Bobruisk, Belarus (Pages 631- 632)

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[Page 631]

Characters of Bobruisk

by Yakov Lifshitz
Translated by Maria Gilbert

A. The carriers

Bobruisk was well known as a trade town. It had two train stations, called “Bobruisk” and “Berezina,” and a river port (pristan ) on the Berezina River.

Until 1914 the town of Slutsk did not have trains. The goods (grain, fruit and such) were transported to Bobruisk on wagons, the business was carried out by the coachmen from Slutsk. These coachmen were known for their strength, their horses, and their wagons. I remember a family, a father and six sons, each one had three large Belgian horses and carried hundreds of pounds a week – they were called “the children.” The biggest bandits and robbers from the forest and the glass factory were afraid of “the children.”

Coachmen from Glusk [Hlusk] also came to Bobruisk twice a week with their goods. They unloaded the goods and made their purchases for Glusk the same day. They would race each other to enter the town first.

From early dawn people came to town. Everyone had to rely on the local carriers; they were organized in a cooperative. Yankele Mazin, a strong man (he could defeat professionals in the circus), was involved in the cooperative. Shaike Pazukha, a short, large-boned young man, he would lift at once four sacks of salt (each weighting around six poods ^[1] ), two under the arms and two on his back. Fishke Parkh, also a very strong man. Velvel Bulava, a redhead with curly hair. They were the spokesmen and no one dared to challenge them. They made a good living and did not deny themselves good food and drink. Such friends of Jews are seldom found, they would give their life for a fellow Jew! The market had a water pump; a payment of one kopeck for watering a horse was collected by an old Jewish woman. Many peasants tried to avoid paying; here would come the carriers and “honor” the peasant with a couple of good blows, as a warning for thefuture.

B. The card players

During market days three card players used to cheat the peasants in their crooked “lottery.” This was a game with three cards where the red won and the black lost. “The players” were: Abrashka, a tall, young man with a pock-marked face; Yosl – a short man with a close-trimmed beard; the third was a gentile named Pyotr, he wore gentile clothes, had a long blond beard and shoulder length hair. Their goal was to coax the peasants to bet on a card. The peasant would point to a red card, he was sure he would win. Abrasha in the meantime would shuffle the cards so skillfully that no one, not even a trained eye, would notice that instead of a red card the black one was uncovered. The peasants would lose large sums of money and cry for help until the police came. The swindlers were never caught, the police were not about to lose the “monthly pay” they received from Abrasha and company.

C. Drabkin's Theater

Drabkin's theater was a small building on Pushkin Street, located across from Reb Yoel Losinsky's house in a garden with fruit trees. It had an upper tier, boxes and orchestra with comfortable seats. The facilities were, understandably, primitive; when the curtain was raised, a black covering was lowered to cover the large ceiling lamp. Nowadays this sounds comical, but then this was almost an invention.

The best Jewish troupes and actors performed in this theater, they had various, but mostly serious, dramatic repertoire. Sam Adler, Genfer's troupe with actor Lie Bedayev in the lead role, Julius Adler, Morris Liampe, Rudolph Zaslavski, and others made guest appearances here.

I loved the theater and was a frequent guest there. Some performances used to take place in the garden. I recall that in 1906 or 1907 I was called to the “improvement room” of the Free Kitchen for an audition. The conductor asked me to sing a tune in the garden in Hebrew for Lag b'Omer. At first I was very scared of the public, but as I started to sing with emotion and tears, the public loudly applauded. I recall a song that was popular then, though the author is unknown to me.

Do you know the land where citrons bloom,
Where goats eat carob like grass,
Roasted ducks and ducklings are flying,
Raisin-wine is flowing freely.
And with lulavs [palm fronds] the roofs can be covered,
And almonds are growing on every stick.
Ai, ai, ai, to there, to there, to there, ai, my God, ai, for heaven's sake, ai, for heaven's sake!
To there, I would go, go, go, yes, ai soon...

I recall another song, parody on “Ya, khalili amali” ^[2] , which the “yevseks” ^[3] authored:

Nachum Sokolov, Weizman the professor,
A Jewish State with English permits,
Ya, khalili
Dogs will not bark, chickens will not cluck,
The Mezuzas will be put in streetcars.
Ya, khalili, etc.
Interesting, what are they saying now?

Near the theater was a billiard hall and Zeldovich's restaurant. The food there was not kosher, it was patronized mainly by officers and high officials; very seldom would a Jewish guest sneak in, hiding like a thief.

Translator's Footnotes

[1] pood = 36 pounds. Return to text

[2] “O, my flute, my labor.” This is a folk melody of Arabic origin about the importance and joy of labor, through labor one overcomes trouble. Return to text

[3] “yevseks” An abbreviation for “Jewish Section,” the name given to officials appointed by the Soviets to deal with Jewish affairs, they were known as anti-Zionists. Return to text

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