Obodovka / Orit Barcay Bar-Shira, Israel, 2012
Obodovka, in Podolia gubiernia, had 1676 jews among 7754 residentes[1].
Today (2012) one can count on one hand the number of jews living there. The
jewish neighborhood was and still separated from the
Christian part of this village.
In May 1912, we made a journey to Obodovka.
My father -
Shmuel Barcay (Berkovitz) was immigrated
to Israel by
himself, when he was 12 years old, leaving
behind him parents and 5 brothers and sisters,
older than him.
He was sent
to study in the first Zionist school that was established just few years
before: Gimnasia ‘Herzelia’.
My father was 56 years old when me and my twin
sister were born, after 2 sons- Razi
(who is older than us in 7 years, and Ztachi (Issic), who was older than us in
9 years and was killed in the Israeli Army when he was 19 (in 1/3/1966).
My father’s never talked about his childhood there in Obodovka, and here
in Israel- Probably didn’t want to open his wounds and memmories – his father, Issic
Berkovitz, and brother, Zeev Berkovitz, were murdered in 1919
pogrom. After that, his mother Tzipora
(Fiega) Berkovitz, and 2 sisters, Yehudit
and Bela (who changed their family name to Barcait,
made Allia to Israel (None of them
weren’t getting
married. Yehudit became one of the main
actresses
of ‘Haoel’ Theatre in Israel).
His
second brother, Nahum Berkovitz, who was older than Shmuel in few years,
was murdered with his family years later, in 1942 by the Nazis (see picture next
page), leaving my father with one sister, Miriam
Machtei, who lived in Moscow and died there in the 60th of the
20th century.
My father, Shmuel (above to the right), while visiting
Nahum and children in Obodovka, in 1936 (the older man- probebly- wife’s
father)
For years I’m
researching my father’s past, including my Tesis in Haifa University on his
studies here in Israel, in this unique school, Gimnasia ‘Herzelia’.
This year - 1912, marking my fathere’s 100 years
Allia to Israel, we’ve decided- his 3 children, to visit his Obodovka. We took
a jewish guide, Lola, who is speaking besides Ukraine and Russian, also Hebrew
(Unfortunetly, she’s not guiding in English).
We’ve started in the beautiful city of Kiev for a few days,
then one day in Uman
(3 hours from Kiev)
visiting Rabi’s tomb and Sofia Gardens, and the next day to Vinitza rigion-
first to Bershad, the nearest town to Obodovka.
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In Bershad exists still an
old Synagogue, 200 years
old, and how touching it was to meet the head of the
jewish community there - Yafim Vygodner
( speaks only Iddish,
and Russian. ) .Half an hour from Bershad, lies the village of
Obodovka, Surrounded
by green fields, furtile, rich land, wheat and vegetables, a cow lying beside
the road tied with a chain, or few cows walking around and their owner bikes
alonside… The houses are situated along the main road.
What was once the jewish neighborhood,
is located behind the main bus station in the
Center. And what is the center of Obodovka? An
old bus
Staion: who knows - maybe on one of its columns, my
father was leaning 100 years ago, at the age
of 12, when
he said good-by and left for Israel. There are
few stores
around and even a simple restaurant with
great food - we
ate there and enjoyed every minute. One can
cross the street from the restaurant and walk around through the houses, the
unpaved roads- old houses beside new ones, water wells in each corner, and
friendly people, who welcomed us in their houses. 330 people are living now in
Obodovka, among them very few jews.We were wondering around, trying to imagine
our dad’s life then- it seems that besides the atmosphere, nothing has changed.
Obodovka
cemetery is located on the left side of the entrance to the village- There’s
now a big statue of a stork aside the road. Right after that, there’s
a house and a path. One
should enter inside the trees and up
above where’s the old
cemetery- a amall one that just half of
the
tombs can be recognized.
To get to the The Mass Grave of 1919 Pogrom,
you have to ask the locals - it’s near a tractor station. In front of it,
there’s a monument for the jewish victims of the 1919 Pogrom. If you have
relatives that were murdered in
this Pogrom, Maybe you can
find their names in the
list of victims written in
Rosrntal book “The scroll
of slaughter”. The
book was written in Hebrew
"מגילת
הטבח"))
and existing in the enternet.
Rosental lived then and collected all the evidences and stories
that people’ve sent him - he put the towns according to Alef-Bet, and what
remained was till the letter ט, so
one who reads Hebrew can read about Obodovka אובודובקה)). My grandfather, Issic Berkovitz and his son, Zeev, were
murdered then, and I’ve found their names in the nearby village’s list - in
Trostinietz. Why there? I knew that they were murdered in 1919th
Pogrom and didn’t find their names in the book’s list of Obodovka. Months have
passed and before our journey, I’ve decided to check it again- Reading again
Obodovka’ evidence, it was written that the Ukraines were moving towards
Obodovka from the nearby Trostinietz - I said to my self- who knows, maybe my
grandfather and son were there some how- escaping to get help? Working there?
Who knows? So I’ve checked Trostinietz’s list and there it was- Issic
Berkovitz- a Shohet, and son, Zeev, 22, a Hebrew teacher… What an astounding moment it was! And in Trostinietz there’s a Mass grave also- no names,
but a sign. We went there, and in front of the site I’ve told my brothers, who
didn’t know, the all story...
It was a toucing, wonderful journey, and the small comfort is that
besides the hatred towards the jews during the generations, the wars and
Pogroms, our parents or grandfathers had for some time, life in nature,
surrounded by its beauty…
