Pinkász Kálmán (1917-2011)

Pinkász Kálmán z'tl was born in 1917, 26th May. He was a late child. He lived in Balassagyarmat, Thököly street 4. (It was only a few steps away from the synagogue). His father, Joel Pinkász was 45 years old, and he was a merchant dealing with wood and  vessels, and his mother was Betti Steiner (40 years old), housewife.

Pinkász Kálmán later married the daughter of Rabbi Dávid Deutsch, who was the leader of our town's yeshiva, and faith commune until he was deported in July, 1944. His father-in-law, Dávid Deutsch died in the autumn of 1944 in Dachau, and the handful of jewish citizens, who survived the horrors elected Pinkász Kálmán as their new spiritual leader.  He undertook this responsibility, and he carried this heritage until he turned 32 in  the spring of 1949, when he realised, the stalinist regime will take over Hungary, and he (along with a few other families) decided to get away from it.

Pinkász Kálmán Pinkász z’cl's (in the middle) presentment in a synagogue in Jerusalem.

For all we know, Dávid Schwartz, the president of the local distillery, and a member of the local advisory board between the two World Wars, and Sapir Matitjahu (Miklós Szántó), who now lives in Israel, in Givat Shmuel, were among those who fled across the river Ipoly, to Czecho-Slovakia, and then to Israel. After Kálmán Pinkász left the city, the title: rabbi, ceased to exist. It was functional for centuries.

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