Please note, that a professional translation of this work exists, by Abraham J. Mesch, in the book Abyss of Despair published by Transaction Books, p.42-46. However, for copyright reasons, we cannot reproduce it here. Instead, below I have included my own translation of the text.
Yeven Metzulah
The Jews on this side (the West) of the River Dnieper heard of these two bad events that took place on the first day of the holiday of Shavuot and they all fled on the holiday of Shavuoth and did not care about their silver and gold, but fled to save their souls. All those in Ostrog and the neighboring communities, such as Sadeh Lavan [Biela Tserkov] and Pawolocz and Cudnow and Lubartow and all the congregations that went along with them fled, some to Polannoe and some to Zaslaw and some to Ostrog, the capital, and some to Constin, and these were strong, big places (fortresses). And all the neighboring cities of Lvov that were in the nation of Russia and the communities connected to them, such as Nemirow and those around Tulczyn fled to Tulczyn, and those around Ber, such as Venitza and Starygrod and Krasne with the communities nearby, fled all to Ber. And he who did not flee or was not able to flee - his blood was on his head.
And many communities past the Dnieper River which were closer to the destruction, such as Peryaslaw and Baryszowka and Piratyn and Boryspole and Lubin and Lachowce and their borders, which were not able to flee and were killed to sanctify His name with strange, cruel and bitter deaths. Some had their skin peeled off and their flesh thrown to the dogs, and some had their arms and legs cut off and were thrown on the road where they were trampled by horses and wagons, and some were wounded many times, though not fataly, and they were thrown to the ground such that they would not die quickly and would writhe in their own blod until their souls would expire, and many were buried alive, and children were slaughtered in the laps of their mothers, and many children were ripped about like fish, and pregnant women had their bellies split and the fetus taken out and thrown in their faces, and some had their bellies opened and a live cat placed inside the stomach, which was then sewn shut and their hands cut off so that they could not remove the cat from their stomachs, and children were hung on their mother's breasts, and some children were pierced by spears and roasted over ther fire and then given to their mothers so that they would eat from them, and sometimes they took from the children and used them as bridges to cross over them; there was no type of cruel murder in the world which was not employed, included all four of the death penalties: stoning burning, beaheading and strangulation. And many were taken by the Tartars into captivity, and women and virgins were rapped, and they slept with women in front of their husbands, and virgins and beautifu lwomen were taken as handservants and bakers and to be wives and concubines.
Similar things were done in all places that they reached. And also against the Polish non-Jews did they do accordingly, especially to the priests and bishops. And over the river Dnieper many thousand Jews were killed and many hundreds were forced to convert. And their Torah scrolls were ripped and made into bags and shoes for their feet, and straps from Tefillin were taken to tie around their feet, and the boxes of the Tefillin were thrown into the courtyards, and the remaining holy books were used for bridges and in roads, and some were thrown into fires. All who heard this their ears ring.
And it was when the congregation of Pogrebishche heard this and Zywotow and Baziowka and Tetiev and their neighbors that which the Ukrainians had done to their brothers that were across the Dnieper River, that the Tartars and the Ukrainians one on each side of the city, that they said: If we will wait until the Ukrainians enter the city they will do to us like so and we will die, or they will force us to convert. It is better for us that we should go to the camp of the Tartars and be prisoners. Because we know that our brothers in Constantina and in other Turkish communities are very merciful and they will redeem us with their money. And so they did, and these four communities - women and men and children, about 3,000 people - went to the Tartars. And their was among them a cantor whose name was Rabbi Hirsch of Zywotow, and when they came to the Tartars he stared to lament and sing "El Maleh Rachamim" in a loud voice for all those brothers who had been killed and all the people burst into wailing. Surely their cries were heard up above and their captors had mercy and consoled them and said to them: do not worry, you will have enough food and drink, you have among you ritual slaughterers, slaughter for yourselves sheep and cattle and we will quickly bring you to your brothers in Constantina to ransom you.
And so the Tartars did, and our brothers in Constantina, may God preserve them, redeemed them and all the other captives from Poland, approximately 20,000 people, and spent on them much money, all the money that was asked from them, and they fed and supported them until now and did with them other good deeds with no limit. And also the whole land of Turkey did so, and in specific Salonica, may God preserve them, redeemed many captives, and the famous city of Venice, and the crowned city of Rome, and the precious and straight city of Livorno, and other communities in Italy contibuted many thousands and tens of thousands of gold to redeem the captives and sent them to Constantina. God should repay them for their kindness shown to their brothers and guard them from all evil until the coming of the redeemer.
* [A footnote in the Itzkovitz (2005) version on p.21 notes that while this seems to imply that no destruction befell the Pogrebishche Jews at all, the book "Megilat Afa" says that the shtetl was destroyed, and this is echoed by the Sha"ch in his Slichot prayer "Elokim Ba'u Goyim B'Nachalatcha" composed for a special fast day on the 20th of Sivan that commemorated this event. In "Tit Hayeven" it is written that 800 important men were killed there. See additional links on the Pogrebishche home page.]
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