My Grandfather’s Legacy
Martin Blank, President
Kopatkevitcher Aid Society
October 12, 2005

The Kopatkevitcher Aid Society was founded a century ago by immigrants from a town of that name in Belarus (formerly White Russia). As the word ‘Aid’ in its title indicates, the Society was typical of landsmanschaft organizations formed by immigrants in that it served as ‘safety net’ as well as social center for its community. And it served these functions well for a long time. But the original community is gone and the current membership, which no longer needs these services, is dwindling. By becoming part of the Shtetlinks Website, we hope to create a lasting and accessible monument to our grandparents and great-grandparents who immigrated to the ‘goldene medina’ about a century ago. In addition, our site will serve as a legacy for our descendants, providing insights into shtetl life and the experiences of new Americans. I trust that this essay will encourage others to contribute their personal reminiscences.

I chose to write about my grandfather who was the rabbi in Kopatkevitch and who was an early member of the Kopatkevitcher Aid Society when he came to this country early in the last century. My grandfather was an important early influence in my life, having been my first Hebrew teacher, and I still pick up and read his books from time to time. However, you will see that in addition to the personal content of the essay, there is the underlying theme of Yiddishkeit.

My first home and that of my parents, grandparents and uncle, was a small apartment on Bathgate Avenue in the East Bronx. My father, having come as a teenager from Galicia, and I, were the non-Kopatkevitchers in the household, but in reality we all were Kopatkevitchers. I still remember when anyone said ‘in der heim’  (אין דער היים — at home) in our common language, Yiddish, they meant Kopatkevitch, even though we all knew we were living in America.

The impressions of Kopatkevitch that I gleaned in my early years gave me a mixed message. There was nostalgia mixed with relief at having escaped from the life of poverty and oppression. Despite the terrible toll of diseases, fires and pogroms, life had its pleasant side, largely associated with Yiddishkeit, and in its religious tradition as expressed in our family. This is probably the only real belongings that Kopatkevitchers brought along to America. Shabbat, holidays, especially Passover, and family celebrations (e.g., weddings) were the sources of joy, and these were portable.

It was only after I grew up, and my grandparents were no longer alive, that I learned in greater detail how awful life had been in Kopatkevitch. My teacher in this regard was still my grandfather, who had written several books that survive him, and I would like to quote from two of them, since they have provided me with  insights into how people lived and coped in Kopatkevitch.

My grandfather wrote a book on some new interpretations of the Talmud, "Ner (Candle) Shmuel", that was also a memorial to his grown son who had died in a fire while studying at Moscow University. In the preface, the opening paragraphs are in Hebrew verse, printed as prose. I think you will get the message even though my translation is rough.

Thank God!

To you dear reader I offer my writings.

A mighty and enlightened God

enabled me to bring them to light.

I was able to commit to writing

what I learned while navigating the seas of the Talmud.

And in this I fulfilled a vow

that I made at a time when I stood in a pit

I was forced to dig with my own hands

or be buried alive.

God was my savior.

He softened the heart of my enemies

and instead of misfortune and grief

there came rescue and plenty.

And with God’s help I escaped from the 'land of blood',

an absence of light, a black sky,

from a land where they trample the holy as garbage.

And now I find comfort in the land of freedom.

…

The reference to ‘escaping from the land of blood, an absence of light, a black sky, from a land where they trample the holy as garbage’ gives a graphic description of the oppression and religious intolerance that was part of his life in Kopatkevitch. And ‘finding comfort in the land of freedom’ is the message of Ellis Island, now very personalized.

    In his last book, "The Proverbs of Ayin Ben Meshek" (1941), an acronym of his name, Israel Nachum son of Moshe Quart, he completed a life long project, one that he had begun in Kopatkevitch and was finally able to finish here shortly before he died. I have (roughly) translated from the title page, since this too gives us insight into the inner strengths of the immigrant generation.

Behold! From what is fluent on the lips of people

I will teach the proper way to behave, the good traits.

I will criticize all the [bad] ways of people without fear,

for my desire is to uproot the bad ways.

My writings include the ways of the wise, in riddles,

allegory and wise sayings, as they spoke them.

In poverty or wealth, man must behave well.

This book of substance was composed as a guide.

He brought much wisdom to this work of a lifetime. In the Preface, he quoted from such varied influences as Chassidic tradition, the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, and rabbinic literature (Rabbi Meir and Maimonides). He wrote “...My readers will surely ask what does all this mean? My answer...if I find one in a thousand to whom this book will bring a moment of pleasure or utility, I will consider myself fortunate and that will be my reward.” What optimism! Remember, the Jewish national anthem is Hatikvah
(התקוה ), the hope.

The book contains 345 pages of aphorisms, 32 on a page, written in Hebrew verse. To give you a flavor the book, I have translated some of them as rhyming couplets in an attempt to mimic the style as well as content of the originals.

*    one will not touch a briar for fear of its thorns
    but all touch the rose because its beauty adorns
*    there is no medicine for pride
    for the cause rests deep inside        
*    there is no shade without a tree, of course
        and no light without a source
*    you do not become rich by what you earn
    but by the expenditures you spurn
*    lust is something, once achieved
    that quickly transfers to something newly conceived
*    jealousy, competition and pride
    are what drive man from inside
*    remember, the pit is not what trips you
    its your lack of attention to the cue
*    a righteous judgement without flaw
    does not always follow the letter of the law

There are many resonances in style and content with Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac” as well as the French author and moralist, La Rochefoucauld. But in its essence it is very Jewish to offer moral guidance, a tradition that goes back at least to Jacob blessing his sons in Genesis, and the whole biblical book ‘Proverbs’.

I find it fascinating that my grandfather was able to find the strength and resolve to start this work in the oppressive and barren intellectual landscape that was Kopatkevitch, and to seek out the ‘land of freedom’, where he could continue his work. When I attributed the joys of Kopatkevitch to the Yiddishkeit we had there, and brought along to America, I should have realized that this is the ‘elan vital’, the life force, that has characterized Jewish existence and survival everywhere. Whether we realize it or not, at this website we celebrate Yiddishkeit. And in societies such as the Kopatkevitcher Aid Society, we try to keep its expression alive.