Memories As Things Were

Jews in Local Government

Translated by Jerrold Landau

{Photo page 41 bottom right – Reb Yehuda Mahler}

{Photo page 41 center left – Reb Chaim Mahler}

{Page 42}

Elections to Parliament

{Yiddish text – pp 42-42}

{Page 43}

It Once Was ... by Ruchama

{Yiddish text – pp 43-47}

First Years

{Yiddish text – pp 43-45}

"Chavatzelet"

{Yiddish text – page 45}

The First Olim

{Yiddish text – pp 45-47}

The Beginning by Naftali Shnier

{Yiddish text – pp 47-49}

The Tailor's Strike

{Yiddish text – pp 48-49}


{Page 49}


Dembitzer Jews by Mendel Wilner

{Yiddish text – pp 49-52}

{Photo page 50 – Reb Nathan Grünspan}

Teachers of Children

{Yiddish text – pp 50-52}

A story with a Man of Rank

{Yiddish text – page 52}

Teachers

{Yiddish text – page 52}

The Blind Baritone

{Yiddish text – Page 53}

A quite remarkable folk type in Dembitz was Reb Shlomo Mordkowitz, the only fishmonger in the shtetl. They called him Shlomo Monik.

Every summer he would wear a white linen suit. In the winter he would wear a fur coat, also with a white cloth trimming. In all his clothes he had deep wide pockets. From the left shoulder to the left hip he had a rope by which hung a flat tin flask with 93 proof spirit which was closed on top with a tin lid. In his deep pockets he had broken pieces of water bagels. In this outfit he would go out into the villages near the streams where there were fish. This is where he would buy his merchandise. When Shlee–am-ka (that's what the goyim called him) would arrive in a village all the goyim would surround him. He would give everyone a drink and with it a piece of a bagel from his pocket. With this he would buy their loyalty, and they would do anything for him. (Literally: Jump across the water for him).

Every Thursday Shlomo Monik would display his wares in the marketplace. The fine carps for the rich people and the little herrings for the poor souls.

When the holy Sabbath came, Reb Shlomo dressed in a black sheepskin coat in the winter, and a black cotton kaftan in the summer with a shreimel on his head. This is what he wore when he went to shul to pray. But in the shul he only davened shachris; for the torah reading he used to go with a whole group of friends to his shtiebel which they called the tailors' shtiebel because once only tailors davened there. There in the tailors' shtiebel which is called Yad Harutzim, Reb Shlomo and his friends would end their Sabbath prayers – they read from the Torah and recited the mussaf prayer. After davening, Reb Shlomo would invite the entire congregation to his home for Kiddush and a bite to eat. Pieces of buttercake or cheesecake and of course and it goes without saying, beautiful portions of fish. This was his habit all of his life.

When Simchas Torah came he made a really fine meal in his home. His wife Ita and together with a few other women would roast geese, they would also have fish and shnaps and a barrel of beer wasn't missing either.

Also, when the “chevre yidden” (Jewish group) had their fill of food and drink they would go with candles in their hands, singing, to shul to the hakafos – At the head of the group, the children and the grandchildren would go with simchas torah flags and with a candle in a potato or in an apple.

When the hakafos honors were given out, there would always be a scuffle (or argument) with, who else but the Gabbai, Reb Itche Shlage, for giving one of Reb Shlomo's friend a less than desired hakafos.

This is the way things were all the years until all of the group with Reb Shlomo amongst them, went over the world of truth (all died), before the first world war broke out.

Buffoons by Naftali Shnier

{Yiddish text – pp 53-54}

{Photo page 54 bottom left – Behind the Bridge}

{Page 55}

The Jewish Heart

{Yiddish text – page 55}

A Funeral by D. L.

{Yiddish text – page 55}

Guarantors for a Jew by. M. W.

{Yiddish text – page 55}

Help me, Reb Asher ... by M. W.

{Yiddish text – page 55}

Theater Plays by M. W.

{Yiddish text – page 55}

My grandfather of blessed memory, Rabbi Chaim Schlesinger, who was the ritual circumciser (mohel) of Dembitz, would go out to a village close to town already during the harvest season in the middle of the summer, in order to visit the one Jewish farmer in that village and harvest with him from a specially designated part of his field the wheat that would be used for the matza shmura. My grandfather and this Jewish farmer were the only ones who would be involved in the harvesting of this wheat.

The wheat was harvested and threshed with holy purity, and was placed in a white cloth. This cloth was not washed with starch, as starch was actual chometz ^[71]. Grandfather brought the wheat home in that cloth, and later placed it in a special place in the attic of the Hassidic Beis Midrash, next to the house of the Tzadik Rabbi Alter Pechter of blessed memory. There, grandfather spread out the wheat onto well laundered white sheets with his own hands in order to dry it properly. Only between Purim and Passover, once they had dried completely, did he sort out the “heads of garlic” ^[72], which were also considered to be complete actual chometz, and those who were extremely meticulous in the performance of the commandments would be very careful that not one “finger” should be found among the wheat that is being prepared for the matza shmura.

At this point, the wheat was transferred with great care to Reb Yosef Levi, who was the teacher of the older youths. He owned a hand mill consisting of two round stones one on top of the other, one moveable and the other immovable. There, at the house of Reb Yosef Levi on Lakbencin Street, the grinding would take place. Grandfather and myself, his young grandson, would grind the wheat together.

I became quite adept at pouring the wheat into the hole of the moving stone during the time of the grinding. I was very careful not to G-d forbid spill any of the wheat on the ground, since this treasure was more precious than gold. The milled flour was placed again in the above mentioned kosher cloth, and we brought it back home with good luck. We tied it on a nail near the ceiling so that the active “chometzdik” hands of the children should G-d forbid not touch it.

At the night of the 14^th of Nissan between mincha and maariv ^[73] before the search for the leaven, about twenty members of the Beis Midrash of the Hassidim would go to the nearby brook with new wooden vessels in their right hands and porcelain cups in their left hands in order to draw the “water that rests overnight” ^[74] for the baking of the matza shmura. This water was brought into the Beis Midrash of the Hassidim and covered over with white clean cloths.

After the congregation finished the maariv service the “water that rests overnight” was brought to the house of Reb Alter Pechter, in order to insure that no drop of chometz would fall into it. Reb Alter and his family were trusted to watch over the “water that rests overnight” as the apple of their eye.

On the next day, on the eve of Passover in the afternoon, the Hassidim would gather into a special bakery which had been made kosher and purged for this purpose several days previously, and everything was ready for the task at hand.

The “water that rests overnight”, and the flour had already been brought to this bakery. A large, long table was constructed out of boards supported on a framework. Already from morning, rolling pins made out of strong wood were brought to roll the matzot. Wooden piercers were also available to make the holes in the matzot, as well as baker's shovels to remove the matzot from the oven. Now the “holy work” of baking the matza shmura of the eve of Passover was ready to commence.

Dressed in their silk tunics and armed with their rolling pins under their arms, the Hassidim stood ready and prepared to fulfil the commandment of the baking of the matza shmura of the eve of Passover, their eyes waiting eagerly for the first dough to come out of the bowl, so that they can knead it in haste, in memory of the haste with which the people of Israel left Egypt.

As soon as Reb Chaim Schlesinger lifted up the first dough, it was divided up into pieces and distributed to the rollers, who were ordered to take care that from the beginning of the kneading until the conclusion of the baking of the matza, not more than eighteen minutes would pass, in accordance with the law. During the time that they were occupied with this mitzva, they would sing the chapters of Hallel^[75] with great gusto, such gusto that we cannot imagine in our days.

As the pierced matza dough was placed in the oven, each of the rollers would call out loudly “for the sake of the commandment of matza, place the matza in the oven!” in order to goad on the baker.

At the conclusion of the baking of matza, the community would celebrate with toasts of “lechayim” on plum wine (slivovitz) that was kosher for Passover, accompanied by soft boiled eggs. They would bless each other with “Congratulations! May we do this again next year, G-d willing! Next year in Jerusalem!”. Each of the workers would be given one or two matzos as a reward for their work.

The matza shmura would be brought home in white sheets, and would be placed in a special place apart from the regular matzos which had been baked about two weeks previously.

Thus did the worshippers of the Beis Midrash of the Hassidim in the holy community of Dembitz bake their matza on the eve of Passover with humility and trepidation.

{Photo at bottom of page 56 – Reb Efraim Steinhauer, the medic}


{Page 57}


Portraits from Dembitz by Daniel Leibel

Rabbi Reuben's Sabbaths

{Yiddish text – pp 57-58}

In Shkole

{Yiddish text – pp 58-59}

By the Ice

{Yiddish text – pp 59-60}

Between Two Worlds

{Yiddish text – pp 60-61}

The main barracks were at first in a building rented from a Jew in the corner of the market plaza. The training grounds for the cavalrymen (reitshul) extended the entire length of the area behind the row of buildings of the market. The Jewish children of the area would spend many hours at the edge of the field watching the training exercises, and on frequent occasions the captains would send the riders after them, so that they could enjoy the spectacle of the hasty flight of the payos clad youths.

Nevertheless, there was one time in the year when the Austrian captains relied on the good will of the young Jews at the edge of the field. At that time, the schoolroom (cheder) of Reb Nachum “the teacher from Tarnow”, was located in a poor clay house next to the “reitshul”. As the days of Passover approached, the students were learning the Song of Songs ^[76] with its heartwarming melody. As the sound of the song reached the open windows of the captains in charge of the training field, they would stop their exercises for a while and stand by the windows of the cheder in order to listen to the song. When the cheder assistant (belfer) realized that the gentiles were enjoying the singing, he would encourage the children to sing with greater strength, and the children, who barely needed this encouragement would, with glittering eyes and joyous voices, break out in song: “Shir – a song, Hashirim – of songs; all songs are holy, however this song is the holy of holies; all songs were sung by a king, however this song was sung by a king the son of a king; all songs were sung by a prophet, however this song was sung by a prophet the son of a prophet, a king the son of a king, and a wise man the son of a wise man”…

This was just the beginning. The groups of captains would begin to throw coins into the cheder: copper coins and even small silver coins. Thus did the cheder assistant receive a special reward for his efforts. The second verse began. One of the children began to sing “Yashkeini”, and the rest of the children continued “he will kiss me, Minishikot Pihu – with the kisses of his mouth”, and so on. The captains were enjoying themselves as they saw before their eyes the peyos clad, unruly, Jewish children in a completely different light – in the light of a holy song, warm and living, serious and heartwarming. They tossed in more coins, shouted encouragement, an requested an encore. This was the day of victory of the Moisheles and Shloimeles over the knights and noblemen of the Austrian cavalry.

At the end of the last century, a new, much larger barracks were built at a distance from the city nearer to the Wislok river. The contact with the city dwindled, however the captains would come to town in the afternoons, especially during the summer, to drink and engage in further levity at the establishment of the gentile Srednicki, who made his living primarily from this.

They would sit next to tables that were set up in front of the store. Since the Jewish children enjoyed watching the captains, the captains would enjoy some fun at their expense. Before they would sit down outside, they would all arm themselves inside the store with handfuls of small coins and siphons of soda water. As the children came closer, one of the captains would throw a handful of coins at them. The children would begin to wrestle with each other in the dust of the marketplace. Battles would break out over each coin. This is what the group of captains was waiting for. They would direct their soda siphons all together in one massive stream of soda water in the direction that most of the children were congregated … to the great enjoyment of the merry donors …

The simple cavalrymen, who were for the most part drafted from amongst the farmers, were not able to permit themselves to engage in this type of fun. They would have been quite content if their honorable captains would play the same stunt with them, provided that they could buy a cheap cigarette “darma” from the nearby store. They had their own fun with the officials in the corridors of the houses between the hours of seven and nine, before the evening song of the guards which was the official song of the entire city. The children would accompany them with the following words: “Reitze, if you strike her she will scream; if you do not strike her, she will not scream” …


{Page 62}


Nicknames by M. W. D. L.

{Yiddish text – page 62}

Translator's Footnotes

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Updated 26 Aug 2006 by LA