On both sides of the Warsaw-Moscow road in
the Brisk-Baranovich region exists the town of Kartuz-Bereza. To the north
flows the Yasolda River whose waters pour into the Pina River and together with
the Propto, Bug and Visla Rivers form the water system that leads to the Baltic
sea.
The double name of the town of Kartuz-Bereza is
derived from the following two identifiers:
1. In the area of the town there are many birch (bereza) trees.
The town was full of mud and from the month of Tishrei (September
timeframe) until Shavuot (April/May time frame), one could not walk through its
streets without boots. There were no sidewalks and the market square was
a stinking swamp full of water. Only at the beginning of the 20th century
did they begin to pave some streets and to install wooden sidewalks. The
center of the town was on both sides of the main street and it extended for
about two kilometers and was known as "the road". On the west side
near the market square the Jews lived crowded together. On the east side
lived the gentiles. Near their houses were spread gardens and fields
which were worked by farmers. Close to 6,000 lived in the town, about
half of them Jews. The Jews' sources of income were the "road"
and the Yasolda River. Before the railroad tracks were laid, the traffic
between Warsaw and Moscow passed through the street which connected West and
East. It was here that caravans of merchandise and mail passed, and it
was here that there were horse-changing stations. This was a source of
income to horse traders, horse breeders, and wagon owners. Blacksmiths,
carriage makers, carpenters and metalworkers made a living around the railroad
stations. Jews operated warehouses filled with grain and hay. There were also
taverns, restaurants and inns for travelers. The Yasolda River was the
secondary means of transportation. The area was full of
forests. In the winter the peasants would haul out the trees they had cut
down in summer and bring them to the riverbanks. With the melting of the
snows, they would tie the trees on rafts and float them downriver in the
direction of Danzig. The wood trade was entirely in the hands of
Jews.
All the houses in the town, except one, were built of wood. The
roofs were made of straw. The houses were small and not covered with lime
either inside or outside. There were houses that had no floors. In
the center of the house stood the oven. Along the walls were long benches
for sitting during the day and for itinerant peasants to sleep on at night.
That's how things were in the distant past. Over time things changed and the
town took on new dimensions with the installment of railroad tracks for the
Warsaw-Moscow line; this caused the town to develop. By the way, there is
a typical Jewish story about that. When they were about to build the
railroad station in Bereza, there was a commotion in the town. The
leaders of the community strongly opposed and wanted to cancel the project
because the passing of the trains on Saturday afternoon would disturb the
Sabbath rest. The government took the Jewish inhabitants' opposition into
account, and built the railroad station in Bluden, 5 kilometers from
Bereza. There was another reason as well for their opposition. The
Jews were fearful that the proximity of the railroad station would disturb
their source of income on "the road" and that the carriage owners and
other craftspeople would lose their income.
The truth is that the railroad "stole" all the movement of
merchandise and passengers from the road. The first victims were the
carriage owners, horse station owners, the blacksmiths and the hay
merchants. However, the laying of the tracks brought additional sources
of income. The menial jobs were done by the peasants. The planning,
execution, supervision and supply of building materials and the organization of
the entire work was done by Jews. There developed a new type of
contractor ("padriatchikes").
In Bereza there were big and small contractors of all kinds. Some
received big job orders from the government for the laying of the railroad
tracks over vast territories throughout the country. An example of this was Mr.
Yisrael Greenberg who was a learned man in religion (talmid chacham) and a
Zionist. He competed with big contractors from St. Petersburg and wrested
various contracts from them. In his house in Bereza he ran a big office and
from there his network spread far and wide, all the way to the Caucasus and
Siberia. There were smaller contractors ("ratchikes"). The big
ones received vast territories of hundreds of kilometers and divided them among
smaller contractors. They were great in number. The laying of the
tracks occupied diverse craftspeople. The workers needed food and
clothing, which were supplied to them by Jewish merchants and artisans:
shoemakers, tailors, hatmakers and others. Thus, the curse of the
railroad track turned into a blessing.
Another source of income appeared in the town - the commission agents.
The railroad network brought together different settlements and enabled
merchandise to pass between Germany and Russia. Young men from Bereza
would setup offices in Warsaw, Lodz, Minsk and other large cities. They
would get in touch with merchants and manufacturers and started trading to buy
and sell throughout all of Russia. Some of them were expediters, and
controlled a large share of the export trade with other countries. They
lived outside Bereza but their families lived in the town. They
themselves would come home for the holidays.
Suddenly, most of the population was affected by the mass movement.
Immigration to Argentina and the United States started too. There were Jew who
set up immigration offices in their home. They would send whole families or the
head of the household across the ocean. Many families were supported from the
money that their sons or husbands sent back home.
Also, the big military camps which the Russian government built at the
end of the 19th century served as a source of income for Jews. The
government considered that because of its closeness to the big fort in Brisk,
Bereza represented an important strategic point, and they built many military
camps close to the town. Many Jews worked in the building of these camps,
supplying construction material and hiring workers and craftspeople.
After the camps were built, Jewish contractors were supplying food and other
necessities to the army, and making a comfortable living from it.
One day a week was “market day”. There was one day a month (always the
same day) set aside as "fair day." The market and the fair brought
merchants and craftspeople to the town from far and near. The wood
industry grew. Sawmills, steam mills and brick ovens were built.
Bereza distinguished itself especially in the fish trade. They would send
fish and meat to Warsaw and to Lodz. All these events changed the face of
the town. Bigger houses were built in the Jewish quarter of the
town. The walls were covered with lime and plaster both inside and
outside. The straw roofs disappeared and in their stead were tile or tin
roofs. Porches and fences were built, and orchards and gardens were kept. Brick
houses started to appear. The stores were cleaned and improved and
contained a large assortment of merchandise and staples. The inside of the
houses also changed. In every house flooring was put in. The walls
were covered with wallpaper. The windows and doors were painted.
Instead of the long benches, furniture appeared: tables, sofas ("Vienna
chairs"), brass beds with mattresses. In many houses they used gas
lamps. Curtains adorned the windows; tablecloths covered the
tables. In many houses they put pictures on the walls. There was
even a kind of competition— who would make his house more beautiful with nice
utensils and dishes.
The town took on a new face during the holidays when all the contractors
and commission agents would arrive home to their families. Each one would
show off innovations brought with him from the big city. There were
people who wore suits made from high quality English fabric. They wore
shiny patent leather shoes and rings with diamonds on their fingers. After
the holidays the townsmen would disperse and the town would return to the
grayness and monotony of its weekday life.
Until the immigration years, Bereza maintained its ideal life in
accordance with the generations-long customary Jewish traditions. The
Learning Houses (Batei Midrash) were filled with people praying, and there
were study groups of: Talmud, Mishnah, Ein Yaakov (commentaries on
Talmud), Hefetz Chaim (great rabbinical work) where Judaism was being taught in
the evenings. The young studied in cheders and yeshivas. For many
years, Bereza was proud of its famous rabbis such as: Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan
Spector, the famous rabbi of Kovno; Rabbi Eliyahu Klatzkin, who moved to Lublin
and ended his life in Jerusalem. His son, the noted author and
researcher, Dr. Yacov Klatzkin was born in Bereza. But with the immigration
across the sea, the ideal situation ended and new winds and new songs reached
the shtetl that had been frozen by it's guardians.
Friction began to gnaw at the small community. On the south side of
" the road" lived the people of means: builders, forest merchants,
owners of land and assets, and for that reason it was called the "street
of the rich." On the north side and in the market square lived the poor
folk: small merchants, wagoners, and artisans. And disputes and
disagreements began between the two "classes." The dispute erupted,
as is customary in Jewish communities, around the issue of the rabbinate.
With the departure of Rabbi Eliahu Klatzkin from town, he offered the post to a
relative of his. The rich did not agree and demanded to bring in Rabbi
Oshervich, who served as rabbi in the neighboring town of Seltz.
Every rabbi had adherents in the synagogue where he was recognized, and
the inhabitants of the city were divided into two fanatical camps, fighting
each other, being disrespectful to the Torah. In addition to the two
rabbis, there was a rabbi on behalf of the government ("Kaziner
Rabbin") who managed the Jewish birth, marriage and death records.
This rabbi received a government salary while the other two rabbis supported
themselves by selling yeast. Each one sought to improve his sales and did
public relations not only with the Jews but also with the gentiles; thus, the
gentiles also got involved in the Jews' dispute. Since the income from yeast
was insufficient for the rabbis, they were also given the job of selling Yom
Kippur candles. But the candles could not lighten the darkness of their
poverty, and the rabbis' families literally starved for bread. Therefore,
it was decided to add on a weekly salary ("wocher"). Righteous
women would collect donations for the rabbi. Naturally, each side sought
to help its own rabbi. These appeals for donations deepened the dispute
which even reached the bathhouse and the mikvah. And when the old mikvah
building collapsed, each side built it's own bathhouse and mikvah.
Until the First World War, there were six houses of study in Bereza: the
old study house, the new study house (also known as the "Psalms
society"), the study house of the artisans, and the shtebel of the Kobrin
and the Slonim Chassidim. All of these were in the synagogue courtyard
(Shulhoyf). It was here where the old synagogue had stood (Kalte shul)
which had burned down. There were another two other study houses ; the
Burial Society study house and the study house of the rich.
Chassidism was not widespread in Polesia. In Bereza there were
some minyans (prayer groups) of the Slonim and Kobrin Chassidim. The
Kobrin Chassidim were the very poorest, and they supported Rabbi
Klatzkin. In contrast, the Slonim Chassidim followed Rabbi
Osherovich. However, the Chassidim lived amongst themselves in
peace. The melodies of the Polsia Chassidim were sad and monotonic, in
contrast to the melodies of the Polish Chassidim. There was a Chassidic saying
that went as follows: from the Biblical phrase, 'at the discovery, we were
quaking', the Polish Chassidim kept the 'discovery', and left the 'shaking' to
the Polsia Chassidim. It was difficult to distinguish between
Ecclesiastes (sad) and Hayom Teamtzenu (a festive song).
The Kobrin Chassidim would pray with great excitement. Another
difference between the Polesia and the Polish Chassidim was that in Poland the
Chassidim would travel to the "Rebbi" , while in Polsia the
"Rebbi" would come to his Chassidim. Most of the inhabitants
were Mitnagdim (opposite of Chasidim) and would deride the Hassidim and
would call them "Sachidim." The Slonim Chassidim were "Lovers of Zion" and
maintained contacts with Kollels (religion study houses) in the four
communities: Jerusalem, Tiberius, Sefad and Hebron. A Chassid from Bereza
who made "aliya" (emigrated to the land of Israel) would return
regularly to visit the shtetl of his birth as an emissary of the Kollels and would
bring with him some of the spirit of Israel. The Chassidim looked unfavorably
upon the "Zionists" who started their activities in the late 19th
century.
A representative from Bereza by the name of Aritchik participated in the
First Zionist Congress. The first activists were both secularly educated
and former yeshiva students who had studied Torah in their youth. These
people awakened in the youth a love for Tanach (scripture), the Hebrew language
and its literature. The foremost among them was Baruch-Zishe Simonovich,
an educated person who knew Hebrew and wrote a grammar book. He spent his
later years in Eretz Israel where he served as the principal of the
"Mizrachi "school . The other activist was Isaac
Molodovsky, father of the well-known writer Kadia Molodovsky. He
raised a whole generation of Hebrew speakers. A special citation was
given to Mr. Shlomo Ganz, who founded the first Hebrew school in Bereza, where
he taught Hebrew in Hebrew.
The first chairman of the Zionist council was Mr. Shlomo Gershenhorn, a Torah
student versed in the Talmudic law and ordained as a rabbi. As a
dedicated Zionist activist, he worked zealously and honestly not only in Bereza
but in the entire area. The Zionist movement united within it the feuding
camps of both rabbis and included various strata of society, and sent
"olim" (immigrants) to Eretz Israel. The first
"chaluzzim" (pioneers) were the families of Eliovich, Berkovich and
others, who were among the founders of the settlement Yavniel in the lower
Galilee. Others settled in Jerusalem.
In the early twentieth century a doctor, his wife, a gynecologist and a
midwife, came to Bereza. Before they arrived, the Jews of Bereza had
managed without doctors and without midwives. Reb Yacov — Yosl, "the
Doctor," was a specialist of all the diseases in the world and even
maintained in his home a pharmacy and prepared the medications himself.
The Jews and the peasants relied on him. Gandzs, the Old Man, would
extract teeth by means of a key, and there were many women who served as
midwives. However, the new young doctor, DR. Schwartz, his wife, the
gynecologist and the midwife brought with them not only modern medicine but
also the revolution, which shook up the tsarist regime throughout Russia.
The youth clung to the three medical people and would go after them to the
forest and hold their secret meetings; the doctor and his wife attracted many
young people and brought them into the secret revolt against the tsar. A
short time later a student with a great shock of hair and a black shirt showed
up in the town and would give lectures about Russian literature. The
young men began to dress like him and eagerly drank up his words. Later
rumors spread that the student was no other than Maxim Litvinov, whose origins
were in Bialystok and whose real name was Volach. He later served as the Soviet Union's foreign minister. The
town was in an uproar. Detectives of the Secret Police began to follow
many people and hold surprise searches. The students would disappear from
time to time and then reappear. Even Yeshiva students were pulled along
by this current, and many Zionists exchanged Zion for Mother Russia.
Young Jewish men would break into the homes of rich Jews and demand "a
contribution" for the revolution while holding pistols in their hands.
During the First World War, battles were waged in Bereza, which was on
the main Warsaw-Moscow road. The town became isolated from the surrounding
area and the villages. Starvation began to reign in the town. The
German, Austrian and Hungarian conquerors would loot all the property they
found in the houses and stores. People’s efforts were focused on one
thing: to find a loaf of bread or potatoes so as not to die of starvation.
After the front moved eastward, the full extent of the destruction was
revealed. Many houses were burned and damaged. Properties were
robbed. Bridges were blown up. Regimes changed. Today,
Germans and tomorrow, Austrians, and then it repeated itself. The Jews
were forced to adapt to the new reality. The Yiddish language served the
Jews as a means of getting closer to the Germans. They began to try to
receive permits to go out to other villages and towns in order to obtain
food. The conquering authorities granted the permits and the town began
to return to more or less "normal" conditions. Houses were
built and repaired. Commerce was revived. The Joint Distribution
Committee (JDC) began sending aid, and relatives from overseas helped, and it
was as if life had returned to its regular course.
But the days of peace did not last. The German surrender, the
Brisk pact between the Soviet Union and Germany, the Communist revolution, the
revival of the state of Poland. All these things destabilized the foundations
of Jewish existence. The Polish-Russian war again cast the town into the
horrors of war. The two combating sides, the Poles and the Russians,
would rob anew and levy contributions on the inhabitants. The soldiers
were hungry and wore rags, and pilfered anything they could get their hands
on. They carried out meticulous searches. The Polish soldiers, who
were particularly cruel, were known by the names "General Heller's
soldiers ("the Hellerites") or "the Posnanians."
The war ended with the victory of the Poles. Bereza turned into a
Polish town. The Jews again began to mediate between the city and the village
and to rebuild from the ruins of the war years. The JDC continued it's
aid and life began to return to normal. An "aid committee" was
founded with the participation of the rabbis, but its life blood was provided
by people from the Bund and the left. The rabbis and the ultra-Orthodox
contented themselves with re-opening the Talmud Torah, the ritual bath (mikveh)
and renewing the religious schools. But all other matters were decided by
the leftists. They turned "the bathhouse of the
rich" into a school in which Yiddish was the language of instruction,
where not only studies were pursued, but also food and clothing for children
were supplied.
In 1922 Zionist activists returned from Russia and began Zionist and
Hebrew activities. They organized many young people within the framework
of the Zionist movement, opened night classes for Hebrew and founded a Hebrew
school based on the "Tarbut" organization. The Tarbut
Center from Warsaw sent teachers and a Hebrew kindergarten was opened.
Not only that, but the Zionist activists purchased a lot and erected on it a
building for a Hebrew school. Young people and adults began to emigrate to
Israel and take part in building the country, both materially and spiritually.