|
|
|
My early life in Lithuania I was born in a small village in Lithuania. There was a school in the village, but not for Jewish children, as we would have had to attend School on Shabat. I still remember that at the age of l2, I was still playing with sand in the street. We did not have sandpits, as the children have today. Then I started studying at the Cheder where I learned to read only Hebrew. I don't quite remember until what age I attended Cheder. I used to go early in the morning, and spend all day at the Cheder. My mother used to give me sandwiches of cold, hard bailed egg, bread and herring, which was already a luxury. I used to attend in the evenings as well. The Cheder consisted of 2 rooms, a living room and a room where we used to learn. If we ever made a mistake while reading, we had to pull down our pants in front of all the other students, bend over a bench and then our teacher would hit us with a cane. He himself was never blessed with children, and therefore he never knew how to treat children. As for his wife, she used to drink alcohol, which she often used to offer to the Rebbe as well. Shmuelke Melamed was the best teacher for Jew's as there were no pedagogues. Jews who could not adapt themselves to other work became a teacher. Then I started to learn & write in Yiddish and Russian. Here again there were no trained teachers. Some students used to come out to the village to teach, in order to earn some money, to enable them to continue with their studies in the City. For our village that was good enough, as most maintained that this was sufficient education for a girl. It was considered sufficient if a girl could read and write a letter in Yiddish, and write the address in Russian. When I reached the age of 16, I desired to go to the city of Kovno, to obtain a proper education. My dear and good mother, who herself could not write or read, did not agree to my request. My father and my brother Isaac, were then in South Africa, they realised what study meant to me, and decided to send me two pounds a month extra for my studies. At that time a family could live on two pounds a month in our villagers. As a result I went on hunger strike until my mother agreed to let me go to Kovno to study. I arrived in Kovno, the noise of the trams filled me with wonder, but made it difficult to concentrate, however, it did not take long to get used to it. I found a room on the 10th floor of a building, which I shared with a spinster. There was no lift in the building, but I don't remember what I paid her. I then enrolled in a school, which only went, as far as Junior Matric. I soon realised that this was not the school for me since I had not had a formal education, and the little knowledge I had, did not correspond with the school Syllabus. I even started to learn French, as one required another language besides Russian, this was compulsory. As a result I failed. Fortunately my mother never knew. I then decided to go to study in Shavel, a city a little smaller than Kovno. In Shavel I decided not to enrol at a school, but rather to study privately. My teacher was Chemax Pick, who was himself a medical student at Unef University. He was a poor boy whose parents could not afford to support his studies so he would teach at intervals, in order to earn enough to continue his studies. When I was in Israel in 1951, I learned that Chemax had qualified as a doctor and had practised in Kovno. He turned out to be a very good doctor & developed a very good practise. He married and had one son. When the catastrophe of the Hitler era struck our Jewish people, he perished together with the rest of the Jews who lived in the Kovno ghetto. Before the end, he came to a priest who was his patient, and asked him to save his child, the priest agreed. Dr pick gave his son Chloroform, and delivered him to the priest, who brought him up. After the defeat of Hitler, the Jews looked for their children, and the priest came forward with Dr Pick's son. He with many others were brought to Palestine, where he lived on a Kibbutz. I did not manage to meet him, the story was told to me by a woman who came from our village. She was younger than me and came to Palestine as a Chalutz. After the first world war the Jews were given autonomy, and were given the right to have their own schools, where they taught in Yiddish and Hebrew, and I was so proud and thankful for those who left our village after I did. Everyone had received a good education. We Jews always gave our children a good education, wherever it was possible, and they had the opportunity. The woman who told me all this, set up her own nursery school. She was a cousin of my friend, Pauline Bernitz. I still have the snapshot which she took, on holiday occasions, with the parents and the other teachers. Now I will return to my life in Shavel ----------- Occasionally, travelling actors used to perform in Shavel. Since theatre was important to me, in order to attend at those times, I would not have dinner 'and used to live on black bread and black tea to save sufficient money. At the time I attended all the plays of Jacob Gordon, then 'God of revenge' by Sholem Asch. You may have heard of him. The Jewish people did not accept him since he was so outspoken, and showed them their faults which could be rectified He was in Israel as well. He later died in London, but there were very few Jews at his funeral. This I learned from people who were in London at the time. It was in Shavel. where I derived most satisfaction. I used to get up very early and work until the evening. I had many friends, and one had a 'Baby Grand' piano. She played very nicely, and we would enjoy musical evenings together. I never had the opportunity to study in our village, since we neither had a, teacher or a piano. Her name was Bertha, and I asked her not to tell me about the musical evenings, since this would not allow me to study. However my hard work was all worthwhile, as 1 had only been away one year when I wrote my Junior Matric and passed well. This was in 1909,and I was 17 years old. I think I told you how, when I had to write my Geography examination, which comprised 4 textbooks, we only had a two day interval for study. There were 3 of us girls who were writing the same examination, and we were all in the same position. We managed to get blank maps, and the 3 of us tried to work our way through the syllabus. In the evening we put our feet into a bath of cold water, and kept them in the water in order to stay awake. The maps covered the walls of my room, and we tried by examination of the maps to commit as much as we could to memory, and as a result of our efforts, I received a 4, which was GOOD. I received my Certificate, which you will find amongst my photos. In those days students who were poor used to sell their certificates, in order to enable them to continue with their studies, the sons and daughters of rich parents would buy these. Because of this, the authorities ordered that the photo of the recipient must be attached to the certificates think that my photo is rather a good one of me in the uniform of the 'gymnasia'.
Sometimes they would get free sleeping accommodation, and sometimes they slept in the synagogue behind the large brick stoves, which were built like a wall, dividing the Synagogue. Many of our great men had their initial education in these Yeshivot, and then continued to, educate themselves further. Your father, attended a Yeshiva, but he lived by different circumstances, since he came from a rich home. Aunt Eide, dad's sister, used to tell me that when daddy used to come home for the holidays, generally the religious holidays, he used to come home with only the clothes he wore, as he used to distribute his clothes among his poor friends. He knew full well that his mother would buy him new clothes, and that he would not go short. Talmud study is a very high standard of education, if it is not viewed fanatically. Dad continued to study at the Yeshiva until age 16. By then he was a well-educated young man, but he still wanted to study elementary education, to which his mother did not agree, since there was no higher education for a Jewish mother than to have a son a "Rabbi". Especially since the principal had told his mother when he was 10 years old, that he would be one in a generation. Thus there was a conflict between Dad & his mother. He left the Yeshiva. Dad had a childhood friend in SA, who wrote and told him that SA was a free country. However when Dad arrived in the country, he realised that SA was a country where you could live or die, nobody would care about you. Dad arrived in the country, and soon after this the 'Boer War' broke out. Together with others, Dad left the Transvaal and went to the Cape. In order to survive dad found work on the roads, from Wynberg to Capetown. No sooner than Dad earned sufficient to pay for his room, he joined the Capetown library, and read as much as he possibly could. He developed into a very learned and intelligent man. He also possessed a very good power of speech, which you children developed from him. However despite his many qualities, it proved very difficult for him to establish himself, and to make a living. He had very little idea of trading and business. He still could not forget that he was the richest boy in his village, Chwedan. His father died when he was only 3 years old, and had left everything to him. He was then privileged to have the farmland in his name, since Jews were not allowed to possess land in their name. However, one of Dad's great-grandfathers, was given this privilege, for service he had rendered to the country. Dad sent a 'Power of Attorney' to aunt Eide so that she could operate the land in her name. Aunt Eide was the only one of the family left after they returned from Russia, where they had been sent during the First World War, 1914-1918. Aunt Eide's family consisted then of 3 children aged l6, 18 & 21, her mother, her husband, her son Myer had come to SA. When she left for SA she left behind her the graves of two remaining children, her husband and her mother They had all died as a result of the great Flu epidemic of 1914 -1918. |
|
|
