DAV j D Sth~A RTZ

(Columbus Ohio)

~<3 ~~ ... T HA CH [i'~BROJ)

't

' ...
 MY TO~"4NLET - TRACHENf3ROD

Dedicated to my parents, brothers, and sisters and

to all the Jews of Trachenbrod who were not giver
Jewish rights of burial.

One hundred and thirty years agOt the Ttiar of Russia. Alexander
issued a proclamation in which he decreed that any Jew who settled

in a village and became a farmer. would enjoy equal rights with ot:ler

farmers and in addition their children would be released from

military service for a period of 25 years.

Our forefathers gathered together and chose a c~mmitteeJ that w~nt

out to survey the area, which is today the townlet of Trachenbrad.

The land beJonged to three brother squires. During the bargain ng the

three brothers stipulated that three ha~let5 be founded on that la1d,

which were to bear the names of the three brothers. Our foreflthers
accepted the condition. The name of the' eldest brother was Sofin~

the second -Ignatz and the third - Vosef. Consequently my townl~t

was called Sofievka,' the ~econd townlet was called Ignatovka, whila
the third one became a German colony and was called Vosefina 9 fut,
in addition to the Gentile names the townlets also bore Jewish nanes~

My townlet was called Trachenbrod~ Why was it given this name?

!t was because the name of the river that passed through my townl(t

was the Brod ca Once a Gentile, driving a double axled wagon, dr~e

into the river and was drowned. The name of this Gentile was Tra{him~

and so the townlei was named Trachenbrod, by which name it is cal ad

to this vety dayo

Our forefathers left their former homes and settled on their
newly acquired land. It was a desolate spot; wild forests and
barren soil, swamps and bogs~ snakes and wolves. First and forem ~st

the area had to be parcelled out; lots were drawn and each man w~s

appbrtioned his plot. Next a track cut through the center and e ·en
family bui.lt a house on its plot facing the new pathwayo Behind

each hou~e each man ~s ,'0· fields stretched one milo baek~ They

built the houses of wood from their own forests. They_built theil:

without a single nai10 The living quarters and the stables

for the horses and cattle were one and the same buildingo The

chitkens were kept behind the stove and even the potatoes were kEot
under their beds$ In winter during the heavy freeze-up the ca!ve3 also

were kept inside the houses.

The road was covered with water and by deep mud. What did they do?
They dug a ditch on baths j des of the track and they covered t1e centf

pathway with branches of trees on tbp of which they spread 60ilu

That helped ~ l.iitle" a~ least enough to permit some means of travel.

To this very day similar methods are practiced there.

2.
Now I will describe to you how our forefathers started to work
their land. Having always been townsfolk it wasnft eas}
for them o At first they had to clear the land of underbrush~ treas
and all kinds of weeds. After that they were a~le to plovgh
and sow seedsQ they grew wheat, rye, b?rley and oats, ~lso potBtoes

and other vegetables for their household needs. Each family hac a
mill in which the wheat was ground into flour. From the barley 1hey

prepared tasty cereaiso Each family possessed a wooden mortars nade

from stump of a tree and burning a hole in the root~ To this th,y

made a pestle for crushing<!) The bav-ley was put into the ho·t OVt:t1 after

the bread had been taken out o insi.de the overt it dr'ied and after

that.' il was put into the mortar and crushed with the pestlea Tt is

wor~ was always kept for Thursday so tha~ t~ey would have enough

crushed barley for the Sabbath mealo They did similarly withtte rye a

They prepared millet ftom the rye~ This was hard work, so much o~

that a "clever" Jew, who wanted to show that he could savs himse~ f
a lot of work 9 theught~ "why should t sow rye and put so much wtrk
into i t until J get millet. I shall do better to sow millet 5trfigh~t

awa~' and reap ready made mi)let.~ He took a bag of rye and crus; ad
it to millet and after which he sowed'.,.~.: the prepared millete He

waited and waited but the millet did not take seed. He went and

asked his neighbour what could hav,e happened, for his rye had

sprouted and taken seed but there was no sign of his millet&

was a standing joke with the neighbours for' many a dayo A simi!. r

thiHg happened· to a woman whe sowed beans" Instead of plowing t em

in rows she wanted to save space and sowed them very close toget er~

Indeed t~ey did sprput but she got no beans.

3
 However, slowly but surely these:- townsfoik learned the

ways of the land and became good farmers who were satisfied with
their lives. Indeed one can say that our forefathers! decision

to become farmers and their foresight of things to come was a

good and healthy stepe Later ~e see how Jews in the large towns

simply starved of hunge~. However in'Trachenbrod there was enoui h

to eat~ Perhaps there was sometimes a shortage of bread but they
had a plentiful supply of potatoeSt beans and vegetables, and als~

milk. for 90 percent of the population of Trachenbrod kept cows

and chick~ns. It was impossible to get flour for they were sur-
rounded by raiders on all sides~ On the one hand the Germans and
on the other the Russians. They could bring in nothing nor take
anything out~ In addition :f- they had to feed the soldiersc
As soon as any of these entered a Jewish hamel potatoes had to
be put on to cook and .the soldiers had to be fed. 0068 when
my young brother stole a potato boiled in its jacket he was
immediately clouted by a Russian soldiero Another miracle was

that our townlet was not demolished by the artillery fire that
thundered day and night, for our roofs were all thatched and
only the Lord himself watched over otir little townlet o
Until the war started there were middle-class ~eople in our
townlet and the population included many rich employers, but
after it fell under Palish rule they all became pooro The Polis~

government instigated propaganda amongst the farmers inciting

them not 'to buy from the Jews~ The government set up co-operative
stores in the villages and the farmers of"the district came no

more· to Trachenbrod to make their purchases. Jewish businesses

large and .mall were ruine~4 They did not have even enough to

live on so they engaged with renewed energy in the working of their

land, from which at least. they had food to eat o They had no m{~ney

in their pockets. They had no one to whom to $ell their produc~s~

They hadn 1 t a penny to their name and they went about poorly c10thed

and unshod.
 Fiv.e years ago (in 1934) when I visi ted my townlet, I saw for

myself that they hadn't a penny even to buy kerosene and they were
forced to si~ in the dark. I saw how the men came home and found
no bread to satisfy their h~nger. Only potatoes boiled in their
jackets and no more o In spited of all they were satisfied and d~

complain. Nearly all of them had cows, but they did not get
much for the milk. My father had two cows. For the whole week's

milk he bought at the grocers, yeast, salt, oil, and kerosene a The
money wasn't sufficient for flour.

3~

Now I want to go back to the beginning and go on to describe our

townlet Trachenbrod. The long street had severa_ names o from
North to South it was called: Barshapas, Luvishis, Shelishter and
Fradilach 0 And now the names of' the inhabitants of the second
generationo The name of the first was "long-bearded" Mattis and
his wife Buntzy of Barshepas street.' In summer he was a house
painted and in ~inter he worked for my," grandfather in. the tannery~

When his wife wanted to hold a conversation with her husband during
hi s worki ng hours she would stand on the threshold of her house a.nd

shout "Mattis~1 He heard? immediatly and would excuse himself

by saying "My wife is calling meow Then he would go out of the
tannery, stand near the door and enter into a conYersati~n with

his wife~ Do you know what the distance waa from our tannery to
her house? 3'Vierst in all- - and $0 she was nicknamed "Buntzy
of the loud voice&"
And now to go further down the road¢ Simcha Hudish's, Vaakov
Leib 9 ~ :.:... ..~~.....~~._:,.,.;.. the 8araznik, Shmuel the first tannert Shmuel -to ~

Joel. Hirschke Baletzkas. Hirsch Leib the Litvak, Shimon Uri Tepper,
Moishele the Shoemaker~ Alter the teacher, who was a very goed teacher
and ve~y irritable person. He used to hit his pupils well and
truly and even box their ears. Once ·the pupils played a trick on
him. There was a calf in th'e teacher's house. \f:hen he went out

. into the street they inserted a hot potato' (under the calfis ta 1).
The calf naturally -- went wil~ and jumped about causing

considerable damage in the hOUS$0

 To return to the names: Josel the teacher g Baruch Tanzer, who

was thought to be a rich man for those days, and who lived

opposite the Baraiani Synaeogue~ Vakir Lebishe's and his wife,

Susia, whose first husband was called Pinia and was killed on a
journey to Ravno. He jumped from the wagon when the horses were
galloping downhill and his foot got caught~ Her second husband's
name was Falike Shlomo Hersch Bir~s, Abe who owned and oil press
Nacnum Y.osi 1l Elie '~with the growthfll' Chaim Nuttag the shoemaker~

Shaul Avramchik's, who was known as "the big eater~, Itzy Schuster
and Nachum Schu&ter~ Avraham ~the tall anew, Uncle Dudia, "Ginger"
Vesel, owner of an oil press, "belly button~ Itzy who was a
Government appointed Rabbi. Gershon Bear the "pious", Moishe

Hersch, who was my Ra~bi and who was the old teacher's SO"o As
bad ;as his father was, so 't;vas he good & i;';nerea,5 his. fa the ~ ustsd

to pull ears he used to preach, but his preaching was

Mali Cheichets, who had four children;
Hannoch Ventel, who was a teacher, Leib ~the big one". leib Uthe

Pinia who was a good Cantor in the Triske Synagogue, Dvorinyu

with his twe sons is he and Shmerl~ bath "schochti~fft Leib Armi ~s.

a 'butcher~ Chaimke the bathhouse

pious man (of the kiaver Synagogue). Chaim the Sexton Chaim Joel,

Zivia being a midwife, Maish the teacher, Yankel Ush~r Welfe

Rivkele Shmue Shimon the shoemaker, a very

hardest frosts det8rred him~ He had a

Berel from the feed mil

»oishs g Hir~hel Wolfe from Ardish~, Velve! the tax eolleclort lirel
Nuskete~ Ephraim "who cries in the synagogue~& Chaim ttche the
sexton. Barl the shoe maker, Chaim FeivelD the teacher of beginner&~

,~to t i Rise i f s ,t he ~. mi dw i f e" 5l A'v ram Fe i vel the fJ c rip pIa CfI, H i r;s h Lei b

the "clever one-, Raphael Sora Layi's9 Berele Yisraelts Kessel,

Hanna Chaim Patche Blumchits, !tche Bear Nu~el!s, Ze~e Feivel Luvi Ie,
who was a cal(penter~ Yosi Bruch tti t t'..l a tl ia Shie~s~ who was the f i ~~~ t
son t.o be born in Tr-achenbrod and iI/ho died in 1913 at th~".j a.ge or 100

Feige Shets~ Berl Melamed. Benzion Chatania$ who had a tannery,

Hirschke Katzken who kept a bart £lie Levi$ who was a learned manj
he was cashier for Chava Rochele from Lutzk, ttche Potish, israel
called Poss'a was my grandfather, my mother's
father, G-d rest his soul. He was alw~ys protesting against the hi
tax~s taken f~om the Jews. Once he even went to Jitcmlti to ~~~ the
Governor from whom he Q~tained a reckoning of the' amount of taxes
payable on a certain parcel of land~ Anshel and Shaias two brothers,
who used to cock the fish for every wedding free of charge, and whose
1 i ttls brothe~~ was a cowher-din t'he Razavil"s Forest.

he lost his way in the forest and drove the cows in the wrong directions
The cows, feeling that tbey were being driven in the 1i1f'ong dir(~ction,

ran a\\'ay and left him alone~ The youngster waS left lying in -the

forest, exhausted with fatigue and fear~ In the meantime the cows

reach~d hame without the cowherd~ $0 the townsfolk went'into the

fOf~st to search for him and found him more dead than
After this the youngster was bedridden until he died$ This was a
lesson for future cowherds who, if l~st, should r6110w the herds

which would always lead in the right direction~ But let us return
to the inhabitants of Trachenbrod~

Hannah Git~lts, whose husband p~actised as a teacher. He was by

naturs a good~hearted man and the pupils had no fear of him and
tn summer every householder in Trachenbrod

was wont to employ his well. i.e~ to clean out the dirt. One

summer the teacher also emptied his wel15 ~hen he went down into

the well t.he pupi is stood a.t the top to rf')ceiv~ -rihe bucket.~ uf

~hen he was almost finished the pupils 100k away the

ladder and ran ~ away_ The water was pouring into the well from
all sides and the teacher_, standing in water un to his knees

7
was shouting and pleading for the ladder. But the pupils~

who were standing some little way away, were rolling ~ith laughter.
Only when the water was up to their teacherts waist di~ the "dear W
pupils deign to let down the ladder 6

Pinchas. the carpenter, Josef Leib,·Esier leahis ~israelichD

whose 60ns always had their heeds buried in their books, Sender's
Aliva, Moishe-lzinke Hannichke, owner of the tannery, Yankel the
blacksmith, Vuda-Meir Vcna-~olf the shoemaker,

livia's Vankel~

each of whom ~ould ~at a quarter ~fod~ of potatoes at one sitting~

They used to make Tun of people who complained of tooth-ache and

.~.

if anyone wors spectacles or walk

with a cane they would say that he. did so f~y effectQ Shlomo-

Shmuel and Etti-Feiges Gershon, Shmaia-Shaika, Gezele and Voel Vaakov

and his wife Chava~ the ~midwire", Vaakov Zisa the shoemaker,
Yankel the cripple9 Chaskel Leib, Zelik the tailor, Vudel the
~ dumb onet~ ~ Gi tel-Ruchel, Moishe Vosel Valze ts, f\i1oi$heeB~ar~

Shirtilinke!i who owned a tanne~"y, a litile ;~,-~.~ synagogue and ~

ba thhcuse~ Vuda Per i en who earned a : -_~.':'.'

Yanke! the blacksrhith:f' whose house was the 'last in Sh01isliter~

street on the way to Lutzk~ There were two more families whose
fields were outsid~ the townts boundaries and there ve~e those

. I would ask ffi}l -townsfol k to forgiv8 -me for only

a few names of the people of the third generation ~ These

people married and. settled in Tr~chenbrod and could recount all

tbs nll.mes of the third and fourth generations but tbis would
it
take up too much space, but i~should be of any interest to yo~

my dear townsfolk. I could recall the names of all those from

cur forefathers to those of the fourth generatiob~ More than
that I don't know for it is already 32 years since I left
Trachenbrod e
 5

Now I shall recall the tYa~es 1n which our forefathers

They had all kinds of'small factories~ workshop~~ and tanneries~

They were shoemakers, tailors, teachers, carpenter~e blacksmi

locksrni~hs. ~ainters, bricklay~rs~ forresters, brickmakefs
owners of sawmills, wheelwri . a,nd glass Tbe

made a living~ There were in addition all kinds of stores and

aziers~ woed deale J butchers and catt 6 dealers 0

used to drive cattle up to

ied

contractors who au straw and meat to the

their land alone and a~so

1 the above manti e worked thai own fi ds

either alone or with

money ~ith which to

accoraance with ish

and f,r;:.er

Gbild
d
 I

I
I
r

I
I
They had to wait for the Gentile who came to milk ~he ,cows on the
I
Sabbath and for the Gentile cowherd who took the cbws out to pasture.
I
After the early morning prayaro we would drink thel ta.sty chickory

from a pot warming on top of lhe oven o The milk w~s well boiled with
a thick skin on it", Only'/then
t '
would we 'put on our'l nkapote5~ and

girdling cords and our praying shawls (Talisim) wi1lh the uh:ilds"
tucked into the cords and we would go tO,the syn9gogue in whole
famil ies, gr'andf'athet"~ father, 50ns and grandchilJt"'en; a whole
I
regimen~% I
We came home gaily and in high spirits, made ~~kiddushn~ \~ashed

(even the. very 8mall boys) and smacked our liJS over ~he calves'
foot jelly and ~chulunt~ that only ange~
cculJ have bak~d
an
I
so deliciously in the oven, and were served with ~otato pudding {ukugel~
I
and if there was a piece of st~ffed int~stine (H~ishkeW) in additionD
then it was indeed a Sabbath meal of the first
the meat out of the Rchulunt" and the ntzimmes~

to bed. We were ho sooner up than the hot teal out of

the stove, was on the table@ Then the wou!d go out fOlf

a walk round the fields and gardens to see and

can realise what this means; a towndweller can

Many would stroll in the Razevil forest~

wild berries with their mouths for, on the Sabbat~9 it was forbidden
to pick by hamL After the walk the men would gol to the ~,yndlgogli<!l
I
t"or -t.he afterr~oon prayers (,smincha ii ) and would relturn h(~me -to

·shalosh seudes ft , the "third meal", a good whipped with

cream, and again the singing of the
throughout the town!st 4 After evening prayers
nhavdala~ (ritual prayer differentiating between ia holyday and a
'0 off to the ca~stalla to milk the
I

weekday). The women would then

cows and churn the butter~ as it had to be ready(fo~ dispatch

l) A.
~dLu~ZK early on Sunday mo~ning~
)

IV
 Many things grew wild: wild ~ ,_. blue beYries~ hucklebeL"ries~.

'red currants, black currants, apples and pears. After a rain

the.mushrooms would rise like yeast~fil1eddough. Jam made~ut
of the blueberries and hucklebe~ries was eaten spread ~n brea'o
We would know immediately when the children had eaten this j~m,
for their lips would be colored and their teeth would be blue~

\Vhat we couldn't eat, we would dry. "e "als~ used to dry the Ff~a.r$

and had enough for dessert for the whole winter~

In Autumn the potatoes and beans w~re harvested. The potat ~e6 wel·e
stored under the beds and the beans in the lofts. Potatoes fc r

Pesach and for seed were buried in a hole dug in the garden: on onE'
side those for Pesach and on the other the seed potatoes for sowing
The potatoes which were sweetened by the frost were used for ~&king

at Pesach. There was plenty of goose-grease (shmaltz), and from

Purim onwards eggs were stored in preparation for Pesach. Every
householder would fatten geese and tu~keys from which he would
get enough ~grease~ for the whole yeai. The kitchen gardens
produced radishes, carrots, beetroot p and 1he cucumbers and
I
cabbages which were: '~:'_-:'.~~ picklede In v~intef' meatw8s scarce and

the main dishes were potatoes and·beans. The families were large
and they used to make dumplings~ puddings, and pancakes, all from
potatoes~ The town Jews indeed called us the QliTrachenbrod Potatoesnto}
Perhaps you may think that the Trochenbrod Jews were
physically weak~ If SO~ yo~ are greatly mistaken, for they were
known to be among the strongest Jews of the district* When the
peasants of the neighborhood did not behave as they should, they
weresh6wn the way out of Trochenbrod, and they were afraid to
return to the townlet o Mearly all the Trochenbrod Jews were
~ChassidimNo Four Rabbis had synagogues named ror them in
Trachenb~odo There was a - Brezner Shul. a Trisk~r Shul, a Holiker
Shu! and a Stepe~er Shul~ tn addition~ varlous Rabbis wo~ld come

to Trochenbrod from Koritz~ Kashifka~ Lutzk and Makriv and Karlin~

and their descendants came as well. It was really jolly in the

townlet on a Sabbath when a Qrebbe" came~ We would celebrate

II
the whole week. Each ev~ning we woul~ go to the Rebbe to celebrate~

.The "chassidim" would drink and the Rebbe would quote and explain

the "Torah" (Bible) and would tell al! kinds of other stories. No
Rebbe lost anything by coming to Trochenbrod. He would always leave
the lownlet with anywhere from 50 to 100 rubles~ Whenever a Rabbi

was due to arrive in the townlet, the "Chassidim" would go Qut to

meet him and would give him an honored reception. At night they
would light torc~es and would .lead him into the townlet with song~

Fifty years ago there were many young men who would sit studying
in the Mikiver syhagogue, where the old Rabbi~ G-d rest his soul,
would study. When J was {here in 1934 I was delighted to see

young men who had been away in Ryesh~Yot~ and had returned learned
men@ speaking to anyone of them he would always refer to the
others ~s Rhighly intelligent u ; they were indeed dear childreo Q

It was seldom that a family had no child in the ~yeshiva~~ Under

Polish rule the Jews became poor* The children had nothing to do
at home so they would go away to the MyeshiYoth~ to learn~ Before

the first World War many learned trades an~ many also left for

AmericBrh'

en the la:st few year~) Tt"ochenbrod became lionistic~lly inclined;

Ten year old children a:.lready belonged to the Zionist youth clubsQ

Today that is all over~,'

7~

Now I wao·t to f"e~ou~¥t a ta.l~ of 12p yeal";~ 'ago tha't my ,grandfather

Shmuel Leib told me~

His paYsnts ha~ ~ ildren 9 The oldest .er~ e girls and the
youngest 2 bOY6~ l~~y I6Ji\ndf§lthf.lr Vf~S tb~ young~s1.:. chi.Ide When

he was seven years gld hj~ p~r~nts di~d~ His uncle V~nkel took
him to liv~ with him Wllile hj~ nin~ ye~r ~ld brother was kidnapped
by the "kidnapper~~ ~~d ~ent ~wiY a ~re.t distance into Russia~

In those clays t~e Ru~~~an g9vernm~nt u~e~ to kidnap a lot of

yQung Jewi~h childre~ ~nd make $qldi~r~ out of them. At first my
grandfather worke~ ~~ the ~Qu,e helpin~ hi, aunt ~ith all the
housework, and wh~n h~ grew 91~er he w9rke~ in his uncle's tannery

doing all the hard~st cbores~

 Once he heard that the Russian ~kidnappersn were lookfung for

him and wanted to take him away as they had taken his brother~ so

he ran away to the neighbouring village of Stenvok. There he

met up with 13 'other young boys who had also Fun away ft'om the

wkidnappers"~ He was then 1~ years old~ in the villagethere was

also a tannery. the owner of which was called Reb. Meir Branfen~

As my grandfather already knew the trade he at once started work

and began slowly to earn a living~ There my grandfather did very
welll» He had plenty to eat and df~ink. His employer' was a well~;ttJ'*"

Apa~t frum the tannery he alsc had a distillery (where

they distilled 6pirits)~ The employer 1 s wife (who was called

Rezel) was a good woman who looked after the young beys well&

always stood in the workshop each boy also had a straw~

would go into the store-room~ lie down a barrel and suck the

brandy so long until they fell asleep by the open barrel •••
and these once small boys grew into strong, healthy young men~

But my'grandfather left the viI for he learned that in

Trochenbrod he could register as a member of the colony and &0

free himself of having J,..

~o
•
serve In l'
~ne armY$ He
Trochenbrod and had no difficulty in registering as a member of
the communityt and in this way he became a citizen of TrochenbrDd~

He immediately $tarted to work in Shmuel's tannery and since

he was a mechanic he earned 2'Gilden a 'week~ At the same time he

beea in e f r i en d 1 y VI i t h a g it' 1 ~ 8 i e 1a, Vi how a 53 t r, e d aug h t e r 0 f Re b

Ali Leib Borak, who was the son-in~law of Reb ~eir Bronfen of
staYok~ He got married to Beila and received a dowry of 100 Gilden 9

He also had some money saved and he bought a house near Mattia
Chaim~5 and opened a tannery But he couldn't work in that house

for long because of the neighbours' complaints and interference~

So he sold everything and bought land in the forest beyong the fields
belonging to the tcwnlet~ The land belonged to an old Jew (I have
forgotten his name), who had a son who had been taken away to the

army before he had become a settler of TrochenbrcdQ There was a

house standing on the newJy~b~ught land so my grandfather transferred

the beds and my grandmother helped him dig the vats out of the

tannery, roll them through the forest and place them into the new

'l3
 When '$ ~.,ent back home in 19~54 i saw that the selfsame six va.ts

were still there and that they were serving their purpose as well

as they had done some 32 years previously.

My grandfather always used to tell me that None must flee bad
nei gh '.bours and that was why he 1 i \led in the for-est where no one

disturbed him~ Once - my grandfather told me - a~ old man came into

his house and told him that the land belonged to him;- that his father

had no right to sell it w.ithout his consento It was the 'son of the
old man who had sold the field~ He had served his 25 years in the
army and had returned old and grayg In short. the sol~ier took
my grandfather to court but my grandfather brought defence witnesses~

-the p.e.a.sants v/ho had for many years worked his field ~ and he 'Won the

case~ In spite of this my grandfather gave the ex-serviceman a

few Rubles and the latter signed to the effect that he had no claims

on my grandfather.

So my grandfather l~ ed on his estate# always working it upu He

brought up seven children, five sons and two daughters, married

them off and helped them to get started in life. Apart from the
tannery he ha~ hisfieldB, . cows and chickens and it was~ as
they say, a contented hou5ehold o
The workers in grandfathers tannery brought no food with them
to work apart form dry bread~ Everyone ate together with

grandfatherb They would spread butter on the bread. on top of

which they put a large chunk of gresh cheese and then they would

go into the storeroom and drink as much milk as they wanted~

grandfather made a practice of baking an oven full of bread and rolls

every Thursday evening and would distribute them on Friday among
the poor", and there was seldom no, guest at the table",

Grandfather's leather wa's"well known. Dealers fro'-m distant

places would come to bUy our leather~ From the junction they used
to have to ride the whole night in wagons, through the deep mud. in

order to reach my grandfather~s tannery by early morning. if not for

the high quality of the goods - they would say to m~ grandfather or

father - wewQuld not come so fartil

 Yes, the dealers were satisfied~ both with the high quality
of the goods and with the treatment they received.
very much at home~ WQuld eat and drink of the finest and the best.
The town Jews used to enjoy the goodcream~ the rich milk and the

wonderful forest air. In s~mmer they would sleep together with us

children in the haystacks p in winter in the house g

The routine in my graandfatherfs tannery was i~ as·fol1ow~: At

seven otclockin the morning work b~gan~ At twelve everyone »ould
eat 6 Aft.er the meal they had to~. take a nap, in summer fslE~epi;'ig in the

hay and in winter in the housa. Aftei an hourts nap they would get

up and would have to have a bit of "exercise ft wrestling each with

his partner o Even grandfather used to wrestle with someone
In summer the food coneisted mainly of vegetables, a good
radish, cucumber~~ onions and other velatables eaten with sour
cream o They would sit down round a large table, members of he

family together with strang~rs. Then a potato soup wou~d be served wi

was almost the same but i olstead of the potato ~30UP thtey W.OU E:~3.t

potatoes boiled in their jackets with soup cream and butterm

in winter it was already dark at 4 ol c l ock So before the mBa they

and they would chew away with both jaws. The faces would

came in and seeing the hot and sweating company a~ ths ta e

So we lived in the colony~ quietly and contentedly

mother and father~ The workers used to feel ve

at grandfather's never chang~d their obsD One who came s a

at the age of 90.

His uncle

US 1$
 9
My grandfather made a practice 'of waking before day!!" to pray

RChatzot~ and to recite psalm$ {nTahilim~}. On Friday he would

leave the la.mp burning the whole night SO!l as t'o be able to goat up

an hour or two befors dawn and praye He used to ~ake me up also

from my sleep and would say: ~Time to get Yp~ little David~ and

put a Jewish word into your mouth~. i would get up" recite 411 the
psalms and all the early morning prayers.
practice afte~ my marriage and I carry it on also here in Amari
~hen I started to put on "Tefilin fl he instructed, me t6 recite
Psalms each morning and to this very day t carry out his inatr iono

"If you want a homeN, he would always teach me ~ma~e a p?act of

making guests welcome~ of giving them food and drink and a bed which
to eleepil and theni) if you ever visit t.hefa~ you Vlfill

home among strangers~" "When you go out into the street" he wo~!d

say, =always say "good morning" or figood evening" to anyone you may
meet~ and don't wait for him to say first*~

He also had a first class knowle~ge of his trade, and W28 an

experienced dealer~ He would often take me 'with him to th0
town where he bought hides and more than once i saw how he val
the goods Qt at glance 'and how be rec~oned 'oui. lhe
accounts in his head~

Vou must surely be wonderinf~ why 1 have sc~id so ml.Ht~h abo~~t

grandfather and so little about my fathet, may he live and be

so - twill explainQ

of the first children in Trach6nbrod that uere due for military

service, and naturallY9 you will understan~v he waEntt all anxiov
to become a soldier 0 Thera was an crgani~ation that nrrange~

release papers for a fee of 50C Rubles but thi organi~at O~ ~af

informed on~ and among the y6ung people who ha~ such p~peYs was
father. He hid at first in Trachenbrcd it~~l

and had to flee to Lithuania~ Ny mother was left alone with

small children f three boys and a girl. of

Ih
 In Lithuania my father got work in a tannery and soon became

~im and would leave him to deal with every things and he would even

~o alone to trade fairs to handle the buyirg and 5~11i~gG

He would come home to us only onc£ a y~ar

(\ f Tabernacles)~. granof~ther woul(· go to meet h m t the i lway

the end of the holiday he wculd again dress ~? in t

for the rail~av junctione An~ so It was each year o
mother! a young woman .ith fOUT yo~ng children, never ~ease~

hewaili a~d B-1 answered her

kinds of new equi

0~erything and rarely in

H' 0 U 1 h a ~1' {';J him s elf d r i v e;

and lived

Once I told him that f w~nied to gc to Americao

~nd late you w 11 takE the others away also~

p~omised him that i would not

y {}oce a.ga n .;)

b~coming a Jew again. He stayed ~ th us for a 1 i.e i3.nd tb

brother who had baen kidnapped N ~s a child for the army~

17
 10

Every Friday evening~ after supper~ all the children and

grandchildren would come round to grandfather's. Then he was

really full of life; he would sing and the gtandchildren would

danc6e He would tell them all kinds of stories and about
miracles that had happened to pious Jews, in which he believedo He
himself used to visit the Schiziner Rebbe. G-d rest his soulQ
Once - he told us - he was sitting at the Rabbits table~

It was "Shavuoth" (Feast of Weeks). Suddenly a bird came

fl y i ng in through the open wi ndo'i[it', stood, on the Rabb i lj! IS pIa t..e

and started to sing~ twittered and flew off.

~Do you know who that was ?" ~ the Rabbi asked t ~2t was

King Davidl g §

On this occasion the Rabbi ordered several hundred psalm books

t0 be. p r i n ted but 'it i t ~ 0 u t p r l nt i n g. t he }. e t t e r n Be t h (i ( B) Q A11

the Bis were written in by the Rabbi pe~$onallYG He then sold

the Psalm-books fo a Rub e a piece 1:0, his fol1~,wet.. s and to this

day l have such a Psalm-book in America~

When the Rabbi died hi disciples went over to the Stepinier

Rabbi, among them also my grandfather and my father~ and we are all
to this day Stepinier ~chassidim·~ Gv'andfather always told stories -

about the wondef'-w'orking of the Rabbi and other pious Jews o

in the early days - grandfather would relate- Trachenbrod

was overrun by snakeso They would come i~ the hou8es~ and

the' children would play ~ith them and would feed them at
their mealtimes~ Indeed they did not bite at'yone and they

did no ha. ,"m but it was s.inlply i rnposs i bl e- ta tc: !erate them0 Once
a Ra.bbi ( I have forgotten his name) came to Tra.:;'.henbro·d and the

Trachenbrod Jews complained to him about the snak~so The Rab~l

replied: fit will drive them Q.ayl~

He went out into the field p tore up soma grass an~' threw
it into the next field, uttering some words at the sam\' time.
From then on there were indeed no mo~e snakes in Trache~,brodo

40 years ago there appeared In Trachenbrod a.miracle in the

form of a flame. Every evening it could be se~n glowing neat

the Foresta Sometimes the flame would be large and sometimes

5mall~ sometimes it would appear low down near the ground and
at others it would be highupe So it would glow night after night
over the whole townlet. Often it would come up quite close to the

houses but as sooa as one got near itt it would disappearo We got
accustomed to it and were no longer afraid.

At Hershel Shai's wedding, which was celebrated at grandfather

Possifs house the flame cam~ right up to the house~ All the guests
and members of the band went out to have a look at the flame which
was very bright, but as soon as we got close to it, it disappearecle
Once a dealer from Klivan came to buy leather. He loaded up a
full wagon and drove off. V!hen the wagon reached the road to Lutzk
the flame was shining in the middle of the road. The horses were afraid
and ;:th\l: didn't want to go forward~ and the dealer had to turn

round and return to Trachenbrod and only next morning when it got
light~ did he set out on his w~y.

Once on ftShavuoth" night three la~s fr~m Shelishter street

(Cheskel Vosits t Benzi Cheskel-Leib's and Eli Getzits) rode their
horses over to the Karlanki!smeadow. Suddenly they ,saw the flame
which got nearer and nearer to them. The horses fled in mi~x .ild

terror and the lads climbed up on to a fence~ But the flame fallowed
themo They started to scream out in terrified voices ~ntil Vnsik
tiiichi~,ltshik came with his gun and ,fJiJ. fired.., Only then did it

disappear"
Going home from ~ChederN at night I saw the flame more than
oncea had already become accustomed to it$ it remained with us
un -t i 1 the f ir s t ~t~~ 0 rId ~ltJ a r & T h eb a
i t. d i sa p pea red wit. h 0 utI e v i n t;

any trace and to this day no cne knows what this apparition was~

The children that grew up in Trachenbrod were strong and healthy.

A Trachenbrocl boy could knock out ten peasantsq
On army registr~tion days young people from all' the neighbou ing
townlets would come to Trachenbrod to evade service. Once they were
informed on and even the name of the housein which they were

hiding W&G reveal~d~ Soldie~~ came and surrojnded the house b~Jt

immediately the Trachenbf'od lads went out and set upon the $ordiers e
A fight started and the Traehenbrod boys snatched the guns ~way

(1
from the soldiers and broke them over the soldiers backs~ They

sc'a.r~ely managed to escape wi-th their lives. The officer collect.ed

together -the-'~asants from the l1uf"Youndingvillages, surrounded the

townlet 9 caught the boys who had been in the fight and took them
off to Lutzk and put them in prison. They would certainly have been

packed off to Siberia but the people of the townlet didn't remain
silent. They sent a delegation 0 Petersburg and secured the release
of the fi ghters #

Once the workers in the neig:·.bouring sawmill got drunk in

Trachenbrod and started to attack the Jews o A few young lads went
out and gave them such a beating that they ~emained l~ing ori the

ground bruised ~nd brokon~ They therealter warned their children and

the i r chi Idren '5 ch i Idr'on not. 'lc:, start. wi th the Trachenbrod Jew.s~

When' was in Trachenbrod in 1934 i was told the following story:

A few ruffians that had stayed behind in Poland after the Russian
revolution and were watohmen in the Razivilas Forest, would come
up to the boundaries of Trachenbrod on their horses and would beat
up anyone who happened to pass by, not excluding women and children~

One Satur several Trachenbrod youths go~ together and hid

behind the bushes (34) on the edge of the forest, sending one of

theA r numbel" into the forest ~ j~S soo..n as the watchmen saw him they

fell on him. Thet'l ali the l~,(:s came out from among the trees and

they barely escaped with thoir lives. The squire took the young' lads
to court but the Jews won the case and the squire was forced to get
rid of the ruffians$
Ves, the young folk inherited the bravery and courage of theit

forefathers of a hundred years before th9~.

My dear townsfolkl know {hat when you read these lines

about the lownlet of our bi~.. thp thai you will deriv's pleasuv-8

from and, like myself, you ~ill be proud of ourgrandfaihers.

They left. behind them in the {.owns wall .... la-do homes, a comfortable

and easy 1 ~ fe and went out in': 0 the wilds Q They se.vv the town in

another light. They felt the town livelihoods to be built on

air and took upon themselves to build for their children and
chi 1d r e n ~ s chi 1d r e n c:~ 5 u re r f u t u r- e, a f f" e e and haa it.t h Y 1i fe i n

the lap of natures ~n this they succeadede ,They reared seven

generations of healthy men ard good Jew30
 in the last few years many of the children have fled to \/i10.::).

and f rom ~h
~ ere t 0 Ere,z
& , ~1
sra_. -I~~.y
'Iv ~o n~t·
U ~ h~ue
~y to start l~arni~Q
...

agl"'iculturalwork:: they come ready made peasants who can ~!flso study

and who who know the Hebrew language. In the letters received from
them they write that they are happy and are prepared to give up
everything for Eret~ Yisrael~ They have inherited the stubbornness
of their grandfathers to overcome all difficulties and tO,reach

their goal.

Now I will tell you what my . wife and i saw in our lownlei when

we visited "it in the year 1934.

At nine o'clock in the evening we left- Warsaw and we reached trs
Kvirit~er junction at about six o'clock in the morning. The
early morning was a lovely and fresh ons o It was the month of
Augusta When the train stopped and we got' off we saw before us
three young lads waiting for USc One of them was Shmolik the son
of David the bricklayer~ the second Shmuel's son Veske and the third

was from Kolk. They were all carterss who were waiting for U8 with"
They told us that they had been waiting

f6r two days and nights. Whenwe saw them tears filled our eyes Q

Their clothing was tOTn and patched and even the patches were torn
and they were all but naked~

Shmulik. who had once been,in Ameri~a told me in English that

my brother ShO!tHO' had sent him to the junction to fetch us and that

the other two had come of their own acc6rd and also wanted the
honour of driving US~ ~ told him to do as he
Shmuelik made the following arrangement~ Each of the three ca~t6 had

the second cari and he took the 6ther's horse and harnessed it to
his cart. He took ~s on his carlo He told the Kolk carter to go '
home as he wa~n't entitled to anything~

Riding over my father's fields we met some children who were

comi~g from the forest with blueberriese ~'There are your sisterts
children", said Shmuelik. pointing to the children. He stopped the
./

cart and we took the children up and kissed them repeatedlyu

As we got nearer to my father's house, the children jumped down
from the cart and ran ahead of us to tell my father the news. He ran

towards us and fell ~pon us and we could not say a word for the tears
choked
~. - . -.. J. ::::::. back all our words .......

Finally my father took us in to my brotherts housec Only then did

learn that my father's house 'and the tannery had burned down a month
previously. On this particular friday everyone had gone to the
"Ben Zachar" of my brother's son. Someone had stilen all the leather
fro~ the attic and then set fire to the house and tannerY$ My

brother's stables were also burned down9 By the time the lownlet rea
ad what was happening everything was burned~ it was the firsl fire

since my grandfather founded the tanneryp

tasked Snmuelik the carter what i owed him for the journey and
he replied that he left it to me, giving me to understand at the
same time that he had a partner in the transactionoc~ I gave him
5 dollars and also satisfied the other fellow. They could live for a

whole week on the moneyo

And than the celebrations yeal1y began e All our friends ana
acquaintances and people in general from the townlet came in a
constant stream to greet me and to get regards from their friends
and relatives~ There was no room in the house so we put benches

Qutside§ Day after day new people came and there was 60 much
coming and going that the house was like a beehivee Everyone was
envious ot my fatherts having such important guests who had ceme
from across the SC&S to seehim~

had brough-l:. wi.th me money for almost all the townsfolk from

their friends and· relatives in America. i paid each in dollars and

not·in Zlottes so as not to let it. be thou~ht that t was making
a profit on the transfer. Many of the recipients lived in other
towns and town lets - so I had to travel to them. 'took my brother
Shalo~ with me on such journeys. First we went to Holik. Thera
t informed all my acquaintances of my whereabouts and invited them
to come and see me. Soon my apart.ment was overflo¥Jing with peoplec.

Among them waited representatives of all kinds of institutions

and ~ organizations asking for contributions"to chariti0s~
i lett my brothar*~ to deal with these matters and to give as ~£~~
much as he considered proper to each. In Holik t met the Holiker
Rabbi and left him a handsome monetary i gift.
From Hoik we went on to Ravno. There had to give forty dollars
to someone from hi$ sister. He lived in a cellar. When 1 entered
the house I was struck by the stench of dampness. He told me that
he had become ilion accounlof the damp and wet room but that he
could not afford better accommodationSe He added that he owed
six months rent and that they wanted to throw him oute as he was

ninety zlotes in arYear~

t told him that his * sister in America had sent him some money
and counted out ten dollars. His face began to change colour~ Then
I gave him the second ten dollar' bill he jumped up from the bench~
At the third ten dollart bill he looked at me with bUlging eyes and
at t.he fourth ten he began to dance around the roomf;o X i have nevert,

in all my life, witnessed such a scene.

From Ravno W6 tr£.lveled to lutzk and there - a repetition of what

had taken place in Holik and also the sam. requests from organizations
and institutions~ lnLutzk i rejoined my wifes She had been visiting
a niece~ From there my wife and I journeyed to Vishinka to her
family graveyard, traveling by night by boat on the StierRiver~

Many Jews were travelling on the boat. They immediately ~ecognized

us to be American and soon surrounded us a~king all kinds" of

questions about life in America~ They were all envious of us and
from time to time a sigh would escape from one breast or another o
The Jews warned us that on arriving lata at night in Vishinka
we should not let it be known *8 that W5 were Americans and should
not speak English as it might be fatal~ The owner of the ship was
also a Jew~ They told him to arrange for the gentile that awaited
the arrival of the ship to take us straight to the "ehochet ff (slaughterer)
and to say that some Trachenbrod folk had arrivede The Jews

disembarked at Razshisht and left us terrified$ We reached the

landing stage at Vishinka at twelve o'clock at night", The gentile that
was waiting a't the dock took us to the ~shoehet~ (The young shochet
a was Asher Nachum Alter's son), knocked at the" door in the dark
saying that Trachenbrod folk wanted to stay the night. The ushochet~

opened up~ gave his bed to my wife, and put me to sleep on 8 bench~
 , can assure you that I didn't close an eyelid the whole night

; and thanked G-d when it began to get li~ht. To such an extent

had our companions of fhe boat- frightened us.

We "t;1en't out into the street and made our way ·t.oe my falhet-in-1J3.t't~8

~ -
0n!y ~
a rew · d
seml-,eSL~ 4~O y~
~d .h~u~a~
~ _~w remained of the townlet.
hcuse •.

once stood and found a bare patch5 Only one single pear tree

remainBd~ The housi, the tannery and the stables had been burned

had been torn away the river. The large old synagogue, the
RBeth Hamidrash" (small synagogue and cla55-rooms)~ the bath

had been compl

fore the war V shinka had been a blooming townlet~ The Jews
in

r ad man in the townlei a well~educated and a wise man~ If

had to answer a complicated question or wanted advice in an
matter, they would come to my tather~in-law. ~easants
.f[
would come to him for information on land matters, and he would
even be called to cure sick people~ He would consider the patients
compaint and would ei"char- !:.\ prescribe what had to be dome or

whether it was ne.essary to call a doctor.

Heonee told me that Vishinka was a very old town. As a young~man

he had seen gravestones in the old cemeta~y that were over three
hundred years old~ Some years back Rojshist was a little townlet
-""'-.
and Vishinka was a town~ They used to bring the dead people
from Rojshist to Vishinka - a distance of ten miles~ And now with
{

~ifficultYD I found a "minyan~ (ten grown males) of Jews. On fhe

We stood at the empty plot where my fat~er-in-!awts house had

once stood and bemoaned the destruction of Jewish homes and Jewish
commun i·t i as e
 My wife told me that aome forty odd years back the first boat

began to ply on the S t aer."

* In Vishinka the boat had stopped in front

ofthei r house a.nd the captain made fast the boat to a ~..-;"':": pear tree

with a thick rope. He ca"me 1- nto "'he

~
house and said that the.-";: ~,"~ ~._"
~

landing dock would be built in front of their house. "And today",

said my wife "we left the boat like thieves in the dead of night and
were afraid to say a word for fear of the peasants."
That spot was once the center of the townlet. Today only the
pear tree remains of it all. All is dust and ashes. The well
established house where people could always get advice from the
father and help from the mother is no more.
From there we went to the consecrated grounds and took with us an
old woman. tn the cemetary there are no paths and there are no
gravestones to be seen, and noone knows where my father-in-law lies
buriedo There are no old people who might ~~=~~~ remember and the
young ones donttknow~ So we stood and wept for the destruction also
of the Jewish cemetaries~

asked: - Where are the old gravestones of which my father-in-law alwi

took such great care. The old woman ( ~rayer sayer) replied that
since my father-in-law had died there was no one left to take careof

We left the consecrated ground with heavy hearts. ~e bade farewell

to the remaining people in the townlet and left for Rojshist~

We reached Rojshist at midday and went to se~ my wife's sister,

by the same mother. She was highly delighted to see us. 'left my
wife at her sister's and went alone to seek out an old father for
whom his son in Columbus had sent money. found him after enquiry
and on reaching his house I found a handsome old Jew, but unfortunately
blind in b9 th ~yes. He greeted me and, on hearing that I had brought
money and greetings from his son he would not let go of my hand saying:
"1 want to hold your hand and imagine that 1 am speaking to my child p " and

tears fell continuously from the blind eyes~

spent two days in Rojshist. My wife stayed with her sister over
Rosh Hashana (New Year) and I "travelled back to Tracnenbrod in order to
spend the holy festival with my fathero
On the eve of the festival father went with all the children to
the consecrated grounds. 1 kn~lt down by my motherts grave and wept
out the bitterness in my heart~ I wept for the whole of the Jewi$h life
 des t royeo an d I ',u~~~lr'
6 n+
!
""
b·e'_·=~~~
- __ ~_'W
mvi mother had not lived
that had betan II •

he~
:to have the plea$ure 0
·
f seeing • sanA~ returned from afar, once

a.gain. ThG~ '~0 went to the graves- of' relatives of ray fa.ther and

\,)
grand f a'~nero A.r+ e "" ~haJ.
I .... It "" ...
UlH%J
'""IiI
UJent
.." H
to the old cemetary" where 1 ie

buried my great grandfathers and grandmothers. These old

consecrated grounds aTe overgrown with a forest of i): cak and pine

trees# None of the graves there are distinquishable; they have

become flush with the grounde
Standing by our grandfather's grave we ~et lel ig Visrael-~1oi_shefG~
Q 6ettler in the neighbouring Jewish agricultural colony Lojehist~
On Rosh Hashana morning we all went to ~}, synagogue together, for
living soma distance from the townlet we always used ;:0 go to the
synagogue together; grandfather, G-d rest his soul, father, and his
children~ father's brother and his children, - ~o also now~ When
the townlet Jews ·saw us approaching they would say: - Here come
the Shmuel Leib's - it is time for us to go to the Bynagogue~

namelt:

They:. service sooo started and 1 thought that, finally after'

so many years~ i would again recapture the feeling I had whila praying

in all my years in America i had felt a homesickness for the

Trachenbrod synagogue, for the Traehenbrod Rosh Haahanas and Yom
KippUfS (Day of Atonement), when Jews with their~Tali2em~ (praying
shawls) Dver their heads, would say like trees in a storm and whose
wailing and weeping could hav~ penetrated the heavens~-

But the present incantations in no way resembled those of the past,

the warmth was missing, the feeling of holiness~ and fire of fermer
days~ A deeper pain engulfed me, r\ ; a fe~ling of ordina~iness and
J,. ..
emp~!ness.

After the service I inquired:- What has happen~d to the old

enthusia$m~ the $weetness, the fite'

l~ft without a roof over their heads, without bread and almost no
cloth6ng or footweare Their hearts have be~ome stones and their
 On Vom Ki~pYr ~ prayed in lutzk~ and i t was no different there
~rom Tr4chenbrod. Succoth again spent with my father~ Every
householder built a wSuccah" (Tabernacle) for his hou~ehold. Each
made fikiddush" (blessing ~f wine) quietly in an everyday fa&~ion and
also ~Simchat Torah" (Rejoicing of t~e Law) passed quietly. What
had happened to the unmarred (pure or light-hearted gaiety) happiness,
to the dancing and singing of the old time Si.chas Torah~

t had come, thirsty to d~ink from that other wel1~ to warm myself
by that other Jewish fir0, and I found the well dry and the fire
extinguishad~

Now; want to ~11 you what our Trachenbrod brothers lived through
during and after the war, and then you will understand why they were
so broken and beaten$ physically and spiritually~ They would sit
fo." many days and not tire of telling me.
The trenchs were all round our townlet~ The cannons thundered day and
night, but that was not the worst of it for they got u6e~ to that. The
worst was that the armies were continually changing~ When the Russians
Germans retreated, the
Russians again took over the townlet~ The to.nlet suffered more from

my father and would demand leather~ You had to give them what they
demanded and would receive in exchange a~ promissery ncie which stated

that after the ~!ar ·they would paye There was no sho~\ptage:'= of

beatings-up if the demanded quantity of leather was not forthcoming

immedi~!taJ.y~ When the Poles came in "there was nore bea.ting

and open and barefaced robbery and when the war finally came to
an end there arose bands of bandits, robbers and murderers, who
killed, robbed and tortured the ~awSe The soldiers
by clay and the bandits by nlght& And do jtOU know ~~ho the bandits ~ere~
To our great shame ~ must tell' you that they were ~awish bandits
from RoJshiaht. My mother died of the beatings and torturing.
My brother was laid up for several months seriously ill from a
beating up and it was doubted" whether he would ever get up again o
They never demanded 18ather·
v
o.nly· mooAy-
g #
~nd
Q
they stole everything
from the house even the bedclothes. Later they caught two of them.
They were caught and handed over to the Polish soldiers who took them

away behind the bathh6use and shot them through the heart. Their wives

later came to collect their dead bodies.

After the war the position of the Traehenbrod Jews did not improvee
Most of their sources of income were taken from them. No Jews was
allowed to deal in forestry. _~they were not allowed to keep shops
or businesses and later when the Polish government opened co-operative
stores allover and continuously incited the peasants against the Jews,
those from the surrounding villages no longer came to Trachenbrod, but
bought only in their own~ villages, in their own stores. The taxes
that were demanded from Jewish businesses were so exorbitant that it
was quite impossible to pay them. So the last sti~ks of furniture

a& well as anyihingof any value, were confiscated from the Jewish
homes, and ttley took the cattle from the stables and sold all for
the unpaid taxes •

. So the townlet became poorer and poorer, until there were no coins
with which to buy a little keosene for the lamp. it was fortunate that

there was no shortage of potatoes and beans in the townlet a

When the beans were eaten up, a woman told me - we would pull up a
radish out of the garden, peel it, and would chew at it until we got
tired and fell asleep.
Our coming~ Trachenbrod. and the visit of twri other former
townfol~ brought back a bit of life to the townlet, and a few
good dollars 4 I should have come together with the other visitors
but they cornpleted their affairs in America sooner and came first tl

Therefore they, together with their wives, also left sooner~

When I looked on at the farewell scenes. - how they lay on the
boards and wept - my heart contracted with pain. I was reminded
that l too would soon have to part with my father and with all those

nearest and de~restto meg perhaps' for ever.~.

 sat with my father, brother and sister, they already wept

at the thought that soon, ver/y soon t would also be leaving.

pretended laughter, but my heart was heavy. The nearer the day

of our departure got, the closer we drew towards each other and the

more we had to tell and retell, and just then the people who had

just taken leave of their r'ela t i ves at the junct.ion came into the

house and only t"'en did they really begin to cry! making our grief

even greater~

Shortly before our departure my father said to me: "My child~

want to give you a present that will surely be dear to you; it is

your grandfatherts psalmery that he once receive~ from the Schizisher

R?bb i ~ You are also a Schizisher "chassid" so you are worthy to h.ve

his psa Imeryu "

was moved to tearso It is my most precious gift. t regard it

as a precious stone and when recite psalms from this little book,
i think of the days that were, when t YeS a young boy and my

grandfatherwQuld wake me up before dawn to ,recite psalms~

of our departure arrived. the whole townlet came

The garden was full of people.

Seeing myself surrounded by all who were nearest and dearest, -

father, brother~ sister~ uncles, aunts t ' cousins, I was overcome by

a strange feeling~ and had a strange and overpowering • •

deSIre J.
\..0

see the family split up into groups, according to their relation"..

ship., asked them to do this for me and J they did so

wil1ingly* They arranged themselves as I wished. with my fat~er

step-mother standing in the center 9

When I saw them standing so a blessing was torn from my !ips~

blessed them and then took leave of each one individuallyQ Then

we left! accompanied by the people of the townlet and by the whole

fami 1y&

We were already far from Trachenbrod and those that were left
behind had long disappeared from our sight, but their heartrending

cries followed us for a long time.

 16.
_e reached Warsaw tired and broken. From ~arsaw we travelled to

Trieste in order to travel on from there to Eretz Israel. There were

1100 other people also travelling from Trieste to Eretz Israel~
~" I' VI e ha d towa i t t W 0 da y sin .T r i est e \ . ; beca use the fir s t s hip

could not carryall the people9 _e travelled first class on the

,second ship. We met a lot of Jews there and it mad~ us feel better.

V!e were carried away by their pioneering singing and their ecstatic
dancing. Into their circles young and old were drawn, bearded and
unbearded Jews. Hand on shoulders they strung together and'dancing

broke out over the whole of the ship's decko Our hearts overflowed
with joy, and looking on, tears welled up into our eyes. The wounds,
fresh from Poland s began to heal. Obly now did I begin to understand
what I had seen on board the "Rex~ that had carried us from America
to Italy.
V~hole Italian families were travelling to visit their mother country.
Mussolinits gover~ment made considerable reductions in the fare for the
American italians and invited them to see for themselves ~hat

Uussolini had done in their fatherland. They travelled en massej sing-

in~ and making merry the whole way~ The noarer the ship got to Italy
the merrier they became~ We. t~~ few Jews, envied theme They

were goin~ home~ they had their own home& And we~.~~? we were going
tosee our close relatives and friends, who themselves had no home, no

l?nd of their own it And only there, on board the nRex", did we feel

how homeless we Jews werel

~hen the first speck of land appeared on the horizon a young

italian suddenly appeared, climbed up on high and began to serenade

his fatherland with such a sweet melody that it touched our SOUfS q

watched the smilting faces of the italians and thought, theee

very people left their homeland because of pov~rty, they have lived
in America for many years and are completely Americanized and they
have becomarich in America and, in spite of all, on barely spying
the tiniest speck of black italian soil~ there is awake~ed in them

such a love and enthusiasm for their fatherland3

i And now, travelling to Eretz Vis~ael~ and seeing the

enthusiasm of our pioneers, girls and boys& we began to under-

stand those ltalianso ••••• ~

. We are going toEretz Israel, the Jewish iand, our own land,
how can we remain calm and not join in the singing and dancing~

Next to me stands a Jew, he points with his finge~ at the

sea and says: "Can you see? there Jonah the prophet hid himself
on a ship." It was not far off Jaffa and the Jew ~ontinued:

n\/lhen you get off the ship you wi)'l see things that you lea .... ned

in "Chomesh~ (Bible)~

The ship-came to a sta.ndstill and we went through the custom;s,

cleared our .luggage and got into a small Arabic boat that "; .....
pilcted us between the reefs until it came to a standstill by
the old "Castle Garden n • We took a car and were driven off to my
sister's. The chauffeur said to us: NThis is the old town of

Jaffa. soon w~ shall. reach the new town Tel Aviv, which you
will see is a modern town~~

When we saw Tel Aviv~ the hundred percent Jewish town~ our
hearts swelled with happiress$
We drove to my sister's who lived not far from the Varkon
river. ·She has her own h(;use near the brick factory. She is

the youngest of our famil;l o \fIe had not sesn each other for

twenty years so you can magine the joy at our reunion~

She has two handsome $LnS and her husband owns two pair
of horses and carts. He transports buildi~g materials and he
is doing quite well~

On the second day we t -avaIled to Petach Tik~ah to look

up a friend from Colum~us~ where he had been the Cantor of
the Synagogue. His name s'Anshel Friedman~ but we did not
find him because he had iil)Ved to Tel Aviv, ~he're we f·ound

him on the third day~ He made U6 v~ry welcomeo asked

him if he knew where we ;ould buy land on which to plant

an Bxa~~ orange grovso ,,"Ie told us thai:. only two \"?JeekG

previously he himself h,d bought thirty dunams of land and

that the company had mOf3 for sale~ So I asked him to

3\
accompany me there and then, and inde~d we w~re soon in the affica

and had discussed the ~~=~in business.

And then "straigntaway we caught a taxi and drove off to see the
land and on our return we made the contract and , had bought

thirty dunams of land.

When I returned home with the ~Chaza~~ (Cantor) and told my wife
a.bout my purchase, she wa~~. vef'Y pleased~ And t - even'-; more so, for

I felt as if I had done a good "and nec~ssary deed, - foy the Jewish
people, and for myself at the same time. I decided that , would
plant it as soon as possible*
But in the meantime the riots broke Dut and we had to put off th€
plan for a more peaceful time~ I hope to G-d that he wi12 dede~m our
people and that I and my family and all the Jewish people will have the
opportunity of settling in our awn land a

1'7.

From Tel Aviv we travelled "to Jerusalem for Shabbath& On Shabb2th

we sent to pray at the could see Jews there from

allover the wovld.

Here comes a Jew, in a shot~'~:, coat., with a shining Russisn cap

and Russian boots. He leans his head again~t the old stone and
his lips tremble. So he stando for some minutes~ kisses the stones
and goes off~ A tall old Jew comes up wearing a ~TalitR {praying

6hawl)~ He starts by kissing the $cnes from top to bottOM and from
bottom to top and only then starts praying e And so we witnessed al
kinds of scenes o As we stood noticed from afar three Jews dress~d

in Eretz Visrael ~s typical Shahba'th dTes~,o I knew one of -theme He

used to come to our house etS a cott.ectnt for the Diskin nstitur··tiot.~

His name is Gelostein.He imm~;.;diat(~ly recognized us and invited

us to his house for lunch~

After ~~~.: lunch Gelbstein took us around to see all the old
synagogues, showing us all the e wa~3 to see and telling us a.bout

each and every synagogue~ Then he accompanied us to our hotel and

promlsed that on the morrOWt Sunday at 9 o'clock he would come ag~i~1

and would take us wherever we wanted to gOe

 · d
Promptly at 9 o'clock on Sunday he arrlv~ an.
e we
.
travelled to

Hebron to see the "Maarat Hamachpelah" and Rachel's Tomb. We

returned ~t about nine Of clock in the evening.
On.Shabbath , went to "mincha H at the synagogue of Rav Kook
G-d rest hi s soul g and I partook thet"e of "Shalosh Seudos·.

The Rabbi read the portion of the law - ~Chaie Sara w (Life of Sarah).
I had never heard it so read~ I have hea.d many "chassidish"
Rabbis reading the law but what I heard there was something quite
extraordinary. There were very many peoples round the tableQ
After the grace he came over to me, greeted me and asked who

was and from where I came. l. ~-::.~. told him that was from

America. He enquired from what town and i replied from Columbue~

He said: "t know I have been in Cleveland. And what are you doing
here?"
t told him that I had come to see Eretz Israel and that I had
already bou*ht thirty dunams of land~

He had been holding my hand in his throughout our conversation

and when he heard that i had bought land p he grasped me with

his other hand and wished me luck and was most delightede May the
blessings only come true
After "Maariv" t left for my hetel
a whole week in Jerusalem. On the second Saturday we were in Tel Aviv \,\\ t

and spent i t with my sister and with many Trachenbroders - only young
people. Theywere all skilled tradespeople, bricklayers, cabinet
makerS1 electricians~ Many already owned their own homes and all were
happy that they had come to Eretz "Israel. Many sent money to their
families in Trachenbrod$ A cousin of mine Meir David Entwarg is
He has his own workshop with four employees Q

He told me that in h order t~ carry out all the nrders he had

ordered a machine from England costing 500 dollars~ He had his own
wooden house on the Hadar Hacarmel as well as a cow And a calf
which pastured on the Carmel and were driven home at ri1ght by his
wife--- Now he was going to build a three story building= The

33
bank was lending him money and the neighbours were advancing
him money in anticipation of his eventually renting them flals.
His brothe~$ Vaakov-Elia~ htld also bought. several building plols

He is also a carpente~, so a~l the ex~Trachenbroders were working

themselves up~ I could ment on them all by name~

Our Trachenbrod brothers n Eretz Israel came to me with the

following proposition: That we ex-Trachenbrod folk in America
should bring over as many of the young Trachenbrod people as pess ble
to Eretz Isrcvsl and that we :::.hould buy land on which our Trachenb~'od

brothers could be settled.

Today the proposition CJuld not ~e executed.

You wi 1 r,!,member my dea.,t townfol the plan that I suggested'::ome

years ago, that associations be set up in each A~erican town WhOS8

pyrpo~~e it woc~~ld be to hE:lp.HJr friends in TrachanbFod~

You accopt~d my sugge5tio~ and that of Meir Kaller and formed

associations 1hat did a grea" deal for our Trachenbrod brothers
Amd today we must turn ou~ work int other channel&~ We must
collect a large sum of money and buy Jand in Eretz Israal in the
name of our forefathers. or lant a forest that their names be
immortalized4 And we can do this very easilyo
And someth ng t·ncre~· We ~LolJld CO}, 'teet mater ial abotJ our

Trachenbrod [-l.nd should 1 rh a book haY~ written Dr what

mainly ahout ~he seco~d gene~ationf lEt nthers write about the i st
and stil
\;\'!e shQuld (j~"ganize a cong;'eEis or a L. ex-TrachT'~r;brodes;-s in Amcr ca

and the delegcltes $hould c()mC, ~lith pl~,ns and pTop.os.als Ci.S to how

the book shou d be pub,! shed Such a book would 5811 w 11 and we could
 My dear friends! When you read my "lines you should get

together. each in his town, and write me at once what yo~r opinion is of

my propasal""
let us be the first& Let us set an example to other brother
townsfolk. as we did with our ex-Trachenbrodassociations~ in which

we ~-.'-:::- wer(~ the first~ Folluwingour example other associations

of such places as lutzk~ Kalk~ Rojshiuht, Kovla and Rovno.

I left Eretz Israel with my wife in a happy and exalted mOQd,
not as on leaving Polande had no inclination to l~ave the
lovely and dear country~ Only my business affairs prevented U$

from staying longer. Ny wife~ who is not completely well, felt

healthy ~nd satisfied in Eretz israel and I too felt likewise. And
we pray to G-d that He should bring us back to Eretz Israel to live
out our yearG0
On the ship~ on our return journ~y to America, there were also
travelling two Arabic families who live in America and had been viaiting
their relatives in Ereiz israel. \'"e got into a conversation witb

them. One told us that he would never again visit Eretz Imrael·~

in spite of the fact that his parent.-E were the('e~ I e:.sked him the

reason. He told me that he id not ~ant to become ill there 1 He

said he had been there tha whole-tim0 and he showed me that the
whole of his body was coyere~ with scres that he contracted
in "Palestine*@ The second ~lso said that hewauld not visit there

agai.~,:~ making another" excus~"".,

1 said to my wife: ~e h~ve no mother or father in Eretz Israel

a mi facie? t~The hand of God·"'?

MY wife replied:
israel aga To this If only it would come ~o