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LIFE, RECONSTRUCTION, AND CREATIVITY 103
The Jews of the city immersed themselves in
the excitement of the elections for rabbi. This
commotion lasted more than two years. The elections
took place on November 5, 1936. In addition
to three local rabbisR. Pinchas Oselka, R. Leybl
Melamed, and R. Alter Londona number of
other rabbis from central Poland and Galicia also
submitted their candidacy, responding to an advertisement
in the newspapers, published in accordance
with the law. But the "outsiders" had
little chance of being elected, for no one locally
really knew them, and no one was interested in
bringing a fourth rabbi to town.
The main competition was between R. Alter
London and R. Leybl Melamed, both of whom
had enthusiastic supporters. But R. London's
people were livelier and more clever, and saw to
it that the election of R. Alter would be assured.
The community council elections of 1931
were conducted in an expectant atmosphere,
affected by the upcoming rabbinic elections. R.
Leybl's relatives knew, because of the rabbi's age
and failing health, that they had to be prepared
for any sudden "eventuality" and therefore saw
to it that many members of their family and
supporters of Rabbi London would be sitting on
the council.
In these elections, all lines between the
Chasidim and the various shtiblach were blurred,
as were all public and ideological boundaries,
and the candidates for the councilthough they
officially appeared to be representing the synagogueswere
really friends or relatives of the
London family.
Also, the electorate voted for the most part
based on its relationship with the rabbi. For
instance, it was known that a segment of the
Trisker Chasidim, the bastion of R. Melamed,
voted for the Kotsker list of candidates headed by
R. London's nephew, because they were friends
or relatives of the London family. Using this
tactic, they assured themselves of a majority on
the council and the chairmanships. Later on, in
1934, the community council chose the committee
for election of the communal rabbi, whose
absolute majorityand particularly its chairman
and vice-chairmanwere supporters of R. London.
This spoiled all hopes for R. Melamed and on
election day was a deciding factor in the results.
As said, rabbinic elections took place on
November 5, 1936, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Almost
1,000 people voted, and the majority were for R.
Leybl Melamed. But due to a technical trick, the
majority was turned into a minority and it was
decided that R. Alter had received about 20 votes
more than R. Melamed.
R. Alter London was declared the rabbi of the
city, and he served in that position until he was
killed by the Nazis in July 1941. He was one of the
first martyrs in our city.
The Community Council of 1936
On November 3, 1936, two days before the elections
for rabbi, there were elections for the community
council. This time, too, the rabbi's supporters
made sure their people got onto the council, so
there would be a strong faction to support him.
In these elections there were already candidates
on the lists from the shtiblach, known to be
Zionists, who also were elected. In 1936, those
elected were R. Meyer Sandlshteyn, from the
Kotsker Chasidim; R. Avrom Grimatlicht of the
Rizhiner Chasidim; R. Aron-Leybish Lichtmacher
from the Radziner Chasidim; R. Asher
Tannenbaum and R. Nathum Stern from Trisk;
for the synagogue of the Misaskim and the
Chasidim of Stepen: R. Velvl Sheinwald; and two
from the craftsman's guild.
The council continued to carry on its duties
along much the same lines as before. They added
to their agenda a major task, that of creating a
Yavneh Hebrew school for national, religious
education. And with the cooperation of other
public figures, organizing for this school began.
The community gave the refurbished building of
the Talmud Torah for the new school and the
council offices were transferred from this building
to a private house on Teatralna Street, which
was rented bi-annually.
A segment of the extremist religious Jews
caused a furor and objected strenuously to the
Yavneh school. They even brought the Radziner
Rebbe, R. Shloymele Leiner, of blessed memory,
who stayed about two weeks, giving speeches
against the school. He also organized a big demonstration
at the community building. It is impor-