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Recording Content:
The first brief part of the tape includes an informal chat on the street with Mark Borisovich Lipkovich.
The second part of the tape is a formal interview with Mikhail (Meyshe) Vladimirovich Kenin, born 1921 in Nizhyn. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 604)
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00:00:00
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The first brief part of the tape includes an informal chat on the street with Mark Borisovich Lipkovich. Lipkovich talks about his family and mentions that he only spoke Yiddish with his grandmother. |
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00:01:15
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The second part of the tape is a formal interview with Mikhail (Meyshe) Vladimirovich Kenin, born 1921 in Nizhyn. Kenin talks about his family and life today. He then provides personal information. |
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00:04:14
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Kenin talks about his family. His parents and grandparents were all born in Nizhyn. His father was a leather worker. Her mother was a homemaker, but learned tailoring skills from her father. Kenin grew up as an only child. |
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00:09:06
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Kenin discusses his education. He attended the Yiddish school in Nizhyn for seven years. He finished his ten-year school education at a Russian school. After graduation, he studied at the Nizhyn Pedagogical Institute for three years, taking pedagogy classes. He was then drafted for his military service during the war. He returned to Nizhyn in 1945. |
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00:10:45
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Kenin talks about his life after the war, supporting his parents. As a factory worker, he worked at a machine plant for thirty years. |
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00:12:13
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Kenin discusses his childhood memories, including holiday celebration and Jewish life in Nizhyn. He lists different local synagogues, including Lubavitcher, 13:35, Schneersohn’s, and occupational synagogues. He was the brother of Shmuel and Yehuda Leib Schneersohn. |
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00:14:47
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Kenin discusses holiday celebrations at home, including Sabbath and wine-making. He then recites a blessing. |
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00:17:29
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Kenin talks about his education at a religious school (cheder) until he was seven years old. His teacher (melamed) was called Simen Ash. He then recalls family religious customs and addresses holiday celebrations, including Sukkot. |
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00:22:16
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Kenin talks about prewar religious life in Nizhyn. He then addresses his education at the Yiddish school, including teachers. He recalls how he participated in theater productions and the school choir. |
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00:27:09
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Kenin sings the beginning of a children song, he learned in the choir. He then recalls Yiddish writers, artists, newspapers, and clubs. |
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00:30:56
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Kenin talks about prewar Jewish life Nizhyn with, according to him, approximately 6000 people. Kenin maintains that most synagogues were closed down in the late 1930s. He recalls a Jewish bathhouse with a mikva. |
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00:34:31
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Kenin talks about holiday celebration, in particular Passover. His family requested matzos at a bakery. He then talks about contemporary Jewish life and his family. He raised a daughter, who lives in Israel. |
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00:39:08
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Kenin answers questions about cultural terminology, before talking about Schneersohn’s synagogue. |
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00:43:01
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Kenin answers a series of dialectological questions from the AHEYM Yiddish linguistic questionnaire. |
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