Re: [Cz-L] Generalizing about the Cz Jewish Experience

Reading Gershon's Email,I realize how difficult it is to describe
the relations between the different social strata of Czernowitz Jewry.
While I am still convinced that Czernowitzers were great snobs,
I also know that Czernowitzers were able to laugh at themselves and
their pretensions: about a snob they said: "Er pisht mit boimel"
"He pees oil", about a pretentious woman they said: "Sie steckt sach
Feidern in Tuches" (she sticks feders onto her behind).
Deep down in their hearts,they knew that if one were to dig deep into
anyone's ancestry, you might find all sorts of people, you would not
be proud of. After all, for hundreds of years, Jews were not allowed
to poses land, belong to artisans' guilds, attend universities, deal
in certain commodities and as of the previous 200 years, manufacture
or sell alcoholic beverages.

I think that very few were long removed from the "Schteitel" or Ghetto
or small village, or the Yiddish culture with its ability to make people
laugh at themselves. So they told jokes about each other, made up funny
songs and believed in: Hack mech and broch mech and warf mach
zwishen meine" (loosely translated: chop me, break me and throw me
among my own.)

Like Gershon's parents, my parents also came each from a different strata.
And I know of quite a number of such couples, where the wife was from
a well to do family and the husband had the higher education.
But had this not been a tradition for hundreds of years?
Did not "Yeshiva Buchers, who otherwise might have starved to death,
marry the daughters of wealthy families?

Just one more thing, addressed mostly to Gershon:
In Czernowitz I heard a lot of Yiddish, but did not speak it.
Later on, I understood and enjoyed my older relatives speaking
Yiddish to me, but I could only answer them in German.
Now in old age, and because of one friend who prefers speaking Yiddish,
I have become quite fluent in "Mameh Looshen"

Mimi

Quoting Gershon Schatzberg <gschatz_at_yahoo.com>:

> [Gershon... you need to post in plain text in order to avoid the formatting
> problems evidenced in your post below. Google: 'Yahoo mail plain text' to
> find out how. --moderator j.]
>
>
> This discussion about the social strata in Czernowitz, and Iris' joke bring=
> to mind a couple of stories about my Czernowitzer parents (Arieh Schatzber=
> g, aka Bubi, and Sali nee Fang- Hedwig knew them and I am interested in her=
> feedback)=0A=0AMy father grew up on 39 Brauhausgasse (aka Luk=E2=80=99yana=
> Kobylytsi, or Razboieni).=C2=A0 My paternal grandfather (Berl Schuster) wh=
> en I knew him in Tel Aviv, was a cobbler, spoke Yiddish, played cards for e=
> ntertainment, smoked cigarettes broken in half and went to the synagogue on=
> weekends.=0AMy mother grew up on the corner of Residenzgasse-Dreifaltigkei=
> tsgasse.=C2=A0 My Maternal grandfather (Gerschon Fang) had a factory for da=
> wn blankets on the Wassergasse and a store on the Herrengasse.=C2=A0 I neve=
> r met my namesake, because the soviets deported him to Siberia where he per=
> ished.=0A=0ANobody ever said this directly to me, but it was my impression =
> that even though my father and mother knew each other socially as young adu=
> lts, they were from different social strata and would have been unlikely to=
> end up together had the war not acted as a great equalizer.=C2=A0 By the w=
> ay, my father went to medical school and eventually became a dentist.=C2=A0=
> He was an avid reader, autodidact with a very broad general education.=C2=
> =A0 We spoke German at home, and to this day I find it difficult to respond=
> to people in Yiddish, even though I understand it completely.=C2=A0 I resp=
> ond in German.=C2=A0 Does that make me a snob?=0A=0ANow to Iris' joke.=C2=
> =A0 It reminds me of a bitter-sweet interaction I had with my father shortl=
> y before he passed away (excuse the long story):=0AAt the age of 93, my fat=
> her slipped on a wet floor and fractured his hip and arm.=C2=A0 I traveled =
> from California to Tel Aviv and went straight to the hospital to see him.=
> =C2=A0 We had a very serious conversation about his medical situation and w=
> hat should be done going forward.=C2=A0 At that point I got hungry and left=
> for 15 minutes to get something to eat at the hospital cafeteria.=C2=A0 Wh=
> en I came back, he had slipped into dementia, but it took a while for me to=
> realize it.=C2=A0 I sat next to him and he said something in a language I =
> did not recognize.=C2=A0 I asked him whether that was Russian.=C2=A0 He sho=
> ok his head.=C2=A0 Ukrainian?=C2=A0 yes.=C2=A0 "but I don't speak Ukrainian=
> ", I said in German.=C2=A0 "What language do you speak" he said in Yiddish.=
> =C2=A0 "Deutsch", I said.=C2=A0 A very puzzled look came onto his face:=C2=
> =A0 "How come?" (at this point I am beginning to understand that he does no=
> t know who I am and is treating me as a stranger- first order of business w=
> ith a stranger is to
> negotiate the common language).=C2=A0 So he now tells me, the stranger, th=
> e key points of his life (Yiddish):=C2=A0 "I had three sons.=C2=A0 One died=
> in an accident (my oldest brother Guido).=C2=A0 Another is very smart, the=
> third is a businessman (Soicher)".=C2=A0 Let it be known that in my father=
> 's vocabulary, a businessman was synonymous with a crook- the only honest b=
> usinessman he ever met was my maternal grandfather.=C2=A0 "One of my sons l=
> ives in Boston (my middle brother Alon, who is a PhD, Electrical Engineerin=
> g and a genius), the other lives in California (that's me, also an engineer=
> , but a customer-facing executive)".=C2=A0 So, I asked him "which one is wh=
> ich?" and pointing his finger at his head he said "the one in Boston- very =
> smart!".=0A=0AGershon Schatzberg=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A____________________________=
> ____=0A From: "IrisJune11_at_aol.com" <IrisJune11_at_aol.com>=0ATo: hedbren_at_zahav=
> .net.il; czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu =0ASent: Thursday, December 13, 2012=
> 1:49 PM=0ASubject: Re: [Cz-L] Generalizing about the Cz Jewish Experience=
> =0A =0AHedwig, I can't believe you place physicians in the middle social=C2=
> =A0 class.=0AHaven't you heard the one about the Jewish woman who had two s=
> ons, one of=C2=A0 =0Awhom was nominated for president of the United States?=
> =C2=A0 When a friend=C2=A0 =0Acalled to =0Acongratulate her on the great ho=
> nor for her family, replied, "Yes, but=C2=A0 you=0Ashould meet my other son=
> - the=C2=A0 doctor.=0A=0AIris=0AIris June Steinhauser Vinegar
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Received on 2012-12-14 17:57:54