Shershev
Yzkor Book Chapter 4
Section
6a
Ten
Years of the "Yavne" School in Shershev
Every Hanukah, the schoolchildren organized an evening with a colorful
program. The evening always made a good impression on the guests. On Lag B’omer
(a Jewish Spring festival) there was a magnificent children’s march, with
national banners, through the streets of the town and an excursion into the
forest.
In the years 1926-1927, 1929-1930,
1932-1933 and 1933-1934, the school was visited by the inspector of the Hebrew
"Tarbut schools" in Poland, Mr. A Aynshteyn and the principal of the
"Yavneh" school in Pruzhany, Mr. Grinvald. In the years 1930-1931,
1931-1932 and 1933-1934, the school was visited by the government inspectors
Mr. Zavadzki and Mr. Leshnikovski
When the school was opened, there
were already books in a very limited quantity. Thanks to the teacher who
organized various events, the library developed more and more. Today, the
library numbers 513 books: 362 in Hebrew and 151 in Polish. In the year
1931-1932, principal Peker laid the foundation stone of a pedagogic library for
the teachers. The library now numbers 153 books. 118 Hebrew and 35 Polish
books.
As a result of carelessness there
were three accidents in the course of the ten years. In the year 1927-1928 a
child put a corked bottle into the hot stove. The student Lea Tenenboym, at the
request of a younger schoolmate, wanted to take the bottle out but the bottle
exploded with terrible force and ripped off the upper lip of Tenenboym. Several
children were slightly wounded. In the year 1932-1933, at the end of the school
year, the teachers organized an excursion with the children into a nearby
forest. In the forest the student Sore Basikhes (12 years old) strayed away
from the teachers. She was attacked by a 16 year old, non-Jewish boy who wanted
to rape her, but this was prevented by the accidental appearance of some of her
fellow students at the scene. On November 9, 1934, the Christian Paulina,
servant of the school, heated the stove on Saturday morning and left. The floor
of the stage that wss next to the stove caught fire and it then spread to the
walls. Children who happened to be in the courtyard of the school noticed the
fire. They gave the alarm about the conflagration. Neighbors ran up and, with
great effort, localized the fire.
The founding of the Snif’s Tarbut
library sounds like a legend. In 1923, a group of children aged 14-15 got
together and decided to found their own library. The leader of the group was
Avrom Averbukh (a son of Shloyme Averbukh). They donated their last, saved up
groshns (a Polish small coin worth 1/100 zloty), bought children’s books and
called the library, “Hatichiya” (Reborn). The bookcase was in the house of
Avrom Averbukh, There, the children gathered and read the books in their own
library with confident joy! Gradually, the library came to the attention of
other young people, who, with difficulty, became readers in it. The demand for
books increased. Then they decided to open the "locked door" to
everybody. They gathered the courage to carry out, from time to time, fund
raising campaigns among the inhabitants of the town – and the library grew as
if yeast was in it. In 1928, the library had 250 books. Meanwhile, in 1925, a
second group of young people, among them Khayim Shames, Avrom Kvelman, Yitzkhok
Tenenboym, Alter Rasikhovski and Zeydl Beydatsh, of blessed memory, founded for
themselves, a reading room in the house of Rokhel Glotser and called it,
“Zionist Union”. But the reading-room was soon closed. A certain sum of money
remained in the communal chest. What should be done with it? The comrades
discussed the matter. They could not come to an agreement. But then they
decided to buy the works of Mendele Moykher Sforim. This awoke the "real
appetite" of the friends. They became fervent, serious advocates of the
plan to create a great library in the town. From time to time they put on
theatrical performances and various other events. The library developed more
and more. The attendance of readers increased. Their taste was developed by the
books that were acquired. On March 3, 1927, the library was legalized under the
name of the Snif Tarbut. It then held 180 books. The founders decided to
combine with the “Hatichiya” library and thus form one large, general library
for the town. After much negotiation
between the representatives of both libraries a contract was agreed upon,
containing large discounts for the founders of the Hatchiya library. Thus a
mutual agreement was concluded. The 250 books were given to the Snif Tarbut
library which now held almost 400 books all told. The library now contains 300
Hebrew books and 500 Yiddish books for a total of 800 books.
In 1936 the board of the library consisted of the following people:
1.
Avrom Kvelman
2.
Leybl Feynbir
3.
Yitskhok Kirzner
4.
Yankev Yudelevski
5.
Moyshe Yakubovitch