Our parents lived off the land, in a forest.  Their business was buying woods and selling logs.  My father understood little of the business.  He liked to sit and learn, surrounded by big piles of books.  Our mother was the woman of valor.  She ran the business.  At that time my brother Aaron was twenty years old.  He was very handsome, tall, lean, full of life and energy.  He learned in the Volozin Yeshiva and used to come home only for the Holidays.  His homecoming was the greatest joy for our dear mother and the other children as he was a very devoted son and like a father to us.

IN THE VOLOZIN YESHIVA

I remember that there was a room in our house that was called, “Aaron’s Room”.  No one slept in that room except for Aaron.  When he came home he used to sit there and learn.  He was very happy to come home, first to see the family, and second he loved nature, the forest where he used to walk night and day.  He was very brave, had no fear of anyone, and with him we children felt very secure.  Our beloved mother used to prepare for him all the things he loved -- nuts which were gathered in the woods, dried in the oven, and all sorts of fruits, etc.  She also always prepared for him wash and clean clothes to give to all his friends who needed them.  Those were the luckiest years of his youth.

Once, when my brother came home from Volozin for Yom Tov a Jew from the shtetl of Molchad came to see him.  He brought with him his 13-year old son, who was small and pale but who had deep black eyes.    This was  POLIATCHEK.  The father asked my brother to listen to him.  My brother listened and was very awed by the youngster’s aptitude.  He took him to Volozin, led him in to the Head of the Yeshiva, under his coat so no one should see him, since in Volozin only big young men learned.  The Head of the Yeshiva seeing the small boy, said to my brother:  “Soon you’ll bring Yunkim here.”  My brother answered: “Rabbi, listen to him.”

 The Rosh Yeshiva (head of the Yeshiva) posed a hard question to him and told him to go into the next room to think it over.  The boy went toward the door and turned back – he already knew the answer.

 From then on began the closeness, the deep friendship between my brother and Rabbi SHLOMO POLIATCHEK, the well known Molchad genius and gaon (eminent Rabbi).

 In later years my brother brought him to Lida as the Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbi REINES Yeshiva.  After the first World War Rabbi SHLOMO POLIATCHEK became the Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Rav Yitchak Elchanan in New York (now Yeshiva University).

 Telling about the bond between my brother and Rabbi SHLOMO POLIATCHEK I can’t forget this tale:
 In the time when he was Rosh Yeshiva in Lida, he once became very sick.  He had weak lungs and they began to become bloody.  Naturally a doctor did what was necessary, but the sickness lingered on.  My brother left his house and stayed with Rabbi Shlomo for two weeks, didn't allow his wife and children into his room, and took care of him like a good warmhearted sister.

CHOSEN TO BE RABBI OF THE LIDA COMMUNITY

 At the age of 25 my brother married Gele, the daughter of Rabbi REINES.  For a few years he lived in the home of his father-in-law.  One tells this tale:  As it is done among Jews, my brother received a dowry.  The money was put into the care of Mr. SHIPMANOWITZ – a respected householder in Lida.  Some time passed and my brother’s wife went to Mr. SHIPMANOWITZ to take out a small amount of money.  She was surprised to hear that there was nothing left of the dowry.  When she got home she asked her husband, where is the money?  He told her that the poverty in the city is huge, and he had to help out in some cases.  As a result: a wagon driver lost his horse, and his wife and children were starving.  So he gave the family money to buy a horse.  He also had to help out a poor bride, when her mother came to tell him and cried that the match is breaking apart, etc.  It is true, his wife didn’t complain.

 The first 15 years after my brother was married were the most relaxing for him.  The first years he lived with his in-laws and treated them like a devoted son.  I remember that the Rebbitsin – his mother-in-law, was not well for a time.  She couldn’t get around.  He used to carry her from one place to another.

 As soon as he came to Lida, he went to the Bais Din (Jewish court) and fulfilled the duties of judge.  He never took anything, even for the biggest cases, and this caused unhappiness among the other judges.  My brother also founded a cooperative of 30 older young men from the Lida Yeshiva of Rabbi REINES.  This was subsidized by the son-in-law of VISOTSKY,  Mr. GATZ.

 As time passed he also took over the largest part of  ministering to the city.  This was necessary since Rabbi REINES used to leave the city for several months every year.  He used to go to Europe for Zionist Congresses and also for relaxation.

 In 1915 Rabbi REINES died, and my brother was selected by the Lida community as the Rabbi of Lida.

AT THE TIME OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

 A short time before this, when the Russian Army retreated from Lida,  my brother’s family, his wife, five daughters, and a small son went into the heart of Russia together with Rabbi SHLOMO POLIATCHEK and his family.

 His two older sons, MELECH and MOSHE, with their families, remained in Lida until the end of the war with their father.  My mother and I also came to Lida shortly afterward.

 The troubles started in 1915 when the Russians left the city.  The Cossacks bombed and set fire to CHANA PUPKO’S house.  The other residents hid in their houses.  The Rabbi was the only one who ran out of his house, knocked on the closed doors, took water, climbed up on the roof and together with those gathered around, rescued the city, doing this at great risk to himself with tremendous bravery.

 At the same time a bomb ended the life of BERDOVSKY’s son.  My brother saw the wounding through the window.  He ran out of the house and carried him on his back to an apothecary to give him first aid.  This was at a time when the others sat locked in their houses, afraid to go out in the street.

THE GERMANS IN LIDA

 The Russians left and the Germans captured the neighborhood and also Lida.  The years of their occupation were very hard.   The Rabbi had to send workers to the Burgomaster of the city and do many other things.  The Rabbi received a small stipend from him.  But, even for money, nothing could be bought.  The Burgomaster from time to time brought wagons of provisions for the inhabitants of the city, but certain people wanted to take it over into private hands in order to bring in the black market.  The Rabbi was against this with all his might, against his friends and against others, not to let this happen.  He made enemies, but he didn’t allow any hunger in Lida, which had happened in other areas.  My brother, seeing the Burgomaster almost every day, never asked for anything for himself or his family, just asked for things for the community.  I personally can testify that if anything was lacking it was solely in the Rabbi’s own home.

 A short time before this, when the Germans left Lida, a lot of families turned around and came home.  My brother’s family also returned, but instead of with six children, his wife came home with four.  The oldest daughter Shirele died in Russia from typhus at the age of 18, and the small boy also succumbed.  It is understood, there was a lot of sorrow and pain in the family.

 The Germans left, and the Bolsheviks took the area.  Their arrival brought great unrest and troubles for the Rabbi.  It didn’t last long, however, as the Poles soon took the area.  Battles started between the Bolsheviks and the Poles, which lasted several weeks.  The inhabitants of the area already waited impatiently for the Poles to take over the city.

THE POLES OCCUPY THE CITY

 After gunbattles lasting several days, the Poles entered Lida late at night.  They made a real pogrom, breaking  into my brother’s house.  They took him out of bed, tore open his box, where he kept important papers and took everything of value.  In the morning the Christian woman who worked for my brother, came running to me and told me the news.  (My mother and I had a room at Dr. Warshawsky’s house, and she was ill.)  I ran out to look for my brother, and in the street I saw wounded Jews and Polish soldiers.  One tore off my hat, another didn’t answer me, but the third one told me where the commander could be found.  On the way there, on Kaminke Street, I saw my brother with other householders, in a closed balcony.  Going in to the commander, I saw Poles from Lida, whom the commandant was consulting about each person arrested.  When I told them that my brother had been arrested, they said it was unbelievable because Poles do no arrest Rabbis.  Thus they sent a soldier with me to get him.  The Poles from Lida recognized him right away and they let him go free.  He went home, changed his clothes, and was ready to try to find a way to have the other householders set free.  At that moment, the woman REISL DARSHAN ran into the Rabbi’s house and told him that the Bolsheviks had left ammunition, guns, etc. in her cellar.  She was afraid that the Poles would find it, and she wanted the Rabbi to go with her to the commandant to tell him about it.  He went out with her into the street, which was empty.  People had hid themselves in their houses.  Suddenly, two Polish officers on horses appeared.  They surrounded the Rabbi and took him near the castle.  He thought this was the end.  He had one hope:  They had taken him past the home of a Polish lawyer, Mr. Shimelevich, who knew my brother well.  He hoped that if Mr. Shimelevich had seen him, he would rescue him.  And so it was!  The lawyer was sitting on his porch and saw how the officers were taking my brother.  He ran over to the officers and declared that this was the Rabbi of the city, etc.  The officer didn’t want to listen, so the lawyer’s wife and his whole family ran out and pulled my brother out of their murdering hands.  They hit him with a gun, tore his clothes, but his body was untouched.  After these events, he had to hide himself until the siege of the city quieted down a little.

 Also in those dark days and weeks, when the Poles occupied Lida and the whole area, they brought the poet YAFFE and the writer NIGER to Lida from Vilna, on the way to a concentration camp.  Their wives rode with them, and they came to my brother to ask him to go the commandant and tell him that the two arrested writers are famous in the whole world, and it wouldn’t be right for Poland to imprison such people.  In addition he guaranteed that they aren’t Bolsheviks.  A few days later they let them go and they returned to Vilna.  In other similar cases, the commandant told him that he should be cautious to guarantee with his head  because, after all, a man has but one head.

 My brother had a personal problem.  His son MOSHE, after the war, traveled to Moscow to study medicine.  When they found out that the Rabbi’s son had gone to Moscow, they called my brother in for a hearing.  Their general denounced him strongly and scared him.  I remember that he returned very pale and shattered.  They arrested his wife and eldest daughter, ELKA, and put them in the Lida jail with the intention of sending them, with the others who had been arrested, to a concentration camp.  But again a miracle occurred.  My brother’s family had a cow, and everyone who owned a cow, was obliged every day to give milk to the Polish officers.  A soldier came to collect the milk for his officer, and saw our mother and our brother’s children (and they were very beautiful children).  My mother told the soldier that the children’s mother and elder sister were sitting in jail, and the children cried.  The same thing happened the second day.  The soldier went to the officer and told him what he had seen at the Rabbi’s house.  The officer became interested and went to the jail to see the “criminals”.  The picture he saw evidently made an impression on him.  He told the general about this.  It became known that this had really happened, and to the last day no one knew how this would end.  The day finally came.  About ten people were taken to the railroad station, among them my sister-in-law and her daughter.  Of course, my brother also accompanied them.  The day was very long – the night dark.  It was raining.  It wasn’t pleasant to be outside.  Late at night I sat by the window very nervously and impatiently.  Finally, my brother rapped on the window of Dr. WARSHAWSKY’s house where my mother and I had a room.  He told me with great joy that they had not sent his wife and daughter away, but had sent them back to the jail in Lida.  A couple of days later they let them go.  The other unfortunate people had been sent to a concentration camp.

 All these events and difficult circumstances naturally worked a great hardship on the family.  My brother’s wife who underwent great hardship in Russia, lost two children, came home and found new troubles, became sick.  My brother contracted Typhus which was throughout the city.  It took a long time before they recovered.  In 1925 I left Lida, and to my great sorrow, never saw my family again.  What my brother and the other families that remained lived through during the time of the Second World War is well known – they were destroyed with the rest of the Jewish community, by whom he was esteemed up to the last minute of his life.

 I know that the written remembrances about my unforgettable brother, do not give a precise picture of him.  One had to know him, and understand him, to understand his true value.  Outwardly, he didn’t have a prepared smile on his face for everyone.  He looked earnest.  He didn’t care to express his feelings openly, but everyone in the city knew that in a time of trouble their Rabbi would do everything possible, and sometimes impossible, to help.  My brother was a very modest person, but had a sureness in himself, for he always did what his mind directed him.  He knew nothing of jealousy, could not hear any malicious talk, and mastered the talent to be happy for someone else’s happiness, and to recognize with awe someone else’s greatness.

 The HAFETZ HAIM from Radun who esteemed and loved my brother very much, at a conference in Warsaw, where all the Hassidic Rabbis and other Rabbis from Poland gathered, took my brother’s hand and said to everyone there, “Do you know who this is?  This the Lida Rabbi, a man of truth, a man of truth”.

 RABBI SHATZKES, the Lomzer Rabbi, who was a close friend of my brother, once expressed himself thus about him, “The Lida Rabbi is a great scholar and a Jewish aristocrat”.  He was indeed an aristocrat in the deepest sense of the word.