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Jewish Life
As shown on other pages of this website, the
percentage of the town population that was Jewish from the 1870s to 1926
ranged from 30% to 42%. The synagogues, prayer houses, and cemetery are
described on the Town Life page. As evidenced from the information
presented on these pages, Jews were a significant part of the economic and
cultural life of the town.
Excerpts from D. Schreiber’s memoirs describe some
of the features of Jewish life in the town.
God is One
The Cheder
Preparing for the
Sabbath
Other Excerpts on
Jewish Life
One of
the more interesting features about Jewish immigration from Russia to
America was the role of the “organization”, as mentioned in D. Schreiber’s
memoirs. The organization arranged for transportation and lodging from the
point of leaving home to arrival at the ship’s embarkation point. The
organization was also responsible for bribing officials, especially at the
border crossing (bribes were always the most expensive component of a trip
to America). People met the two immigrants when they disembarked in
Philadelphia and put them safely on the train to Cincinnati.
The
Cemetery
Ironically
what remains of Jewish “life” in Gorodok is the
cemetery.
Here is
an excellent link to the Ukrainian site Podolia
Unknown. The article on that
site, “Beauty and Barbarism” written
in Ukrainian, describes the symbols on the gravestones in the Jewish
cemeteries of Satanov and Gorodok.
It also describes the destruction of the tombstones by fire, when,
in order to clean up the overgrowth of vegetation in the cemetery, the
cleaning crew, with the cooperation of the Jewish community, burned the dry
plants. As a result, the tombstones were damaged. Photos of the tombstones
are at the end of the article.
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