able to meet the needs of anyone who asked.

William Krasnov was to travel at the same time to bring his family back to America, and he would help with the committee's work.

The undertaking ended up as a colossal success. They brought papers–called “legal affidavits”–and cash, which had been collected to a sum of $55,000.

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The relief fund, that is, the committee, also contributed a large sum of money.

I remember as though it were yesterday how he wrapped a money belt containing 55 bank notes, each worth $1,000 American, around himself, as well as some other bundles. This was around July 1920. He went with good fortune and certainly returned with good fortune in November 1920, bringing 262 people with him, except for a few who had to remain on the ship for various reasons until their relatives took care of things; they came a few weeks later.

Of course, most of the new arrivals became Society members, and that gave the Society a broad opportunity for activity and content.

The meetings of that era were much beloved, and the relief committee became more active in additional projects. We created a movement to build a center in Vishnevets, with an orphanage, a school, and also other amusements.

With the Joint Distribution Committee, we also established a loan office on the condition that we, fellow townspeople in America, were obligated to cover any losses the loan office might incur.

But the big obligations did not hold us back from sending certain sums to the town several times a year for general need. For example, matzo for Passover, poor people's aid for winter, and shoes and clothing for poor children and adults. The Society was also helped by set amounts from the Joint, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and other social institutions. True, it was not easy each time the committee turned to the Society after a layout, each time finding opponents who were not touched by the sanctity of the Society's treasury. But that only lent some color to the meetings, and the majority supported the committee. Otherwise, the Society would have been weakened–and some thought it was–but it became stronger and stronger.

In 1930, our own country became involved in a terrible crisis. Some of our members became impoverished; help was needed in our own ranks. It required a new approach to the situation: we created a Council Committee composed of Society members. Their assignment had to be to ease the problem, as well as other problems that would arise during that time. And, with very small exceptions, the activists on the relief committee joined the Council Committee.

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Their first action was to establish a loan fund within the Society, so that members who were affected by the crisis could receive an interest–free loan on very easy terms.

Some were literally saved by this action. Small businessmen were helped so that their creditors would not pin them to the wall. Some were supported until they could find work again and pay it back gradually afterward. At the same time, Vishnevets was not neglected, and the town received its yearly stipends.

Then came the year 1933. President Roosevelt closed the banks, and sending money out of America was not permitted. And the Jewish Passover drew closer and closer. The committee was very concerned …. Vishnevets Jews might, heaven forbid, have no matzo for Passover, because it had become a tradition to send several hundred dollars to Vishnevets for Passover. We found a way, and our money arrived in Vishnevets in time for Passover.

At that time–that is, in the early 1930s–several members began a movement to create a youth club for our children, with full autonomy to conduct their business in their own way, in English of course and under the Society's oversight. Unfortunately, nothing came of it, which I regret to this day. But instead of a youth club, the Vishnevets Ladies' Club was established; they wanted to define themselves, and I must leave that to those who know more about their activities than I do.

Time does not stand still. We heard sad reports from Europe, and we did everything possible to lighten the need of our brothers and sisters in Europe in general and in Vishnevets in particular. Until 1939, when the great misfortune befell the world, and especially our people Israel. All connections to the old home were severed. Our land was attacked, and the fire spread, ever stronger and stronger. Our children were taken away from us; we saw no ray of hope. The committee came together again. The stronger comforted the weaker. We gathered fresh energies, and the relief committee was revived. People once again collected money for a fund, with the hope that perhaps a miracle would occur and we would hear from a living being. And as one lives, so one carries on.

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The fire was extinguished; the smoke still rose from the embers of our people, but officially the war was over. In time, we found that a couple of hundred souls had saved themselves. The relief committee became more and more active, and between 1943 and 1950 succeeded in raising close to $40,000, which it used to help our unfortunates in various ways.

1948: The State of Israel was proclaimed. From every corner of accursed Europe and Africa, our tragedy–stricken people streamed into Israel. But unfortunately, the newly formed land could not put a roof over their heads. Besides that, each person was worried about other needs. Enormous sums were required, especially American dollars.

The “Jewish street” fumed. There was a tempest in our Society as well. Here our usual support of United Jewish Appeal, whom we paid every year, would not suffice. This demanded an entirely different approach.

On May 10, 1948, the Council Committee met; these were also the activists from the relief committee, and it was decided without opposition that the Vishnevets Society was obligated to create a large enough fund to provide several Vishnevets families with residences in Israel. A home cost $2,500 American. Say and do! And at that very meeting, someone wrote a check for $2,00s, and in a few days United Jewish Appeal received $3,000 along with a promise of more and more. And until this day, the Society collects large sums every year for United Jewish Appeal and can also be proud that we have bought a set amount of bonds for the survival of our new homeland, Israel.

Knowing that the Histadrut collects money, and knowing that their collection brings good results, the Society started a tradition of holding one meeting a year where we collect close to $1,000. The tradition has been going on for about 10 years.

And United Jewish Appeal and other larger and smaller organizations have not been neglected, and the Society has supported them with yearly stipends since its first year of existence.

In 1953, when the Society celebrated its 50^th anniversary, I, being a member for the last 40 years and having taken part in almost all charitable activities, said, “I am proud to be a member of the family that calls itself the “Vishnevets Brothers Benevolent Society.”

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I hope and wish that the Society continues to exist for many more years and that all current and all newly arrived members live to take part in the 75^th anniversary, or diamond jubilee. Amen, amen.

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The idea of connecting destroyed Jewish communities with schools in Israel was instituted on the initiative of Gideon Hauser–the former government attorney general and prosecutor at Adolf Eichmann's trial.

A school that pairs with a community teaches its students that community's history, contacts its townspeople, and records the uniqueness and documentary facts about the community before Hitler's occupation, especially from townspeople who are still alive, noting the tragic events that the population experienced during Hitler's regime. The students, based on the reports, write on the topic and obligate themselves to be the immortalizers of the community, a type of living monument to the murdered martyrs and guardians of the memory that recalls the ruined town that perished with its dear Jews.

Already, more than 400 schools have paired with destroyed communities.

We Vishnevetsers have been adopted by the Binyamina public school. A fine “match” was made. Our “father–in–law” is the famous philanthropist who founded the first colonies in Israel, Baron Binyamin (Edmund) Rothschild, in whose name the Binyamina cooperative was founded in 5683 (October 1922) near the Shomron along the road between Haifa and Tel Aviv.

The official and celebratory adoption, marked by the signing of the “scroll” of adoption papers, took place on 21 Adar 5728 (February 15, 1968) in Binyamina, in the presence of local community leaders, all the teachers and students, almost the entire population, and representatives of our fellow Vishnevets townspeople in Israel. The scroll was presented and deposited in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the collection point for all historical documents about the Jewish communities that were tragically liquidated under Hitlerism.

A brochure written by the students was published on the proclamation day, full of broad content about Vishnevets. It was amazing how the students, together and individually, collectively dealt with the specific topic, just as though they had experienced all the trials of former Vishnevets, from its beginning until its demise. Thanks to their devotion, they thoroughly researched the treated material and delivered the end product to the audience of Vishnevetsers.

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To be especially emphasized are the initiative and work for the adoption by the teacher from our town, Rochele Kelner, Leyeke and Chayim Volf Brik's daughter and Moshe Shpigelman's granddaughter. And her husband dedicated a lot of attention, time, and trouble to technical work and prepared a beautiful gallery of photo enlargements featuring our town, so that it appeared to be an impressive exhibit, just like Vishnevets when it was alive.

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Years ago, a stream of 260 of our Vishnevetsers arrived in the free country of America–I among them.

I am reminded of the first meeting of our newly arrived sisters and brothers from Vishnevets in Henington Hall, on Second Street in New York. My father, Meir Blayshteyn, a founder of and active worker for the Society, took me with him; I can still hear the noise and joy that floated through the room. Each of the new arrivals was dressed as if for a holiday in the new clothes their relatives had dressed them in; each felt happy to be in America, their new, free country. However, feelings of joy and sadness were mixed–that is, everyone rejoiced to be in such a free land yet was thinking about the dear and beloved ones who remained on the other side of the ocean and did not have the opportunity to free themselves from that dark place, Poland.

Soon it quieted down. The then–president, Mr. Parnas, banged the gavel and called the meeting to order. It was quiet in the room; each person took his place. The secretary read the agenda, and it was quickly approved.

Later, the president asked for a motion that all new arrivals be accepted into the Society as members for free; that was soon approved by the members. And so all the newcomers became Society members–I among them.

I was very young then, and did not understand the importance and greatness of the Society's work, and I abstained from many meetings. A few years later, I met with misfortune, and only then did I realize for myself our Vishnevets Society members' brotherliness, devotion, and loyalty. A few brothers visited me in the hospital a few times, and through their loyalty and support, I left the hospital, although not yet entirely healthy. And then I began to understand the great human feeling that lies in our password, lev tov [good heart]. I decided then that as soon as God gave me back my health, I would share in our Society's holy, important, and noble work, and I went to every meeting and worked with great zeal.

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At the time, there was a relief fund, with which we helped those suffering from want in Vishnevets and here.

I came up with a proposal to visit our fellow townspeople around New York, such as in Middletown, Connecticut; Hartford; Boston; Chelsea; Lawrence; and other towns where there were Vishnevetsers. My proposal was accepted. I undertook–at my own expense–to travel in my own car. On my first venture, Avrahamtsi Kop came with me. We visited a number of fellow Vishnevets townspeople, and they took us in, in a very noble and good–hearted way, and responded to us very warmly, as only Vishnevetsers can. We brought back a good sum of money. That work went on for several years with other members who participated in this noble work, such as brothers Leybel Rotman and Nathan Worth, who went along with me. We collected a lot of money each year, with much honor.

Yes, our Vishnevetsers, wherever they are, are always ready to help any needy goal and institution. Yes, we may be proud of our Vishnevetser Society's greatness. May God help us all to be healthy and able to celebrate our 75^th jubilee.

With pride, I issue this call:

Brothers of the Vishnevetser Society! My call to all Vishnevets members and regular fellow Vishnevets townspeople, join the noble work of supporting the foundation of the great edifice that for many years has had a great name throughout most of the world, and may it be an inheritance from generation to generation.

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I am reminded of one of Avraham Reyzin's poems about Jewish immigration to America, which he wrote some 60 years ago. The poem ends thus:

They are drawn to us
and we are drawn to them
and again we are brothers
in a world split in two.

That was the mood of the Jewish immigrant then. Arriving in a new country without a language, alone, lonely, and depressed, seeking new earth for existence, he turned to the homey, to old acquaintances. He found them only among those from his town, among his or your parents' friends, friends from the old home and in the New World, created from the human melting pot and in the Society, the union of townspeople.

The Society used the opportunity to bind them together and turn them into a human force for helping people; the Society created an address for lonely people in the New World whose aid–addresses were nonexistent or unknown.

At the same time, the epoch of lovers of Zion^[1] (without quotation marks) and “return to Zion” was nearly falling apart.

Idealistic young people took wing with the dream of redemption, driven by limitations and excesses. Inspired by the national–human thought of building a home for the plagued people once and for all, they stood up and moved to the Land of Israel.

Vishnevets youth of that same kind were also among those who went to Israel. They knew what they stood for. The idealization of draining swamps, breaking stones, and enduring illness and a difficult climate confirmed all the difficulties in the land of their dreams and confirmed that going there meant putting their youth in jeopardy for an idea that no one knew would come to reality.

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Still they went.

There was an essential difference between the two groups of “world seekers.” That is to say, while some went to America seeking a bit of happiness and paid for it with loneliness, those in Israel sought greater happiness for their folk and knew that the loneliness was equal among them; everyone had predicted it and taken it into consideration from the beginning.

Meanwhile an entire half–century flowed by. A jubilee full of dreadful catastrophes. Bloody events and the most murderous of all world and human misfortunes, the misfortune of Hitlerism; the world still does not know how far its footprints will reach.

And now the Vishnevets memorial book has been written.

It was written by eyewitnesses to the Hitler plague and the Israeli convention of those who delayed the path to redemption and those who contributed to the difficulties of the redemption. Together, brothers from various walks of life write the martyrology of our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and neighbors. Together they erect a gravestone for the town of their origin and together place themselves again on a path of struggle, work, difficulties, and achievements. While looking forward to the future, they turn their gaze to the huge mass graves, not forgetting them, and in the names of those buried in the graves, the road from redemption in Israel is a necessity, an ideal, a concrete life's creation, the content of a generation that will prepare a better civic life for the forthcoming generations.

The light from this much–delayed book will make vivid the deep differences between Vishnevetsers here in Israel and those in America.

While here in Israel, one felt a deep interest in the object of the book–in Vishnevets' heritage and the growing, warm bond to it–in America one felt an indifference to the sentiment of birthplace. The generation that bore the load of loneliness in America with the Society's help is indifferent to it, as is its new growth, their children–attorneys, doctors, physicists, scientists, rabbis, and successful business people, among them a few millionaires who are not of Sholem Aleichem's cut, but of a certain American tailoring.

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The children, as they would, feel that the older generation did not think about a redemption for generations but ran to make an easier life for themselves; they are also indifferent to the links of the generations, and the Vishnevets Society becomes a place for a good deeds fund and pointless conferences and meetings and endless indifference. Perhaps … it is an indifference not only to the Society, but perhaps it is a general indifference, as happens to people whose past is suddenly reflected in a similar bright past and it suddenly appears pale, pale, pale.

In Israel, it is a past of beauty, in which there is great interest. Brave citizens, hopeful in all areas with successes earned by blood in all areas, military, political, and economic, literally a miracle among the nations. The world stands in awe, unable to express their surprise at the success. The world is, so to say, not indifferent to Israel as Israel is one and for itself.

And you will say to me: What does it matter that we in America make a Society, with you here? You should elevate us with your spirit of enthusiasm, without your indifference.

And I will paraphrase Reyzin:

May you be drawn to us
and we'll be drawn to you
and we shall be one
equal in two parts of the world.

Translation editor's note

1. Chibat Tsion (Lovers of Zion) was one of a variety of organizations founded in Europe in the 1880s to combat pogroms. They are considered the forerunners of modern Zionism. Return

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A great joy–it is a great joy indeed to spend time with the guests from Argentina. It has been 10 years since we parted ways. Then, we were wandering souls, without a what, without a when, without a where. We were without a perspective on the future, struggling in powerful convulsions to tear ourselves from that environment. Locked up as if in a ghetto, in a grey small–town life, we viewed life's road with dark glasses. Poor in means, doubtful, with no possibility of breaking out into the larger world, and apathy and worry for the morrow. So when I see the beaming faces here, when we have lived to see this Sabbath together, to sit together as brothers in such a situation–one cannot complain. Each of us has come to a liberated place. Once young, separate, without cause, now, as adults, we have spread out like young, trembling little trees over the whole world, and now we see for ourselves a glorious picture, as in the words of the great Jewish psalmist: like trees planted by the water, we have grown from small trembling saplings into multibranched palms. Grandfathers and grandmothers are sitting here with us. A lovely picture, when we now greet our dear guests from Argentina.

It is not nothing that out of 78 delegates from Argentina, 8 are Vishnevetsers.

When I read the three columns in the Argentine newspaper, the reportage about the delegation to the Land of Israel and how they described the actions of our Vishnevetsers in the delegation in such detail, I was infused with warm, heartfelt, intimate joy. One small thing–the Vishnevetser group walks through the newspapers. I quickly made the calculations. The Jewish population at the end of 1958 was 400,000; we know that each delegate represents more than 1,000 Jews. That means that our delegation represents 40,000 Jews. In the golden era, before the great immigration, Vishnevets numbered 3,200 souls. Compared with 40,000, the 2,300 Vishnevets representation is large and considerable.

If I may make an analogy, a comparison, to once in Vishnevets and today as we are together. Once, a dark picture. Very depressing. A grey life, a hollow life, many of the youth idle and empty.

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In the so–called center on Vishnevets Boulevard with the sonorous name Tshetshigo Maya, a boulevard without trees, with a few wooden railings by the town hall, years without care, with open windows without panes, and a Monday fair, and the picture is accompanied by the accordion music of two peasant beggars, and we young souls are straining as if in chains, with fear and doubt about what our end will be. But today, here at the tables, there is a festive picture and an elevated mood. Today, each one has come to his shore; no matter who [lives] here in Israel or who [lives] there in Argentina or America.

It is certainly a rare privilege that the Argentines from Vishnevets are at the event and have the consciousness, and can allow themselves to take the step, to make the trip to Israel. We imagined that in February 1961 we would see such an inspiring picture, and it is delightful indeed. Be greeted, dear guests.

As I said, our joy is great. But do not forget that the joy is not complete. We here are crumbs from a lively, effervescent town. Unfortunately, fate willed that the list of curses in the tokhekha^[1] would materialize for our generation. In the words of the great prophet: there will remain in each village only one, and in each town, two.

We are permitted to have an elevated mood, appropriate to old Jewish tradition. We know that, as during Passover, when a Jew sits on pillows celebrating with the best dishes, that it is a commandment to chew a piece of bitter herbs combined with matzo, remembering the practice in the Temple according to Hillel. At this opportunity, let us remember those souls.

The Hitler–flood ferociously drowned millions of lives, among them thousands of our dear and beloved who gave us life with sacrifice and faith; with no reason, the flood made them into a burnt offering for Ashmoday as martyrs to their faith.

The only comfort for the Vishnevetsers who were each transplanted to a new place is that they will forever carry the memory of the Vishnevets martyrs. We are forbidden to forget them; we will not forget, and we cannot forget. It is thanks to that not–forgetting that we are all here together.

And now to our dear guests, about our organization, Irgun yotsey Vishnevets b'erets yisrael–the Organization of Vishnevets Emigrants in Israel.

We felt that we were obligated to be in one collective. Then Vishnevetsers from the concentration camps started to arrive, and they brought personal particulars about the great destruction in Vishnevets. At first, the meaning was sentimental–for each price we set up a memorial for the martyrs. We planted 1,000 trees in the Martyrs' Forest on the hill of Jerusalem, erecting a tombstone.

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Each year on the day of the great inquisition–action in Vishnevets (29 Av), we gather for a memorial prayer. But it was not enough. We had all turned into a living tombstone. We are all from one origin, from the same place, from the same cradle, where we heard our mothers' sweet voice for the first time singing the classic lullabies “Raisins and Almonds” and “Red Pomegranates,” when they wanted to wake us from sleep to life, and our fathers with knitted brows pondering their goals for us children.

We carry the feel of our town within us, as though a strong pulse beats there for civic work in every stratum of young people. We remember fruitful work for the Jewish National Fund and the Foundation Fund, the strong organizations Youth Guard, Brit Trumpeldor, Pioneer, Young Pioneer, Zionist Worker–and the general league for labor in the Land of Israel. We were determined to exist for the living as well. Thanks to the townspeople society in America, the Parnas Fund was established and became a necessary institution for productive, constructive goals. We were powerless more than once, so the more multibranched the activities could be, the better we could face our needs.

We want the Vishnevets collective to, as much as possible, gather all the Vishnevets societies in the world into an organized group with its center in Israel, because here is the only place for Jewish independence.

I will end with three wishes.

The first wish is:

You have come–come often.

The visit was a concept of appeal and flavor.

The match with Israel's one flaw is a great gift. The Jewish state is a new land, a bat mitzvah. Youth grows and develops. You cannot be pioneers from a distance. Rather, Israel has built your state. Whoever has built a new life has also built the country. I hope that you will be happy and can allow yourself to come here and organize yourself in a good way. The time for a match has not come–become betrothed, in the meanwhile.

The third wish:

Come to Argentina, be inspired by what you have seen, and give us a warm, heartfelt brotherly greeting from all of us.

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Turn your townspeople society into an active unit of the Vishnevets collective, strengthen our hand, be in continuous contact with us, and cooperate with the American townspeople society; make it possible for us the conduct constructive, productive work for Vishnevetsers. And for Vishnevets, where we have left our childhood and our youth, and where the martyrs' bones rest.

Translation editor's note:

1. The tokhekha refers to Deuteronomy 28:15–68, where Moses outlines the curses for disobedience to God. Return

[Page 534]

The “Society” of Vishnevets sisters and brothers in America and the Vishnevets organization in Israel (irgun yotsey Vishnevets) are a kind of Siamese twins that cannot be distinguished, if only because of their close, cooperative activity and mutual understanding in their social content and of their existence.

The Society has the right of primogeniture because it was founded at the initiative of a few people headed by Louie Parnas, of blessed memory, in 1903, while the Vishnevets organization in Israel first began its activity in 1949, that is, two generations later.

But it is not only the earlier date that places the Society on the right side of the coin and in advance in general, but the material backing and the moral support that have made it possible for us to create the loan fund and provide productive help and constructive support to the dozens of families that remain after the Hitler–flood and came to Israel. Those merits crown the Society with honor and respect on the long road of collaboration, brotherly concern and mutual activity as brothers in America and us here in Israel.

The good deeds fund named after Louie Parnas, of blessed memory, is an exemplary institution for townspeople societies in Israel. The Vishnevets organization in Israel has sympathy for our organizations that perform its activity for its members' welfare; we may hope that we will be true followers of the old tradition of the Society.

We also hold up as an example the great relief activity of 1920, which the Society undertook under the leadership of Leybele Roytman, of blessed memory, and made possible the mass emigration from Vishnevets to America. More than 350 people–then 10% of the Jewish population–left Vishnevets and went to America.

That happened after the dramatic experience of World War I, the Russian Revolution, pogroms in Ukraine, oppression from several regimes, and anti–Semitic propaganda. I recall how mass immigration was for a Vishnevets wage earner, a Talmud scholar, allegorically like the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, and that could only have happened thanks to the Society.

[Page 535]

Easily Recognized Vishnevetsers … Society Committee

It would not be right, and it would be more than naive, if we ignored or did not mention a particular way or the earnest local undertakings by Vishnevetsers in Israel. The organization succeeded independently in creating objectives of historical significance in the sense of immortalizing the martyrs and the ruined town.

There were three: Planting a forest of one thousand trees in the Forest of the Martyrs on the hills of Jerusalem, as we erected a tombstone under the oversight of the Jewish National Fund, and arranged for a memorial plaque in the Chamber of the Holocaust in Volhynia province. And Vishnevets was adopted by the Binyamina School (see the separate article about that). Besides that, it is important for us to live morally in the social arena in the organization's framework.

In a short list, it is difficult to deal definitively with all the branches of a social institution's activity when the private and the general need to be arranged through tasks for the whole community and to satisfy the particular according to personal needs, within limited possibilities. We were more or less successful in helping to objectively handle each matter and need. We also kept in mind the critic of social convention that community workers take on themselves, so if the miracle is accomplished, and we regulate the activity with equilibrium, it is only thanks to the care and work of both directions here and across the sea, because the whole time there was full understanding and sincere concern for actual problems, which were dealt with materially and on schedule.

It should be mentioned that the greater Vishnevets colony in Argentina made a sincere beginning in 1965 to come into close contact with the Society in America. We were especially certain of that when a large group of Vishnevets tourists from Argentina headed by Yakira, Fishman, and Tshaytshinetski came to visit; unfortunately, there was no follow–up to that beginning, not even a successful bond through correspondence. Again today, we are considering a possible collaboration with the Argentines and hope that with time we will renew the initiative and, it is hoped, be able to carry it out.

Important to all of us is the general community midpoint of trying to create an atmosphere in which Vishnevetsers may come together to honor their murdered martyrs and immortalize the ruined town, and also live together in intimate brotherly loyalty, as we are all from one birth town, one place of childhood and youth years, all of one fate, all one family.

[Page 537]

Of course, with these short lines about the townspeople societies in Israel and overseas, we want to wish and hope that warm, faithful, brotherly relations dominate them and the community in general. Amen.

We do not forget Vishnevets–at the forest named for her in the Forest of the Martyrs

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