BRZESKO There are two necropolises of Moses confession in Brzesko (in Yiddish Briegel). The old one is located at Głowackiego street and was in use till the mid of the 19th century. It was partly destroyed during the WW II and completely devastated in the period of the People's Republic of Poland . Nowadays a car park is situated there. After complete fulfilling of this necropolis in the 19th century, a new Jewish cemetery was established at Czarnowiejska street. Historic records do not reveal the precise year of set up. Some historians suggest year 1846. But the oldest identified gravestone comes from 1824. On the other hand it is quite possible it was moved from the "old" cemetery. In the very center of the cemetery there are two ohels. One of them was rebuilt in the sixties of the 20th century and contains graves of tzaddiks from Brzesko and their wives. Inside there are three painted matzevot. Matzevah topped with bas-relief in the shape of eagle belongs to Arie Lejbusz son of Chaim who was founder of tzaddiks' dynasty in Brzesko and died in 1846. Arie Lejbusz was a rabbi in Krzeszów, Biłgoraj, Sieniawa and Wi¶nicz. His spiritual teacher was famous Jaakow Icchak Horowitz known also as "The Seeing from Lublin ". He was an author of three religious studies (among others "Arie from a splendid house"). On his gravestone there is an inscription: " Here is buried honorable our teacher, lord and master , gaon, learned in open and occult, Arie form a splendid house, great among his people, leader of the nation, clear light, leader of all sons of exile, man of God, saint, just, support of the world. In the light of his wisdom everything what hidden was revealed. Our teacher, lord and master Arie Lejbusz son of our just teacher, lord and master Chaim (may the memory of just be blessed). He ascended to heaven on Thursday on the 17 th of tewet 606 according to the shortened calculus. May his soul be bound in the knot of life ". Matzevah topped with an image of a crown and lions and an epitaph plaque situated between two pillars belongs to Meszulam Zalman Jonatan son of Arie Lejbusz who died in 1855. Here there is an inscription from his gravestone: " Here buried. Please, lament over our sudden loss. Joy of eyes, our teacher, lord and master , great man gaon, perspicacious and religious sage, famous for his just actions, our teacher Meszulam Zalman Jonatan son of saint gaon, our teacher Arie Lejbusz (may his memory be blessed to life in future world), chairman of rabbi's court in local community. He died on the 2 nd day of new month Elul 615 " . The third preserved matzevah is decorated with lion and deer adoring Torah. It's a gravestone of Tobiasz son of Meszulam who died in 1912 and who was "brave as a lion (.) and ascended to heaven as fast as a deer ". At the end of the past century the second ohel was erected thanks to help of Waksaman and the Eisen family from New York. Following people are buried there: Efraim Templer who died in 1938 and was leader of house of prayer at Krótka street , his father Baruch son of Pinchas, uncle Abraham Elieser son of Pinchas who was shames in Brzesko and grandfather Pinchas Templer. Ohels in Brzesko are an aim for pilgrimages for religious Jews from all over the world. They leave inside pieces of paper with entreaties to deceased tzaddiks. At the cemetery in Brzesko a few hundreds of gravestones survived. As it was mentioned above, the oldest one dates back to 1823 or 1824 and belongs to man named Itel. The newest one belongs to Jadwiga Ziarnecka who died on the 10th of April 1960 . Typical for Jewish cemeteries division to men and women quarters is still visible. Women graves are to the left of the main alley and men graves are to the right. During the WW I war cemetery number 275 was established here and 21 soldiers of Jewish descent were buried. There are also many symbolic graves of victims of the Holocaust. In 1974 thanks to initiative of A. Grunberg and S. Bransdorfer a monument commemorating about 200 Jews murdered by the Nazis on the 18th of June 1942 was installed. There is an inscription on it which ends with sentence: " God will avenge their blood ". In contradistinction to other Jewish necropolises in Poland this one is not completely destroyed. Mr Mendel Reichberg initiated cleaning works and local authorities financed repair of cemetery wall. Efforts of Miss Iwona Zawadzka who works in Museum of Stanisław Fischer in Bochnia resulted in protection of cemetery against falling into oblivion. She wrote few studies about it like "Jewish cemetery in Brzesko". The whole area is enclosed and keys to entrance gate are kept by Ms Maria Martyna who lives at 34, Czarnowiejska street . |