The "Rich" Jews

Who is rich?  What is the actual meaning of "being really rich?"

In Ecclesiastes there is a clear explanation – "He who is pleased with his ‘lot’ is the richest."

If this could be said about the Jews in our shtetel, they would all be considered rich.  As I recall, nobody ever complained about being poor. 

"It could be worse" was their favorite expression.

In an oppressive condition, where all energy went into the pursuit of having enough to eat today, nobody could save up enough funds to last for their tomorrows.

Yet there was a great deal of sharing, of active charity giving, as somehow nobody in our shtetel starved from lack of food.

Oh yes, we the inhabitants of Shebreshin had heard about extremely wealthy Jews, especially the Baron Rothschild, who reportedly lived someplace in Europe and had palaces and owned a huge amount of property.  He was said to be so rich that he bought vast land holdings in America and then brought out Jews from Europe to the United Sates, giving each family a home, 50 acres of fertile land, horses and cows, and enough money to be independent.

Perhaps someday this Baron would also come to our town and give us something, but in the meantime, we had more pressing things to do.  We must squeeze out an income, then raise and educate our children – and somehow  we managed.

Yet, there were three rich families in this small hamlet.  Being rich first meant owning a grand house.

A few houses away from our simple home was a two story, large stone and brick house, belonging to the Shapiros.  They were a large family, and they occupied more than half of the dwelling area of their structure.  The other half of the dwelling portion was the residence of their widowed sister.  She had three grown children, including an elderly maid.  No one in this half ever worked, or seemingly had any income.   This was Chaim Shapiro’s burden.  He was the only provider for the entire group of his family and relatives.

He rented out part of the first floor of this house as a beer hall.  In addition, he had two, sometimes three stallions that were used for stud service to the mares belonging to wealthy gentiles.

His horses were kept in a large stable located a short distance from the Shapiro home.  These huge animals were treated with considerable respect.  They never pulled wagons, they were fed with grain, and they were taken out daily to the large empty fields near the river where they could run free.

As young children we occasionally watched the mating ritual with roars and screams.  We learned the facts of life very early.  No one had to explain the action to us.

The fees for the stud service, along with the beer hall rental, were the only income that this "rich family" had.  I am sure the totals were not large, but we considered the Shapiros to be "rich."

The Kupers

Another family, the Kupers, was also considered to be rich because they too had a large two-story home.  This was in another part of our town.  I remember this place well because I had a friend living upstairs in a rented back room.  I had to use the interior steps (shtetel  houses did not have exterior steps to upper stories as a matter of safeguarding the residents against intruders) to visit my friend.  At night there was never a light, nor any kind of illumination there, and people using these stairs had to do so by touch.  I fell down them once and hurt my elbow.  Thereafter I carried some form of lantern whenever I went visiting there.  It wasn’t that Mr. Kuper was stingy by nature – he just could not afford burning any sort of fuel for the illumination of these steps.

This man, Kuper, lent money to the small farmers to buy seeds for their planting.  This was on a percentage bases.  If it was a good year, and a good harvest, the peasants were able to pay back the agreed upon percentage in grain.  If it was a bad year, or the peasants refused to pay, Kuper lost his investment.

His yearly income was very precarious, and yet he too was considered to be a "Rich Jew."

Mordechai Fleisher

But there was one truly rich man in our shtetel.  There was no doubt about it.  His name was Mordechai Fleisher.  I use his real name as he was very influential in our shtetel, and very much respected by all our inhabitants.  He was the provider, the giver, and the biggest employer in the shtetel.  And besides, at the age of twelve I was in love with one of his granddaughters, Faige.  Although she was estranged from this huge family, she was still acknowledged as his grandchild.  His was the largest, grandest home in our village.

It was on the main street, a three story, ornate dwelling with balconies, and a formal entrance with marble steps. The structure was large enough to also include a pharmacy in one corner.  The complex included a huge courtyard with a few smaller homes, barns, and even a private prayer house. This prayer house was not used solely by the family, but was also open to all the Jewish neighbors that came to pray each day.

How did he acquire such a grand home? How did he become rich?

It started when he was still very young.  He was better educated than most of the other Jewish boys.  He also knew several languages, and used them effectively.

There was a great Polish patriot by the name of Graf Zamoiski who was a member of the royal family.  This gentleman had enormous land holdings and built a complete town named after himself; Zamosci.  He needed a man to keep the peasants in check, and to collect the taxes that were due to him and to the state.  He hired this eager young man who proved to be loyal, smart, hard working, and full of creative ideas.

Young Fleisher was ambitions, recently married, and a new father of a little girl.  He gave the Polish nobleman fresh ideas on how to improve both his income, and the lives of his charges, by putting some of his large tracts of fertile land to better use than they had been to date.

He suggested that a sugar factory was needed in that part of Poland.  He knew the land would be good for the production of sugar beets.  It didn’t take much to produce sugar, a commodity that was always in short supply.  They could employ many people and earn a great deal of money.  Zamoiski became convinced, and gave Mordechai  Fleisher a "blank check" order to proceed.

Mordechai went to Italy and France in order to learn how they produced the sweet products.  He hired experienced workers, architects, and builders.  He wanted the sugar factory to be a show place – something for the Zamoiski family to be proud of.  He also bought and shipped in various types of building materials not previously seen, nor even known about in our shtetel.

The factory went up quickly.  The peasants planted the sugar beets.  In the fall of that first year I, while still a child, watched endless lines of fully loaded horse-drawn wagons delivering the beets to the factory that was situated just a few miles outside the town.

It was a highly successful enterprise.  Everyone gained.  My grandpa took me there a few times.  We came home with huge cone shaped (about 18" high) bricks of sugar.  To use it, one broke off pieces by hitting it with a hammer and chisel.

Fleisher’s wife soon died, and he immediately married a young rich girl from Warsaw.  They started to build their own massive home with left over materials from the building of the sugar factory.

His wife gave him a new child every year – all girls.

Once he invited the Graf Zamoiski to visit him in his home, which now featured unheard of luxuries like an indoor well with a pump in the kitchen.  Amazingly, on the roof was a huge container full of water and a pipe into his bathroom where there was a "crapper" (named for the Englishman inventor); a sit down toilet.  When a chain was pulled, the pressure from the water on the roof released a flow that carried the waste down to the cellar, where still another pipe carried it out to the river.

Zamoiski came, was impressed, but noticed that this home was constructed of the exact same imported building materials as his beloved factory.

Their friendship cooled, and Fleisher was now on his own.  He built a lumber mill near the river.  Trees were brought in and cut into boards and other building materials.  The waste lumber was burned to create steam that made all the machinery work.

This lumber mill gave many people good paying jobs.

As his daughters grew up he married them off to educated good men  - men that became allies of this truly rich man.

Oh, the last child was a boy, and he followed in his father’s footsteps - unique and benevolent.

Not only the poorer Jews, but also the needy non-Jews, and even the Catholic Church were given large yearly stipends by Mordechai Fleisher.  He stipulated that the funds granted to the Church were to be used for the benefit of the poor gentiles who shared our village.

Most of his help was given anonymously, as Fleisher detested praise and thanks.  He just shared his bounty.

There was little envy or jealousy directed towards the Fleishers by the inhabitants of our little shtetel.  The Fleishers were genuinely liked and respected. 

Then in 1939 the Nazis bombed our town, destroying the Fleisher home and their lumber factory.  The bombing killed many people, including the Fleishers' son and daughters.

We should remember and honor this fine family, and all the other innocent people killed by an insane "superior order."