Aniksht Shtetl Humor Here is one example of shtetl humor. Reb Avraham Elye Puner of the nearby shtetl Trashkun spent one or two Shabosim each summer in Aniksht with his daughter Peske. Aniksht was well-known for its clean, fragrant air and beautiful pine forests on the banks of a picturesque river and served as a health resort for the surrounding shtetlach. Peske was a sickly girl who suffered from the lungs and heart and benefited from her stays in Aniksht. Almost every summer she rented a room with the help of American relatives. Aniksht’s Jewish residents benefited as well. Extra income was earned by renting out rooms.  It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. After returning home from his visits each year, Reb Avraham Elye would make fun of the datshnikes and how they were resting. (A health resort was called a “datshe” in Yiddish, so the people who rested there were datsh-nikes.) To the question of how he had spent his time in Aniksht, he always had the same prepared reply: “How did I spend my time?” he repeated, “Not bad, my dears, I would even say quite well. The grass in the forest is quite high and our Idlach (pet name for the Jews) there have a good pasture.” Everyone around him would burst into laughter, but he remained serious while only his kind eyes smiled.  [Source: a letter to Bernard Margolis from Itzcak Eliezer Konkurowich, Kiryat Ono, Israel, May 9, 1988. Previously used with permission in “Shtetl Anthology, Our Family History Newsletter,” v. 1, no. 3, Summer 2000, pp. 12-13, self-published by your editor.]   Jewish Life Avraham Elye and Michla (Goldstein) Puner of Troskunai, Lithuania, circa 1920.    In his shtetl, Reb Avraham Elye, a merchant of crops, acquired the unusual nickname of "Reb Avraham Der Got”, perhaps because of his patriarchal appearance. (Photo courtesy of the late Bernard Margolis, Tucson, Arizona. Information about Avraham Puner supplied by the late Itzcak Eliezer Konkurowich, Kiryat Ono, Israel.).