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.h2, =amp151-4 --
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SECTION PREVIOUSLY TRANSCRIBED TO DATE 1 MAY 96: 
=amp11127, pp111-127  . INTERVENING: No Photos.
INPUT OF MS. TRANSLATION FROM AMDUR MI PUEBLO NATALE, pp151-2
{start ms. p21}
{text middle p151}
AMDUR'S COHANIM
FOLLOWED BY pp152-4, Amdur family names
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I don't know why but it is a fact:  Amdur had a great manyCohanim.  In all Study halls
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{GLOSSARY:  Study Halls = Beit Midrashim }
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and in the Great Synagogue, rows of Cohanim would stand on theplatform for the priestly blessing and would deafen thecongregation with a cacaphony at the blessing "who has sanctifiedus with the holiness of Aharon"  Old Jews, young Jews, 
yet unmarried young men and Bar Mitzvah boys would try to drownout each other.  You would hear voices like from the depths of abarrel, bases, tenors, sopranos, falsettos and just strangevoices, and all in a deafening disharmony.  Each one would end the"with love"
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{Last words of the preparatory blessing by the Cohenim -sa}
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on a different final note and in the end a youngster with the highpitch like a goat-kid.  "Beh-Aha-vaaaah"
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{From the Hebrew for 'with love': `B-AHavaH'}
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I remember that during the holidays, at such occasions, the GreatSynagogue would be filled with cohanim standing from the Torah Arkuntil the entrance.  LAZAR , the Rav's son, once said that Amdurhad a whole battalion Cohanim ... {eo}

	Truthfully, when they would go back to their seats after thePriestly Blessing it looked {end text p151}
.p
{start text p152}

like a parade in socks {Yid: ZAQN:  Is that Yiddish for Sukkot? It's not the Hebrew for Sukkot}  . A fortunate town {Yid: A GLIQFON A StAt }...{eo}(ZOQN is Yiddish for socks.Sorry for myillegible handwriting.Tr.) 
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{Is this a Yiddish proverb, or expression?}
{end ms. page 21}
end section on Cohanim, pp151-52} {start ms. p22}
{Start tr of pp152-154, Hebrew Family Names}

HEBREW FAMILY NAMES
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Amdur was famous for its Hebrew surnames, almost phenomenal.  Thenames of the priestly garments were well represented in Amdur'sfamilies, especially in the working class.  The list I am givinghere, according to the Hebrew alphabet, will testify to the fact{that} the Amdur people, especially its artisans, were alreadyduring this period tuned into Hebrew:

AVNet, 
AFRON  [Efron]
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{That is the name of the author of AMDUR, MIYN GEBOIRN-ShtEtL
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BUQI, 
VAFsY, 
CHaZaN, 
ChIReM, 
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I suppose this is Herem, meaning, excommunication.
I would then seem to refer to a family excommunicated ashassidic -- presumably followers of R. Hayim-Heikel of Amdur-- by the mitnoggim of the early(?) 18th century
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YaSPeH, 
YaHaLOM, 
YaNSUF,  [text sic:  Yansuf, not Yamsuf (Red Sea)]
MaTzNeFeT, 
MANQeR 
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[Tr: Me-Naker in Hebrew] 
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{I don't understand -- sa}[S.o.who is an expert inremoving the forbidden parts of a slaughtered cow, sheepor goat.That would be for example a certain part of thethigh, the fat around the kidneys and the sciaticanerve.TR.)
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MaRGaLIT, 
NEFAKh , 
NaChBI, 
saPIR, 
MIN, 
TzaRFaT, 
ShIR , 
SaSON, 
ShoHAM, 
TaRShISh

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{COMMENT, sa:  I'd not realized that Jews in the shtetloften took their own family names, as they would havewith these from the Bible; rather than having familynames [eg: Amdur ] attributed to them when they moved,or being assigned them by the gentile authorities.}
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At this point I would like to clarify that my family name isEFRON, with an Aleph
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[Tr notes that in Yiddish the vocal 'e' is usually writtenwith an Ayin]
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and not with an Ayin.  A lot of people think I don't know how tospell ....{eo}
And a proof for it is what is written {in} the Torah explicitly: "Efron the Hittite"                                          
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{Genesis 23:10,    `eFRON HaChiTI'}
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[Tr: With an Ayin]
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Also the founder(?) of Efron family during the time of Alexanderthe First 
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{That would be Czar Alexander I, ?? -- 1850}

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was R' AFRiYM [Efrayim] . When he had to produce a family name heanswered:  I originate from the seed of Josef whom(?) the evil eyecannot harm from the Tribe of Efrayim.  
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{That is:  Genesis 41:52 & ff,   , AFRIM , Efrayim,the second-born son of Joseph.}
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From AFRiYM  comes AFRON, with an Aleph.  This became corruptedinto Efron with an Ayin. {end ms. page 22} {start ms. page 23, 

	And as to some "scholars"  who brought to my attention myfaulty way of signing my name, I would like to cite a Tosefos [TR:Commentary] to the Gemarah of Megillah, Daf Yud, and Bes  {ie,Bet, the 2nd letter in the alphabet} 
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[TR: {Gemorah Reference is} Page 10, right hand side]
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concerning the name of "RaBaH BaR AFRoN" [Heb.  with Aleph ]
(I think he {Rabbah bar Efron} was an 'Amorah'), 
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[GLOSSARY: Amorah: Talmudic sages of the post-Mishnaicperiod]
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"read it RaBaH BaR AFRoN [with Aleph] and not [Rabba bar] EFRoN[with an Ayin], because the names of bad{??} people shall rot{??}and one doesn't ration them (referring to Efron the Hitite, whosename was spelled, with Ayin, it should be noticed: {end text p152}
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{text p153:  Photo only: Amdurer "HeCheLOTz" [Pioneers] 1927
It is a formal photo of large number -- maybe 60 -- of youngmen and women -- one would say in their early 20s --apparently posed outdoors -- men and women alternating, andtouching -- all the men clean-shaven, most with neckties(regular and bow-tie) the women in full-neck long dresses;all dark colors; all very serious looking.
{Note that this photo was taken almost 30 years after YedidyaEfron emigrated to Argentina; so he seems to have kept intouch with the shtetl.}

{start text p154}

N.B.:  I AM NOT SURE THAT THE FIRST PARAGRAPH ON p154 wasTRANSLATED.
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I am writing from memory only and it is certain that many Hebrewfamily names I overlooked in my notes because in this long goneJewish shetl people used to call each by family name only rarely,rather after their father, mother, husband, wife, occupation,profession or nicknames.
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{COMMENT:  That is quite an important point; itindicates a complexity in naming in the shetl; such thatfamily names existed, were freely chosen by the Jewishpeople, but that in everyday life the traditional andinformal naming system prevailed.  It also indicatesthat this traditional system was not a formalized matterof patrynomics etc., but an informal one.}
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LIYZER ShUALs [Shaul's Lazer]
LIYBE ChaNaH EtEs [Chana-Ette's Leibeh]
MAtE TOIvEs [Toive's Mate ] 
PEShe MAtes [Mate's Pesheh]
ALtER PAIE-EtEs [Faige-Ette's Alter]
LIYBE MENDeLs [Mendel's Liebe]
AIYZShE MENDeLs [Mendel's Eisheh]
AFRiYM ABEs [Abe's Efraim]
HIRSh MAShEs [Mashe's Hirsch]
AFRYiM TaLMUD-TORaH=MLaMeD [Efraim the Talmud-Torah Teacher]
 etc.

	I am sure that I omitted many Hebrew family names common inAmdur.  But in any case, the Jews of Amdur could pride t hemselvesin not having taken on Lithuanian, Polish, or Russian familynames, but rather Biblical or Hebrew ones.
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{Again, this is an important point about how the Jewishcommunity of the Pale took on family names.  One gathersthen that it was a government edict, I assume in thetime of Czar Alexander I, to take on a family name; butthat for Jews to take on Biblical/Hebrew names was theexception.  That suggests either than some were afraidto do so, or , more likely, that the regional governmentobliged them to take on non-Jewish names.  -sa}
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{end ms. page} {end section; middle of page 154}
===============================================================
PROOFED (sa); Back to CB for corrections.

