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Dear Hankus,
How are you and yours? Here is my latest batch of yizkor book material. Am
attaching 3 nigns that go with one of the books.
We are doing pretty well here. My daughter is out of hospital and back at
school, much improved and my husband is tolerating the chemo pretty well.
Happy Purim.
Helen
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Borislav/bor082.html
The Tys'mienica still flows
(Ukraine)
54°15' / 23°25'
Translation of A Tys'mienica Nadal Plynie
Written by Leopold Held (deceased)
Published in privately printed in Poland, sometime after 1978
They Rose above their Circumstances
Translated by Chris Wozniak
House painter, Strauss, and his son, Bumek[16] were renovating the apartment
of Kurz, the baker, on a spring day before Passover. Through the open window
came the sounds of a piano. Bumek slowed down and listened to the music.
Father's admonition awakened him as from a dream and the spatula fell out of
his hand.
Next morning, after a night full of dreams of the sound of the piano he came
back to work with his father. Bumek filled the cracks and whistled the tune
he heard yesterday. As he worked, he hoped for a repeat of the musical
performance.
Suddenly the door opened and a woman entered and asked Bumek:
"Where did you learn the tune you're whistling?"
"I heard it only yesterday, someone played it on the piano."
"Are you sure you haven't heard it before ? That's the piano concerto in
G-minor by Felix Mendelssohn."
"I'm sure, why?"
"That boy has got perfect pitch," thought the pianist.
"Please come and see me tonight at eight o'clock, at my place. My name is
Miss Theman,[17] I live in the flat next door."
Bumek accepted the invitation, certain that he'd get a painting job.
Instead he met Józef Malz,[18] a violinist, who was very well known in town.
On his way home, after he had a chat with both musicians and listened to
their performance, he felt as if he had wings.
Never before had he rushed in home as on this occasion, greatly surprising
his parents:
"Dad! Mum! I am going to study violin," he said, panting, "with Malz, for
free!"
Every day from then on he practiced for hours on a borrowed instrument. He
became familiar with scales and etudes. Malz commented jokingly on the
surprising progress of his pupil:
"It's nothing strange, after all his name is Strauss!"
It's difficult to say exactly how much time had passed since Bumek's first
musical experience, but there he was, by the kerosene lamp, filling the
music score with notes and marking the rhythm with his hand. And the
lyrics, the lyrics came rushing out of thin air while Bumek composed
romantic tango music.
One Friday evening he came home in a sad mood, stood up by a girl. He sat
down and jotted down the tune and words:
"All the neighbours are celebrating Sabbath but I won't light the candles on
this sad night...."
The song became a big hit in the town.
On another Friday evening Bumek left home with his violin, but never came
back. It was 1942.
------------------------------------------
When the Jewish amateur theatrical club was first organized in town, Josio,
now an adult, immediately became a very active member.
In the mid nineteen twenties the Vilnius Troupe arrived in Boryslaw. The
manager, Meisels,[23] employed Josio as an extra. That decided his future
career: the theatre! Hard work and ambition made him one of the best
performers in the Anski theatrical club. He became the favorite of
aficionados of Jewish theatre. He captivated Boryslaw's public in the title
role in the play by Gordin,[24]Derwilder mensch,[25] The song he sang could
be heard in every Jewish house in town:
Was I born from a stone ?
Or did a mother bear me ?
Was this world created only for the wise....?
God have mercy on us...
About that time Zygmunt Lew,[26] former member of Habima,[27] who was
organizing the Jewish theatre in Lwo'w, arrived in Boryslaw. Josio let
himself be persuaded to go to Lwo'w but came back after a few weeks and
later, in 1927, emigrated to Argentina. He made a career in Buenos Aires as
an outstanding actor and a supporter of theatre. He held the position of
secretary and then chairman of Jewish Actors Equity. He appeared in
numerous movies and theatrical plays, not only Jewish ones.
----------------------
Dolek Seifert[28] and his younger brother Avrumko[29] were sons of the
barber from Wolanka,[30] known as Berl Royfe. He successfully performed
some minor medical operations, including pulling of teeth. He enjoyed fame
as the best medical assistant in town. The father's abilities were inherited
by his sons but in the altogether different areas. The neighbours were
envious : "Look how lucky he is!"
Dolek early on displayed a great talent for painting, which developed
further as he grew older. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts. His
paintings graced the walls of prosperous industrialists and collectors of
art.
After a trip to Zakopane,[31] where his paintings enjoyed great success at
the art exhibition, Dolek was invited by Karol Katz,[32] the co-owner of a
drilling rig factory and offered a grant to study art in Paris. What
greater fortune could a young artist from a provincial town dream of?
Avrumko saw his future in violin playing. The flat of his parents was so
small, that he could practice only in the evenings, after the barber shop
has been closed for the night. Sometimes the more prosperous neighbours
invited him to practice for a few hours in their homes.
Years went by and the musical talent of the barber's son earned the
admiration of teachers of the Music Conservatory in Krakow. He worked there
during the nineteen thirties as an assistant violin teacher, until the
second world war. The town was very proud of its two greatly talented sons
who shared the fate of their compatriots in the cruel period of genocide
------------------
Bumek Strauss
SABBATH TANGO
All my neighbours celebrate Sabbath
All their windows twinkle with lights
Even though dusk has now fallen
I won't light my candles tonight
I won't circle the flame with my hands
and I won't bless those candles
Deserted and betrayed
what else can I say
Refrain
I love only you, it's only you I want
but you don't want to know me at all,
for the charm of your lovely smile
I'd give a treasure of gold
My heart cries over lost happiness,
All was so much different in the past,
I love only you, come and see for yourself,
give me back my happiness....
-----------
16 Strauss, Bumek: musician, composer and author of musical hits. AI Back
17 Theman, Miss: pianist.. AIBack
18 Malz, Józek: musician, violin teacher. AI Back
19 Doerfler, Hersz: called Alter Kowal (blacksmith) Back
20 Mauer, Mechl\: called Mechl\ Szister (cobbler). AI Back
21 Maurer, Josi: actor, had a successful career in Buenos Aires. AI Back
22 Melamed: teacher Back
23 Meisels: the manager of the Vilnius Theatrical Ensemble. AI Back
24 Gordin, Jacob. (1853-1909): Born in Ukraine, Gordin studied Russian
literature and worked as a writer in St. Petersburg. In 1880, he founded the
Bible Brotherhood, a reform movement of Judaism. After the movement was
suppressed in 1891, he left Russia for the United States. In New York City
he found the Yiddish stage in need of good plays, and for the rest of his
life he wrote over seventy original plays, translated, and adapted plays in
the vernacular. Jacob Gordin is credited with bringing new material and new
life into the American Yiddish theatre with free adaptations of the works of
major European dramatists, such as The Jewish King Lear. Other successes
were: Siberia;God, Man, and the Devil; The Jewish Sappho; and The Kreutzer
Sonata. (http://www.yap.cat.nyu.edu/Hires/Biography.asp?ID=68)
(http://www.bartleby.com/228/0852.html) Back
25 The Wild Man. Back
26 Lew, Zygmunt: actor of Habima , organised a Jewish theatrical ensemble
in Lwów. AI Back
27 Habima (Hebrew) "scene", It was the name of the Jewish National Theatre,
in eastern Europe and today is the name of the Israeli National Theatre
located in Tel Aviv. Back
28 Seifert, Dolek: painter, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, sent by
Boryslaw entrepreneur to Paris. AIBack
29 Seifert, Avrumko: violinist, an assistant teacher in the Kracow
Conservatory of Music. AI Back
30 Wolanka: suburb of Boryslaw. Back
31 Zakopane: Polish town in the Tatra mountains popular as a ski resort
since the 1860's. Back
32 Katz, Karol: co-owner of the drilling equipment factory, sponsor of the
young painter, Dolek Seifert. AIBack
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/jurbarkas/chapter1.html
The Memorial Book (Yizkor Book)
for the Jewish Community of
Yurburg, Lithuania
(Jurbarkas, name in Lithuanian)
55o5' Latitude / 22o46' Longitude
Yurburg is located on the North side of Neiman River 75 miles (117 km) West
of Vilna
Translation of Safer HaZikiron Le Kehillot Yurburg
Originally Written in Hebrew and Yiddish
and Contributed by
Organization of Former Residents of Yurburg
in Israel
Hebrew and Yiddish Editor: Zevulun Poran
Published in Hebrew and Yiddish in Tel Aviv in 1991
THE YURBURG I KNEW
By Mordechai Zilber
Translated by Irene Emodi, Tel Aviv
In a few days I shall be 63 years old (written in January 1970).
The best Yiddish actors would come to Yurburg, they also performed in Kovna,
the temporary capital. When they came to town it was a real celebration. The
people in town loved theater. Middle-aged people still remembered the time
when they themselves took part in the play " The Sacrifice of Isaac".
The actors of the "Kadish veHash" group performed the musical "Malkele
Saladat" and "Komedies" with songs and dance. There were actors with a
serious repertoire as well. When the actors were rehearsing for a musical
they would ask the town's Kleizmer singers to join them - the Polish man
with his violin, the one who played at the cinema and weddings, Mr. Fidler
with the flute from the wedding band, who also had a fish store and who
would lease fruit gardens in the summer, and the one with the big bass and
another one. All of them together, in a joint effort, worked hard to produce
the sweet melodies of "Malkele Saladat". The beautiful sounds could be heard
from the windows of widow Bilman's hotel. A large crowd gathered outside and
stood close to the windows, enjoying themselves tremendously. The theater!
Those were the happy moments provided by the theater. We were amateur actors
ourselves in those days, and we performed plays for "Bikur Holim" (sick
fund), "Mehabeh Esh" (fire fighters),"Gmilot Hesed" (charity). We didn't
care on whose behalf we were performing, the main thing was to act and act!
And the pretext helped. We performed the "Hasia Di Yetome", "Yankel Der
Schmid", "Mirele Efrat", "Mashke Hazir", "Di Spanische Inquizitia" etc. We
rehearsed for weeks, took down clothes from the attic, decorations etc. . .
. and the good Fidler, the barber, would take care of our make-up - on
condition we did not look in the mirror - so that we never knew what we
really looked like after his make-up.
................
TRANSLATION OF PAGE 74-78 FROM THE YURBURG YIZKOR BOOK
Once There Was A Shtetl
By Motl (Mordechai) Zilber
Translated from Yiddish by Yosef Rosin, Haifa, Israel
English Editied by Fania Hillelson Jivotovsky, Montreal, Canada
And then there is the second movie theater of Yurberik. Films are shown by
Pola Skeltz and an older woman. Skeltz has several trades but makes a poor
living. He plays music at Jewish weddings, he catches fish. When he plays at
a Jewish wedding, he would play a "Krakowiak". He is an ardent Polish
patriot and when he plays the "Krakowiak" he becomes very exited, sings in a
high pitched voice and stomps with his feet. After the movie is over he goes
to the boarding house at the Feinberg's . An old bachelor who, people say,
plays the violin in the middle of the night when nobody hears. I never saw
anybody coming to his boarding house.
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/florina/Florina1e.html
Florina
(Greece)
40°48' / 21°26'
The original text and the translation of Florina-nostalgia de una comunidad
olvidada
(Florina, remembrance of a forgotten community)
Written by: Mishel Sarfatis
Published (in Spanish) in the magazine Zejel Magazine #1 (Winter 1996),
Santiago, Chile.
Contributed by:
Moises Hasson
Translated by:
Norbert Porile
Florina
Remembrance of a forgotten community
Mishel Sarfatis
In the 1930's the community consisted of approximately 450-500 persons. They
followed both the traditional religious observances as well as the
traditional social customs in their lifestyle, hierarchy, and mutual aid.
For example, in case of a wedding involving a poor bride, who typically
worked as a maid in a Christian home and could not provide a dowry, the
Hochem called on the rich Jews in town to underwrite the wedding.
A typical custom of the newly wed couple was to move their household and
other trousseau items to their new home by horse drawn carriage. They were
accompanied by musicians playing their mandolins and other instruments, and
by other townsmen, who engaged in singing and dancing.
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/buchach/buc194.html
Buchach
(Ukraine)
49°05'/ 25°24'
Sefer Buczacz: Matsevet Zikaron Le-kehila Kedosha
Edited by: Yisrael Cohen
Published in Tel Aviv, 1956
>From the Town's Life
(From the end of the 19th century)
Translated by Adam Prager
Ayzik Volf Yurman was a man of several crafts, but the saying "many crafts
but few blessings" [Yiddish: a sakh melokhes un vintsik brokhes] did not
apply to him. On the contrary, he was a wealthy homeowner. Throughout the
year he worked with a carding machine, and at the end of summer he prepared
shofars, He had two additional year-round occupations: during the day he
traded in rags and junk, while during the night he was a wedding jester
[Yiddish: batkhn]. At weddings he wore two guises: a serious man before the
canopy, and one who would turn with his rhyming to the groom or bride,
causing weeping and tears among the women (especially when one of the
newlyweds was an orphan). But after the wedding meal, he would grow merry
and comical and would call out the gifts from the guests on the bride's side
and the groom's side respectively (droshe geshenk) ['wedding gifts']. At
weddings of wealthy people he would receive extra pay for reciting in Hebrew
and translating into Yiddish songs such as "ish khasid haya" [He Was a
Hasid] and others.
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/stanislawow-arim/niguns.htm
This Web Site contains translations of material from the Stanislawow
(currently Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine) Yizkor Book: Arim ve-imahot be-yisrael;
matsevet kodesh le-kehilot yisrael she-nehrevu bi-yedei aritsim u-tmeim
be-milhemet ha-olam ha-aharona, vol. 5, Stanislawow (Towns and mother-cities
in Israel: memorial of the Jewish communities which perished: vol. 5,
Stanislawow), Ed: Dov Sadan and Menachem Gelerter, Jerusalem, The Rav Kuk
Institute, 1952 (Hebrew, 430 pages).
nigns from stansilawow yizkor book
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Drohichyn/dro141.html
Drohiczhn; 500 years of Jewish life
(Belarus)
52°11' / 25°09'
Translation of Drohiczyn; finf hundert yor yidish lebn
Edited by: Dov Warshawsky, Book Committee Drohichyn
Published in Chicago, 1958
It's worth mentioning a few interesting stories that I remember from
my childhood. The first was the marriage connection between the villages of
Kholozhin (near Pinsk) and Horbacha (near Drohitchin) - the village where I
was born.
Rabbi Levinovitz wanted to marry off his daughter to the son of R.
Wolfka, the blacksmith of Horbacha. He wanted to do this because of R.
Wolfka's illustrious ancestry. Alterka, the eldest son of R. Wolfka,
returned home to Horbacha from Russian military service, and his father
decided to travel to Rabbi Levinovitz, his old acquaintance, to request
advice and a blessing. He was amazed to hear Rabbi Levinovitz say that it
was the will of Heaven that they become in-laws. Rabbi Levinovitz didn't
want R. Wolfka to think he was fooling Alterka into taking "cheap
merchandise," so he introduced his beautiful daughter Fruma as the future
wife of Alterka desired by Heaven, and extended his wishes for the match to
be a success.
[Photo:] The Kholozhiner Rebbe, R. Eliyahu Mordechai Levinovitz
R. Wolfka had no reason to oppose this sudden marriage proposal. On the
contrary, he expressed his fondest hopes for it, and returned to Horbacha to
tell Alterka the good news about the divinely ordained marriage proposal.
As far as I remember, Alterka wasn't all that enthusiastic at the
first meeting with Fruma. However, when he eventually became engaged to her,
he became an entirely different person. After returning to Horbacha from
Kholozhin, he became extremely enthusiastic, lavishing praise upon
everything and everyone, and spent four weeks talking about what he saw and
heard in the holy man's house. He recounted to his Jewish neighbors all the
miracles that occurred at the home of the Rebbe on the evening of the
engagement. One of his stories was as follows: When the Rebbe called on the
deceased relatives of both sides by name to come to him and bless the new
couple, a miracle occurred.
As soon as the Rebbe finished inviting his "guests," the light bulbs in the
house burst from joy. This meant that the holy souls participated in the
celebration, and gave their approval to it. Some Horbacha Jews wanted to
dispute Alterka's miracle stories, but he didn't budge from his claims.
I can still see the interesting scene at the wedding held in
Kholozhin. Since we were good neighbors, our family was also invited to that
wedding, though I must admit that the trip to Kholozhin scared me a bit. I
imagined that since people were traveling to Kholozhin, the Rebbe was a
preeminent scholar who would ask me a difficult question about a passage of
Talmud that I couldn't answer. I was scared of such an embarrassing
situation. I found out, however, that my fears were unfounded.
When we arrived in Kholozhin, we saw the unusual preparations and
pageantry for the wedding, and from a distance we could see the entire booth
for the large number of expected guests. The beautifully covered booth
appeared to my youthful eyes as curtains of the Temple in Jerusalem.
It goes without saying that there were huge numbers of people invited to the
wedding. Of all the guests and travelers attending the wedding, I was most
impressed with R. Yaakov Ivaniker, known as R. Yankele Ivanik (Ivanik was a
Jewish colony near Pinsk). He was a tremendous scholar and very pious, as
well as a clever and wise person. His cleverness showed through especially
when he became a bit tipsy in honor of the couple. Aside from the fact that
he didn't stop studying (he knew writings by heart), he added his own
beautiful sayings and ideas. For example, let me recount a couple of his
maxims that I still recall. He disapproved of mixed dancing, and decided to
interfere with some boys and girls dancing together by going right in the
middle wearing his long tzitzit, thereby making the festivities even more
enjoyable than usual, and causing everyone to break out in laughter. This
interference, however, upset one couple, and the young man decided to
protest. R. Yankele answered, "Why does it bother you to dance with me,
young man? Is it because of my long tzitzit? Forgive me, but you are
foolish. Whenever Yankele Ivaniker goes into the street wearing his long
tzitzit, everyone knows that it's Yankele. But when you go out on the
street, they say that you are a gentile. You'll then yell out that you're a
Jew, but who's going to believe you? You'll have no choice but to
undress..."
Here's another example of his way of chastising the youth: "The devil knows
what's doing with you. On the Fast of Esther you say that you're from
Haman's people (so that you don't have to fast), and as soon as you see the
Purim dumplings, suddenly you turn into Mordechai's people."
The morning after the wedding, all the guests went to R. Eliyahu Mordechai
to get blessings, and as was his custom, he would bless each person with his
hand. On the Sabbath of the week of the wedding festivities [Sheva Brachot -
Seven Blessings], he visited Horbacha, so that Horbacha also benefited from
the first Sabbath visit to their town.
Fate ruled that the Rebbe live in Horbacha. On the eve of Yom Kippur, 1914,
right after the village of Kholozhin was occupied by the Germans, R. Eliyahu
Mordechai decided to remain in the village for the holy day of Yom Kippur
without a quorum of ten men for prayers. Wrapped in his white kittel gown
and tallith, the Rebbe stood in awe and pronounced the prayers of Kol
Nidrei. Suddenly he saw before his eyes a bright light from the village
grain warehouse, which was located close to his house. Some supernatural
power pulled him toward that light shining from the warehouse, which was
being used to accommodate the Germans for their night lodgings, and he ran
out toward the shining warehouse. "Stop! Stop!" shouted the German soldiers
at their unexpected guest dressed in white.
R. Eliyahu Mordechai, who was already in his 70's and hard of
hearing, didn't hear the soldier, and continued rushing in the direction of
the bright light. Suddenly a shot range out, and R. Eliyahu Mordechai fell -
he was wounded from a bullet in his side.
Helen Winkler
winklerh (at) hotmail(dot)com
Helen's Yiddish Dance Page
http://www.angelfire.com/ns/helenwinkler
Calgary Folkdance Fridays
http://www.cadvision.com/winklerj/cff.html
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