« Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page »

{Page 469}

Pohost

By Chaim Kuntser

Translated by David Goldman

Donated by Jeffrey Mark Lackner


Pohost is near the Slutsch River, and is mentioned in the history of the 15th Century: 500 residents. There is an Orthodox Church, 1 synagogue and 2 fairs. (According to the Bruckhaus-Ephrons Encyclopedia)

I was born in Pohost in 1916 and studied in kheder and community school from 1920-21. My father Zvi was a shoemaker and a hard-working honest Jew. There were approximately 200 Jewish families and about 50-60 Christian families in town. Most of the residents were artisans and agricultural worker. Wagon-drivers from Pohost used to travel to Slutsk, Starobin, Vizna, Timkovitch, Uretcha, and transported travelers and merchandise. There were also small merchants, storekeepers and shipbuilders.

Market fairs were held twice a year in Pohost, and large markets on Sundays. From time to time rafts would float by on the nearby Slutsch River. There were two synagogues in town – a House of Study [Beit Midrash] and a “Cold Synagogue” [sometimes a euphemism for a non-chassidic synagogue]. At first there was only one ritual slaughterer, R. Yaakov Leizer the Ritual Slaughterer, who was later joined by a second, R. Alter Marshak. There was one rabbi, and Arka Aronovitch, in addition to being the caretaker [it is unclear whether he was the caretaker (shamesh) of one or the other synagogue, or served as an assistant to the rabbi], was also responsible for the Jewish cemetery. In Pohost there was a Christian country doctor named Rakovetz. There were two pharmacists, one of whom, I recall, was named Tchiptchin.

Until 1920 there were kheders [religious elementary schools] in Pohost, and two government-run Russian schools: one went up to the 4th grade, and the second to the 7th.

In the Jewish school (that had 4 grades) students studied in Yiddish and Russian, and White Russian [Belarussian] was a school subject. The kheders were closed in 1926-1927. The teachers were arrested, and then later two teachers – Itshe Ba’al Haturim and Hillel the Teacher – were released. Jews had to make heavy payments to prevent their stores from being closes. The property of the landowners/nobles was expropriated and their land was distributed to poor peasants and day laborers.

In 1932 the synagogues were closed, as were the churches. The synagogues were taken apart and rebuilt elsewhere as a theater and garage for the fire trucks. The church was turned into a grain elevator.

Collective farms [kolkhozes] and cooperatives were set up in town and cities to put stores and private enterprises out of business. Many of them [unclear who or what this refers to] were sent off to various locations, and tailoring, shoemaking and blacksmithing and wagon-driving workshops were set up. Both Jewish and Christian young people aspired to leave the towns and move to the cities. Those with an education got settled in their own profession, and the unskilled looked for any job they could find. Some Jewish young people studied to become technicians, engineers, doctor; others studied foreign languages such as English, French and German in education institutions in Minsk.

I worked in Minsk, and in 1941 I returned to Pohost for a visit. A couple of weeks later the war broke out, and the Germans invaded Russia and bombed all the airports in Minsk and Slutsk. I traveled to Slutsk by foot, was drafted into the army there, and then sent to Minsk. Fifty airplanes bombed Minsk, which was now on fire. I experienced many things in various places, fought as a soldier in the Red Army in a number of battles, and remained alive. In June 1946 I was sent on a mission from Gomel to Minsk. The city was in ruins, and I arrived in Slutsk in the morning by train. Everything was burned down on Zaretsa Street; only the bathhouse remained standing. The streets were destroyed, and everything was in piles of bricks and ash. The old market was totally unrecognizable. I wanted to sell some of my possessions, and ran into a couple of Jews. They told me that they had returned from deep within Russia, and that another couple of people survived as partisans. They tearfully told me that everything was lost, and wondered about the fate of their loved ones. I noticed small boards, booths and a couple of Jewish stores with half-empty shelves, and a couple of restaurants.

{Page 470}

[photo:] First row, bottom, seated from right to left: Father, Zvi David Kuntser, son Chaim, Mother Roiza; second row, above, standing from right: Children Leible, Ethel, Michel and Sarah.

They asked me whether I had found anyone of my family still alive, a survivor or refugee. The city was really a huge Jewish cemetery. I met Keila, the daughter of Nachum Koppel, the dyer (she was our neighbor in Pohost). She told me that her entire family was killed, and she was saved by virtue of her Aryan appearance and documents, and remained with Christians. She was only 12 years old then, and once the Germans withdrew she went to live in an orphanage in Slutsk. I wandered through the ruined streets of Slutsk in a daze. This is Slutsk? There was death and destruction every step of the way, and I finally let for Pohost in a truck. The driver looked at me as if I were crazy. Why was I traveling to Pohost? Everybody there was killed. My heart was thumping and I didn’t ask him anything else.

I kept looking forward, trying to find Pohost. At the entry to Pohost I found the Christian homes still standing, and the center of town empty like a desert. My heart started throbbing and my eyes turned dark. I only saw the stones of the sidewalk and went into the house of our Christian neighbor Roman, a friend of Jews and an elderly good-hearted Christian. He got himself together and told me that the wicked ones arrived here, murdering and pillaging, burning and slaughtering. They had no fear of G-d, and those dogs only sought to kill Jews. Avramtsha Reingold of Pievesha and his two sons remained alive because they had joined the partisans. His wife and daughters, however, perished. The murderers shot his mezinik in one eye, and he was left with only one eye. In town I met my aunt’s daughter, Sarah Shapiro, who told me that her husband and
9 year-old daughter perished, but that she didn’t know what they did to them.

When the murderers were taking a group of Jews to the slaughter, the automobile stopped for a moment, and Sarah found the strength and will to jump out of the car and into a ditch. The Germans shot at her but didn’t get her. They didn’t stop, and when she realized that she had lost her husband and daughter, she started running after the automobile in order to share their fate. There was no trace of the people taken to the slaughter, and in depression she made her way to the partisans and worked for them. She cooked, baked, etc. When she returned to town she married Alter Epstein. I met Yankel Gorodnitsky in town, who had survived as a partisan; his son served as a captain in the Red Army.

The two brothers Yosef and Moshe Damnitch survived as well. Yosef escaped with his wife, jumped into the river and tried swimming to the other side. The Germans shot at them but didn’t get them. When they got across they ran into the forest where they hid and then joined the partisans. Unfortunately, the German police arrested them in the village of Sliv, and confined them to a grain warehouse, where they were kept under guard. At night they picked up a couple of boards and were able to bribe the guard and escape.


{Page 471}


Jews from town fell in battle as partisans in battle against the Germans. One of them was Yosef Zalmans.

According to reports, there was a gentile in town named Belka Riher who spoke excellent Yiddish. When the Germans arrived in town, he offered to work as a translator. He was appointed as an employee. Through his efforts the Jews were concentrated into a special ghetto in the priests’ residences near the church on Priests Alley. The Germans confined them there with barbed wire. There was almost not a single young person among those Jews, because they had fled to the partisans.

The gentile offered to kill the Jews so that no epidemic would break out. Eighty Jews, plus a four gentiles and a Christian woman were killed near the Nevolosch Forest.
The Christians were killed out of revenge. Three partisans were dressed as Nazi officers and went to the church, and by chance the gentile woman was standing there. They told her to call out the priest; as soon as he appeared they pushed him into a closed car and fled. The priest was found a week later hanging on a tree around Zolzevitz.

The partisans held a trial because the priest was collaborating with the Germans, and persecuted and informed on Jews and partisans. The Germans suspected that the gentile woman and four other gentiles were implicated in the priest’s death, and killed them in revenge together with the 80 Jews.

A couple of weeks later, the remaining women and children in the ghetto were shot on orders from the traitor Belka.

I spent 3 days in Pohost, and what I heard and saw shook me up. No Jews were there, and their property had been taken over by gentiles without any legal proceedings at all. I noticed my mother’s cow at one gentile’s house, and our stable at the house of another. Since I was still a soldier and owned a revolver, I drew it and warned the gentile to pay me for the stable. We worked out a payment: part of the money was in cash and the rest would be paid to me when I returned after being discharged from the army. I repossessed the cow, and no one dared confront me. I left the animal with an acquaintance on the condition he return it to me. Two months later I returned to Pohost after my discharge from the army and took the cow away to Luban, where I sold it to a Jewish woman. I also met my brother’s brother-in-law, Yankel Kavalerchik, and Baruch [un Bruchen]. Luban wasn’t as destroyed as Pohost, and was able to financially help out a Jewish woman in Luban who had to prepare her papers to travel to her brother abroad.

The survivors of Pohost moved to western Belarus – to Pinsk-Luninetz. I started weeping about my own situation, and decided to go wherever my eyes took me. I arrived in Baranovich. The rest is a long story: from there to Lodz, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, France; then I went through a lot with the ship, Exodus, and battles with the English; I returned to France and then went back to Germany. I spent a year in camps, and then on May 1, 1948, just before the creation of Israel, I finally arrived in Israel, where I participated in the War of Independence, serving seven and a half months as a Jewish soldier in Israel.

I still feel as if it were all a dream: from the little town of Pohost in the Red Army, destruction and chaos in the Diaspora to creating a new life in our own independent State.

{Page 472}

Pohost

Shmuel Mehrshak

Miriam Mehrshak

Translated by David Goldman

Donated by Jeffrey Mark Lackner


Shmuel Dov Mehrshak, of blessed memory, was born in Pohost and study ritual slaughtering. At 16 years old his father passed away, leaving behind a widow with five children without any means of livelihood. Since he was a ritual slaughterer, Shmuel Dov was hired for that position and was thereby able to support the family. He was a Zionist, and immediately became an activist on behalf of Jewish settlements in Palestine; he was especially devoted to the Jewish National Fund – Keren Kayemet, and in synagogue promoted the idea of each person sending mail using a kopek stamp of the JNF. Not everyone agreed that a mailed letter should cost an additional kopek, so Shmuel went to the post office that sent mail from Pohost to Slutsk, and asked that the postal official return any mail that did not include a JNF stamp, with a note saying that it required that stamp. This was how he made sure that everyone would send mail using the JNF stamps. Later, he spoke with the synagogue’s Torah reader who was a Zionist, and they decided that anyone called up to the Torah would have to promise to make a contribution to the JNF. Anyone who didn’t want to promise to contribute was not given an aliyah during the Torah reading. This is how he gradually made all the Jews of Pohost Zionists.

In 1912, the community of Slutsk was looking for a new ritual slaughterer, and my husband got the position. He did very well on the examination, but the rabbi, R. Isser Zalman Meltzer was against him. “It is true,” he said, “that everyone likes you. However, we cannot take you as ritual slaughterer.” Shmuel asked the reason, and the rabbi responded, “It’s because people say you are a Zionist.” “Yes, rabbi, I won’t lie. I am a Zionist,” Shmuel said. The rabbi then told him that as soon as he gave up Zionism he would be hired.” Shmuel responded, “You’ll become a Zionist before I ever give up Zionism.” Nevertheless, he obtained the position, and we moved to Slutsk.

As soon as he arrived in Slutsk Shmuel again began working on behalf of Zionism, and encountered open territory for his activities. He visited the kheders and told them to teach Hebrew to the children. He and Leibush Gutzeit brought a kindergarten teacher from Vilna and opened a Hebrew-speaking kindergarten. They also established a community Zionist organization, and Shmuel planted the seeds of Zionism in the hearts of his own children. His work continued until World War I.

In 1914 food and clothing became scarce for some of the Jews. Together with Leibush Gutzeit and Dr. Shilderkraut, Shmuel became active in assisting them. Meat, white flour, rice, oil, canned products and old clothes were sent from the United States. The local committee met for four hours a day, distributing assistance to needy people. There was also a charity fund.

When the Bolsheviks arrived in Slutsk, our children were arrested – first a son, and then a daughter. When Jewish slaughtering was prohibited, we contacted my sister, who brought us to the United States. My husband found a position as a ritual slaughterer in Rochester, where he looked for a Zionist organization. He also found a Mizrachi women’s organization for me. However, he didn’t want to join the General Zionists or Poalei Zion, so he joined the Mizrachi association.

In addition to his activities for the JNF, he devoted a great deal of time to the Talmud Torah school, with the purpose of strengthening Jewish education through teaching children in Hebrew and through the spirit of Zionism.


Kapoli

This location had been settled very early; bone and stone tools were found here. In the 14th century Kapoli was named a city, and was a special principality – like Slutsk – during the period of the Lithuanian regime. At the beginning of the 17th century it was transferred to Count Radziwill.

338 residents, 41 estates, Christian church, Catholic church and Reform church. Two Jewish prayer houses, an elementary school and two Houses of Study. A beer factory, 2 water stations and six stores.
(From the Brookhouse-Efron Encyclopedia)

Typical urban settlement, the center of a region, 12 kilometers from the Timkovich railroad (part of the Osipvitz-Baranovich network), 186 kilometers from Bobruisk. There was a butter and cheese factory in Kapoli. In 1952 there were two high schools (Russian and Byelorussian), library, movie theater. Agriculture: potatoes, fowl and beef, 2 collective farms, 3 machinery and tractor stations, 2 alcohol factories, brick factory, 7 electrical stations.

(According to the Soviet Encyclopedia)



From Newspapers

On April 11, a fire spread from a barn and burned down the city. Approximately three hundred homes, four Houses of Study as well as the large 300 year-old synagogue that had just been repaired were consumed by the fire in two hours. No one was able to save their property and that of the House of Study and synagogue. Thirty-seven Torah scrolls were burned in the large synagogue. Aside from the Torah scrolls and many other books that went up in smoke, Kapoli was in ruins. Only twenty houses on the hills remained unscathed. On April 13, the fire broke out again and consumed what remained, devouring fifteen of the remaining homes, including one Jewish house. We wish to publicly express our great suffering, and ask for aid and charity from all nearby communities. Please have mercy on the forlorn of Kapoli, and assist them to rebuild the community so that no Jewish community should disappear.

Honest Man of Kapoli
(Hakarmel, vol. 8, 2 Tammuz, 1866)

On Sunday, the 28th of Iyar, a fire broke out in someone’s home, and spread instantly. Approximately 100 homes with large storehouses filled with food and grain, as well as lumber warehouses went up in flames. All the property in the homes was also destroyed, resulting in enormous losses.
Benzion Kalman Rubinock
(Hamelitz, 110, 1887, May 20)

Yitzchak Berger was murdered by unknown assailants who used a wooden log. He was the principal of the private Jewish school in our town.
(Der Yid, vol. 33, 1902)

[Hand-drawn map showing Belarus and parts of Prussia and Lithuania drawn on 7/10/59]


Pohost

by Avraham Levine


Pohost is next to the Sluts River. It is mentioned in history during the 15th century. 500 residents, a Russian Orthodox church, Jewish synagogue and two trade fairs. (From the Brockhouse-Efron Encyclopedia).

[photo:] R. Mordechai Finkelstein and his wife, Batya

There were approximately two hundred Jewish families and sixty non-Jewish families. Most of the residents were artisans and agricultural workers, as well as small merchants, peddlers and wagon-drivers who offered a transportation services for people and merchandise from Pohost to Slutsk and nearby communities.

Almost every resident in town had his own garden, milking cow and fowl. There were two annual trade fairs in town, and the market was especially busy on Sundays. There were two synagogues in town – one was a House of Study, and the other was known as the Cold Synagogue. There had been one ritual slaughterer in town, and then a second, one rabbi and a synagogue custodian who also served as gravedigger. There were also two pharmacies and a Christian male nurse. Until 1920 there were still several kheder elementary schools and 2 government schools – one through the fourth grade, and the other through the eighth grade.

There are a number of families from Pohost living in Israel, including the Gur family (Garzovsky), the S. Ben-Zvi family (Retgon), the mayor of Givatayim, the family of Batya (Ginsberg) and Ezriel Shelo in Degania A, and the Chaim Kuntser family.


Shimon Ben-Zvi (Retgon)

He was born in Pohost in 1890 and received a traditional Jewish education in kheder, and the yeshivas of Slutsk and Mir. He was among the organizers of a group of students in yeshiva that asked the administration to provide secular studies as well. The group was expelled from the yeshiva, and Shimon returned to Slutsk to study as an extern student, earning a living from teaching.

In 1914 he moved to Palestine and joined the Labor movement. He worked briefly at Tel Adashim with a group of guards. He worked as an agricultural worker at Ein-Hai, Ben-Shemen and Petach-Tikvah, and was one of the first residents of Kefar Melal (Ein-Hai).

Shimon served as the Secretary of the Agricultural Workers Federation in Judea and ran the first workers’ kitchen in Petach Tikvah. He then served as Secretary of the Agricultural Workers’ Federation in Jerusalem, and when the offices were transferred to Tel Aviv, he went too.

He was the head accounting manager of the company, Nir. When the Borochov neighborhood was established as the first workers’ neighborhood, and was drawn to municipal government work as a local resident of the community.

As the council chairman (now mayor of Givatayim), Shimon served the neighborhood for two decades. He worked together with friends to unify the nearby neighborhood called Givatayim. Shimon was a member of the Haganah; was a founder of the Co-Op in the Borochov neighborhood (the first Co-Op store in Israel), and was active in many organizations. He was also a member of ORT, wrote articles in the publication Hapoel Hatsa’ir [Young Worker], and contributed to the pamphlet and book, The Second Aliyah.


Pohost, Slutsk District, June 23, 1888

Recently R. Noach the Persian passed through our town. He is known to readers of Hamelitz from his letters printed last year. When he opened his record book to show me the testimonies of the rabbis of the Minsk district, where he was this summer, I saw Hamelitz, Vol. 208 of last year in which there was a letter attesting to his honesty and devotion to those who sent him on his mission. After my question was not answered correctly, I asked to enter into a discussion with him. In the meantime, this became known in the House of Study, where R. Noach displayed his arrogance. It became known to all that the rabbi of Priluk wrote in Hamelitz No. 170, 1887 that R. Noach was a swindler and a charlatan.

I have decided to show him up to the community. He speaks in Hebrew even though during his stay in Russia for the last seven years he certainly learned Yiddish. The pages of his record book are not attached with a string, and the book only lists large contributions (the smallest of which was from the town of Starobin, 5 rubles). There is no mention of small contributions. Apparently he does his accounting only for himself. It is amazing that his record book only contains mention of the towns in the Minsk district, but no mention of all the towns where he has been receiving contributions for the past ten years. Therefore, it is appropriate that rabbis carefully examine this individual so that everyone knows whether he is a truthful person or not.



{Page 473}

Kopyl

Translated by Judie Ostroff Goldstein


Kopyl – a shtetl near the Komenka River. It was settled hundreds of years ago.

Utensils made from stone and bones were found. Kopyl became a city in the 14th century.

Together with Slutsk, Kopyl was made a special principality during the era of Lithuanian rule. At the beginning of the 17th century, the land was given to Prince Radziwill.

Three hundred thirty eight inhabitants, forty one courts, a Russian Orthodox Church, a Catholic Church,a Reform Church, two Jewish prayer houses, a public school and two botei medrashim [plural of besmedresh, synagogue, study house], a brewery, two waters mills and two stores.

(According to Brockhaus-Efrons Encyclopedia)

A community, a type of city, stood in the center of the Kopyl area.

Twelve kilometers from the railroad station at Timikhovichi (in the net Osipovitch-Baranovitch), one hundred eight six kilometers from Bobruisk.

There is one dairy in Kopyl that produces butter and cheese, two middle schools (a Russian and a White Russian), a library, and movie theater.

The surrounding fields are planted with various vegetables and potatoes. There are three garages for machines and tractors, coal burning factories, a brick factory, seven electrical stations.

(According to the Soviet Encyclopedia)




{Page 473}

Occupations in Kopyl

Mendele Mocher Sforim

(Extracts from Shlomo, Reb Chaim's)


One of the main occupations that made Kapulie different from all the other towns in Lithuania was “astrohonke” and especially “woven articles.” “Astrohonke” – this was a sort of linen, dyed dark green, and laid together in pieces from a certain number of arshin [a measure of length formerly used in Russia, equal to 28 inches] that would be used mainly as linings and also for caftans for the poor.

Why was this linen called “astrohonke?” This was never explained in the history of the shtetl. A bleached piece of linen, long and narrow like a towel was called a veil, also made by the shtetl weavers. With the look of a towel, the women wound them around their heads, over their bonnets, tying them behind at the nape, leaving two large corners hanging in the shape of a windmill and two smaller ones on the sides that were called “fans.” The veiled head was like a hoop wrapped in a folded shawl, twisted, with a knot on the forehead and the corners of the shawl tucked in or pinned, one on each side of the head. Old, pious women and those of the middle-class wore the knot in the front of the head, like a “ shel rosh” [phylactery worn on the head by men] on the forehead. Young, modern women, shoved the knot a little to the side. On the Sabbath and holidays they wore silk, cashmere or Turkish shawls and during the week, woolen ones with large flowers – apple shawls. Both these types of shawls were given to brides as wedding gifts from the groom's parents. The bride's parents gave the groom a shtreimel [fur edged hat worn by Orthodox Jews on Sabbaths and holidays].




Map showing the area around Slutsk
Includes Bobruisk, Minks and Mogilev



This is what our grandmothers looked liked in a veil. The veil had to be white as snow, starched and rolled. Rolling the veil flat was a job for two women and one held the corners with both hands at one end and at the other end the other woman did the same. In this way the veil stayed stretched out between the women like a long, narrow gutter in which a large, round, smooth glass or iron ball was placed. One of the women raised her hands a little and the ball ran in the veil from her side to the other. The woman on the other end raised her hands a little and the ball ran back. The ball ran back and forth until the veil was smooth as a turner's lathe. To look at the women, they seem so earnest. They stand far apart, raising their hands with a shake of the shoulder, pushing out their bellies, laying their heads on the side as if to bend, twisting their noses, watching with their eyes and sending from one to other sweet, poisonous smiles, good conversation with stinging barbs. To see this, one would think there is nothing more beautiful in the world. To hell with today's theater.

This veil as well as the “astrokhonke” gave work to gentile weavers in the shtetl. Several had their own workrooms at home. The Jews took away the merchandise they had paid for. Each one dealt with his own weavers. Those involved in this trade were children after kest [room and board provided to a son-in-law so he could continue his Torah studies], or just finishing kest, or who still had dowry money. Reb Chaim's children already given in marriage were also involved and made a living from this trade. The merchandise was bought up by large merchants and sent to all the Lithuanian cities where it always sold well.

Everyone praised Kopyl veils. This was the profession in the shtetl and a lot of Jews made their living from this trade.

And suddenly an evil decree was issued. The evil decree concerned clothing – women were not allowed to shave their heads and Jews had to dress like everyone else! No more veils, no more commerce, no more income! It was as if the town had been killed. Everyone felt the blow, the weavers and spinners, small and large buyers. The tavern keepers also felt it as the weavers did not have money to even buy bread and certainly were not drinking. These were sorrowful times for the storekeepers. The artisans and everybody was touched. As fate would have it, more bad luck was in the offing. Suddenly one beautiful summer day, the season when fires break out in Jewish towns, there was a fire, a hellish fire in Kopyl. More than half the houses were lost. Among those lost to the fire was Fradel's parents' house. There were hills of ash where once there were houses. Naked chimneys stuck up from the ash heaps like gravestones in a cemetery. Hungry, displaced, scrawny, pale people, really living corpses, wandered in the streets. Some rummaged and searched in the handful of garbage that was their homes. They searched, as is said, for the horseshoes from a dead horse. They were searching for a trace of their household goods. And what joy when somebody found these valuable things under the ashes, such as a nail, a pot or several roasted potatoes.


The Kopyl Market Place

The shtetl Kopyl, as some know, lies in a corner on the side. Far from the beaten path, there is no mail, no bells are heard, aside from one; the ringing of the assessor's bell on his carriage.

But still it is not a foolish town. It is quiet, calm and law-abiding, concerned mainly with studying Torah [Five Books of Moses, the Bible], praying and important work. The Torah students labor in the kloyiz [house of study] in the besmedresh [synagogue, house of study, meeting hall] spending time, giving their hearts to studying and discussions.

Important work refers to the work of small taverns, small shops, small stores-these are called businesses. Not racing, not making a great uproar, or hoo-ha, not cracking the whip in far off places like Moscow, Leipzig, Krakow or Lemberg [Lvov], God forbid! Only small taverns, small stores for their own people or for townsmen or peasants from the surrounding villages. The peasant usually comes to town on Sundays riding on oxen with sacks of potatoes, beets, cabbage heads, also with a game rooster, an already smoked old fool. During the autumn, around Chanukah, this fellow brings geese, sheepskins and the like. He gets a drink of liquor at the tavern, one drink, several drinks, snacks on an old baked bagel and leaves to roam, a little tipsy, among the shops, to buy salt, matches, cheap tobacco; one man buys a red shawl with large flowers for his wife and the other a crimson ribbon to tie his daughter's braids – short and sweet. A shtetl it is called, and it conducts its trade, alone, between its inhabitants, quietly, slowly, and so smoothly, nothing for a rooster to crow about!… That is with the exception of several summer fairs where trade is a little broader and tumultuous.

There one truly sees all sorts of new faces: Here is the small town simpleton, with his head to side, a crazy, backward hat, caps, clothes of strange, wild styles. And there one sees hands, tapping something in the wagon, beady little eyes and twisted noses, that thing pretends to be doing nothing; also lots of hair, new fur caps. Squeaking bast shoes, smelly, thickly smeared heavy shoes of the village peasants with ugly wives, a string of beads hung around naked necks, and coarse linen embroidered shirts. The majority of folks are sitting, not touching.

Among spring onions and small baskets of eggs, is a recently born calf with all four legs tied up, yearning for the breast. The calf is strong, languishing in a loaded wagon, to which a cow stands tied by its horns. The cow is the mother, poor thing, and she is led out to sell, her milk to go elsewhere. This child of hers – this calf – is to be slaughtered.

Suddenly a hound runs from under the mountain of animals and humanity, lifting its wagging tail, kicking its hind legs and raising its back end. Now the drove of horses scream, an uproar, and hooligans crack their whips, lashing their sides. The horses will be exhibited at the horse market. Contractors (horse dealers) are the big experts. They look at the horses' teeth, treasures, and haggle and wrangle, all the while as they slap each horse on the flank. There walking about very excited is Grishka, the gypsy with his horse which is tall with a fat round belly, glossy brown hide and fiery eyes.

Leyzer Ber, the towns water carrier, upon discovering this merchandise, this lovely horse, is trembling, almost epileptic. But he laughs – a horse yet, a horse! Oy, pauper, pauper! Leyzer-Ber pauper, this you should not desire. This is not for your pocket. Well, as the gemore says, one must try. No – no, and maybe yes? Hey, Grishka! Tell me brother! How much?

A word here, a word there, the point is – a good man, Grishka the gypsy! Grishka sits on the horse, travels quickly here and there. The horse runs, kicks with his feet, stands upright. Grishka and Leyzer-Ber bargain, plead with each other, swear a death oath and smack their hands. They stick close to each, nose to nose in a corner of the floor – here, another ruble! To make it even one more ruble! Also, a stubborn man! A final price! Now they nail down the agreement, saying, “Agreed! You should have good fortune!”

They drink to it, Leyzer Ber takes the bargain, and goes home drunk with joy.

Meanwhile the summer sun bakes and overheated faces run with sweat. The men go off for a drink. Not a drop of water in the pails. The noise from the tumult is everywhere, Over there a group flocks something amazing. A show booth exposes wild crazies, among them a man-eater, horrible winged animals, witches, and devils. A comedian stands in trousers with spangles of all different colors. He blows a trumpet, calls people inside to see the show – a marionette show. He does somersaults, rolls, he talks to the crowd that stands gaping and stupefied. They are splitting their sides laughing at this antics. Then a scream is heard from the corner of the market – a fight! A gypsy is being beaten and slapped!

Listen to this story: Leyzer-Ber goes to see the horse in a couple of hours and he does not recognize it. Where is the horse? What horse, only a ghost – the ghost should only infect that gypsy!

Where is the stomach? This horse is old, scrawny, skin and bones. See what a gypsy is capable of! He blew up the horse under its skin. He also filed the teeth and gave him some herbs – sneeze-wort in liquor. These herbs warmed up the horse enabling it to stand upright, start its fee – a fire burning!

Now a circle of people forms around a newly arrived person with an accordion, an important person, a musician, who gives a concert! He moves the accordion and it plays, songs. A small monkey all dressed up in human clothes dances on its hind legs, a small girl in pants jumps through a hoop, and a pale, mute young boy walks around on his hands with his feet in the air. The crowd quivers, mad about this amazing display – they have never seen or heard such artistry!

Meanwhile time does not stand still. Hour after hour is passing until, little by little, afternoon shadows are spreading. The market place says a song of praise! Somewhere in a wagon, a tied pig squeals. He is hungry, tired of lying the entire day without food. From a distance his is answered by the cow, tied by the horns, who is also weary of standing such a long time. Fettered roosters wait in the wagons, crowing in anger – such a long time to be separated from their wives!

Now all the animals start complaining. A chorus of calves lying stretched out, with a bleat, coarse and rough voices, chimes in. The sun is going down to rest. And the people begin to leave – no more fair!

Hens are walking about the market place searching only for a morsel to put in their mouths. Village cows, voracious eaters, constantly hungry, while walking, grab a handful of straw, a small bit of hay.

And young boys with sticks, sent from home expressly to find bargains, poke in the garbage. Just in case something good was thrown out, they will take it. At home a fire burns in the fireplace. Supper is being cooked. The men are in the synagogue at evening prayers. Night falls – hush, peace and quiet!



« Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page »


This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities. This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification. JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions. Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

  Slutsk, Belarus     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
This web page created by Carol Edan and Osnat Ramaty

Copyright © 1999-2008 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 4 Aug 2006 by LA