Hi
I can witness the fact that there were Jewish families that lived in very
severe poverty, and the descriptions of Platter are not far from reality. I
know this because my maternal Grandmother despite being of very poor health,
when she lived with us in Novoselitsa, would make my mother prepare every
Friday, what she called in Yiddish "Tepalech" - small pots with food, and
would take me with her to distribute these pots among poor Jewish families.
She told me that she inherited this habit from her mother, who, too used to
distribute "Tepalech" every Friday. Both my grandmothers were strict
observant women, and charity (Khesed) is an important Mitzwah. Every Jew
commits himself to it when puts on the Tefillin (phylacteries). Looking back
to those times - although the Soviets defined us as bourgeoisie I think we
were very middle class, who have just moved one stage up from lower class,
and we definitely were not money lenders.
Yosef Eshet
----- Original Message -----
From: "Edgar Hauster" <bconcept_at_hotmail.com>
To: "Fred Weisinger" <fredweisinger16_at_gmail.com>
Cc: "Hardy Breier" <hardy3_at_bezeqint.net>; "Czernowitz Discussion Group"
<czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu>; "Sasha Wolloch" <sasha_at_raltron.com>
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2015 9:23 AM
Subject: RE: [Cz-L] Book of the Month, April 2015: Usury in Bukovina
Fred...
I fully agree with you and me too, I mistrust Julius Platter as long as his
main concern was, that not the Germans but the Jews put themselves in a
position to carry out usury in Bukovina. On the other hand, I mistrust the
contemporary historical scholarship too and tend to follow Chaim Zhitlowsky,
who stated in 1892:
"One would not find a relatively accurate description of the material life
of Bukovinian and Galician Jews in the pages of local Jewish newspapers.
These papers are occupied with supposedly higher callings, such as
describing rabbinic jubilees, praising the charitable work of ladies’
committees, polemicizing against antisemitism, and debating the question of
which language should be used for conducting Sabbath services. Jewish
poverty simply does not exist for these representatives of the satisfied
bourgeoisie."
>From my point of view, the controversy Platter - Zhitlowsky is most
thrilling. Warmest wishes and thank you for your contribution!
Edgar Hauster
----------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2015 11:20:00 +1000
> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Book of the Month, April 2015: Usury in Bukovina
> From: fredweisinger16_at_gmail.com
> To: bconcept_at_hotmail.com
> CC: hardy3_at_bezeqint.net; czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu; sasha_at_raltron.com
>
>
> I would take Platter's book with a pinch of doubt & suspicion. One should
> weigh the authors background & character before giving great credibility
> to
> his writing. The viciousness in the exclusive description of the Jews
> can't be but suspect against the description of the gentle ,cultivated,
> kind landlord and peasantry who because of a slight failing namely
> drunkenness & gambling fall victims to those Jewish usurers. It becomes
> confusing . He describe the Jews in rags filthy ,dirty beggars and poor on
> one hand and next comes the change into money grubbing rich money lenders.
> Are these usurers still wearing those well described rags with holes ??
> Where did they get the money in the first place ??? and so the mystery
> grows.......
>
-snip-
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Received on 2015-04-07 08:16:15