Bialystoker martyrs who owned land in Ramat Yishai but did not survive to reclaim it, that other Bialystoker landsleit who did outlive the destruction settle on their property. What needs to be done to help the new immigrants make their homes here? First of all, we must open a school for children living in the village. Eventually, it should offer vocational training, so the youngsters could learn to work with textiles. Demand for textile manufacture has sharply grown in Israel and prospects for young textile workers to do well are excellent. It is also essential that we complete a bet midrash and a cultural center, construction of which has already begun. Because of a dearth of funds, it is not possible to finish these projects. We have already commenced work on a clinic, thanks to a $3,000 donation from one of our patrons. We need several thousand dollars more to finish the clinic. We must enlarge the village, which some day will be called Bialystok, so new immigrants will be able to find work. We will need tailors, shoemakers, lock- smiths, and carpenters. Let us pay tribute to our beloved Bialystoker mar- AVRAHAM LIS PIONEERS IN ISRAEL Bialystoker Jews possessed enormous drive in promot- ing Zionism. First of all, they were culturally the most “Jewish” of Jews, avoiding assimilation at all costs and unmoved by alien social and religious forms. Surely a less secure group would have succumbed to the seduc- tive influences of succeeding Russian, Prussian and Pol- ish administrations to shed its identity. On the other hand, Bialystokers did absorb Jewish traits and religious inclinations from different countries: the Chasid’s episodic sadness and elation; the Lithua- nian Jew’s sober approach to life, as well as the Russian-Jewish penchant for warmth and zest. Chasidic silk merchants brought to Bialystok their enthusiasm and personal piety. Jewish manufacturers from the Rus- sian interior introduced their enterprising spirit, com- munal activism and philanthropy. Ambitious industrialists carried their wares to remote markets such as Central Asia and Manchuria, China and India, exporting Bialystok’s economic and cultural influence far beyond its borders. In fact, a silk trader, Eliezer Feygin of Bialystok, in the year 1920 edited and published in China a Yiddish weekly, Der Weiter Mizrach (The Far East). With this background, it is easy to understand how Bialystoker Jews were among the first pioneer settlers in Israel a hundred years ago. They helped found and develop the then agricultural settlement, today’s mod- 186 A group of Bialystoker young men and women in Israel in 1934. tyrs by granting new life and hope to those who endured unspeakable suffering and, thanks to a combi- nation of luck and the determination to survive, over- came all adversity. Bialystoker Stimme January-February, 1948 ern city, Petach Tikvah. Members of the Chovevei Zion party, these affluent families also established Kfar Uriah, Hadera, Afula and Ikaron. Throughout their century of deep involvement, our Jandsleit consistently invested their energies in strengthening our homeland. They contributed to all areas of Israeli life, compiling a record of which Bialystokers everywhere can be proud. Our people constructed the first textile factory in Ramat Yishait in the 1920’s. The Jerusalimski- Yerushalmi family settled in Israel at about the same time, creating a large manufacturing network through- out the land. Significantly, in addition to transplanting traditional Bialystoker industries onto Israeli soil, our settlers converted arid terrain in the Jezreel and Beit Shan valleys into fertile areas. In Hebrew literature, art and theater, Bialystokers left their mark: Chajele Grober, the actress; Nochum Cemach, founder and director of the Habimah National Theater Company; Professor Israel Halperin, historian and author; Yosef Serlin, the late Minister of Health; Professor Lipa Sukenik, noted archaeologist and presi- dent of the historical society that published A. S. Hersz- berg’s two volume Pinkas Bialystok; Dr. Shlomo Kaplan-Kaplanski, a founder and director of the Tech- nion in Haifa; and numerous others who enriched the religion, politics and economy of Israel. As a resident of the Jewish State for many years and as a Bialystoker, I am convinced that our beloved homeland would not be so great if not for our /ands- leit’s efforts. With all the suffering we endured during the Holocaust, that should be most comforting. The Bialystoker Memorial Book