Six single rings from the old horologe in the apartment are waking you up with half opened eyes after a good winter night sleep. You look at the double-frame windows in the room, especially fixed for the winter. Between the exterior and the interior frames is a layer of insulating material. The slits in the frames of the window-panes have been stuffed with paper and cotton so that the cold would not penetrate through them. The window-panes are covered with frozen steam forming images of bouquets of flowers, animals and various pictures an artist could have made for a child to exert his imagination. You have no desire to get up in the morning and not even to get the tip of your nose out of the warm winter blanket. One would like to doze a little more and continue dreaming. However, you cannot afford such a pleasure to go on. Mother, God knows when she woke up, rushes you and nudges you: "Get up children; there is a Fair in the Shtetl today.''

You jump out of your bed, dress fast and go to the tap to wash yourself. The water are terribly cold - the water that Zadishke, the well known water-carrier brought yesterday from the well. You somewhat succeed to spray with your fingers some cold water on the tip of your nose. Immediately after, you sit at the table for breakfast. A baked fresh roll that mother bought in the early morning from Yoske the Baker with some fried onion on it is given to you with pleasure. A cup of tea from the boiled water in the samovar, sweetened with 3 teaspoons of Punch, warms a little your heart "Mechaye Nefoshes" ("a blessing for your soul"). You finish eating, put your fur coat and get out of your home on your way to the market.

The market has not yet gotten up from its sleep. The Circus in the middle of the Square is still asleep; a black raven sits on the top of its tent and spreads pieces of ice and frozen snow. Several sledges of gentiles from Maziantz (on the other side of the Niemen River) give you the feeling that today there is indeed a fair-day in town. These gentiles are conspicuous with the shawls on their shoulders, with their rags and the shoe-laces that cover their legs. They have already sold logs which they brought from the forest to the shtetl and which will be used to heat the stoves.

It is bitterly cold. There is frost in the shtetl. The gentiles from Maziantz wave their arms around their shoulders and jump on their legs in order to get warmer, to distinguish them from Aaron-Hirsh the Chasid who jumps in the Chasidic shtibl (prayer-house) while drinking a small glass of arak, which is not without merit when it comes to frost. The frost hits your face and makes you loose your breath. The Niemen River is frozen. A thin layer of ice is seen on the roofs and it looks like frozen tears which are asking to cry. The snow is shattering under your feet. You look around and see a hill of ice near the well which has been created from the water accumulated around and frozen. To stand on this hill means to put your life in danger, since you may slip and fall into the well.

You continue walking toward the market and you meet Henie's Moshe. Reb Moshe is a Jewish horse-merchant, a profession going in the family from generation to generation. He is tall and corpulent, with a long black beard, and as people say, having also a "double Kile" (hernia). He pulls his legs when he walks, dressed in a long winter fur coat whose collar covers his face, his trousers stuck inside the high boots and his hands caught in the sleeves. He walks thus slowly, chewing a stalk of hay in his mouth, stirring and thinking that perhaps this morning he would have a chance to sell or buy a foal or a horse. "Good morning, Reb Moshe." "Happy New Year" he replies and his mouth's vapor looks like smoke getting out of the chimney of a stove. "Nu, will it be a successful businesses day, Reb Moshe?" "With God's help", he replies in his deep voice, "there has been a kind of danger, but God has mercies for us, and today the snowy roads are better and there will be a great fair and good businesses". Oh, Ribono shel Olam (God) let it really be a good day; Jews are always in need of some means living ("Parnose").

You turn to Zagorany way and suddenly you hear shouts: "Cholera - let it take you", Strange death - let it catch you", "Grippe - let it catch you", "may your body split into pieces", "may you eat today Kadoches (malaria) with Kosher strings", "Meshuge, Gvald"! Don't get frightened Jews, it is only Chaya-Hinda quarreling with her husband Yehuda-Faitesh. Jews only quarrel with each other and that is a sign that we will have a decent fair in town. Chaya-Hinda's shop is small, only 4x4 cubits. Everything is ready for the fair. She has prepared a quarter of a barrel with fat and salty herrings and a little bit of Liak [brine of marinated herring used for dipping in potatoes]. She also has in her shop several dozens of smoked fish which are royal delicatessen for esteemed Muzhiks (gentiles, peasants). She also has a barrel with cotton, a box with coated sweets from Metushelach days (that is very old) just in case one peasant would like to buy it as a present for his children in the village. Chaya-Hinde and her husband Yehuda-Faitesh have a "real supermarket" ready for the fair in town.

You continue walking and you hear a melody that touches your heart. It is Alter the Butcher who sings a song from the post-war (WW1) days about an anonymous soldier and it expresses much sorrow and sadness. The words are: "In the green-green fields, an anonymous soldier lies; Oh mine, Oh, Oh, Oh."

You continue walking along the street and you see a long line of sledges with peasants from the neighboring villages approaching slowly to the market. The Muzhiks are sitting on large sledges padded with hay and straw; the richer and important peasants, however, are sitting on sledges with bells adorning the heads of the horses. You approach them, get close to the corner of one sledge and hold it in order to ride a little; however, when the peasant notices you he uses his whip to beat the horse and you then jump off the sledge fully satisfied and pleased.

The market is awakening… Slowly-slowly the shops in its front are being opened. On the doors of one shop, red scarves are hung in order to attract the buyers and to let them know that this is a "Fashion House". The designer has already placed his hand-made fashion designs of different kinds and sizes. And since we have mentioned him, why won't we mention his wife - the woman designer, since if a husband is a Rabbi, then his wife is a Rebetzin…

In this occasion, it is worth-while to mention some of the other types and characters in town. The following ones are well known in our shtetl and in its surrounding: Yosel der Meshuge (the Crazy), Berl der Hen (Chicken), Avreimel der Parech (the Bald), Shalom der Partzetzke (the Toy), Yankel Baal Ha'deah (the Man of Authority), Avreiml Votich (Cotton Coated), Moshe der Krivalop (the Skew), Leibl der Chanuk (the Reckless), the Katz brothers, Rubtze Kaker, and in order not to insult the second sex, why won't mentioning The Kaiserina (The Empress) whose bald head flashes like a sparkling crown. And here are several more: The "Kuritzke", the "Henditzke", "Tzipke-Driptze" and more of such characters that even Hershi "the Idler" would not be familiar with either their family names or their addresses, since those mentioned receive a letter from out of town maybe once in a blue moon. If, for example, a letter is received and on the envelope it's written: "Dear important Mr. Rubtze Kaker", then this person and his address are already known to all.

Since you have mentioned Rubtze Kaker, it is worth saying a few words about his character. Rubtze is a short Jew; with a small yellow beard covering his face and a round hunch on his back. He is a poor Jew who teaches Dardaki (beginners) for his pleasure. Every Friday evening Rubtze announces with his voice in the town's streets: "To the Shul" (synagogue). When Rubtze calls to the Shul it is a sign for the women in town that it's time for lighting the candles. The "Cheder" (Class) of Rubtze is located in the courtyard of the synagogue and it is the most important educational institution for boys and girls. Till the age of 4 they all attend the Cheder and begin to learn from "Kamatz Alef" pronounced as "Ah" and end with a chapter from the Chumash (Pentateuch). The little children are afraid of Rubtze's stick. However, when a girl has to be beaten, he turns his face to the side, closes his eyes and asks: "Chana, did I hit you well?"

But let's go back to the fair in the shtetl. You arrive at the way leading to Grodno and to Sucki and then you walk to the edge of the street. Moshe der Krivalop, the Rabbi's son, who is so called because of his upper distorted lip above his mouth, has meanwhile sent his daughters and sons in the direction of Sucki in order to welcome and impress the Goyeshe peasants who are arriving from this direction with their sledges loaded with sacks of grains that they wish to sell, and to tell them that they would get the highest equivalent only in his barn. However, like a bone in the throat, Elka's Yankel, who also has a barn, stands in the middle of the way. A quarrel starts, where on one side stand Moshe, the Rabbi's son, with his sons and daughters whereas on the other side, stand Yankel with his wife Elka and their daughters who come to help. Here starts the "real fair". They begin to curse each other with lots of curses. Pelta, Moshe's daughter, pulls the belts of the peasant's horse to her side and Elka's Yankel pulls them to her side. The peasant does not understand what the opponents want from him and what should he do. He then beats his horse with his whip and begins to ride slowly pulling Pelta with his sledge. Pelta, who is proud of her victory, approaches close to her father's barn. However, suddenly without any warning, the peasant decides to move back his sledge and to stop near the barn of Chazkel's Moti. The peasant prefers to unload the sacks of grain at the barn of Chazkel's Moti, who is Moshe's neighbor. Pelta returns to the edge of the street in sorrow and shame, hoping to welcome other peasants who would sell their sacks of grains to her father.

The fair passes more and more in high gear. The market is crowded with sledges and horses without harnesses. It is so tight that it is impossible to insert even a needle. Many people are crowded around the Circus and the peasants even reach the courtyard of the synagogue with their sledges. The shoe-makers have already presented their hand-works: polished boots padded inside with cotton and also leathers for sell. The hat-maker has already placed his high ladders and above them are models of hats of various sizes made to cover the heads of the peasants.

From Yoske the Baker's booth come good smells of bakery products, such as "Frishe Leibalach" [pastries in form of a heart], white Challot [traditional Friday night bread], big round bagels, black bread, and all sort of "bulkalach" (rolls). Close to his booth, a gentile has placed his pork products which causes horror when the pork's fat flows down while the gentile sells them. Close to Yoske's booth, the "Kaiserina" has placed her hand-made works from cooked sugar in all sort of images of cats and birds, but only God knows from what kind of material she has prepared them.

All the shops in the middle of the market are opened and vibrant. Moshe-Herschel's wife, with long wool stockings covering her legs and gloves made of wool on her fingers, enters quickly inside the shop with hot coils for heating and she waits for buyers.
Near Velvel's fabric shop a pimp is waiting for customers; the peasants, who have brought with them thin prostitutes, take them to this place. A young woman, who passes by, turns her face aside shyly as if she does not know evil and looks obliquely to make sure that no one notices her and she rushes on her way.

At the same time a loud voice sounds announcing: "American Candies from French factory, once in a life." One peasant approaches and tries his luck; he takes a handful of candies and guesses how many they are. The short seller counts the candies and informs the peasant that his guess was incorrect. The seller takes the candies and puts them back in his small paper bag. If the peasant's guess were correct he would have put all the candies in his pocket. But don't worry, Jews, the seller takes care of himself; he holds one small candy between his fingers in order to put it into his small-bag when necessary so that the peasant's guess will never be correct.

All of a sudden Berl, the son of Pesie-Feigel passes by. He is a well known mocker in town and a jolly good fellow. He approaches one Shikse (a gentile woman) who carries a scarf with ten eggs in her hands. "How much are your eggs?" he asks her. "And how much are yours?" she replies. Berl is astonished by her words but is not discouraged. He gets close to another young Shikse who passes by him. This young and nice Shikse wears a clean white apron and she carries a chicken to sell. Berl takes the chicken from her hands, blows into the plumes as a merchant does when wishes to find out if the chicken is thin or fat. At that moment he presses the chicken in a place known only to him, and the chicken dirties the Shikse all over her clothes. "Fuy"! Berl says, and he rubs salt into her wound by saying: "This is a sick chicken!" The Shikse screams; her white apron that she bought especially for the fair is dirty and, in addition, her chicken has been found to be sick.

The fair is burning like a fire. The horses are neighing, the cows moo, the pigs snort, the peasants have horseshoes put to horses at Leib the Blacksmith's workshop; others knock with their fingers on the metal at Yosel the Ironmonger's workshop in order to check if the object does not have a defect. Songs of drunks are heard from the taverns. All are mixed together and the symphony reaches heaven; "The symphony of a fair in the shtetl."

One butcher wants to buy a young calf from a peasant. "I want to touch it" the butcher says, and he gives the peasant a slap until he sees stars in the sky. The butcher offers a high price but the peasant does not want yet to sell his calf. Several more taps and the deal is done "In a Gite Shu" ("at a good time") with a small glass of Vodka. Relax, Jews; there will be roast veal for Shabbat.

A group of peasants stand near a Jewish peddler who is a guest in town. The peddler stands on a ladder announcing: "Everything is for 50 Groshen!" Don't bend and break your backs, here is bargain no.1 for 50 Groshen; it's a small round mirror to look through and see how nice you are. Here is bargain no. 2: a notebook with pencil for those who don't know how to write. Everything is for 50 Groshen. Some peasants buy while others rush to find other bargains. Everything is just for 50 Groshen.

Slowly-slowly the sunset began. The peasants are rushing to harness their horses to the sledges. One gentile in the market knocks with his stick on a board announcing: "On Wednesday, four weeks from today, there will be the next fair in the town." What a modern advertising.

Quite, suddenly noises of drummers are heard from somewhere. Is it a fire? What burns? Must we pack and run away? Where are the water buckets? Don't be frightened Jews; there is no fire but only a drill for the firemen. The firemen with the red ribbons on their clothes and the officers with white laces on their chests are running fast and making a show. They run to a place where other firemen stand with buckets of water and long pump-hose for spraying water on the straw-roof-houses in the shtetl.

The evening descends on the shtetl. The oil-lamps are lighted one after the other. The shops are closed. Several drunken peasants linger still and then they also leave the shtetl. Jews sum up the fair day and count their boot. But suddenly a touching melody is heard from somewhere. Who sings so late in the evening? Who cries; is it a yelling dog? No, this is Eliusha the well known drunken of the town. He has not yet sobered up from the wine that he has drunk and he lies on the pavement rolling in his drunkenness and sings a melody of yesterday.

Woe! What a pity, what a pity that the fair has come to an end and vanished so fast, the fair in the shtetl.

———
Ruth's note: All types and characters described in my father's memoirs are real and most of them were identified. For example, Moshe der Krivalop is Moshe Feinzilber; Elka's Yankel is Elka, the wife of Yaakov Welbel; Chatzkel's Moti is Mordechai (Moti) Kosowski (my g-grandfather). These three persons were grain merchants and resided in Grodno Street. Yoske the Baker is Yosef Werebejczyk (Werebeychik). Yosel the Ironmonger is Yosef Eliashberg.

Two large posters written in big letters are hung; one in the market at the corner near the wheels shop, and the other near the booth of Yoske the Baker. The Jewish community in Lunna is informed that on the coming Saturday night the play "Khasye di Yesoyme" (Khasye the Orphan) will be performed at the "Theater Hall" of Lunna. The ads also announce that "this play is by Jacob Gordin, performed by a group of local amateurs and stage-managed by Leib Goldin. It will begin at 8 pm and tickets are available at the cashier."
Chaya-Hinda passes by one of the ads, looks with her squinting eyes at the writing in big letters, pulls her nose under her scarf and she lets go a big moan from the depths of her heart. "Oh, mine, orphan, how sad!"

About a year has passed since it was known and confirmed in town that the show will soon take place. Since then, on every Saturday afternoon, a group of youths has been gathering telling each other: "today we have a rehearsal." Finally the longed for Shabbat arrives and the last general rehearsal comes with it. Meanwhile Berl the Hairdresser prepares a bundle of hair, which has accumulated in his place after cutting the hair of his customers before "Yom Tov" (holiday) in order to stick some of it on the actors' faces - on one as a mustache, on another as a beard or as long side-curls. He puts make-up on the actors' faces right before they appear on the stage.

Before the entrance of the Shabbat (Friday evening) the actors collect used cloths, benches and other articles for the stage-decoration. They pass from house to house and collect an old bench, a shelf, a table and other articles needed for the play, and someone has even given them a lace-dress to make a curtain from it for the unique window on the stage. The Lunna residents give those objects to the actors with much generosity, and everyone who gives an item gets a free ticket for the play, which is not a trifle. The Lunna Jews are aware of the need of various items for the stage-decoration owing to their experience from previous performances. It does not matter if the play is a tragedy or a comedy; the same benches, shelves and tables are always used. The people however, are always excited since they like the theater in the shtetl, this special event.

Saturday night descends on the shtetl. Three stars are already seen in the sky and the Jews are rushing to finish the Maariv prayer in the Beit-Midrash in order to do the "Havdala" at their homes. One can smell the atmosphere of the theater in the shtetl. The youth even don't change their Shabbat clothes and they rush all to the theater. Sonia Rochkin has already put on her cheeks red make-up, taken with her mouth's spit from a red chalk. Her father Little Tanchum has been waiting for Sonia's friends who are coming to call her to go with them to the theater. "Where is Sonia Ro-Ro-chkin, they call her while emphasizing the R in her name.

Slowly-slowly the Jewish people go to the theater, in the Beit Merchatz (bath) Street. This street is the cultural center of the shtetl. The bath-house, managed by Yoel the Bath-Manager, is located in that street. Twice a year, in Rosh Ha'Shana (New Year holiday) and in Passover, Yoel makes special preparations and fills the bath-house with steam as hot as fire giving good conditions for perspiration and also for rubbing each other with aromatic substances, which ensure a normal blood circulation. For esteemed homeowners, who would resent taking a bath together with ordinary people, he arranges a special and much better steam-bath. The hostel "Hachnasat Orchimn" (Hospitality) is also located in Beit-Merchaz Street. It is managed by the "general manager" Tuvia the Carpenter, a Jew who takes care of the poor persons who come to the shtetl from the surrounding in order to collect alms and gives them a place to put their heads over the night. The "villa" of Berl der Furman (the teamster) and his sons - Chaim-Binye, Yitzchak-Elchanan and Chaykele the "Tachshit" (the "Jewel") who have the same occupation as their father, is also located in that street.

The Hebrew elementary school "Torah Ve'daat" is also located in the Beit-Merchaz Street and stands back to back with The Central Yiddish School. Sometimes there are fights between the children attending these two Jewish schools. Children of Zionist homeowners attend the "Torah Ve'daat" School whereas children of ordinary workers attend the Yiddish school which is under the influence of the socialist "Bund" party. The fights between the two schools find expression in breaking the windows of each other, knocking on the common walls in order to disturb the studies as well as in other such revolutionary acts.

As mentioned above, the theater is located in the center of Beit-Merchaz Street; it's a neglected building used once as a horse-stable; inside there are non-permanent wooden chairs which are not numbered, a small booth covered with straw nearby and a stage of size 4x4 cubits with a curtain in front. On the side of the curtain there is a rope for raising the curtain.

The people walk to the theater. There is noise and excitement around the small booth lighted by a candle where the cashier sits and sells tickets. Two ushers stand at the entrance and make sure that no one will enter the theater without a ticket. However, Chaykel, who is Berl the Teamster's son, pushes himself into the entrance since he wants to get in without a ticket. "I am an important person and I don't need to buy a ticket!" he shouts, "Either you let me enter freely without a ticket or there will not be a performance tonight!" It is worth believing Chaykel, since if he threatens that there won't be a theater, it won't be. So, they allow him to enter the theater without a ticket, and after this victory Chaykel sits relaxed on one of the chairs in the back row.

The theater hall is lighted by a gas-lamp. Slowly-slowly the audience enters the hall and sits on the chairs. Actors peek through the curtain as if they wish to ask the audience: "How am I looking?" It is 9:15 pm, but there is no need to rush. As a matter of fact, it has been published in the ads that the play will begin exactly at 8 pm. However the audience knows that if the show begins before 11 pm, it is not a real show. Meanwhile people are arriving with food that they brought with them from home. Some people brought chicken's legs; others brought "Tzimes" (sweet cooked pieces of carrots) and all sort of delicatessen, remains of Shabbat's dinner. All of a sudden, someone knocks on the door of the hall. Don't get frightened! This is Odelia, Raica Berachowicz's maid, who brought from home chocolate drinks for Raice's daughters, since at that hour they are used to drink chocolate at home. So, why shouldn't they get it in the theater?

The audience begins to show signs of nervousness since it is already half an hour before midnight. In order to calm the audience, a bell-ring sounds behind the curtain, which means that the first act is about to begin, and the curtain rises. The first and second acts take about an hour. The image of Motel the Moderator is lighted by a candle and is seen through a hole in the booth as he leafs through his papers. Motel is a person talented as a soccer commentator and he is also a representative of the Grodno newspaper. The light of the gas-lamp in the hall fades, the curtain above the stage rises again and the third act begins.

The play is the tragedy of an orphan girl. The audience identifies himself with the orphan's fate, tears run from the eyes when necessary and moans are heard from the depths of the hearts when the orphan girl faces the trouble and torment. However, when the situation on the stage becomes too tense and too exciting, since Khasye, the orphan, complains on her rough fate and on her suffering so much from her wicked step-mother, noise and agitation can be heard from the benches in the back rows. The audience gets angry, people jump and shout: "Quite, Quite!" However all of a sudden the voice of Chaykel, the Teamster's son is heard: "What quite, what quite, that is the noise of someone who urinates in the booth behind the hall"! In the middle of the tragedy the audience starts laughing. The actors on the stage get confused and they don't know what to do and how to go on. Motel the Moderator screams "Curtain, Curtain!" However, as out of spite, the curtain does not move either up or down. With the help of some "professional persons", he finally succeeds to pull the curtain down and by this to bring the third act of the play to an end.

It is four o'clock in the early morning. One cow walks at the Goyeshe Gas (Christians Street) on her way to the pasture. The people go home to sleep. They feel sad however, that the theater has ended so early, the theater in the shtetl..

Berl the Teamster
At the very edge of Beit Merchaz (bath) Street, a street that goes straight into the village, next to the bathhouse, and wall to wall with it, in a wooden structure covered by a straw roof, lived Berl the Teamster with his two sons, Chaykel and Chayim-Binye, who were both teamsters as their father was. Reb Berl and his sons used to pull and push their cart in the cold winter days; while wolves howled they used to drive their cart to the railway station of Tsherlinka, located six kilometers from their village and taking with them passengers from and to the village. Even on a snowy Shabbat night, they didn't hesitate to take with them a group of youngsters in their wide carriage-sledge, spread with straw, harnessed to a horse with ringing bells - the emblem of their carriage, and to let them enjoy all the sins of youth. On summer days they used to carry piles of crops from the merchants' barns to the railway station which led to Grodno, and on the way they did not miss any occasional trip to nearby villages.

Reb Berl was a Jew in his seventies, half blind, unfortunately, like his horse. Once, on a winter morning, he took Tzivye, the baker's wife, on his carriage-sledge from Tsherlinka to her home in Lunna. As he arrived there, he happily brought the good news to Reb Shalom and said: "I have brought you a guest, your wife Tzivye". Reb Shalom looked for his wife in the sledge but didn't see her. Reb Berl also looked into the sledge and did not see Tzivye. "What does it mean?" said Reb Berl astonished, "I myself have brought her here"! But what could be done, Tzivye is lost. So after arguing a while, Berl suddenly remembered that during their travel back from the railway station, just in the middle of their way in a thick forest, he wanted to catch a nap. It turned out that at the time when Reb Berl fell asleep, Tzivye fell from the sledge. When he woke up, he didn't notice that Tzivye was missing. So he went on his way with his empty carriage to the village and arrived at Shalom the Baker's home.

And here is another story. Once upon a time Reb Berl addressed his son Chaykel, who squinted with one eye and was also "blessed" with a split lip above his mouth, and who was a "highly educated" and a "graduate" from Reb Rubtze Kaker's Cheder, and said to him: "My son Chaykel, what will be now, will you be forever dependent on me? That is enough, the time has come for you to marry, go to the village and get married"! But there was no available girl in the village. Whom should Chaykel seek? Perhaps Chaya, the daughter of Menucha, Yoske the Baker's wife, who was disabled, lame in one leg and spoke with a nasal twang? One of the matchmakers offered Chaykel to match him with a decent girl. Whom was Chaykel going to meet? Rumors spread in the village that Chaykel intends to go to Amador to meet a bride. And so he dressed himself with a nice suit made of excellent cloth that he had previously bought from Velvel the Cloth Merchant and which was sewed by Fishel the Tailor in Grodno. He put on a pair of polished shiny shoes, had his forelocks trimmed by Berl the Hairdresser, sprayed some kind of fragrant liquid on his shoulders, harnessed his horse to the carriage and went off on his way. On the next day Chaykel returned to the village with an angry nose bulging out from an angry face. "What has happened Chaykel"? they asked in the village, "should you be blessed with a 'Mazal Tov'?" "I wish he would suffer a disaster", Chaykel said in anger. "The deal fell through" Chaykel answered and began his story:

"I went to Amador towards evening with the horse which I harnessed to the carriage, and when I approached the entrance of the potential father-in-law's home, I entered slowly into his apartment and suddenly what did I see with my squinting eyes?" Chaykel smiled, "on the table there was a glass of wine and nearby a cake. I smiled at the cake and the cake smiled back at me. I swear by God if I did not intend at that moment to swallow the cake in one bite. Slowly I sat down by the table and began to nibble at the cake. A little bite here and another bite there until I have finished the whole cake. I had eaten so much of the cake that there was no need to clean the table since nothing was left. While I glanced with my second eye at the bride to see if she is of a type that fits me, her father got up from the table, tapped on my shoulder and said: "Mr. Chaykel, be well, go away and travel back safely". "I harnessed the horse again to the carriage, and bye-bye! And to hell with the cake", Chaykel finished his story angrily.

Berl the Teamster was not a great scholar. His seat in the old synagogue was near the back tables where he was able to take a nap during the prayer ceremony, and even to warm himself in the winter by the heated oven while a lesson of 'Ein Yaakov' was delivered. But on Yom Kippur Eve, Reb Berl changed into a different person. He felt that he was very sinful for which he had to ask forgiveness from God. And so, on Yom Kippur Eve after the 'Mincha' prayer, Reb Berl was the first to lay down on his belly on the synagogue's floor in order to get forty-less one lashings from Shmuel-Leib the Shames (beadle). Reb Shmuel-Leib took off his belt from his pants and lashed Berl. "Are these lashes?" thought Berl in his heart. "These are no more than caresses. When my horse leaves the stable he feels my whip much better, but I have to follow him. At the end of the year I feel all my sins when the beadle caresses only my bottom", Berl cried.

At the end of Yom Kippur day, before the "Ne'ila" prayer, all the kids in the synagogue approached Berl the Teamster, stayed around him to see how he cried his prayer seven times: "The Lord, he is the G-d", because they enjoyed this very much. "The Lord, he is the G-d" cried Reb Berl with his husky voice for the first time. "The Lord, he is the G-d" and his voice rose for the second time and so he spat with much enthusiasm on the floor. "The Lord, he is the G-d" cried Berl the third time, and even louder, and at that moment he released a great cry full of feeling. "The Lord, he is the G-d" he cried again the fourth time holding his beard in one hand and his second hand rose to heaven. "The Lord, he is the G-d", his voice was getting stronger at the fifth time, and at that moment his bony hands rose from his white, worn, sweaty "Kittel". "The Lord, he is the G-d", he cried the sixth time and then his two heavy legs arose from the floor, and while he stood on the tips of his toes, his eyes closed and Reb Berl cried: "The Lord, he is the G-d" at the seventh time and his voice could be heard above all the other voices that came from the people praying in the synagogue. To tell the truth, G-d had to be stronger than iron not to stop Reb Berl and to tell him: "That's enough, I have forgiven you, I have forgiven you."

Berl the Teamster was never called up to read from the Torah, with one exception.
Only once a year, for the prayer of "The Punishment" the synagogue reader honored him with reading from the Torah. Wasn't Berl the Teamster worth reading this? On whose head should all the curses of the world land if not on Berl the Teamster's head? Should the curses be on Tabel the Pharmacist or Velvel Beirachowicz the Municipal Representative or on the distinguished home owners for whom less than a "third" or the "sixth" reading were beneath their dignity? But when the holiday of Simchas Torah arrived, and when among others the verse "You have shown" was the subject of the prayer, then Reb Berl did not give up, especially not, because of the verse "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations". "Half a Zlot for the verse 'You have shown' ", calls the Shamas. "One Zlot" an echo voice came from the back tables, the slightly husky voice of Berl the Teamster. "One Zlot the first time, one Zlot the second time", calls the Shamas, and so the wishful verse finds itself in Berl's pocket. But suddenly the voice of another buyer was heard who calls: "One and a half Zlot"! "What? Who wants to take from away from me this verse?" cried Berl, "Not me!" "Two Zlots" cried Berl, "Two Zlots are not a trifle", and the verse remained with Berl the Teamster. "The honored Reb Berl, son of Abraham-Shalom, is called for the verse 'You have shown'", called the Shamas and slowly-slowly Berl the Teamster approached the stand with blushing cheeks, and with his half-healthy eyes he looked at the book of prayers "Three pilgrimages". He looked to the right, then to the left, but what could he do, the letters were too small and even the adjacent signs were also small, so that in the middle of the "You have shown" song, Reb Berl got all confused with the words. When Reb Berl returned from the stand to his seat at the back tables, the people in the synagogue smiled at him and asked: "What has happened?" and Berl the Teamster replied instantly: "Oh God, doesn't my horse neigh sometimes?" Despite all this the distorted verse of Reb Berl went up to heaven and reached the Throne of God the almighty who received it with honor.

We shall not see Berl the Teamster anymore. We shall not hear his verse "You have shown" anymore. We shall not hear anymore his voice roaring upwards with "The Lord, he is the G-d", because Berl the Teamster perished in the Holocaust in Auschwitz together with all the Jews of the village. But who knows, perhaps in his last moments, before he was taken to the gas chamber, Berl the Teamster raised his hands to heaven and cried: "The Lord, he is the G-d". Maybe he hurled that laud prayer towards the murderers before he entered the gas chamber. Who knows?

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