Tag #147798 - Interview #78423 (Mikhail Plotkin )

I went to cheder when I was five, in 1920. We studied the Torah there. I studied the Hummash for two years. We didn’t come to studying the Talmud. All studies at cheder were in Yiddish. We learnt prayers in Hebrew by heart, without understanding the meaning of the words. I didn’t have time to learn Hebrew. We weren’t taught to read and write in Russian. I revolted in 1922 and flatly refused to go to cheder, as it ‘was not in fashion anymore.’ All my friends quit. ‘Mother, I will not go to cheder anymore.’ ‘What?’ She began to beat me, but I remained inexorable. The melamed, the cheder teacher, came and complained about me, ‘Your son doesn’t visit me anymore.’ She told him, ‘What can I do? The time is gone, not only he quit.