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THE JEWISH CEMETERY

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 37; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13501670701653526

1743-971X

Valery Dymshits,

Jewish Identity and Society

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Katz, Kak moi pradedushka na lyzhakh pribezhal v finliandiiu, 214. 2. Aleichem, “Town of Small People.” In the same essay Sholom Aleichem mentions the “old, almost completely effaced inscription on semi‐collapsed monuments.” 3. The trip to Mogilev‐Podolskii was conducted within the framework of research supported by the International Centre for Russian and East European Jewish Studies, Moscow. The expeditions of 2005–6 were organized by the Sefer Centre, Moscow, and the St Petersburg Judaica Centre, with the support of the Avi Chai Foundation, US. 4. Mikhail Aronovich Tutel'man, b. 1940 in Shargorod (Vinnitsa region). Worked as a maker‐up at a printing house, then as a foreman at machine‐building plant; now a pensioner. Lives in the town of Mogilev‐Podolskii. 5. Rita Genekhovna Shveybish, b. 1937 in Tulchin. Formerly a nurse, now a pensioner. Head of the Jewish community in Tulchin. Wife to I. P. Shveybish. Here and passim: words in italics were pronounced in Yiddish, translation mine. 6. Evgenija (Sheina) Vladimirovna (Vol'kovna) Shteyman, b. 1937 in the town of Ataki (Moldavia, across the river from Mogilev‐Podolskii, on the other bank of the Dnestr). Worked as a midwife, now a pensioner. Lives in the town of Mogilev‐Podolskii, married to E. S. Gol'tser. 7. Itsik (Isaac) Peisakhovich Shveybish, b. 1937 in the village (former shtetl) of Gorishkovka (Vinnitsa region). Formerly a worker, now a pensioner. Lives in Tulchin, married to R. G. Shveybish. 8. Itsik (Isaac) Peisakhovich Shveybish, b. 1937 in the village (former shtetl) of Gorishkovka (Vinnitsa region). Formerly a worker, now retired. Lives in Tulchin, married to R. G. Shveybish. 9. Aleichem, “Gorod malen'kikh liudei,” 285. 10. The custom of pilgrimage to the graves of relatives buried in other towns was widely popular in the past as well. “Sad, dear month of Elul! Jews roam from one town to another, to the dear graves of long‐deceased parents, brothers, sisters, children, relatives”: Aleichem, “Mogily predkov.” At the end of August 2004, at just the right time, I happened to come to Shargorod cemetery with M. A. Tutel'man. I witnessed the agreement he made with the cemetery's guard about the repair of his parents' graves; he promised to return in a year and check the work. 11. Pechora was a settlement, a former shtetl in the Vinnitsa region. During the Second World War it was a Romanian concentration camp, where many Tulchin Jews died, including the parents of R. G. Shveybish. 12. In the original, (etu neveru), “this un‐belief.” Probably, following Mikhail Krutikov's reasonable conjecture, the strange word “nevera” is a distorted form of aveire, meaning “sin” in Yiddish. “An aveire” may be perceived as “a neveire,” thus leading to “nevera.” Such a displacement of the indefinite article in Yiddish is quite possible. For example, an “awl”—“di nol” in Yiddish—is often pronounced as “di ol,” precisely on account of a displacement in the indefinite article (“a nol”—“an ol”). This word might be a form of the Yiddish aveira, i.e. “transgression,” yet there is no complete certainly whether this is modified Yiddish, or some kind of Ukrainian word. 13. Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, 230. I would like to thank S. A. Shtyrkov, who reminded me of this during preliminary discussions of my paper. 14. Talmud, Tract Yomah 39b. 15. Here the original text contains the term used for the description of the Holy of Holies in the Temple; Rechtman, Yidishe etnografye un folklor, 3. The translation from Yiddish is mine. 16. During our 2004–6 expeditions, texts similar to the one quoted above were repeatedly recorded from elderly Jews, inhabitants of former Podolian shtetlakh. An analogous text in Russian was recorded only once. 17. Naum Efimovich Roytman, b. 1925 in the shtetl of Obodovka (Vinnitsa region). Formerly an electrician and a teacher of physics, now retired. Lives in the town of Balta. 18. The term guter id is often used for a locally venerated Hassidic tsadik. 19. The informant refers to two burial places on the old Jewish cemetery in Shargorod, dating back to the 1760s. Judging by poorly preserved epitaphs, they belong to the town rabbi and the dayan (judge in a rabbinical court). Although the old cemetery itself has almost completely disappeared, these two graves do look venerated: the tombs are dyed and enclosed with a special fence. 20. The idea of a person's fate being determined at Rosh Hashana is found in the Talmud, Tract Rosh Hashana (166): “Three books are opened on New Year's Day: one for the utterly wicked, one for the wholly good, and one for the average class of people. The wholly righteous are at once inscribed, and life is decreed for them; the entirely wicked are at once inscribed, and destruction destined for them; the average class are held in the balance from New Year's Day till the Day of Atonement; if they prove themselves worthy they are inscribed for life, if not, they are inscribed for destruction.” The traditional benedictory wish for Rosh‐Hashana is “Leshono toive tikoseivy” (“May you be inscribed for a good year”). 21. Already in Mishna (Tract Baba Bathra 2:9) it is required that the cemetery should not be nearer than 25 elbows (50 metres) from the place of dwelling, and should be surrounded by a fence.