World committee

THE YEARS PRECEEDING WORLD WAR I 1900-1914
The first 14 years of the 20th century were a period of continuous social and cultural progress in the life of Plotzk Jews. The unsuccessful revolution of 1905 caused some political indifference, but on the other hand a great many social energies found their expression through legal channels. The Zionist and Socialist movements gained followers in Plotzk. Cultural institutions were being established. The number of Jews in Plotzk increased, both as a result of curtailed overseas emigration-quotas and of a mass-exit of Jews from small townships. The "Hovevei-Zion" movement (which preceded the organized Zionist movement) had a branch in Plotzk since 1891. The "Bund" (So­cialist Jewish Workers' movement) and "Poalei Zion" (Zionist-Socialist movement) also had branches in town. Among the leaders of the Polish Socialist Party (known as P.P.S.) there were some Jews who played an important part (Josef Kwiatek and Esther Golda Strozewska) in its activities.
The political events of 1905 were accompanied by clashes between striking workers and policemen and some Jews took an active part in these events.
After the repressions following the revolt of 1905 and the strengthening of reactionary political circles, the younger Jewish generation of Plotzk began to show an increased interest in cultural activities.
The famous "Hazamir" association was founded in 1906. It held public lectures and maintained a theatre group. Another association, called "Tikvat Israel" (The Hope of Israel), organized literature and history courses. Jews were also active in the general cultural life, and a Jew (Ludwig Platau) was one of the founders of the local "Popular University".
A Yeshiva was founded in Plotzk a few years before the outbreak of the First World War by Rabbi Michael Rubinstein, who acted as "Rosh Yeshiva". This Talmudic College became soon very popular and many students, even from far away, flocked to this institution.
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The ancient Jewish Community of Plotzk was regarded at the beginning of the twentieth century as one of the most enlightened Jewish centers in Poland, and could be rightly proud of the famous personalities who were either born or brought up there, such as Nahum Sokolov, Itzhak Grinbaum, A. Y. Papierna, A. Kahanstam and others. Among its great rabbis were Y. L. Margolies, Z. Plotzker, A. L. Zunz, I. D. Graubart, A. L. Rakovsky, Y. M. Zlotnik. The generation who grew up in Plotzk during the last decades produced many pioneers and idealists who fought for the freedom of the Jewish people and general humanitarian aims.
ACTIVITIES OF THE PLOTZK JEWISH COMMUNITY

By Dr. Yitzhak Schipper

Page 25

The author of this article was one of the outstanding Jewish historians in Poland. Having specialized in the history of Jews in Poland in general, he wrote on the occasion of the 700-year anniversary of the Jewish community of Plotzk a substantial work on this particular subject.
The first part deals with the years 1650-1793, the Swedish invasion, the pogroms carried out by the Cossacks and the reconstruction of the community after these disasters. It further describes the anti-Jewish legislation of that period, the mutual relations between Jews and Christians in Plotzk and economic life. The period 1794-1858 is the subject of the second part. During that time the Jewish population grew in number, absorbing newcomers from the German-held western part of Poland who in time influenced the cultural life of the Jewish community considerably.
The author mentions in conclusion the names of prominent rabbis and describes their cultural and communal activities: R' Arie Lajb, R' Arie Lajb Zunc, R' Natan ben Shimon Horowic, R' Aleksander Kohen. The author also writes about some "Maskilim": Dr. Philip Lubelski and Dr. Zygmunt Perkal.

THE MINUTE-BOOK OF THE TAILORS' UNION

By Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum

Page 25
This article analyzes and describes the rules and regulations of the Tailors' Union of Plotzk. These laid down the relations between the tailors themselves, between them and their apprentices and their clients. Its purpose was to prevent unfair competition, as well as to serve as a basis for the general welfare of the Union's members.

Such "Tailors' Unions" existed in a number of Polish Jewish communities, but that of Plotzk was exceptionally well organized, devoting much of its endeavors to the social and religious welfare of its members and their families. The author compares the Statutes of the Plotzk Union with those of other similar bodies and emphasizes the liberal character of the Plotzk Union, which had a beneficial influence on labor conditions in other trade branches in Plotzk and surrounding townships.

REB MOSHE BEN ISRAEL WASSERZUG

By E. E.

Page 25
The above - according to his memoirs - served at the end of the 18th century as a "go-between" of the Jewish community in Plotzk in its relations with the authorities, and as ritual slaughterer ("Shohet"). But as a result of frictions between him and his superiors in the Kehila, he was forced to resign.

Thereafter he did not leave town, but being a man of initiative, bought a plot of land outside Plotzk, where he built an inn in 1803, the first in the town. This large-sized inn served travelers, merchants and people on official duty who came to Plotzk.
Its owner and manager, Moshe Wasserzug, distinguished himself by his great ability. When the inn was partly destroyed by fire in 1807, he rebuilt it. "In a short time I succeeded", he writes, "to build it all again, including stables for 70 horses and sheds for the carts..."
Those were the days of the great French campaign against Russia, civilian traffic stopped altogether and Moshe Wasserzug lost his livelihood. Thanks to his connections with the authorities he was granted a license to collect slaughtering fees in Plotzk and Wyszogrod, although this was not considered an honest occupation, since such license-holders were in the habit of paying the authorities a certain sum, whilst keeping the remainder. He, eventually, became rich and sued the Plotzk Jewish communal authorities for their accusations against him during the years of his service in the community.
Heinrich Loewe, the publisher of these memoirs, states that they contain authentic facts throwing light on the daily life of Polish Jews at the end of the 18th century.

AVRAHAM YAACOV PAPIERNA (1840-1919) TEACHER AND LITERARY CRITIC

By Shlomo Greenspan

page 26
The above lived in Plotzk for 45 years. He came there when he was appointed as a teacher of Jewish religion in the Russian govern­mental secondary school. Being a Russophile, he advocated adherence of the Jews to Russian culture and dissociation from Polish cultural influences, and soon became Inspector on behalf of the Russian educational authorities for all the Jewish religious schools (known by the name of "Heder") and advised the authorities on the possibilities of modernizing these institutions.

He made a name for himself as a literary critic and his essays on Hebrew literature exerted considerable influence on his contemporaries. In his essays he fought for the raising of cultural standards and against the ornate and unnatural pseudo-Biblical style employed by most of the "Haskala" Hebrew writers. He also wrote books on modern methods for teaching Hebrew and Russian.
Thanks to his activities he enjoyed great popularity in Plotzk and although the extreme religious circles regarded him with suspicion, his personality was respected by the general Jewish public and his home served as an important cultural center.
The Jewish population of Plotzk celebrated his 70th birthday in 1910.
Avraham Yaacov Papierna is considered the most illustrious of the three great Jewish literary critics of his time in Poland, who guided Hebrew literature onto new ways.

AHARON BEN MOSHE KAHANSTAM (KONSTAM)

By Eliyahu Eisenberg

page 27
This article is a tribute to the memory of Aharon ben Moshe Kahanstam (1860-1920), a Plotzk-born outstanding Hebrew pedagogue who devoted his life to the spreading of Hebrew education in several places in Poland and Russia. He was a pioneer of modern Hebrew and established courses for Hebrew teachers who later contributed a great deal to Zionism and Hebrew education.

As a young man he began to practice Law but soon decided to devote his life to education. Upon leaving his job as an assistant in an advocate's firm in Plotzk, he studied to become a teacher. When offered the directorship of a Lodz Jewish religious school, he accepted this challenge enthusiastically and wrote in his diary: "a new epoch begins in my life".
Kahanstam was soon regarded as a central figure of Hebrew education. He showed a lively interest in his pupils' social background and was very active in social work.
From Lodz he moved to Petersburg, where he spent nine years in the Jewish educational sphere. During all those years he was constantly in conflict with sponsors, administrators and other officials who had no understanding of sound educational principles. In 1907 he moved to Grodno where he founded and directed the "Pedagogical Courses of Grodno", whose influence on Hebrew education was outstanding.
Students and teachers who were privileged to study under Aharon ben Moshe Kahanstam admired his fine personality and a number of them published in Tel-Aviv in 1936 a book called: "Rishonim" (The First), dedicated to their unforgettable teacher and leader. These memories contain details about his devotion to the cause of Hebrew education, his influence on all those who came into contact with him, his struggles and zeal for progressive teaching methods, and the appreciation of the assistance he gave Jewish girls who aspired to the teaching profession from which they were barred in those years.
His last stage was the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, where he became the guardian of Hebrew education till the last minute of his life. He succeeded in ignoring the existence of the Bolsheviks who tried and finally succeeded to liquidate all national and Hebrew schools in Russia.
When he died in 1920, one of the mourners, although an opponent, stated: "With the death of Aharon ben Moshe Kahanstam the con­science of the Hebrew teacher has passed away".
"Although the venues of his influential and blessed activities were outside Plotzk", says the author of this article, "we can't publish the Plotzk Memorial Book without paying tribute to a great son of our town".

LIVES OF FAMOUS PLOTZK RABBIS

by Shlomo Greenspan

Pages 28-32

RABBI YEHUDA LEIB MARGOLIES - A PIONEER OF SCIENCE AND FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE
It is to the credit of the community of Plotzk, that its rabbinical seat was occupied during the eighties of the 18th century by an outstanding personality, who did much to tear down the spiritual walls of the ghetto, with which the Jews of that period were still surrounded. This man was Rabbi Yehuda Leib Margolies, also known as Rabbi Yehuda Perle (1747-1811 or 1818).
New winds of freedom and equality, finally culminating in the French Revolution, began to blow even in the hermetically closed world of Polish and Russian Jewry, which frowned on any secular education whatsoever. The Talmud was the sole source of knowledge, when Rabbi Y. L. Margolies took upon himself to spread the knowledge of Nature amongst the Jews, for which he was not even attacked by the most orthodox, due to the great authority which he enjoyed. Margolies was labeled by Aharon Zeitlin as an "anti-Mendelsonian enlightener", i.e. a "Maskil" who remained within the religious camp. Dr. J. Zinberg describes him in his "Literary History of the Jews" as a fighter for the ideals of enlightenment and against the forces of darkness. Dr. Joseph Klausner, as well as Ben Zion Katz in his "History of the Enlightenment of the Jews in Russia" quotes him as advocating the coexistence of secular knowledge and science with piety and the fear of God.
Rabbi Y. L. Margolies was the author of nine books, mostly dealing with Natural Sciences, Philosophy, Grammar and others. His foremost work, "Or Olam", first appeared in 1777 and saw several editions. In this book he showed himself to be a follower of the Aristotelian school of philosophy, which in his opinion is not in conflict with the Law of Moses. In his book "Tal Orot" (Pressburg, 1843), he comes out in favor of a more tolerant and liberal attitude towards the Christian nations, amongst which the Jews dwelled, and preaches higher moral and ethical standards in the relationship between the well-to-do and the poorer segments of the Jewish communities. His fearless stand in the forefront of humanitarian and social reform made him widely known, far beyond the confines of Plotzk, so that he was well remem­bered as a spiritual leader in Poland for many decades after his death in Frankfurt on the Oder in 1811 (or 1818).
RABBI ZYSZA PLOTZKER
A Monograph of an outstanding rabbi, who lived in Plotzk in the 19th century. Since 1830 the above served as rabbi of Plotzk where he was very active in establishing peaceful relations between various groups who fought for influence in the community. His house became a Torah-center, frequented by many Chassidim eager to hear his discourses on the Sacred Books.
He collected pious sayings of the Hassidic Rabbi of Przysucha, whom he revered, in a book which was published after his death. Several other books of his were published by his grandson several years before the outbreak of the Second World War.
In 1940, when the Nazis were about to convert the old Jewish cemetery of Plotzk into a garden and use the tombstones for street paving, some of his adherers went to the cemetery (103 years after his death) and transferred his remains to another place. The author adds that in spite of the long time which had elapsed since the burial of Zysza Plotzker, his bones had remained intact...
RABBI SHMUEL BEN AZRIEL
In the second half of the 18th century there served a rabbi in the community of Plotzk, whose spiritual home was the school of German rabbis. His father, Rabbi Azriel, had been rabbi of Landsberg and he himself had studied in his youth at the Yeshivoth of Amsterdam. Having lived some years in Poznan he was appointed rabbi of Kutno and later on of Plotzk, where he died in 1772.
Rabbi Shmuel published two books : "The pillars of the World" (Amude Olam), Berlin 1741, and "Samuel's Belt" (Hagurath Shmuel), Frankfurt on the Oder.
His book "Amude Olam" contains several interesting biographical notes, amongst which we find the description of a ritual-murder accusation leveled against the Jews of Poznan as a result of which two-third of the Jewish community, together with Rabbi Shmuel, had to flee from this city.
After lengthy negotiations the matter was finally brought to an end when the Chancellor of Poland forced six witnesses from the Polish aristocracy to testify to the innocence of the accused Jews of Poznan.
RABBI ARYE LEIB ZUNZ (REB LEIBEL CHARIF)
The Rabbinical chair of Plotzk was occupied during the first quarter of the 19th century by a great and well-known sage, Rabbi Arye Leib Zunz, who was appointed at the age of thirty to the seat of Rabbi Y.L. Margolies. He had already been famous in the Rabbinical world since his eighteenth year of life, when he compiled a book by the name of "Yaelat Hen".
Having served in Plotzk for a period of ten years, he remained ever after faithful to the town by giving the title "Rabbi of Plotzk" in all the 25 books written by him. He was known among the Jews as the "Plotzker Rav".
After leaving Plotzk he served the community of Praga, near Warsaw, after which time he retired in order to devote his latter years solely to the writing of books. Most of them were actually published only after he passed away in 1833, a number of them reaching several editions. Some of the greatest Polish Rabbis were pupils of Rabbi Zunz; most famous amongst them - the founder of the Chassidic Dynasty of "Ger", Rabbi Itche Meir Alter, the "Baal Hidushey Harim".
Many stories about Reb Leibele Charif made the round amongst the common people and it was widely believed that all his blessings and wishes would come true. One of these tales concerns Rabbi Avramele of Ciechanow.
RABBI ABRAHAM OF CIECHANOW, THE PLOTZKER "ILUI"
Rabbi Abraham the Zaddik of Ciechanow, one of the famous Chassidic saintly men who influenced the Jewish community of Plotzk during the first half of the 18th century, was descended from simple folk. His father, Reb Rafael Dobrzinski had sent him as a youth to study Torah in Plotzk where he very soon made a name for himself by his steady learning and thorough knowledge of the Holy Books. One of the richest men of the community, Reb Dan Landau, gave him his daughter for a wife. He remained in the house of his father-in-law, even adopted his family name until he was called to serve as Rabbi of Ciechanow, where he came under the influence of the Chassidic sect. Although he was not at all eager to act as a Rebbe, the Chassidim of his town and the surrounding area elected him as their Zaddik. Numerous tales are told of his wisdom and erudition. (See Yitzhak Rafael - "History of Chassidism", Tel-Aviv 1946).
After his death in 1875 several of his books such as "Abraham's Virtues" were printed. The popular image of the Rabbi motivated his great-grandson Zysche Landau, a poet who was born in Plotzk, to dedicate one of his poems to the memory of that great man, 40 years after he had passed away.
RABBI YISSACHAR DOV GRAUBART - N. SOKOLOV'S RABBI
Rabbi Y. D. Graubart was born in 1842, at Shrensk, where he studied at the local Yeshivah and from where he was called to serve as Rabbi of Plotzk. He married the daughter of a local Dayan, Rabbi Ascher. Among his pupils we know Rabbi Yona Zlotnik of Plotzk and Rabbi Yehuda Leib Zlotnik, who became a well known Rabbi in Canada and carried out a great deal of research in the sphere of Jewish Folklore. Best known among his pupils was Nachum Sokolov, later the President of the World Zionist Organization.
Exceptional wisdom and knowledge, simplicity and humility were the outstanding characteristics of Rabbi Graubart. Great love for and understanding of the average simple Jew motivated him in all his Halakhic decisions. He gave the Hovevei Zion unofficial support. One year before his death in 1912 he also participated in the Founding Conference of the Agudath Israel movement which took place in Kattovitz. Rabbi Graubart passed away in 1913 at Bendin, where his son Rabbi Yekutiel succeeded him until his immigration to the U.S., where he served as rabbi in Brooklyn, Chicago and Canada. A daughter of Rabbi Graubart, Rosa Jacobovitz, was well known in Poland after the first World War as a Yiddish poetess. One of her poems is dedicated to "My Father".

RABBI ELEAZAR COHEN
When Rabbi Eleazar Cohen was appointed to the Rabbinate of Plotzk, he was already at the age of 65, but his bonds with the town go back to his early youth. Born in 1791 in Warsaw, he was sent by his wealthy father at the age of 9 to study at the Plotzk Yeshiva. In Warsaw he continued his studies under Rabbi Arie Leib Zunz, who had also served, at a different period, as Rabbi of Plotzk. Many years passed, when Rabbi Eleazar, serving at that time the community of Makov, received a call to become Rav of Plotzk. However, he was very hesitant to accept this call, since he was well aware of the fact that various factions, not all of them strictly orthodox, existed within the community. He consulted, one after the other, Rabbi Abraham of Ciechanow, the Zaddik of Kotzk and Rabbi Itche Meir, the Zaddik of Ger. Their consensus of opinion was that he should not be deterred by any hindrances and proceed immediately for Plotzk. Finally, he consented to serve there on condition that a unanimous letter of appointment be sent to him over the signatures of all Plotzk community leaders. The full text of the letter of appointment is quoted in the Hebrew section.
The community received him with great joy, but became divided in their loyalty to him, as soon as he had preached his first Sabbath sermon in which he demanded the strictest possible observance of the day of rest. The more enlightened opposed him vehemently, whilst the faithful were very happy to have him as spiritual guide. During his 6 years of tenure of office in Plotzk (1856-1862), Rabbi Eleazar was constantly embroiled in various frictions with the Gabayim of the community; so that he had no interest in renewing his contract and went on to serve in Pultusk and Sochaczew. His life-work "Hidushey H'Redak" was published after his death (1913) by his son Yehoshua.
One of Rabbi Elazar's young pupils was a student from Wysho­grod, Nahum Sokolov, who describes in his memories the movement of the "Enlightenment", which had penetrated the community and changed its old-worldly atmosphere, a fact which made Rabbi Elazar's position there so complicated.
RABBI AZRIEL ARYE LEIB RAKOWSKY - THE FIGHTING "MITNAGED"
The rift which developed within the Jewries of Poland and Lithuania in the 19th century, when the ideas of progress and enlight­enment, originating in Prussia and Eastern Germany, collided with the Hassidic way of life, did not bypass Plotzk. The sect of the Chassidim became so strongly rooted there during the second half of that century, that their opponents, who were in charge of com­munity affairs, decided to invite as their Rabbi a personality, who was known as an uncompromising opponent of Chassidim. Their choice fell on Rabbi A. A. L. Rakowsky.
When he arrived in town the Chassidim immediately fought him vigorously, so that he was forced to leave Plotzk for Lomza. An epidemic, which broke out soon thereafter was regarded as a punish­ment of Heaven and a delegation of notables was sent to Lomza to persuade the Rabbi to return to his flock. From then on his position in the community was considerably strengthened, although the Chassidim never adopted a friendly attitude towards him. He persisted in introducing modern teaching methods and other progressive innovations in the local Talmud-Torah. The Chassidim retaliated by denouncing him to the Russian authorities, which almost led to his arrest.
The establishment of a Jewish hospital in town and various improvements in the situation of the poor are to his credit. He served the community for 17 years until he could not bear the communal friction anymore and accepted in 1880 a call for Mariampol, where he passed away in 1893.

JEWISH LIFE IN PLOTZK IN THE LIGHT OF HEBREW PERIODICALS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

By Shlomo Greenspan

Pages 33-35

"HAMELITZ" ON THE BEGINNINGS OF ZIONISM IN PLOTZK
At the beginning of this article the author stresses the fact that the Zionist idea had adherents in Plotzk, long before the Zionist organ­ization was founded. Yitzhak Lederberg (great-grandfather of the Nobel-prize winner Dr. Yehoshua Lederberg) went to Eretz Israel in 1830 and a few decades later the Zionist activities of Plotzk-born people were already widely-known.
In 1891, with the foundation of a branch of the "Hovevei Zion" movement in Plotzk, formal Zionist activities began.
The author quotes excerpts from the then famous Hebrew perio­dical "Hamelitz", reporting on Zionist conventions and daily Zionist activities, including money-raising campaigns which took place in Plotzk.