There had been four shuls in Paluszj, but when it did not have enough Jews they brought a shul to Ignalina. The community took the building apart and transported it by horse and cart to Ignalina, and built it up again. There was another village, Gaviken, which brought it's shul to Ignalina. Altogether Ignalina then had four shuls.

Paluszj did not have a rav - it was too small - but there was a rav in Ignalina.

In Ignalina there were the two shuls from out of town, and also the shuls of the Hassidim and the Mitnagdim. There was that division everywhere but people did co-operate. You could go to whichever shul you wanted, perhaps you went to the nearest. My grandfather went to the Mitnagdim shul, and I went to the Hassidic shul because my father did. The Hassidim have a different minhag, but the differences are not very great, a few extra chapters. I found the same differences in Manchester.

The problem of Palestine began when I was a child of about eight. Young people in Ignalina began to study how to work, to prepare to go to Palestine. They set up a factory in Ignalina to make bricks for sale. It was a very good thing and was near a lake. I remember walking there on Shabbat to see what progress they had made.

The first of my friends went to Palestine in about 1924 , with the first group of halutzim. When I came in 1938 I stayed for a few days in his house with his family, and then I went to the kibbutz. Many people left Ignalina for Africa, Argentina and America. They could not get permits to go to the USA or Canada. Every year a few people for South Africa.

The people who left were mainly men but some women also. The middle aged did not try to take the chance and face the difficulties. I left for Israel because I could see Hitler coming. I had served one and a half years in the Lithuanian army. I could have come in 1935 but there were lots of German refugees. People said to us "Wait, you won't be in danger, wait a year or two." So we gave our certificates (from the British) to the German people who needed them more than us. Fortunately there was no anti-Semitism in Lithuania.

Some people did come back from Palestine. In 1938 six people went to Palestine (including me) but twelve people came back, because of the Arab troubles. My brother Eliezer came in 1935. I could not leave until I had been in the army.

My mother was living just over the border in Poland, but I was in Lithuania. I was living away from my parents already. It was possible to pass out of Poland but not to go back - if I had gone back I would have had to serve two years in the Polish army.  My mother was pleased that I was coming to Israel - it was a better way than remaining in Lithuania. She was very proud that two of her sons had gone to Israel.

When you got a certificate you could go with your wife, so a lot of people, including me, went through a pretend marriage so as to get a girl out as well. When we got to Israel we had to go through a "divorce" in Tel Aviv, before a rav who knew exactly what had gone on, and it took no more than twenty five minutes. I only had to bring two witnesses, who knew exactly what their job was. It was a fiction.
i) The land at Garbun was granted to Shlomo Gilinsky for 25 years service in the Russian army.
ii) Nathan's grandmother Sarah Gittel's maiden name was Katz.

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