Monday, October 21, 2013

Teaching Jewish Girls in the Shtetl!

Greiding, Ukraine c. 1900
Binyoumin Kreplach and the class of girls
The girl, top row second from the left is my grandmother Rissel the Ruta (the readhead!) and this picture was taken in Gorodok/Horodok, Ukraine where she was born around 1888. The teacher's name was Binyoumin Kreplach who gained this name having once expressed his yearning for yesterday's kreplach one Yom Kippur afternoon. Small town's don't easily let you live these things down. It seems this didn't spoil the shidduch because the little boy to the left of Mr. Kreplach is his son.

Rissel Schwartz
official ID photo
My grandmother Rissel Schwartz left the shtetl for Odessa where she lived with cousins and studied in a Gymnasium which as I understand was a secondary school, like a high school. I guess she must have learned enough from Binyoumin to hold her own in the school.  She was there during the revolution but immigrated along with her brother to the United States around 1922.

I would love to have asked her questions about her childhood and education but unfortunately she passed away a few months before I was born and I am named for her.


Leora said...

My grandmother also studied in Gymnasia in Odessa. She was born in 1896. She later went to study in Leningrad, where she met my grandfather.

We have a picture of my grandmother's family - it has a similar look to your class of girls photo.

Batya said...

Risa, what a wonderful story. I love the posts about your family history. Actually, I love all of your posts and miss it when you're not blogging.

Anonymous said...

Thank for shearing information about Ukrainian Girls.

Mrs. S. said...

My grandmother a"h also studied in a gymnasia (in Kovno, Lithuania), where all her classes were taught in Hebrew.

Thanks for sharing your grandmother's fascinating story.
Yehi zichrah baruch.

Mr. Cohen said...

I personally witnessed this; I was there.





Mr. Cohen said...

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but the real mother begged King Solomon to not do it

Arabs are very familiar with this Bible story and they apply it
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Still, there are rare situations when it helps to know how
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One favorite accusation of the Jew haters is that Jews
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Jew haters use this to imply that Jews are bad people.

This accusation can be countered.

When a Medieval king expelled Jews from his country,
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Even if the Jews had some way to take their money with
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So kings had big financial incentives to expel their Jews,
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Another reason why Jews were expelled many times from
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Medieval European Christians also persecuted other
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For example:

In October 1536 CE, William Tyndale was publicly
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Most Christians alive today tolerate people with different

We Jews should THANK G_D that we live in an era
when most Christians no longer believe their religion
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