Rabonim, Rabbis, Judges and the 
End of the Shtetel

There was a great difference in the shtetel between the Rabonim, Roven, and Rabbis.  Our little town had one Rov, no Rabbi, but a great Dayen (judge), and one secular Rabin who was not accepted at all by the people of our shtetel, but who nevertheless received a large yearly stipend.

The secular Rabin, who was called Kajeny, was imposed onto the community.  He was the only official go-between the Jews and the authorities.  He lived in a big house, didn’t keep kosher, nor did he observe the Sabbath. The Jews of our small town hated him.  It was paradoxical that he, and his son, the village's only dentist, were among the first Jews to be killed by the Nazis.

When the very old Rov died (we called him our Rabbi), the leaders of the Jewish community started a search for a replacement.

He, the Rov, was our leader; the representative of all the Jews in the shtetel.  His words were considered to have the greatest authority.  He was not the head of any  shul (house of prayer); they each had their own chairmen.  The Rov was the final  arbitrator in all discussions, the chief advisor, the ultimate judge concerning  anything that had to be kosher, the family counselor, and the granter of divorce, if this was absolutely necessary.

The population of the shtetel of my childhood was growing, and a new wind of modernization began to be felt.  So when it came to find a replacement, the community chose a younger man, a person to whom the younger generation could relate, a man of considerable culture, and one who could speak a number of  languages.

This man was quickly accepted, and liked, by most of the people in my township.  He was also a great help to me, personally, when it came time for us to prepare for our journey to America.

He and his family lived in a nice home provided by the Jewish community, and his living expenses were paid promptly.

If a serious decision had to be made in situations where two or more people were trying to sue each other, then the Rov called in the Dayen. He was a respected, unattached man, who always sat alone in his chambers that were filled with holy books.  He read, studied, and wrote commentaries about the Talmud, Torah, and  the other sanctified holy writings.

No one paid him.  I could never understand how he could live, as the only income he had was provided by his wife who had a fruit stand in the market place.

The Rabbis (Rebbes) were of a different level.  They were considered to be the real holy men.  Their purity was never questioned, and they had worldwide followers.  So when one lived in Brisk, his followers were called the Brisker Chassidim.  So it was with the Gerer, the Lubanitcher, and dozens of others.

The Chassidim were a very close knit, fanatical group.  Each was a devout follower of his particular leader - the one who would surely bring on the arrival of the messiah.  To them, their Rebbe was the only holy one; all others were inferior. 

I. L. Peretz described in one of his stories how a certain Chassid, who was extremely poor, and who had many daughters to marry off, journeyed very far to visit a rich man.  He arrives, makes himself comfortable, and demands a large sum of money.  "The Rabbi would like this," he announces, and the rich, but normally stingy man helps him with a big donation. 

The impoverished fellow accepts this with a shrug.  After all, what are Chassidic followers for? "The Rebbe will bless."

My grandfather, who did not believe in the Chassidic movement (what he called the hocus-pocus movement), nevertheless took me along on one of his trips to Galicia on a  Friday night.  Standing in the back of a very large room in the shtetel of Ger, we observed the goings on of the holy man and his followers.

There was a very long table.  The Ger Rabbi was at the head of it.  Hundreds of Chassidim anxiously watched every movement that he made.  A meal was served (by men only, of course), but the Rabbi hardly touched the food.  My Zaida  whispered in my ear,

"He must have eaten before; in his own room…a big meal."

The Rabbi broke off some of the white bread, broke it again into small pieces, and the Chassidim picked up even the smallest scraps and devoured them ecstatically.

The Rabbi started to talk, very slowly and quietly, just a few words of wisdom.  It was repeated by the assembly, and then someone started to sing.  It was picked up by all - a melody that I had never heard before, but it was haunting.  I was able to remember it for a very long time.  Then they started to dance.  My grandfather whispered, "meshugge" (crazy people).  This was the only time I saw how followers so raptly worship a leader.

I could never be a blind follower.  Some years later, I told the new young Rov in my shtetel about the Chassidim’s behavior.  He assured me that they are serious in worshiping through sounds and dances.  They feel it brings them closer to God; worshiping with every muscle and bone.

The reason that I went to see the Rov was to help me with my journey.  I needed to obtain birth certificates for my brother and sister.  During the war, a fire had destroyed all the evidence to prove that they even existed.  The Polish government position was: 

"No birth certificate, no passports."

The Rov devised a way to establish dates for their birth.  We invented the dates (like: "four days after Passover"), and he gave me  formal certificates of their birthdays.  It was accepted by the authorities, and the passports were granted.

A few years after we left Poland, the country was invaded by the German wehrmacht.  Our shtetel was first in the Russian zone, and it soon became overrun by Nazis.  The "action" against the Jews started.

People were picked up and sent to labor camps, never to return, or even be heard of again.  Jews from nearby villages trekked into our shtetel, and it became very crowded.  Food and shelter were scarce.  More and more Jews disappeared.  Most were shot at the outskirts of the village, where the wood mill stood.

The old synagogue was set on fire, and, of course, the Jews were blamed for the destruction of their own house of worship.

Finally the supply of food was terminated.  The entire remaining Jewish population was flushed out from their homes and hiding places.  They were all brought to the old cemetery and forced to dig a big, deep trench (which was to become their grave). 

All the non-Jewish population was gathered at the cemetery to watch what happens to people that the Germans don’t need or want.

Everyone was standing near the trench.  An army unit of mostly young soldiers holding automatic weapons was gathering nearby.  The screams, the begging, the cursing, and the cries filled the air.

Our neighbor, Dr. Talanda, was a witness to this horrible spectacle, and later wrote us a letter describing the ordeal. (We have sent this letter to the Yad Museum in Jerusalem.)

An order was given to undress, and to put the clothes in neat piles. This order was obeyed with great shame; the tortured, abused, poor bodies exposed to the glaring eyes. The pleas, tears, and screams continued.  Nobody in the Jewish group looked at each other; their eyes were turned towards the ground, or to the heavens.

The Rov, asked the commander for permission to address his flock.  It was granted.

The Rov spoke softly, explaining that there was no way that the lives of the Jews would be spared.  He said that these were to be their last few minutes on earth, and that they were the most innocent of mankind.

"Why God is doing this to us, I don’t know, but soon we will be in his presence and we can ask Him for an explanation.  We are dying pure; in the name of the Creator.  So please don’t give the people with the machine guns any more pleasure by begging for your lives.  Let us go out with dignity.  And to the Germans I say: WE CURSE YOU!  Our blood will be on your hands, in your hearts, and in your brains.  For ten generations you will feel the guilt, the bestiality of your insane deeds.  We will not forgive, nor will we ever forget.  Damn you all.  And now, lets all say together the ‘Vide’, the prayer for those who will soon be dead."

Before they could finish praying, the order was given to start firing.  All the soldiers smiled while they pulled the triggers on their killing machines.

The Jews; men, women, children, began falling into the pit, like pins in a game.

The firing, the smoke, the screams, the curses, the stench of exploding stomachs and bowels filled the air.

And one woman holding her 6-month-old baby (this was my Aunt Zipora Beglaijbter, wife of Meir) held her baby above her head, and screamed to the commanding officer:

"You will not kill my baby," 

and tossing the child herself into the pit, she leapt towards the grave.  Of course the bullets got them in mid air.

The order was given to the Polacks to fill in the mass grave with the loose excavated earth.  They obeyed, all the time eyeing the bundles of discarded clothes.  Then came the order to pick up the bundles and return to the now empty shtetel and claim for themselves the homes and belongings left by the Jews.

There was a big rush, and many fights broke out for the possession of the better and bigger homes.

The army soon restored order by shooting at the greedy Poles, killing dozens at the entrances of these homes.

Dr. Talanda's  letter continues; telling how the very ground where the grave was located in the Jewish cemetery, was shaking and moving, and that the ravine in front of the grave oozed blood and other human materials for days.

All became quiet and orderly.  The shtetel became "Yuden Rain" – free of Jews. Swastikas fluttered from all the houses.  Shebreshin ceased to exist.

Neat and orderly.

Deutchland,  Deutchland,

Deutchland uber ales

Uber ales.

DAMN

YOU

TO

HELL

YOU

BASTARDS

.

It would take more than 71,428 panels like those above to provide a Star of David for each of the 6,000,000 Jews murdered by the Nazis of Germany.  At a height of 4 inches per panel, this scroll would be over 23,809 feet in length, or approximately 4.5 miles end to end.

At a scan rate of about  2 seconds per panel, it would take approximately 10 hours  just to fully view the scroll.