My mother was an educated woman by the standards of our town. She could read and write in Yiddish. My grandfather taught her to read and write. He had no money to invite a teacher for her and she couldn’t go to study at cheder that was only for boys. My mother had poor Russian. She could hardly speak it. As for reading, she couldn’t read in Russian at all.
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Displaying 48901 - 48930 of 50364 results
SIMA-LIBA NERUBENKO
My mother was religious and followed all Jewish rules. My mother always wore a kerchief. She didn’t wear a wig since she had beautiful hair. She had a good taste in clothing. I don’t remember whether there was a Mikvah. We washed in big bowls at home. On Friday our apartment was shining of cleanliness and my mother lit Saturday candles.
My parents knew each other since childhood – Kamenka was a small town and all people knew each other. My parents dated for few years before they had a Jewish wedding with a huppah under apple trees in the orchard, with a rabbi and kleizmers. The wedding party with many guests lasted for few days. There is all I know about their wedding.
We didn’t have a house of our own and we couldn’t afford to build one – every year we moved from one house to another. In those years when my father had a rich harvest and managed to sell fruit and jam well our family used to rent a small apartment, but when there were no crops we had to stay in poor houses and sometimes we even had to live in just one room. We usually rented houses from people that leased their gardens to us. Our landlords were not necessarily Jews – they might be Moldavians or German colonists 2. Houses in Kamenka were made of brick and whitewashed. This was a special style in Kamenka. Richer houses had wooden floors and poorer houses had clay floors. When my father earned more we rented two rooms and when a year was not very successful we rented one room. We tried to rent smaller areas to pay lower rental amounts. There were no comforts in those houses. Toilets were outside. We washed in big bowls and in winter. Fortunately winters were usually mild in the south of Russia, but sometimes it got cold and there was snow this process took a while – heating water, taking turns, etc. In summer we left some water outside and it got warm on hot days.
My father was a religious man and followed all traditions very strictly. He knew all prayers and knew which section from Torah had to be read on each Shabbat and which on holidays. My father was a very hardworking man, but he took his rest on Sabbath according to the rules. On Sabbath we were not allowed even to strike a match. There was a non-Jewish man that came to do all necessary work on Sabbath. We were a poor family. My father couldn’t afford to pay for a seat of his own at the synagogue, but he went to the synagogue on holidays and every Shabbat. When my father came home from synagogue our family got together at the table. My mother lit candles and said a prayer over them, my father said a blessing and we had dinner. We had wine that my father made. On Sabbath our parents took a rest and children played in the garden or went to see our grandparents. Sometimes our neighbors or relatives came to see our parents. They talked and sang Jewish songs sometimes.
We spoke Yiddish at home and celebrated all Jewish holidays. We, children, liked Purim when our mother made delicious gomentashy pies stuffed with poppy seeds and we played with rattles. At Yom Kippur we all fasted and prayed at the synagogue, even the youngest children. At Chanukah grandmother and grandfather gave us Chanukah money that was quite an event for us. Our grandmothers also treated us to potato pancakes and doughnuts.
Before Pesach we had to remove all breadcrumbs, bread and flour from the rooms. We usually took these leftovers to our non-Jewish landlords. My father watched that all rules were followed. Matsah was baked at the special place and was rather expensive. We bought matsah at that bakery. Our whole family went to synagogue at Pesach. When we came home we sat at the table and our mother gave us clear soup made from a special chicken fed specifically for the occasion. There was a bowl of matsah and eggs pudding in the middle of the table; chicken necks stuffed with matsah and chicken fatand gefilte fish. My father said a prayer and the older son asked him questions as required at Seder.
Our father spoke Yiddish in the family, but he could also explain himself to Moldavians and Russians.
My father used to call himself “tsarist or Russian soldier”. We knew that he was a private in the tsarist army. He didn’t participate in any military activities and I don’t remember him telling us stories about his service in the army.
Svetlana was very successful with her studies and entered the faculty of physics and mathematic of the Lvov University. Upon graduation she got a job assignment in a distant village.
In a year and a half she became a postgraduate in Kharkov University, but due to her family she couldn’t finish her studies. She got married and in 1967 her son Sergey was born. Svetlana’s husband wasn’t Jewish. Her marriage failed and we prefer to not discuss this subject. In a short time she divorced and returned home to Lvov. This was a failure of a marriage and we are doing our best to forget about it.
Svetlana worked at school and then got a job at a research institute where she worked for many years.
We didn’t have many friends since our family was most important for us. We didn’t observe any religious traditions. We celebrated Soviet holidays: 1 May, October Revolution Day, Victory Day and new Year. We also had birthday parties. I made traditional Soviet food: meat salad, jellied meat, cutlets, etc. Sometimes I made Gefilte fish.
Grigoriy helped my brothers and sister Genia that lived with us for a few years. He helped Genia with employment and accommodation and supported him. Once I said to him “If it hadn’t been for a Jewish wife you would have made a better career” and he caressed my hair and said “Don’t be stupid”. Our children were always aware of the fact that their mother was Jewish and they never kept it a secret. They chose to be put sown as Ukrainians in their passports – my husband and I understood that it would be easier for them to enter an Institute and get a good job.
Stalin’s death in March 1953 was a big grief for our family and for the rest of the country. I remember how our 11-year-old Svetlana closed the door to the toilet and cried there. It wasn’t customary in our family to demonstrate emotions and she was ashamed of her tears. My daughter believed he was like a God and didn’t believe that Stalin was like any other person in everyday life. This is the result of the propaganda and I didn’t think it was bad – we were also devoted to the Soviet power and served it sincerely. I had portrait of Stalin in our apartment. My husband came from work, saw the portrait and smiled. I guess he understood much more than common folks at that time. But even after denunciation of the cult of Stalin at XX Congress of the CPSU 13, when Khrushchev made a speech. Grigory didn’t express what he thought of this subject. He was a decent and reserved man. People discussed this speech and I heard things from my neighbors and acquaintances, but my husband didn’t even mention the subject to me – Khrushchev’s speech was only to be disclosed to the Party officials.
Our children studied in a Russian school. They were pioneers and Komsomol members. They spent summer vacations in pioneer and sport camps. They were sociable and had many friends of different nationalities. There was no national segregation between children.
Vladimir was not doing very well at school and it never occurred to Grigory to involve his influential friends to help our son enter an Institute. Our son finished a technical college.
I remember Oscar preparing to the Bar-mitzva ritual. He learned things and was very excited about the ritual. Everything went well and people greeted him on coming of age.
Oscar studied at the town Russian primary school. He also had an old teacher that taught him to read and write in Yiddish and Jewish traditions, but he didn’t teach Hebrew. My brother was very fond of technical things and at 14 he became an apprentice to a craftsman in metals.
On the first days of the Great Patriotic war my brother went to the front and perished defending Kiev.
My brother Syoma was born in 1910. In 1927 he finished a technical school, served in the Red army went to the front at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and perished in summer 1941.
My brother Michael, born in 1911, was my parents’ favorite. He finished a silicate college and became a glass specialist. He often visited us even when he lived in Leningrad (working at the glassware factory), far away from home.
During the Great Patriotic War he worked at his “Svetlana” plant in Cheliabisk [the biggest in the USSR plant of electric lighting bulbs, located in Leningrad].
After he left his parents’ home he didn’t observe any traditions.
, Russia
My younger brother Fima, born in 1919, followed into his brother’s steps and became a glass specialist, too.
My younger brother Fima, born in 1919, followed into his brother’s steps and became a glass specialist, too. He was born and grew up during the period of the Soviet power that struggled against religion. He didn’t have a teacher of Yiddish. Only few Jewish families took the risk of leading a Jewish way of life during the Soviet times. He didn’t have barmitzva since synagogues were closed by the time. He wasn’t religious but he was patient and tolerant about his parents’ religiosity. He was a pioneer and a Komsomol member.
Genia was a worker at the pharmaceutical plant. She died in Lvov in 1982. Her daughter Maya worked at a pharmaceutical factory, now she is a pensioner.
I, Sima-Liba Rotzenmar, was born in 1908. I was a very tiny and weak baby and got my double name due to prejudices of that time. The rabbi explained it in the following way: if the Angel of death came for Sima he would see Liba in the cradle and vice versa. It was believed to give me an opportunity to survive.
There was only one school in Kamenka and that was a Russian school. I went there when I turned 8 years old (in 1916). Before I went to school my brother Oscar that was in the third form began to teach me to speak Russian and Russian poems. When I came to school I had no problems with my studies. We studied only most necessary things: writing, reading and counting.
I remember the Civil War of 1916-1918. There was disorder and the power switched from “green kolpak” [caps in Russian] 3 to “red kolpak” 4 several times per day. Military troops came to town, but nobody could understand who they were. They took away food, cattle, clothing and other belongings and fled away. It was quiet for some time until other troops came. This was the period of political uncertainty. People were hiding in the woods or in their cellars. There were different colors of those troops that declared themselves a power, but it was only where we lived they were called “kolpaks’. They took away everything. They robbed even the poorest people. I saw few men breaking into our house. They grabbed whatever there was on the table and left – I guess they also starved. When Denikin troops 5 came all Jews hid at the synagogue and Denikin units didn’t dare to kill us there. I also remember a pogrom made by Denikin troops in 1919 but nobody was killed – the pogrom makers only robbed people. I also remember German prisoners-of-war that were taken to some place. They were starved. We threw them pieces of bread and they picked them up from muddy ditches.