During the interwar period, most of the community’s children studied at public elementary schools. In 1919, Hrubieszow’s Zionist federation established Tikvah, a Jewish primary school, in Hrubieszow, which joined the Tarbut network in 1924. In 1928, the school was closed, and another Jewish school, Tel Hai, was established by the General Zionist and Hovevei Zion factions in its stead. Hundreds of the city’s teenagers graduated from Tel Hai School. Around the same time, a Hebrew kindergarten was also opened in the city. For several years, a Bund school, whose language of instruction was Yiddish, had also operated in Hrubieszow.
Girls from ultra-Orthodox families studied at the Beis Yaakov school, established by Agudat Israel. The city’s Jewish educational institutions were the talmud torah (religious elementary school), maintained by the community board, and Beis Yosef Yeshiva, where young men from Hrubieszow and elsewhere studied. Some of the Jewish girls who graduated from the primary school went on to study at a vocational school for girls, which (gentile) Polish girls attended as well, where they were taught sewing and knitting. Only a few Jewish teenagers attended the local Polish gymnasium (preparatory high school).
In 1917, a Jewish public library was founded in Hrubieszow, which later split into two: the Y.H. Brenner Library, affiliated with the Zionist movement, with 7,000 books, and the Y.L. Peretz, affiliated with the Bund movement, with about 3,000 books. The city also had a “Poalei Zion” clubhouse with a reading hall, which hosted drama and literature circles as well as a Bund-affiliated sports team called Spartacus.
During this time, several issues of the Yiddish magazine Unser Vort (“Our Word”), edited by Meir Hoffman and Eliezer Ploshkin, were published by the Poalei Zion faction in Hrubieszow. In 1930, another publication, Hrubieszow Leben (“Life in Hrubieszow”), appeared as a supplement to the Khelmer Shtime (“The Voice of Khelm”) newspaper, affiliated with the General Zionists.
Excerpts from the memoirs of Yitzhak Blumstein, who taught at the Hatikva School for two years:
What we saw at the ‘Hatikva’ Hebrew school was a vibrant, healthy generation educated in the spirit of national Judaism and imbued with a consciousness of our era – the era of revival in which they lived. I do not hesitate to emphasize that our modest work at the school paved the way for the success our students achieved – a path leading to the Land of Israel. This path was natural, consistent, and steady, and it aligned with the education they received in their youth, which was devoid of complexity and inner turmoil.
The students clearly understood that the Balfour Declaration was merely the beginning of redemption. However, the experiences at school surrounding the event turned it into a genuine redemption experience. Hundreds of children, decorated and holding flags, walked through the city’s main streets in a procession, demonstrating their national pride, and the educational value and impact on the Hebrew child’s soul were immeasurable. Our national awakening wasn’t fully expressed by the speeches at the synagogue, or the songs and cheers, but rather by the sight of the young generation parading through the streets, festive and radiant, heralding the nation’s initial steps toward redemption, despite the scorn of the gentiles and the rising wave of hatred surrounding them.
These were healthy children, capable of learning and observing.
Brown eyes; black eyes; faces alive with excitement, joy, and enthusiasm, alongside calm and contemplative faces; clever and bold smiles, alongside sad faces marked by poverty and deprivation. All of them showed a willingness and interest in their studies. I do not recall a single case of a child who was exceptionally difficult to educate. And what a serious attitude they had toward their studies ! Their respect and affection for their teachers!
Yitzhak Blumstein, “Two Years at the Hatikva School,” Hrubieszow Book, pp. 349–351.
Excerpts from Yehuda Zimmerman’s Memoirs, Tel Hai Student:
When the ‘Tarbut’ school in Hrubieszow came under the management of the ‘Poalei Zion’ party, we, the students, felt a refreshing breeze. Until then, we were indifferent to everything. We asked for nothing from ourselves or the world. Our thinking was limited, and it never occurred to us that things could change or that we could be agents of change. We thought that what had been would always be.
But the changes in the school’s structure and curriculum stirred up a storm, uprooting the old notions from our young hearts, and we began to recognize the grim reality. The school’s teachers instilled a Zionist-socialist consciousness within us, and we embraced it.
We dreamed of manual labor and communal living. We absorbed these ‘revolutionary’ ideas that were being spread at the school during lessons and discussions with our educators. We were filled with a strong longing for the Land of Israel. I remember how my friends and I devised a plan to reach the Land of Israel on foot, via the Caucasus. My grandfather had purchased a plot of land in Israel, and our plan was to establish a workers’ commune on that land. Our classmates, aware of our plan, called us Don Quixotes, but our teacher, the class instructor, did not mock us. On the contrary, he listened earnestly and explained to the class that our plan was realistic, though its execution should be postponed.
The school’s alumni positively influenced the city’s Jewish youth. Many joined the Hachalutz (“Young Pioneer”) movement, and later, the Freiheit movement. We, the school’s alumni, became youth leaders, and even led peers our age.
The teacher Meir Hoffman (Meytshe) was particularly active in educational and organizational efforts among the students, the city’s youth, and among the ranks of ‘Poalei Zion.’ Meytshe was a Yiddish literature teacher who captivated his students and instilled in them a love for Jewish literature. He cultivated personal integrity and honesty in us.
The school encouraged us to love learning for its own sake. Groups of students formed that continued their self-education after graduating.
Teacher Poloshko invested significant efforts into assisting the school’s alumni. He offered free lessons to those preparing to enroll in the teachers’ seminary in Vilna, helped two alumni get admitted to a vocational school in Piotrkow, and supported others engaged in agricultural training. These were fifteen-year-olds who had never left town, or those who were no longer dependent on their mothers. The teacher’s help was therefore invaluable and highly effective.
Yehuda Zimmerman, “A Refreshing Breeze,” Hrubieszow Book, pp. 359–360.
