KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
campaigns raised money for local and international Jewish organi- zations. Visiting lecturers spoke on topical issues, especially Pal- estine and the situation of Polish Jewry. The school had its own or- chestra, chorus, and actors. “One play that we performed on Polish Independence Day, November 11, excited even the anti- Semites in town,” recalled Yona Blueshtein (Raber) in the Yizkor book. The first principal of the school, Arie Morik, began a Hebrew immersion program. Despite the fact that none of the teachers were fluent in Hebrew at the time, it quickly became the main language spoken by all of the students, as well as the teachers and adminis- trators. Polish was still taught as a second language, mostly for the purpose of commerce. Zionism was not new to the town. After the devastating fire of 1918 and subsequent typhus epidemic, international Jewish orga- nizations like the Joint Distribution Committee had not only sent volunteers, food, money, clothes, and blankets, but given the peo- ple of Ludvipol hope for a better future and an end to the Diaspora. They had instilled the dream of making aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, and laid the groundwork for Zionism in Ludvipol. In 1920, Leibel Rozenberg founded the town’s first Zionist youth movement, HaShomer HaTzair. This group emphasized self- empowerment and secular texts. Although some older people were dubious about where this would lead, they eventually supported the movement. Members of HaShomer HaTzair were divided by age: B’nai Midbar (Children of the Desert) was for younger mem- bers and HaTzofim (The Scouts) for older members. On Saturday afternoons, the older group met outside town at the mountainside property of Basily Menchikow. At dusk, the enthusiastic teenagers lit a fire for warmth and light, and finally returned home, singing all the way, when the moon was high. On holidays, the HaShomer HaTzair children spent all day in the forest, cooking, debating, and competing in athletic events. The forest gradually became a meeting center for other youth movements as well. Shmuel Shafir recalled, in testimony at Yad
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