by Boris Zubry
Selling the Girl Scout cookies was illegal in Williamsburg. So was to be a Girl or a Boy Scout. The sport was not really promoted in the religious schools, and the kids from the righteous families did not play basketball in a little park there. Did you know that? I did not. Cookies? Girl Scouts? Boy Scouts? Basketball? Baseball? What a shock for the system. That was a system by itself. What a shock for the Girl Scout cookies, and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Good advice: keep your cookies well protected when you enter the Williamsburg area of New York. It could be important one day, I mean the cookies well intact. Yet, be gentle with the locals. They are not like you. They had been chosen within the chosen, and they may see the world in a somewhat different dimension from you. It is entirely possible.
Williamsburg is one of the most desirable areas to live in the present Brooklyn and New York City in general. What a location and so close to Manhattan. Manhattan is a short walk away, just over the bridge, on the other side of the river. But, you better be a Hasidic Jew. If you are, you will fit in better, and the surrounding may be suitable for your lifestyle, taste, customs, and the general constitution. It takes the right one to understand the rest. After all, the right blood leads the way of the religion, and that is why they and you were chosen. Most likely, you have related already in one way or many. Take the small number of people in the first place and multiply it by thousands of years and the closed society, and there you are. The paths of every bloodline in the nation probably had crossed here and there and for so many times. That’s where your genes may play a more important role than you think. That’s where your existence meets your genes. You are one of the same, only you are dressed differently. Neither you pray as much and keep kosher. How important is that in the twenty-first century in America? Does God really want us to spend so much time praying? Is not he busy already and maybe not listening? What are you going to tell him that he does not know?
Going back to Williamsburg, have you seen the streetlights there? These are the rarest and the most unusual lights in the city. These are the streetlights from the 20s, 30s, 50s, and even the 70s, and almost none from today. It should tell us something. Does it? What could be unusual about modern streetlights? That they work… Well, is not that what they supposed to do? Go and see for yourself. The rare streetlights are everywhere. You’ll be amazed and in a good way. Crime in Williamsburg was practically zero, less than a zero. Jews were powerful, rigid to changes, and unforgiving to misgivings. Well, everything was forbidden unless you really want it and do privately. That’s the ethnic trade. Is anything wrong with it? The cost of the rent and the real estate were much less than in the low and the upper East and West Manhattan. And, there was a reason for that again. Everyone, every Jew, should be able to pay for the place to live so, it should be reasonable, affordable, acceptable. Was it logical? It was definitely considerate.
The Italian, Irish, Chinese, and the other neighborhoods in Williamsburg (and there are a few) were full of the nicest and very tolerant people. What a compliment that is to New York City. Was it even possible there considering everything to consider? If these people could live together and in such proximity to the Hasidim, their strange looks, beliefs, and the customs, and not to express the disapproval and the hatred too loudly, they must be the most outstanding citizens of the United States of America. That is not mentioning the entire world or even New York City that was as strange as the strangest people living there. What an interesting group of persons. Strange, stranger, and even stranger than that, and all in the same place and that close to each other. They often lived next door to each other. Almost none of them behaved like that back home; back in the corners of the world where they or their ancestors came from. If that was not true, why do you think Jews ever left the Russias and the Ukraines, and the Polands with the Germanies in the first place? What do you think of the Spanish Inquisition? Was it because of the climate change, proximity to the sea, or the quality of the ice cream served in the local ice cream parlor? Why do you think Jews for more than a thousand years were blamed for anything and everything? And, every blame was successfully resolved with rich payments in the blood of whatever number of Jews the mighty hands of the locals could reach in the shortest possible time? And they were in a hurry. The officials could show up eventually and stop the disorder. You see, it did not look good, and the undesirable gossips could spread. There should be order. Yet, that was there and then, and this is here and now. People were smarter, better educated, and the location was full if not the immigrants, but the refugees that saw it all and left. They did not want to see again what they already saw before. What difference did it make how you looked or prayed or your customs for as long as you were a decent person? I’ll leave you be what you are, and let me be what I am. That works and quite well. What a difference in the approach to the same problem, and it’s been lasting for a few hundred years already. Yes, in America, only in America. Yes, in New York City and some other cities blessed with diversity. Jews, and the Gentiles… Living in the same neighborhood, on the same street. Being in the same place and at the same time. Have you seen the Gentiles stuffing their faces in the Jewish Deli? How about the Jews in a Chinese place or an Italian? Fascinating, is not it? What an unparalleled nation, this, the American one. This is the nation of the acceptance, tolerance, and, if not always love, but the respect and the values. Today, it is not better for one than for another. Well, maybe for some, but everyone has an equal chance, and anyone can make it. We have a chance, and we offer one as well. Just try and keep on trying. Who said it should happen on the first try. It may or may not, but you do have a chance. There it is. Take it. And, keep on working, and you’ll succeed. I promise.
The Williamsburg boundaries are well defined by the Williamsburg Bridge to Manhattan and the surrounding areas on the Brooklyn side. The neighborhood is roughly circumscribed by Newtown Creek to the north, Queens to the east, Flushing and Kent Avenues to the south, and the East River to the west. What a location. What a view. It’s like one of the wonders of the world. Is that where the Jews were meant to end up when leaving Egypt? So, they did; so, they did. North 7th Street segregates the two unique neighborhoods with Greenpoint to the north and Williamsburg to the south. One can get there even using public transportation like the subway or a bus. The subway stops in that area are The G train to Greenpoint, Nassau, or Metropolitan Avenues, or the L train to Bedford Avenue or Lorimer Street. And that’s the place where the Cohens as well as many other Jews from the Mogilev Gubernia of the Russian Empire and thus, from the rest of the world had settled down with the hopes for freedom and in anticipation of so much good. Good was in the air, well, most of the time, and not exactly everywhere, still in many places, and often.
God led Jews out of bondage once before, and it worked out for a while. This could be the second time or the third. Why argue with the authority? Maybe the Russian Tsar followed God’s will and kicked the Jews out so, they could come to America, and enjoy the good life for a little while? And what is next? Well, the Jews could stay wherever they were for much longer, or they could be kicked out again. Only God knew that and maybe for sure, but those were the options. Thus, do not take your hat off and don’t really unpack. You may have to go, and soon. But where? The Earth was not such a big place. Well, God knows. God was the one with the power of decision. But, he had the ability to apply force. If that decision was made, Jews could be kicked back to wherever they came from or to a new place, or to a place where they visited already centuries ago but did not finish what they had to finish. What was that place? Do you know? Do you remember? The Bible and the history books would keep you informed. That’s where the experts get their knowledge, the expertise. Who knows what that place and the unfinished business was, but maybe it was time to go back there, and find it out? Maybe. Do you think Israel, Jerusalem? Was it even possible? Every Jew from everywhere all over sudden would go to the same place called Israel, and then what. Are they ready, the Jews over there? Do they want it? Do they
want us? Maybe. Do you? But, could they handle it? All of it… So many. Perhaps. What if the next year they would be in Jerusalem. Knock, knock – we are here. Ready or not. What a story. What a dream. We would all meet in one place. Baruch Hashem! (God bless). Baruch Hashem! Is not that what you say when you want something so much, and it keeps pulling away, but you still hope?
The Cohens came from the Mogilev Gubernia (province), Orsha Uyezd (region) of Belorussia. The Orsha Uyezd, back then, mainly consisted of a multitude of small and large towns, villages, and the Jewish shtetls (settlements) with the total population of about 14000 people, and nearly 8000 Jews. Remember “Fidler on the roof” and Tevye, the Jewish milkman? That’s it, that’s the people and the place. It was almost the Jewish haven on earth if not for the Gentiles and the Tsar, and the government-sponsored anti-Semitism. Some of the Jewish towns were: Alexandria, Babinovichi, Dobromysl, Gritsevo, Gusino, Kochanovo, Liozno, Lubavichi, Mikulino, Orsha, Rudnia, Smolyani, and Starosele. And then, there were the villages and the hamlets.
The family of Cohens for generations, since the seventeenth century, when they arrived from Poland, used to live in Lubavichi. Before Poland, they resided briefly in Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Bohemia, and none of it, but Poland, lasted for any considerable period. The Jews could never grow the roots in any of those places and always got uprooted well before they were ready. The Ukrainian Cossack’s revolutionary uprising in Poland in the mid-seventeenth century resulted in the death of over 100,000 Jews living there so, the surviving Jews hurriedly went to Russia where protection was guaranteed, for the time being, by the Tsar. At the time, there were five to six hundred thousand Jews in all of Poland. So, every fifth Jew was killed by the Ukrainians, but do we know all of it? Did anyone really count the living or the dead? Back then? Back there? Did they care? Yet, the numbers could be close to reality considering the information we have.
The Tsar was growing his empire, and the Jewish skills were quite welcome. Some of the Jews were well educated and talented and offered the skills not easily found in the stone age minded Russia. But Russia wanted it. Now, Jews had a protector. With time, the Cohen family settled down in the Mogilev Gubernia of Belorussia. Back then, Belorussia was the most significant part of the Lithuanian Duchy, and the Russian Tsar eventually became the Duke of these territories. The land was plenty there, and the Tsar wanted to populate it, building a human barrier with Western Europe. Good and reliable people always were needed, and the Polish Jews were welcomed for the money and the management skills accompanied by the outstanding craftsmanship. Also, Jews had a big problem with the Poles and the Ukrainians and would stay on the side of Russia no matter what. They were not very loyal to Russia but would not betray it to Poland or Ukraine. Although Jews were strange people, they were known for being friendly, quiet, polite, trustworthy, very accommodating, and not threatening to the ruling regime. In short, they were needed and could be tolerated. Perfect. That was the understanding most of the Russian nobility supported. The decision was made, the Jews were let in, and the rules with some rare exemptions were made.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the entire Mogilev Gubernia had 85 Jewish communities (shtetls) with a total population of about 110,000 people. It was growing like mushrooms and prospering as it only could. The greatest Jewish shtetl in the gubernia was Shklov, followed by Mogilev, Dubrovno, Gomel, Tolochin, and Smoliany. At that time, Jews were moving dynamically from shtetls to the towns of Mogilev, Orsha, Gomel, and since 1880, they began actively to emigrate abroad. America was the place, but that was not easy. It was done not out of the desire for adventure or of the search for prosperity, but of the necessity. The times in Russia changed, and Jews were not welcome any longer. And, it was increasingly becoming dangerous, no matter where you lived. Lives were more and more at stake. The royal decrees of resentment, government-sponsored pogroms, and the military drafts forced the Jewish population of the Russian Pale to get up and to start moving shtetl-by-shtetl and town-by-town. Where to? What difference did it make for as long as you knew where from? It was a general consent that anywhere would be better, but some places were better than that. America, the entire continent, was on so many minds. As many times before, the Jews were on the move in search of safety, and a maybe better life. It was never the case of the greener grass on the other side, but grass or no grass, living or not. A new exodus was in the making.
The Hasidic movement Chabad was founded in the 18th century by Shneur Zalman of Lyady. The name of the movement - Chabad has derived from the initials of the words Hokhmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding), and Daat (knowledge). Shneur Zalman was opposed by Hasidic leaders living in Volhynia, as well as the mitnagdim (the opposition to the Hasidic movement) led by the Vilna Gaon (Torah Genius - Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman). Nonetheless, the movement spread the wings out and received many followers. Many liked the idea and followed the leaders with not too many questions asked. Was it good or was it bad for the Jewish population back then and even now is still open for a discussion, and often, a spirited one. Shneur Zalman’s teaching was confined in the TANYA (Hasidic Jewish book Likkutei Amarim, published in 1797). There, he developed a theosophical doctrine based on the KABBALISTIC principles of Isaac Luria. Initially, Chabad was centered exclusively in Eastern Europe, but after the First World War, it spread out to other lands due to the Jewish migration. That migration, as many times before, was forced by the wars where the Jews had to pay the heaviest price. If things did not go right for any of the fighting factions, Jews were at fault, and they had to recompense. Blood was a universally accepted currency. Whether they were guilty of anything was not really important yet, the claims were made at will. How could you argue with that? Who could argue with that? If you win, you die, and if you lose, you also die. But, if you stay quiet, you may survive. Blood was taken for payment, but money was much better. Yet, way too often, it was money, and then, the blood. Jews were so vulnerable and thus attractive for anyone with a weapon and the desire to hurt. They were many and almost everywhere. Protectors were a few and practically nowhere. Often protectors and the persecutors were the same. Often the pogrom organizers and the followers were wearing the military and the police uniforms. Sometimes they held important positions and were highly regarded, and frequently, highborn. The persecutors were well organized, funded, mobile, armed, protected, and free to do anything they wanted. And, the Jews had nothing, and no one to defend them. No one. If they fought back and, God forbid, killed someone, they could be held responsible. Back then, Jews had no lawyers, and the law had not become the Jewish profession yet. Life in the defenseless shtetel among the scared people relying only on each other and no other place to go was becoming too hard to bare. They took it for as long as they could, and it was time to pack up and move. That was Aaron’s ancestry, and, got tsu dankenhe (thank god), he was very proud of it. They were brave. With the lineage like that, how could one go wrong?
Even though many Hasidic sects and movements still exist today, Chabad-Lubavitch is by far the most well-known. Its public profile and the determination have produced a robust presence in many areas of the world, including the United States, especially the United States. Starting in the 1950s, the group's leader, Menachem Mendel Schneerson - the seventh Chabad Rabbi - emphasized the outreach to non-observant Jews to bring them back into religion. To increase the Jewish observance, he sent emissaries (Jewish missionaries) around the world to revitalize small Jewish communities and bring individuals to more traditional Jewish practice. They also wanted to establish Jewish communities where none existed before. That was not easy and often, proved to be impossible.
Yes, in some cases, it worked, but in most, it did not. Jews did not like to be pushed back into something they left already. Most of the modern Jews thought the religion secondary if at all. Was it needed? Was it right? Some believed that there was more harm done in trying to revive the old-style Jewish communities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belorussia during the Soviet Union times. The modern, well-
educated Jews did not go for it resisting every notion of religion. They liked some of the customs but saw their lives differently. And, when the Soviet system made even the traditions hard to preserve, the modern Jews abandoned it just doing what they could. For them, to be a Jew was an ethnic issue much more than a religious one. They were Jews or, let us say Hebrews, by blood. That really worked for them considering the place and the time. But, the Hasidic emissaries and the leadership of the movement denied those issues actively trusting in the teachings of Rabbi Schneerson. After all, for them, he was like a messiah. So, they kept pushing, and, as a result, many were imprisoned, and more harmed. To most of ethnic Jews, this movement was strange and questionably acceptable. But the religious fanatics blinded by the believes, could not understand or even see it.
Aaron was one of them, the Jewish emissaries. When the Rabbis called, he went. Despite his small stature and non-impressive features, Aaron possessed a powerful mind, and was ready to fight, and even to die for the cause. He was a believer, that’s all. Twice he delivered the religious books and some artifacts to the Jews in Moscow and Leningrad. They took the books, and the artifacts, but questioned his Hasidic appearance and the religious zealot. For them, all that was a novelty, and nothing more. Some of them read the books and put them on the shelf behind the Tolstoy and the Dostoevsky, but most just put them on the shelf. It would be better if no one saw those books in the house, but no one would throw them away. Books, any books, and especially, the books from the West were so precious in the Soviet Union. The Jewish books were even rarer than that. It was like to find something that did not exist. Risk? Yes, you may take the risk for something like that. It was worth it. So, they took the offering but kept quiet about the circumstances. What was there to tell? Why tell a stranger about a funny looking visitor from America and with a rare gift? Any stranger, even the closest one, could be from the KGB. Surely, the KGB knew about those people already. The KGB was everywhere. It was so true more often than not. The KGB did not want your books, but you, your visitors, and the like thinkers. Who are they? Where are they? Who else is there? Books… They just added to your guilt and your problems. If you were not too stupid, you would hide the books until the better times, and maybe not even read them. Safety was in your hands. So, stay safe, my friend.
