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The city of Wladimir lies on a vast plain, elevated to the east and south. The Luha River, which runs behind the city as it joins the Bug River (a large river in Poland) a few kilometers south near the town Ustyluh, surrounded the city on three sides so that it was naturally protected. Significant bridges, such as the Lutsanski Bridge, Zaszcze Bridge and the bridge over the Bug River (in previous years, only a ferry called prom was used), were built over the rivers and served as a crossing to part of Congress Poland. North of the city, a fourth natural border stretched dozens of kilometers of forests with large swamps within them. The rivers irrigated vast areas of land on both sides, and the abundance of water was also used for drinking and industry on a small scale (flour mills powered by strong water currents in the rivers).

The history of the city's development testifies that the city of Wladimir, or as it was first called Lud-mir and later Volodymyr-Volynskyi, was of great strategic value and its natural borders made it easy to defend it. Its history tells us that various wandering conquerors came to it from time to time, conquered it and plundered its inhabitants. The city was destroyed more than once by these wars of conquest. However, the city's geographical and topographical situation in this fertile environment quickly led to its re-establishment, for its construction as a more modern city in later periods and its rapid development.

Wladimir's location, between Congress Poland (Horodło, Hrubieszów, Lublin), Eastern Galicia (Sokal, Lvov) and Western Ukrainian Russia (Lutsk, Rivne, Kiev), gave it a central geopolitical importance. At the end of the first millennium AD, its special status made it a convenient place for settlement that supported, with little effort, the various tribes that roamed the area.

The numerous remains of churches in the area testify to the great diversity of the non-Jewish population, which established German, Cossack, Czech, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish villages.

The Jews, who penetrated this rich region at that time, settled among the non-Jew rural population, and as hardworking farmers integrated in the life of the local economy. The excellent conditions for the development of agriculture and crafts formed the background for the establishment of various ethnic and national settlements in small villages.

As early as the second millennium AD, Jewish merchants arrived in the city from a distance and settled there for the purpose of their trade. The settlement of Jews meant the establishment of accepted social institutions of a rabbi, a teacher for young children, a synagogue, and a cemetery. Jewish culture slowly developed there. Wladimir's Yiddish is unique, blended from various dialects to such an extent that it is neither from Galicia nor from Vilnius. The collective way of life gradually took shape from the diverse customs of Jews who came to the city from different geographical and social environments. The large number of synagogues (shtiblekh) of the Hasidic sects testifies to the great diversity of the Jewish population, which was absorbed here over generations from across Russia, Galicia, Poland, Podoli, Polesia and Lithuania. A thick layer of religious ministrants formed around the synagogues and the Hasidic sects. Rabbis and judges, ritual slaughterers and cantors, and others who made a living from religious and public needs. The Jews were careful to maintain religious-cultural distinction from their neighbors. A broad movement of Torah students was developed whose foundations were the teachers of young students, minyan prayer groups and circles of Torah readers and Gemara interpreters.

The one-sided concentration on religion and non-secular learning closed off the Jewish world from all external influences, and the youth were placed under heavy pressure of endlessly binding laws and commandments.

In the city, religion served as a shield against harmful external influence and strengthened the patriarchal framework of a healthy Jewish family, which worked hard to educate their sons in Torah and morality. However, in the village, where Jews settled and worked the land, this cultural-national isolation was a disruptive factor in establishing economic life, which required close natural contact between Jew and non-Jew in trade and especially in crafts. The uniqueness of the Jews and their extreme caution against any binding social and public ties with their neighbors incited the non-Jewish population against them to the point that they were considered a foreign element that was difficult to assimilate and had unjustified pretensions. The unique Jewish identity created an unsympathetic attitude in the vicinity, which later led

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to the banishment of the Jews, their dispossession from their lands, and their migration to the city in order to find new sources of livelihood in the trades and crafts they specialized in. Over time, the villages were emptied of Jews, most of whom concentrated in cities and towns.

The economic policies of the Russian regime in the second half of the 19^th century, brought to the city masses of people who had been dispossessed of their lands.

The influx of homeless people looking for cheap work undermined the foundations of the city's social and economic structure. Small craftsmen, who had been organized in unions, became employers and their production volume increased by employing hired laborers. Every house became a workshop in which two, three or more workers were employed.

The situation was different in the small towns far from the big cities.

The vast expanses of land outside the city, the abundance of water and forests in the area, made Wladimir a center for agricultural crops, logging, and fattening animals for work and meat, to the point that the city marketed a large part of its diverse produce to nearby villages and the large cities. The distance from production and marketing centers forced the city to satisfy its needs and establish itself economically without being dependent on the distant large city. As a result, an industry developed in Wladimir that took advantage of the diverse abundance in agriculture to provide essential necessities that were lacking in the city, and the marketing of finished products, or raw materials, to more sophisticated industries in the cities was expanded.

The dense forests surrounding the city turned the Jews to forestry, to lumber processing in sawmills, and local and also national trade. Next to them were many carpenters and engravers who supplied the needs of the city's residents and its surroundings. The bountiful grain harvests spurred the establishment of flour mills, and many Jews made a living by selling flour they produced in their mills. Raising cattle for meat led to a large number of butchers in the city. Jews engaged in slaughtering cattle and processing meat not only for the city's residents, but also for the army housed in the barracks in and around the city. Wladimir's butchers, who also marketed their produce to distant places, have earned a good reputation.

The fact, that Jews were engaged in these crafts improved their status among the gentiles, who were not deterred from doing business with them. If from a political-social perspective the Jewish city was not a factor in the life of the country, it had a great influence on national economic processes and the scope of general imports and exports. Furthermore, the widespread occupation of Jews in preparing and selling meat refuted the conventions regarding the cowardice of the Jew. What's more, Jewish craftsmen appeared in places where they were needed. The gentiles who were in Wladimir as passers-by, and the villagers from the surrounding area who transported their goods to the city, treated the Jewish blacksmiths who worked on this arduous job and knew how to properly install horseshoes to a raging horse, with great respect. The Jews developed a special art of preparing carts. Before market days, the Jews fitted suitable wheels to large and small carts. On ordinary days, the carters who transported goods to and from the train, and the army officers in their carriages, visited the Jewish craftsmen who have earned a good reputation for their work.

For the thousands of soldiers, who found lodging in Wladimir, the Jews prepared all the accessories for the officers' uniforms. The supply of clothing, riding boots, saddles and other leather goods, buttons, badges and various ribbons kept the Jews busy all year round.

The Jews engaged in making hats for young and old. In the winter, they sewed beautiful fur hats for the gentiles and for themselves, and their greatest pride was the special velvet hats for the shtiblekh's Hasidim. Jewish tailors came to the gentiles' homes and dressed them mainly before the Christian holidays.

The work was done only at home. There was no developed, mechanized industry here according to the technical standards of the Western World at that time, but rather handicrafts made by artisans, which gave it its unique character and most of its value. The Jews specialized in various jobs and became famous as good craftsmen. A Jew did not always have a desk. He designated a specific corner in the living room where he worked with the help of all his family members. Each craftsman introduced his sons to the secrets of his craft, training them for one job or another. Sometimes the Jew worked on several jobs at the same time. Being a tinsmith, he was also a locksmith when needed, and being a carpenter, he did not distinguish between building a wooden house and manufacturing home furniture.

Only later the Jews expand their workshops and employ laborers or apprentices on daily or monthly wages , and in this manner each profession began to expand into many branches. This differentiation gave the first signs in the Jewish street.

There were different conflicting interests even though the homeowner and the hired laborer belonged to the same community, prayed in the same Beit Midrash or shtiebel, and maybe also traveled to the same rabbi. The first problems of advancement and seniority in the profession arose, and workers of all kinds organized themselves into professional associations. Echoes came from the big cities, which were undergoing immense socio-economic unrest. The deliberate propaganda of Jewish and non-Jewish political elements, such as the Bund and the Jewish communists, turned the craftsmen in Wladimir into a powerful social force that sought the possibility of self-definition. This force found its first expression in the separation between the synagogue for tailors, the synagogue for butchers, fishermen, porters, carters, etc. A distinction was made between the large and small Beit Midrash, which was populated mainly by craftsmen.

These were simple Jews, who could not read or write, but their Jewish hearts were alert to any trouble or disaster that befell the city. In the event of a fire, which was common in a city with wooden houses and thatched roofs, or an attack on Jewish passersby, the craftsmen were the first to claim the insult of the Jews. They were all men of truth and faith, and their greatness lay in their simplicity and the integrity of their ways. They had done many good acts of charity, gave charity in secret, Ma'ot Chittim^[1], provided free lodging for a lonely sick person

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and Hachnasat kallah^[2] to an orphan bride without a dowry or wedding necessities. These Jewish craftsmen were faithful to religion and tradition. They maintained a modest family life and educated their sons in a spirit of love for Israel and respect for the cultural heritage of their ancestors. Piety accompanied them throughout their lives and faithfully observed the commandments. Although they did not always understand the meaning of the words of the prayer they said, their prayer was pure. Neshamah Yeterah^[3] prevailed in their homes on the Sabbath and holidays. Although they did not excel in one-time bold acts, all their glory was in their quiet lives, their greatness in their sincere faith in work that honored its owners, and their preservation of the sanctity of Judaism and its values.

Slowly, the young among the craftsmen and hired laborers left the synagogues and organized themselves into professional associations. They gathered in their own clubs, to read professional newspapers and to discuss social and political issues. In these clubs, the workers held various academic classes, libraries, and social parties. From time to time, labor leaders from the centers arrived and assisted in the worker's further education, and in shaping his personal knowledge of current issues in the fields of Judaism and international socialism.

Later, the Zionist idea also penetrated those professional associations. and a branch of HaOved [The Worker] was established for the older professionals, and some of the young people joined the ranks of HeHalutz movement.

At the beginning of this century, the Jewish town was in the midst of a severe social crisis.

The general despairing with European humanism which was engraved on the banner of 19^th-century movements, the bitter disappointment with the 1905 revolution in Russia, the renewal of pogroms and massacres of Jews, the shrinking of the Jewish sources of livelihood with the growth of cities - All of this heralded the collapse of the town the weakening of patriarchal Jewish family life, and the degeneration of the institutions of the synagogue and the rabbi.

Masses Jews, young and old, immigrated to the countries across overseas, without knowing exactly what their purpose would be there. Their assumption was that the situation there could not possibly be worse than the current situation. Many fled to distant places out of a strong desire to create a “new life” that would provide economic and social well-being, The town became a transit camp for waves of Jewish immigrants who migrated west from Eastern Europe. This mass exodus depleted the Jewish town and did not solve the immigrants' problems. From the first news that reached the families remaining in the town, it was clear that the land of immigration did not easily assimilate the new element. The Jew also did not feel very comfortable with this assimilation. He aroused ridicule, pity, and compassion in his attempts to acclimatized int the new place. Outwardly, he tried to adapt to an American, Argentine or other lifestyle, but deep down he was attached to his family in the Jewish town, and therefore his speech was slurred, and his behavior was strange. He was not used to working in the developing industry, so he was once again relegated to the middle and lower-level jobs (dyeing, tailoring, ironing, etc.).

With the migration overseas, a second transition began to the big city, in which there were many different schools and a developing industry that needed working hands. The urbanization process encompassed many Jews who lost their source of livelihood, and young people who left the place of Torah study to expand their education, mainly in the field of secular sciences. But the city also did not fulfill the hopes that were placed in it. The overt and covert anti-Semitism in the schools of higher education and large factories, limited the number of students admitted to universities and pushed Jews into the arms of commerce and brokerage. Therefore, life in the big, bustling city helped to release all the restraints of morality and a modest, closed family life. The little Jew was swept into the whirlwind of city life and lost his social identity, and sometimes even his national character. Assimilation spread among the young people who attended universities. Many, who tried to protect themselves from assimilation, were left torn in their souls. torn one way or another. The non-Jewish society did not show much desire to absorb them for fear that the Jews would take over key positions. However, returning to the town was difficult and impossible after they left it out of dissatisfaction, and in doing so they decreed the town's destruction from within.

The failure of these two solutions raised the big question of “where to?” The debates on the fundamental question intensified. The dilemma over the fundamental question was the lot of the thinking young people, who wanted to escape from the situation of helplessness, from the great confusion that disrupted their normal lives. The solutions to the question were diverse. The Bund and the Communists, the Zionists and the movement Eretz Yisrael HaOvedet^[4], with Hashomer Hazair within it, were three main schools of thought. Wladimir a, like other cities, was subject to frequent and deep shocks. A sharp disagreement soon arose between fathers and sons over religious life. The new spirits that blew in the city stirred up the opposition of the young people to their fathers. The entire city was subject to friction between the religious and the non-religious public, or the semi-religious. Prayer minyans were established outside the Hasidim's synagogues, and houses of prayer that held debates on the question of Zionism. Cheder Metukan^[5] was established, its students were from devout families who broke through the barrier of religion and began to engage in activities to foster the Hebrew language and free public institutions. A comprehensive cultural-social awakening began and a large secular movement of Hibat Zion [“Fondness for Zion”] emerged. No longer Hibat Zion of prayers and anticipation of messianic redemption, but fondness through the study of the Hebrew language and reading the Bible. Education for manual labor in the kibbutzim of the Hakhshara^[6] movement, organized contribution for the benefit of the Zionist enterprise and fostering the readiness for aliyah^[7] to Israel of each and every one in the town.

Hashomer Hatzair movement was the first youth organization in the city after the “Free Scouts' Federation” disbanded and disappeared from the horizon, when in the 1920s its leaders emigrated to overseas countries.

When it was founded, Hashomer Hatzair brought together the best of the youth who studied at the upper grades of the elementary schools, especially the youth in the two gymnasiums, Polish-State and the Polish-Jewish.

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Almost every boy and girl in the city joined the movement, for a shorter or longer period, and had time to breathe in the pioneering spirit that was woven into it. The movement's first leaders were mainly concerned with training and organizing the youth who gathered at the ken^[8]. However, the ideological and emotional national and pioneering charge was not enough for them to continue on the path of self-fulfillment. The personal careers of studying at universities and other higher education schools, and the temptation of their fathers to work in trade, narrowed the horizon of their national thought and they dropped out of the movement. They did not arrive in Israel, or they arrived here alone with great delay and the horror of the Holocaust.

On the other hand, the second layer of that generation, young people, who absorbed the need for personal fulfillment and training for a working life, became the bearers of the ideal of work in Eretz Yisrael. Masses of high school students, and those whose social conditions at home forced them to give up their studies and work to support their families, found their place in the movement. Hashomer Hatzair movement was the first to open its doors to working youth, who came from proletarian strata of craftsmen and laborers. The absolute ideological and practical identification between these popular youth strata and the movement pushed aside the identification based on high school education and speaking the Polish language in society. Many of those who preferred things of high aesthetic and quality were not satisfied with the penetration of the popular strata into the movement, they withdrew from it and remained cut off from all sides. Among the Jewish youth in the town, there were a few who saw themselves as privileged over others, but they were also not accepted in Polish society because they were tied to their family home and Jewish culture.

On the other hand, the youth who were in the movement completed their knowledge of it. The desire to know and learn was great. An original and translated Hebrew library was established in ken. A periodical press was purchased, and a reading group was organized. Summer courses and summer colonies were opened to discuss various issues. Conversations and debates were often held on current issues and abstract theoretical topics, and much time was devoted to learning about the development of the nation and the Zionist movement. The social organization in groups, headed by a responsible instructor, and the shared entertainment at parties and balls, also pushed the youth to further their education and accumulate additional knowledge, until good instructors, who did not study at the Polish gymnasium, emerged from the ranks of the movement.

Meanwhile, the movement flourished and produced circles of graduates who received their pioneering training. The movement began to direct its influence towards the home, and to the slogan of the period, “Honor your father and mother,” the command was added in the spirit of the times, to point out to your father and mother the future outside the Diaspora, a pioneering future in Eretz Yisrael. And indeed, the parents followed in the footsteps of their children. The new positive perception of the history of the Jewish people as it was shaped by the socialist Zionist movement, on the one hand, and the harsh anti-Semitic reality that left only hopes for tomorrow. On the other hand, it also ignited in the hearts of the parents the belief in self-redemption, and they too began to combine the past with the future in new dreams of redemption in the Land of Israel. The “Hashomer Hatzair” movement was, therefore, a lever for the creation of a strong and mass Zionist movement encompassing adults and youth alike.

Furthermore, Hashomer Hatzair grew its opponents. The organizers of the Hashomer HaLeumi [The National Guard”] and Betar emerged from among the members of Hashomer Hatzair.

The longing for redemption is one of the essential elements that sustains the people as a cohesive and united unit, even when they lack status, language, and organized state institutions.

However, this expectation does not go beyond the emotional-mental realms, it will never be realized, and its entire expression is in psalms, laments, and hopes for the coming of the Messiah.

The glimmer of the idea of the revival of the Jew in his own land is an innovation that many before him had not thought about, and if they thought about it, then only in their prayers.

The idea penetrated the depths of the hearts of boys and girls in families that had been enclosed in the circle of religion and tradition for generations.

The profound changes that have occurred in society have swept away the youth, who have been captivated by the magic of promises and slogans.

All those God-fearing fathers and mothers slowly became the bearers of the Zionist movement, and precisely through small acts of speaking in Hebrew, taking an interest in Jewish history, reading newspapers in Hebrew, and collecting money for national funds. A large portion of them also achieved practical fulfillment by making aliyah to Israel, like the pioneer passing before the camp.

R' Avraham-Meir – the Baal bitachon^[9]. A man upright and honest in all his ways. He was not one of the “travelers to the Rebbe,” but he was a God-fearing man who kept the commandments for himself and his entire family. During Mincha and Maariv prayers he did not stay in his housewares store because he would not pray there. If he did not have a minyan for a prayer, he at least prayed at home while his wife Hannah replaced him at the store. The family lived at the home of his father-in-law, R' Itza Roit. R' Avraham Meir loved his fellow man and his family, especially his seven children, each of whom had the addition of “le” to his name. Risa'le, Tova'le, Koea'le, Klemenl'le, Shlomo'le, Velve'le and Mordechai'le, He was strict and stubborn in his relationship with his children. He did not want to scatter them outside the city limits, and even more so, did not want to send them overseas and even not to Eretz Yisrael.

The entire house was holy. The girls did not comb their hair on the Shabbat, for fear of doing work forbidden on the Shabbat. R' Avraham-Meir believed that his children observed all the commandments and Jewish customs that he had taught them.

And behold, the Zionist-pioneer thought penetrated this house as well and Tova'le his beloved daughter, who had reached the age of marriage, sneaked through the window and left for Hakhshara far from home.

The father suffered from pangs of conscience, because it was possible that his education was not enough to bind his daughter to the home and ancestral ways. At the end of the Hakhshara period his daughter made aliyah to Israel and joined the family of organized Israelite workers together with her husband.

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R' Tzelke (Betzalel) and his wife Freida were forced to leave Wladimir at the outbreak of the First World War. At the end of the war he returned with his family to the city, rebuilt his house there and restored his iron shop. During the years of wandering, the children absorbed the spirit of the times and the Russian Revolution, and this also affected the lives of family members.

A decent and honest Jew. He conducted his trade fairly, professionally, and very accurately. However, he did not include his two daughters, Feiga and Rivka, and his four sons, Dov-Birel, Shlomo, Elkanah, and Efraim, in his trading business. He raised them to Torah and progressive secular culture, until they became prominent among the city's youth. Shlomo was one of the important factors in the establishment of the large modern orphanage in the city. Efraim was the first accountant at the local bank, and Elkanah acquired the printing profession. When he arrived in Israel in the early 1920s with the Third Aliyah^[10], he was among the pioneers of modern printing in Tel Aviv and its surroundings. He worked at the printing house in the commercial center neighborhood to support his family. He founded a family, and the three sons are educated like tzabarim^[11], some in Torah and some continuing the printing profession in which their father is engaged to this day. This fine edition of our book is his work to boast about.

R' Itche-Michel (Yitzchak Michael) the “Hasid.” Under his tall velvet hat, as is the custom of the Hasidim, he was never without a kippah (yarmulke), for fear that the wind would blow the hat away, or that he might take it off by mistake and, God forbid, remain bareheaded. In any event, one must protect one's head from “evil” in advance.

His place was at the corner of the eastern wall in Zlatopoli Shtiebel, on the second floor above the shops, the same place that according to tradition the Ludmirer Moid (Maiden of Ludmir) also prayed.

R' Itche-Michel studied the Torah and Gemara day and night (they say also in the Kabbalah). This scholar was not interested in materialism. He was certain that his grandchildren and family members would follow in his footsteps, that they would be God-fearing like him because the deeds of the fathers would be inherited by the sons.

His grandsons, Chaim and Yisraelik, from his son-in-law R' Yiztchak the cantor at “Ohel Moshe,” absorbed quite a bit of their grandfather and father's teachings until they reached adulthood, but from here to continuing their grandfather's path the distance was great. Both worked as carpenters, and integrated into labor and trade union life, which at the time was under the influence of the Bund and the Communists. Chaim discovered Zionist activity within the professional association, which until then had been foreign to its members, and joined Hashomer Hatzair movement together with his wife Bat-Sheva.

However, the foundations instilled in them by their grandfather, and the longing to be a person who makes a decent living in his profession, merged together. The sons made aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and joined, together with their families, the growing community of workers who are building the country.

R' Shalom Schreiber, and his wife Chava Birle's ,lived behind the meat shops and next to the Blodebka Shtiebel in a low-rise house where descendants of the family from the previous generation probably lived. R' Shalom was God-fearing man, he spent his entire life in biblical discourse and instilled the Hebrew and Yiddish script to the city's children. He was accepted as a polymath and from here his nickname, “R' Shalom Shreyber” [the writer], Which of our parents did not learn to read and write from R' Shalom or R' Chaim. What bride or groom hasn't had time to learn how to write a letter to other person from R' Shalom. Therefore, everyone knew him as a pleasant-mannered man, God-fearing and loving to others.

He was not particularly rich, but he provided his children, Issachar, Bracha, Genya and the others, with a distinctly traditional Jewish education. Apparently, he instilled in them, along with Jewish tradition and religion, a love of Israel and love of the working man. His son tried to learn a trade, specifically carpentry - the profession was proletarian at that time, and a “craftsman” was not customary in this family. But R' Shalom probably also instilled in his children the love of manual skill, and the proof – today in Israel, his three children are of the loyal to the Jewish worker, continuing the chain of Torah and work for the benefit of the working class.

R' Aharon-Shmuel, son-in-law of Eli Hoboltover (a former resident of the village of Hoboltov) and a great Hasid of the Karliner Rebbe. As a passionate follower, he was also a shoemaker by trade.

R' Aharon-Shmuel, and his modest wife Perel-Dvora, were not late to welcome the Sabbath. On the contrary, they welcomed it early into their home, which also served as a workshop every day of the week. On holidays, there was no shortage of “guests” who dined at their table. Every year, on Simchat Torah, Pearl-Dvora prepared krapelach, and after the prayer, during the kiddush, they wished each other the best blessings.

R' Aharon-Shmuel's sons worked alongside their father in the craft, but they were not satisfied with that. The father was involved in Hasidut and his work as a gabbai at the shtiebel, and the sons in the party and the pioneering youth movement. Although in his youth, Yoske worked in “book repair”at the Karlinker Shtiebel, but later he was in the first group that made aliyah from Volhynia to Eretz Yisrael. His brother, Heshki z”l, followed him, and here they both became involved in life of work and the labor movement.

R' Zindel and, may she live long, his wife Sara, daughter of Chaya-Yenti's. He was a former resident of Poryck and Turzysk, and she and her mother were born in Wladimir. They established an extended family in the city.

R' Zindel kept the Jewish tradition and prayed at the Karlinker Shtiebel. He knew how to learn from people and to instill knowledge in others, as he was educated and involved in the affairs of the wide world. As an expert in financial calculations in the timber and forestry business, he was responsible for the sales of processed and unprocessed timber at his brother Ben Zion's sales lot. His wife Sara ran a “hostel” for passersby.

The two-story house in the middle of the city was open to all guests who came from afar. Also the youth, Wolf's friends, came there as regular “guests” to read the newspaper that was always available in the house, or to talk to family members and those who happened to be there from afar. The parents were humble and friendly, loved people and everyone who came into contact with them.

The house also served as a meeting place and for a short-term housing for the emissaries of Eretz Yisrael HaOvedet, who came to organize the youth and teach them the ideology of the movement.

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The children soaked up the spirit of time at home. The influence of their son Wolf, who left his studies and devoted himself to his work at Shomer Hatzair and Eretz Yisrael HaOvedet, was mainly felt by the family members. Moreover, the parents were close in spirit to their children's ideas. And so, the ideas of the resurrection of the people, self-fulfillment and making aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, were their daily conversation. Over time four of the children, Isar z”l, Chaya-Yenta, Zev and Fishel made aliyah^[12] to Eretz Yisrael with their families. Later, the parents also found their place in Israel as a working family, with Zev and Tova serving the Histadrut for nearly thirty years.

R' Motia (Mordechai) Simcha Bunim's, a furniture dealer who was known for his honesty. He also engaged in goldsmithing and watchmaking in his two shops.

His brother Aharon, several of his sons and salaried employees helped him in his business.

It was a large family who returned from Russia after the end of the First World War and began to reestablish its business in Wladimir.

In addition to being immersed in his business, R' Motia was associated with the Hasidim and the worshipers of the Wlodawa Shtiebel. He greatly admired the Rebbe, who was his advisor.

The household was run by his wife Ita. The children were called by affectionate names and with a Russian accent, such as: Boni, Kiki, Pipa, Rusia, Tania.

It was a traditional Jewish home, lively and open to the children and their friends. These qualities prepared it to be a favorable backdrop for the growth of the Zionist idea.

This is where the eldest son, Rafael, grew up. He was one of the first members of the Zionist Organization in the city and also supported it with his money.

His son-in-law, Asher Geller, was one of the first Hebrew teachers in the city, and many children learned Hebrew from him.

From this home Yehiel, Simcha Bunim and Tania made aliyah to Israel. They took root here, started families, and are connected to the Histadrut and the working community in the country.

R' Mendel, who “dared” to establish the first cooperative in the city, and maybe in the entire vicinity, for the economy of the city's inhabitants at the end of the First World War.

A religious man who believed in his rabbi, but he did not see the redemption in the form of the Messiah, but rather in aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.

Therefore, he joined the Mizrahi party and opened the area's branch of Ha-Misrad ha-Eretz Yisraeli^[13] in his home.

He was a scholar, and taught accounting to many according to the “Marx” method, a method that was accepted and advanced at that time.

He was affable, friendly, properly explained words and interpreted issues.

His home - a traditional Jewish home, that the driving force in it was the housewife - the mother Rivka z”l.

The parents and their three sons, Moshe, Yakov and Naftali, made aliyah to Israel after experiencing hardships and difficulties in the period between the riots in Eretz Yisrael and the outbreak of the Second World War. The family gathered here in Israel and quickly merged into working life in the country. R' Mendel continued to earn a living from his hard work to his last day.

Matel, son-in-law of Chaim Bonim the wine merchant, and his wife Mintza, also set up a store selling alcoholic beverages.

He was alert and enthusiastic about every Zionist activity. He dealt with faith in the needs of the public and the Zionist movement. The movement's newspaper was always on his table at home and in his business, and all his neighbors lived the events of the movement and the world from his mouth.

When Jabotinsky^[14]'s people declared a boycott of the blue box of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [Jewish National Fund], R' Matel did not let the messengers of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael to empty his box at the beginning of the month until they explained to him the position of Jabotinsky's people. When their path was explained to him, and he understood that the Zionist movement stood above everything and before any political war, including that of the revisionists and Jabotinsky's people, his box brought more than any other Keren Kayemet LeYisrael box in the city.

He and his wife raised his four children in the spirit of Zionism and the Hebrew language. He, together with his wife, his children Sonia, Yosef. Chana and Chaimke made aliyah to Israel. The daughters' husbands are dedicated to defending the homeland. The four of them established decent and upright families. Matel himself became a partner in a life of hard labor in a bakery.

R' Zisha – son-in-law of R' Alter Teiarshtein and his wife Leiba Zager's.

The parents and son-in-law owned well-known grocery stores in the city. They were generous and supported many philanthropic causes in the city.

Like the members of their generation, they also belonged to the Trisker Hasidim. The Trisker Rebbe knew that the members of R' Zisha's family would not disappoint him in all matters of “proceeds” whether during his visit to Wladimir, or when they came to him.

R' Zisha fulfilled the scripture, “observe and do what is emitted from your lips,” and this is how he always behaved in business and in society.

The children did not deviate from their father's path. They prayed at the Trisker Shtiebel and behaved like their father during the Rebbe's visit.

The influence of the period also penetrated this house. The idea of realizing political Zionism in Eretz Yisrael, and the spirit of progressive culture, left their mark on R' Zisha's family.

The eldest son joined Poalei Zion Right party in Wladimir and immigrated to Israel after the Holocaust. An illness he contracted while in the concentration camps led to his death sometime after his arrival to Israel.

The young members of R' Zisha's family joined the youth pioneering movements. Meir made aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and established a home loyal to the principles of labor.

R' Nachum “Beker” (the baker) and his wife Shifra

While we were still little children, we knew that the elders and their children were preparing to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. This family amazed us with their proficiency in the Hebrew language, we knew, that in this home they spoke among themselves only in the “Holy Language.” The old man and especially the sons ,made sure to speak in Sephardic pronunciation (and not with Ashkenazic pronunciation as was common at the time). R' Mendel Lipsek and his elderly father, the well-known Hebrew teachers in our city and its surroundings, were regular visitors to our home. In 1921, with the first of immigrants of the Third Aliyah, the two sons, Avraham and David, arrived in Israel and laid the foundation for the aliyah of their parents and two sisters three years later. The sons and the daughters established families here and integrated in the life of work and creativity. Also the third sister, Riva, wife of David Bokser z”l, who excelled in his passionate speeches, made aliyah to Israel

[Columns 573-574]

with her husband, but they were forced to leave due to their poor health. Their children, Yankale and Nionka (Ziva), returned to Israel and absorbed into it after the Holocaust years.

This is an example of an entire family, who uprooted from the city and raised a third and fourth generation of workers and builders of the homeland.

Hesia and her family members joined the “Settlement of the Thousand^[15]” in Netaim. Hinda and her husband, workers who educated their six children in Hebrew culture and hard physical labor. Avraham, the eldest, continued in his father's footsteps and the bakers' tradition until the founding of the large and sophisticated “Degania” bakery. The son, David Edini, who was the first to make aliyah, is loyal and devoted to the workers' society.

The family of R' Yehoshua “Bilitzher” (former resident of the village of Biltzha) the grain merchant. His barn and family home were located next to the military barracks on Kublai Street, near the flour mill of R' Wolf Yochenzon and across the brewery. Although he was always in the hustle and bustle of buying and selling and the grain business, he an ardent Hasid of the house of R' Aharale Karliner.

Since the shtiebel was at the edge of the city was far from his home, and since he was meticulous in observing the commandments and was not content with praying alone, he was forced to pray every day in the house of prayer of Wewe Gabe (the gabbai). It never occurred to R' Yehoshua that his youngest son, Issar, would “betray” the trade and the ways of his merchant father, make aliyah to Israel and will be among the pioneers, the builders of the homeland. He made aliyah with his wife Sara, daughter of Shia, was one of the senior officials in the Tel Aviv municipality, and a loyal representative of the municipality's employees in the Workers' Council.

R' Yosef, husband of Reizel, daughter of Shimshon, the wealthy flour merchant. He was adorned with a long, broad beard, a broker and trader among the wealthy Polish estate owners in the vicinity.

Everyone respected and appreciated him very much, even though he was a great Hasid of the Rebbe of Stepen and a devout observer of the commandments.

He instilled in his seven sons the laws and commandments of the Torah, and the entire household was steeped in a religious spirit. Despite this, some of his children embraced the teachings of Zionism without visibly disobeying their father.

The eldest, Shmuel, who followed in his father's footsteps and had frequent contact with Polish estate owners, could not accept this lifestyle. In 1923 he abandoned his family home, He made aliyah to Israel, worked as a laborer at the “Grands Moulins” in Haifa and the working settlement in Kfar Vitkin. He is loyal to the working people and organized in the Histadrut.

The daughter, Sara, arrived in Israel later and followed in the footsteps of her older brother.

Their brother. Avraham z”l, the youngest son, fell victim in the battle with the foreign rule in Israel. Being loyal to the idea of the revival of Israel, he did not belong to the Labor Movement but was loyal to his idea and fought for it fearlessly.

This is how the sons of R' Yosef the Hasid integrated into the life of the country as bearers of the idea of Hebrew revival.

R' Shalom, and his wife Chava Shimshon's, were flour sellers in a shop in the market.

R' Shalom established a mill for grinding various types of grits and worked there with the help of his children.

He devoted many hours to consulting on matters of legal rulings and compromises between disputing parties, which were brought before R' Yakov-David Morgenshtern of the well-known Beltzer Hasidim.

His wife ran the store and supported the family.

The children scattered overseas. Two received pioneering training in Klosova, Dąbrowice and other places. Aba and Yakov are stuck in the Diaspora but maintain a courageous connection with the movement Eretz Yisrael HaOvedet. They frequently visit Zionist conferences and congresses in Israel, doing a lot for the country and hoping in their hearts to settle there one day. Also the daughter Sima and her husband Avraham across the sea are anxious about the fate of Israel, and plan to make aliyah.

The youngest daughter, Sara, settled in Israel with her husband Arye a former member of a pioneering youth movement.

Arye's parents were, R' Moshe Chaim a volunteer cantor in the Linat Tzedek the minyan, and his wife Sara, the daughter of Hinda the “Bagel Baker.” As their profession, so was their surname, Bagel. In this home, the son absorbed the teachings of Eretz Yisrael.

The father was indeed a former resident of Trisk but did not adhere to the Trisker Rebbe. He kept the tradition and served God faithfully. The son distanced himself from his father and mother who remained “there,” and also from his uncles who wanted him to come toto them from across the seas. But he insisted - the working Eretz Yisrael, and so it was.

R' Eli (Eliyahu) Dayan's, the son-in-law of R' Simcha the judge, father of his wife Suissa.

He was learned and pleasant-mannered and did not use his profession as a judge as means of livelihood. His profession was esikmacher - vinegar making, a distinctly Jewish industry. He had two partners, R' Moshe Mendel and HaRav Yakov David.

He died during World War I in the typhus and cholera epidemics that swept through Europe, leaving four young orphans. The widowed mother raised them with great effort, but with love and exceptional devotion to good deeds and hard work. The two that made aliyah to Israel, Shlomo and Elchanan, worked in accounting and they belong to the community of workers. Shlomo, chief accounting manager at the “Tnuva” center, and his wife Shoshana educate their children to Torah and labor. Elchanan works at the Tel Aviv Municipality. He is a loyal father devoted to his family.

R' Menasche the Dayan [judge] was an expert in arbitration. An honest and righteous man who lost his sight in both eyes during the years of the First World War. He continued to practice his profession as a judge and was also known as an educated man and a wise arbitrator. Reizel his daughter, and her husband R Peretz son of R' Menashe's, dealt in leather-working and spare parts for carts. The daughter and her husband believed, like their elderly father, that the redemption of Eretz Yisrael would only come with the arrival of the Messiah. But the six children were caught in the spell of Zionist thought. In addition to their studies at the Polish school, they studied Hebrew and Jewish history at home. While Golda did not have the opportunity to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and was exiled to Russia, Yiztchak and Pola arrived in Israel

[Columns 575-576]

and were well absorbed into the framework of the working settlement. Sheindel-Yafa arrived earlier to Israel and in the 1930s she welcomed her friends who came from Wladimir. Liber, who bears his grandfather's name, and the entire family name is Liber's, also came here but was forced to leave Israel due to financial difficulties. Ruth z”l was among the outstanding workers at Mitbach Hapoalim^[16] in Tel Aviv. She passed away at a young age.

This was a family, that except for the parents and one sister, came to Israel and integrated into working life and the settlement enterprises.

R' Simchale – a religious man who observed the commandments for himself and all his family members.

Because of the gentiles, the residents of the nearby villages, who came to his grocery store all hours of the day, he was forced to pray Mincha and Maariv in his shop. But on the other hand, he was among the first to arrive at the synagogue for the Shacharit prayer. When the world was still asleep, he arose and hurried because those who are diligent in the mitzvah are rewarded.

He raised his children in a spirit of religious devotion. However, this upbringing did not suit his son Menachem-Mendel, who left his family home at a young age and in the 1920s joined the builders of Kibbutz Tel Yosef and later to the founders of Kfar Vitkin. His daughter Mindel and her husband, who was one of the first bakery workers, settled in north Tel Aviv.

After them also arrived the eldest son of R' Yakov'l, he is Aryeh, a graduate of “Tarbut” school. A young man who was among the Jewish telephone workers in the government of Eretz Yisrael. He utilized his knowledge and experience in telecommunications for the Haganah, especially in the War of Independence. His wife, Zipora, also from Wladimir, abandoned her studies and renewed her ties with her friend, Aryeh, in Israel. His father and mother from Tursac, together with their other children, followed their son Aryeh, made aliyah to Israel and integrated into the construction plant of the settlement in the country.

R' Nachum had a manufacturing shop (for different fabrics), both wholesale and retail. in his home.

His sons helped him with the trade, and wife, Sara'ke, helped him the most. In this way he could devote himself to public affairs, especially the affairs of the Zionist Organization in the city.

R' Nachum was a cantor and led the prayers in the minyan of the Zionist Organization in the holidays and in the High Holidays. This sacred work was dear to him, and to this day he makes his voice heard in song and prayer.

He raised his children in the Zionist spirit, and only two of them were fortunate enough to come to Israel.

R' Nachum arrived in Israel alone after the Holocaust, He came to Eretz Yisrael from the depths of cold Russia, to which he arrived as an excellent accountant and business manager for the Bolsheviks after the conquest of Poland by Soviet Russia.

He neither rested nor resigned himself to fate. He did not want to stay in Russia and arrived in Israel at an advanced age after many hardships and suffering.

Also in Israel he “wanted and fulfilled!” He lived solely on manual labor to his old age.

Many, many like them rebelled and moved to a distant place, thereby determining the change in the long-standing customs of the Jewish family in the “family home.”

And so it is possible to walk from house to house, from family to family, from one end of the city to the other, and bring memoirs that prove the change that has taken place.

The teachings of God, love of the people and the homeland, pass like a common thread through those beloved families. Families, in whose bosom the sons absorbed parental warmth and were educated in the values upon which the Zionist movement was later founded.

Here was born the desire for self-fulfillment, for the establishment of a new Hebrew home in Eretz Yisrael.

Sons raised in such homes sparked a rebellious streak among masses of Jewish children, and over a short time, the youth began to flock the ranks of the pioneering youth movements, and the longing to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael captured the hearts of young men and women.

This quiet rebellion was also an expression of abandoning the restrictive and burdensome religious thought.

There was disappointment in the way things were perceived, and in the understanding of the deteriorating situation of youth in the Diaspora.

The desire to be useful and effective in society arose, and to create new content in life, which would lead the young person towards a new future.

Protest rally near the Great Synagogue, 1929 The speakers: Rabbi Morgenshtern, M. Brekner, Zev Weiner

[Columns 577-578]

In the Diaspora, he acquired an elementary education, but by nature he increasingly leaned toward the Zionist-pioneer youth who organized themselves in inclusive social frameworks in Poland. He joined Hashomer Hatzair movement and from then on decided to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.

After his arrival in Israel he worked in his civilian profession as an upholsterer, But. It wasn't long before he joined the Mapam party, which was a continuation of Hashomer Hatzair movement in which he was educated, and the ranks of the Haganah, which occupied a significant part of his life until the day of his tragic death.

He was sent, as an active member of the Haganah, to a commander's course, successfully completed it and became a combat soldier like the rest of his friends to the rank. During the shooting on Holon, when an Arab strike force managed to entrench themselves on Tel Giborim - the hill overlooking the city of Holon and its surroundings, he was among the volunteers who decided to eliminate the Arab position that cut off the city and caused many losses to its residents.

He fulfilled his duty with great loyalty and dedication, and a short time later was appointed Post Commander. He also took an active part in the campaign on Jaffa and carried out various works of the Haganah.

As a soldier, he was loyal to his principles and did not wrap himself with the aura of heroes. He was brave, and when he faced duty, he did not hesitate for a moment and fulfilled it with great dedication.

His hope to see the revival of Israel was fulfilled. The happiest moments in his life were the Declaration of Independence, and then the moment he received his draft order for the Israel Defense Forces upon its establishment. He was assigned to the Southern District's Transportation Corps.

However, he did not live long in the independent State of Israel. About a year later, on 24 February 1949, he died of a thrombosis that developed after surgery at the Unfortunately, he did not live long in the independent State of Israel. About a year later, he died of a thrombosis that developed after surgery at the Zahalon Hospital (Dajani) in Jaffa. He was laid to rest at Nahalat Yitzhak Military Cemetery, He left behind a wife and two children.

Avigdor received a traditional religious education. At a young age he started at the cheder, continued at “Tarbut” school and finished six grades. He was thirteen when the Germans entered in 1941. In the second pogrom, on 15 November 1942 he lost his entire family. He managed to escape to the third ghetto on Zritza Street, where professionals with certificates had been transferred the previous day. Due to lack of a document, he suffered from hunger and cold but managed to evade and hide from all the kidnappings and inspections by the Ukrainians and Germans. At the outbreak of the last pogrom he managed to escape again to the Bilin forests, and after many hardships he arrived in the Russians' side. He returned with their advance to Ludmir and continued until he reached Italy. In 1946, he immigrated from there to Israel with Youth Aliyah and joined Kibbutz Givat HaShlosha. He acclimated quickly and was active in many group activities. He joined the Palmach, left Givat HaShlosha and settled in Ramat Gan. At the outbreak of the War of Independence he was among the first to enlist. He held positions in many places and guarding the road to Jerusalem. On 5 September 1948, he was killed in Bayt Mahsir by Arab rioters and was buried in Kiryat Anavim Military Cemetery.

[Columns 579-580]

Moshe Baumgarten

When he arrived in Israel he worked for a year and a half in Avraham Gotbir's casting workshop in Ramat Gan. After that, he worked in all kinds of jobs, and while working in Nahalat Ganim excavating sandstone from a hill, he was killed in a landslide. He died on 6 Tamuz 5697 and was buried in Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery. He left behind a wife and daughter.

May his memory be blessed!

He fell in the Sinai War on the outskirts of Nitzana on 16 Heshvan 5717 (21.10.1956).

He was mortally wounded by the British on 9 Shevat 5702 and died of his wounds on 14 Shevat 5702.

May his memory be blessed!

Nunia Schwartz Fell on his watch in Latrun.

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