The bread campaign was born in the mind of my dearest and faithful friend, Mrs Miriam Gancwajch (applause). The Office to Combat Usury was created by Sternfeld, etc., etc. In a word—Gancwajch is innocent.
However, there is something for which he is responsible. That something is a certain concept broader than individual works and actions, something that is to some extent the symbol of the “Thirteen”. The “Thirteen” is a symbol of honesty and clean hands, good intentions and tireless action, an oasis of order among the chaos of disorder that is the Warsaw ghetto (the authentic one). The “Thirteen”—whose motto is the consolidation and organisation of the Jewish masses and Jewish institutions in this tragic time. “I do not know—says the editor—if I'm allowed to talk about how my efforts to coordinate and consolidate the Jewish Quarter were successful. Let me tell you one thing only, that in a short time there will be no more division into the Green and the Blue, but everyone will be aleyh glakh. The speaker stops talking. There comes a storm of applause and cheers of “Long live the ‘Thirteen’!”, “Long live Gancwajch!”
“We have—the speaker continues—chosen the colour green, the colour of hope.767 Because we still believe that, one way or another, the dawn of freedom will come for us, that we will one day as free men plough the land imbued with the blood and sweat of our forefathers.
One day, years from now, when we, gathered here, think back to our work here in the “Thirteen”, we will remember it fondly for sure. The “Thirteen”—we will remember—was one of the very few shining beacons on the Jewish street during the current war. So let us call out: Long live the Thirteen!”
[4] Mr Warszawiak corrects Mr Białer’s mistake. The occasion for celebration is—as it turns out—threefold: 1) Manta Torah,768 2) Gancwajch’s Bar Mitzvah, and 3) the symbolic celebration of the “Thirteen”, which, lamrot hakol769 and ve-af al pi khen,770 lives and works. “You, young Gancwajch—declares the speaker—you should always keep in mind your great father, who is non plus ultra771 and tzimes772 ”—Mr Warszawiak enthuses.
