Max Mordechai-Kopfstein
Kindertransport refugee whose life down on the farm helped prepare Orthodox pioneers for Israel
IT WAS in early February, 1939, when 13-year-old Max Kopfstein waved goodbye to his parents, as his train pulled out of Berlin’s main station. Tragically, this would be his last glimpse of them — they were murdered by firing squad in Riga in 1942. Max, however, was one of around 10,000 unaccompanied children granted visas to enter the UK under the Kindertransport scheme. The new venture was a welcome release from the constant tension and threats posed by the Nazi regime.
After Harwich, Max’s first port of call was the home of another former Berliner, Rabbi Alexander Altmann, who had been recently-appointed as communal rabbi of Manchester. Altmann was a familiar, friendly figure from Max’s home synagogue so, as Max recalled, he had “a soft landing”, especially as they could converse in German.
After schooling at Gresham Street High School and a short period of evacuation, a change in the Altmann family’s circumstances led to the urgent need to accommodate Max elsewhere. Altmann suggested the idea of hachsharah (agricultural training) with the Bachad youth movement at Thornham Fold Farm, near Castleton, in Derbyshire. Max was delighted to find two former schoolmates of his, Kulli Landau and Wolf Rebhun already there and knee-deep in cow-muck, firmly set on aliyah to Palestine.
Max described the farm as “a lousy place…we slept on bunks in a hut. The roof leaked. I remember waking up in the middle of the night in winter with snow on my bed! British farmers were very eager to have us — their workers had been enlisted in the Armed Forces”.
Max and his fellow trainees organised themselves into a kind of kibbutz —just as Bachad’s groups in Germany had done throughout the 1930s. At their meetings new ideas were debated in lively fashion and all matters pertaining to management of the group voted on. Their meagre wages were deposited into a central kupah (kitty) and distributed according to need. Their chief aspirations were to acquire agricultural skills for future use in Palestine and to provide both religious and Zionist education.
In 1942 Max moved to another Bachad hachsharah centre —Kynnersley, Shropshire – again, very spartan, communal living with a tough regime of working for local farmers. Young Orthodox Jews such as Max faced a dilemma: cows needed milking on Shabbat and kosher food was not readily obtained. A solution needed to be found.
In the same year, Arieh Handler, Bachad’s London-based Director, formed the Bachad Fellowship, a group of well-to-do Jewish businessmen to oversee operations and provide financial backing. They took on an additional project: to purchase a farm that could be managed autonomously, with freedom to organise training in a manner compatible with Orthodoxy.
Rewarded by their labours, a rundown farm at Thaxted in Essex was purchased in September, 1944. Max joined soon afterwards and relished being one of the first chalutzim (pioneers) at the Bachad Farm Institute. At its peak, there were about 60 chaverim of whom a steady trickle made aliyah to Palestine — some legally, some illegally, through Aliyah Bet.
As a result of these departures, Bachad turned its attention to future management of the farm. Max was selected to attend a farm-manager’s course at the West of Scotland Agricultural College with a view to succeeding as manager in 1952.
In 1953 Max married his Portsmouth-born wife Sarah Levy and together at Thaxted, they continued to shape the lives of many. One of these,
Diana Avivi, writes: “He was among those Bachad leaders who put me on the right track as a teenager. He was largely responsible for my making a successful life in Israel, where I have now lived for over 60 years! Thank God for people such as Max who made such a difference to us youth at Thaxted”.
Most Thaxted chaverim cherish similar memories — describing those years as the happiest of their lives. In
1955 Max and his young family made aliyah. After a short period at Kibbutz Lavi, founded by his former Bachad colleagues in 1949, Max found his vocation within the Ministry of Agriculture, where he served faithfully for the rest of his working life. However, in 1978, personal tragedy hit when the Kopfstein’s son David was killed on active service in South Lebanon.
Retirement years saw a move to Jerusalem and reconnection with other retirees from Bachad days, including former CEO of Bnei Akiva (UK) Asher Cailingold. Pre-pandemic, Bnei Akiva leaders from London regularly visited Asher and Max when their BA meetings brought them to Jerusalem, and would listen and learn from these distinguished veterans. Max died in Jerusalem at the age of 96.
Adam Waters (BAUK) writes: “Max was an inspiration for generations of Bnei Akiva chaverim — many of whom were fortunate to meet him whilst on BA hachsharah gap year programmes. Max was always happy to welcome them to his home and thrill them with stories of his time on Thaxted Farm. The impact Max made on generations past and present is unmeasurable, and Bnei Akiva UK would not be what it is today without him”.
Max is survived by his wife Sarah, daughter Michal, son Moshe, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.