Committee

In these years the committee continued the annual activities required under the Associations Law. The committee meets once a quarter, with an agenda covering reports on the work done by committee members and the planning of activities for the rest of the year. The meetings include discussions of recurring and relevant subjects.

One of the subjects we deal with regularly is the condition of the cemetery as it has been in recent years. Until the Corona period we employed a worker who carried out pruning and cleaning work at the cemetery. After the Corona period his work was discontinued.

It should be noted that throughout this whole period we tried to build relationships with institutions and individuals in order to enlist their help in preserving the cemetery. We made contact in writing, and we also visited the offices of the head of the Gmina in Warsaw (the body responsible for Jewish property), but we received no help at all.

We also tried to involve the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, and did not even receive a reply.

On every visit to Poland, Yitzhak Shpilman, the committee member responsible for external relations, arranges a meeting with the mayor in an attempt to persuade him to do something for the cause, but in vain. The most recent meeting took place with Yafa Shpilman and Yitzhak Shpilman present, on 31.8.2026. We left that meeting deeply disappointed. From what he said it was understood that they have no interest in maintaining and caring for the site, given that the cost is far from negligible. It was made clear to us that the Gmina (the official body responsible for Jewish property) wishes to sell Jewish assets.

Throughout these years we made an effort to hold annual gatherings. Each one included the organisational part required by the Associations Law, a general assembly and the presentation of the financial statement, along with a central part given over to a lecture by an expert on a subject relevant to our community. We invited specialists in their fields to enrich our members.

In 2021, the annual conference was held in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem. We gathered in the “Hall of Remembrance”, where the memorial plaque for the Jews of Mezritch who perished in the Holocaust was unveiled. The plaque was prepared on the initiative of committee member Yaakov Goldman, who saw it through. Later in the gathering we assembled in the synagogue, where we heard a fascinating lecture on the Jews of Mezritch from Naama Galili.

At that event the album “Mezritch, a town that was and is no more…” was distributed to members. It was initiated, edited and produced by committee member Yitzhak Shpilman.

In 2022 we held the annual gathering at Kibbutz Lohamey HaGetaot, a conference devoted to the subject of “personal diaries”. We heard a lecture on the subject, and the bulletin (no. 61) was devoted to it as well.

2023 was a hard year for the whole nation. Despite the national mood, we made an effort to stay in touch with members through updates and holiday greetings. We managed to produce a bulletin devoted to the October war, “Iron Swords”, in which we tried to highlight the difficulty faced by Holocaust survivors and their descendants, who were forced to live through the shattering experiences of the Holocaust once again.

In 2024 we still did not hold the annual gathering, but that year a ceremony was held in Mezritch unveiling a memorial plaque for the Jews murdered in Operation Reinhard. The community was represented by delegates from the committee: Yafa Shpilman, the chair, and Yitzhak Shpilman, who is responsible for the connection with Mezritch. Senior figures from the municipality, from the Lublin regional government and from the university took part in the ceremony, along with residents and members of a youth movement who carried enormous wreaths and laid them beside the “Prayer” sculpture in the Rynek. It was very moving, and the event received wide media coverage.

At the same time, here in Israel, members of the association were invited to a performance at the Cameri Theatre, “Mame Zise”, a one-woman show written and performed by a long-standing member of ours, Sarit Brezniak-Friedman. After the performance there was an interesting conversation with its creator.

2025 was marked by an expansion of the committee, and the activities expanded with it. A new committee member, Adam Wishkovsky, who lives today in the United States, located and founded a group there of descendants of Mezritch families who take an interest in what the association is doing. Some of them had lived in the housing estate in Ramat Chen, and they formed moving connections with neighbours from those years.

That year we held, for the first time, a “Zikaron BaSalon” (Memory in the Living Room) evening, devoted to families from the community and held for members of the community. We were hosted in the living room of the family of Yaakov Goldman, who together with his sister Lea Levite, née Goldman, hosted us and told their family’s interesting and moving story.

Many people took part, older and younger, and they learned a significant chapter about the Goldman family.

At the conference held that year, a memorial pin was produced on the initiative of committee member Chaim Alon and his son. The pin is based on the work of Chaim’s father, who was an artist and sculptor from Mezritch. An article about it appears in bulletin 63.

One of our goals as a committee is to interest the younger generation. It is not an easy undertaking. That year we managed to interest a number of young people, who wrote pieces for the bulletin (63) about their impressions from the journeys to Poland, with interesting insights. The young writers emphasised how much the journey contributed to the shaping of their national identity. It is worth noting that most of them are third-generation descendants of the Jews of Mezritch.

This year a book written in Poland on the history of the Jews of Mezritch was published. At the time, the committee decided to accept the university’s request and donate 8,000 shekels, and so to take part in publishing a book in Poland. The important book has already appeared, it is meeting with success, and we are considering translating it into Hebrew.

Once a year, on the day the sixth Aktion took place, 26 May, we hold a ceremony at the cemetery in Cholon and pay our respects to the memory of those murdered in the ghetto.

The association’s committee holds an annual meeting for all members of the association, in these meetings, which are a continuation of the annual meetings conducted by our parents in the first years of the association at the club on Haavoda Street in Tel Aviv

In addition - the committee publishes the annual bulletin.

At each meeting, member taxes are collected.

During the time of Avraham Gafni as chairman of the association, a website was established for the community, as can be seen, the site is currently being upgraded to a more up-to-date platform.

A Facebook group has been opened for Mezritch and the surrounding area.

Second generation members of the Jews of Biala Podelsky were invited to our organization to hold joint activities.

The committee tries to create as many commemorative activities for the Jewish community as possible

In 2009, the committee, led by Avraham Gafni and Naftali Brezniak, initiated the construction of the sculpture “Prayer” in Rynk by Mezritch, including an impressive journey and ceremony.

In 2015, a model of the Great Synagogue was donated in a modest ceremony at The Lohamey Hagetaoot” Museum.

At the beginning of 2020, memorial signs were inaugurated in the “Cave of Remembrance” at “Yad Vashem”, led by Yaakov Goldman, a member of the association’s committee.

For years, the meetings took place at the “Yad LaBanim House” in Tel Aviv.

In recent years, we have moved the meetings to the WIZO house in Tel Aviv, around tables with light refreshments.

Each meeting includes:

An annual meeting required by the laws of the associations, including a vote on the details of the budget.

A memorial service for the families of those who passed away last year.

Presentation of the activities of the forthcoming committee.

Lecture on various topics.

In 2015 - a lecture was given by the illustrator Michel Kishka, the son of a Holocaust survivor who wrote a book in the comics about life second ball.

In 2016 - there was a fascinating lecture by Gil Paran, the son of Chaim Farbman and Ruthi Farbman, second generation from Mezritch, head of the Polish Guides Association, Gil told about a large study conducted by him and his mother Ruthie (who is also a Polish instructor A town near Mezritz - Pocha with discoveries they have made in recent years, including meetings with Poles from the area.

In 2017 - an interesting lecture was given by the actress Hadas Calderon, the granddaughter of the great Idish poet - Avraham Sutzkover, who did not receive the proper appreciation in the country. Hadas told about his life, his struggle during the Holocaust and of course about his songs.

In 2018 - we met at the “Tzavta” club for a performance in Yiddish - “The Witch” of the National Yiddish Theater.

In 2019 - we met again at WIZO and won a fascinating lecture by Prof. Hannah Jablonka on the Jewish community’s dealings with the Holocaust, during the war and in the years before and after the establishment of the state.

In 2020 - we held a meeting in Zoom, due to the Corona crisis, we heard an interesting lecture by Yossi Gilad on youth movements between two world wars.

The Annual Memorial 2011

From the words of Mr. Asher Weinstein:

Naftali, my friend,

It is a great privilege for me to know you, your sister Sarit, and the people of the Mezritch community in Israel.

Yafa and I, attending your annual gathering for the third year running, once again felt in body and soul the pain and the grandeur of the heritage that you and your fellow workers restore and represent with such great sensitivity.

Personally, I am humbled before the force of the feelings and the memories of those who survived the “valley of slaughter” across Europe, Mezritch among them; and like any human being who knows how to give thanks and to offer the little that is in his power, I feel a strong need to give you personally, and through you the members of your community, my poem “T H E T E A R”, in the hope that it may join with, and light up even a little, the spark of life that has survived from then and for all time.

Yours with affection and appreciation,

Asher

The Annual Memorial 2010

The annual memorial service will be held at Beit Yad Labanim in Tel - Aviv on November 9, 2010 evening. Please reserve the evening in advance.

After the General Assembly memorial service we’ll see the show, “Watches”, of the Camery Theatre.

“How lovely,” called out one of the members as he stepped into the foyer of Beit Yad Labanim in Tel Aviv.

That member had only just arrived at the association’s memorial ceremony and was already handing out compliments.

And why not hand out compliments? Perhaps they are genuinely deserved.

The audience, arriving a few at a time, cannot really know what goes on behind the scenes of an evening like this.

So let me tell you.

Back in November of the previous year, right after the last ceremony (the screening of the film “Prayer”), the band of enthusiasts gathered at the home of Avraham Gafni, the association’s chairman (or at the home of Gad Finkelstein, a veteran committee member), and worked out the options for this year’s memorial day. This is how it has gone, in the same cycle, for more than fifteen years.

Every member is asked not only to sum up what happened over the past year, but also to put forward suggestions for the next memorial evening.

“We need to book a hall,” Avraham says gravely, “and it has to suit us and them alike.”

When he says “them” he means e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. The time of year that suits most of the association’s older members; the owners of the hall (Yad Labanim), so that no other event is booked there; and whoever will be performing that evening, whether the Yiddish theatre, a sought-after lecturer, or a play, as at the last gathering.

Then a number of suggestions are thrown into the air. Good plays, films, one-man shows, poetry and the like.

Once several options have taken shape, the committee members are asked to do their homework. Every subject has to be studied, performances and plays attended, and it must be established whether the show, play or concert can be hired at all. Whether it suits our audience, most of it elderly and, sadly, only a small part of it young. And of course whether the subject is fitting for a day of such importance.

Only after the committee members have checked, watched, analysed, discussed and argued, across several meetings, is a decision reached.

All of this takes a great deal of time. And who these days has free time to donate from their few spare hours to the community?

Once the decision has been made (by a democratic vote), a small team is formed to contact the theatre (or whatever was chosen) and Beit Yad Labanim, and to coordinate a date and a fallback for the evening.

In parallel, another team writes the invitation, which every year demands hard work with a graphic designer and the printing house. Another team prepares the address labels for the envelopes, sticks on the stamps, and puts the letters and the invitations into the envelopes that go out to every member.

Another team takes care of the newspaper, urging members to write (and sadly the generation is dwindling), and of the discs, which this year held the film about the installation of the “Prayer” sculpture in Mezritch and the family photograph album.

Another team handles the logistics of the evening, from the food and drink, the cups, the urns, the registration desks, the memorial candles and matches, and of course a microphone.

And right before the ceremony everything has to be checked: that all the arrangements hold, that the actors in the play are the ones who will actually appear and not understudies, and that everything is in order down to the last detail.

And there are always speeches to prepare. Yes, that too has to be ready for the memorial evening. (Who has the time?)

And on the evening itself, to make sure we fill at least the front rows, so that there is no embarrassment, as the youngsters say.

All so that you, the members and their families and friends, can arrive at your leisure, step into the foyer, enjoy a hot or cold drink with a slice of cake, savour meeting the friends you see once a year, enjoy the newspaper and the booklet, go into the hall, take part in the general assembly and the annual memorial service, and watch the play. (This year it was “Watches” by the Cameri.)

All of this, right up to the end of the ceremony.

And already, with the pats on the back we receive for the success of the evening, the next cycle of worry begins. What will we do next year? How can we keep up the high standard we have reached?

So in the end, thanks are due to everyone who helped put the evening together. Especially to Avraham, one of a kind, who was on almost every team, and to Rina his wife, to Oded, to Tova, to Gila, to Yehuda, to Gad, to Yafa and to Itzik.

See you next year.

And just before we close:

I would like to use this platform to address our readers: our funds are running low. Without donations we will not be able to sustain the singular activity we carry out today. The names of donors who wish it will be read out at next year’s memorial ceremony.

Anyone wishing to donate should contact Mr. Gafni: 03-5468541

Naftali Brezniak

The Annual Memorial 2009

The Association’s annual memorial service of Immigrants of Mezritch Depodalsia Area in Israel took place on 24 November 2009 at the Beit Yad Labanim in Tel - Aviv. There were about 240 family members and a lot of friends . The ceremony was very moving

On 17 May 2009, in Mezritch Poland, was the unveiling ceremony of the statue “Prayer” of Yael Artzi. The ceremony was attended by Israeli Ambassador to Poland Mr. Zvi Arvner, Bishop of District Siedlce, parliamentarians, Mayor City Council members other dignitaries. From Israel came about 100 people plus about 35 families from the Diaspora. The day began in a moving ceremony at the cemetery. The statue dedication ceremony in which the “Hatikva” was played by a local orchestra, and And then moved to the large audience hall to listen to singer Edslbah, Polish singer who sings in Yiddish, and watch a film by Micha Friedman & Efraim Sidon produced by David Tur “Little America” was translated into Polish, ending dinner party was held to 160 people.

“Mezritch productions,” as called by Mr. Micah Friedman, succeeded this time in an extraordinary way, excite the mass audience eagerly awaiting the film to describe the exciting events

The Annual Memorial 2008

On 16 of September 2008 we conducted the Association’s annual memorial service at Yad Labanim in Tel - Aviv. Presence was most impressive. Memorial service attended by over 200 people, members and their families filled the courtroom. After the general meeting before the public memorial service we saw the show “Address Unknown” of Kibutz theater. Many members said that the night was very impressive and all remaining members of the committee was thinking immediately about the event next year. But already we know that next year if all goes well a film will be screened to the audience directed and produced byNissim Dayan - documenting the transfer of the statue’s sculptor “Prayer” by Yael Artzi from Israel to Poland. After we received all the approvals, we expect the unveiling of the statue will be in the second half of May 2009.

The Annual Memorial 2007

The association’s annual general meeting, as well as the annual memorial service held on Tuesday, 18 September 2007 at 17:45 in Yad Labanim in Tel - Aviv. On this day we presented the booklet of the sculptress Yael Artzi on the statue called “prayer” it is going to create the invitation of the association. The statue will be in the main square in the city Mezritch. The unveiling ceremony is supposed to be May 2007. Board Members will receive a letter about the trip to the city at the inauguration of the statue. We heard Ms. Halina Birenbaum, on “Women in the Holocaust” about the strength, sacrifice, creativity and resourcefulness of women in the Holocaust. The singer Esti Asabidnsky also performed songs string.

Ceremony was an unforgettable experience.

In July 2007, members of the Fire Scouts cleaned up the Jewish cemetery in Mezritch.