Vilna My Vilna

by Abraham Karpinowitz

  -ke: The suffix -ke appended to a name as in Estherke (also known as Esther), Hirshke (also known as Hirshel), Iserke (also known as Iser), and Itske (also known as Itsik), is an affectionate diminutive in Yiddish, similar in meaning to -ele (see above) and -y in English as in Bobby or Billy. See entry on –ele.

  kishke: A Jewish dish traditionally made from beef intestine stuffed with flour or matzoh meal, fried onion, fat, and spices.

  Kleyn Stephan Street: Little Stephan Street.

  klumpes: A Lithuanian word meaning “clogs,” the wooden shoes worn by Lithuanian peasants. When referring to Lithuanian people, the word is derisive and is similar in meaning to “hick” or “country bumpkin” (Briedis, interview).

  Krasni, Fayvush (date of birth and death unknown): In 1918, Fayvush Krasni took over the directorship of the library and thanks to his tireless work, Mefitsei Haskalah (see below) became the largest Jewish library in Vilna (Kruk, “Library and Reading Room in the Vilna Ghetto, Strashun Street 6”).

  kugel: A pudding. A kugel can be either savory or sweet (filled with raisins and lots of sugar). As a special treat, kugel was sometimes added to cholent (see above).

  kvass: A fermented beverage made from black or regular rye bread.

  Kviek the Gypsy King: “In 1930 Michal Kwiek . . . emerged . . . as the ‘King of Polish Gypsies’ and established a ‘royal dynasty’ that was to survive until 1961. . . . The high point in the life of the royal court was the coronation of the last pre–World War II king, Janusz Kwiek . . . in 1937” (Barany, The East European Gypsies, 102). Because the story “The Great Love of Mr. Gershteyn” is not precisely dated, it is not clear whether Siomke Kagan drank with Michal Kwiek or Janusz Kwiek.

  The Lady of the Camellias: Written by Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895), who adapted the novel into a play known in English as Camille. Dumas fils, who was the child of one of his father’s affairs, “devoted his plays to sermons on the sanctity of the family and of marriage” (Britannica Reference Centre, “Alexandre Dumas fils”).

  Lekert, Hirsh (c. 1879–1902): On May Day of 1902, Lekert, a Jewish shoemaker, participated in an illegal demonstration in Vilna. “The demonstrators were chased through the streets and beaten mercilessly” (Abramowicz, Profiles of a Lost World, 134). Many were arrested and further brutalized under direct supervision of Governor von Wahl (see below). In response, Lekert shot and wounded von Wahl and was sentenced to death by hanging. For many years afterward, Lekert remained a hero to large numbers of Jewish workers (Levin, “Hirsh Lekert”).

  “The Life of Sarah”: Chayei Sarah in Genesis 23:1–25:18, one of the weekly Torah readings (see Cave of Machpelah above and Torah below).

  Lunski, Khaykl (1881–1942 or 1943): A self-taught librarian, Lunski was the librarian and manager of the Strashun Library (see below) from 1895 until 1941. Most of the material in the library collection was not catalogued. “Lunski knew by heart the names of all the books . . . and their location, and could immediately locate the appropriate book that provided the answer to each question” (Shavit, Hunger for the Printed Word, 27; Abramowicz, Profiles of a Lost World, 260–64). Lunski was murdered by the Nazis at Treblinka.

  Manger, Itsik (1901–1969): Best known as a Yiddish poet, Manger used traditional folk forms like the ballad to express contemporary themes. “A lifelong enfant terrible” (Howe, Wisse, and Shmeruk, The Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse, 561).

  Mazo, Mordechai (1889–1943): One of the founders, organizers, and managers of the Vilna Troupe, Mazo was “a man of great intelligence, considerable knowledge of both Yiddish and world literature, and a fanatic commitment to highbrow Yiddish theater” (Turkow, Farloshene Shtern, 1: 64). After engaging in ongoing disputes with other Vilna Troupe members, he eventually resigned from the company not long before its demise. He was killed during the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

  Mefitsei Haskalah Library: In English translation, the Society to Spread Enlightenment Library, it was established in 1910 and “became the largest Jewish library in Vilna, in terms of both the number of volumes in its collections and the quantity of books circulated to readers. . . . The 45,000 volumes included in the library in September 1939 were as follows: Yiddish, 10,000 volumes; Hebrew, 5,500 volumes; Polish, 10,000 volumes; Russian, 18,000 volumes; Lithuanian, German, French, and English, 2,000 volumes” (Kruk, “Library and Reading Room,” 174).

  minyan: Ten adult men, comprising a minyan, are required for certain Jewish religious obligations, notably communal prayer.

  Mishnah: One of the two components of the Talmud (see below), the Mishnah was the first written compendium of Judaism’s oral law, c. 100 CE.

  Mitchurin, Professor Ivan Vladimirovich (1855–1935): According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Mitchurin was a Russian horticulturist who developed “more than 300 new types of fruit trees and berries in an attempt to prove the inheritance of acquired characteristics. . . . [His] theories of hybridization . . . were adopted as the official science of genetics by the Soviet regime, despite the nearly universal rejection of this doctrine by scientists throughout the world” (Joravsky, “Mitchurin, Ivan Vladimirovich”).

  The Model: Sam Bronetsky’s musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion.

  moyel: A ritual circumciser trained in both circumcision and in the Jewish rituals and laws surrounding the event.

  Napoleon’s manifesto: “In May 1799, during the campaign in Palestine, the French government newspaper Moniteur published an article stating that Napoleon had issued a manifesto promising the Jews their return to their country. Many European newspapers reproduced this information, although today scholars question whether Napoleon ever really issued such a declaration” (Mevorah, Brawer, and Shapiro, “Napoleon Bonaparte,” 777–78).

  Oginski: Old Lithuanian noble family.

  Ovnt kurier: A Yiddish afternoon newspaper edited by Aaron Yitskhok Grodzenski (see above) and published in Vilna from 1924 to 1939. The paper, which was “lively and not too serious,” had a circulation of between 4,500 and 5,000 readers (Kharlash, “Grodzenski, Aaron-Yitzkokh,” 2: 334).

  Peretz, Isaac Leyb: (1851–1915): Peretz was considered, along with Mendele Moykher Sforim and Sholem Aleichem (see below) to be one of the classic authors of modern Yiddish literature. “More than any other Jewish intellectual, Peretz expressed and represented the hope that Jewish cultural leaders could take over from rabbis the function of inspirational authority” (Wisse, “Peretz”). Peretz wrote in both Hebrew and Yiddish (and briefly in Polish), inspiring a number of Yiddish writers including Anski, creator of the play The Dybbuk (see above). After 1899, when he was arrested and imprisoned for three months for socialist activities (which included writings that attacked economic and social exploitation), Peretz altered his writing style and began to “adapt traditional folk motifs to modern tales ‘in the folk manner’” (ibid., 1341) in works like Folkstimlekhe Geshikhtn/Folktales.

  Pilsudski, Marshal Jozef (1867–1935): Polish revolutionary and statesman, he was the first chief of state (1918–1922) of the newly formed country of Poland. In 1908, determined to form a Polish army to fight the Russians, he created a secret Union of Military Action “financed with a sum of money stolen from a Russian mail train by an armed band led by Pilsudski himself.” In 1910 Pilsudski converted this secret union into a legal Union of Riflemen, actually a school to train Polish officers to lead the Polish Legion (Smogorzewski, “Jozef Pilsudski”).

  Pludermakher, Gershon (1876–1942): An activist and leader in TSYSHO (see below), Pludermakher worked with Devorah Kupershteyn to organize and develop the curriculum for the Devorah Kupershteyn Folkshul for Girls (see above), where he served first as a teacher and later as principal. Pludermakher wrote extensively on pedagogical subjects both in the press, for example, in the Vilner tog newspaper (see below), and in pedagogical journals. He perished in the Vilna ghetto (Abramowicz, “Pludermakher, Gershon”).

  Ponar: “A wooded area . . . some ten kilometers southwest of [Vilna]. . .
. Once it served as a holiday resort for the people of [that city]. . . . [It] became the site of the mass murder of 50,000 to 60,000 men, women, and children who were shot on the edge of the pit and then buried within it. The vast majority of (these victims) were Jews from the [Vilna] ghetto and environs” (Arad, preface, xiii).

  Psalm reciters: Psalms are traditionally recited to pray for those who are ill or otherwise in danger. In Jewish Vilna, the families of those who wanted these Psalms recited paid (poorly) for this service thus providing an extremely meager living for the Psalm reciters.

  Ramayles Yeshiva: “Ramayles, the first well-known yeshiva in Vilna, was founded in the mid-1820s and continued to operate until World War II” (Zalkin, “Vilnius”).

  Re’al Gymnasium: The Re’al Gymnasium, also called the Mathematics and Sciences Gymnasium, opened in 1918 and operated until 1941 under the direction of TSYSHO, the Central Yiddish School Organization (see below). It was the first Yiddish-speaking high school in Vilna. “Besides regular studies as prescribed by the Polish government, Yiddish, Jewish history, and Hebrew were taught. Emphasis was placed on the establishment of student clubs and on self-government among the students. After much effort, the gymnasium acquired government status in 1933” (Guide to the Records of the TSYSHO [Tsentrale Yidishe Shul Organizatsye] 1919–1940).

  Rosh Hashanah greetings: Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the new year in the Hebrew calendar. According to Jewish liturgy, this is the beginning of the period of judgment, when God decides who will live and who will die during the coming year. It is customary on the first night of the holiday for Jews to extend greetings to each other, wishing that the recipient be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year.

  sandek: An honorary function at a bris (see above) ceremony, the sandek holds the male infant while the bris is performed.

  sending women to Argentina: “Fear of Jewish white slavery, the sexual traffic in immigrant Jewish refugee women, often conducted by Jewish men . . . was a topic that preoccupied Jewish communities in Europe . . . from the 1880s until the outbreak of World War II.” Buenos Aires was considered “a haven for white slavers because it had a system of municipally regulated prostitution from 1875 until 1936.” When Samuel Cohen, secretary of the London-based Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls and Women, went to South America in 1913 to look at the situation of Jewish women, he found a considerable number of Jewish women living in brothels in deplorable conditions throughout South America (Guy, “Argentina: Jewish White Slavery”).

  Shabbes: The Jewish Sabbath, which begins just before sunset on Friday evening and ends just after sundown on Saturday evening, is a day of rest. Jews are encouraged to mark a separation between Shabbes and the rest of the week, between the holy and the profane. Jews are encouraged to clean themselves of the remnants of weekly toil and to exchange their workday garments for special Shabbes clothing. Among the activities that are encouraged on Shabbes are marital relations between husband and wife. Tamara’s clients in the story, “Tall Tamara,” interpret this in accordance with their own situation.

  Shabbes candles: It is a mitzvah (commandment from God) for Jewish women to light Shabbes candles on Friday evening to usher in the Sabbath.

  shammes: Synagogue caretaker.

  Shevuos: A Jewish holy day seven weeks after Passover, commemorating the receiving of the Torah (see below) at Mount Sinai.

  sheygetz: A non-Jewish boy or young man. The term can be a neutral descriptor, but it also often has the connotation of a ruffian.

  shiksa: A non-Jewish woman. The word can be a neutral descriptor or it can have the connotation of easy sexual availability.

  shlimazl: Someone who, depending on your point of view, is either the constant victim of bad luck or who constantly makes a mess of things.

  Sholem Aleichem (Shalom Rabinovitz 1859–1916): Considered, along with Mendele Moykher Sforim (S. Y. Abramovitsh) and Isaac Leyb Peretz (see above), to be one of the classic authors of modern Yiddish literature, Sholem Aleichem “resolved to elevate Yiddish literature to the role of a Jewish national literature.” Best known for his short pieces, many of them monologues, Sholem Aleichem used an ironic humor to describe the disintegration of small-town Jewish life in Eastern Europe. He is best known for his Tevye stories (see “Tevye the Dairyman” below). He also wrote plays and novels including the novel Stempenyu (see below) in 1888 (Miron, “Sholem Aleichem”; see also Moyshe Karpinowitz above).

  Shriftzetser, Leyb (1886–1941 or 1942): Born in White Russia, Shriftzetser moved to Vilna to work in the print shop of Shriftzetser and Rozenkrantz. He soon began reciting and performing the works of Sholem Aleichem in amateur productions and came to the attention of the professional theater world. Over the course of his career, Shriftzetser was a member of various prestigious Yiddish theater companies including the Peretz Hirshbein Company (which included Esther-Rokhl Kaminski). He settled in Vilna in 1922 but continued to tour. Whenever his salary in the professional theater fell, he traveled through villages and small towns with his evenings of Yiddish humor, impersonating the characters in the stories of Sholem Aleichem, Mendele, and other Yiddish writers. Shriftzetser and his family were murdered at Ponar (Zilbertsvayg, Der leksikon fun yidishn teyater, 4: 4738–44).

  Shulchan aruch: Authored in 1563 and known as the Code of Jewish Law, the

  Shulchan aruch is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism.

  King Sobietski’s time: Jan III Sobietski (1629–1696) was king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death.

  soldier’s kasha: A cereal grain (usually buckwheat or millet) cooked slowly with the addition of meat or chicken.

  Stempenyu: A novel, written in 1888 by Sholem Aleichem (see above), about a klezmer violinist.

  Strashun Library: Mathias (Mattisyahu) Strashun of Vilna (1819–1885), a renowned philanthropist, communal leader, and scholar, bequeathed an extensive library of 5,700 books to the Vilna Jewish community. This was supplemented by donations from other Jewish scholars and book lovers as well as by the University of Vilna, which, from 1928 onward, sent a copy of every book published in Poland in either Hebrew or Yiddish to the Strashun Library. The reading room, with seating for 200 readers, was so popular that two readers often shared one chair. These readers included both pious Jews and secular scholars (Abramowicz, Profiles of a Lost World, 260–63; Shavit, Hunger for the Printed Word, 25–27).

  students with foxtails on their caps: During the 1930s, some Polish students formed various anti-Semitic organizations that were distinguished by the shape and color of their hats. In Vilna alone, there were five or six such student associations (E. Niborski, interview).

  spleen: The spleen pulp is removed from the spleen, chopped, and then mixed with chopped onion, bread crumbs, eggs, salt and pepper, and sometimes meat. The mixture is fried and then stuffed into the spleen and baked.

  synagogue courtyard: The synagogue courtyard surrounding the Vilna Great Synagogue (see above) contained more than ten different prayer houses (Lempertas, Musu Vilne/Our Vilne), the Vilna Jewish community library, the Strashun library, and a number of Jewish religious schools. (Cohen, Vilna, 107–13). By the thirties, various low-level criminals and other marginal people hung out there.

  Sztral’s Café: In her memoir about Vilna during 1938, Lucy S. Dawidowicz writes that Sztral’s Café was located on the elegant Adam Mickiewica Street. “With umbrella-covered tables on a large terrace, [it] was one of the poshest cafes I’d ever seen. . . . [However] Sztral’s . . . used to turn Jews away and consequently most Jews boycotted the place” (Dawidowicz, From That Place and Time, 56). According to Fanya Brancovskaja, “The Sztral family owned three different restaurants: the White Sztral Café, the Red Sztral Café, and the Green Sztral Café (Brancovskaja, interview).

  Talmud Torah: Free traditional religious Jewish elementary school for orphaned and poor boys, supported by the community.

  Talyatnik Park: Part of a continuous stretch of greenery located between the
foot of Castle Hill and the Bernardine monastery, it was closer to the cathedral and more open to the city than the rest of the Bernardine Garden (see above; Briedis, interview).

  tefillin: A pair of small, black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Observant Jewish males bind these small boxes to their foreheads and arms with leather straps during weekday morning prayers.

  Tevye the Dairyman: Sholem Aleichem (see above) is best known for his series of sardonically humorous stories narrated by Tevye der Milkhiker (Tevye the Dairyman). These stories have been dramatized in theatrical productions (including as the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof) and in films throughout the world.

  Tiferes Bachurim Society: “Founded in 1902 for the propagation of religious education and knowledge among the working class” (Cohen, Vilna, 514).

  Torah scroll: A scroll on which the Torah has been handwritten. This scroll is kept in a special cabinet in the front of the synagogue and ritually removed each week for the reading of a prescribed section or parsha. Over the course of a year, the Torah is read in its entirety.

  Toras Emes School: Literally “the Truth of the Torah School,” it was a religious school with seven grades for boys from poor and working families (Augenfeld, interview).