The Golub Family
April 22, 2004
My name is Arie Szewach and I am a native of the Shtetl Krasne.
Krasne was located 28 kilometers away from the shtetl of Lebedevo.
In 1962 my employers transferred me and we moved to an apartment in
Natania (Israel). The apartment was located just under the apartment
that was owned by a Lebedove native; Yeshayahu (Shayke) Golub and his
wife; Pnina nee Zmudiak (a native of Bytan near Baranovich) with their
three children; Chava, Menachem and Avner. As neighbors, not only did
we have much in common, we also turned to be best of friends. We grew
to greatly respect and care for the Golub family and we soon found out
that we even have friends in common!- A good friend of Yeshayahu was
non other then Liovke Reznitzki, a Lebedevo native who was my next door
neighbor in Krasne, after his Marriage to a Krasne native girl from
the Kaplan family. (see their story on this site)
I feel compelled to record some of my memories of this very special
man from Lebedevo. He shared with me much of the details of his aliyah
to Eretz Israel as well as his life in Lebedevo- Lebedevo that is no
more… despite the fact that about a hundred Jewish families dwelled
there for many generation before the holocaust…..
Much like the typical Jewish shtetls in the area Lebedevo had all the
institutions and enterprises that were common at that time of the Polish
rule (1921-1939); Beit Sefer (School) 'Tarbut", a private school
that was taught in Hebrew. Various Zionist movements flourished in town
and readied the youth to immigrate to Eretz Israel. They also had a
home for the impoverished, bathhouse and even a hospital!
Many of the youths received training in the different professions and
spend many months in 'Hachshara' in preparation for agricultural lifestyle
in Eretz Israel. At the completion of the Hachshara they young Zionists
returned to Lebedevo hoping to receive the hard to obtain immigration
papers to make the aliyah.
Yeshayahu was a member of a Zionist organization and received the necessary
training and after much tribulation was lucky to obtained the necessary
certificates for immigration to Eretz Israel.
As time passed I got to know many of Yshayahu' friends and I learned
from them about his very special character and many good deeds. I had
a first hand encounter with his generosity during a sudden (and very
uncommon for me) reversal of fortune that lasted for a very short time.
Immediately after hearing about it .. Shayke entered my home with his
checkbook in his hand. He handed my wife a signed check, with the amount
left blank, and said; " first take the amount you need and later
when things get better we will talk about returning the money"
This was the kind of man Shayke was!
Now that I found the site for Lebedevo I checked with his family and
scanned some of their pictures and wrote words to commemorate the life
of the Jewish town of Lebedevo as a tribute to a good friend who is
not with us any more…..
Arie Szewach
Omer, Israel