Journey to a Nineteenth-Century Shtetl

The Memoirs of Yekhezkel Kotik

Yekhezkel Kotik, David Assaf, David Assaf

• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780814334218
• eBook ISBN: 9780814337332
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: History

The first annotated English edition of a classic early-twentieth-century Yiddish memoir that vividly describes Jewish life in a small Eastern European town.

Originally published in Warsaw in 1913, this beautifully written memoir offers a panoramic description of the author's experiences growing up in Kamieniec Litewski, a Polish shtetl connected with many important events in the history of nineteenth-century Eastern European Jewry. Although the way of life portrayed in this memoir has disappeared, the historical, cultural, and folkoric material it contains will be of major interest to historians and general readers alike.

Kotik's story is the saga of a wealthy and influential family through four generations. Masterfully interwoven in this tale are colorful vignettes featuring Kotik's family and neighbors, including rabbis and zaddikim, merchants and the poor, hasidim and mitnaggedim, scholars and illiterates, believers and heretics, matchmakers and informers, and teachers and musicians. Stories of personal warmth and despair intermingle with descriptions of the rise and decline of Jewish communal institutions and descriptions or the relationships between Jews, Russian authorities, and Polish lords. Such events as the brutal decrees of Tsar Nicholas I, the abolishment of the Jewish communal board known as the Kahal, and the Polish revolts against Russia are reflected in the lives of these people.

The English edition includes a complete translation of the first volume of memoirs and contains notes elucidating terms, names, and customs, as well as bibliographical references to the research literature. The book not only acquaints new readers with the talent of a unique storyteller but also presents an important document of Jewish life during a fascinating era.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
• A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
• ABBREVIATIONS
• INTRODUCTION “LIFE AS IT WAS” — YEKHEZKEL KOTIK AND HIS MEMOIRS
• My Memoirs, Yekhezkel Kotik
• CHAPTER 1 MY TOWN
• CHAPTER 2 MY GRANDFATHER
• CHAPTER 3 THE “PANIC”
• CHAPTER 4 MY FATHER AND HIS ATTRACTION TO HASIDISM
• CHAPTER 5 YISRAEL, THE POLISH PATRIOT HASID
• CHAPTER 6 THE HANDSHAKE
• CHAPTER 7 THE SCANDAL WITH THE ASSESSOR
• CHAPTER 8 MY MELAMDIM
• CHAPTER 9 THE KIDNAPPERS
• CHAPTER 10 THE GREAT DISPUTE
• CHAPTER 11 MY MOTHER’S UNHAPPINESS
• CHAPTER 12 THE LORDS
• CHAPTER 13 BERL-BENDET’S LIFE ON THE ESTATE
• CHAPTER 14 HOW WE CELEBRATED THE HOLIDAYS
• CHAPTER 15 THE REBBE IS DEAD!
• CHAPTER 16 THE FATE OF A PRODIGY
• CHAPTER 17 THE GARMENTS OF THOSE DAYS
• CHAPTER 18 MY FIRST REVOLT
• CHAPTER 19 THE IZBICA HASID
• CHAPTER 20 MARRIAGE NEGOTIATIONS
• CHAPTER 21 LIBERATING THE SERFS
• CHAPTER 22 THE JEWS AFTER THE POLISH REBELLION
• CHAPTER 23 “KEEP IN STEP!”
• CHAPTER 24 THE DEBATE
• CHAPTER 25 “CHILDREN, GATHER THE COINS!”
• CHAPTER 26 THE IMPACT OF THE BIBLE ON ME
• CHAPTER 27 THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC
• CHAPTER 28 GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH
• CHAPTER 29 HASIDISM AND MITNAGGEDISM
• APPENDIX A YEKHEZKEL KOTIK: LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
• APPENDIX B SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON YEKHEZKEL KOTIK AND HIS MEMOIRS
• APPENDIX C YEKHEZKEL KOTIK’S GENEALOGY
• NOTES
• WORKS CITED
• GLOSSARY
• INDEXES OF NAMES, PLACES, AND SUBJECTS