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issue, my older brother Motl, together with Avrom
Sojbel, built a small factory for the production of
oil for home consumption. This helped considerably
the starving Jews of the ghetto.
The production of edible oil depends on many
factors: a grinder with two rollers necessary to
crush grain into powder, a motor that turns the
rollers, an oven with a pot where the powder is
heated to a given temperature, and a press that
compresses the hot powder until the fat begins to
drip out.
The factory worked in great secrecy. The
machinery was so creatively constructed that it
could be taken apart in a matter of minutes and
hidden away in case of a sudden raid. The
children of the two families involved were trained
to assemble and dismantle and hide the operation
quickly.
In the dark days of the ghetto, the limited
production of oil, in a small measure, eased the
problem of hunger.
Among the handful of talented construction
masters, mechanics, and craftsmen of our town,
CHARACTERS AND PERSONALITIES 185
The mechanical workshop ofthe Sojbel brothers in 1936. From right to left: Avrom, Zelig, Chaye, Meshl, Joseph,
and Gershon Sojbel.
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mainly fathers and their sons, such as the Sojbel
family, Grimatlicht and others, Efrayim Royzman
with his sons and his brother Meyer ("the lazy
one," as he was called) who lived in the adjoining
town of Masheve, stood out for their excellence.
Efrayim Royzman belonged to the group of
people about whom the world says "What the
eyes see, the hands can make." And so, for
example, it was told that he carved out of wood
two lions that supported two tablets with the Ten
Commandments, located at the stairs leading to
the holy ark in the big shul, and other art works
for the Psalm-sayers' synagogue and other small
synagogues.
The two-story rolling mill, near the road
and across from Mendl Eizenberg's home, was
constructed with the technical help of Efrayim,
a partn er in the mill. Earlier, Efrayim was the
chief mechanic and machinist in the mill,
which at the time belonged to Yona Ladinier
and his partner Serczuk. Efrayim was exceptional
in carpentry and people admired his
beautiful work.