And there the old kheder [religious primary school], my well of inspiration
And with the rebbe, pointer–whip, lash,
A clear ray rises early in my head,
Rashi, Tosfos [medieval commentaries on Talmud] floats through with a sharp flash.

My love and dear shtetl, my dream of reality,
With Jews without an ein–horeh [evil eye] a very considerable community,
Clergy, small shopkeepers and rich men too
A few “simple Jews,” artisans, harnessed with a heavy burden.

Slim means of support, scant, the income small and weak,
No groshn [small coin] of one's own, everything done on credit and loans,
And behold, a surprise, such a remarkable thing,
[They] indulge themselves: shamosim [synagogue sextons] two and preaching rabbis three…

The Rabbi, Reb Yehoshaya, the “purest oil,”
Barely survived on nothing,
Sanctified the shtetl holiday, Shabbos, the week, with Torah,
Shared the bit of bread with every poor man.

Reb Moshe from Zabludowa, fed the feminine folk
Who brought him here, with righteousness;
Comrade Sorockin, it was a complete secret,
Supported himself through metrikes^[3] and the strength of the regime…

Reb Eliahu Machtey, oldest shoykhet [ritual slaughterer], a Jew, sweet as sugar,
He would slaughter a cow in the butcher's stall,
And as an experienced mohel [ritual circumciser], he was invited to every bris [ritual circumcision],
The reverberation of his shofar [ram's horn] would awaken Jews to repentance.

Reb Shlomo shoykhet, a Jew of an entirely good nature,
With a warm heart and wide–open hands!
Carried hope, help and consolation everywhere,
Often paid high interest for a “stranger's debt.”

Reb Josef Hasid, a quiet, dear Jew,
Did not tire pulling himself from house to house,
He forged a genuine chain of Yidishkeit [a Jewish way of life] from small coins
In the “judicial district” Yeshiva [religious secondary school] and in the small synagogue.

Reb Meir'ke, the geler [blond], do you remember him, the “eccentric”?
With spit and a twist of the nose, he laughed completely at the world;
Stood in the middle of the market dancing in a sack.
Gave all of the “show money” to the Talmud Torah [school for poor boys].

And Dovid, Chasha Leah's son, zealot, pioneer,
Ready to sacrifice for “a triviality,”
Broke every fence, every barrier,
Built a new “young Stolpce” in the Torah spirit.

The “teacher Alter,” dear veteran of Zion,
With youthful zest and silver–grey hair,
The brave man created history,
Planted ideals of Zion in the heart of a generation.

And who among you does not remember Motele Machtey,
The lightning–sharp mind, the busybody of the city?
Rabbi, alderman, Jewish character, “learned Jew”
Shouting commandments to the “upper crust.”

Do you remember the young man from Bialystok, the elegant young man
The gabbai's [sexton's] good son–in–law living on the community's fat kest,^[4]
Pretentiously strolled with cigarette and cane,
And led the shtetl by the nose to his kehile nest.

Reb Shaul from the bathhouse, our Carlsbad spray,
On Passover he would kasher the entire city in the boiler,
Honored the best Jews with strokes of a [whiskbroom] on the “upper bench of the steam bath”
And all of the bosses hot er gehot in bod.^[5]

Zlata Minya's daughters waited patiently to the tips of their very braids
For their betrothed and destined ones,
Their “appropriate possessions” were guarded as the eyes in their heads
With brooms they [swept] the dirt from Tsupik's Square after market day.

Chantshe's daughters at the “circle stores,” door by door,
Always dressed in spite like a wager,
Eternally angry, pouting like a true abscess,
Persuading each other of proposed matches.

And if you hear gevalt [exclamation of alarm] on Pormana,
With a clatter of plates and grating from clay pots;
Do not be surprised; the struggle is already very old;
The “wife of the glazer” and Yedidi's Aba are struggling.

Shmuel, Khashe Breyna's son, covered with many medals,
With a “helmet” on his head, brass buttons and a uniform,
Gives himself airs, self–assured as if he deserved respect:
Chief of the firemen, who is equal to me?

Reb Lipo Dorski, a dear Jew with G-d in his heart,
Sympathized with the shopkeepers' and toilers' need,
To help them earn a piece of black bread,
Built up a gemiles–khesed [interest free] loan fund.

A tumult, an uproar, in the kehile room in the evening,
Getzel (Sagalowich) at the cashbox and Rivka (nee Machtey – wife of Getzel) at the book,
Here, merchants and the blacksmith borrow and pay back
And bring home a sack of flour, a garment and a pair of shoes.

Rywa's son, Mordekhai Feywl, a Jew with feeling,
Would run in the middle of the night: and do not think it is a joke,
To quietly bring a bladder [rubber bag], ice to a sick one
Lay a remedy on his head to lower his temperature.

Day and night, Yosef the painter strove
When the taste was bitter, to bring help to the needy,
Through the biker kholim [organization to visit the sick], [a] doctor, medicine, prescriptions,
Healed the poor man with drops, pills and rhyme.