w York. We believed that since the main purpose of these new societies was to acquire cemetary and this subject have taken the major time at their meetings, we Zionists believed that it was more important to work for the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth in ancient Palestine. And for this it was necessary to devote our time and effort to collect funds for the Jewish National Fund, which acquired land in Eretz-Israel, which has led to the proclamation of the State of Israel in our days.
In later years, we began to realize that even young folks have to prepare burial ground for young and old.
The group who gathered on May 17th to organize the society consisted of: Max Glantzer, Hertz Fischer, Rubin Graebel, (my school mate in Boiberke), Julius Engelberg, David Gewanter, and several others. They elected Max Glantzer as president, Julius Engelberg as Financial secretary and Hertz Fischer, as the protocol secretary. Two years later, Simche or Sam Herbst, joined the society and for several decades he and Rubin Grabel were the guiding spirit of the society.
The present officers are; Max or Meyer Gimpel, ex-president, Sidney Helfer, president, Herman Ehrenzweig, vice president, Irving Herbst, financial secretary and treasurer, and Samuel Bergwerk, corresponding secretary.
Although my cousin and I did not join the organization, we took an active part whenever we were called on. We shared their joys as well as their sorrows. The society, in a small measure, from time to time is active in behalf of the State of Israel.
It is of interest to note that Boiberker townspeople were always eager to organize groups or societies. The very Nissan Katz, who earned a living as a house painter and was one of the organizers in 1901 of the Boiberker Sick & Benevolent society, decided to organize former Jewish soldiers who had served in the Austrian army into a group in New York. In this effort he was assisted by another fellow Boiberker Naftali Haber, who had also served in the Austrian army and who was by trade a carpenter. In no time at all, they attracted a good many others from Galicia who had served in the Austrian army before they came to America. They dressed in regular soldier's uniforms and paraded in the streets and especially in the park of the lower East Side.
Katz who had been a sergeant in the Austrian army, became the head of this unit. He always headed the parade astride a big white horse flanked by one or two aides. Their greatest, glory each year was on August 18th, the birthday of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, whom many Jews of Galicia admired and loved as a friend of the Jews. On that day Nissan Katz, would be attired in an expensive new uniform, which he could ill afford to pay for. He and his unit would pass in review before the Austro-Hungarian Consul General in New York and from there they would proceed to the Dukler Mogen Avrohom Shul on Attorney Street (on the lower East Side), where the Cantor would chant a Mishebirach for the Emperor. Some days later, Nissan Katz would proudly display a letter of thanks from the Austrian Ambassador in Washington. But the turnover in the regiment was high. As soon as a recruit received his United States citizenship, he would discard the uniform and ultimately, with few members remaining in the ranks, the entire organization disbanded and disappeared.
In the summer of 1909, two days after the election to the Austrian Parliament in Boiberke, at which Dr. Gershon Zipper was the candidate on the Jewish National ticket, I arrived in Boiberke. There I learned that the previous day, my father had been called to the office of the District commissioner. He was asked why he, as the Gabbai of the Beth-midrash had permitted the place of worship to be used for mass-meetings in connection with the election to the Parliament. Father pointed out that the Jews in Boiberke had to use the only place available to them, adding that the Beth-midrash was not merely a synagogue, a house of worship, but a place for learning and study. It was as well a gathering place for the Jewish community -- in f