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Ovruch
 (09-010.39-F) -  Shelf Number: MDV 623
 IUCAT




No streaming derivative is available.

Date: May 24, 2003

Participants: Dorfman, Boris Abramovich; Feldman, Veniamin Leibovich; Stotland, Mikhail Iakovlevich. Interviewed by Dov-Ber Kerler, Dovid Katz.

Location recorded: Ovruch, Zhytomyrs'ka Oblast', Ukraine

Language: Yiddish

Culture Group: Jews, Yiddish-speakers, Ukrainians

 Recording Content:   

The tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Boris Abramovich Dorfman. (Part 2 of 2. See MDV 622) The team continues to ask a number of dialectological questions from the AHEYM Yiddish questionnaire. Dorfman then talks about his family, particularly about his observant father. The synagogue in town burned down in 1937. After Dorfman discusses family and geography, he continues to answer a series of dialectological questions.

After the team concludes the interview with Dorfman, they greet Veniamin Leibovich Feldman, born in 1904. (Part 1 of 3. See MDV 624 and MDV 625) After setting up the formal interview, Feldman shares biographical details of his life and discusses his family. He was born in the small village of Yanova Rudnya, located twenty kilometers from Ovruch. The conversation briefly turns to his childhood memories. His father hired a religious teacher for Feldman and his two sisters. Feldman returns to discussing his family. His father was a lessee for a mill near the village. He was killed during the pogroms of the Civil War in 1919. Feldman's mother and two sisters were killed in 1941, whereas his five brothers immigrated to America, after military service during World War I.

The conversation returns to Feldman's childhood memories. He recalls the names of his two religious teachers, Yitshok and Yosl, before he discusses the Volednicker tzaddik. His father was a follower of the tzaddik and Feldman remembers that non-Jews visited him. He recalls stories about the tzaddik, told by his father. Feldman then shares religious tunes (nigunim) sung by his father during Sabbath celebrations. The conversation moves to his religious education at cheder (religious school for boys) after 1919. After his father was killed during the Civil War, Feldman moved to live with his sister in Luhyny (Yiddish: Lehin) and attended religious school (cheder) from 1919 to 1923 there. He continued to teach himself Talmud after he graduated from cheder. Feldman then recites a few prayers like "kaboles shabes," kaddish, kiddush, and sholem aleykhem. He then talks about his predominately Christian home village, Yanova Rudnya. He remembers living among Christian farmers, who could continually provide food with their animals. The tape concludes with Feldman remembering prewar celebrations of Rosh Hashana.