tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post8292957211221885619..comments2024-01-21T02:58:08.208-05:00Comments on On the Main Line: On LitvaksMississippi Fred MacDowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02734864605700159687noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-73540133156268994482012-12-27T11:15:34.204-05:002012-12-27T11:15:34.204-05:00Could the bulk of Litvak Jewry originate from Kara...Could the bulk of Litvak Jewry originate from Karaite settlers?<br />Could many of these communities be far more ancient than previously though?<br /><br />I am basing myself largely on the monograph written by Yaffa Eliach:<br />http://www.amazon.com/There-Once-Was-World-Chronicle/dp/0316232394/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352951209&sr=1-2<br />where she mentions many karaite-type customs practiced by the shtetl's residents.Joels W. https://www.blogger.com/profile/07902859333047138964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-45985829493903453122012-10-16T10:36:50.295-04:002012-10-16T10:36:50.295-04:00The joys of research...
I found the book. The vil...The joys of research... <br />I found the book. The village was called "Kruki". I searched <a href="http://www.jewishgen.org/communities/Search.asp" rel="nofollow">here</a> and there are a few places in Lithuania this could be. <br /><br />I think the one she was referring to is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kri%C5%ABkai" rel="nofollow">Kriūkai</a> (23 miles from Kovno/Slabodka), based on the description <a href="http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/lita/Lit1589.html#Page1613" rel="nofollow">here</a>: "On the left bank of the Nieman across from Srednik clings a shtetele [very small shtetl] called Kruki, with a young pine forest where dachnikes [renters of a dacha, Russian for “country house”], who cannot afford the luxury of a train or coach, come every summer to refresh themselves." There are 2 pictures of her family at Kruki in the book, one in a forest, and one on the banks of a river. <br /><br />It wasn't <i>that</i> small, with 30 Jewish families plus another 100 across the river in Srednik.JSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-60255428950624707222012-10-16T10:05:06.882-04:002012-10-16T10:05:06.882-04:00Prof Ezra Mendelssohn of the Hebrew U wrote many y...Prof Ezra Mendelssohn of the Hebrew U wrote many years ago - No country in Eastern Europe was more Jewish and less religious than Lithuania<br />With all due respect to Rebbetzin Wolbo there were in fact Jews who could not read in Lithuania but those were hardly the norm. My parents and many of their friends lived there until 1939 and 1941 and even without benefit of a rabbinic pedigree their reports were different. Most Jews were not lomdim , but not illiterate.<br />Frankly the only Jews I met who are illiterate were a few Polish and Hungarian jews and millions of American jews who know not a word of Hebrew.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-7850047738388707712012-10-15T20:21:29.292-04:002012-10-15T20:21:29.292-04:00Faith in the Night by Rivka Wolbe
I found it fasc...<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607630192" rel="nofollow">Faith in the Night</a> by Rivka Wolbe<br /><br />I found it fascinating. From what I remember, it was typical of books of this genre (life before the war...life during the war...life after the war), but then I generally find those books fascinating.JSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-91828974999960520432012-10-15T18:07:08.746-04:002012-10-15T18:07:08.746-04:00In response to the comment of JS above -
"Re...In response to the comment of JS above -<br /><br />"Rebbetzin Wolbe writes that most Jews in the villages in Litta were like that."<br /><br />You have to keep in mind that people in a country village - sounds like what was called a dorf - or an even smaller settlement - were typically less educated - Jewishly and generally - than their brethren in larger settlements, whether shtetlech, towns, cities. Also, the village husband that she described was likely from an older generation, which had less education.<br /><br />During this whole period there was a great process of increased urbanization- migration to cities, modernization, and increased education taking place, which must be taken into consideration before jumping to conclusions about literacy among Litvaks.<br /><br />P.S. Can you give more info on the autobiography? Rebbetzin Wolbe's father was Rav Avrohom Grodzensky HY"D, Slabodka Yeshiva Mashgiach.Litvakhttp://mrlitvak.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-72965599642936772852012-10-15T18:04:19.365-04:002012-10-15T18:04:19.365-04:00Of course that's true, but I'm sure there ...Of course that's true, but I'm sure there were also ethnic German Jews who couldn't make it on time and had wrinkles in their shirts. Rose colored, to be sure, but national stereotypes generally have some basis.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-87368080382420498672012-10-15T13:49:07.481-04:002012-10-15T13:49:07.481-04:00Rebbetzin Wolbe's grew up in Slobodka (IIRC he...Rebbetzin Wolbe's grew up in Slobodka (IIRC her father was mashgiach in the yeshiva). In her autobiography, she writes how her family would board by a couple in a country village in the summers. The husband was illiterate, but very pious. He had a beard and payes and would go to shul daily to answer amen. Rebbetzin Wolbe writes that most Jews in the villages in Litta were like that.<br /><br />I guess in 1924 they also viewed the old country with rose colored glasses.JSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-44474307313313229492012-10-15T09:59:01.954-04:002012-10-15T09:59:01.954-04:00S. committing censorship? Now all of the readers ...S. committing censorship? Now all of the readers are going to try to find the rest of the article on their own. :-pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-1728862876504039872012-10-15T09:28:15.087-04:002012-10-15T09:28:15.087-04:00(For the record, it simply says that he studied in...(For the record, it simply says that he studied in Slabodka.)S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-19302907384991564962012-10-15T09:25:44.885-04:002012-10-15T09:25:44.885-04:00Wow, good point.
Really I just wanted to censor t...Wow, good point.<br /><br />Really I just wanted to censor this article and control information.S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-47977009657693145462012-10-15T09:22:47.029-04:002012-10-15T09:22:47.029-04:00S., really? That would be a sentence fragment, the...S., really? That would be a sentence fragment, then: "The distinguished professor of Jewish literature and philosophy at Harvard University, Harry A. Wolfson!"Mar Gavrielnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-39402843016894314522012-10-14T18:37:22.520-04:002012-10-14T18:37:22.520-04:00Nah, it just mentions him. It ends with "Wolf...Nah, it just mentions him. It ends with "Wolfson!"S.http://onthemainline.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12600498.post-32193058478296155262012-10-14T18:25:53.856-04:002012-10-14T18:25:53.856-04:00You cut it off right when we were going to hear fr...You cut it off right when we were going to hear from Harry Wolfson!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com