Andrychów, Poland
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[Page 251]
The Establishment and Development of the Jewish Community
by Dr. David Jakubowicz – Tel Aviv
Translated by Sara Mages
Until the first division of Poland in 1772, there were only a few Jews in Andrychów and there wasn't a Jewish community there. The reason for that is simple. Andrychów (in the past it was called Henrychów) was a village from the 14th century until 1767. Of course, a place with a status of a village didn't attract Jews to come and live in it. In 1767, Andrychów received the status of a city from King Stanisław August Poniatowski[1]. The status of a royal city influenced and encouraged the Jews to settle there. The annexation of Galicia to Austria greatly influenced in this direction.
In “Encyclopaedia Judaica” of Dr. Klatzkin[2], it is stated that the Jewish settlement in Andrychów occurred at the beginning of the 19th century. From Mrs. Antonia Hemer, who lives today in Netanya, we know that her grandmother was born in Andrychów about 1806.
According to the book “The Wadowice district in the Galician Government “[3], in 1843 there were only two Jewish communities in this district– Oświęcim and Zator. Therefore, we can determine with certainty, that in 1843 the settlement in Andrychów didn't have a legal status of a Jewish community.
Below is the number of Jews in the city:
| Year | Total | Jews | % Jews | According to |
| 1851 | 1,051 | 181 | 17.1 | [5] |
| 1880 | 2,947 | 482 | 16.4 | [4] |
| 1890 | 4,053 | 654 | 16.1 | [4] |
| 1900 | 4,057 | 621 | 15.3 | [4] |
| 1919 | 4,514 | 511 | 11.3 | [5] |
| 1921 | 4,171 | 409 | 9.8 | [2] |
| 1939* | 6,299 | 387 | 6.1 | [5] |
| 1939** | 6,441 | 370 | 5.1 | [5] |
| * | Before the outbreak of the war |
| ** | In December |
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According to those figures, the number of Jews increased in the second half of the19th century. We can see in it a connection to the domestic industry of white cloth weaving that existed in Andrychów for generations. In 1839, only 4 Polish industrialists from Andrychów, and the nearby villages[3], participated in the cloth industry exhibition in Vienna. The Poles managed the industry on a small scale and in primitive methods.
As opposed to them, the Jews, who flowed to Andrychów at that time, started to establish factories that employed salaried workers. Over time, they brought modern machines to Andrychów from Vienna and England, and by improving the quality of the goods and the conquest of new markets all over Austria, they were able to turn the domestic industry into a modern industry that had a reputation throughout Europe.
There is no doubt, that the lack of a Jewish community statue in an industrial settlement, with a significant percentage of Jews, was intolerable at that time. The registration the cemetery plot (in 1884) in the estate's books, testify that the Jewish community was given a legal status before that date. It's impossible to determine the exact year, but it's clear that it happened between 1843 and 1884, and before the establishment of the legal Jewish community in Wadowice (when we compare the dates of the construction of the synagogues and establishment of the cemeteries in the two communities).
The leaders of the Jewish community in Andrychów:
Until 1879, an elementary religious school, where the children of Andrychów's Jews studied, existed next to the Jewish community. The teachers were the local rabbi and his assistant. Rabbi Yosef Kowak[6] was also one of those teachers. The separation between Christian and Jewish children can be attributed to the education law that existed at the time. Radical changes have occurred since 1867/68, when the Austrian Empire became a liberal state, and the Jews received equal civil rights. Then, a religious law (Konfessionsgesetz), which canceled the discrimination between the Jews and other nationalities, was posted. After several years, permission was also given to Andrychów's Jewish children to study together with the Polish children, and the Jewish Elementary School was eliminated
The cemetery plot was purchased in 1884. In the years 1922-1924
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a new Mikveh [ritual bath], a new community building with a meeting hall, and a resident for the rabbi were built next to the synagogue by the head of the Jewish community of that time, Ferdinand Stamberger.
According to the figures listed above, the Jewish population started to decline in 1919 with the revival of Poland and the opening of Galicia to the imports of textiles from the factories in Łódź. Andrychów couldn't face competition, and its industry began to decline from year to year. This situation caused the emigration of some Jews to Bielitz and to other cities. Usually other Jews didn't come, because unlike Wadowice the vast majority of Jews in Andrychów were “advanced” Jews, and the Jews of the nearby towns, Chrzanów, Oświęcim and Zator, were usually orthodox Jews who preferred to emigrate to Wadowice.
The situation in the nearby villages was worse. In 1894 there were 97 Jews in the village of Inwald, and only a few families remained there close to the war. The reasons for this decrease are listed in the history of the Jewish community of Wadowice (the implementation of the law to sell brandy, the anti-Semitic movement in the villages, and the establishment of the Polish supermarkets).
Rabbis and Judges
We don't have clear details about the first rabbis in Andrychów. The first rabbi, whose history was investigated by us, is Rabbi Dr. Yosef Kobak (1828-1913) who was born in Lvov. He was a great scholar and also studied at the university in Lvov. Starting from 1860, he was the principle of the Jewish School in Andrychów, and from 1862 he served as Andrychów's Rabbi. For some time, he preached and was a school principle in Liptovský- Mikuláš (Slovkia). Later, until1888, he worked as a rabbi in the city of Amberg, Germany. In 1889 he returned to Lvov and was a preacher and a religion teacher there.
Rabbi Kobak established a Jewish Science magazine, which was published in 8 volumes in Germany in the years 1856-78. He also wrote a Hebrew grammar book for schools and for self-taught. He passed away in Lvov on 7 February, 1913.[7]
We don't know who replaced him when he left the city.
From the book “Ohel Yehoshua” (questions and answerers) chapter two, by the President of the Court of Oshpitsin [Oświęcim], Rabbi Yehoshua Pinchas Bombach, it is known that:
a) In 5664 (1904) Rabbi Asher Rabin served as a judge and rabbi in Andrychów. Later, he served as a rabbi in the city of Korczyna.[8]
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b) In 5669 (1909), there was a judge and rabbi in Andrychów by the name of Rabbi Yakov Shlomo (his last name isn't mentioned).[9]
During our time, Rabbi Aba Matzner served as Andrychów's rabbi. He was a native of Zator and a religious teacher to the Jewish children in Andrychów's Elementary School. He was a cultured rabbi, spoke fluent German and Polish, and tried to give his children a secular education. His daughter Lola graduated from Wadowice's High School and studied medicine in Kraków. He was popular in Andrychów and his German and Polish speeches were impressive. An entire generation received a religious education from him.
For a certain period of Rabbi Aba Matzner tenure, also orthodox judges served in Andrychów. One of them was Rabbi Mendel Stern. When Rabbi Mendel Stern moved to serve as a rabbi in Bielitz, his son, Rabbi Moshe, filled his position. After the death of his father he also served as a rabbi in Bielitz.
After the death of Rabbi Aba Matzner in 1925, Rabbi David Avigdor was received in his place. Rabbi David Avigdor was born in Tyrawa-Wołoska in 1897. His father, who was a rabbi in Tyrawa-Wołoska, taught him during his youth. Later, he was taught by his older brother Yakov, who at that time was a famous rabbi in Drohobych and Boryslav, and after the Second World War he was the Chief Rabbi of Mexico City.
He also continued his education in secular studies and studied the art of painting.
At the outbreak of the First World War, when the Russian army invaded Galicia, he fled with his parents to Prague. There, he often visited Prague's Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Chaim Brody, and continued to study science.
After the war he returned to his hometown and got married in Sanok in 1921. He sold books and sacred vessels, and headed the district's chapter of the “Mizrachi” [religious Zionist] movement.
During his tenure in Andrychów, he worked to promote the study of the Torah among the locals and in the nearby towns, by giving lessons in Judaism to the youth and Talmud lessons to the older generation.
He was one of the principals of “Tachkemoni “ High-School in Kraków, and promoted the “Mizrachi “ movement with his enthusiastic speeches all over Western Galicia. He wrote many articles on religious and political issues in popular newspapers in Warsaw. As credit to his work, he was appointed as a member of the executive committee of “Mizrachi” in western Galicia and Silesia in Kraków. Later he was elected as chairman of the board of “Mizrachi” and “Torah v'Avodah” [Torah and work] movements.
He fled to Lvov the outbreak of the Second World War. When the Germans invaded Lvov in 1941 moved to Tarnów. On Rosh Hashanah 1942 he was probably sent from there to an extermination camp. His two sons, Avraham Yissachar and Shlomo Zalman, also perished in the Holocaust.
Throughout his life he wrote articles that were published at first in the “Yiddishe Tageblatt” [The Jewish Daily Page] and later in the “Yiddishe Shtime “ [The Jewish Voice] in Warsaw. He also wrote a weekly feuilleton under the name “Rodgiva”
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(Avigdor in reverse letters). He wrote a diary during the occupation and sent desperate letters to his friends in Israel.
His image is engraved among the circles of the “Mizrachi” movement in Western Galicia. In the commemoration committee meeting that was held at the “Religious Council” in Tel-Aviv on 16 February, 1966, it was decided to take steps to establish a “library in the name of Rabbi David Avigdor” in Ramat Karniel (near Pardes Chana).
Our small community had a great success in choosing rabbis. In many cases, the rabbi became known after the name of the city in which he served, and the city became famous thanks to its rabbis and scholars. The rabbi drew his inspiration and his prosperity from the city's greatness and history. In Andrychów it was the other way around. The rabbis didn't acquire their fame because they served in this small city, but the Jewish community acquired fame thanks to its rabbis.
Usually, small Galician communities aren't mentioned in “Encyclopaedia Judaica” (by Klatzkin), but the name of the city of Andrychów, with a description of its history, appears there only because Rabbi Kobak served there. It is a miracle that in a small city, far from Jewish centers, there were famous rabbis and editors of scientific journals like “Yeshurun “ that was published in Wrocław and Frankfurt, or journalists who wrote for news papers in Warsaw. One of them was Rabbi Avigdor. He was also a member of the executive committee and chairman of the board of the “Mizrachi “ movement, one of the major Zionist movements in Western Galicia and Silesia. He also represented the movement in global congresses.
Balaban, Sokolow, Zeitlin and Rafael Wizdman wrote special entries about Andrychów's rabbis. As aforesaid, there is a plan to build a library in Israel in memory of one of them. The Jewish community was destroyed, but thanks to the rabbis, men of science, writers and intellectuals, Andrychów's name will remain forever in the history of Polish Jewry.
Original footnotes:
by Pinchas Sheinman
Chairman of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Religious Council
Translated by Mira Eckhaus
Woe to us as we were robbed, an important part of our nation was cut off in the terrible Holocaust in our history, which even our people, filled with suffering, have never known in all the thousands of years of its existence.
The fundamental Judaism has been cut off – or as it is said in the language of the damn oppressor – the biological Judaism, the one that is capable of giving birth and raising new generations. And in our language and concepts – the fundamental Judaism has been cut off, the one that nourished and developed the entire nation, including in the exiles and diasporas.
And as we come today to raise a memorial and erect a monument to those millions of old men and women, men and women, children and girls – rising and standing out from among the masses, the one raised from the people, the figure of the rabbi and the leader, the thinker and the writer, who walk at the head of the people and direct its path. And from among these rises a radiant and shining figure, burning eyes that look deeply into the hearts of people and reflect a whole world, a world of experiences and emotions, a world of thought and action. A giant figure stands before our eyes, a guide to the many, pulling multitudes of youth with ropes of love, leading them, directing them and guiding them to a full life, to ascend and transcend, in order to reach the life of action of building The Land of Israel is on the foundations of Torah and work.
Rabbi David Avigdor, may God avenge him, rabbi among the rabbis of Galicia, in the last generation of this Judaism, a scion of a rabbinical family, was born on the 20th of Tishrei 5658 (1897) to his father, Reb Avraham Issachar-Bar, Rabbi of Tirawa-Walaska (in Eastern Galicia), and his mother, Rebbetzin Sarah Rachel, also of rabbinical lineage.
From childhood, he excelled in his talents. At the age of three – as was the custom of those days – he began studying in the cheder, at the age of four he learned the Chumash, and at the age of five – the Gemara.
Until the age of Bar Mitzvah, he studied with his father and with various teachers in his hometown, and from the age of thirteen, he was assigned a permanent place for self-study in the Beit Midrash. He was talented. At the age of fourteen, he began publishing articles in Yiddish newspapers. Writers expressed admiration for his style. He studied medieval literature himself and even wrote poems.
At the outbreak of World War I, he moved with his parents to Prague, where he was among the frequent visitors at the home of Chief Rabbi Brady.
In 5679 he married a woman and not long after that he responded to the pleas of his family and accepted the yoke of the rabbinate in the town of Andrychów, near Bilitz.
The image of the Rabbi of Andrychów is etched in my memory as one of the great leaders of the “HaMizrahi” and the Torah and Work movement. We were young and full of energy and faith in the ideals of building the country in the spirit of the “HaMizrahi”, that is: “The Land of Israel for the People of Israel,
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according to the Torah of Israel”. This was a slogan we discussed a lot. Our idea was enslaved to that great vision of “Torah and work” – Torah and work in their literal meaning. Tons of longwinded debate, thoughts, and hopes were dependent on this slogan. Our best thoughts at that time were dedicated to the meaning of the slogan and the ways to fulfill it.
And he, Rabbi Reb David Avigdor, the rabbi of Andrychów, was our teacher and rabbi in this doctrine. We eagerly read his articles that were published in the movement's newspapers at that time. We debated and studied every phrase, every saying. For his language was rich and precise. His style was polished, and his ideas abundant. And we, the generation of his students, were blessed with this abundance.
I saw Rabbi Avigdor in all phases of his activities and appearances, and in all of them his broad-heartedness, his deep thinking, and his modest character were evident. I heard him give lectures on social or political topics, I listened with great pleasure to his kind and pleasant words, when he uttered a blessing during a reception or when announcing a Zionist or educational appeal, I was deeply impressed by his eulogies for personalities and Gaons, especially his eulogy in Krakow in 5688 at the “Bnei Emuna” synagogue for the late Rabbi and Gaon Gedalia Shmelkis, zt”l, rabbi of Przemysl. I enjoyed his words and lectures to the youth at the summer camps of “HaShomer Hadati” and at conferences and conventions, and his talks, the daily conversations of Torah scholars, were also worthy of study and consideration.
And with all this, Rabbi Avigdor was the leader of our congregation, he was the spiritual shepherd, loved by all and loved everyone, and all the affairs of the city were under his responsibility. He shunned honor – and therefore everyone respected and admired him. He was greeted with love, affection and an incredibly courtesy everywhere – and he represented the congregation with great honor and brilliance, standing on the stage in the magnificent synagogue in Andrychów and expressing his feelings to the worshippers and the townspeople on Shabbats, holidays and every festive occasion.
Noble qualities and virtues distinguished his character, a good temper, without anger or resentment, his calm conversation with people, always ready to offer help and assistance, advice and resourcefulness. All of these were a source of supreme pleasure for us. We always felt that before us stood the teacher who carved his sayings from the depths of his heart and soul; we saw before us the focus and source of faith, who influenced his listeners with great fervor. We therefore opened our hearts and said to abundance: Satisfy us!
He was a talented young man, playing music and painting. He was from the generation of rabbis in Galicia from twenty to thirty years ago, who, after thorough study of Shas and Poskim, set off for universities, in order to gain wisdom and knowledge in other subjects.
Rabbi David Avigdor, encouraged by Rabbi Brady of Prague, attended the academy of painting there and studied this profession, excelling in black and white drawing.
He endeavored to impart to his students the beauty of the play of colors, he devoted all his talents and all his knowledge to the purpose of educating a generation of Torah and work enthusiasts, bearers of the “HaMizrahi” idea and implementers of its path.
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Many students gathered around him from all the towns of the region: from Krakow, Wadowice, Biala, Bilitz and the entire surrounding area. He taught Torah and wisdom, lectured, spoke and wrote. He would give lectures at the “Tachkemoni” school in Krakow, participated in all the conferences and assemblies of “HaMizrahi”; he was always among the leading speakers in them.
Rabbi Avigdor participated in 5699 in the Zionist Congress in Switzerland, as a delegate of the “HaMizrahi” and “Torah and Work” movement, when the sky was darkened by the clouds of World War II.
He returned from the congress a few days before the outbreak of the war. It broke out on Friday, September 1, 1939 – and already the day after, on Shabbat, the Nazis entered Andrychów.
Together with all the Jews of the town, he fled and reached his brother who lived in Drohobych, which was ruled by the Russians for about two years.
In June 5701, the Russians abandoned the city and the Germans re-entered it.
On Rosh Hashanah 5703, he and his wife were killed in the great massacre that took place that day in Tarnow, where he had fled. (According to another version, he managed to reach the Warsaw Ghetto, and perished there).
His two sons, who fled from Tarnow, were killed in the winter of 5703 in Drohobych. His entire family perished as well.
Our eyes tear up as we remember the many dear ones who perished for no fault of their own, through our many sins, according to the decree of the Supreme Lord, whose ways our minds are incapable of understanding.
And the heart apoplectics to the memory of great leaders, shepherds of the generation, its educators and guides – one of the most outstanding among them was Rabbi David Avigdor, a supreme saint whose early death was decreed by the Supreme Wisdom, a strange death, before he fulfilled even a fraction of what he was capable of fulfilling, before he bestowed upon his admirers even a fraction of his emanating and increasing knowledge and wisdom.
It is written in the book of Ben Sira: “Do not inquire into what is more wonderful than you, and do not investigate what is hidden from you. Observe what you have been allowed to, you have no interest with the hidden”. (Hagigah, 13).
The destroyer has come upon Judaism, destroying its branches and splendor, cutting it down at the roots – and we, in our humble minds and in our limited understanding, we will justify the judgment:
The Lord has given, the Lord has taken, blessed be the name of the Lord.
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