Tag #146742 - Interview #83417 (Genrikh Len )

Her native Jewish shtetl of Krupki consisted mainly of small wooden houses. They were occupied by poor people, generally referred to as ‘ragged.’ But there were also people who had a cow, a goat, a piece of land, a large garden and a good house and who were engaged in the carrier’s trade. Everything depended on physical abilities and presence of the minimum initial capital. The rabbi was certainly in charge of the religious issues, there was a synagogue, it was obligatory to go to cheder, all Jewish traditions were observed.

Children, in spite of living in a small town, received good education, allowing them to continue their education in the future. They read, wrote, counted well and were smart enough to advance in their further careers. Boys could enter a yeshivah. There was also a school for girls who wanted to continue studying after cheder. Of course I can’t remember now what it was called, but I saw in the documents of one of my aunts, that she had graduated from some Jewish school, where they were taught needlework, languages, and were basically prepared for the family life. They studied, first, their native language, i.e. Yiddish, and secondly, it was obligatory to learn the Belarusian language, plus you could optionally master Polish or Russian. Hebrew was not in great demand then.