Vilna My Vilna

by Abraham Karpinowitz

  Figure 3. “You find yourself walking down a vaulted street.” By Yosl Bergner from Avrom Karpinovitsh, Baym Vilner durkhhoyf (Tel Aviv: I. L. Peretz, 1967). Courtesy of the artist.

  We were spread out through Vilna from one city gate to the other, from Lipuvke, Ruzele, and Novogorod, all the way up to Shnipishok. We, city folk, were drawn to Shnipishok. Crossing the Viliye over the Green Bridge always held the promise of entering another world. There were many interesting characters in Shnipishok to listen to your thoughts. You could also share a kiss and a first embrace beside a closed wooden gate in the summer moonlight.

  Sometimes, in a foreign place, you get a hint of Vilna. You open a window and a chestnut tree, like the trees in Talyatnik Park, thrusts its disheveled crown towards you. It reminds you of your childhood, when people made ink from its shiny fruit. We no longer use the ink of our childhoods to write cheerful letters. We use it instead to extinguish our burning sorrow over our native city. Now, when we are so far from Vilna, so very far that there is no longer any place for longing, now everyone and everything appears more clearly. And when the string of memory is plucked, that world sings for us as though still pulsing, as though it hadn’t been taken from us forever.

  We moved through Vilna with a longing for faraway places without names. We were content to lose ourselves in a feathery cloud and swim across the blue sky. We didn’t know that a day would come when we would be flung across the globe, forlorn and orphaned individuals from entire families, and that from all of Vilna, only a pale memory would remain. When we swam in the waters of the Viliye, when our dreams knocked up against every tree in Volokumpie, when we lay on the soft moss trying to capture a bit of sun in our squinting eyes, we didn’t know that one day all this would no longer bring us joy but instead, only sorrow.

  We cut walking sticks and whittled secret youthful symbols into their fresh bark. We went out into the world in open shirts with buttons undone. How could we have known that the world of our youth would one day be soaked in the blood of those closest to us?

  What remains of our memories of Vilna? They bind us to the city. Despite everything, we are still intoxicated by the perfumed poison of the Vilna forests, by the fresh snow on the Hill of the Crosses, by the quiet song of the Viliye. We are bound by one longing and one sadness.

  May all of us, the last Jews of Vilna, throw a green bridge over everything that has disappeared, so that our children will one day be able to set foot there and understand our past lives, our past joys. About our suffering they know enough. May they taste the water from the spring in Pospieshk. May they cool their spirits in the hidden shadows of the trees in the Bernardine Garden.

  And in years to come, may they continue to sing, “Vilna, Vilna, Our Native City,” the song of their mothers and fathers.

  Maps

  Glossary of People, Places, Terms, and Events

  Story List

  Bibliography

  These maps provide a conceptual framework for the urban geography of Jewish Vilna during the 1930s as depicted in Abraham Karpinowitz’s stories. We have transliterated the place names used by Karpinowitz’s characters, rather than using the place names on contemporary maps. Because accurate records of the urban geography of 1930s Vilna are not readily available, we have estimated some locations. There are some locations we could not find.

  Map 1. The synagogue courtyard and surrounding streets. Map prepared by Michael More, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

  Map 2. Vilna and the surrounding area. Map prepared by Michael More, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

  Glossary of People, Places, Terms, and Events

  agune: A woman whose husband has disappeared. If she is unable to provide proof of his death, under Jewish law, she will not be granted a divorce and is not permitted to remarry.

  alef-beys: The first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are alef and beys. To “know the alef-beys” means to know how to read.

  amcha: In Biblical Hebrew, literally, “your people.” Similar in connotation to “the masses,” it refers to the poor, uneducated people.

  arrendar: A Jew who leased an inn or estate from a Polish or Ukrainian landowner. An arrendar could also be a tax collector or holder of the “lease” on liquor or kosher meat.

  Bar-Kochba: Written in 1883 by Avrom Goldfadn (1840–1908), considered the father of professional Yiddish theater, the play is “a stirring spectacle about the hero of the last revolt of the Jews against their Roman conquerors in the year 137” (Sandrow, Vagabond Stars, 61).

  Bernardine Garden: The Bernardine Garden is the oldest public park in Vilnius, located between Cathedral Square and the Bernardine Monastery. During the interwar period, when it also included Talyatnik (see below), it was the only interconnected stretch of greenery in the city and a favorite spot for Shabbes strolls (Briedis, interview).

  black candles: Black candles were lit in the synagogue during a ceremony of excommunication.

  Breitbart, Zishe (1883–1925): A Polish-Jewish performer, Breitbart was admired both for his strength and his physical beauty. Known as the “strongest man in the world,” Breitbart “bridged sports and entertainment by offering up athletic feats in an artistic format” (Gillerman, “Strongman Siegmund Breitbart and Interpretations of the Jewish Body,” 62). In the early 1920s, he had a mass following both in Europe and the United States.

  Breyte Street: Broad Street.

  bris: Ritual circumcision of a Jewish male, traditionally performed when the infant is eight days old.

  Bronetsky, Sam (1894–?): Bronetsky began his career in the Polish theater, where he achieved considerable box office success. Because of the anti-Semitism of both the other actors and the Polish press after World War I, he switched to the Yiddish theater. By his own account, “I started by speaking Yiddish like a goy. The audience was more amused by my Yiddish than by my acting” (Zilbertsvayg, Der leksikon fun yidishn teyater, 6: 5119). Bronetsky mastered the Yiddish language and worked in Yiddish theaters in Warsaw, London, Paris, Riga, and Vilna. He married Dina Halperin (see below) in 1931. They formed their own theater troupe and traveled for a year through the towns and cities of Poland, performing his musical adaptations. In 1938, the couple moved to the United States, where the press lambasted Bronetsky for the lowbrow, burlesque quality of his performances. He left the theater to work as a hairdresser (Zilbertsvayg, Der leksikon, 6: 5118–21).

  Bunimovitsh: Uri Miller writes that he feels “duty bound” to share his memories of “the people among whom I was born and raised.” The Bunimovitsh bank was founded by Israel Bunimovitsh (1848?–1929) and taken over by his son Tobiash 1867– or 1881–1938) who committed suicide just before the bank was declared bankrupt. Both father and son were very involved in charitable works (Miller, “Family Story”; Cohen, Vilna, 396).

  Casimir fair: “A large annual Lithuanian folk arts and crafts fair dating to the beginning of the 17th century . . . originally held at the two main markets in Vilnius as well as in the city streets” (Visit Lithuania, “St. Casimir’s Fair Weekend”).

  Cave of Machpelah: According to the Torah (Genesis 23:1–25:18), Abraham paid to buy the field where the cave in Hebron was located so that he could bury his wife Sarah there (see “The Life of Sarah” below).

  Chayei adam: This work, written by Abraham Danzig (see below), called The Life of Man in English, is an abridged summary of the laws found in the section of the Shulchan aruch (see below) dealing with prayer and synagogue, Shabbes, and holidays. “It was written for both Torah scholars and ordinary Jews” (Brown, “Danzig, Avraham ben Yeḥi’el Mikhl,” 393).

  chests of old prayer books and Mishnahs: Any Jewish book or page that has God’s name printed on it is considered holy and must be buried in a Jewish cemetery, not simply discarded. Such items are held in a repository until the community buries them.

  cholent: A baked dish of meat, potatoes, legumes, and sometimes kugel. Served o
n Shabbes, it is traditionally kept warm from the day before in the communal oven.

  City Synagogue: see Great Synagogue, below.

  Cry Out, China: Revolutionary play about China written by the Soviet writer Sergei Tretyakov. “The rebels turn on their tormentors” (Zable, Wanderers and Dreamers, 31).

  Danzig, Rabbi Abraham (1748–1820): Halachic authority and author, Abraham Danzig was born in Gdansk and moved to Vilna where he was appointed a rabbinic judge. His most notable work is Chayei adam.

  Days of Awe: The start of the new year, the period from the beginning of Rosh Hashanah (see “Rosh Hashanah greetings,” below) to Yom Kippur (see below) is known as the Days of Awe.

  Daytsh: German.

  Devorah Kupershteyn Folk Shul for Girls: In 1912, Devorah Kupershteyn, known as “the blind disseminator of knowledge” founded this Yiddish language school for poor females in Vilna. “The school became so popular, that it quickly became the largest school in Vilna, with overcrowded classes” (Abramowicz, “Pludermakher, Gershon,” 320-21).

  The Duke: This play by Alter Kacyzne (see below) was first produced in Warsaw in 1925 and achieved considerable success in Poland, Romania, and Argentina. The play “is based on the legend of Count Walentyn Potocki, known as the Ger Tsedek of Vilna, who supposedly converted to Judaism and paid with his life for his loyalty to the Jewish faith” (Gliksman, “Kacyzne, Alter-Sholem”; Y. Niborski, “Kacyzne, Alter-Sholem”).

  The Dybbuk: Written by S. Anski (Shloyme-Zanvl Rappoport), this play about betrayed marriage vows and the resulting spirit (dybbuk in Hebrew and Yiddish) possession is based on material the writer uncovered during ethnographic expeditions in Ukraine between 1911 and 1914.

  -ele: The suffix -ele appended to a name, as in Orele or Tevele, is an affectionate diminutive in Yiddish, similar in meaning to –ke (see below) and -y in English as in Bobby or Billy. Characters are frequently known by more than one name. For example, Orele is also called Ortshik and Tevele, Tevke.

  Elijah the Prophet: A popular figure in Jewish folklore, Elijah excelled in miracles. “He helps those in need, especially the poor and pious. . . . His chameleon-like disguises are marvelously clever and numerous” (Schram, Tales of Elijah the Prophet, xxiv).

  famine in Russia: “The most conservative estimate of the number of famine victims, from either starvation or disease related to malnutrition” in Soviet Ukraine during the Great Famine or the Holodomar of 1933 “is 4.8 million people. This figure represents 15 percent of Ukraine’s population at the time” (Magocsi, A History of the Ukraine, 563).

  Freeland League: Founded in London in 1935, the Freeland League hoped “to procure a sizable tract of land . . . where East European Jews could settle. . . . Its members . . . aimed to build a secure foundation for the continuity of their economic and cultural life (including the Yiddish language)” (Salant, “Frayland-lige,” 545; see Tshernikhov below).

  Funk’s: Funk was the name of a Jewish family in Vilna who owned a bookstore with that name on Daytshe Street (Brancovskaja, interview).

  Gaon’s Synagogue: The Gaon’s Synagogue was located in the Vilna synagogue courtyard on the site where the Vilna Gaon (see below) had once lived.

  Gemara: The rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah (see below). Sometimes the entire Talmud (see below) is referred to as the Gemara.

  Gershteyn, Yankev (1904–1943): A devoted Yiddishist, Yankev Gershteyn was active in TSYSHO (see below). He taught music at the Re’al Gymnasium (see below), and conducted two choirs, one for Re’al Gymnasium students and one for adults (Augenfeld, interview). Gershteyn was a colorful personality and an excellent teacher. His students loved him. He died in the Vilna ghetto hospital (Katcherginski and Pupko, “Gershteyn, Yakov,” 109–11).

  Giligitsh, Yoysef (1891–1979): The principal of the Re’al Gymnasium (see below) where he taught Yiddish literature, Giligitsh also taught natural science at the Yiddish Technical School in Vilna. In 1937, he traveled to Australia to raise money for secular Yiddish schools in Poland and remained in Melbourne. Giligitsh wrote scholarly works about zoology and botany (I. Pat, ed., “Giligitsh, Yosef,” 2: 213).

  Glezer Street: This street, Glazier Street in English, was in the original Jewish quarter in Vilna during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when many of the streets were named after the trade of the people who lived and worked there. By the interwar period, these streets no longer housed the shops of the tradespeople for whom the streets had been originally named (Augenfeld, interview).

  Khayim Gordon: Khayim-Meyer Gordon, the shammes of the Great Synagogue, is described in The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania as “a big, tall Jew with a white beard.” On July 4, 1941, he was charged by the Nazis with setting up a “Jewish representative body” and given one day to complete the task (Kruk, The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania, 52).

  goy: A non-Jew. Although in English the word goy has negative connotations, in Yiddish the connotations are sometimes negative, sometimes simply descriptive, and sometimes ambiguous.

  goye: A non-Jewish female.

  goyim: Plural of goy.

  Gravedigger’s Synagogue: In pre–World War II Vilna, many of the trades had their own small synagogues. The Gravedigger’s Synagogue was located in the synagogue courtyard (see below).

  Great Synagogue (also known as the City Synagogue): Originally built in 1573 and remodeled and restored a number of times, the synagogue had “the overwhelming grandeur of an edifice in the style of the Italian Renaissance and an awe-inspiring atmosphere” (Cohen, Vilna, 105). The building could accommodate between 3,000 and 5,000 people. “As its construction was subject to the law forbidding it to tower above the neighboring buildings, its foundations had to be dug deep so as to give it a distinguished altitude within” (ibid., 104). Damaged by the Nazis during World War II, the synagogue was destroyed by the Soviet authorities after the war (Venclova, Vilnius, 155).

  Green Bridge: A bridge over the Viliye (now called the Neris) River, it is the oldest bridge in Vilnius, connecting the city with the suburb of Shnipishok.

  griven: Fried goose skin. In other words, straight cholesterol.

  Grodzenski, A. I. (1891–1941): Aaron Yitzkhok Grodzenski was born in the Kovno (Kaunas) area. The loss of both his legs in a tramway accident when he was a young man did not interfere with his prolific output as a poet, novelist, and translator. He worked on various newspapers, first in Western Europe—in Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands—and then in the Soviet Union. In 1924 he began to publish the Ovnt kurier (see below). Grodzenski was murdered by the Nazis at Ponar (Kharlash, Der leksikon fun der yidisher literatur, 2: 333–35).

  groschen: A Polish coin (grosz), worth 1/100 of a zloty (see below).

  Groys Vileyke: The Large Vileyke (see Vileyke below).

  gymnasium: European high school.

  Halperin (Halpern) Dina (1909–1989): Born in Poland, Halperin first appeared on the Yiddish stage at the age of 15 as a ballet dancer under the choreographic direction of Sam Bronetsky (see above) who she married in 1931. They formed their own theater company and traveled through the towns and cities of Poland. In 1938, Halperin left for America where she had a successful career as both a theater and film actor, touring widely throughout the world, and as an artistic director. She divorced Sam Bronetsky and married Daniel Newman, a theater and opera press agent (Melamed, email; Zilbertsvayg, Der leksikon fun yidishn teyater, 4: 3167–73).

  Hekdesh Street: Poorhouse Street.

  Herzl beard: Theodore Herzl (1860–1904), considered the founder of modern Zionism, had a full beard, cropped just below his neckline.

  Hill of the Crosses: The three large white crosses at the top of a hill in the center of the city were a distinctive feature of the interwar Vilna skyline. They can be seen in contemporary Vilnius.

  Kabbalah: Esoteric Jewish teachings that form the foundation of mystical religious interpretation.

  Kacyzne, Alter-Sholem (1885–1941): Born in Vilna, Kacyzne was
a literary disciple of Isaac Leib Peretz (see below). He wrote dramatic poems, plays (including The Duke [see above]), and novels. He was also an accomplished photographer who was commissioned in 1921 by HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) to document the deplorable conditions of Polish Jews. Kacyzne and his wife and only daughter were murdered by the Nazis at Tarnopol (Gliksman, “Kacyzne, Alter-Sholem”; Y. Niborski, “Kacyzne, Alter-Sholem,” 839–41).

  kaddish: Kaddish is a prayer recited by a close relative daily for a year following someone’s death and on the anniversary of their death (see yortzayt below). Traditionally, this prayer was recited only by males. The son who is expected to say this prayer is sometimes referred to as the parent’s kaddish.

  Kagan, Siomke (Shimshon Kahan, Shimshon Kagan): A reporter and later editor for the Vilner tog newspaper (see below) (Jewish Telegraphic Agency 1935). According to Liba Augenfeld, a native of Vilna, he was “a poet and a real character. He lived with the Gypsies [Roma—translator], learned their language, and translated some of their songs into Yiddish (Augenfeld, interview).

  Kalvareyske Street: Probably refers to Kalvareyska (Kalvariju, in Lithuanian) Street, the main street in Shnipishok. During the interwar period, poor and uneducated working class and tradespeople lived in this neighborhood (Briedis, interview).

  Karpinowitz, Moyshe (1882–1941): Father of Abraham Karpinowitz, Moyshe Karpinowitz (known affectionately as Meyshe) was “a writer, critic, printer, typesetter, lithographer, painter, and even an actor” (Turkow, Farloshene Shtern, 1: 188). In 1905, he started a Jewish print shop in Vilna and briefly produced the Vilna vokhnblat, a weekly Yiddish paper for which he wrote theatrical reviews. After organizing a tour of White Russia and Lithuania for Sholem Aleichem, Karpinowitz began producing Yiddish theater. Between 1919 and 1939, he was the director, manager, and administrator of various theater groups and performances, both in Vilna and in others towns and cities. In Vilna, he created and managed the Palace Theater and then the Folk Theater. According to Hirsz Abramowicz, “The Yiddish theaters that managed to survive . . . in the cities of Poland in the difficult years between the two world wars, owe no small measure of thanks to Moyshe Karpinovitch” (Zilbertsvayg, Der leksikon fun yidishn teyater, 5: 3929). Karpinowitz’s dramatization of Stempenyu (see below) by Sholom Aleichem (see below) was produced by Yiddish theater companies throughout Eastern Europe. Moyshe Karpinowitz was murdered by the Nazis at Ponar.