;.cEdit of am0224; Tr. (RN) pp202-9, Yishuvnikim of Amdur
;.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,
;.l4,25,75,192,2,127,25,0,
;.l5,30,75,192,2,127,30,0,
;.l6,12,90,192,2,18,24,127,12,1,
;.l7,17,124,192,2,34,127,17,2,
.h2, =am0224a --, translation pp202-209, Amdur mi Pueblo Natale
l2
{NOTE TO CB:  This section was done in a rough translation byRN, and then I polished it in conventional English.  I'vegone back to here original notes, in order to bring my editback closer to the original, ; but you may find it easier todo this section over again, rather than trying to correctthese notes. 
	Again, I want as nearly verbatim a translation aspossible (with as many Yiddish terms included as possible). I think RN omitted phrases which she thought redudundant, andmay have paraphrased others. }
	Where I interject {?Yid   that means, here's a Yiddishword from the text, but I don't know if this is the point inthe translation where it fits. }
-sa}
l1

l2
TRANSLATION FROM:  AMDUR, MI PUEBLO NATALE, by Yedidya EfronApparently first published (as cited by Rabinowitsch,LIthuanian Hasidism, Schocken, 1971) as Y. Efron, 'MeinGeburt-Stetele Amdur', Grodner Opklangen, Vols. V-VI, BuenosAires 1951.
{published by Talleres Graficos Zlotoopioro SACIF, calleSarimeiento 3149, Buenos Aires, 1973); copy held at thelibrary of Yad v'Shem, Jerusalem, catalog #74-79
Introduction in Spanish; bulk of the book in Yiddish.

One must note that this was a difficult selection totranslate; the author uses various presumably Russian termsthat characterize Russian peasant culture; he also has asophisticated familiarity with Yiddish religious culture andtraditional Jewish religious literature uncommon today, andmakes several intricate allusions.

In short, I think this a book that, even apart from itsinterest to persons descended from residents of the shetl ofAmdur, would be well worth a competent, annotated translationby someone fluent in Yiddish and with a solid knowlege ofthat religious culture.                                      
L1
SUMMARY:  This is a colorful excerpt about "settlers" who livedoutside the shtetl of Amdur (Hamdura, Indura).  It is not, as Ihad first assumed, about residents of Amdur who emigrated assettlers to Israel.                                

==================================================================
.P

TRANSLATION (RN) pp202-207, Amdur MIYN GEBIYRN-ShTeTL
pp202-207:  AMDURER YISHUVNIKIM 

p202:
	The Jews of Amdur who inhabited the village took the Jews whodwelled with the peasants as Am Ha-Aretz 
l2
[Glossary: Am Ha-Aretz: Lit., people of the earth;connotation of illiterate peasants.]  
l1

There are many stories about their behavior {end text p202}
----------------------------------------------------------------

{start p203}, 

and at the expense {heshbon} of other yiddele [Jewish people] overhundreds of years.  In former years the Jews were very goodhearted [gutmutig (with a good heart)], and there are tales of howthey made the Seder, and how they used to behave [ (auffiren,Cf.fabringen, spend)] during the Days of Awe 
l2
[Glossary: Days of Awe: period spanning Rosh HaShana--YomKippur] 

l1

when they came to town.  Some of the stories told at their expenseare almost tragic.  But were I to pass judgement on the people Iknew from the outlying districts surrounding the village of Amdur,my opinion would differ from that of the villagers of Amdur.  Someof those yishuvnikim [Jews who settled outside the village ofAmdur] were learned in Torah [b'nei Torah; opposite of amhaAretz], and some had good virtues and good manners.
	I will give a few, of many possible, examples.  


	MoSheH-YiRMeYaHo FROM BARANAVVE [ Baranave ] was a residentof the big [presumably Russian-gentile] village of Bereanave, aJew amdidst hundreds of {Yid: MUZShIQEs} Muziks [Russian peasants. None of them [the Muziks] were able to read and write, nor even tosign his name, nor to ?understand what they read? .  MosheYirmeyahu had the tavern {lit. was the pub-holder} {Yid: ShENK} and he had a bitter life.  {Yid: GEVVEN A YID A MUsMer -- nottranslated} He was a licensed [muzmak, lit. `explicit'] Jew, atypical {? But Yid: tIFER, deep?} lamdan [learned Jew] and a great{Yiddish:  BQI; possibly = `someone who gave tzadaka'].  I used tosee him in town when he came in for Yahrzeit 
l2
[Glossary: Yahrzeit:  annual commemoration of the death of aclose relative, at which one is required by custom to reciteKaddish, which can only be done with a minyan (10 maleJews).]
l1

or for the reading of the Megillah.
l2
[Glossary: Megillah:  The Book of Esther, which all Jews arerequired by halacha to hear on Purim, although notnecessarily in the presence of a minyan.]
l1
	During the 10 Days of Awe {Yid: YoMIM-NORAIM} , there used tobe a minyan in the village surroundings {Yid: DARFIShER } .

	A few weeks before I left Amdur, I went to Berenave, in orderto get a debt {Yid: ChuV} from a goy.  So I went in to MosheYirmeyahu too, in his pub. The pub was full of goyim, and goyes[women gentiles] old and young.  They were sitting around a bigraw dirty table, which was full with [Russian delicacies:] PRAsTE,GRABE,  [griebele, fried animal fat], BIYKIQE, glasses of"GEVALAQEt" geveleket 
l2
[Glossary (RN): "GeValAQET" [geveleket] pickled pig -- iecooked, put in glasses, kept cold with a lot of salt for thewinter; i.e. salt pork], 
l1
from {Yid: wegen} pig, from horse {Yid: QI} , and calf [Yid:kelber].  

	A big hooligan {Yid: KLAP} beat up {Yid: geshlagen} hisfather {Yid: tATeN} with a foot of the bench {Yid: BANQ.} . Theexcitement {Yid: tUML} in this place was terrible {Yid: ShREQLEKh}.  I got scared {Yid: DERShRAQN} .  But the {Yid: "stARShINA"(village) {Yid: ELtestER } elder made peace {Yid: ShaLOM} , andall ended well {Yid: GEENaDIQt}
l2
[N.B.: In this context, the use of the Germanic termgenadikt, with its connotations of gentility, has anironically comic effect, I think.  -sa}
l1

with the bottle {Yid: PLeShL} [ie, they drank over it] and fatherand son reconciled ...

	At the pub  {end text p203}
-----------------------------------------------------------------
#P
{start text p204}

was Moshe Yirmiyahu's wife was in attendance.  In a room by theside Moshe Yirmiyahu sat, {Yid: AYVER A tUR YURaH DEaH}  [like onewho wants to learn]  and he looked into the pub.  As he saw me, hecalled out, "Nu, this people {Yid: AM HaDUMaH L-ChaMOR} is equalto [ie as stupid as] a donkey."  And truly {Yid: B-AMeT}, if youcompare the multitude {Yid: HaMUN} of people in the pub with MosheYermeyahu, you have only to be in agreement with him.  
	You saw two different types of people in this placeBereanave. One type was lowly, and the second type was higher. Drunken goyim, a son who murderously {MiKOT-RTzeCH} beat {Yid:shlagt} up his father --  and the yishuvnik in the middle of allof that {MiteN tUR} ...

	It is known that Moshe Yermeyahu brought up his children.  
{Yid: DAs AIN Vegen Moshe-YirmeYahu}. 
l2
{It's my impression that RN's translation has unnecessarilyadded words not in the text in some places; and may have leftout some phrases.}
l1

But how could Moshe Yermeyahu raise children when he had to makehis living {Yid: parnasa} from these village people?  Did this"Beranever MOsMaKh" { Resident of Berenever; but I think theRussian phrase is used, ironically.} 
l2
{Glossary:  MOsMaKh -- Don't know.  Apparently Russian. Probably term for a Russian villager.}
l1
 abandon his children to this influence, or did he ______{unclear}? {Yid: EFEs A HaMeSheKh fun Moshe-YirmeYahu?} .  To mysorrow, no.
	
	I remember when he brought his one son {Yid: seinem a bniak}to town for bar mitzva.  
l2
[Glossary: Bar mitzva: Lit: one who is now fully obligated toundertake the mitzvot, and so is counted in a minyan; anymale on and after his 13th birthday. {n1} 

l1

In this year in Amdur all shuls {Yid: shuln} and Bet Midrashimwere dedicated in honor of the one to whom one had been given theofficial right to buy the aliya; the people who were chosen to buythis aliyah {Yid: "HaNOteN TshUeH"} were those who were heldresponsible to do the bracha -- to they who had got the officalportion of terumah.
l2
[Glossary: terumah:  is the portion of one's produce that wasby law given to the priesthood;  {n2} ]
l1

	This occurred on shabbos and yomtov in the appropriateplaces, was done as well in the hassidische {Yid: ChasIdERNIE} 
shul where there were no changes,  {n3} in the shul and in the betmidrash.   
	There was as big crowd for davening. 
l2

[Glossary: davening:  the halachically required prayerservices, {n4}

l1
One calls y'amod haChatan [in Liturgy for Simchat Torah:  rise up,Chatan haTorah] ...{eo}
l2
{Name of boy who had the bar mitzva is  not given in text} 
l1
son of {Yid: HaRaV R'}
l2
[It is interesting that the formal mode of address is givenas:  HaRav R'  -- that indicates that the abbreviation R'need not stand for Rabbi, but could be used for Reb, andpolite term not usually designating an ordained rabbi. -sa]
l1

the Rav Reb Moshe Yermeyahu ... {eo}
l2
[So here we learn that Moshe Yermeyahu was apparently aRabbi, unless the term 'Rav' was a special honor for the day.Note that the term 'Chatan haTorah' usually refers to the onewho is honored on the simchat torah with, as I recall, thefirst aliyah of Bereshit; however here the term 'chatanhaTorah' is clearly extended to the bar-mitzva boy.]
l1
	Nu, the son of the Rav, nebuch, 
l2

[Glossary: nebuch:  Yiddish expression, 'alas'.]
l1
could not do the bracha on the Torah. {n5} 
Jews shook their heads {Yid: Geshaklet mit di kep} and laughed{Yid: QREKTzENDIQ [krektzendik] }.  "Nu, a yishuvnik, nebuch. "LAZER DEM RaV's  remarked "He will be {Yid: AI''HSh} the MaMLAMaQOM [memale makom] (one who stands in) for the Rav inBereneve."...
l2
[I'd guess that's a joke, that the bar mitzva boy, since hedoesn't even know the blessing over the torah, is suited tobe Rav in Bereneve, a village of only Russian peasants. -sa}
l1
The village did not bring about a torah Jew. 
--------------

SHMUEL-RASHA PRAQAPAVVItSHER [Shmuel-Rasha Prakapavitsh-er ]
l2

[RN: That is:  Shmuel was has given name, he was nicknamed"Rasha", the bad one, and from the village of Prakapavitch]
l3
{I'm not sure if Rasha is used here in that sense . sa}
l1
Prakapavitch was a village 2 verst {Yid: VVIARst, viarst} [unit ofdistance] from Amdur.  There was situated the  "VVALAstNUIEAUFRAVVLIENIE" " 
L2
[valast-nuie AOFRAV-LIENIE] (District Court {Yid: DIsTRIQtAMt}  which heard any disputes. 

l2
[RN notes that this was the lowest level of court, analogousin Israel to Bet Mishpat haShalom {Cf. 'Justice of thePeace'}  That's very reasonable, though I'm not sure if sheknows or is assuming that.} ]
L1

{Sentence not translated?}

If it had been ruled that  {end text p204}
-----------------------------------------------------------------
.P

{start text p205}

a goy was to be punished [lashed(?)]  
l2
{Yid: ShMITz } [RN: punishment, in the sense of financialpunishment; but Harduf:  lashes.   The latter seems morelikely to have been the punishment of peasants in ruralRussia of the 1880's; since they had practially no money norhuman rights. -sa}
l1
  
then the PARMShaPtER
l2
{Glossary:  PARMShaPter . Presumably Russian.  Don't know. Presumably Russian(?) term for a court officer] 
l1
was called into {Yid: QIYN, keyn} Prakafavitsh, where he got thewitnesses {Yid: TzOGE-PsqNtE , zoge-peskante} and then came backto the village.  One down-and-outer, 
l2
{Glossary: (Yid. AFGEShMIsENER aufgeshmis-ener,  down-andouter)}
l1

a fool, and a {Yid: B'EL-TShUVaH , ba'al tchuva, 
l2
{Yid: B'El-TShuva, [ba'al tchuva], Loosely translated'penitent'., lit., master of return, {n8}
l1
, and he [the ba'al tchuva is] like one who is new-born...{eo}
l2
[RN suggests that this may have reflected a legal requirementfor 3 witnesses, ]
l1

	One time a goy came back to the {Yid: MaLQOt, malkot} [witnesseses? messengers?] to {Yid: QIYN} Amdur to buy something{Yid: EFEs AIYQOIFN, efes aynkoifn}.  
l3
so possibly not 'to buy something', but 'to buynothing', from context possibly an ironic slangexpression meaning, to steal something of minor value. Or again, it might imply that he had come to the shtetlwith no purpose, and was accordingly falsely accused ofintending to steal. -sa}
l1
  People asked him, "{Yid: "FIADAR, ShtA sLIShNA" FIADAR, WAS HERtZIKh   Fyodor, what's going on?"  And he answered {Yid: GEENtFERt} :  "{Rus. NIEtShEVVA, DAstAL DVVADUShEsQA", {Yid: GAoRNISht [gornisht], GEQRAGeN A 20-ED,}  Nothing,  I got a 20."  Thatmeant that he had been given a punishment of 20 Shmitz [lashes].

---------------------------------
SHMUEL YESHA

In this village lived {Yid: SHMUAL-YeShE, Shmuel Yesha 
l2
(RN: Yiddish form of Yehoshua; not Yesha). 
[RN: The nickname 'Yesha' is apparently a bit of a word-playwith 'Rasha'.]  
l1
He was a learned man {Yid: A YId A LamDen} and a famous drashan{Yid: DoRSheN MaFUAR} [one who gives commentaries] -- in a way which is hard to understand nowadays. {Yid: LUIt=[Harduf:according]  AMALIQN BAGRIF , 
l3
If the meaning is 'in a way that is difficult tounderstand nowadays, could that suggest commentaries inthe hassidic style of R. Heyim Heikel -- hiscommentaries, in Hayim v'Hesed, do seem exceptionallyesoteric -sa}
l1
He used to know all his former drashot [commentaries] which were{Yid: PILPUL-DIQE, pilpul-dike]  pilpul-dike [lit., peppery; dialectical].  They were piquante {Yid:  PKQANtE} and sometimeseven grotesque {Yid: AFt MAL GRAoTEsQE; so better: oftengrotesque.} .  
l2
{A phrase follows that is apparently not translated: StENDIQ,NatIRLEKh}
l1

But the Jews of Amdur tolerated them, as they would Purim [parody]toras {Yid: PURIM-TAG}.
	 According {Yid: LUIt} to Shmuel Yeshua's "yasha"
l2
[word-play on "drasha"; that is, a drasha by Yasha (ShmuelYeshua)]
l1
Did Ahasheverus get into trouble with Haman {n6}
l1

according to the method of Ye'ush shelo mi-dat, desperation whichis of no knowlege {Yid: ShIteH [shiteh -- Talmudic methodologicterm? ] FUN "YAOSh SheLAMDET"  [Yaosh She---Lo--Mi-DET ] , andShmuel Yesha manouvered {Yid: HAt MANEVURIRt MIt AVI AUN RaBA,}[the traditional teachings of] our fathers (ie tradition) and 
Rabbis 
l2
[RN: Or possibly, read Raba as a reference to Midrash Rabba.]
l3
[sa: This phrase is a nice example of the author'sability to juxtapose different modes of expression, toappropriately humorous effect. ]

l1
  He pointed out the two "camels" {Yid: DI BIYDE "KAMULEs"[camols]}
l2
[RN: referring to Ahashverus & Haman, camels, ie comparingthem to camels]  
l1
They forgot the halacha _________ , according to our fathers BYAL 
l2
["power accrues to whoever has the law"??]
l1
He thought that the king of Persia ??was a tzadik??, 
l2
[I do not find the phrase 'tzadik' supported in the text --sa]
l1

was right, to underwrite Haman's sentence 
l2
[Reference here is to Megillat Esther, where Ahashverusaccepts Haman's proposal to kill all the Jews in the Empire,and seize their wealth]
l1
because the RShB''A  - {text sic, Resh-Shin-Bet-''-Alef ; otRashbam} did give the one or other definition about : Dina dMalkuta dina (the law of the kingdom is the law) and so even Hamanis right, because the RITB''A --
l2
 apparently abbreviated traditioanl name of a Rabbi}
l1
 interpreted {Yid: MaChOLQ} ...{eo} -- but in the end it came outthat Ahashverus was a {Yid: "YURQE" [Yurke -- variant of yekke?]and Haman a "PEtRUQ" 
l2
{Glossary: "PEtRUQ", petruk.  Russian? Don't know. }
l1
because they prevented a take-over* {Asterisk, text, citing bottomfootnote)  {Yid: HaShQL -- reference to the Hashkela,Enlightenment? -sa } 
l1

{asterisk citing bottom footnote:  

-----------
Author's Footnote at bottom of page:  
Behind his back people said that Shmuel Yesha had stolen {Yid:GNoBeT, gonovet}  his drasha from the Forest of Honey  {Yid: YERUtDaVaSh} . (ie, a place where fools are?) or the {Yid: "PaRaShatDaRKIM" parsha derachim(of the way, derch ertetz, folk-wisdom )and he had them formed according to his own taste.  }
----------------
l1
Shmuel Yesha was a wonderful shmoozer {Yid: a FIYNER ShMUEsER,finer Shmoozer}.  So his chldren were not lost {Yid: PRAstE} (toJudaism)  because Prakapovitch was close to Amdur  and they usedto learn in the cheders {Yid: CheDeRIM} in Amdur.
{end page 205}
l2
[Glossary: Cheder:  Jewish school for the religious educationof Jewish children.]
l1
{after the footnote, translated above, end text  page 205 }
---------------------------------------------------------------
.p
{start text p206}

YEQENN ZAQ [Yeken Zak]
l2

[Zak, from Zechariah).  
l1
He was also called YEKKEN ZAROVItShER, after the  name of thevillage where he lived.  
	He was a tall and round {Yid: HUIKER, BIYKIQER} yid, with apair of big VANTzEs.
l2
{Glossary: Vantzes:  Harduf: Vantz -- mustache; hence,'mustachios', the turn-of-the-century term for the style ofgrooming one's mustache at great length on each side.  Ithink Teddy Roosevelt did it. -sa}
l1

  His family name was {Yid:  ''  }  } Z''K Zayin Quf the{Yid: a } Cohen, which meant {Heb: ZeRE KODeSH} [zayra haKodesh,the holy seed [of Aharon haCohen]} .  [Footnote, signed REDI(Editor(?)):   He was the great-uncle(?)  of Avraham Zak.]

l2
{Yid: ELtER-FETER ; Haruf: Feter=Uncle; Hence: Great-uncle; 
although RN "older cousin"}  that is:  brother of AvrahamZak's father [since his last name is Zak; hence he is not thematernal great-uncle] 
l1

 Some other Jews with the same family name used to under-sign Z''K{Zayin-Kaf, '' }  , which is {Yid: RaShI-TIVOt of} theshortening from `Seed of Kahuna' [priesthood; Kahuna from Kohen,priest]. 
	 Lazer the Rabbi's {Yid: LAZER DEM RaVs} 
l2
[RN trans: Lazer the Rabbi; but that seems to miss the s atthe end of RaVs; and anyhow the usual way of designating aRabbi would be eg , R' Lazer , not egmm "Lazer the Rabbi"(sa)]
l1
 said once:  "I don't know the order {Yid: seDeR} of therelationship {Yid: HaYiChUs; ancestry, in the sense of"distinguished ancestry" (typical expressed in terms of biblicalsignificance, often in the interest of effecting a distinguishedmarriage} , but in one thing I'm sure -- that he is big [wordplay] `ZAK' mit lange AOIERN [zak mit lange oieren  sack with longears.]"... {eo}   This was written down in the governmentchronicle {Yid: REGIRUNG-PAost, regirung-post} from the region ofAmdur. {Yid: AMDURER RAIAN}   
	He used all the time to ride in a BRItShQE, britske , wagon? 
l3
{CB:  Please check your dictionaries for britske;neither wagon nor carriage are defined as britske inHarduf.}
l1
 with a beautiful horse.  He went very often into Grodno.   evenwithout having real business {Yid: PRAstAQ} there; 
l2
[Grodno was the capital of the district]
l1
[he] spoke very good {Yid: QAREtN, correct? }Russian.  He wassingle. 
l2
{The preceeding sentence seems to be an abridgedtranslation.}
l1

{Yid: YoMIM-NORAIM} [on the 10] Days of Awe he used to daven inthe Great Shul {Yid: GROIsER ShUL}  and he let himself be calledup by the aliyah "PTIChT NEILaH" (the end of Yom Kippur) and "ATaHHaRAT" 
l2
[RN: Atah HaYireta [point of liturgy, apparently at the endof Yom Kippur].  
l1
	Even though he was {Yid: AIN GEVVEN A -- not translated} acohen, people made jokes behind his back {VVITzLEN, vitzlen}: thatthe maftir from parasha Korach 
l2
[Ie, Number 18:30-32]
l1

belongs to him, because there is talked about the MESR meiser] from the cohenim and the leviim and it's said clearly {Yid: QLAR,klar} there, {Heb: "KTeVOAT GOReN V-KTeVOAT YeKeV... "
l2
[apparently a joke, but RN doesn't understand -- ] 
l1
ktvoat goren v'ktevoat yekev, you count what you have on yourthreshing-floor and you count what you have in your vinyard.  
l2
[RN:  Ie, his name was YekeV, from vinyard {ie Gefen}.]
In English translation, Numbers 18:30 reads: "When you hevethe best part thereof from it, then it shall be accounted tothe Levites as the produce of [the] threshing-floor [GoReN]and as the produce of the wine-press [YeKeV]"

l1
	I remember his wife {Yid: FRUI},  TRIYNE , came for Pesach toMoshe Esharer, to order baked matza {id: AZShARER BAShtELN BAQN}from the first grinding {shmeura matza?? - RN} {n7} because thefirst grinding comes out more kosher  {Yid: Wiel es giyt aruiskasherer} ... {eo}  Who can get a clear picture {Yid: AMALIQE} ofthe former Jewish aristocracy {Yid: ARIstAQRAtIE}: [they]  keepthe fast, [they] {Yid: trinken mitn AIsRAVVNIK} 
l2
{Glossary: mitn AIsRaVVNIK, osravnik.  Don't know.  Mightmean, drink with loud exclamations [as goyische noblemen did,maybe -- Cf. Hamlet} 
l1

play at cards {Yid: Shpielen ain karten} 
l2
{I think this turn of phrase, shplienen ain karten, isintended to evoke to imitation-French manners of the easternEuropean aristorcary -- sa}
l1

with the higher {YId: HEKERE "NAtShALstVVA" 
l2
{Glossary: "NAtShALstVVA" . Don't know.  Some stratum ofRussian society, presumably. }
l1

and they get {Yid: BAZARGN} matza from the first grinding {Yid:AOIVVeN, oiven, oven -- so better: baking; 
l3
although the wheat would only have been groundimmediately before baking, that is, after the previousbatch was out of the oven, to minimize the risk of itbecoming leaven through accidental contact with water} 
l1

like somebody {wie ain Amter} [who keeps] mehadrin min hamehadrin[more kosher than kosher -- 
l3
nowadays I think designates the strictest lavel ofrabbinic kashrut supervision -- I do not know if it wasin play at the time the author wrote, nor at the time hewrote of.  Probably the former. ].  Extremely frum 
l2
[frum (Yiddish) -- strictly observant]
l1
and worldly [AFGEHIt] aufgehet, a person in your time] [at thesame time.]  He had his two sons MoSheH  and HEShL,  sent to learnin town, but they didn't turn into b'nei Torah [torah scholars]. His second son learned with AHaRON QaDIShN TZUZAMEN [Aaron KadishTzuzeman], {end ms. p206}
----------------------------------------------------------------
#P
{start ms. p207}

together with me [ie, the author, Yedidya Efron].  As soon as hewas accepted in Cheder, he made a fool out of himself {Yid: KUNTzZiKh TzU ShtELN AUIFN } and put himself on his head with his feetto the ceiling. 
l2
[Simply standing on his head.  Ben Gurion did it too. -sa]
l1
.a3
My holy rabbi, R' AHaRoN KaDISh , , got very much scared and heshouted out {Yid: AUIsGeShRIEN, ausgeshrein}:  {Yid: AIKh DARFNISht KIYN, "VVIRADAQ" (a MuSHUNeHDIQE BRIeH)} ) This is unworthy,a habit of a Muzik {Russian peasant} [and it's unworthy] in thecheder.  In the end, Heschel went back again to ZARUVItShZaruvitch.  Some years later {Yid: Mit a par YarI encountered himin the compnay of the Cossak from Blishtshendik.  {Yid:BLIShTSHENDIQN QOZIRAQ}, which in those times was considered avery daring } thing to do{Yid: GeVVAGtE PRITzIT} ...{eo}

=============================================================== = 
END (ROUGH) TRANSLATION BY RN, editted sa.
----------------------------------------------------------------
.p
NOTES TO PP202-207
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 {n1}
Traditional ceremony, not required by halacha, noting that a malechild, having passed his 13th birthday (reckoned by the Hebrewcalendar) is now of the age where he is both entitled to andresponsible for performance of the mitzvot [obligations of Jewishreligious law]; traditionally marked by calling the boy for analiyah.  One who is called for an aliya and is able to lehn torah[read torah with the traditional cantillation] will then lehn onesection of the portion of the first day following his birthday onwhich the torah is read -- Monday, Thursday, or Shabbat; one whocannot lehn will only recite the brachas before and after thereading, and follow attentively the reading.  It is customary forthe parents of the child to then offer the congregants some lightrefreshment after the morning service.  -sa]

{2}
this notion is retained both in the Xian 'tithing' and in thehalachic principle that one ought to give not less than 1/10 normore than 1/20 of one's wealth (income?) as tzadaka [loosely,'charity'; more precisely, `justice' (Cf. Gr. ike)]

[I.e., all the synagogues and study-houses were that yeardedicated in honor of those who had pledged money.  This was anextention of the common custom, formalized in siddurim,  that onspecial days -- most notably Simchat Torah, but I have observed itat the Sephardi synagogue of Rhodos on Rosh HaShana -- the honorof special aliyot is awarded to those who have previously pledgedmoney. --sa]  
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{n3}
[That may mean that it was the custom in the hassidic shul toaward aliyot for pledges of money. 
The hassidic movement in Amdur started with R. Hayim Heikel (d. 23Adar 1787) of Amdur, a disciple of the Maggid of Mezrich; hissucessors were R. Shmeul of Rosh, R. Shumeul of Amdur, and R.Moshe of Shershov.  Amdur hassidism did not continue for a 3rdgeneration, although the Horodok Dynasty continued to moderntimes.  The Karlin dynasty has also continued to contemporarytimes; there is a Karliner Bet Knesset (hassidic) in Tiberias, inan old building on the lakeshore plaza; Rabinowitsch notes (loc.cit. p142b) it was erected by R. Menahem Mendel of Viebsk in thelast quarter of the 18th century,  on special days Karlinerhassidim come there from elsewhere in Israel. -sa] 

Wolf Zeev Rabinowitsch includes a further translation from thisbook  -- from an earlier edition, which he cites as Y. Efron,'Mein Geburt-Stetele Amdur', Grodner Opklangen, Vols. V-VI, BuenosAires 1951 -- in his book LITHUANIAN HASIDISM (Schocken, New York,1971): p142:

On the state of hasidism in Amdur during the last two generationsbefore the Second World War, we have the following eye-witnessaccount: {all ellipses made by Rabinowitsch:}: 

` ... in Amdur thare was a large synagogue, three batei midrash,and also a prayer-house of the hasidim ... The Amdur prayer-houseof the hasidim served as a centre for several score hasidim wholived in the town under the spiritual guidance of various Rebbes. These were the hasdidim of Slonim, Stolin, Kobrin, Karlin, Kotsk,and in recent years the hasidim of Novominksk ... Since, in thepast fifty years, [ie, since 1900, since this book was firstpublished in 1951] the difference between the mithnagdim and thehasidim has become less pronounced, there were hasdidim thatprayed and studied in mithnaged synagogues and batei midrash. Hence, there was not always a minyan in the hasidic prayer-house,especially in winter when there was a shortage of wood forheating.  Tradition has it that, on the same spot where thehasidic 'shtiebel' now stands, there formerly stood the paryerhouse of R. Hayyim-Heikel of Amdur ... one of the greatst of thehasidim, at whose grave even mithnaged Rabbis used to prostratethemselves in prayer.  [ I omit the final pargraph of thistransalted excerpt - sa]
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{n4}
which in prevalent custom should wherever possible be said incompany with others, preferably in a minyan:  morning, mid-day (orlate afternoon) and evening (lst 3 stars).  Loosely translated as'prayer', but to be distinguished from primarily petitionaryprayer; eg in Judaism the Travelers' prayer, and one might say,the prayers before falling asleep.]

{n5}
[The one calls to the torah recites a very simple b'racha.
I personally was able to learn it, with a passable degree offluency, in less than 50 years, albeit on the basis of 4 years'graduate study in philosophy at better universitities.
R. Zalman Schachter has remarked, In these Enlightened times, fewof us attain to the level of the am ha-Aretz, the unletteredJewish peasant for whom yiddishkeit was nonetheless a life-form. sa]

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{n6}
[In the Book of Esther, Ahasheverus is associated with thePersian Emperor Xerxes.  I have not heard that the characterof Haman, his pettily egomanical anti-Jewish Prime Minister,has been traced to an historical character.   Haman inveiglesthe King, who is not depicted as a character of inherentstrength, into authorizing genocide of the Jews.]

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{n7}
[Matza is only kosher for Pesach if the flour from which itis made has not leavened.  Apparently with the addition ofwater, flower or wheat can leaven in as little as 18 minutes,from the natural yeasts in the air.  Hence nowadays thestrictly observant prefer "shmeura matzva", that is, matza ofwhich the wheat and flour have been strictly "guarded"against the possibility of leavening.  In contemporarytradition, this matza is hand-made, roughly rounded (as ithas been rolled out, not squared by machine), a bit burned,and I must say has for some reason an indescribably delicioustaste, despite consisting of nothing but flour and water. The strictly obserant consider it quite important thatshmeura matza be used at least for the intial Seder blessingsover matza, and that shmeura matza be the first matza oneeats for, and in fulfillment of an obligation of, Pesach. 

Apparently here reference was to a different procedure, wherewheat was ground, matza then baked (presumably immediately,to minimize the risk of leavening], and then the remainingwheat ground again [presumably because the mill did not grindfine, so several grindings were necessary to produce fineflour.  But all that is just my guess.  -sa]

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{n8}
a euphemism for a Jew who as an adult has "returned" tostrict religious observance; either with or [nowadays,most tyically with galutz-raised ba'al tchuva's] withouta childhood religious upbringing.   Also used of one ofbad or dissolute character who reforms, in the contextof of religious Judaisml.
l3
{The Ba'al tchuva typically displays a dogmaticdoggedness that may seem coarse to those more accustomedto religious and/or secular civilization; after havingbeen as non-observant as possible, typically past thepoint of socio- or psycho- -pathology.  Hence a certainmeasure of uncoerced brain-washing may have preceededit; thus the ba'al tchuva may, as the author notedperceptively more than a half-century ago, "be like onewho is new born".   Hence the Jewish Ba'al tchuva isanalogous to neo-fundamentalists of all faiths:  the"bored-again Christian",  cult-followers like those ofScientology or, some say, those of ISKON ("HareKrishna's"); and of course the usual Exploding Gazans ofTeheran.   
