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 on 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.

-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).

Trok: Now known as Trakai, the town, situated 28 kilometers west of Vilnius, is surrounded by lakes.

tsadik: A righteous man. Also, the leader of a Hasidic group.

Tshernikhov, Joseph (1882–1941): One of the organizers and leaders of the Freeland League (see above) in Poland during the interwar period, Tshernikhov was active in all aspects of the Vilna Jewish community, including serving as the chairman of the Vilna Jewish community. He also a well-respected lawyer in Vilna who specialized in political cases. According to Abramowicsz, “Thanks to his aggressive militancy, a number of Polish-Jewish communists were saved from police ‘justice’ and, in some instances, from the gallows.” Tshernikhov “frequently conversed audibly in Yiddish with his clients and others, something that was previously unheard of in court” (Abramowicz, Profiles of a Lost World, 285–87).

tsimmes: A stew made from a variety of vegetables and legumes, usually combined with dried fruit and sometimes with meat.

Tsuker, Regina (1899–1943): Born in Poland, Tsuker married the actor Karl Tsimbalist, joined his theatrical troupe, and played the starring role in performances in Warsaw and the provinces of Galicia. Yiddish actor and director Janos Turkow wrote of her, “Regina Tsuker was an enormously talented actress, possessing limitless charm and simplicity. . . . She was, however, not always capable of distinguishing between what was and was not appropriate . . . (Turkow, Farloshene shtern, 1:117). Her popularity stemmed not only from the joy her performances provided, but also from the constant attacks by the Yiddish press in Poland against low-brow, trashy theater. These attacks were often directed against Regina Tsuker personally. When Tsuker came to Vilna as a guest performer, the welcome she received from the local Yiddish press forced her to terminate her performance and leave Vilna. The city remained forever closed to her” (ibid., 116–21; Zilbertsvayg, Der leksikon fun yidishn teyater, 5: 3853–57).

Tsunzer, Regina: The librarians at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, whose skills at research go beyond the highly competent into the magical, have been unable to find any mention of Regina Tsunzer. Everything that Karpinowitz writes about Regina Tsunzer in “The Tree beside the Theater” coincides with what we know about Regina Tsuker (see above). Did this actress perhaps go by two different family names?

TSYSHO: The aim of the Tsentrale Yidishe Shul Organizatsye (Central Yiddish School Organization) was to create a secular Yiddish school system in Poland that promoted socialist ideals.

Velfke’s restaurant: “Volf Usian owned a restaurant on Daytshe Street . . . which served as the meeting place for the entire [Yiddish] literary and artistic world” (Turkow, Farloshene shtern, 1: 192). He regularly fed various actors on credit and loaned them money.

Vilenke River: A tributary of the Viliye River (see below).

Vilna Gaon (1720–1797): Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman Kremer, known as the Vilna Gaon, was an extraordinary Torah scholar, a prolific author, and one of the most influential Rabbinic authorities since the Middle Ages.

Vilna Troupe: The Yiddish theater troupe, founded in Vilna in 1915, relocated to Warsaw in 1917. Known for ensemble work, the Vilna Troupe presented literary and artistic theater as opposed to lowbrow vaudeville productions. After 1927, members of the troupe split off into different theater companies, all calling themselves the Vilna Troupe. A small group of actors under the management of Mordechai Mazo (see above) returned to Warsaw where they recruited new members (Bulat, “Vilner trupe”; Sandrow, Vagabond Stars).

“Vilna, Vilna, Our Native City” (Vilne, Vilne, undzer heymshtot): This song of longing for the city of Vilna was written by L. Wolfson for the Vilne zamelbukh, published in New York in 1935, and set to music by Alexander Olshanetsk. It begins,

              Vilne, Vilne, undzer heymshotot

              Undzer benkshaft un bager.

              Akh, vi oft es ruft dayn nomen

              Fun mayn oyg aroys a trer.

              Vilna, Vilna, our native city

              The source of our longing and our desire.

              Oh how often your name

              calls forth tears from my eyes.

(Lipphardt, “Vilne Vilne undzer heymshtot”; Wolfson, “Vilne, Vilne, undzer heymshtot”)

Vilna vokhnblat: Vilna Weekly.

Vilner tog: The Vilna Day/Daily, a Yiddish newspaper that was published from 1920 to 1939. To deal with the problems resulting from censorship by the Polish authorities, the newspaper often changed its name, but always maintained the word tog/day (Yad Vashem, “The Interwar Period—Cultural Life”). As well as covering the news, the Vilner tog, which had an intellectual readership, published the work of local Yiddish writers and reviews of Yiddish theater.

Viliye: A river running through Vilna. On contemporary maps, it is called the Neris.

von Wahl, Victor (1840–1915): Sent to Vilna in 1901 as governor, in his first year, von Wahl ordered the Vilna police to severely beat and torture any workers who participated in May Day activities. He was also personally present for some of the beatings. “The entire Jewish population [of Vilna] was very disturbed about the punishment inflicted on the . . . demonstrators” (Abramowicz, Profiles of a Lost World, 140). “A shoemaker named Lekert [see above] fired two shots at the governor, wounding him slightly” (ibid., 141). Lekert was condemned to death by hanging. After Lekert was hanged, von Wahl received a decoration by “order of the tsar and later, a higher office” (ibid., 142).

Weinreich, Dr. Max (1894–1969): A Yiddish linguist, literary scholar, and social and political activist, Weinreich was “the driving force” behind the Yidish visnshaftlekher institut (Yiddish Research Institute) or YIVO (see below) from 1925 until his death. Weinreich’s four-volume Geshikhte fun der yiddisher shprakh (History of the Yiddish Language), completed just before his death, remains the “benchmark” study of Yiddish linguistics (Glasser, “Weinreich, Max”).

With Open Eyes: A drama in three acts written by Leyb Malach, a Yiddish poet, playwright, and cultural worker. Malach was born in Poland in 1894 and died in Paris in 1936 (Baker, “The Lawrence Marwick Collection of Copyrighted Yiddish Plays at the Library of Congress”).

Yatkever Street: Yatke means “butcher” in Yiddish. The street was in the original Jewish quarter in Vilna (see Glezer Street).

Yiddish: In the Yiddish language, the word yidish can mean “Yiddish,” referring to the language, or “Jewish,” referring to the religion or culture.

Yiddish gelt: Jewish money.

Yiddish Institute, Yiddish Scientific Institute, YIVO: The YIVO Institute was founded in 1925 and centered in Vilna, Poland, from 1929 until 1941, when the institute relocated to New York. YIVO “became the leading institution for scholarship in Yiddish and about the history and culture of East European Jews” (Kuznitz, “YIVO,” 2090). The work of the organization depended on volunteer zamlers (collectors), “ordinary men and women who gathered documents, data, and funds for YIVO in their local communities throughout Eastern Europe” (ibid., 2091). As well as preserving language, songs, and stories, YIVO also “recruited zamlers to record Yiddish terms from various professions and technical fields” (ibid., 2091; Kuznitz, “YIVO”; see Weinreich, Dr. Max above).

YIVO Institute journal: YIVO published a number of periodicals, both popular and academic. When the narrator of the story “Chana-Merka the Fishwife” refers to “the Institute journal,” s/he is probably speaking about YIVO’s general academic journal YIVO-bleter/YIVO Pages, although s/he may be referring to YIVO’s short-lived popular linguistic journal Yidish far ale/Yiddish for Everyone (Glasser, “Weinreich, Max”).

Yizkor service: A communal memorial service held in the synagogue four times a year, including on Yom Kippur, for all those who have lost loved ones.

yortzayt: Literally means anniversary. On the anniversary of the death of a loved one, a memorial service is held. This service includes the lighting of a candle and the recitation of a memorial prayer.

Yung-teyater (1932–1939): An avant-garde Yiddish theater company in Poland that believed in theater as an agent of progressive social change (Steinlauf, “Yung-teater”).

zloty: A Polish coin. In the interwar years, one U.S. dollar was worth roughly five zloty (“Zloty,” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkPath=pages/Z/L/Zloty.html, accessed September 9, 2015).