Warning! The text retains the original spelling of surnames and place names by an Israeli researcher; in many cases it may not be correct. Fragments that could contain current personal data have been removed from the interview.

Rachel Gorenberg (nee Fajnsod) was born on September 17, 1915, in Białystok to her parents, Baruch and Rywka Fajnsod.

The family lived in a rented house located at 47 (49) Fabryczna Street, in an area of textile plants, most of them belonging to Jews and employing mainly Polish workers. It was a mixed neighborhood with a medium to high standard of living, with a slight majority of Jews.

The house was in a two storey building, owned by a German, Ohem [Ohm?] (he arrived during WW1 and stayed on), with four tenants beside Ohem, two of them Jewish – the Fajnsods and the Goldbergs. Ohem had a beautiful large fruit tree garden and a pig shed in the back court. It was quite a comfortable apartment, with three rooms and a kitchen. In every room there was a heating stove with a chimney; in the kitchen there was a baking oven and a large granary. The huge basement in the building was used by all tenants as a refrigerator, to keep different kinds of food. There was electricity, but no running water, and the (modern) toilets were outside.

The relationship between Jews and non-Jews was good, based on mutual respect and trust. Rachel never heard of any anti-Semitic incidents. The fact that the non-Jews were dependent on Jewish plants for work may have had this effect.

Rachel's brother, Gedalja, born in 1919, went to Rubinstein’s "Szlomo Emune Izrael" kindergarten. Rachel went to "Atid" (future, in Hebrew) a private Zionist kindergarten. In 1920, she went to the Jewish Gymnasia of Białystok (founded in 1919). The main teaching language was Hebrew, beside Polish. She also learned Latin and German. The Jewish Gymnasia was a very expensive private school. Each year, the Gymnasia's management accepted underprivileged students on the basis of vacant places. It occurred several times, that Rywka had no money to pay and Rachel was forced to stay at home. Once, Rywka gave the whole Babylon Talmud collection as security for the payments.

When Rachel was fourteen, she went to Grodno, to Tarbut School. Later, a Hashomer Hatsair instructor from Kibbutz Bet-Alfa recommended her to be a teacher.

Rachel's parents

Rachel's father, Baruch Fajnsod, was born in 1892, in Sokółka, a village [town] near Białystok. As a Hassid, he studied in a Yeshiva. He also learned Hebrew by himself. In 1910, his brother, uncle Lejbl, a rich man, helped Baruch and another brother, Jozef, to enter the textile business, the most predominant industry in Białystok. The two brothers bought a few machines and made a living from sub-contracting for important manufacturers. They specialized in military uniforms for the Polish army [after 1918]. At the same time, the Fajnsod brothers learned Talmud.

Baruch suffered from cancer for many years. He spent long periods in hospital and was constantly under medical treatment. Baruch died very young, in 1929, at 37 years old, in Warsaw where he was buried.

Rachel's mother, Rywka Jelin, was born in 1896, in Indura (in Yiddish: Amdura), Belarus. She knew how to read and write in Polish, Russian and Yiddish. She was a housewife.

Baruch and Rywka married in 1913 (or 1914). They had two children:

• Rachel, the interviewee.
• Gedalja, born in 1919. He was a member of Hashomer Hatsair Zionist Socialist Pioneering Youth Movement. The shortage of immigration certificates pushed him towards the communists, who were illegal. He almost got caught by the police and ran away to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936. In 1967, Gedalja immigrated to Israel.

The parents came from two opposed philosophies. The Fajnsods were members of Hassidut Slonim, while the Jelins were Mitnagdim, opponents of the Hassidim. Despite the families' positions, Rachel's home was a Hassidic home, but also a very liberal home. For example, Rachel was a member of Hashomer Hatsair, with full backing of her father (for eight years). She even became a leader.

After Baruch's death, livelihood became very hard. The family had nobody to start the machines. Rywka started buying clothing, linen, and other items, from different manufacturers, and selling them to workers in the neighborhood from her home. Thanks to the credit she gave, Rywka succeeded in making a living from her activity. Rachel still remembers the notebook where her mother used to register the sales for credit recovery. Based on the promissory notes she used to make her clients sign, Rywka reached agreements with the employers of her debtors to deduct the monthly agreed payment from their salaries. Rywka was assertive in cases of credit unpaid and didn't hesitate to turn to court of law to preserve her rights. She was highly respected by all the workers in the vicinity.

A short time after Baruch died, Rywka cut off Gedalja's sidelocks. To her astonished brothers-in-law she said: "If God took my husband and punished me by making me a young widow with two kids, I believe God doesn't exist." She stopped sending Gedalja to the heder, and registered him at the Jewish Gymnasia. It was a Hassidic Zionist family. The house was full of Zionist leaders' pictures and books, such as T. Herzl, S. Czernichowski, A. D. Gordon, Ehad Haam [Ahad Ha'am], besides pictures of great Rabbis and Talmud books. And the "must" Keren Kayemet Le-Israel (Jewish National Fund) donation box. 

Rachel's paternal family

Rachel's great grandfather, Kopel Fajnsod, was a Talmud Hacham (erudite Talmudic student), member of Hassidut Slonim, and a wood trader. He died before 1915. He was married to Rachel's great grandmother, Masza, and lived first in a small village, Kuźnica [today: Kuźnica Białostocka], located between Grodno and Białystok, and later in Sokółka. The daughter of Kopel's brother, Matatjahu, was the mother of Yigael Yadin, a prestigious archeologist, famous particularly for his Masada excavations.

Rachel's grandfather, Gedalja Fajnsod, and grandmother, Rachel (nee Simner), were both from Sokółka. Grandmother Rachel died quite young and left six very young orphans:

• Basze Gitel, emigrated to the U.S.A. early 1900s and married there.
• Lejbel, was a Slonim Hassid. He married Basze Fink and lived in Białystok. They had many children. Some of them: Eli, Jaakow Jenkel, Chaja Sure (Sara), Lea Lecze, and others. The whole family was murdered, except Lecze, who survived and immigrated to Israel.
• Jozef (Jessef), was married to Sara Sojcze [?], and had six children: Lea, Rachel (both immigrated to Palestine before WW2), Mira [Miriam] (she received an immigration certificate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; she finally died in the ghetto from a boil in the throat), Ajkik [Ajzyk], Szmuel, Naftali (the three were murdered in Treblinka).
• Ajzik, was married to Kejle. Both died very young and left four orphans: Izaak (he immigrated to Palestine before WW2 and died before WW2); Noach, who was married to Frejdel and had three children (Goldale, Channale, Moszele. The whole family was murdered); Kopel (he was married and was a Rabbi and a Talmid Hacham. The whole family was murdered); Ester (she was married and had children. The whole family was murdered in Białystok).
• Mosze Chajim, was married to Chaja and lived in Wolkowic [Wołkowysk]. They had two children: Rachel, Ajzik. They were all murdered.
• Baruch, interviewee's father.

Grandfather Gedalja remarried, to Jafa Szejne, and had five children:

• Abraham, emigrated to Argentina before WW2.
• Chaja Malka, was married to Eliezer Kuszelewicz. They lived in Warsaw and had one daughter. In 1939 they ran away to Białystok, where they were murdered.
• Rywka, emigrated to the U.S.A. before WW2, where she married Szimszon Epelgrad and had two sons.
• Izrael, immigrated to Argentina before WW2, where he married Tania and had one child.
• Jehudit, emigrated to Argentina before WW2, where she married Mosze, and had one daughter, Lea.
• Grandfather Gedalja died before 1915, and grandmother Szejne was murdered. 

Rachel's maternal family

The Jelins were a family of mitnagdim, opponents of the Hassidic Movement.

Great grandparents Lejme and Channa JELIN had four children:

• Szmuel (Sam), he emigrated to the U.S.A. before WW2.
• Meir Zwi Herszl, interviewee's maternal grandfather.
• Rachel Lea, was married to Lejme without children and lived in Krinki [Krynki]. They were murdered.
• Raszke, was married to Szmuel Nojfach. They lived in Amdur [Indura] and had five children: Lejme, Sonia, Fejgel, Czoczi, Chome. Except for Lejme and Chome, who emigrated to Argentina, all the rest were murdered.

Rachel's grandparents, Meir Zwi Herszl Jelin, and Raszke Rejzel (nee Jogel), lived in Amdur [Indura]. Rachel had special feelings for them, as she spent several years in their house. When Rachel studied in Grodno, she used to visit them on most week-ends.

Grandfather Meir Zwi was a Rabbi and a talmid hacham. Over a period of ten years, he wrote Talmud commentaries, and published them. He ran a shoe leather shop, and at home his son Lejme ran a shoe sewing workshop. Lejme used to participate in the Shabbat Eve dinner and listen to the Kiddush (wine blessing) without covering his head, and grandfather Meir Zwi had no other alternative but to accept his behavior. Grandfather Meir Zwi used to give credit and wrote the debts on a huge cupboard. From time to time, the charwoman cleaned off all the cupboard notes and grandmother Raszke got angry. Grandfather Meir Zwi said: "Never mind. They are all good Jews, with large families…" The grandparents lived in a rudimentary house, with a straw roof and a huge basement. There was also a court yard where they used to grow vegetables.

They had eleven children:

• Sara (Sere), emigrated to the U.S.A. before 1900 and married Szaul Robins who came from a village near Słonim, Poland; they had three children: Beatriz, Sylvia, Norman.
• Rachel, emigrated to the U.S.A. before 1900 and married Sam Tarloff from her own town Amdur [Indura]; they had two children: Feny, Frank.
• Mina, emigrated to the U.S.A. before 1900 and married Beble Nicht; they had three children: Mosze, Else, X.
• Rywka, interviewee's mother.
• Elke, emigrated to Argentina before WW2 and married Efraim Korfas; they had three children: Naomi, Noach, Ruth.
• Dawid, emigrated to Argentina before WW2 and married Bable; they had four children: Bela, Saul, Mosze, Naftali.
• Lea (Locze), emigrated to Argentina before WW2 and married Jozef Jucht; they had three children: Batia, Channa, Chajim.
• Lejme, emigrated to Argentina in 1930s. He was a communist and was imprisoned in Grodno. His father, grandfather Meir Zwi bribed the guards and released him on Shabbat. Lejme was then smuggled out of Poland, to Argentina, where he married Cipora and had two children: Herszi and Rejzel, both named after their maternal grandparents. Rejzel married a non-Jew, had three children, and lived in Chile. Habad volunteers "converted" the three children, who became orthodox, two of them lived in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem in Israel.
• Etel, emigrated to Argentina before WW2 and married Efraim Stein; they had two children: Miriam, Rejzale (Rosita).
• Szmuel, emigrated to Argentina before WW2 and married Ester; they had three children: Abraham, Channa, Bat-Sheva.
• Frejdel, was married to Noach Fajnsod, her cousin; they had four children: Channa, Golda, X, X. The whole family was murdered.

Besides the two daughters who were murdered, and three who practically   became assimilated, almost all the grandchildren of the remaining six, live in Israel. 

When Rachel studied at Grodna's Tarbut School, she stayed in Rachel Pikowski's [Rachela Pikowska] house, her grandmother's sister. The second year, Rachel moved to a rented room, with a friend. She financed her living expenses by giving private lessons, particularly in Hebrew. In 1935 she got her secondary studies diploma and her teaching diploma.

The Zionist atmosphere at home and the activity within Hashomer Hatsair, obviously led to the decision to immigrate to Palestine (Eretz Israel). In 1935 Rachel received an immigration certificate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study Education and Biology. Although her mother had not the means to cover such a project, she immediately agreed to Rachel's wish. Rywka asked her father to finance the expenses of the trip.

After the first year, Rachel moved to Rishon Le-Zion and continued her studies.

In 1937, Rachel came to Poland for a visit, following a doctor's recommendation to make a change; Rachel lost her voice and she feared she would not be able to teach. She planned to return to Palestine with her mother. Prior to the trip, Rachel had agreed with a widower living in Palestine, to come to Białystok and marry her mother fictively, in order to take her back to Palestine, as many did. But, once in Białystok, Rachel met her mother's companion, who said clearly from the first moment that her mother would not leave Poland.

In 1939, Rywka married Zwi Herszl Gutman, a widower. Both were murdered in Treblinka, in 1942.

After one year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rachel went to Bet Avichayil, a teachers' seminary, and started a 30 year teaching and managing a school as principal career. She was a teacher and the school principal of the first Hebrew school in Palestine, Haviv School in Rishon Le-Zion, established in 1886. In 1973, under Rachel's initiative, Haviv School was split in two, and Rachel became the school principal of the "new" school, named Tarbut School, in honor of all the teachers and pupils of 100 Tarbut schools  in Poland, murdered in the Holocaust.

Rachel's future husband, Jerachmiel "Milek" Gorenberg, left Poland in August 1939, and immigrated to Palestine as a ma'apil (illegal immigrant). He was from Wlodzymiez [Włodzimierz], in Wohlin [Wołyń] District. His parents, his two brothers and his sisters were all murdered. He first settled on Kibbutz Ramat Hakovesh, from the Hashomer Ha-Tsair. After a few months he moved to Rishon Le-Zion, to a friend's room, in the same house where Rachel was renting a room. They married in 1942.

Milek worked until 1948 as a civilian with the British army, and later worked as a representative of the customs authorities at Carmel Wineries, Rishon Le-Zion, until he retired. Milek died in 1988.

Rachel and Milek have two children […].