[Pages 207-210]

In 1889, a few Lancut people met in a tavern for the first time where they decided to establish a Lancut Emigrant Organization in the United States. Louis Tanc was one of the organizers.

And that is how the official Association of Lancut immigrants was founded in New York on January 15^th, 1889.

The first President was Louis Tanc and as members of the committee were elected, the following people were elected: Abraham Kasten Vice-President, active secretary Isaak Grinman, finance secretary Kalman Rozenblit, treasurer David Schlosberg, members in the committee, Chaim Leib Ringel and Mendel Kuso.

The new organization began with the outlining of its activity which were important to them. They were: mutual help, keeping contact with the old home in Lancut, supporting the needy and the new immigrants and the family members of the organization.

Most of the Lancut immigrants in those days had established their residence in Jewish neighbourhoods known as, the “Lower East side”. The first thing that the Lancut organization did was to open their own synagogue where they prayed on Sabbaths and holidays. The synagogue served for many years as a meeting place of the Lancut immigrants in New York, where they inquired from each other how they were doing and if they had heard anything about the people that had not come to pray. They invited each other to family celebrations and exchanged opinions about business matters.

In time, the organization became bigger and with it, the activities also increased. Years had passed by and the Lancut immigrants in New York became “Americanized” and began organizing meetings and parties as it was customary by the old-timers. May 19^th, 1901, the organization celebrated its 12^th anniversary of the founding of the Lancut “Relief” organization. The president of the anniversary celebration committee was Sam Preis. There was a musical programme at the anniversary party, conducted by Professor Feder.

Since the celebration, it became a tradition to organize “banquets” on different anniversary celebrations during which a colourful pamphlet was published in which the financial report was inserted about the Association's activities as well as commercial advertising of the Lancut natives.

Specially two beautiful pamphlets were printed on the occasion of the 35^th anniversary of the establishment of the Association in January 18^th, 1925, and on the 40^th anniversary on January 6^th, 1929.

It is worthwhile pointing out that in that period the Association was at its most active. The following figures might explain those activities: In 1925, 25 meetings took place and four general meetings. There were twelve members in the committee and there were 307 members in the Association. In 1949, there were ten meetings and three general meetings and there were only ten members in the committee. In 1950, there were 21 meetings, four general meetings and only eight committee members. In 1951, there were 23 meetings, four general meetings and eight committee members. There were 236 members in the Association.

During the years between 1949-1951, the management consisted of the following people: Honourable Secretary Yitzhak Grinman, Berl Merzil, President, Louis Shtitzel first vice-president, Natan Goldshtein second vice-president, Harry Shefel vice-president, Sam Sauerhaft, treasurer and Arthur Zeligman secretary.

In 1926, the “Relief” committee opened the free-loan bank called: “Lancut Training Crop”. The natives of Lancut deposited the first funds. The bank was active until 1930 and gave loans to the people from Lancut.

During the same period, affiliated with the “Relief” organization, a women's circle was founded which was named: “The Lanzuter Ladies Benevolent Society” to which all Lancut women joined.

Thanks to the Lancut women, the Association's activities strengthened and social life diversified. The women's circle successfully brought in new members from among the Lancut people. Especially outstanding were the women members in the help activities for the holidays in the years between the two World Wars. The “Relief Association” continued the tradition of sending Passover help in the amount of several hundred dollars for the poor in Lancut. This good deed was also done by individual members who sent money for Passover for their relatives.

Until the outbreak of World War I, the Association was very active and there was an important reason for this. All the immigrants lived in the East side and were not spread throughout the giant city. However, when their material situation improved, the people began moving to different parts of the city where many of the residents were not Jewish.

I would like to point out a few activities in which our “Relief Association” was involved. At the beginning, they dedicated their activities to helping the people from Lancut who had arrived in the United States. English was introduced into the activities of the “Relief” and all the materials were published in English such as invitations, financial reports, pamphlets, etc. That is how the material which described the history and the development of our Association had accumulated.

In January, 1939, our Association, “The Lancuter Benevolent Association”, celebrated its 50^th anniversary of its existence. To commemorate this event, the Association published a beautiful album with a lot of material about the “Relief's” activities of the natives of Lancut.

However, during that anniversary year and further on, two events occurred which impacted the activities of the “Relief” which caused a turning point and impacted everyone and everything. First, the outbreak of World War II and the second, the establishment of the State of Israel.

In September, 1939, the news reached us that the Nazi had occupied Poland and that our brothers and sisters were caught up into the paws of the Nazi. During the war, our contact with Poland was disrupted. We hoped that many Jews, and among them the people from Lancut, would be able to escape and save their lives by crossing the San River to the Russian territory. During World War I, we could not act and help. Only a few years later were we able to send food and clothing packages through the Red Cross. Many packages were sent by the Association and by our members to their relatives.

It was only at the end of the war that we discovered the horrible destruction. Out of 2753 Lancut Jews in 1939 (not included the vicinity), only 300 Jewish families had survived thanks to their escape to Russia. The majority of the families which had returned from Russia, reached Eretz Israel by different ways. On their way to Israel, many stayed in Sczecin, Poland, and a part of them were in the Displaced Person Camps in Germany.

In 1943, the Lancut organization in Eretz Israel informed us that the first Lancut refugees had reached Eretz Israel from the far Eastern part of Russia with the army of general Anders. During the mass emigration between the years 1949-1951, 250 Lancut families had reached Israel. They came crushed and tired after harsh years of wandering without any belongings and without a roof over their heads. Our colleagues in Israel had the task of extending urgent help to our brothers and sisters. We also met a few Lancut survivors who came to the United States and a few who emigrated to Latin America.

The executives of the Lancut Association in the United States

On December 15^th, 1957, a special meeting was called about planting the grove. Abraham Shanc was elected to preside over the committee for planting the grove in Israel and the secretary of the committee, Bernard Fried, was elected. The committee collected $300 and paid this to the Jewish national Fund in New York for the purpose of planting a “Martyrs Grove” in the Yehudah mountains, the place of the grove and where a monument in the name of the Lancut martyrs was erected.

The committee of the Lancut Association in America, 1929 Seated from right: Tuviah Zonenshein, Melech Wolf Rauch and Alter Gartenhouse Seated in second row from right: Gustav Shwebel, Gartenhouse, Kalman (Charles) Buch, Baruch Greenman, Yaacov Flashen, Luzer Shtitzel and Moshe Lilien Standing in the third row: Rabbi Abraham Zawada, Abraham Yasem, Sam Shiffer, Max Shanc, Abraham Shanc, Leibish Frihling and Joseph Zawada

Eliezer Rozenblum		Kalman Buch		Mordechai Krug

I would like to point out that our brothers, the Lancut natives in Israel, were not satisfied with the planting of the “Grove of the Martyrs” but strove to perpetuate the memory of our community with a “Yizkor” book, like the natives of other communities in Israel had done.

It appeared that a few of our colleagues from among the Lancut people in Israel had been preparing material for such a “Yizkor” book for quite a while.

The pushing force in this holy work was our colleague, Michael Walzer. He neglected his private business and kept contacting many factors, sources, different institutions and Polish historians. He worked day-and-night and collected all the needed materials for the publication of the book – a special kind of “Yizkor” book, and he also worried about the financing needed for the materialization of such an important task.

As a result of a letter exchanged between us and our colleague Walzer, a special book committee was established to which the following were elected members: As President of the book committee, Kalman Buch; members of the committee were Eliezer Rozenblum, Moshe Frider and Max Krug.

May 20^th, 1960, the book committee called for a general meeting and collected the first sums of money for the book, however, the final decision about our participation in publishing the book was made after Kalman Buch's, our president, travelled to Israel and handed over $500 toward the publication, and in the name of the “Relief” Association, he promised to supply the paper needed for the printing of the book.

The committee made an appeal to all Lancut natives and asked to help finance the publication of the book. And that is how we became equal partners to the sacred task of perpetuating the memory of our holy community.

The following people visited Israel during the last few years: Our President, Kalman Buch with his wife, Leib, the son of Rabbi Elazar Spiro, Joshua Wiener with his wife, Esther Nisan Marder, Abraham Mahl and his wife, Moshe, the son of Mordechai Flashen with his wife, Rabbi Shalom Rabin, the chairman of the Rabbinic Association of “Young Israel” with his wife Rebetzin Chana Rabin and Zymund Blitzer. All were warmly welcomed by the natives of the Lancut organization in Israel. All our members that had visited Israel were deeply impressed from what was happening there and enthusiastically told us about life in Israel. They also told us about the activities of the people from the Lancut organization in Israel.

Now, when the book was already in our possession, we felt the spiritual need to express our emotions and our holy obligation which were formed by the appearing of the dear “Yizkor” book for us to continue in our path and tradition to love Israel.

And here are the goals that stand before us: The shtetl, our birthplace, no longer exists and the contact is cut off forever. Therefore, we should tie our soul with Israel, with the natives of Lancut that live there. Those who visited Israel and met with our brothers, the natives of Lancut, saw how they struggled to renew their lives and restore their world which was destroyed in the war of the Jewish annihilation. We are proud of our brothers, the natives of Lancut, which is a source of encouragement and consolation for what we have lost.

We should erect a monument for the Lancut Martyrs also in New York but we do have to worry about the ones that are alive. We know that life in Israel is hard. Many Lancut families need material help; some need a job; some a home and some need tools to make a living. We should establish a fund in Tel-Aviv to help, with free loans, to help the Lancut people in time of need. We, the people from Lancut who live in New York are not able to feel so much of their needs but we should imagine the situation of the needy to help and understand them.

We should also be in constant contact with all Lancut natives who are dispersed in many countries of the Diaspora.

[Pages 211-215]

Until World War II, those who emigrated to Eretz Israel were not in the habit of organizing where they came from according to the cities. The concept of “Landsmanshaft” adopted from the American Yiddish lexicon, was unknown in our land because they were always striving for a melting pot, merging the Diasporas and forget the jargon slang from the different cities in Europe from which they came from. Before World War II, there were national organizations in Eretz Israel such as “The Organization of the Polish Jews, the America, etc., whose goal was to help the immigrants from their countries. Thousands of Jews who lived in Eretz Israel came from small cities in Poland, Lithuania or Romania, had swallowed their origin and named only well-known big cities in their region. At the outbreak of the war, the situation had changed. After the flames had consumed the roots of the European Jewry, during the Holocaust by the Nazi foe, Poland had become the huge auto-da-fe for the entire European Jewry.

Suddenly, every memory of Jewish Poland became precious. Every big or small city where Jews had lived before the Holocaust had become close to everyone's heart because, after the destruction, the places where Jews had been creative and had lived for hundreds of years, had turned into a sacred archeologic seat.

No wonder then that people from every place, small or big, had begun mentioning the names of their place with awe, respect and pained yearning. Every person who lived in any of these places became attached to it and everything that reminded him about the city, folklore, became sacred in the eyes of those who came from that place and now lived in Eretz Israel.

From that point on, the quality and benefit of being organized into “Landsmanshaften” depended on the ability and energy shown by the organizers from the cities from which they came from. Thanks to the emotion and action of the activists, a framework of organizations from each city came into existence. During World War II, people became interested in their towns' people who had wandered through dangerous roads and were like remnants pulled out from the fire. Many came to Eretz Israel during the war, some by desertion from the Polish army and some who found shelter in little European countries and stayed there during the horror years.

Native from many cities that had immigrated to Eretz Israel were helped by “Landsmanshaften” organizations in the United States and established as a bridge between the people in America and the people in Eretz Israel, extending help, especially to the survivors of the Holocaust.

It can be said about the Organization of Lancut natives in Eretz Israel that they were one of the organizations that were very active and did not sit with folded arms. They were the first among the cities that had organized, in Eretz Israel, to help their brothers in need, the war refugees. It can also be said, without being accused of exaggeration, that Lancut produced in Eretz Israel and in many countries, a multi-coloured human element which consisted of scholars and intellectuals whose hearts were open and ready to stand by their brothers and their city during the harshest of moments. In Israel alone, there were about 410 Lancut families consisting of teachers, farmers, merchants, craftsmen, clerks and industrialists. At the establishing of the Lancut organization in Eretz Israel, the first thing on the agenda was to contact all the natives of Lancut in America, Argentina, France, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Switzerland, Australia and England. The native of Lancut Organization was officially founded in 1943, and the committee consisted of 17 members which were as follows: Rabbi Yaacov Hurwitz, Israel Hertzberg, Dr. Natan Kudish, Dr. Julius Weisman, David Har, Chaya Katz, Moshe Milrad, Zalman Yasem, Chaim Kezstecher, Moshe Estlein-Brand, Yitzhak Tzelner, Shmuel Kezsztecher, Penina Popiol, Nechama Sauerhaft, Chaim Habenshtreit, Shmuel Greizman and Michael Walzer.

As years went by, within the activities, the image of the organization and the original organizers had changed – a fact that impacted the actual work. A few of the first activists had passed away and did not merit to see the fruit of their work. Their remembrance and activity are reflected in the book of Lancut.

During the founding meeting of the Lancut natives in Eretz Israel, a sum of money was collected to help with sending food and clothing packages for the refugees in Russia. At the same meeting, it was decided that a permanent membership due should be collected from every native of Lancut. At the end of the war when in Wroclaw, Poland became a concentration of many Jews, the organization helped the Lancut refugees in that city. With the State of Israel established and a big wave of emigrants came to Israel, the task of the organization had changed. Instead of the social help to the needy, we faced absorption problems that needed to be taken care of. Constructive help, guidance and advice. The problem of perpetuating the memory of the city also came up.

Characteristically, the Israeli organizations are different than in the United States or South America. Our membership understood that their main task was not to establish a “Landsmanshaft”, the American version, but to search for a befitting and proper way to secure eternal life for the Jewish city that was lost and wiped out forever. This task could not have ended with one remembrance action or another. We considered it to be an eternal act of perpetuation. The organization felt obligated to give our people an emotional alternative, in order that the memory of Lancut should remain in the life and framework within the actions of the organization by organizing a “Yizkor” (memorial) service on the Yahrzeit, annually and to establish a monument in the Holocaust cellar on Mount Zion, filling in the testimonial pages with the names of the martyrs, publishing books, etc. The Lancut Organization began dedicating times, at its early stage, to the perpetuation of the memory of Lancut and this brought us to the campaign of the publication of the “Book of Lancut”, which was the fruit of labour of two colleagues from our town people and the fruit of the Lancut Natives' organization in the United States and also a few individuals in the Diaspora.

The perpetuation work by the natives of Lancut in Eretz Israel had branched out in several directions. In 1951, it was decided to plant a grove named “Yaar Lancut” where 1050 trees were planted in the “Yaar Hakdoyshim” and a monument was erected there. It was established the 21^st day of Av and would be the “Yarceit” for the remembrance of Lancut Martyrs because of the 3^rd of August, 1942, (21 Av., 1942) the big expulsion to Pelkinia took place where the remainders of the Lancut and vicinity Jews were concentrated in order to be annihilated.

In cooperation with “Yad Vashem”, we registered all Lancut Martyrs in the testimonial pages.

The peak of perpetuating the memory of Lancut is “The Book of Lancut” which was edited by the editorial committee of the following persons: Michael Walzer and Dr. Kudish. The financial committee was composed of the following people: David Haar, of blessed memory (chairman), Shalom Buch, Michael Fast, Pinchos Goldman and Abraham Margal. The editing committee was composed of: Tzvi Landau (chairman), Joshua Kasten and Peninah Popiol.

During the general membership meeting, a national council was elected consisting of 33 members and they were as follows: Dr. Natan Kudish, Michael Walzer, David Haar, of blessed memory, Debora Tuchfeld (Lipshitz), Nachman Kestenbaum, Fichael Fast, Shalom Buch, Israel Birnbaum, Pinchos Goldman, Moshe Haar, Yehuda Wiener, Shmuel Kezshtecher, Moshe Flashen, Shlomo Levadi, Necha Baum, Joshua Kasten, Tzvi Landau, Naphtali Reich, Moshe Milrad, Joseph Popiol, Zalman Yasem, Arron Oygenbron, Chana Anfang, Esther Shleichhorn, Shmuel Felber, Yaacov Trumpeter, Yitzhak Celner and Mania Feilshus.

When look back and watching the growth of the Lancut Organization in Israel and by reviewing our mission and actions, it is like watching a child growing up. Every year we felt something new in the work of the organization.

Every year had its new structure and new problems. The current events and the economic conditions reflected the work in the organization. Here is one of the first proclamations which was dated at the beginning of January, 1944:

“We hereby inform you that a few Lancut people have come together and decided to urge the Lancut natives living in Eretz Israel to come to a meeting”. These were the words on how the proclamation began. It then continued: “None of us that live safely here in our land is free from the obligation to extend a helping hand to those who are drowning in foreign lands. If we are not for them, who will?”

The proclamation concluded with an announcement about the meeting that would take place on February 6^th, 1944 in the Confederation of the Polish Immigrant at Lilienblum Street, 15, Tel-Aviv. From here on, year-after-year, the sound of Lancut in Eretz Israel came forth and in the announcement, a plea to the members, with the following words, was always inserted. “Please inform the contents of this information and invitation to your friends from Lancut and vicinity”.

Headlines of this kind of information and invitations were similar ten years after the Holocaust, eleven years after the Holocaust and fifteen years after the Holocaust. But the ambiance of organizational activity was felt from each announcement or invitation.

There was the invitation which invited to come to a memorial gathering on the 15^th anniversary of the destruction of the Lancut Community on August 18th, 1957, in the Pioneer House in Tel-Aviv. This invitation was a reproachful awakening call to the apathetic members. In the margin of the call, there were the following reminders:

“Have you perpetuated the memory of your relatives in the testimonial pages?”

“A monument for the martyrs was erected in the grove of the Lancut Martyrs. Did you plant trees in that grove?

“Parts of Lancut survivors have recently arrived. Have you shown any interest in them?

Sometimes we heard a different tune from the invitations and proclamations from the Lancut Organization. There were many days of mourning; days of sadness and remembrance of the destruction; days of awakening and repentance, but there were also days of joy and gladness. The Organization Committee invited members to festive get-togethers to meet people from our city, who came for a visit from America, Argentina and other countries that lately began visiting Israel. We heard good tidings and it was a joyous atmosphere. Not too long ago, we invited the members to a reception for Kalman Buch, the President of the Lancut Organization in the United States, which took place in the “Gill” hall during Passover of 1960. Yet, there were receptions for our town people, for the guests from the United States, Belgium, France, Argentina and Switzerland which also took place in the “Gill” hall during Passover of 1961. It looked like an international convention of Lancut people from around the world. There was the reception for Eliezer Stempel and his spouse who is the chairman of the Lancut people in South America; a member of the book committee and activists, activating others. He is a man who knew how to advise from a distance, encourage, explain and direct.

There are the organization meetings on Hanukkah and other holidays which are organized just for the sake of having friends be together. And here again, as usual, we have days of sadness and mourning, memorial services for dear colleagues that have passed away while being active. It seemed as if they fell off the scaffolding during the building of a collective structure.

The flow of the Lancut Organization had turned to a public communal adventure to some of us. The organization had crystalized many people for a unique collective, sacred goal and bridged the Lancut people in Eretz Israel with the people abroad to a collective uplifted setting.

The powers that are active in our organization is different and various, but they are all equal and dear to us. When a certain event is happening, like someone visiting from abroad, or when a member passes away, there is sometimes a necessity to turn on the light on that person and illuminate his image.

Eliezer Stemp Pel speaking Seated from right: Schwartzman, Chaim Levanon, (past mayor of Tel-Aviv), Michael Walzer, Dr. Natan Kudish and Debora Tuchfeld

Among the people from our city to whom we owe a lot for their devotion, alertness, encouragement and heartfelt is Kalman Buch, the President of the organization in the United States, and his son Harry. He was the man who gave us the decisive push to the realization of our campaign, namely: “The Book of Lancut”. His son's help symbolizes the interest of the younger generation about our town. Kalman Buch had visited Israel accompanied by his spouse and merited appreciation and recognition of the Lancut People, and seeing them strengthened even more the bond between us.

We would like to point out that Rabbi Shalom Rabin and his spouse, Chana, also visited Israel and us. Rabbi Rabin is a descendant of a branch of rabbinic family in Lancut and is the Chairman of the Organization of Rabbis of “Young Israel”. The Rebetzin is active in Jewish education and is the chair woman of the “Mizrachi Women” in New York. Their visit became an adventure not only for the Lancut People, but to many other people in Israel that were in touch with them and got to know them closer.

Kalman (Charles) Buch speaking Seated from right: Devora Tuchfeld, Moshe Milrad, Joseph Gutman, Menachem Stempel, Dr. Tzvi Heller, Michael Walzer and Engineer Anschel Reis

Memorial Assembly with the participation of Rabbi Shalom Rabin and Rebetzin Chana Rabin in 1961 Seated from right: David Haar, Pinchos Goldman, Dr. Natan Kudish, Michael Walzer, Rabbi Yitzhak Yedidyah Frenkel, Joseph Gutman, Rebetzin Chana Rabin, Rabbi Shalom Rabin, Ryvka Gutman, Moshe Jonah Flashen, Yitzhak Ostreicher (chairman of the Rzeszow Organization), Nachman Kestenbaum and Yaacov Semek

Moshe Kneller from Belgium who visited us and who is the vice-chairman of the “Mizrachi” movement in Belgium. He was a delegate at the last Zionist congress that took place in Israel. He was also a member of the Book committee, helping to publish the book.

Shalom Rozmarin from England visited us with his spouse and children. He too is a devotee to the Jewish Lancut and is in constant contact with us.

Shimon Blitzer who visited us, was the chairman of the organization in the United States. He was very active in the United Jewish Fund Campaign in the United States. He left Lancut in 1900.

It is our opinion that one of the important tasks of our organization is the organizing, honouring and welcoming our Lancut brothers by the organization's members during their visits in Israel. The following people have visited us: Moshe, the son of Mordechai Flashen and his spouse, Natan Malter, Leibish Frihling, Leibish Gutman, the son of Rabbi Elazar Spira, Abraham Mol, Esther Marder, Joshua Wiener and his spouse, Getzl Estlein, Hersh Yasem, Moshe Friedman, Leib Puderbeitel, Abraham Weinbach, Betzalel Shternheim, Leibish Feigenbaum, Mania Shechter, Schwartzman, the Buch sisters and many more.

Permit me to dedicate a few words about one domain of my work in the organization which is the exchange of letters with friends and our Lancut brothers, in which their human and literary text, I found, to be worthwhile to be considered as literary letters from which I derived a lot of consolation and encouragement. These letters were chapters of thoughts expressing the wisdom of life.

Letters of that category are preserved by me especially the letters from our colleague Eliezer Stempel from Buenos Aires who acted for the book when he visited in America.

His long, detailed letters, in which he engulfed the entire world, can serve as an example for pleasant reading material to the people who are close to our interests.

The same feeling overtook me by reading letters from Moshe Frieder, the member of the book committee in the United States. He is an active personality. He went through, with his wife Sheindl, the horrors of the last war and came to the United States after the war.

The activities of the organization in Israel brought us in huge letter contact with many countries of the European Continent, America and Australia. The letters have brought a stream of thoughts and emotions of the Lancut people wherever they are to achieve the sacred goal of perpetuating the city. Let us hope that the contact will last for many years.

In conclusion on the chapter about the Lancut Organization, I would like to express with sadness and mention those who were active with us for a long period of time but did not merit to see the fruit of their work. They are: Chaim Habenshtreit, Shmuel Greizman, David Haar, Moshe Jonah Flashen, Dr. Julius Weisman (the son of the known intellect, Yitzhak Weisman, one of the founders of our organization and member of the committee.

The members: Rabbi Yaacov Hurwitz, Mordechai Faster, Shmuel Zawada, Gedalyahu Engelberg, Wolf Katz, Rachel Greizman, Abraham Katz and his spouse, Melech Kesten, Abraham Felner, Mirl Gotesman, Abraham, the son of Anshel Katz, Michael Shiffer, Israel Lipschitz, Joshua and Rachel Kornblau, Efraim Kornblau, Mendel Goldman, Feiga Stempel, Moshe Mond, Yechezkiel Teitelbaum, Joseph Shput, Gold Shtoser, Debora Regenbogen.

The activists of the Lancut Organization can derive great satisfaction when reviewing their communal work for the people from their city in Israel, for the sake of tightening the contact between the survivors in the Diaspora, and in the perpetuating of the memory of the community by erecting an eternal monument.

The mission and the communal task of the organization has not ended. And if they will find encouragement in the Lancut natives in Israel and the Diaspora, there are many tasks, social and communal for the benefit and the use of the Lancut people in every place.

The Lancut people in Argentina Seated from right: Gitl Wanger, Mizes (Zilber), Hass, Inga Stempel, Wanger and Rivka Stempel Standing from right: Leibish Feigenbaum, Eliezer Stempel, Mordechai Wanger, Betzalel Shternheim and Yeshayahu Gersten

On the following page, there is an interesting episode on the life of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hacohen Maimon, connected with his visit in our shtetl, in an article that was printed after he passed away, in the weekly “Panim El Panim”, N°169, on the 18th day of Tamuz, 5722 (1951) in Israel. See the article of Moshe Kneller: “Mein Shtetl Lancut”. The last journey! “They will bear you upon their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone”. (Psalms, Ch.91). The cantor of the “Burial Society” has chanted with a traditional melody used during honourable funerals, and part of the community repeated the verse but very few who partook in the funeral knew that at the feet of the deceased, there was actually a sharp stone which could cause injury. Before the heavenly court. The above-mentioned stone was thrown at Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hacohen-Maimon in the Galician shtetl of Lancut when he came to propagate Zionism. The stone injured his shoulder when he was speaking in the synagogue, addressed especially to the young people in the shtetl. The people present at this incident were stunned and made their faces blush in shame, but Rabbi Fishman, as he was called then, picked up the stone and brought it with him to Eretz Israel. The stone was on display on the shelf in his large library and he kept reminding everyone not to forget to put the stone in his grave since the stone would be his witness before the heavenly court on how much he suffered for the sake of Eretz Israel. Now the stone was carried with him to the cemetery in the “Sanhedriyah” settlement in Jerusalem to be buried near the graves of the “Sanhedrin” (Tribunal during the times of the Holy Temples) where the man who carried the idea of renewing a “Sanhedrin” in our time and worked for it with all his might, would find his resting place.

[Page 216]

Michael Walzer		Pinchos Goldman		Shalom Buch		Michael Fast

Tzvi Landau		Feiga Haar		Nachman Kestenbaum

Zalman Hiter		Moshe Milrad		Yetzhak Celner		Kalman Teitelbaum

[Page 217]

Israel Birnbaum		Aryeh Leib Wiener		Moshe Haar		Dr. Natan Kudish

Israel Herzberg		Anshel Katz		Moshe Yonah Flashen

Shmuel Felber		Naphtali Reich		Shmuel Kezstecher		David Nusbaum

[Page 218]

Menachem Popiol		Abraham Margal		Shlomo Lvadi		Necha Bam

Debora Tuchfeld		Leah Weinstein (Langsam)		Peninah Popiol (Margal)		Necha Bam

David Kerner		Pesach Gotlieb		Moshe Rozenbaum		Joshua Kasten

[Page 219]

During a Memorial Day in the grove dedicated to the memory of the Lancut community, in the Martyr's Forest. 27th day of Nisan, 1960. Seated from right: Yitzhak Celner, Michael Walzer and Moshe Milrad. Standing first row: Devora Tuchfeld, Nachman Kestenbaum, Sarah Felber, Betty and Kalman Buch, (guests from the U.S.A.) and Gitche Haar Standing in second row: Israel and Chana Hertzberg, Feiga Haar, Golda Kestenbaum, Gitl Margalit, Peninah Popiol, Esther Wiener, Feiga Faster and David Haar Standing in third row: Yechezkiel Gartenhous, Abraham Margal, Israel Birnbaum, Menachem Popiol, Leah Weinstein, Leib Wiener, P. Goldman, Regina Margal, Regina Kesshtecher, Moshe Haar

[Page 220]

The map of the Lancut District

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