My mother was born in 1900. She studied at the primary school for Jewish children. She studied in Russian. They didn’t study any Jewish traditions or Yiddish or Hebrew. Such schools were in various areas of the Russian Empire for children from poor Jewish families. Children studied to read and write in Russian and mathematic.
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Sholom Rondin Biography
My mother learned Yiddish and Jewish traditions from her mother and her mother learned them from previous generations.
My mother got married when she was very young. My parents got married at the end of 1919. My parents had a beautiful Jewish wedding. There was a rabbi at their wedding paying honors to the handsome and intelligent bridegroom.
Their marriagetook place during the Civil War when the Red army came to Gomel.
They incurred big losses and needed to recruit local men. They came to my grandparents’ home and told my father to get ready to go to the army. He was 20, his wife was pregnant, he never held any weapon before, but he couldn’t disobey, sine they might have shot him as a deserter.
They incurred big losses and needed to recruit local men. They came to my grandparents’ home and told my father to get ready to go to the army. He was 20, his wife was pregnant, he never held any weapon before, but he couldn’t disobey, sine they might have shot him as a deserter.
Shortly afterward my father perished in the town of Bragin (near Gomel) when he was 20. His comrade brought his belongings home at the beginning of 1920. Later my grandmother went to visit the common grave where he was buried.
On the next day in 8 days after I was born - the rabbi came to conduct the ritual of circumcision.
Shortly after I was born my mother began to work as a teacher at the Jewish children’s home. After the Civil War in 1918 there were many orphaned Jewish children and my mother was invited to take this job, as she had some education that was rare at that period of time. She taught the children in Yiddish.
In 1928 or 1929 my mother remarried again. Her third husband was a painter. His name was Misha Karminskiy. He was a Jewish man. My mother lived with him for a long time.
Gomel was a bigger town. There were 4 Jewish schools in it. When I turned 7 in 1927 my family asked me «Do you want to go to a Russian, Buelorussian or Jewish school?” I decided to go to the Jewish school. We spoke Yiddish at home and I decided it was natural for me to go to the Jewish school. I communicated with various children. Most of them were Jewish, but some were Russian. I had no problems and got along well with all of them.
The school I went to was very good. The teachers were wonderful. We studied mathematic in Yiddish, reading and writing in Yiddish and Russian. All subjects were taught in Yiddish, but the program of studies was similar to any other school and we were raised like any other Soviet children. There were about 30 children in our class. I remember Rasha Kapran, a young teacher of the history of the Jewish people. I also remember our teacher of drawing; I was very good at drawing. I learned the history of the Jewish people – I read in Yiddish how difficult their life was and how hard and trying times they had. I got fee lunches at school. They were good kosher meals. I was a quiet boy and didn’t take an active part in public life.
The school I went to was very good. The teachers were wonderful. We studied mathematic in Yiddish, reading and writing in Yiddish and Russian. All subjects were taught in Yiddish, but the program of studies was similar to any other school and we were raised like any other Soviet children. There were about 30 children in our class. I remember Rasha Kapran, a young teacher of the history of the Jewish people. I also remember our teacher of drawing; I was very good at drawing. I learned the history of the Jewish people – I read in Yiddish how difficult their life was and how hard and trying times they had. I got fee lunches at school. They were good kosher meals. I was a quiet boy and didn’t take an active part in public life.
I remember how I became a pioneer. Our senior schoolmates tied red neckties in the concert hall at school and we took a vow to be active fighters for communism, but I took little interest in this process.
I receive 16 rubles per month for my deceased father. My grandmother went to the town where my father was buried in a common grave and obtained a certificate from local authorities that my father perished for the idea of workers and peasants. 16 rubles was not so much money.
Life was good in the Soviet Union. There were pioneer camps where children could spend their vacations free of charge. One of the camps was in about 12 km from Gomel. There were children from various schools. We got ordinary meals (non-kosher), but I liked it there a lot. We had an interesting life. Our day began with physical exercise; we took part in sport contests and concerts in the evening. Sometimes we ran away to the woods in the evening to demonstrate our courage. I remember how scared I was in the woods when every stir scared to death, but we pretended we were not afraid. We learned patriotic songs and poems, mainly about Stalin. We loved him devotedly. He was the leader of the Soviet Union.
At school I tried to be a good pioneer. We collected waste paper and scrap, cleaned up the area around school, competed in our successes at school and dedicated it all to the building of communism and our chief – comrade Stalin in person. Meanwhile I went to the synagogue with my grandfather. I don’t remember that pioneers were not allowed to go to synagogue.
There were many Jews in the town and there was no tension associated with the issues of nationality. People spoke Yiddish in the streets with no feeling awkward.
My grandmother and grandfather observed all Jewish traditions: they lit candles on Shabbat, celebrated all holidays and followed the kashrut. They only had kosher food. Of course, I didn’t believe that God existed. I thought their faith was vestige of the ignorant past, but I respected their age and traditions.
1933 famine (3) was the same for us as for all other people. We sold our cow, because we had nothing to feed it with, we sold our silver dishes, but we still didn’t have enough to eat. My father’s brother Motl supported us and shared what he earned with us.
I quit school in 1933 to go to work to help my grandparents. I finished the sixth form. I was 13 at the time when I began to work with my stepfather. My mother convinced him to take me in his crew. He was a painter. Construction was in progress in Gomel at the time and there were 4 or 5-storied buildings constructed. I was an assistant at first. My stepfather paid me well for my work. I worked with him in Gomel for about half a year. Then he gave me an assignment at the Moscowskiy railway station in Briansk. We traveled to work there. I received 8 rubles per day plus accommodation and meals. It was a great salary for the time. We had meals at a canteen for workers. It was not kosher food, but it was well prepared and fresh. I worked with my stepfather in this way for 3 years. I became a professional painter.
I turned 16 and understood that I had to go ahead when I met a man that changed my life. His last name was Rozin. He was a very nice and decent man. He had a wife and a daughter. He was a Jew, but he was not religious. He was a painter and worked in “al fresco” (Editor’s note: water color painting on damp plaster). He made paintings on the walls and ceilings. He was the best professional in Gomel. I went to work with him. It was interesting work. My stepfather felt hurt, but I talked with him openly and he understood me. I needed to do more than I could working with my stepfather. In 1936 I worked in the crew of Rozin. We made paintings in restaurants, cultural centers and movie theaters. We had much work in Gomel and got assignments in other towns.
Many industrial enterprises were built in Gomel: machine building plant, Kirov plant that manufactured agricultural equipmentEvery enterprise built cultural centers, canteens and recreation centers and we got new and new scopes of work to do. There were almost all Jews in our crew; there were only two Russian men. We worked on Saturday, too, and in the evening we went out.
Many industrial enterprises were built in Gomel: machine building plant, Kirov plant that manufactured agricultural equipmentEvery enterprise built cultural centers, canteens and recreation centers and we got new and new scopes of work to do. There were almost all Jews in our crew; there were only two Russian men. We worked on Saturday, too, and in the evening we went out.
My future wife Faina (Feiga by her passport), nee Korol, was born in 1921. She was my schoolmate. We had common friends. We enjoyed going to dance in the park in the evening. We went dancing at weekends, as on weekdays I was too tired to go. I also liked cinema and theater. We went to the Jewish theater in Gomel. I don’t quite remember what we saw, but it must have been Jewish classic. Most of my friends were Jewish and we spoke and understood Yiddish. I was planning to marry a Jewish woman.
We got married in 1938. Regretfully, my grandmother Khashe Rondina didn’t live to see me married. She died of a heart disease in 1937. When we got married I was 19 and she was 17 years old. She was under age and her parents gave their written consent to our marriage. They had no objections, as I had a stable profession and could provide for the family. We had a civil ceremony and then a wedding dinner party arranged by my wife’s parents. My mother and her husband also came to the party. We could have had a religious wedding, but my wife and I were raised atheists by the Soviet power.
I moved to my wife’s family. They lived in a house located not far from my grandparents’ house. I refurbished the room that they gave us.
My wife’s father Usyel Korol was a tailor.
At present Gomel is a regional town in Byelorussia, but in the end of XIX – beginning of XX centuries it was a provincial town within restricted residential area (1). There was Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish population in the town. Jews constituted over half of the population of the town – there were over 5000 Jewish families.
Jews didn’t live in their own neighborhood in the town. They mixed up with other nationalities. Having neighbors of other nationalities people were bound to learn to be patient and tolerant. Jews were mostly involved in trade and handicrafts. Gomel is surrounded by the woods and its population lived in wooden houses.
Jews didn’t live in their own neighborhood in the town. They mixed up with other nationalities. Having neighbors of other nationalities people were bound to learn to be patient and tolerant. Jews were mostly involved in trade and handicrafts. Gomel is surrounded by the woods and its population lived in wooden houses.
The family of my grandfather Mendel Rondin resided in a one-storied house in the center of Gomel.
My grandfather Mendel was born to a family of shoemakers in late 1860s. My grandfather inherited the family business. He worked at home and later acquired a shop near the market. My grandfather only fixed and repaired shoes. My grandfather was a quiet, nice and kind man. Shoemaker was the least prestigious profession of all other professions that Jews had. Shoemakers were thought to be drunkards and uneducated men. My grandfather was different.
He was very religious. He didn’t work on Saturday. He went to the synagogue that was not far from our house. He took me with him when I was small. I carried his book of prayers and thales and saw him praying.
My grandfather prayed at home every morning and evening. My grandfather only read books of prayers. We had the Bible translation into Yiddish and the Talmud. I don’t know where he studied, but I believe he must have finished cheder and maybe Yeshiva too.
My grandfather prayed at home every morning and evening. My grandfather only read books of prayers. We had the Bible translation into Yiddish and the Talmud. I don’t know where he studied, but I believe he must have finished cheder and maybe Yeshiva too.
Their family spoke only Yiddish. My grandfather spoke Russian with his customers with an expressed Jewish accent.
She always wore a kerchief.
My grandmother kept her utensils for dairy and meat products at various cupboards and the rest of the family had to follow this rule strictly. Everything had to be kosher.
My grandparents were renting the house. I remember their Russian landlord that came to pick up the rental pay once in two or three months. He talked with my grandmother very respectfully. There was a big kitchen garden near the house where my grandmother grew corns, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, peas and beans. They also kept a cow in the cowshed in the yard. My grandmother milked it on all days but Saturday. On Saturday her Russian neighbor came to milk the cow. When my grandmother was ill my grandfather milked it and later they taught me to do it. They were not a wealthy family, but they led a decent life. Even at the hardest time they didn’t make an impression of a poor family.