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The Religious Life of the Jewish Community
The Jews of Nowy Dwor maintained customary and steady relationships with the local Christian population. In spite of strong foreign influences, the Jewish community, as a whole, kept its own mode of life as it had been transmitted by previous generations right into the 20th century. It was based on a well-preserved religious tradition. Jews found their spiritual and social satisfactions in their synagogues, Bet Midrash (public study house), Hassidic circles and other places where they prayed and studied t ogether. Children received their daily education in a Heder, a Talmud Torah, or a Yeshiva. They were taught to be observant at home as well as outside. They were instructed to perform good deeds, to obey and live according to the precepts and customs of t he tradition in an environment which was Christian. An environment in which Jews, who had been living here, in the very heart of Poland, for many centuries, were still looked upon with suspicion and mistrust and as mysterious people. The tradition of reading and studying has developed around the well known printing shop. As time went on it ceased to exist but the tradition continued among the Jewish people of Nowy Dwor. In fact it was the very heart of their existence. Jewish life in Nowy Dwor, in its religious as well as every day sense, was directed by the Rabbis. The Rabbis had a strong influence on the Jewish life of Nowy Dwor. At times the Rabbi of Nowy Dwor became a leading figure in the country as a whole. Such a person was Reb Reuben Judah Neufeld the last Rabbi of the town. He was the secretary of the Rabbinical Council of pre-war Poland. The Rabbi was always sensitive and responsive to the needs, problems, worries of his people and cared for them while studyin g Torah and religious books days and nights. At the outset of the 20th century when, due to the spreading waves of pogroms, the Jewish community faced the grave alternatives of either self-defense or reliance on the "conscience" of the local Czarist officers. The Jewish youngs decided to setup self- defense. Once just before Yom Kippur the Rabbi intervened with and petitioned the Czarist government official to save the life of two young Jewish people who took the matters into their own hands. He too saw the Jewish youth the only safeguard against the attackers. He made it clear in meetings he had with their, modern secular, representatives that the youth of Nowy Dwor should be ready to defend the community. He also said that the youth deserved the community’s support and gratefulness. Despite the contradiction between the old and the new, the traditional religious mode versus the modern and secular, the Rabbi Neufeld knew to navigate his leadership. But as the modern society continued to evolve, in the years following 1905, the contra dictions within the social structure became even sharper. They were reflected in everyday life and in the outlook of people. There were disputes and quarrels with the Rabbi concerning the election to the Nowy Dwor Kehilah as well as in relation to synagog ue worshipers who had already gained a political of their own. Yet the religious people, always zealous and meticulous about the religious precepts and observances did not lose their influence. They continued to constitute a powerful group displaying, under the pressure of the new social conditions, a remarkable unde rstanding of those who, promoted by a new social and national consciousness, were striving aggressively for new worldly mode of life, free of the submissive beliefs of yesterday. Even before the outbreak of World War II, while making forward steps and gra dually introducing secular subject into the religious schools, the religious elements continued to conduct their work and influence in an intensive manner. The intensive activities of the various groups and ideological view within the Jewish community as well as the continuous creative development of Jewish life one could only conclude that life will go on in Nowy Dwor for generation to come. This illusion was common to all classes and groups of the Jewish population, but even more so among those who alwa ys relied on the grace of heaven...
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