;.l1,6,60,66,1,0,10,75,192,4,15,20,25,127,10,0,
;.l2,15,75,192,2,20,25,127,15,0,
;.l3,20,75,192,2,25,127,20,0,
.h2, =amp19295	--  (ɀ, ɉɉ -  
l2
INPUT OF TRANSLATION OF AMDUR MI PUEBLO NATALE pp192-195
Translated by Chava Berg.  Notes Appended. {n192-0a}
PREVIOUS DOCUMENT:  amp16269, pp162-169
See summary outline: =amp_list

START SECTION; Text p192: NIKAOLIYEVVsQE YIDIShE sAoLDAteN
[Nikoliyevske Yidishe Soldaten ]

{N.B.:  The author, with wry humour, gives a very Russian,rather than Yiddish,  inflection to '[Czar] Nicholas's];apparently that wry humour was how the people of the regionreferred to them.}

JEWISH SOLDIERS UNDER TZAR NIKOLAUS [Conscripts] {n192-0a}
{start ms. p23} {Text middle p192}
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My consciousness would not be at rest if I would not mention the?lot? of ignorant and simple folk known by the name"NIKAOLIYEVVsQE" sAoLDAteN 'Nikolaus' soldiers' or in general"YaVVaNIM" [Yavanim; lit: Greeks]
l2
[Glossary: "YaVVaNIM" [Yavanim; lit: Greeks]: Jews who at age12-18 had been conscripted into, and 25 years laterdischarged from, the Russian Czarist army. {n192-1}
l3
It was Czar Nicholas I, ??-1850, who made Jewish boysbetween age 12-18 liable for conscription into the army,for a term of 25! years. --  However, I think thisaccount is set at the turn of the 19th century; thereare references to events from 1882 to 1905, that I've sofar noted.  But I think Nicholas II was Czar then; sothat's probably the intent of the reference.}
l1
Amdur had quite a few of them.          

	Estranged and torn away from scholarly and cultural Judaism,they still got used to living with their people and remained loyalJews, in spite of their ignorance and materialism {n192-2TR}
Eternal paupers, they busied themselves with hard work
l2
[Ie, Manual laborers - TR]
l1
I will memorate {Yid: ZaKoR, zakor; commemorate}{n192-3}
here these victims {Yid: KoRBaNOt} of Tzar Nikolaus:

YEHUDA THE GREEK ("Der YEVVaN") a boorish Jew.  Talked with aRussian, rolling "r" {Yid: RISh}
l2
[TR: Rather than the guttural "r" found in Hebrew and French,and other languages -- TR]
l1
Constantly he would say "gevay gramko" [TR: Russian for] "speakclearly! {Yid: RIYD ShaRF} ".  He had a shaggy beard, {n192-3}
he worked as a barber.  Too much work he did not have by Jews,because Jews wouldn't shave {Yid: GEGALt}
l2
{This term needs to be precisely defined:  does it mean"trim" -- that is, to tidy up uneven strands -- such was, eg,the German custom (eg, Herzl), and of course the custom ofall the upper-class goyim of the 19th century.  In general,contempoary ultra-orthodox custom is the opposite; presumablyjust for that reason. }
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 or cut {GeShOIRN} their {end ms. p23} {start ms. p24} beardduring those times.  
l2
{That is: around the close of the 19th century} 
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A beardless person {Yid: GLOCh} -- unheard of {Yid: NISht BNiMTzA}.  To get a harircut in honor of the holidays at a properbarbershop was also not a must 
l2
{But Yid: AOIKh NISht QIYN MON [auch nisht kan man] ; which Ithink translates:  one cannot do that either; suggesting thatit was considered a violation of custom; although thefollowing phrase ["could {Yid: kan} be done"] suggests thecontrary -sa}
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;  this work could be done by the wife or mother {Yid: MAMe} andif it didnt' come out exactly smooth and elegant but rather choppy{Yid: AROIs MIt "tREF"} , so what {Yid: AIZ VVAOs -- [oz vos]? One was not from the Beis HaMedresh thrown out [because of it]....{eo}	{n192-4}
	Yehuda the Yevan had ?part-time? {Yid: PLEGt} work on cuppingglasses in the bathhouse 
l3
{If I recall, "cupping" was a common medical treatmentin the 19th? century (or 18th?); I suppose a sort ofacupressure.  -sa}
l1

or with dangerously sick people with hypertension {Yid: BLUtDRUQ} 
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{I think the Yiddish carries, with its alliteration, at leastin this context, a wry connotation, suggesting free-floatinganxiety (dread) engrained "in the blood" .  {n192-5}
l1

who required a professional haircut.  For a haircut he would takea "tenner" [ie, from subsequent context, 10 groschen ](five kopeks
{n192-6} [TR: dime]   
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{end text p192} {start text p193}
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If you would agree with him he would go down to eight groschen,and at the last ditch {Yid: PAL} a six-er.  He also had aconcession from the "PRAVVItELstVVA" [pravitelstva] 
l2
{Glossary:  "PRAVVItELstVVA" [pravitelstva] {Yid: REGIRING,regirning} (p193).  A Russian term. From context, clearlysome branch of local Russian authority. }
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(government {Yid: REGIRING, regirning}  to stand {Yid: DINstIK:TR: three days; but I think, dinstik, fr. Gr. Dienstag, Tuesday}  
on the market-place with a barrel organ {Yid: QAtERINQE,katerinke,}
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Glossary: QAtERINQE, katerinke,; Etym. presumably fromCatherine wheel; a barrel organ. {n192-7}

l1
and play with pits {Yid: BIYNDeLEN} 
l3
{I think there is a gambling game played with apricotpits and such, in Israel if I recall. -- sa}
l1
, a kind of gamble which is nowadays practised in coffee-housesand restaurants by many loafers {Yid: LIYDIQGIYERs, lei*dikgei*ers, lit., those who have gone in an unfortunate way}   

It is understandable that his clients were only the villagepeasants {Yid: DAoRFs-GVIYM} .  No Jew woudl ever play dice {Yid:QOvIShE GIYNDeLER} at Yehuda the Yevan's fee!  "far from profitand close to loss" {Arm.(?): RaChOQ M-ShKhR V-QaROV L-Ha-PsD} 
l2
[TR:  A Talmuidic citation]
l3
{Can you give the source of that quote?}

l1
Yehuda the Yevan {Yid: AIN GEVVEN -- not translated} -- like allthe other "Greeks" of this regime -- a great ignoramus 
l2
{Yid: EaM-Ha-AReTz, Am Ha-Aretz, lit; people of the earth,hence [unlettered] peasant. {n193-1}
l1

  But he knew how to pray {Yid: DAVVEN} and was observant {Yid:FROM} .  I was told, that once on {Yom} Kippur at the Ne'ilaservice, as Jews would exclaim {Yid: GeShRIEN, cry out} seventimes "The ' [LORD] is G-d" 
l3
{The text has as convention, a single apostrophe; and,as in contemporary convention, uses a k (Quf) in lieu ofh (Heh). }
l1
he had his fingers in the MaChZOR 
l3
{Glossary: MaChZOR, [machzor], prayerbook used for theHigh Holidays. }
l1

on the words "Next year in Jerusalem" 
l2
[Which come right afterwards - TR] {end ms. p24} {start ms.p25}
l1
and exclaimed {Yid: AOIsGEShRIeN, cried out} "ANAoQAo! ANAoQAo![Anoko!]  meaning, there she is, {Yid: At AIN ZI} there she is.... {eo} 
l3
{Is "Anoko!" a variant on the lst word of the 10Commandments, 'Anochi'? -- and if so, might it beconsidered as having the sense 'that it is', and henceas a variant of 'Amen' ? -sa}
l1

Yehuda the Yevan knew that in the words is contained a fortune{Yid: AFITIQA} 
l2
[TR: ?fee? in Yiddish}
l3
{But Harduf translates fee: AFTzAL }
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there she is, the precious {Yid: tIYERINiQE} the dear {Yid:LIVNiQE} ... {eo} my  kosher Amdur ignoramus  , how sweet is yourname to me! {Yid: KoSheRER AMDURER AM-HaAreTz, wie tei*er ain mirdei*n namen!} 

	He merited {Yid: ZOKheh} to have a son learning {Yid: aYINGeL} in the Amdur Yeshiva, he learned not badly; he had abeautiful {Yid: SHIYNE} and pleasant singing voice, and was a good"imitator" {Yid: "AIMItAtAR".  
l3
{Glossary: "AIMItAtAR" ["imitater"].  An imitater.
I note it because it is an example of English wordsbeing newly taken into Yiddish at the time -- though Ido not know whether this is the time of the author'srecollection, ca. 1885-1895, or the time of his writing,ca. 1950. }
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More, I was told that he was on {one?}  of the first theatreamateurs in Amdur. 
l2
{This point is noteworthy.  Apparently at some stage,apparently after the author had left, Amdur had an amateurtheatre group (Yiddish theatre, presumably.)
l1

	ARtShIQ DER YeVVaN -- An old Cantonist {Yid: NIKAOLIYEVVsQERsAoLDAt; but better, 'conscript'}
l2
{Glossary: Cantonist: Yid: NIKAOLIYEVVsQER sAoLDAt;Nikoliyviker Soldat.  I do not recall why the TR uses theterm 'cantonist'; it would seem to be an obsolete or Europeanterm for what in USA English we call 'conscripts'.}
l1
In learning {Yid: LOMDOt, TR: scholarship] equal to all the"Greeks" of that epoch. . 
l3
{'Greeks' here means retired Jewish conscripts}
l1
He was all his days the watchman of the stores {Yid: QRAMEN} andtherefore he was also called ATRSHIK the WATCHMAN. {Yid: VVAKtER}" A small occurrence floats before my inner eye:  A wintry night,biting cold {Yid: FRAost, so I'd guess: better: frost}; I am {Yid:NAKh DAN NEVVEN, not translated; meaning: then??} a boy of twelveyears.  AItShE-BER the  {end text p193} 
{start text p194} 
Shames  had explained to me the {Yid: NiFQA-MINeH:  a talmudicterm?} (difference) {Yid: DIFERENTz} between the "four watchmen"and "fraudulent use of a deposit {Yid or Arm: ShLIChUt YiD} by anappointed guard", a combination of the section {Yid: PeReQ} "Thedepositer" {Arm: HaMFQID} and "The lender" {Arm: HaShOAL}
l3
{I assume these are references to topics in Talmud; butI don't know the references.}
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Atrshik the watchman comes in to warm up inside the Bet Midrash. I say to AItShE-BER:  Let's go and ask Atrshik the law {Yid: Din}of "complusion" {Arm: "AONes"} , he is a paid guard 
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[One of the four kinds mentioned in the 'the depositer' - TR]
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and AItShE BER answers me softly, "No Yedid-keh, he isunfortunately {Yid: NEBEKh }an unpaid guard
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[TR:  Another type mentioned in the above-mentioned sectionto whom the law of compulsion does not apply]
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because, I {end ms. p3 } {start ms. p 4} think, nobody gives him agroschen for his watching {Yid: ShMIRaH} . 
Artshik, the discharged soldier, numb {Yid: GEQARt-ShEtER} withcold, wrinkled and dried out like one of Rabbi TzaDOK dried figs
(a TaNA 
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{Glossary:  TaNA:  Sage of the Mishnaic period.  R. Zadok: Tana of the first century C.E.  Said in Talmudic legend tohave lived on figs, from which he sucked the juice, and threwthe rest away.} 
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living during the time of the destruction of the Second Temple whowas all wasted from continuous fasting, and according to thedoctors` prescription he would [TR: only] eat a fig each day]
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{I don't know if the Talmud mentions a `doctors'prescription'.  If not, it might be interesting to find outif this was an addition in a popular collection of aggadot;that might then indicate typical source material of a youngyeshiva student of the time. --sa}
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calls over to us:  "Aye, Aye,   how good you [TR: guys] have it. {Yid: AIY, AIY, AIYKh AIN GUt.} You have both worlds.  You sit inthe warmth and learn Torah and me?  Not this world and not thenext {Yid: PRAFAL BRAt -- not translated?} --  Lost out {Yid:FARLIRN, so maybe better:  lost}  brother!"
          
	Kosher Jewish toiler {Yid: HaAREFAShNIQ!  A soldier underNikolaus through the child-snatchers {Yid: QINDER-KAPERs} 
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{Glossary: {Yid: QINDER-KAPERs [kinder-kapers} 'childsnatchers'.  Apparently some, at least, were Jewish. :  
{n194-1}

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weary from many years of back-breaking labour {Yid: EVODot FRD.
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{In my text, the last word seems to have been correctedby hand; since it's a xerox, I don't know if that was bythe publisher or by someone else. -sa}
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, in his old age a watchman whose entire sustenance the whole daywas black bread with a pickled herring. {Yid: MIT HERING .  Canone assume the fish was pickled? }]
`
	I want to mention also another watchman in Amdur -- MIYREM the WATCHMAN.  A broken blade {Yid: TzEVRAKENER}, broken {Yid:ShARBeN}, blind and hunch-backed, he was forced to beg {YId:QITZVeH} in his old age after he could continue no longer withguarding.  He would drag {Yid: ShLePeN}} himself to all happyoccasions {Yid: MaZeL-TOVeN} to circumcisions and weddings, to geta glass of brandy {Yid: BRAoNF(n)} and a piece of honey cake {Yid:LEQEKh(?)}.  He never passed up an opportunity to have a drink{Yid: ShNAPs} .  He would argue:  if not for Jewish SiMCHOt
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{Glossary: SiMchOt (pl; sing: Simcha), lit., joy; hence,a joyous celebration, {n194-2}

l1

, I would already long be in the next world" ...{eo}  One time ithappened that AVREMEL the DEAF 's horse fell, which was his meansof earning a living {Yid: ChIONeH-GEVER} .  It was said
{end ms. page 4 } {end text p194}
{start text p195}

that he and his poor family sat ShiVEH. 
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[Glossary:  Yid: ShiVEH  [shiva], a mourning custom in Jewishreligious law:  upon the death of a parent, child, sibling orspouse, one remains at home for 7 days after the internment(which by religious law occurs as soon as possible). ]
l1

This should not sound like a joke. One must thus describe theLithuanian poverty in those times.  A collection was taken up andnew horse bought, and AVRaHML the DEAF {Yid: der Toiver}, out ofjoy, gave a Simcha; honeycake with brandy.    Of course MAYREH theWatchman also came and, according to his habit, wished the happyman {Yid: B'EL-SiMChaH, Ba'al Simcha; lit: master of joys; hence,host } " AVRaHMeL, may you [merit to] raise yours 
l3
[TR: ?children?;  that would be conventionallyunderstood, but is not here stated, maybe for humorouseffect]  
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to Torah, to the ChUPeH and to do good deeds"
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[TR:  A blessing given at the circumcision of a baby boy.]
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END SECTION; MIDDLE OF p195:

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[TR:  It might be approprate to give a brief introduciton tothis chapter, describing the plight of the Cantonists [ie,Jewish conscripts] in general.
l3
{I agree; I have added what very little I know, butwould appreciate whatever you can add.  As a matter offact, it was just to avoid this conscription that mygrandfather and his family emigrated to the USA ca.1885. -sa}
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------------------------------------------------------------
.P
NOTES:

l2
{n192-0}
N.B.:  Clearly the author or text does not use the dageshwith Bet; so one must chose B or v for transliteration bycontext.  In general, B is preferable, to avoid confusionwith Vav, which can be transliterated V.  
Dagesh is however used with Peh; so that Peh-dagesh is P;otherwise Peh is F. 

l2

{n192-0a}
{Chaya Berg told me what she means by 'Cantonist', and nowI've forgotten.  I gather that the term, from 'quarter', is aterm for conscripts, who must live in quarters; but it is notin current USA English use; 'conscripts' is usual; with'canton' being used for a sub-national governmental unit inSwitzerland.}

{n192-1}
{That is:  The Jewish people of the region apparently tookthe Greeks as the paradigm of militarism; although the notionmay have been, from the tradition of Hanuka, of secularism  -

l2
{n192-2TR}
[here meaning not so much  the striving for a higher materialstandard of living but rather the exclusive preoccupationwith material needs of peasants, in contrast with the worldof Jews at that time and place, who, as we see from theauthor's account, were first and foremost worried about andoccupied with their spiritual needs and sought poverty andgreat material simplicity - TR]

l2
{n192-3}
{Yid: ZaKoR; to preserve for the posterity of their people athought of their life; I'm not sure if the goyische languageshave found need for a precise term for this notion
l3
The notion is expressed in Israel in the name andinstitution 'Yad v'Shem', most aptly, to my mind, in itslibrary, and most completely (though as yet withoutadequate electronic update; eg complete data-base inputwith a correlated geneologic program interfaced withthat at Bet Hatfutsot's DOROT) in the Hall of Names; and in audio-visual archives of pre-Holocaust Jewry ineg Bet Hatfutsot; although the author commemorates, indetail, the lives of those people, rather than dwellingon their death.  --sa}

l2
{n192-3}
{It is interesting that the translator remarks on that; thissuggests -- but the following passage suggests the contrary - that, in contrast to present-day ultra-orthodox custom,that men with full beards trimmed them somewhat. However, Ihave not noticed that in photos of Rabbis in the book.  -sa}
l1

l2
{n192-4}
{ The translator has pointed out the charm in preserving,where possible, the Yiddish syntax.  I would hope to see thistext scanned to disc with a Hebrew OCR (although only someonefluent in Yiddish could then proof-read it) and thus madeavailable on disc in a defacto electronic bilingual edition. Curiously, EinsteinWriter (Einstein Corp. El Al Bldg, 31Hillel, Jeruslaem) , an Israel-developed 90K bilingual wpprogram practically obsoleted by such goyishe MegaToys asWord for Windows, remains well-designed for such a task; itsCompose mode lacks only the option of maintaining dualcursors (one in the window, one in the text.}
l2

{n192-5}
This suggestion is that these were people who needed tocoddle themselves with a bit of vanity; but curiously, I haveheard it suggested that hyper-sensitive persons may reducetheir sensitivity by cutting their hair short; that hairacts, in a sense, as a sort of antenna.  And indeed, someyoung women do so nowadays, apparently expressing a need totake a tougher posture toward exceptional stress. -sa}

l2
{n192-6}
From the contemporary definitions of the Concise OxfordDictionary, I gather that a kopek is 1/100 ruble.  Thegroschen was apparently Austrian (1/100 of a schilling) orGerman (10 pfenning) ; Whether this has much more relevanceto the period described than the contemporary Israel shekel("juke") has to that of the Biblical period, I don't know. 

["A dime" is a surprising, but surpisingly apt translation. I don't know the unit of currency of which this was 10 --groschen? -- nor how that value would have compared to thevalue of 10 cents in the USA at the time.  Probably similar.]

{n192-7}
QAtERINQE, katerinke,; Etym. presumably from Catherine wheel;a barrel organ.  
	Clearly a German word, etymologically from the Catherinewheel, a device, probably replicated in churches (as, eg, inthe Church of St. Catherine at Bethlehem) on which thegoyhische authorities tortured St. Catherine to death withminimum inconvenience to the former. . 
	If memory serves the barrel-organ, and in more developedform for indoor use the player-piano, would use a round wheelpunched with holes, which would somehow generate a series ofnotes - the horizontal alignment of the hole would engage akey of a certain pitch, and the vertical position of the holewould determine the timing and sequence in which those noteswere struck. -sa}

{n193-1}  
One must note that a likely explanation is that often theJewish conscripts were ripped from their Jewish environment 
between ages 12-18; if they were taken at the early end ofthat range, they would have lost the opportunity for advancedJewish study.}
l3
As R. Zalman Schachter has pointed out, nowadays, mostof us fortunate enough to have had a good westerneducation, with perhaps a degree or so on the side fromgrad school,  have not nearly attained to the level ofJewish knowlege of an Am-HaAretz.  -sa}
{n194-1}
Took Jewish children to serve in the Russian army. Under Nicholas I (d. 1850) Jewish children age 12-18were liable, apparently under regional quotas,  forMilitary service, which was for 25 years; that is, untilone was too old to be more use.  I do not know if thoserules had been relaxed at the time of this account; onewould estimate that Artshik had been taken between 1860and 1870, if he served the full 25 years.  Dimont mentioned in passing that many did not survive militaryservice. }
-sa}

L2
{n194-2}
Simcha: in Jewish tradition on the occasion of completing amitzva, particularly marriage, circumcision, etc. Celebrations are required by cusom on such occasions; and Iguess were not held at other times; in both cases because noone could afford it in the first place; so it had to berequired.  Much of Jewish law is, I think, of that character;eg (in the dry land of Israel)  requirements for bathing andwashing hands,}
