{"id":477,"date":"2017-10-02T12:02:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T12:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/judaikostyrimucentras.wordpress.com\/?p=477"},"modified":"2023-11-09T17:51:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T15:51:40","slug":"isimyleje-litvakai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/2017\/10\/02\/isimyleje-litvakai\/","title":{"rendered":"Davido G. Roskieso paskaita &#8222;\u012esimyl\u0117j\u0119 litvakai&#8221; (vertimas \u012f lietuvi\u0173 kalb\u0105)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Liepos m\u0117nes\u012f \u017eyd\u0173 kult\u016bros istorikas, jidi\u0161 literat\u016bros tyrin\u0117tojas i\u0161 JAV Davidas G. Roskiesas skait\u0117 paskait\u0105 apie aistringuosius ir poeti\u0161kuosius litvakus. Su d\u017eiaugsmu pristatome ilgai laukt\u0105 paskaitos vertim\u0105 \u012f lietuvi\u0173 kalb\u0105.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Tekstas angl\u0173 kalba pateikiamas po lietuvi\u0161kojo.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u012esimyl\u0117j\u0119 litvakai<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Davidas G. Roskiesas<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ti\u0161kevi\u010di\u0173 r\u016bmai Trak\u0173 ir Pylimo (kuri anks\u010diau vadinosi Zavalna) gatvi\u0173 sankry\u017eoje yra tikras architekt\u016bros paminklas, ypa\u010d j\u0173 fasadas. Balkon\u0105 laiko du neoklasikinio stiliaus pusnuogiai atlantai, kurie mums primena apie XVIII am\u017eiuje \u010dia gyvenusius ir vald\u017eiusius lenk\u0173 aristokratus. Jie susieja Vilni\u0173 su visai Europai anuomet b\u016bdingu jud\u0117jimu architekt\u016broje, kuris s\u0117m\u0117si \u012fkv\u0117pimo i\u0161 Senov\u0117s Graikijos.<\/p>\n<p>Ti\u0161kevi\u010di\u0173 r\u016bmai nuo tada daugsyk keit\u0117 savininkus. Kai 1971-aisiais pirm\u0105kart lankiausi Vilniuje, \u010dia buvo \u012fsik\u016brusi sovietin\u0117 policijos akademija. Nebuvo n\u0117 minties u\u017esukti vidun. Mano gidas Zalmanas Gurdus kalb\u0117jo: \u201e<em>Ale yidn hot men oysgeharfet, ober di tsvey bulvanes shteyen nokh<\/em>\u201c (visi \u017eydai i\u0161\u017eudyti, o \u0161ie du balvonai tebestovi). \u0160itaip Vilniaus \u017eydai juokais vadino \u0161\u012f vietin\u012f architekt\u016bros paminkl\u0105.<\/p>\n<p>Kai 2000-aisiais lankiausi Vilniuje antr\u0105syk, soviet\u0173 \u010dia jau nebebuvo. Paradin\u0117s pastato durys buvo atviros, o toje pa\u010dioje senoje b\u016bdel\u0117je tebestovintis durininkas mus mielai \u012fleido. R\u016bmus neseniai buvo per\u0117m\u0119s Vilniaus universitetas, bet renovacijos dar nebuvo prad\u0117tos, tod\u0117l pastatas atrod\u0117 labai apleistas. \u0160alia jo nebeaugo liepos \u2013 per kar\u0105 jas nukirto ir suvartojo kurui. A\u0161 ilgai s\u0117d\u0117jau vidiniame kieme, pasakodamas savo \u017emonai \u0160anai, mudviej\u0173 draugams Monikai ir Sta\u0161ekui i\u0161 Var\u0161uvos bei vietiniam m\u016bs\u0173 gidui Iljai visk\u0105, k\u0105 \u017einojau apie \u017eydus, kurie \u010dia gyveno tuo pat metu, kaip mano motina: 1906-1930 metais. Tuomet \u010dia buvo ir Kochanovskio vaik\u0173 dar\u017eelis, Mac\u0173 spaustuv\u0117, \u017eyd\u0173 na\u0161lai\u010di\u0173 namai, Badaneso kepykla ir dar daug visko.<\/p>\n<p>Vakar a\u0161 ten sugr\u012f\u017eau ir buvau nustebintas, k\u0105 toje vietoje pastat\u0117 universitetas. Nors dar ir nepabaigtas, tai puikus miesto atsinaujinimo pavyzdys. Bet pra\u0117jus pro automatines duris ir lipant vir\u0161un atvirais plieniniais laiptais, mano mintys klaid\u017eiojo kitur. Man \u0161i vieta gyvuoja ne istorijoje, ne architekt\u016broje ir ne miesto renovacijose. Ji esti tik atmintyje. \u010cia ji atsiduria kitoje aplinkoje ir kitoje laiko zonoje. Atmintyje abu <em>balvonai<\/em> \u017eymi \u012f\u0117jim\u0105 \u012f <em>Jidi\u0161land<\/em>, viet\u0105, kur litvakai buvo labai \u012fsimyl\u0117j\u0119.<\/p>\n<p>Taigi kvie\u010diu jus \u012f \u017eydi\u0161k\u0105 ekskursij\u0105 po mano m\u0117gstamiausias atminties vietas.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-539\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies.jpg\" alt=\"roskies\" width=\"1769\" height=\"1326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies.jpg 1769w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1769px) 100vw, 1769px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u012e \u0161i\u0105 ekskursij\u0105 jus kvie\u010diu kaip kult\u016bros istorikas. Juo tapau d\u0117l dviej\u0173 prie\u017eas\u010di\u0173:<\/p>\n<p>Pirmoji susijusi su tuo, kad esu litvakas. Buvimas litvaku yra mano \u017eydi\u0161kosios tapatyb\u0117s esm\u0117. Tiek man, tiek kitiems litvakams <em>Lita<\/em> yra tarsi atskira, nepriklausoma geografin\u0117-kult\u016brin\u0117 esyb\u0117.\u00a0 Tai LS (Litvak\u0173 s\u0105junga) ES viduje! B\u016bti litvaku rei\u0161kia visam gyvenimui gauti pas\u0105, kur\u012f priima visur: Piet\u0173 Amerikoje, Australijoje, Kanadoje, Crown Heights rajone Niujorke, Sankt Peterburge ir Tel Avive. Tai unikalus b\u016bdas b\u016bti \u017eydu: ir privilegija, ir visas rinkinys l\u016bkes\u010di\u0173. Litvakas visiems yra rak\u0161tis panag\u0117je. Ne be reikalo \u012fdaryt\u0105 \u017euv\u012f litvakai gamina su pipirais, o ne su cukrumi.<\/p>\n<p>Antra, a\u0161 esu feministas. Mano gimin\u0119 sudaro i\u0161tisos kartos matriarchi\u0173. I\u0161 Lietuvos kilusi\u0173 \u017eyd\u0173 \u0161eim\u0173 pavard\u0117s da\u017enai susijusios su matriarchalin\u0117mis fig\u016bromis: Syrkis, Syrkinas (i\u0161 Sork\u0117-Sara), Rivkinas (i\u0161 Rivk\u0117-Rebeka), Brochesas (i\u0161 Bracha), Reinesas (i\u0161 Rain\u0117). Lygiai taip pat ir Roskesas kilo i\u0161 ka\u017ekokios pro-pro-prosenel\u0117s vardu Roiz, Ro\u017e\u0117. Jos vaikai vadinti <em>Roizkes kinder<\/em>. \u017dodis <em>Roizkes<\/em> tapo <em>Roskes<\/em>, tada <em>Roskies<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Mano gimtoji kalba yra jidi\u0161. Nors mano t\u0117vai kalb\u0117jo dar keturiomis kitomis kalbomis, jidi\u0161 kalb\u0105 prad\u0117ta vartoti namie, kai mano t\u0117vai pab\u0117go i\u0161 Europos ir atvyko \u012f saug\u0173 prieglobst\u012f Kanadoje, Montrealyje. Prie savo mamos a\u0161 buvau labai prisiri\u0161\u0119s. I\u0161 dalies d\u0117l jos ir paskyriau savo gyvenim\u0105 jidi\u0161 kalbai.<\/p>\n<p>Vilniuje gimusi mano mama ir Balstog\u0117je gim\u0119s t\u0117tis kalb\u0117jo <em>litvi\u0161,<\/em> t.y. lietuvi\u0161k\u0105ja jidi\u0161, vienu i\u0161 trij\u0173 pagrindini\u0173 jidi\u0161 dialekt\u0173.<\/p>\n<p>Gal\u0173 gale, a\u0161 ir susituokiau su litvake.<\/p>\n<p>Pasinaudojant kult\u016bros istoriko \u012frankiais, semiantis i\u0161 savo litvaki\u0161kos tapatyb\u0117s ir i\u0161 feminizmo kaip \u017eini\u0173 \u0161altinio, man pavyko perprasti kolektyvin\u0117s \u017eydi\u0161kosios atminties DNR. \u017dinau, kas tai, ir \u017einau, kaip tai veikia.<\/p>\n<p>\u017dydi\u0161koji kolektyvin\u0117 atmintis i\u0161d\u0117styta aplink \u0161ventuosius, \u0161ventyklas ir \u0161vent\u0105 laik\u0105. \u0160itaip kiekviena \u017eyd\u0173 karta k\u016br\u0117si pavyzdin\u012f gyvenim\u0105, pavyzdin\u0119 bendruomen\u0119 ir pavyzdin\u012f laik\u0105. Tam, kad i\u0161koduotum kolektyvin\u0117s \u017eyd\u0173 atminties DNR, neb\u016btina b\u016bti litvaku, bet tai gelbsti, kadangi b\u016btent Lietuvoje \u0161i trejopa a\u0161is, tri\u0161akis modelis pasirod\u0117 visu ry\u0161kumu. \u0160is modelis buvo toks tvirtas, kad i\u0161liko net pasauliui \u0117mus keistis.<\/p>\n<p>Lietuvoje ry\u0161k\u016bs poky\u010diai prad\u0117jo vykti drauge su naujos religinio atsinaujinimo srov\u0117s \u2013 chasidizmo \u2013 i\u0161kilimu XVIII am\u017eiaus pabaigoje. Kol chasidizmas apsiribojo Podol\u0117s ir Voluin\u0117s miestais, kurie buvo \u012f pietus nuo \u201e\u012fdarytos \u017euvies ribo\u017eenklio\u201c<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> ir kur gyventojai kalb\u0117jo kitu jidi\u0161 dialektu, nebuvo ko nerimauti. Bet prad\u0117jo sklisti kalbos apie nauj\u0105 kult\u016bros heroj\u0173, vardu Izraelis Baal\u0161emas. Jis mok\u0117jo gydyti rankomis ir buvo cadikas, kitaip \u2013 \u0161ventasis, kuris dar\u0117 daug litvakams ne\u012fprast\u0173 dalyk\u0173: s\u0117kmingai pamokslaudamas ir mokydamas u\u017esitrauk\u0117 garsi\u0173 Toros \u017einov\u0173, tradicin\u0117s \u017eyd\u0173 bendruomen\u0117s elito, nemalon\u0119. Dar blogiau \u2013 jis i\u0161populiarino kabal\u0105, teig\u0117 karts nuo karto apsilankantis danguje ir skatino bet kuriuo metu praktikuoti mistin\u0119 mald\u0105 su keistomis ir ekstati\u0161komis dainomis ir \u0161okiais. Staiga, nesp\u0117jus n\u0117 apsidairyti, chasid\u0173 maldos namai \u0117m\u0117 atsidarin\u0117ti ir Lietuvoje. Taigi rabinams at\u0117jo metas imtis ka\u017ekoki\u0173 veiksm\u0173.<\/p>\n<p>\u0160iam naujam dvasinio jud\u0117jimo modeliui gal\u0117jo pasiprie\u0161inti tik vienas \u017emogus \u2013 Elijas ben Saliamonas Zalmanas, kurio garbei buvo atkurtas Gaono titulas, iki tol nenaudotas keturis \u0161imtus met\u0173. Baal\u0161emui tapus chasidizmo \u012fk\u016br\u0117ju, Vilniaus Gaonas \u012fk\u016br\u0117 \u201eoponent\u0173\u201c (hebr. <em>mitnagdim<\/em>) jud\u0117jim\u0105. Ta\u010diau, nors chasidizmo prad\u017ei\u0105 gaubia legendos, visi\u0161kai tiksliai \u017einoma, kada ir kaip prasid\u0117jo mitnaged\u0173 jud\u0117jimas. Tai \u012fvyko 1772 m., kai Elijas viso labo antr\u0105syk apsilank\u0117 <em>shtotshul<\/em>, Vilniaus Did\u017eiojoje sinagogoje. Ten jis garsiai perskait\u0117 nuosprend\u012f, ekskomunikuojant\u012f chasidus (o per pirm\u0105j\u012f savo apsilankym\u0105 Did\u017eiojoje sinagogoje jis, b\u016bdamas viso labo \u0161e\u0161eri\u0173 su puse met\u0173, ai\u0161kino Talmud\u0105).<\/p>\n<p>Kolektyvin\u0117je \u017eyd\u0173 atmintyje ekskomunikavimo nuosprend\u017eio \u2013 <em>cheremo<\/em> \u2013 tekstas svarba neprilygsta Martyno Liuterio \u201eDevyniasde\u0161imt penkioms tez\u0117ms\u201c. Dauguma \u017emoni\u0173, kaip ir a\u0161 pats, jo net n\u0117ra skait\u0119. Vilniaus Gaono atminimas pagerbiamas kitais b\u016bdais. Jo \u012ftaka siek\u0117 toli ir sklido pla\u010diai per dvi ne\u0161iojamas atminties vietas: vien\u0105 elitin\u0119, ir vien\u0105 populiari\u0105. Elitiniuose sluoksniuose joks Babilono Talmudo leidimas neapsieidavo be <em>Hagahot HaGra<\/em>, jo ra\u0161ytini\u0173 komentar\u0173 ir taisym\u0173, atsiradusi\u0173 puslapio para\u0161t\u0117se, ypa\u010d nuo tada, kai Vilniaus Babilono Talmudas, leistas na\u0161l\u0117s Rom ir jos s\u016bn\u0173 spaustuv\u0117je, tapo standartine Babilono Talmudo versija. \u0160itaip Vilniaus Gaonas patapo anapus laiko egzistuojan\u010dia tekstine fig\u016bra. Gaono \u0161lov\u0117 buvo \u012fk\u016bnyta ir populiarioje meno \u0161akoje, kuri jam pa\u010diam tikrai neb\u016bt\u0173 patikusi: jo portretas puo\u0161\u0117 visos Ryt\u0173 Europos \u2013 ir ne tik \u2013 \u017eyd\u0173 nam\u0173 sienas. <em>Google<\/em> paie\u0161kos sistema leid\u017eia pasirinkti i\u0161 dviej\u0173 Vilniaus gaono atvaizd\u0173: viename jis d\u0117vi <em>talit\u0105<\/em> (pamald\u0173 apsiaust\u0105) ir <em>tefilin<\/em> (ma\u017e\u0105 kvadratin\u0119 odin\u0119 d\u0117\u017eut\u0119, kurion \u012fd\u0117tas maldos tekstas) ant galvos; kitame \u2013 prabangi\u0105 \u0161ventiko skryb\u0117l\u0119.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-477 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/2017\/10\/02\/isimyleje-litvakai\/gaonas1\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/gaonas1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/2017\/10\/02\/isimyleje-litvakai\/gaonas2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/gaonas2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Bet mums dabar svarbiausia tai, kokios istorijos apie j\u012f\u00a0 keliavo i\u0161 l\u016bp\u0173 \u012f l\u016bpas. Syk\u012f prie jo pri\u0117jo sinagogos lankytojas ir paklaus\u0117: \u201eSakykite, rabi, kaip tampama Vilniaus Gaonu?\u201c Gaonas atsak\u0117: \u201e<em>Vil-nor, vestu vern a goen<\/em>, jei labai nor\u0117si, tu irgi gali b\u016bti Gaonas\u201c. Nelauk stebuklo. Nesitik\u0117k, kad u\u017e tave darb\u0105 atliks cadikas. Dirbk, kad pats realizuotum savo siekius. Tai yra mitnagedi\u0161kos-litvaki\u0161kos Toros esm\u0117: <em>Vil-nor<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Ta\u010diau pavyzdinio asmens paie\u0161kos \u010dia nesibaig\u0117. \u0160alia mitnaged\u0173 ir chasid\u0173, besigr\u016bmusi\u0173 daugiau nei \u0161imtmet\u012f, prad\u0117jo reik\u0161tis nauja grup\u0117, kuri vadinosi maskiliai, \u0161viet\u0117jai, <em>tseylem-kep<\/em>. <em>Tseylem-kop<\/em> yra \u017emogus, kuris, \u012ftariama, galvoje slepia krucifiks\u0105. Jis tiek protingas, kad jam pa\u010diam nuo to blogai. Jis pasiry\u017e\u0119s paaukoti pamaldum\u0105 d\u0117l laisvos minties. Lietuva spar\u010diai patapo Haskalos, \u017eyd\u0173 \u0161viet\u0117j\u0173 jud\u0117jimo, centru.<\/p>\n<p>Skirtingai nuo cadiko ar rabino mitnagedo, kurie buvo kolektyv\u0105 atstovaujantys, \u012f bendruomen\u0117s gyvenim\u0105 pasin\u0117r\u0119 lyderiai, maskilis buvo vieni\u0161ius, atstumtasis, eretikas. Dar blogiau: savo mai\u0161t\u0105 maskilis pavert\u0117 autobiografijos tema \u2013 naujo \u017eanro, kur\u012f i\u0161rado \u017danas \u017dakas Ruso. Pirmiausia Ruso model\u012f per\u0117m\u0117 \u2013 k\u0105 j\u016bs manote? \u2013 litvakai. I\u0161 \u017dukovo Boroko miestelio netoli Myriaus miesto Did\u017eiojoje Lietuvos kunigaik\u0161tyst\u0117je, kil\u0119s Saliamonas ben Jozu\u0117 v\u0117liau pasikeit\u0117 vard\u0105 ir, b\u016bdamas 38 met\u0173 Saliamono Maimono vardu i\u0161leido knyg\u0105 <em>Lebensgeschichte<\/em>, para\u0161yt\u0105 lau\u017eyta vokie\u010di\u0173 kalba. Taip pat autobiografijos \u0117m\u0117si Salantuose (netoli Kauno) gim\u0119s ir hebraji\u0161kai ra\u0161\u0119s Mordechajus Aaronas Ginzburgas. Ar jie b\u016bt\u0173 lik\u0119 Lietuvoje, ar i\u0161vyk\u0119 \u012f Ap\u0161vietos centr\u0105 \u2013 Vokietij\u0105, autobiografijas ra\u0161\u0119 litvakai tur\u0117jo vien\u0105 bendr\u0105 bruo\u017e\u0105: juos dar labai jaunus sutuok\u0117 su nemylimomis merginomis, ir tod\u0117l jie vis\u0105 gyvenim\u0105 buvo nelaimingi.<\/p>\n<p>Taigi pavyzdin\u012f asmen\u012f dabar \u012fk\u016bnijo trys besivar\u017eantys ir be galo skirtingi \u017emoni\u0173 tipai. Ta\u010diau visi \u017eydai sutar\u0117, kad pavyzdin\u0117 vieta yra Jeruzal\u0117, kurioje stov\u0117jo pirmoji ir antroji \u0161ventyklos. I\u0161 to sek\u0117, kad kolektyvin\u0117je \u017eyd\u0173 atmintyje Jeruzal\u0117 tapo <em>kehila kedo\u0161a<\/em>, Sandoros bendruomene. Kad \u017eyd\u0173 bendruomen\u0117 pasiskelbt\u0173 esanti <em>ir va\u2019em beYisrael<\/em>, \u017eyd\u0173 tautos metropolija, ji tur\u0117jo tai pagr\u012fsti senovine kilme. Pavyzdin\u0117 vieta buvo pripildyta Dievo buvimo.<\/p>\n<p>Vilniaus pretenzija b\u016bti Lietuvos Jeruzale r\u0117m\u0117si Did\u017ei\u0105ja sinagoga. Kaip ir Jeruzal\u0117s \u0161ventyklos, Vilniaus <em>shtotshul<\/em> didyb\u0119 galima buvo pamatyti tik i\u0161 vidaus, kadangi tre\u010ddalis pastato buvo \u012fleista \u012f \u017eem\u0119. Joje gal\u0117jo sus\u0117sti 3000 \u017emoni\u0173.<\/p>\n<p>Pana\u0161iai kaip Jeruzal\u0117s \u0161ventyklos, Did\u017eiosios sinagogos dauguma lobi\u0173 buvo i\u0161grobstyta, v\u0117l ir v\u0117l. Nuo pirmojo jos pastatymo XVI am\u017eiuje, \u0161i\u0105 sinagog\u0105 tris kartus u\u017epuol\u0117 ir sudegino J\u0117zuit\u0173 akademijos studentai ir j\u0173 bendrai. Paskutin\u012f syk\u012f ji buvo atstatyta po paskutiniojo 1635 m. pogromo. Pana\u0161iai kaip \u0160ventykl\u0105, sinagog\u0105 galiausiai sunaikino baisiausi pasaulio tironai. Hitleris j\u0105 apgriov\u0117 1943 metais, o jo darb\u0105 pabaig\u0117 Stalinas. Kaip ir \u0160ventykla, sinagoga buvo stebukl\u0173 vieta.<\/p>\n<p>Tre\u010di\u0105 ir paskutin\u012fj\u012f kart\u0105 Vilniaus gaonas apsilank\u0117 <em>shtotshul<\/em> 1794-aisiais, kai rus\u0173 armija i\u0161 patrank\u0173 ap\u0161aud\u0117 tuo metu Lenkijai priklausius\u012f Vilni\u0173. <em>Shtotshul<\/em> buvo pastatyta taip, kad gal\u0117t\u0173 atlaikyti atak\u0105, taigi 72 met\u0173 Gaonas liep\u0117 visiems \u017eydams joje pasisl\u0117pti. Tada jis atv\u0117r\u0117 aron kode\u0161\u0105, \u0161vent\u0105j\u0105 spint\u0105, kur laikomi Toros ritiniai, ir septynis kartus perskait\u0117 20-\u0105j\u0105 psalm\u0119 i\u0161 Psalmyno.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Chorved\u017eiui.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Dovydo psalm\u0117.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tei\u0161klauso tave VIE\u0160PATS negandos dien\u0105,<\/p>\n<p>Jok\u016bbo Dievo vardas tesaugo tave!<\/p>\n<p>Tesiun\u010dia tau pagalb\u0105 i\u0161 \u0161ventov\u0117s,<\/p>\n<p>i\u0161 Ziono tepalaiko tave!<\/p>\n<p>Teatsimena visas tavo atna\u0161as,<\/p>\n<p>ir tavo deginamosios aukos jam tepatinka!<\/p>\n<p>(Vert. Antanas Rub\u0161ys)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tada visi susirink\u0119 \u017eydai \u2013 vyrai, moterys, vaikai \u2013 patys septynis kartus pakartojo psalm\u0119. T\u0105 akimirk\u0105 patrankos sviedinys pataik\u0117 \u012f stog\u0105, bet, u\u017euot susprog\u0119s, jis taip ir liko ten \u012fstrig\u0119s. Persigandusius \u017eydus nuramino Gaonas: \u201e<em>Botl, botl di gzeyre<\/em>. Blogio \u012fsakas panaikintas\u201c. Gaonui bekalbant lenk\u0173 karininkai nusprend\u0117 ver\u010diau \u012fsileisti \u012f miest\u0105 rusus, negu leisti visk\u0105 jame sunaikinti. Nuo tada kiekvienais metais t\u0105 dien\u0105 buvo kalbama pad\u0117kos malda, o bendruomen\u0117 surinkdavo ypating\u0105 auk\u0105 pad\u0117koti u\u017e i\u0161gelb\u0117jim\u0105 nuo mirties.<\/p>\n<p>Jei esate litvakas, \u0161is stebuklas jums tur\u0117t\u0173 itin patikti, nes j\u012f paai\u0161kinti galima dviem b\u016bdais. Akivaizdus paai\u0161kinimas \u2013 Vilniaus Gaono maldos i\u0161gelb\u0117jo Did\u017ei\u0105j\u0105 sinagog\u0105 nuo sunaikinimo. Vien \u0161io dvasios gali\u016bno kalbamos maldos gal\u0117jo sulaikyti patrankos sviedin\u012f nesprogus. Ma\u017eiau akivaizdus paai\u0161kinimas \u2013 apdairus laikin\u0173j\u0173 miesto \u0161eiminink\u0173 lenk\u0173 sprendimas atverti Vilniaus vartus.<\/p>\n<p>1800-aisiais, pra\u0117jus penkeriems metams nuo Gaono mirties, jo nam\u0173 vietoje kahalas (\u017eyd\u0173 bendruomen\u0117s savivalda) pastat\u0117 kloiz\u0105 \u2013 mokslo ir maldos namus. Kokia atminties vieta buvo kloizas? Jis \u012fk\u016bnijo paties Gaono pamaldum\u0105 ir neapsakom\u0105 asketi\u0161kum\u0105. Kaip niekur kitur, Vilniuje pavyzdinis \u017emogus ir pavyzdin\u0117 vieta susiliejo \u012f viena.<\/p>\n<p>1902-aisiais taisyti ir originale netoliese prad\u0117jo veikti Stra\u0161uno biblioteka, talpinusi t\u016bkstan\u010dius hebraji\u0161k\u0173 tekst\u0173 ir rankra\u0161\u010di\u0173, tarp j\u0173 \u2013 religin\u0117s ir gro\u017ein\u0117s literat\u016bros, poezijos, mokslini\u0173 darb\u0173, \u017eyd\u0173 ir karaim\u0173 istorijos traktat\u0173, kelioni\u0173 apra\u0161ym\u0173 ir chasid\u0173 tekst\u0173, kuriuos visus surinko garsus Vilniaus maskilis Matas Stra\u0161unas. Taigi pavyzdin\u0117 litvaki\u0161ka vieta apjung\u0117 ap\u0161viet\u0105 ir tradicin\u012f pamaldum\u0105, pasaulietines \u017einias ir Toros mokslus. Litvakai daug keliavo. Kad ir kur b\u016bt\u0173, jie su savimi pasiimdavo dal\u012f savo \u0161alies. Amerikoje kita pasi\u0161ventusi\u0173 litvak\u0173 grupel\u0117 \u2013 Bernardas Revelis, Samuelis Belkinas ir Jozefas Solovei\u010dikas \u2013 suk\u016br\u0117 Tora uMada (Tora ir mokslas) sistem\u0105, nor\u0117dami Naujajame pasaulyje visam laikui \u012ftvirtinti \u0161\u012f model\u012f. Tai \u2013 dabartinis Universitetas-Je\u0161iva (Yeshiva University). Tuo metu, pradedant 1834-aisiais, Vilniuje susib\u016br\u0117 grupel\u0117 apie reformas galvojan\u010di\u0173 jaun\u0173 maskili\u0173 ir \u012fk\u016br\u0117 <em>Tohoras Hakoide\u0161, <\/em>pirm\u0105 \u017eyd\u0173 maldos grupel\u0119 Ryt\u0173 Europoje, kurios etiketas grie\u017etai reikalavo: Nekalb\u0117ti pamald\u0173 metu! Tipi\u0161ki litvakai.<\/p>\n<p>O kaipgi pavyzdinis laikas? Jei b\u016btum\u0117te chasidas, pavyzdinis laikas jums b\u016bt\u0173 tuomet, kai cadikas dar buvo gyvas ir \u017eyd\u0173 tautoje tebevyko stebuklai. Jei b\u016btum\u0117te mitnagedu<em>, <\/em>\u017einotum\u0117te, kad tik didis vedlys \u2013 rabinas \u2013 gali apsaugoti \u017eyd\u0173 bendruomen\u0119 nuo sunaikinimo. Did\u017eiosios sinagogos buvo pasigail\u0117ta tod\u0117l, kad pamald\u017eioji bendruomen\u0117 laik\u0117si sandoros su Dievu. O maskiliai tik\u0117jo emancipacija, tod\u0117l j\u0173 laiko suvokimas buvo linijinis, judantis \u012f priek\u012f. \u0160iandiena geresn\u0117 negu vakar, o rytoj bus dar geriau.<\/p>\n<p>Kaip jau min\u0117jau, neb\u016btina b\u016bti litvaku, kad i\u0161\u0161ifruotum kolektyvin\u0117s \u017eyd\u0173 atminties DNR, bet tai padeda \u2013 kadangi Lietuvoje vyko ideologin\u0117s kovos, kuriose gr\u016bm\u0117si ir ai\u0161kiau negu kur kitur mat\u0117si skirtingi pavyzdinio asmens, pavyzdin\u0117s bendruomen\u0117s ir pavyzdinio laiko modeliai. Ta\u010diau kol kas mes \u017evelg\u0117me per labiau patriarchalin\u0117s bendruomen\u0117s akinius. Su rabinais, cadikais ir maskiliais yra viena b\u0117da \u2013 jie visi paprastai b\u016bna vyrai. Tas pats galioja ir sinagogoms, bibliotekoms ir je\u0161ivos universitetams, kur ir v\u0117l dominuoja vyrai. Kas b\u016bt\u0173, jei \u012f \u017eyd\u0173 ir litvak\u0173 kult\u016br\u0105 pa\u017evelgtume feministiniu \u017evilgsniu? Feminizmas siekia lygyb\u0117s ir prasideda nuo klausimo: kas buvo i\u0161stumta? Atsakymas akivaizdus: be moter\u0173, vaik\u0173 ir jaunimo negali b\u016bti jokios kolektyvin\u0117s tapatyb\u0117s. Atmintis prasideda namie ir mokykloje, \u0161eimos susib\u016brimuose ir jaunimo grupel\u0117se.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>Karas jau buvo \u012fpus\u0117j\u0119s. Mano t\u0117vai, Ma\u0161a ir Leibas Roskesai, kuriems 1940-aisiais pavyko pab\u0117gti i\u0161 Europos su mano broliuku Benu ir sesute Ruta, dalyvavo vestuv\u0117se Westmounto sinagogoje \u2013 pra\u0161matnioje ir madingoje Montrealio dalyje, kur tuomet gyveno.<\/p>\n<p>Nuotakai einant prie altoriaus, muzikantai u\u017egrojo Mendelsono \u201eDain\u0105 be \u017eod\u017ei\u0173\u201c. Tai sukr\u0117t\u0117 mano mam\u0105. Kaip jie gal\u0117jo pasirinkti b\u016btent \u0161i\u0105 melodij\u0105?<\/p>\n<p>1919-\u0173j\u0173 baland\u017eio m\u0117nesio pogromo metu lenk\u0173 legionieriai i\u0161temp\u0117 dramaturg\u0105 A. Vaiter\u012f \u012f gatv\u0119 ir \u010dia pat j\u012f nu\u0161ov\u0117, kiaurai per\u0161audami ir jo mergin\u0105, kuri band\u0117 j\u012f apsaugoti savo k\u016bnu \u2013 nuo tada \u0161i melodija tapo \u0161ventu himnu. Jai \u017eod\u017eius suk\u016br\u0117 jidi\u0161 kalba ra\u0161\u0119s poetas Avromas Reizenas, o per j\u0173 laidotuves visas Vilniaus jaunimas ir bendruomen\u0117s vedliai praeidami pro j\u0173 ne\u0161tuvus dainavo:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gra\u017eiausios dainos,<\/p>\n<p>Melodijos gra\u017eiausios,<\/p>\n<p>Nedainuoki j\u0173, kai \u0161ypsosi s\u0117km\u0117,<\/p>\n<p>Dainuoki nuopolio metu.<\/p>\n<p>Skamb\u0117kite, garsai nuostab\u016bs,<\/p>\n<p>Nors gegu\u017e\u0117 jau pra\u0117jo,<\/p>\n<p>Nors jau saul\u0117s neb\u0117ra,<\/p>\n<p>Nors ir mir\u0119s jau poetas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05d9<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05e0\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">.\u05e0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8\u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2\u05d8 \u05d6\u05e9\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9\u05da, \u05d0\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e7\u05dc\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05de\u05f2\u05b7 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05bf\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05d1\u05f2\u05b7<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d6\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05bf\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">.\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d3\u05d9\u05db\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05d8\u05d5\u05d9\u05d8<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tuomet mano mamai buvo 13 met\u0173 \u2013 tai laikas, kai \u017emogus yra labai paveikus. Ir nors jos namuose buvo kalbama ne jidi\u0161 kalba, o rusi\u0161kai, Ma\u0161a \u012fsimin\u0117 \u0161ios dainos \u017eod\u017eius. Daina jai \u012fgijo toki\u0105 gr\u0117sming\u0105 svarb\u0105 dar ir tod\u0117l, kad viena i\u0161 jos \u012fseseri\u0173 buvo gera Vaiterio merginos draug\u0117 \u2013 tos, kuri m\u0117gino apsaugoti j\u012f savo pa\u010dios k\u016bnu. Taip pasielgi tada, kai ka\u017ek\u0105 labai myli \u2013 v\u0117liau mama paai\u0161kino savo <em>mizinik, <\/em>jauniausiam s\u016bnui. Pasiaukoji d\u0117l to \u017emogaus.<\/p>\n<p>\u012e\u017eeista, kad \u0161\u012f \u0161vent\u0105 himn\u0105 turtingi Westmounto \u017eydai naudojo taip kasdieni\u0161kai ir tarsi lengvab\u016bdi\u0161kai, tuo pat metu siau\u010diant milijonus m\u016bsi\u0161ki\u0173 sunaikinusiam karui, mano mama pri\u0117m\u0117 reik\u0161ming\u0105 sprendim\u0105. Ji nusprend\u0117 i\u0161sikraustyti i\u0161 tos miesto dalies ir su \u0161eima \u012fsikurti ten, kur kalbama jidi\u0161. Po to sek\u0117 kiti sprendimai: leisti mano brol\u012f \u012f <em>folks\u0161ule<\/em>, mokykl\u0105, kur vartojamos jidi\u0161 ir hebraj\u0173 kalbos, ir paskirti likus\u012f savo gyvenim\u0105 (kartu su papildomomis mano t\u0117\u010dio pajamomis) jidi\u0161 kalba ra\u0161iusi\u0173 poet\u0173 ir meninink\u0173 r\u0117mimui.<\/p>\n<p>Mano mamos istorijoje ir dainoje slypi trys svarbios pamokos apie tai, k\u0105 rei\u0161kia b\u016bti litvaku.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Atmintis yra agresyvus veiksmas<\/strong>. Tai niekaip nesusij\u0119 su nostalgija, kurios paskirtis yra apmal\u0161inti skausm\u0105, susitaikyti su netektimi \u012fsivaizduojant praeit\u012f labiau deran\u010di\u0105 su dabartimi. Nors Reizeno sukurtame dainos tekste neminimi istoriniai \u012fvykiai, daina sukelia jausm\u0105 apie Vaiterio k\u016brybingumo beprasmi\u0161k\u0105 netekt\u012f. Po to i\u0161\u0117jo ir <em>Vayter-bukh<\/em>, knyga Vaiterio atminimui pagerbti, kuri\u0105 sudar\u0117 Samuelis Nigeris ir Zalmenas Reizenas, o paskui naujosiose Vilniaus kapin\u0117se jam pastatytas paminklas: did\u017eiulis erelis be vieno sparno. Toki\u0173 sekuliari\u0173 \u017eydi\u0161k\u0173 paminkl\u0173 Ryt\u0173 Europoje dar buvo reta. Tarpukario Vilniaus \u017eyd\u0173 inteligentams jis tapo svarbiu memorialu.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Mano mamos patirtas atminties aktas buvo i\u0161vien agresyvus. Ji grei\u010diausiai galvojo: \u201eNeki\u0161kite rank\u0173 prie mano dainos! Kitaip negu j\u016bs, a\u0161 dar nepraradau tik\u0117jimo. Velniop jus, a\u0161 kraustausi lauk i\u0161 \u010dia!\u201c<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Litvakai yra aistringi \u017emon\u0117s.<\/strong> Gal jie ir atrodo rimti bei mokslingi, bet u\u017e tos ramyb\u0117s ir susilaikymo slypi i\u0161tisi emocij\u0173 \u2013 ir atsidavimo \u2013 klodai.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Litvakai gerbia poetus<\/strong>. Vaiteris labiausiai buvo \u017einomas kaip dramaturgas, bet Reizenas nesuklydo \u012fam\u017ein\u0119s j\u012f kaip poet\u0105. Saky\u010diau, kad Lietuvoje vienam gyventojui teko daugiau jidi\u0161 kalba ra\u0161iusi\u0173 poet\u0173 negu bet kuriame kitame Ryt\u0173 Europos regione. Pateiksiu jums 15 did\u017ei\u0173j\u0173 poet\u0173 litvak\u0173 s\u0105ra\u0161\u0105, kur \u201edidysis\u201c rei\u0161kia \u201etas, kuris naujaip pavartojo jidi\u0161 kalb\u0105 ar suk\u016br\u0117 naujas poezijos formas\u201c. Pateikiu s\u0105ra\u0161\u0105 pagal poet\u0173 gimimo dat\u0105:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Morrisas Rozenfeldas (i\u0161 Bok\u0161i\u0173 kaimo Suvalk\u0173 apskrityje)<\/li>\n<li>Jehoa\u0161as (i\u0161 Virbalio)<\/li>\n<li>Avromas Reizenas (i\u0161 Koidanovo, dab. D\u017eiar\u017eynskas, Baltarusija)<\/li>\n<li>Juozapas Rolnikas (i\u0161 \u017dukovico)<\/li>\n<li>Leivikas (i\u0161 Igumeno, dab.\u010cerven\u0117 Baltarusijoje)<\/li>\n<li>J. \u0160varcas (i\u0161 Petra\u0161i\u016bn\u0173 prie Kauno)<\/li>\n<li>Anna Margolin (i\u0161 Bresto-Litovsko)<\/li>\n<li>Cil\u0117 Dropkin (i\u0161 Babruisko)<\/li>\n<li>Kadia Molodovski (i\u0161 Berezos Kartuskos)<\/li>\n<li>Leibas Naidusas (i\u0161 Gardino)<\/li>\n<li>Moi\u0161\u0117 Kulbakas (i\u0161 Smurgaini\u0173)<\/li>\n<li>Samuelis Halkinas (i\u0161 Raha\u010dovo)<\/li>\n<li>Chaimas Grade (i\u0161 Vilniaus)<\/li>\n<li>LeizerisVolfas (i\u0161 Vilniaus)<\/li>\n<li>Avromas Suckeveris (i\u0161 Smurgaini\u0173)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tikriausiai pasteb\u0117jote, kad trys i\u0161 penkiolikos yra poet\u0117s moterys. 1980-aisiais prad\u0117jus kilti \u017eydi\u0161kojo feminizmo bangai j\u0173 darbai susilaik\u0117 daug d\u0117mesio, nors litvaki\u0161ka kilm\u0117 daug kam praslydo pro akis. Ties\u0105 sakant, a\u0161 ir pats nustebau tai su\u017einoj\u0119s.<\/p>\n<p>Kai Ryt\u0173 Europos \u017eyd\u0117s moterys \u0117m\u0117 dr\u0105siau ir garsiau reik\u0161tis (o pas mus mano mamos balsas tikrai nebuvo i\u0161 tyli\u0173j\u0173), \u0117m\u0117 plisti ir \u012fvairaus politinio bei socialinio pob\u016bd\u017eio \u017eyd\u0173 jaunimo jud\u0117jimai, kuri\u0173 d\u0117ka \u017eydai paaugliai taip pat \u012fgijo sav\u0105 platform\u0105. Tarpukariu dauguma Lenkijos ir Lietuvos \u017eyd\u0173 paaugli\u0173 priklaus\u0117 vienokiam ar kitokiam jud\u0117jimui. Vienas toks paauglys buvo Icchokas Ruda\u0161evskis, aistringas pionierius ir aktyvus Jaunimo klubo Vilniaus gete narys. Prad\u0117dami kiekvien\u0105 Jaunimo klubo susitikim\u0105, jo nariai sugiedodavo \u0161\u012f himn\u0105, kuriam \u017eod\u017eius para\u0161\u0117 Vilniaus geto poetas \u0160merelis Ka\u010derginskis, o muzik\u0105 suk\u016br\u0117 Bas\u0117 Rubin:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d3\u05d6\u05e2\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e4\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n;\u05d3\u05e8\u05f2\u05b7\u05e1\u05d8 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d3\u05d6\u05e2\u05e8 \u05de\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2<br \/>\n,\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05b7\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05b7\u05db\u05d8 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n!\u05e9\u05d8\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2\u05de\u05d8 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2\u05d8 \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2<\/p>\n<p>,\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n,\u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e1 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc \u05e0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8<br \/>\n!\u05d9\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d0\u05b7\u05d8\u05f2\u05b7\u05d8<br \/>\n,\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df, \u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df,<br \/>\n\u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05da \u05d6\u05f2\u05b7\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n!\u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d0 \u05e0\u05f2\u05b7\u05e2\u05e8, \u05e4\u05e8\u05f2\u05b7\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e6\u05f2\u05b7\u05d8<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Li\u016bdesys dainoj m\u016bs skamba<\/p>\n<p>\u017dengiame \u017eingsniu narsiu;<\/p>\n<p>Nors u\u017e vart\u0173 tyko prie\u0161as,<\/p>\n<p>Jauni ver\u017eias su balsu:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jie jauni, jauni,<\/p>\n<p>Jauni, kas nori,<\/p>\n<p>Ir j\u0173 am\u017eius \u2013 ne kli\u016btis!<\/p>\n<p>O senieji<\/p>\n<p>Atjaun\u0117s v\u0117l,<\/p>\n<p>Kai laisvi laikai ateis!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ar ty\u010dia, ar atsitiktinai, bet Ka\u010derginskio dainos priedainyje, \u201c<em>yung iz yeder, yeder, yeder ver es <strong>vilnor<\/strong><\/em>\u2026(jie jauni, jauni, jauni, kas nori&#8230;) ataidi Vilniaus Gaono posakis: <em>Vil-nor, vestu vern a goen<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u0160tai k\u0105 Ruda\u0161evskis u\u017era\u0161\u0117 savo dienora\u0161tyje1943-\u0173j\u0173 sausio 28 d.:<\/p>\n<p>Vakare dalyvavau \u012fdomiame literat\u016bros b\u016brelio susitikime. Jaunas poetas Avromas Suckeveris papasakojo mums apie jidi\u0161 kalba ra\u0161ius\u012f poet\u0105 Jehoa\u0161\u0105 ir padeklamavo jo, Jehoa\u0161o, eil\u0117ra\u0161\u010di\u0173. Gamtos apra\u0161ymai mums padar\u0117 itin didel\u012f \u012fsp\u016bd\u012f. (&#8230;) Mes nusprend\u0117me suorganizuoti Jehoa\u0161o poezijos vakar\u0105 ir jam skirt\u0105 parod\u0105. Kadangi Suckeveris dirba YIVO, jam pavyko i\u0161gelb\u0117ti daug verting\u0173 objekt\u0173, toki\u0173 kaip lai\u0161kai ir rankra\u0161\u010diai.<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u012ekv\u0117pti to, k\u0105 su\u017einojo, Jaunimo klubo nariai nusprend\u0117 pasidalinti savo naujai atrasta meile poetui Jehoa\u0161ui su viso geto gyventojais. Jie papra\u0161\u0117 Suckeverio \u012frengti Jehoa\u0161ui skirt\u0105 parod\u0105 klubo patalpoje. Kaip Popieriaus brigados narys, priverstas dirbti \u017dyd\u0173 mokslo instituto YIVO pastate ir pad\u0117ti vokie\u010diams nuosekliai grobstyti \u017eyd\u0173 kult\u016bros lobius, Suckeveris gal\u0117jo prieiti prie reikaling\u0173 objekt\u0173.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> Bet \u0161i operacija buvo sud\u0117tinga, nes visk\u0105 reik\u0117jo i\u0161 YIVO pastato, kuris buvo vokie\u010di\u0173 pus\u0117je, slapta nuo pastar\u0173j\u0173 prasine\u0161ti \u012f get\u0105. \u0160tai kaip parodos atidarym\u0105 1943-\u0173j\u0173 kovo 14-\u0105j\u0105 savo dienora\u0161tyje apra\u0161o Ruda\u0161evskis:<\/p>\n<p>\u0160iandien m\u016bs\u0173 klube vyko Jehoa\u0161o \u0161vent\u0117 ir jam skirtos parodos atidarymas. Paroda ne\u012ftik\u0117tinai gra\u017ei. Visa klubo skaitykla pilna med\u017eiagos apie poet\u0105. (&#8230;) Vos tik \u012f\u0117j\u0119s i\u0161kart pajunti visaapimant\u012f jaunatvi\u0161k\u0105 u\u017esidegim\u0105. Visas pateikimas spinduliuoja jaunatvi\u0161k\u0105 energij\u0105. Viskas taip kult\u016bringa ir miela akiai. Ten \u012f\u0117j\u0119 \u017emon\u0117s i\u0161syk u\u017emir\u0161ta, kad yra gete. \u0160ioje parodoje yra daug verting\u0173 dokument\u0173, tikr\u0173 lobi\u0173: Pereco rankra\u0161\u010diai, kuriuos jis siunt\u0117 Jehoa\u0161ui, paties Jehoa\u0161o ranka ra\u0161yti lai\u0161kai. Yra ret\u0173 i\u0161karp\u0173 i\u0161 laikra\u0161\u010di\u0173. Biblijos vertimams \u012f jidi\u0161 kalb\u0105 skirta parodos dalis turi net XVII am\u017ei\u0173 siekian\u010di\u0173 jidi\u0161 vertim\u0173. Kai pa\u017ei\u016bri \u012f eksponatus, \u012f m\u016bs\u0173 tri\u016bs\u0105, pasijunti i\u0161ties \u012fkv\u0117ptas ir i\u0161 tikr\u0173j\u0173 u\u017emir\u0161ti es\u0105s tamsiame gete. \u0160vent\u0117 taip pat vyko nuostabiai. (&#8230;) M\u016bs\u0173 vaikai skaito ra\u0161inius apie Jehoa\u0161o poezij\u0105, apie Jehoa\u0161\u0105 kaip gro\u017e\u012f, muzik\u0105 ir spalvas skelbus\u012f poet\u0105. \u0160vent\u0117s metu vis\u0173 nuotaika buvo i\u0161ties pakili. Tai buvo tikros atostogos, jidi\u0161 kalba ra\u0161ytos literat\u016bros ir jidi\u0161 kult\u016bros manifestacija.<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Holokausto metra\u0161\u010diuose Jehoa\u0161ui skirta paroda buvo vienetinis \u012fvykis, kurio unikalumas did\u017ei\u0105ja dalimi kilo i\u0161 kult\u016brinio litvak\u0173 paveldo. Nors gete tebuvo lik\u0119 vos 20 000 \u017eyd\u0173, ma\u017eas anks\u010diau did\u017eios bendruomen\u0117s likutis, \u0161ioje parodoje pademonstruotos b\u016btent tos vertyb\u0117s, kurias Avromas Suckeveris siek\u0117 i\u0161saugoti. Ji iliustruoja tai, k\u0105 Vilniaus geto penkiolikmetis gal\u0117jo i\u0161mokti i\u0161 Saliamono Bliumgarteno, \u017einomo Jehoa\u0161o slapyvard\u017eiu, kuris i\u0161 Lietuvos emigravo \u012f JAV 1890-aisiais, b\u016bdamas 18 met\u0173, \u012fsik\u016br\u0117 Niujorke ir mir\u0117 ten 1927-aisiais.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Meil\u0117 kra\u0161tovaizd\u017eiui. <\/strong>Jehoa\u0161as buvo pirmasis didis poetas, apie gamt\u0105 ra\u0161\u0119s jidi\u0161 kalba \u2013 ne apie gimtosios Lietuvos gamt\u0105, o apie Amerikos gamt\u0105, kurioje \u012fsik\u016br\u0117 v\u0117liau. Jo atliktas Henrio Wadswortho Longfellow poemos \u201eHiavatos giesm\u0117\u201c vertimas buvo puikiai \u012fvertintas ir atskleid\u0117, kaip pasinaudojant jidi\u0161 kalba galima priimti niekada iki tol nepa\u017eint\u0105 pasaul\u012f. Per Jehoa\u0161o eiles Suckeveris parod\u0117 savo studentams, kad negalima nutraukti ry\u0161io tarp \u017eyd\u0173 ir j\u0173 aplinkos \u2013 kadangi pats Suckeveris buvo i\u0161kiliausias apie gamt\u0105 jidi\u0161 kalba ra\u0161\u0119s poetas, jis prie\u0161 pat \u012fsiver\u017eiant vokie\u010diams suk\u016br\u0117 nauj\u0105 kalb\u0105 Lietuvos mi\u0161k\u0173 ir lauk\u0173 gro\u017eiui apdainuoti. Knyg\u0105 jis pavadino <em>Valdiks, <\/em>Mi\u0161kin\u0117. Suckeveriui gamta i\u0161liko gro\u017eio, poezijos, meninio \u012fkv\u0117pimo ir k\u016brybinio atsinaujinimo \u0161altinis. Surengdamas parod\u0105 Suckeveris parod\u0117 visi\u0161kai atskirtai nuo i\u0161orinio pasaulio \u017eyd\u0173 kartai, kad gamta yra \u2013 cituojant Ruda\u0161evsk\u012f \u2013 \u201egro\u017eio, muzikos ir spalv\u0173\u201c \u0161altinis.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Atgal prie Biblijos. <\/strong>Jehoa\u0161as labiausiai i\u0161gars\u0117jo atlik\u0119s Biblijos vertim\u0105, prie kurio darbavosi daugyb\u0119 met\u0173 ir kuris, pa\u010diam poetui dar esant gyvam, patapo gyv\u0105ja klasika. \u0160is didingas pasiekimas, kaip atskleid\u0117 paroda, pats buvo grandis ilgoje Biblijos vertim\u0173 \u012f jidi\u0161 kalb\u0105 grandin\u0117je, kurios i\u0161takos siek\u0117 spaudos i\u0161radim\u0105. Kas ai\u0161kiau parodo litvak\u0173 paveld\u0105 negu meil\u0117 Torai ir <em>zitsfleysh<\/em>, u\u017esispyrimas, be kurio nei\u0161versi Moz\u0117s Penkiaknyg\u0117s, Prana\u0161\u0173 ir Ra\u0161t\u0173? Jehoa\u0161as buvo pavyzdinis litvakas, kadangi jo m\u0105stymas buvo pakankamai tvarkingas atlikti \u0161iuolaikin\u012f Hebraj\u0173 Biblijos vertim\u0105, pagr\u012fst\u0105 lyginam\u0105ja Artim\u0173j\u0173 Ryt\u0173 filologija ir moderniomis Biblijos studijomis, vertim\u0105, kuris i\u0161saugot\u0173 <em>khumesh-taytsh<\/em>, \u017eodin\u0117s a\u0161kenazi\u0173 Biblijos studij\u0173 tradicijos, tarsen\u0105 ir sintaks\u0119, bet taip pat skamb\u0117t\u0173 jidi\u0161 kalbos gro\u017eiu, muzika ir spalvomis. Litvakai gars\u0117jo savo Toros studijomis ir, nors Jehoa\u0161as i\u0161 nam\u0173 i\u0161vyko b\u016bdamas viso labo 18 met\u0173, t\u0105 paveld\u0105 jis su savimi nusive\u017e\u0117 \u012f Nauj\u0105j\u012f Pasaul\u012f, kur jo hebraj\u0173 ir jidi\u0161 kalbomis i\u0161leistas dvitomis tapo vertingiausiu dalyku Amerikos \u017eyd\u0173 namuose. Yehoa\u0161o d\u0117ka net ir tokie radikaliai sekuliar\u016bs \u017eydai kaip Icchokas Ruda\u0161evskis tiesiogiai susipa\u017eino su Knyg\u0173 knyga.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Padedami dviej\u0173 m\u016bs\u0173 informant\u0173, Ma\u0161os Roskies ir Icchoko Ruda\u0161evskio, jau esame pasireng\u0119 nubrai\u017eyti kolektyvin\u0117s \u017eyd\u0173 atminties DNR diagram\u0105. Ant trinar\u0117s \u201epavyzdinio asmens, pavyzdin\u0117s vietos ir pavyzdinio laiko\u201c konstrukcijos dabar galime u\u017ed\u0117ti kit\u0105 trejet\u0105, labiau b\u016bding\u0105 litvakams. Antrasis trejetas atspindi naujus \u017eyd\u0173 sav\u0119s suvokimo b\u016bdus ir modelius, kurie ypa\u010d gerai i\u0161sivyst\u0117 Lietuvoje. \u010cia labiau nei kur kitur pavyzdinis asmuo \u012fgijo poeto pavidal\u0105, pavyzdin\u0117 vieta i\u0161sipl\u0117t\u0117, apimdama gamtin\u012f pasaul\u012f, o pavyzdinis laikas bibliniame laikotarpyje buvo apibr\u0117\u017etas i\u0161 naujo.<\/p>\n<p>\u0160tai kaip paprastai galime apjungti abu trikampius. Jei \u017ei\u016bri i\u0161 vir\u0161aus, i\u0161\u0117j\u0119s u\u017e laiko rib\u0173, vienas j\u0173 u\u017esikloja ant kito. Bet \u017ei\u016brint i\u0161 istorin\u0117s perspektyvos reik\u0117t\u0173 juos \u012fsivaizduoti kaip vektorius, linkstan\u010dius vienas prie kito ir besitraukian\u010dius vienas nuo kito. Lietuvoje prie\u0161ingyb\u0117s traukia, o tradicija ir modernyb\u0117 gyvuoja \u0161alia viena kitos. Prie\u0161taravimuose litvakai tiesiog tarpsta. Jie \u017eino, kaip sujungti dalykus, kurie visada iki tol buvo atskiri.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-495\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskiesschema.jpg\" alt=\"roskiesschema\" width=\"932\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskiesschema.jpg 932w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskiesschema-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskiesschema-768x544.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 932px) 100vw, 932px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Apie tai, kad poetas tapo pavyzdiniu asmeniu, su\u017einojome i\u0161 Avromo Reizeno, apraudojusio A. Vaiterio mirt\u012f, ir Abraomo Suckeverio, \u0161ventusio Jehoa\u0161o gyvenim\u0105.<\/p>\n<p>Apie tai, kad meil\u0117 gamtai \u012ftvirtino vietos meil\u0119, su\u017einojome i\u0161 Icchoko Ruda\u0161evskio reakcijos \u012f Jehoa\u0161o apdainuot\u0105 gamt\u0105 ir i\u0161 Suckeverio sukurto b\u016bdo kalb\u0117ti apie gamt\u0105.<\/p>\n<p>Ir galiausiai apie tai, kad Biblija yra Meil\u0117s Knyga, galime su\u017einoti i\u0161 didaus litvako, pirmojo hebraji\u0161k\u0173 roman\u0173 ra\u0161ytojo, pirmojo, \u017eyd\u0173 kalba para\u0161iusio \u0161iuolaikin\u0119 meil\u0117s istorij\u0105 \u2013 Abraomo Mapu.<\/p>\n<p>1853 m. para\u0161ytame romane <em>Ahavat Tsiyon<\/em>, Siono meil\u0117, Mapu gr\u0105\u017eino Biblijai Meil\u0117s Knygos ir Gamtos Knygos reputacij\u0105, tuo pat metu visiems jauniems savo skaitytojams \u012fskiepydamas nebl\u0117stan\u010di\u0105 meil\u0119 Sionui. I\u0161 jo poetai litvakai i\u0161moko, kaip geriausia i\u0161reik\u0161ti savo ry\u0161\u012f su \u017eeme \u2013 pasinaudojant bibliniais vaizdiniais. Tiek, kiek kokia nors vietov\u0117 tapdavo namais, ji tapdavo ir Bibline Vieta.<\/p>\n<p>Taigi pristatau jums \u0161e\u0161i\u0173 poet\u0173 s\u016bkur\u012f, \u0161e\u0161eto i\u0161 penkiolikos, kuriuos jau pamin\u0117jau \u2013 j\u0173 poezija iliustruoja, kaip Biblija gali perkeisti, kaip Biblija tapo nat\u016braliausia litvak\u0173 kalba. Jie pateikiami lietuvi\u0173 ir jidi\u0161 kalba, su viltimi, kad juose j\u016bs atrasite ka\u017ek\u0105 pa\u017e\u012fstama ir ka\u017ek\u0105 visi\u0161kai ne\u012fprasta. Ir tikiuosi, kad \u0161ie eil\u0117ra\u0161\u010diai bent jau pad\u0117s prapl\u0117sti \u012fsivaizdavim\u0105, kas vis d\u0117lto yra litvakas.<\/p>\n<p>Prad\u0117sime nuo <strong>Leibo Naiduso<\/strong>, Gardine gimusio ir ten pat mirusio poeto. Kaip ir A. Vaiteris, jis atsimenamas kaip pa\u010dioje jaunyst\u0117je pakirstas poetas, nesp\u0117j\u0119s realizuoti savo k\u016brybinio potencialo. Naidusas, jaunatvi\u0161kiausias, romanti\u0161kiausias ir labiausiai dekadenti\u0161kas i\u0161 vis\u0173 poet\u0173 litvak\u0173, mir\u0117 b\u016bdamas 28 met\u0173. Jo \u201eIntymiose melodijose\u201c apra\u0161omas i\u0161silavin\u0119s, pasaulieti\u0161kas \u017eydas, kur\u012f apkeri pa\u0161\u0117lusi \u010digon\u0117 Dzeima. \u0160iais laikais toks eil\u0117ra\u0161tis b\u016bt\u0173 laikomas politi\u0161kai nekorekti\u0161ku, nes ne\u012fmanoma nepasteb\u0117ti, kiek jame orientalizmo. Bet tuo metu tokia atvira erotika bei \u012fmantrus sapn\u0173 ir realyb\u0117s, biblini\u0173 ir europieti\u0161k\u0173 peiza\u017e\u0173 mi\u0161inys suk\u0117l\u0117 tikr\u0105 sensacij\u0105. Atkreipkite d\u0117mes\u012f \u012f nuorodas apie Artimuosius Rytus: Sidonas buvo finikie\u010di\u0173 uostas, i\u0161 kurio nuod\u0117mingoji karalien\u0117 Jezabel\u0117 \u012f Izrael\u012f atved\u0117 pagoni\u0161kus ritualus. Ir pasteb\u0117kite fraz\u0119 \u201e<em>mir dukht zikh<\/em>, sapnuoju tave.\u201c Eil\u0117ra\u0161tis yra dabartyje vykstanti biblin\u0117 fantazija. Jei mokate jidi\u0161 kalb\u0105, gal\u0117site pasid\u017eiaugti tokiais rimais kaip \u201e<em>Tsidn<\/em> \/ Sidonas\u201c ir \u201e<em>midn<\/em> \/ pavarg\u0119s\u201c, arba pasteb\u0117ti, kaip hebraji\u0161kas \u017eodis \u201e<em>pilegesh<\/em> \/ sugulov\u0117\u201c surimuotas su itin europieti\u0161ku \u201e<em>elegish<\/em> \/ elegin\u0117\u201c \u2013 ir pasim\u0117gauti tuo faktu, kad eil\u0117ra\u0161t\u012f reikia skaityti lietuvi\u0161k\u0105ja jidi\u0161 kalbos tarme, idant jis rimuot\u0173si.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pailsus\u012f ir geiduling\u0105 \u017evilgsn\u012f myliu tavo,<\/p>\n<p>Dzeima, ir juodas tarsi anglis plauk\u0173 bangas;<\/p>\n<p>Ir tavo skarmalus, kurie i\u0161 pat Sidono atkeliavo,<\/p>\n<p>Tarsi urvai dykumoje akis tavo tamsias.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Esi tokia gra\u017ei, pa\u0161\u0117lusiai elegin\u0117, ilsiesi,<\/p>\n<p>\u0160e\u0161\u0117l\u012f meta tavo antaki\u0173 lankai;<\/p>\n<p>Tave sapnuoju: liekna, jauna sugulov\u0117<\/p>\n<p>I\u0161 tolimo haremo atve\u017eta mane lankai.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Kh\u2019hob lib, Dzeyma, dayn tayve-blik, dem farkhalesht-midn,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Di khvayles fun dayne lokn\u2014shvarts vi keyl [koyl]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Dayne farbike trantes\u2014tayere shtifn fun <strong>Tsidn<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Dayn fintseres eyg\u2014a midbershe heyl.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Vi sheyn du bist, ven du ligst azey vild-elegish<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Un a langer shotn falt fun dayn brem:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Mir dukht zikh: du bist a yunge, shlanke <strong>pilegesh<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Gebrakht ahertsu fun ergets a vaytn harem.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Visai kitaip biblinius siu\u017eetus atgaivina <strong>I. J. \u0160varcas<\/strong> poemoje <em>Kentucky<\/em>, kuri\u0105 prad\u0117jo ra\u0161yti 1918 m., i\u0161vyk\u0119s \u012f Niujork\u0105. Nieko pana\u0161aus \u2013 i\u0161skyrus Yehoa\u0161o \u201eHiavatos giesm\u0117s\u201c vertim\u0105 \u2013 skaitantieji jidi\u0161 kalba dar nebuvo reg\u0117j\u0119. Tai buvo pirmasis jidi\u0161-amerikieti\u0161kas epas, \u012fsp\u016bdingas savo pla\u010dia apimtimi tiek erdv\u0117je, tiek laike. Jame pasakojama prekeivio D\u017eo\u0161o istorija, kuris, kaip ir jo pirmtakas Jozu\u0117, atvyko u\u017ekariauti Kanaano \u017eem\u0117s, kuri D\u017eo\u0161o atveju yra JAV piet\u016bs ir pietry\u010diai, i\u0161siskiriantys religingumu. \u010cia D\u017eo\u0161as d\u017eiaugiasi savo \u201edid\u017ei\u0105ja paslaptimi\u201c: tvarkomu namu, \u012f kur\u012f ruo\u0161iasi \u012fsikelti su visa \u0161eima ir kuris yra labiausiai ap\u010diuopiamas \u012frodymas, kad ilgus metus D\u017eo\u0161as ne veltui lenk\u0117 nugar\u0105. U\u017e pastangas epo herojui atlygina ir poetas, kuris ne\u0161yk\u0161ti d\u0117mesio gamtos gro\u017eiui ir jos dovanoms, ir pats Dievas. D\u017eo\u0161as, kuris jau seniai nebepraktikavo \u017eyd\u0173 tik\u0117jimo, s\u0117km\u0117s akimirk\u0105 prisimena Izaoko mald\u0105 Dievui Prad\u017eios knygoje: \u201e<em>Den oysgebreytert hot undz got \/ un mir\u2018n zikh farfestikn in land<\/em>\u201c (Vert. A. Rub\u0161ys: \u201e\u0160\u012f kart\u0105 VIE\u0160PATS dav\u0117 mums \u0161iame kra\u0161te aps\u010diai vietos daugintis\u201c).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pro sutvarkyto namo langus<\/p>\n<p>Lauk\u0173 ir tolim\u0173 mi\u0161k\u0173 platyb\u0117,<\/p>\n<p>Pu\u0161in\u0117s grindys,<\/p>\n<p>Nutviekstos \u0161viesos,<\/p>\n<p>Ant j\u0173 si\u016bbuoja smaili\u0173 lap\u0173<\/p>\n<p>Auksiniai ir \u017eali \u0161e\u0161\u0117liai,<\/p>\n<p>Sen\u0173 \u0105\u017euol\u0173 ir jaun\u0173 \u0105\u017euol\u0173,<\/p>\n<p>Vos \u012fsteng\u0117 D\u017eo\u0161as atsipl\u0117\u0161ti<\/p>\n<p>Nuo paslapties, kuri u\u017epild\u0117 j\u012f<\/p>\n<p>Kaip vynas, neapr\u0117piama;<\/p>\n<p>Ir stebint did\u017ei\u0105j\u0105 platyb\u0119,<\/p>\n<p>Prisimin\u0117 eiles sen\u0105sias:<\/p>\n<p>\u201e<em>\u0160\u012f kart\u0105 Vie\u0161pats dav\u0117 mums<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u0160iame kra\u0161te aps\u010diai vietos daugintis<\/em>.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Litvak\u0173 poet\u0173 Biblijos interpretacija vienu svarbiu aspektu pagerino hebraji\u0161k\u0105 original\u0105: litvaki\u0161koje interpretacijoje ne \u017eydai taikiai sugyveno su \u017eydais. Ar tai b\u016bt\u0173 \u010digon\u0173 stovykloje besibu\u010diuojantys jauni Naiduso \u012fsimyl\u0117j\u0117liai, ar D\u017eo\u0161o vaikai, netrukus susituoksiantys su kit\u0173 taut\u0173 ar kit\u0173 religij\u0173 atstovais, ar <strong>Moi\u0161\u0117s Kulbako<\/strong> epin\u0117je poemoje \u201e<em>Raysn<\/em>, Baltarusija\u201c apra\u0161yti penkiolika kar\u0161tako\u0161i\u0173 broli\u0173. D\u0117d\u0117 Avromas ir gra\u017eioji Nastazija yra be galo \u012fsimyl\u0117j\u0119, poemoje apra\u0161yta, kaip meiliai jiedu bendrauja. Ir tik dvyliktoje \u2013 paskutiniojoje \u2013 strofoje Kulbakas ai\u0161kiai nurodo biblin\u0119 analogij\u0105. Tai ne \u0161iaip sielius Nemunu plukdantys du \u017eyd\u0173 valstie\u010diai. Tai \u2013 tikra \u017eyd\u0173 gentis, Baltarusijoje \u012fsitvirtinusi taip, kaip j\u0173 prot\u0117viai buvo \u012fsitvirtin\u0119 Pa\u017ead\u0117toje \u017dem\u0117je. Mirties patale senelis suteikia palaiminim\u0105 savo s\u016bnums \u2013 apra\u0161ant \u0161i\u0105 scen\u0105 naudojami vaizdiniai ir biblin\u0117s paralel\u0117s, kurios atliepia Prad\u017eios knygos 49-\u0105j\u012f skyri\u0173 (kur Jok\u016bbas suteikia palaiminim\u0105 savo s\u016bnums). Vyriausiasis Ort\u0161\u0117 palaiminamas vietoje Reubeno, Rachmielis \u2013 tarsi jis b\u016bt\u0173 Juda, o \u0160muil\u0117 \u2013 tarsi b\u016bt\u0173 Naftalis:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tu, \u0160muile, upininke, pasauly n\u0117ra kito tokio!<\/p>\n<p>\u0160lapias esi visados ir virv\u0119 ne\u0161iojies supluk\u0119s,<\/p>\n<p>Atsiduodi \u017evynais ir per\u0117m\u0119s vandenio dvok\u0105,<\/p>\n<p>Palaimintas b\u016bki krante ir palaimintas b\u016bki ant up\u0117s.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Du Shmulye, der taykh-mentsh, nito af der velt aza glaykhn!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Bashtendik dem butsh af di pleytses, bashtendik a naser,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Geshmekt hot mit shupn fun dir, mit dem reyakh fun shleym in di taykhn,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Gebentsht zolstu zayn afn land, un gebentsht afn vaser.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kulbakas tarsi paveld\u0117jo \u0161\u012f \u012fsi\u0161aknijimo jausm\u0105, poj\u016bt\u012f, kad Baltarusijos up\u0117s ir laukai yra tikri jo namai. Jis kalba Biblijos \u012fkv\u0117ptos \u0161eimos balsu.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kadia Molodovski<\/strong> augo visai kitokiuose namuose. Kitaip negu Kulbakas, poezija jai buvo b\u016bdas kalb\u0117ti savo tautai ir kalb\u0117tis su savo tauta. Savo eil\u0117ra\u0161\u010di\u0173 rinkinyje \u201e<em>Froyen lider<\/em>, Moter\u0173 dainos\u201c ji klaus\u0117 sav\u0119s, kas nutikt\u0173 toms nelaimingoms \u017eyd\u0117ms, kurios augo skurde, neteko nam\u0173, neu\u017egyveno vaik\u0173, nepatyr\u0117 meil\u0117s? Nelaim\u0117s valand\u0105 \u0161ios moterys tegal\u0117jo atsigr\u0119\u017eti \u012f savo biblines pramotes: Sar\u0105, Rebek\u0105, Rachel\u0119 ir L\u0117j\u0105, kurias taip gerai pa\u017eino kalb\u0117damos <em>tkhines<\/em>, asmenines maldas, kurias moterys sakydavo jidi\u0161 kalba. \u0160tai kok\u012f vaidmen\u012f gal\u0117jo vaidinti motina L\u0117ja:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Toms, kur nakt\u012f verkia lovoj vieni\u0161oj,<\/p>\n<p>Ir savo sielvarto neturi kam nune\u0161ti,<\/p>\n<p>Sukepusiomis l\u016bpomis \u0161nab\u017eda sau vienom,<\/p>\n<p>Pas jas ateina motina j\u0173 L\u0117ja<\/p>\n<p>Ir u\u017edengia bly\u0161kiais delnais pavargusias akis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Tsu di vos veynen in di nekht af eynzame gelegers,<br \/>\nUn hobn nit far vemen brengen zeyer tsar,<br \/>\nRedn zey mit oysgebrente lipn tsu zikh aleyn,<br \/>\nTsu zey kumt di muter Leye<br \/>\nHalt beyde oygn mit di bleykhe hent farshtelt. (1927)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Poetai litvakai, tiek vyrai, tiek moterys, laisvai gal\u0117jo gyventi Biblijoje, i\u0161 naujo j\u0105 pergyventi ir suprasti j\u0105 \u0161iuolaikinio gyvenimo kontekste. Ry\u0161kiausiai ir \u012fsimintiniausiai tai pavyko padaryti H. Leivikui ir Avromui Suckeveriui.<\/p>\n<p>I\u0161 vis\u0173 biblini\u0173 pasakojim\u0173 n\u0117 vienas nepaliko tokio galingo \u012fspaudo Leiviko religin\u0117je vaizduot\u0117je, kaip <strong><em>akeda<\/em><\/strong>, Izaoko aukojimas ant Morijos kalno. Persona\u017e\u0173 \u0161iame pasakojime nedaug \u2013 t\u0117vas, s\u016bnus, balsas i\u0161 dangaus ir avin\u0117lis \u2013 o rekvizit\u0173 dar ma\u017eiau \u2013 viso labo peilis ir altorius. Dar taupesn\u0117 Leiviko kalba, didingumu prilygstanti biblinei. Bet Leiviko supratimu, Izaoko aukojimo stebuklas slypi ne tame, kad \u0161is paskutini\u0105j\u0105 akimirk\u0105 buvo i\u0161gelb\u0117tas nuo mirties, bet pa\u010diame aukojime<em>, \u201eder nes fun nesoyen<\/em>, i\u0161bandymo stebukle\u201c, \u017emogaus geb\u0117jime pakelti kra\u0161tutin\u0119 kan\u010di\u0105. Leiviko supratimu, b\u016bti \u017eydu \u2013 tai stov\u0117ti pasirengus kitam kartui, kai tau \u012f gerkl\u0119 bus \u012fremti peilio a\u0161menys. Kiekvienas trieilis posmas baigiasi tais pa\u010diais \u017eod\u017eiais: \u201e<em>Un-vart, <\/em>Ir laukia\u201c.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I\u0161 vir\u0161aus su\u0161unka balsas<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Stok! \u2013 ranka ore sustingsta<\/p>\n<p>Ir laukia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sutvink\u010dioja staiga gerkl\u0117 gyslota<\/p>\n<p>I\u0161bandymo stebuklu<\/p>\n<p>Ir laukia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nusine\u0161a jau t\u0117vas s\u016bn\u0173.<\/p>\n<p>Altorius lieka tu\u0161\u010dias<\/p>\n<p>Ir laukia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tarp spygli\u0173 \u012fstrig\u0119s avin\u0117lis<\/p>\n<p>Stebi rank\u0105 su peiliu<\/p>\n<p>Ir laukia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Derhert zikh fun oybn a bas-kol<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2014halt op!\u2014blaybt di hant in gliver<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un\u2014vart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Git der haldz mit ale zayne odern<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">A tants inem nes fun nesoyen,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Un &#8211; vart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Trogt der tate dem zun arunter,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blaybt leydik un fray der mizbeyakh,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un\u2014vart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shteyt a lam in dornbush farflokhtn<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un kukt af der hant mitn meser<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un\u2014vart.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Avromui Suckeveriui biblin\u0117 Atpildo diena buvo 1943-\u0173j\u0173 rugs\u0117jo 12-oji, kai jis su \u017emona Freidke pab\u0117go i\u0161 geto drauge su antr\u0105ja kovotoj\u0173 grupe ir prisijung\u0117 prie sovietini\u0173 partizan\u0173 brigados Lietuvos mi\u0161kuose. B\u016btent tod\u0117l Suckeverio 24 eilu\u010di\u0173 ilgumo eil\u0117ra\u0161\u010diui \u201e<em>Di blayene platn fun Roms drukeray<\/em>, Rom\u0173 spaustuv\u0117s \u0161vino plok\u0161t\u0117s\u201c priskirta b\u016btent \u0161i data. Data atspindi labiau simbolin\u0119 negu tikr\u0105 eil\u0117ra\u0161\u010dio suk\u016brimo dien\u0105, kadangi poetinis kontekstas yra ra\u0161ytojo k\u016brybos vaisius.<\/p>\n<p>Vien\u0105 nakt\u012f pritr\u016bk\u0119 kulk\u0173 jauni kovotojai \u012fsilau\u017eia \u012f Rom\u0173 spaustuv\u0117s pastat\u0105, nor\u0117dami i\u0161lydyti \u0161vinines plok\u0161tes, kurios buvo naudojamos spausdinant Vilniaus Talmud\u0105, \u012fsp\u016bding\u0105 Ryt\u0173 Europos \u017eyd\u0173 kult\u016brin\u012f pasiekim\u0105. \u0160itai atkartoja gilioje senov\u0117je \u012fvykus\u012f veiksm\u0105 \u2013 kai atgav\u0119 Jeruzal\u0119 Makab\u0117jai pyl\u0117 aliej\u0173 \u012f \u0160ventyklos \u017evakides, taip ir i\u0161lydytos \u0161vino plok\u0161t\u0117s su hebraji\u0161komis raid\u0117mis buvo pilamos \u012f kulk\u0173 liejimo formas. Alchemija pavyksta, kadangi paskutiniame posmelyje kovotojai \u017eydai jau apsiginklav\u0119, sukilimas \u012fvyk\u0119s, o paskutiniosios geto valandos prilyginamos Jeruzal\u0117s apgul\u010diai. Kaip buvo sugriauta Jeruzal\u0117, taip sunaikinta ir Lietuvos Jeruzal\u0117.<\/p>\n<p>Paskutiniame posmelyje du rimavimo b\u016bdai i\u0161ry\u0161kina tolimos praeities ir heroji\u0161kos dabarties susijungim\u0105. Vienas rimas paremtas germani\u0161kais kalbos komponentais: HENT (rankos) \u2013 VENT (sienos) \u2013 DERKENT (atpa\u017eino). Kitas rimas paremtas hebraji\u0161kais elementais jidi\u0161 kalboje. \u017dod\u012f YERUSHALAYIM Suckeveris rimuoja su BLAYEN ir KLEZAYIN. Jis nukaldina tiesiogin\u0119 ir tvirt\u0105 s\u0105saj\u0105 tarp Jeruzal\u0117s sugriovimo, plok\u0161\u010di\u0173 \u0161vino ir ginkl\u0173, kuriuos Vilniaus partizanai naudojo savo paskutiniojo pasiprie\u0161inimo vokie\u010diams metu.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ir tas, reg\u0117j\u0119s \u017eydus j\u0173 gra\u017eiausiais metais,<\/p>\n<p>Kaip geto sal\u0117se ginklus jie ima \u2013<\/p>\n<p>Tas paskutin\u012f Jeruzal\u0117s kar\u012f mat\u0117,<\/p>\n<p>Didvyri\u0161k\u0173 sien\u0173 didvyri\u0161k\u0105 griuvim\u0105;<\/p>\n<p>\u017dod\u017eius suprato tas, ir \u0161vin\u0105 liejo, nesant laiko,<\/p>\n<p>Ir \u0161irdimi gird\u0117jo: j\u0173 balsas i\u0161 senov\u0117s \u0161aukia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Un ver s\u2019hot in geto gezen dos klezayin<\/p>\n<p>Farklamert in heldishe yidishe hent\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Gezen hot er ranglen zikh Yerusholaim,<\/p>\n<p>Dos faln fun yene granitene vent;<\/p>\n<p>Farnumen di verter, farshmoltsn in blayen<\/p>\n<p>Un zeyere shtimen in hartsn derkent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nesvarbu, kad tuomet \u0161vino plok\u0161tes jau seniai buvo i\u0161grobst\u0119 vokie\u010diai, o sukilimas buvo nutrauktas tragi\u0161komis aplinkyb\u0117mis. \u017dyd\u0173 kolektyvin\u0117je atmintyje ne tiek svarbu faktai, kiek j\u0173 reik\u0161m\u0117. Esmin\u0117 eilut\u0117 poemoje, jos tiesos pagrindas, manau, buvo penktoji: \u201e<em>Mir, troymer, badarfn itst vern soldatn!<\/em> \/ <strong>Mes, svajotojai, turime tapti kareiviais<\/strong>!\u201c. Kaip \u2013 dom\u0117josi Suckeveris \u2013 i\u0161 toki\u0173 bej\u0117gi\u0173 \u017emoni\u0173 gal\u0117jo atsirasti tiek pasiprie\u0161inimo kovotoj\u0173? Simboline poezijos kalba jis para\u0161\u0117 pa\u010dia savo esme litvaki\u0161k\u0105 atsakym\u0105 \u012f \u0161\u012f klausim\u0105.<\/p>\n<p>\u0160i \u017eyd\u0173 jaunimo karta buvo i\u0161auginta did\u017eios civilizacijos. J\u0173 kilm\u0117 pa\u017eym\u0117ta mokslo, religin\u0117s disciplinos ir idealizmo. Jiems tereik\u0117jo stebuklingo u\u017ekalb\u0117jimo, rakto, nenugalimo tro\u0161kimo, jie tetur\u0117jo vienoki\u0105 energij\u0105 paversti kitokia. Pa\u017eindami savo istorij\u0105 \u0161ie \u017emon\u0117s sugeb\u0117jo para\u0161yti nauj\u0105 ry\u0161k\u0173 jos skirsn\u012f. Jei vertintume nepasisekus\u012f sukilim\u0105 partizaninio karo istorijos kontekste, jis nusipelnyt\u0173 ne k\u0105 daugiau negu i\u0161na\u0161os. Bet \u017eyd\u0173 tautos metra\u0161tyje ginkluotas pasiprie\u0161inimas vokie\u010diams atspind\u0117jo did\u017eiausi\u0105 prover\u017e\u012f \u017eyd\u0173 s\u0105mon\u0117je po Makab\u0117j\u0173 sukilimo.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>K\u0105 rei\u0161kia b\u016bti litvaku? Tai rei\u0161kia dainuoti:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gra\u017eiausios dainos,<\/p>\n<p>Melodijos gra\u017eiausios,<\/p>\n<p>Nedainuoki j\u0173, kai \u0161ypsosi s\u0117km\u0117,<\/p>\n<p>Dainuoki nuopolio metu.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bet tai rei\u0161kia dainuoti ir tai:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jie jauni, jauni,<\/p>\n<p>Jauni, kas nori,<\/p>\n<p>Ir j\u0173 am\u017eius \u2013 ne kli\u016btis!<\/p>\n<p>O senieji<\/p>\n<p>Atjaun\u0117s v\u0117l,<\/p>\n<p>Kai laisvi laikai ateis!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u0160alia to, kad \u012fdaryt\u0105 \u017euv\u012f pagardindavo pipirais, o ne cukrumi, ir \u0161alia i\u0161did\u017eios stipri\u0173 moter\u0173 eil\u0117s, ir \u0161alia <em>tseleym-kep<\/em>, eretik\u0173 reputacijos, litvakai gyveno su ypatingu atsidavimu: atsidavimu praei\u010diai, dvasiniams vadovams, bendruomenei, Knyg\u0173 knygai, gamtos gro\u017eiui ir poetiniam \u017eod\u017eiui.<\/p>\n<p>(vert\u0117 Migl\u0117 Anu\u0161auskait\u0117)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u017dr. straipsn\u012f \u201cThe Geography of Yiddish\u201d knygoje <em>The Shtetl Book<\/em>, sudar. Diane K. Roskies and David G. Roskies (New York: KtavPub. House, 1975)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u017dr. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yivoencyclopedia.org\/article.aspx\/Vayter_A\">http:\/\/www.yivoencyclopedia.org\/article.aspx\/Vayter_A<\/a>, ten yra nuoroda \u012f nufilmuot\u0105 Cemacho \u0160abado laidotuvi\u0173 ceremonij\u0105, kurios metu kalbos buvo sakomos \u0161alia Vaiterio paminklo.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u0161 katalogo <em>Avraham Suts\u1e33e\u1e7fer bi-melot lo shiv\u02bbim: ta\u02bbarukhah = Avraham Suts\u1e33e\u1e7fer tsu m\u1e7fern a benshivim: oysshtelung<\/em>, kur\u012f para\u0161\u0117 ir sudar\u0117 Abraomas Nover\u0161ternas. Jerusalem: TheNationaland University Library, 1983, p. 140.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u017dr. David E. Fishman, <em>Shaytlekh aroysgerisn fun fayer : dos oprateven yidishe kul\u1e6dur-oytsres<\/em> <em>in \u1e7eilne<\/em>.\u00a0 New York: YIVO, 1996.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <em>Avraham Suts\u1e33e\u1e7fer bi-melot lo shiv\u02bbim<\/em>, ten pat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>EN:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Litvaks in Love<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>David G. Roskies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tyszkiewicz\u2019s Palace on the corner of Troky and Plylimo (formerly Zavalna), is an architectural landmark, especially its outer fa\u00e7ade. The two neockassical half-naked tosros holding up the balcony are vivid reminders of the Polish aristocracy who once lived and ruled here in the 18<sup>th<\/sup> century. They link Vilnius to a pan-European architectural movement that looked to Ancient Greece for inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>Tyszkiewicz\u2019s Palace has passed through many hands since then. When I first visited Vilnius in 1971, it housed the Soviet Polish Academy. There was no question of goinfg inside. \u201cZe notr ze,\u201d my guide Zalman Gurdus said to me, \u201c<em>ale yidn hot men oysgeharfet, ober di tsvey bulvanes shteyen nokh<\/em>; all the Jews were murdered, but the two <em>bulvanes<\/em> are still standing.\u201d That was the comical name used by the Jews of Vilna to refer to this local landmark.<\/p>\n<p>By my second visit, in 2000, the Soviets were gone, the front door was open, and the porter, still sitting in the old booth, was happy to let us in. The property had just been acquired by Vilnius University, but renovations had not yet begun. The building looked very run down. The linden trees were gone. They had been cut down for firewood during the war. I sat in the huge courtyard for a long time, telling Shana, my wife, our friends Monika and Staszek from Warsaw and our local guide Ilya all the stories I knew about the Jewish inhabitants of this place during the time when my mother lived trhere, from 1906-1930, when it was also home to Kochanovski\u2019s Kindergarten, the Matz Press, a Jewish orphanage, Badaness\u2019s Bakery, and much more.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, I went back and was impressed but what the University has built. It is a model, as yet unfinished, of urban renewal. But as we passed through the automatic doors and walked up the steel and open staircases, my mind was somewhere else. For me, this place does not live in history, or architecture, or urban renewal. It exists in memory alone. In memory, it belongs within a separate geography and another time zone. In memory, the two <em>bulvanes<\/em> mark the entrance to Yiddishland, and to a place where Litvaks were very much in love.<\/p>\n<p>So I invite you to join me on a Jewish tour of my favorite collective memory-sites.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-540\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies2.jpg\" alt=\"roskies2\" width=\"1611\" height=\"1209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies2.jpg 1611w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskies2-1536x1153.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1611px) 100vw, 1611px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s taking you on this tour is a cultural historian. I became a cultural historian for two reasons:<\/p>\n<p>One has to do with being a Litvak. Being a Litvak lies at the core of my Jewish identity. For me as for other Litvaks, \u201cLita\u201d is a separate and autonomous geographic-cultural entity. It is an LU [Litvak Union] within the EU! To be a Litvak is to have a passport for life; it is good anywhere: in South Africa, Australia, Canada, Crown Heights, St. Petersburg, or Tel Aviv. It is a very particular way of being a Jew; both a privilege and a set of expectations. A Litvak is a thorn in everyone\u2019s side. There\u2019s a reason why Litvaks season their gefilte fish with pepper and not with sugar.<\/p>\n<p>Another has to do with my being a feminist. I descend from generations of matriarchs. Many Jewish families that hail from Lita derive their names from a matriarchal figure: Syrkis, Syrkin (=Sorke, Sarah), Rivkin (=Rivke, Rebecca), Brokhes (=Bracha), Reines (=Rayne). So too, Roskies, which comes from some great-great grandmother whose name was Royz, Rose. Her children were known as <em>Royzkes kinder<\/em>. Royzkes became Roskes became Roskies.<\/p>\n<p>My mother tongue is Yiddish. Although my parents spoke four other languages, Yiddish became the language of the home after my parents escaped from Europe and arrived in the safe haven of Montreal, Canada. I was extremely attached to my mother. In large part, it is because of her that I dedicated my life to Yiddish.<\/p>\n<p>My mother, born in Vilna, and my father, born in Bia\u0142ystok, spoke Litvish, i.e., Lithuanian Yiddish, one of the three main dialects.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, I married a fellow Litvak.<\/p>\n<p>Using the tools of a cultural historian, drawing upon my Litvak identity and turning feminism into a source of knowledge, I think I have successfully cracked the DNA of Jewish collective memory. I know what it is, and I know how it works.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish collective memory is organized around saints, sanctuaries, and sacred times. In this way, each generation of Jews shaped the model life, the model community, and the model time. You don\u2019t have to be a Litvak to unlock the DNA of Jewish collective memory, but it certainly helps, because Lita is where this triple axis, this three-pronged model, emerged in bold relief. This model was so stable that it remained in place even when the world began to change.<\/p>\n<p>In Lita, things really began to change with the rise of the religious revival movement called Hasidism at the end of the eighteenth century. So long as Hasidism was limited to Podolia and Volhynia, which after all, were located south of the \u201cGefilte Fish Line\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> and where people spoke a different Yiddish, there wasn\u2019t much to worry about. OK. So there was talk of a new culture hero named Israel Baal Shem Tov, better known as the Besht. He was a faith healer, a zaddik, or saintly person, who engaged in all manner of non-Litvak behavior: an effective preacher and teacher, he came in conflict with renowned Torah scholars, the elite of traditional Jewish society. Worse yet, he popularized the study of the Kabbalah, claimed to have paid periodic visits to heaven, and encouraged mystical prayer, performed with bizarre and ecstatic song and dance at all hours. Then, before you knew it, hasidic prayer houses were beginning to appear in Lita, too. The time had come for the rabbinic establishment to take<\/p>\n<p>There was only one person who could stand up to this new model of spiritual leadership and that was Elijah son of Solomon Zalman in whose honor the title of Gaon was resurrected after a break of four hundred years. As the Besht became the founding father of Hasidism, the Vilna Gaon became the founder of the Opponents, the Misnagdim. But while the origins of Hasidism are still shrouded in legend, we know with absolute precision when and how the Misnagdic countermovement came into being. It happened in 1772, when for only the second time in his life Elijah entered the <em>shtotshul<\/em>, the Great Synagogue, in Vilna. There he read aloud the excommunication decree against the Hasidim. (The first time had been when he delivered a talmudic discourse there at the age of six and a<\/p>\n<p>In Jewish collective memory, the text of the <em>herem<\/em>, the excommunication decree, does not loom nearly as large as Martin Luther\u2019s \u201cNinety-five Theses.\u201d Most people, including me, have never read it. The Gaon of Vilna\u2019s memory is revered in other ways. His influence spread far and wide through two portable memory-sites, one elite, the other popular. \u00a0In elite circles, no edition of the Shas, the Babylonian Talmud, was complete without <em>Hagahot HaGra<\/em>, his textual glosses and emendations that appeared in the margins of the folio-sized page, especially since the Vilna Shas published by the Widow Rom and her Sons became the gold standard of the Babylonian Talmud. This made the Vilna Gaon a timeless textual presence. The Gaon&#8217;s fame was also embodied in a popular medium that he would doubtless have frowned upon: His portrait hung in Jewish homes throughout Eastern Europe\u2014and beyond.\u00a0 If you Google him, you can choose between the one in which he is wearing his tallit, or prayer shawl, and <em>tefillin<\/em>, phylacteries, on his head, or a fancy black ecclesiastical hat.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-477 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/2017\/10\/02\/isimyleje-litvakai\/gaonas2\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/gaonas2-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/2017\/10\/02\/isimyleje-litvakai\/gaonas1\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/gaonas1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>But more important for our purposes are the oral traditions that have been passed down in his name. Once, Rabbi Elijah was approached by a congregant, who asked him: \u201cTell me Rabbi, how does one become a Vilna Gaon?\u201d\u00a0 The Gaon replied: \u201c<em>Vil-nor, vestu vern a goen<\/em>, want it badly enough, and you too will become a Gaon.\u201d\u00a0 Do not depend on a miracle.\u00a0 Do not look to the zaddik to do the work for you.\u00a0 Work to fulfil your own personal ambition.\u00a0 This is the essence of the misnagdic-Litvak Torah: <em>Vil-nor<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The contest over the model person, however, did not end here. In addition to Misnagdim and Hasidim, who remained locked in opposition for over a century, a new group made its presence felt, who were called Maskilim, enlighteners, <em>tseylem-kep<\/em>. A <em>tseylem-kop<\/em> is someone suspected of harboring a crucifix in his head. He\u2019s too smart for his own good. He is willing to sacrifice piety for the sake of free thought. Lita soon became a center of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike a zaddik or a misnagdic rabbi, a leader who stood-in for the collective, who was deeply enmeshed in communal life, a Maskil was very much of a loner, an outcast, a heretic. Worse yet, a Maskil made his rebellion the subject of something called an autobiography, based on a new literary genre invented by Jean Jacques Rousseau. The first to adopt the Rousseauian model\u2014wouldn\u2019t you know it?\u2014 were Litvaks: Shlomo ben Joshua from the town of Zhukov Borok near Mir in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who changed his name to Solomon Maimon and published his <em>Lebensgeschichte<\/em>, in faulty German, when he was all of 38 years old; and Mordecai Aaron Ginzburg, born in Salantai (near Kaunas), who wrote in Hebrew. Whether they remained in Lita or moved to Germany, the center of Enlightenment, what Litvak autobiographers had in common is that they were married off at a very young age to a girl they didn\u2019t love and were miserable for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n<p>So the model person now existed in three competing and vastly different types. But all Jews everywhere agreed that the model place was Jerusalem, the site of the First and Second Temples. It followed, therefore, that in Jewish collective memory, Jerusalem became the template of the Kehilla Kedosha, the Covenantal Community. Whatever claim a Jewish community had to being an \u201c<em>ir va\u2019em beYisrael<\/em>, \u201ca City and Mother in Israel,\u201d had to derive from its ancient pedigree. The model place was a place suffused with the presence of God.<\/p>\n<p>Vilna\u2019s claim to be the Jerusalem of Lithuania rested upon the presence of the Great Synagogue. Like the Temple in Jerusalem, the full splendor of the Vilna <em>shtotshul<\/em> was evident only from the inside, because a third of it was built below ground level. It was big enough to seat 3000 people.<\/p>\n<p>Like the Temple in Jerusalem, most of the treasures of the Great Synagogue were plundered, time and time again.\u00a0 First erected at the end of the 16th century, it was attacked and burned three times by the students of the Jesuit academy and their willing accomplices.\u00a0 The permanent structure was rebuilt after the last pogrom of 1635.\u00a0 Like the Temple, the Great Synagogue was finally destroyed by the world&#8217;s greatest tyrants.\u00a0 Hitler partially destroyed it in 1943, and Stalin finished the job, in 1945. Like the Temple, it was the site of miracles.<\/p>\n<p>The third and last time that Rabbi Elijah entered the <em>shtotshul<\/em> was in 1794, when the Russian army bombarded Vilnius, which then belonged to Poland.\u00a0 The <em>shtotshul<\/em> was built to withstand attack and the 72-year-old Gaon ordered the entire Jewish population to take refuge inside its walls.\u00a0 He then opened the Aron Koydesh, the Holy Ark containing the scrolls of the Torah, and recited seven times the 20th chapter of Psalms<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For the leader.<\/p>\n<p>A psalm of David<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>May the Lord answer you in time of trouble,<\/p>\n<p>the name of Jacob&#8217;s God keep you safe.<\/p>\n<p>May he send you help from the sanctuary<\/p>\n<p>and sustain you from Zion&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>May the LORD answer us when we call.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">:\u05d0 \u05dc\u05b7\u05de\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e6\u05bc\u05b5\u0597\u05d7\u05b7 \u05de\u05b4\u05d6\u05b0\u05de\u05a5\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d5\u05b4\u05bd\u05d3<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">:\u05d1 \u05d9\u05b7\u05bd\u05e2\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05da\u05b8\u05a3 \u05d9\u05b0\u05ad\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d9\u05a3\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05e6\u05b8\u05e8\u05b8\u0591\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u059d\u05e9\u05c2\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05d1\u05b0\u05da\u05b8\u0597 \u05e9\u05c1\u05b5\u05a4\u05dd\u00a0 \u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b5\u05ac\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05bd\u05d1:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">&#8230;:\u05d2 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05bd\u05d7-\u05e2\u05b6\u05d6\u05b0\u05e8\u05b0\u05da\u05b8\u05a5 \u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05bc\u05b9\u0591\u05d3\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05bc\u059d\u05de\u05b4\u05e6\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u0597\u05d5\u05b9\u05df \u05d9\u05b4\u05e1\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05bd\u05da<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">:\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05a5\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1\u05b4\u0591\u05d9\u05e2\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b7\u059d\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u0597\u05dc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e0\u05b5\u05a5\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd-\u05e7\u05b8\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05b5\u05bd\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>after which the entire congregation\u2014men, women, and children\u2014repeated the chapter seven times.\u00a0 Just then, the roof was hit by a cannonball that instead of exploding remained lodged therein.\u00a0 The Jews were terrified, but the Gaon hushed them and said: \u201c<em>Botl, botl di gzeyre<\/em>.\u00a0 The evil decree has been annuled.\u201d\u00a0 Even as the Gaon spoke, the Polish military decided to open the city gates to the Russians rather than risk having the whole city destroyed.\u00a0 Ever after, a prayer of thanksgiving was offered up each year on that date and the congregation collected a special donation for having been saved from death.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a Litvak, this is the perfect miracle, because it allows for two different explanations. On the obvious level, the prayers offered up by the Gaon of Vilna are what saved the Great Synagogue from destruction. Only those prayers led by that spiritual giant could have stopped the cannonball from exploding. Less obviously, it was the prudent decision of the Polish, temporal rulers, to open the gates.<\/p>\n<p>On the site of the Gaon\u2019s house the Kahal, or Jewish Community Council, built a <em>kloyz<\/em>, a combination study and prayer house, in 1800, five years after he died.\u00a0 What kind of memory-site was this kloyz?\u00a0 It embodied the piety and extreme asceticism of the man himself.\u00a0 In Vilna as nowhere else, the model person and the model place were combined into one.<\/p>\n<p>Opened nearby in 1902 was the Strashun Library with the thousands of Hebrew texts and manuscripts, including religious writings, fiction, poetry, scientific works, Jewish and Karaite historical works, travel accounts, and Hasidic texts collected by the prominent Vilna Maskil Matisyohu Strashun. And so, the model Litvak place was one that combined enlightenment and traditional piety, secular knowledge and Torah learning. Litvaks moved around a lot; wherever they went, they took a piece of Lita with them. In America, another group of hard-core Litvaks\u2014Bernard Revel, Samuel Belkin and Joseph Soloveitchik\u2014created a formal framework called Torah uMadda (Torah and Science) to foster a permanent presence for this model in the New World. Today it is known as Yeshiva University. Meanwhile, as early as 1834, a group of young Maskilim, reform-minded Jews, in Vilna banded together to form Tohoras Hakoydesh, the first Jewish prayer group in Eastern Europe to insist upon decorum: No talking during shul! That\u2019s Litvaks for you.<\/p>\n<p>What about the model time? \u00a0If you were a Hasid, the model time was when the zaddik was still alive and miracles were still wrought in Israel. If you were a Misnagid, you knew that only a great rabbinic leader could save a Jewish community from destruction. The Great Synagogue was spared because the Holy Congregation upheld its covenantal relationship with God. As for the Maskilim, since they believed in the emancipation, they had a linear, progressive concept of time. Today was better than yesterday; tomorrow would be even better.<\/p>\n<p>As I said, you don\u2019t have to be a Litvak to unlock the DNA of Jewish collective memory, but it certainly helps, because Lita was the ideological battleground where the competing models of the ideal person, the ideal community and the model time were laid out most starkly. Thus far, however, we\u2019ve been looking through a \u00a0male-dominated lens. The problem with rabbis, zaddikim and Maskilim, for example, is that they all tend to be male. And the same is true for synagogues, libraries and yeshiva universities, which once again are for the most part the domain of men. What happens when you look at Jewish and Litvak cultures through a feminist lens? Feminism is an egalitarian pursuit. It begins by asking: Who has been excluded? And the obvious answer is that there can be no collective memory without the women, the children and the young. Memory begins in the home and school; at family gatherings and youth groups.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>It was the middle of the war. My parents, Masha and Leyb Roskies, who had managed to escape from Europe in 1940 with my brother Ben and sister Ruth, were attending a wedding at a synagogue in Westmount, the fashionable and exclusive area of Montreal, Canada, where they were then living.<\/p>\n<p>As the bride starts walking down the aisle, the musicians strike up Mendelssohn\u2019s \u201cSong Without Words,\u201d and my mother is shocked.\u00a0 How could they have chosen to play that very melody?<\/p>\n<p>Since the pogrom of April 1919, when Polish Legionnaires dragged the playwright A. Vayter out into the street and shot him at point blank, right through his girlfriend who was trying to shield him with her body, that melody had become her sacred hymn. It had been set to words by the Yiddish poet Avrom Reisen and at the funeral all the youth of Vilna and all the leaders of the community walked behind the bier and sang:<\/p>\n<p>The loveliest songs, the loveliest melody,<\/p>\n<p>Do not sing them when fortune\u2019s rising,<\/p>\n<p>Sing them during decline.<\/p>\n<p>Ring out, sounds of glory,<\/p>\n<p>Though the spring has passed us by,<\/p>\n<p>Though the sun has long since set<\/p>\n<p>Though the poet is dead.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05d9<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05e0\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">.\u05e0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8\u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05e7\u05dc\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2\u05d8 \u05d6\u05e9\u05e2 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9\u05da, \u05d0\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e7\u05dc\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05de\u05f2\u05b7 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05bf\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05d1\u05f2\u05b7<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d6\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05e4\u05bf\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8\u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2\u05df<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">.\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d3\u05d9\u05db\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05d8\u05d5\u05d9\u05d8<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My mother was 13 years old at the time, a very impressionable age, and although Russian, not Yiddish, was the language of her home, Masha committed the lyrics to memory. Another reason this song loomed so large was that one of her half-sisters was a close friend of Vayter\u2019s girlfriend, the one who tried to shield him with her own body. That is what you do when you love someone, she would later explain to her <em>mizinik<\/em>, her youngest offspring. You sacrifice yourself on their<\/p>\n<p>Angry at the profane and seemingly frivolous manner in which this sacred hymn was being used by the rich Jews of Westmount, in the very midst of a war in which millions of our people were being annihilated, my mother made a momentous decision. She decided to leave that neighborhood and relocate her family to a Yiddish-speaking part of town. Other decisions followed: to enroll my brother in the Folkshule, a Yiddish-Hebrew dayschool, and to dedicate the rest of her life (and my father\u2019s discretionary income) to supporting Yiddish writers and<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s story and song have three important lessons to teach us about what it means to be a Litvak.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Memory is an aggressive act<\/strong>. This has nothing to do with nostalgia, whose purpose is to ease the pain, to overcome the loss, by imagining a past more in harmony with the present. Although Reisen\u2019s lyrics make no mention of historical events, they do evoke the senseless loss of Vayter\u2019s creative spirit. This song was followed by the <em>Vayter-bukh<\/em>, a memorial volume in his memory published under the editorship of Shmuel Niger and Zalmen Reyzen, followed by the erection of the Vayter Monument in the new Vilna cemetery: a huge eagle with one wing missing. Such secular Jewish monuments were still a rarity in Eastern Europe. \u00a0It became a major memorial site for the Vilna Jewish intelligentsia between the two world wars.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>My mother\u2019s memory, of course, was nothing if not aggressive. \u201cDon\u2019t you dare mess with my song!\u201d is what she must have been thinking. \u201cUnlike you, I still keep the faith. Damn you. I\u2019m moving out of here!\u201d<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Litvaks are passionate people<\/strong>. They may look serious and studious, but beneath that calm and restraint there lurks a world of emotion\u2014and devotion.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Litvaks revere their poets. <\/strong>A Vayter was primarily a playwright, but Reisen was not wrong to memorialize him as a poet. Per capita, I would say, Lita produced more great Yiddish poets than any other region in Eastern Europe. Here is a list of fifteen major Litvak poets, and by \u201cmajor\u201d I mean a poet who took the Yiddish language and the craft of poetry in new directions. I list them in their order of birth:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Morris Rosenfeld (from the village of Boksze in the Suwalki district)<\/li>\n<li>Yehoash (Virbalis)<\/li>\n<li>Avrom Reisen (Koidany)<\/li>\n<li>Yoysef Rolnik (Zhukhovits)<\/li>\n<li>Leivick (Ihumin)<\/li>\n<li>J. Schwartz (Petroshun, near Kovno)<\/li>\n<li>Anna Margolin (Brisk-de-Lite; Brest-Litovsk)<\/li>\n<li>Celia Dropkin (Bobruisk)<\/li>\n<li>Kadia Molodowsky (Bereza Kartuskaya)<\/li>\n<li>Leyb Naydus (Grodno)<\/li>\n<li>Moyshe Kulbak (Smorgon)<\/li>\n<li>Shmuel Halkin (Rogachev)<\/li>\n<li>Chaim Grade (Vilna)<\/li>\n<li>Leyzer Volf (Vilna)<\/li>\n<li>Avrom Sutzkever (Smorgon)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You will note that three of the fifteen are women poets. Since the rise of Jewish feminism in the 1980s, their work has generated a great deal of interest, though their common Litvak origin seems to have escaped notice. To be honest, it came as a surprise to me as<\/p>\n<p>As Jewish women began to make their voices heard in Eastern Europe (and in our home, my mother\u2019s voice could be heard loud and clear), Jewish adolescents were also given a voice through the spread of Jewish youth movements, covering the entire political and social spectrum. Between the two world wars, the majority of Jewish youth in Poland and Lithuania belonged to one or another movement. One such adolescent was 15-year-old Yitskhok Rudashevsky, an ardent Pioneer and an active member of the Youth Club in the Vilna ghetto. Every meeting of the Youth Club began with the singing of this hymn, which was written by the ghetto poet Shmerke Kaczerginski, and set to music by Basye Rubin:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">,\u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d3\u05d6\u05e2\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05e4\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d8\u05e8\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n;\u05d3\u05e8\u05f2\u05b7\u05e1\u05d8 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d3\u05d6\u05e2\u05e8 \u05de\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2<br \/>\n,\u05db\u05d0\u05b8\u05b7\u05d8\u05e9 \u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d0\u05b7\u05db\u05d8 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d8\u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n!\u05e9\u05d8\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2\u05de\u05d8 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2\u05d8 \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2<\/p>\n<p>,\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n,\u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e1 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc \u05e0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8<br \/>\n!\u05d9\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d0\u05b7\u05d8\u05f2\u05b7\u05d8<br \/>\n,\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df, \u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df<br \/>\n\u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05da \u05d6\u05f2\u05b7\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n!\u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d0 \u05e0\u05f2\u05b7\u05e2\u05e8, \u05e4\u05e8\u05f2\u05b7\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e6\u05f2\u05b7<\/p>\n<p>Our song is filled with grieving,<\/p>\n<p>Bold our step, we march along.<\/p>\n<p>Though the foe the gateway\u2019s watching,<\/p>\n<p>Youth comes storming with their song:<\/p>\n<p>Young are they, are they, are they<\/p>\n<p>Whose age won\u2019t bind them,<\/p>\n<p>Years don\u2019t really mean a thing,<\/p>\n<p>Elders also, also, also, can be children<\/p>\n<p>In a newer, freer spring.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Whether consciously or not, Kaczerginski\u2019s refrain, \u201c<em>yung iz yeder, yeder, yeder ver es <strong>vil nor<\/strong><\/em>\u2026, young are they, are they, are they who so wish to be,\u201d resonates with the Gaon of Vilna\u2019s catchphrase: <em>Vil-nor, vestu vern a\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So here is what Rudashevsky recorded in his diary on January 28, 1943:<\/p>\n<p>In the evening I attended an interesting literary study-group. The young poet Avrom Sutzkever told us about the Yiddish poet Yehoash, and recited his, Yehoash\u2019s, poems. We were particularly inspired by the nature descriptions \u2026.We decided to organize a Yehoash Evening and Yehoash Exhibition. Because he works at the YIVO, Sutzkever managed to rescue many valuable objects, like letters and manuscripts.<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Inspired by what they had learned, the members of the Youth Club decided to share their newfound love for Yehoash with the ghetto at large. They asked Sutzkever to mount a Yehoash Exhibition in their auditorium. \u00a0As a member of the Paper Brigade, forced to work in the YIVO building to help the Germans with the systematic plunder of Jewish cultural treasures, Sutzkever had access to the necessary artifacts.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> But this was a complicated, clandestine operation, because all the materials had to be smuggled <u>into<\/u> the ghetto from the YIVO, which was located on the Aryan Side, and the exhibition itself had to be kept secret from the Germans. Here is how Rudashevsky describes the opening in his diary on March 14, 1943:<\/p>\n<p>Today the opening of the Yehoash Celebration and Yehoash Exhibition took place in our club. The exhibit is spectacularly beautiful. The whole reading room in the club is filled with materials\u2026The moment you walk in, you sense the youthful zeal that envelops everything. Everything is displayed with such youthful energy. Everything is so cultural and compelling. The moment people entered, they forgot that they were in a ghetto. In this exhibition many valuable documents, veritable treasures, are on display: Manuscripts sent from Peretz to Yehoash, letters in Yehoash\u2019s own handwriting. We have rare newspaper clippings. In the section dedicated to Yiddish Bible translations, we have old Yiddish translations dating back to the 17<sup>th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 When you look at the exhibit, at our work, you feel truly inspired, and you really do forget that you\u2019re inside a dark ghetto. The celebration, too, went off splendidly\u2026Our kids read compositions about Yehoash\u2019s writings, about Yehoash as the poet of beauty, of music and color. The mood at this celebration was truly exalted. It was a real holiday, a demonstration of Yiddish literature and culture.<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Yehoash exhibition was a unique event in the annals of the Holocaust, a uniqueness that derived in large measure from the Litvak cultural legacy. Although there were only 20,000 Jews left in the ghetto, the Saving Remnant of this once-great community, the exhibition lays bare the values that Avrom Sutzkever was intent upon rescuing. It illustrates what a 15-year-old boy in the Vilna ghetto could learn from Solomon Bloomgarden, also known as Yehoash, who emigrated from Lita to the United States in 1890 at the age of 18, settled in New York City, and died there in 1927.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Love of the landscape<\/strong>. Yehoash was the first great nature poet in Yiddish; not of his native Lithuanian landscape but of his adopted, American, landscape. He produced a celebrated translation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow\u2019s \u201cThe Song of Hiawatha,\u201d which modeled how Yiddish could be used to embrace a world never before encountered. Through Yehoash, Sutzkever demonstrated to his students that the bond between the Jews and their natural surroundings could not be severed. That is because there was no greater nature poet in Yiddish than Sutzkever himself, who just prior to the German invasion had invented a new language to sing the praises of the Lithuanian forests and fields. He called the book <em>Valdiks<\/em>, <em>Woodlore<\/em>. Nature, for Sutzkever remained the source of beauty, poetry, artistic inspiration, and creative renewal. Through this exhibition, Sutzkever taught a generation of Jews who were completely cut off from the outside world that nature was the source of \u201cbeauty, of music and color,\u201d to quote Rudashevsky.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Back to the Bible.<\/strong> Yehoash was most famous for his Bible translation, over which he labored many years and that became a modern classic in the poet\u2019s own lifetime. It was a monumental achievement, and as the exhibition demonstrated, was itself a link in the chain of Yiddish Bible translations going back to the invention of printing. What could be more true to the Litvak legacy than the love of Torah, and the <em>zitsfleysh,<\/em> the stubborn endurance, required to produce a complete translation of the Five Books of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings? Yehoash was the model Litvak because he possessed the mental curriculum required to produce a modern translation of the Hebrew Bible, based on comparative Ancient Near East philology and recent Bible scholarship; a translation that would preserve the diction and syntax of <em>khumesh-taytsh<\/em>, the oral tradition of teaching Bible in Ashkenaz, yet also be alive to the beauty, music and color of the Yiddish language. Torah scholarship is what Litvaks were famous for and although Yehoash left home at the age of 18, he carried that legacy with him to the New World, where a two-volume Hebrew-Yiddish set of Yehoash became a most valued possession in American-Jewish homes. Thanks to Yehoash, even such radically secular Jews as Yitskhak Rudashevsky were exposed first-hand to the Book of Books.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>With the help of our two informants, Masha Roskies and Yitskhok Rudashevsky, we are now ready to diagram the DNA of Jewish collective memory. To the three-pronged construction of Model Person, Model Place and Model Time, we can now superimpose another triad that is more Litvak-specific. This second triad represents new modes and models of Jewish self-understanding that were particularly well-developed in Lita. In Lita, more than anywhere else, the Model Person was turned into the Poet; the Model Place was enlarged to embrace the natural landscape and the Model Time was redefined within a biblical timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a simple way to diagram how the two triangles fit together. If you look at it from above, through a timeless perspective, one is overlaid upon another. But if you think of it in historical perspective, imagine these as vectors drawing <u>from<\/u> one another and <u>away<\/u> from one another. Lita is where opposites attract, where tradition and modernity coexist. Litvaks thrive on contradiction. They know how to bring things together that have never been brought together before.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-518\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskieso22.png\" alt=\"roskieso22\" width=\"814\" height=\"647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskieso22.png 814w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskieso22-300x238.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/files\/2017\/10\/roskieso22-768x610.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 814px) 100vw, 814px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That the poet became the model person we know from the examples of Avrom Reisen lamenting the death of A. Vayter and Avrom Sutzkever celebrating the life of Yehoash.<\/p>\n<p>That the love of nature came to reinforce the love of place we know from Yitshak Rudashevsky\u2019s response to the nature poetry of Yehoash and from Suzkever\u2019s invention of his own language of nature.<\/p>\n<p>And that the Bible is the Book of Love we can learn from that great Litvak, the first Hebrew novelist, the first to write a modern love story in a Jewish language&#8211;Abraham Mapu.<\/p>\n<p>In 1853, in his novel <em>Ahavat Tsiyon<\/em>, The Love of Zion, Mapu turned the Bible back into the Book of Love and the Book of Nature, even as he implanted an undying love of Zion in all his youthful readers. From Mapu, Litvak poets learned how best to express their connection to the land. The way to do so was by invoking biblical imagery. To the extent that any place was home, that place was Bible Land.<\/p>\n<p>So here, to illustrate the transformative power of the Bible; to illustrate how the Bible became the most natural Litvak language, is a whirlwind tour of six poets, six of the fifteen poets I listed above. I shall read only a fragment of each poem, in English and in Yiddish. I do so in the hope that you will find something in these poems both familiar and utterly strange. At the very least, they will leave you with an expanded sense of what it means to be a Litvak.<\/p>\n<p>We begin with the poet <strong>Leyb Naydus<\/strong>, who was born and died in Grodno. Like A. Vayter, he is remembered as a poet who was cut down in his youth without the opportunity to fulfill his creative potential. Naydus, the most youthful, romantic and decadent of Litvak poets died at the age of 28. His \u201cIntimate Melodies\u201d describe an educated, worldly Jewish male who has fallen under the spell of a wild Gypsy girl named Dzeyma. Today the poem would be considered politically incorrect, because it is unabashedly Orientalist. But in its day, its open eroticism and sophisticated mix of dream and reality, Biblical and European landscapes, caused quite a sensation. Listen for the ancient Near Eastern references: Sidon was a Phoenician port city, from which the wicked queen Jezebel introduced pagan practices into Israel, and take special note of the phrase, \u201c<em>mir dukht zikh<\/em>, I dream you.\u201d The poem is a biblical fantasy happening in the present. If you have an ear for Yiddish, you will delight in the rhyme of \u201c<em>Tsidn<\/em> \/ Sidon\u201d with \u201c<em>midn<\/em> \/ weary\u201d and the Hebraic \u201c<em>pilegesh<\/em> \/ concubine\u201d with the hyper-European \u201celegish \/ elegiac\u201d and enjoy the fact that the poem must be read in Litvish Yiddish in order for it to rhyme.<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I love your lustful, fainting-weary gaze,<\/p>\n<p>Dzeyma, and your hair\u2019s coal-black waves;<\/p>\n<p>Your vivid tatters, Sidon\u2019s merchandise<\/p>\n<p>Your dark eye\u2019s desert caves.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So lovely, wildly elegiac, lying<\/p>\n<p>With the long shadow cast beneath your brow;<\/p>\n<p>I dream you: slim and young, a concubine<\/p>\n<p>Brought here from some distant harem now. (286)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Kh\u2019hob lib, Dzeyma, dayn tayve-blik, dem farkhalesht-midn,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Di khvayles fun dayne lokn\u2014shvarts vi keyl [koyl]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Dayne farbike trantes\u2014tayere shtifn fun <strong>Tsidn<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Dayn fintseres eyg\u2014a midbershe heyl.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Vi sheyn du bist, ven du ligst azey vild-elegish<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Un a langer shotn falt fun dayn brem:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Mir dukht zikh: du bist a yunge, shlanke <strong>pilegesh<\/strong>,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Gebrakht ahertsu fun ergets a vaytn harem. (287)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Bible is brought to life in a completely different way in <strong>I. J. Schwartz<\/strong>\u2019s epic poem, <em>Kentucky<\/em>, which he began writing in 1918, the year he moved there from New York. Other than Yehoash\u2019s translation of \u201cThe Song of Hiawatha,\u201d Yiddish readers had never encountered anything like this before. It was the first American Yiddish epic; panoramic, both spatially and temporally.\u00a0 It is the story of a peddler named Josh, who like Joshua before him, has come to conquer the Land of Canaan, in this case, the Land of Dixie, deep in the so-called Bible Belt of the United States. In this segment, we see Josh enjoying his \u201cgreat secret\u201d: the new home that is being renovated for his family to move into, the most palpable sign that his years of backbreaking labor have paid off. Indeed, Josh\u2019s efforts have been doubly blessed: once by the poet, who lavishes attention on the beauty and bounties of nature, and once by God. Josh, who has long since abandoned Jewish practice, is suddenly reminded in this moment of material success, of Isaac\u2019s prayer to the LORD in Gen. 26:22: \u201c<em>Den oysgebreytert hot undz got \/ un mir\u2019n zikh farfestikn in land<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Through the windows of the renovated house,<\/p>\n<p>A green expanse of broad fields and distant woods<\/p>\n<p>And on the pine floor<\/p>\n<p>In a flood of sunlight,<\/p>\n<p>The gold and green swaying shadows<\/p>\n<p>Of the pointed leaves<\/p>\n<p>Of heavy old oaks and young oaks,<\/p>\n<p>It was hard for Josh to tear himself away<\/p>\n<p>From the great secret filling him<\/p>\n<p>Like overwhelming wine;<\/p>\n<p>And looking at the wide expanse,<\/p>\n<p>The old verse would come to mind:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>God hath spread us abroad,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And we shall be established in the land<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In one important respect, the reimagined Litvak Bible was an improvement over the Hebrew original: Jews and Gentiles now lived in harmony, whether it was Naydus\u2019s young lovers making out in a Gypsy camp, Josh\u2019s children who would soon intermarry, or the fifteen hot-blooded sons in <strong>Moyshe Kulbak<\/strong>\u2019s epic poem, \u201c<em>Raysn<\/em>, Belorussia.\u201d Uncle Avram and the beautiful Nastasya are very much in love, their courtship described in loving detail. It is only in the twelfth and last chapter that Kulbak makes explicit the biblical analogy. This is no mere family of Jewish peasants who drive logs down the Niemen River. It is a veritable tribe of Jews as rooted in the Belorussian landscape as their Biblical ancestors were in the Promised Land. On his deathbed, grandfather blesses his sons, using the very imagery and biblical parallelism that Father Jacob used in Genesis chap. 49. Ortshe the eldest is blessed as if her were Reuben, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rakhmiel as if her were Judah, and Shmulye as if he were Naftali:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You Shmulye, river man; who in the world is like you?<\/p>\n<p>Eternally wet; and always a lash at your shoulders;<\/p>\n<p>Smelling of fish scales, and smells of the scum of the river,<\/p>\n<p>Blessed shall you be on the shore<\/p>\n<p>And blessed on the water. (400)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Du Shmulye, der taykh-mentsh, nito af der velt aza glaykhn!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Bashtendik dem butsh af di pleytses, bashtendik a naser,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Geshmekt hot mit shupn fun dir, mit dem reyakh fun shleym in di taykhn,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Gebentsht zolstu zayn afn land, un gebentsht afn vaser. (399)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For Kulbak, this sense of rootedness, of being completely at home in the rivers and fields of Raysn, came as a natural inheritance. He is the voice of the biblically-inspired family.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kadia Molodowski<\/strong> was raised in a very different home. Unlike Kulbak, she turned to writing poetry in order to speak to and for her people. What would become, she asked herself in a cycle of poems called \u201c<em>Froyen lider<\/em>, Women\u2019s Songs,\u201d of those unfortunate Jewish women who grew up dirt poor, were rendered homeless, childless, loveless? The only mothers these women could turn to in their hour of need were their biblical foremothers, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, so familiar to them from the <em>tkhines<\/em>, or private prayers that Jewish women recited in Yiddish. Here, for example, is the role that Mother Leah can play:<\/p>\n<p>To those who weep at night on lonely beds,<br \/>\nand have no one to bring their grief to,<br \/>\nmurmuring to themselves with burnt lips,<br \/>\nto them Mother Leah comes softly,<br \/>\nand covers their eyes with her pale hands. (322)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Tsu di vos veynen in di nekht af eynzame gelegers,<br \/>\nUn hobn nit far vemen brengen zeyer tsar,<br \/>\nRedn zey mit oysgebrente lipn tsu zikh aleyn,<br \/>\nTsu zey kumt di muter Leye<br \/>\nHalt beyde oygn mit di bleykhe hent farshtelt.<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a> (1927)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Litvak poets, female and male, were free to live inside the Bible, to relive the Bible, to make sense of the Bible in terms of contemporary life, and none did so more boldly and memorably than and H. Leivick and Avrom Sutzkever.<\/p>\n<p>No Biblical story captured Leivick\u2019s religious imagination more powerfully than the <strong>Akedah<\/strong>, the sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah. The cast of characters was small\u2014a father, a son, a heavenly voice, and a lamb\u2014and the props were very spare\u2014a knife and an altar. Sparer still is Leivick\u2019s language, as epic as the Biblical account itself. But in Leivick\u2019s rereading, the miracle of the Akedah is not Isaac\u2019s last-minute rescue from death but the Akedah itself, \u201c<em>der<\/em> <em>nes fun nesoyen<\/em>, the miracle of the test,\u201d the ability of the human being to endure extreme suffering. To be a Jew in Leivick\u2019s scheme is to stand in readiness the next time the knife is at your throat. Each 3-line stanza ends with the same words: \u201cUn\u2014vart., And waits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Voice from above cries, \u201cStop!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hand freezes in air<\/p>\n<p>And waits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The veined throat suddenly throbs<\/p>\n<p>With the miracle of the test<\/p>\n<p>And waits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The father gathers up the son.<\/p>\n<p>The altar is bare<\/p>\n<p>And waits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ensnared in thorns a lamb<\/p>\n<p>Looks at the hand with a knife<\/p>\n<p>And waits (238)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Derhert zikh fun oybn a bas-kol<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2014halt op!\u2014blaybt di hant in gliver<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un\u2014vart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Git der haldz mit ale zayne odern<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">A tants inem nes fun nesoyen,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Un vart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Trogt der tate dem zun arunter,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blaybt leydik un fray der mizbeyakh,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un\u2014vart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shteyt a lam in dornbush farflokhtn<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un kukt af der hant mitn meser<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Un\u2014vart.\u00a0 (239)<\/p>\n<p>For Abraham Sutzkever, the Biblical day of reckoning was September 12, 1943, the day he and his wife Freydke left the ghetto with the second group of fighters to join the Soviet partisan brigades in the Lithuanian forests. That is why Sutzkever 24-line epic poem, <em>Di blayene platn fun Roms drukeray<\/em>, The Lead Plates of the Rom Press, carries that specific date. The date is more symbolic than real, for the poetic frame is pure legend.<\/p>\n<p>One night, young fighters in need of bullets steal into the building of the Rom\u2019s Press in order to melt down the lead plates of the Vilna Talmud, the towering cultural achievement of East European Jewry. This in turn recalls a still more ancient exploit, that of the Maccabees, whose pouring of oil into the candelabra of the Jerusalem Temple is akin to the lead of Hebrew letters being poured into bullet molds; and the alchemy succeeds, for in the last stanza the Jewish soldiers are now armed, the uprising has happened, and the ghetto in its final hours is compared to Jerusalem under siege. As Jerusalem was destroyed, so too was the Jerusalem of Lithuania.<\/p>\n<p>In the final stanza, two sets of rhymes dramatize the marriage of ancient past and heroic present. One is drawn from the Germanic component of the language: HENT\/hands \u2013 VENT\/walls \u2013DERKENT\/recognized. The other draws heavily from the Hebraic component of Yiddish. Sutzkever rhymes YERUSHALAYIM with BLAYEN and KLEZAYIN. He forges a direct and powerful link between the destruction of <u>Jerusalem<\/u>, the <u>lead<\/u> of the plates, and the <u>weapons<\/u> wielded by the Vilna partisans in their desperate last stand against the Germans.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Un ver s\u2019hot in geto gezen dos klezayin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Farklamert in heldishe yidishe hent\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Gezen hot er ranglen zikh Yerusholaim,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Dos faln fun yene granitene vent;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Farnumen di verter, farshmoltsn in blayen<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\">Un zeyere shtimen in hartsn derkent.(679)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here is how the two rhyme-sets sound in English:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And he who saw Jewish youth in their prime<\/p>\n<p>Clutching the weapons in ghetto halls \u2012<\/p>\n<p>He saw the last struggler of Yerushalayim,<\/p>\n<p>The heroic fall of those heroic walls;<\/p>\n<p>Took in the words, poured in lead, out of time,<\/p>\n<p>And heard in his heart: their ancient voice calls.<\/p>\n<p>(translated Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, 1991).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Never mind that the lead plates had long since been plundered by the Germans and that the uprising was cut short through tragic circumstances. Where Jewish collective memory is concerned, what\u2019s important are not the facts but their meaning. The centerpiece of the poem, the basis for its truth claim, I believe, was the fifth line, \u201c<em>Mir, troymer, badarfn itst vern soldatn!<\/em> \/ We dreamers must now become soldiers!\u201d How, Sutzkever asked himself, could a powerless people produce a cadre of young resistance fighters? In the symbolic language of poetry, he provided the ultimate Litvak answer.<\/p>\n<p>This generation of young Jews were products of a great civilization. They came from a place of learning, religious discipline, and idealism. All they needed was the magic formula, the key, the desperate desire, to transform one kind of energy into another. By knowing their history, this new generation was able to write a brave new chapter in that history. As an episode in guerilla warfare, the failed uprising deserved no more than a footnote. But in the annals of the Jewish people, the armed revolt against the Germans represented the greatest breakthrough in Jewish consciousness since the time of the Maccabees.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>What does it means to be a Litvak? It means to sing:<\/p>\n<p>\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d2\u05e2\u05d6\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2\u05e2\u05df,<\/p>\n<p>\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05e2\u05e0\u05e1\u05d8\u05e2 \u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d0\u05b8\u05d3\u05d9,<\/p>\n<p>\u05e0\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05b4\u05e2\u05df,<\/p>\n<p>\u05e0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8 \u05d6\u05d9\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d1\u05f2\u05b7\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d8\u05e2\u05e8\u05d2\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05d2.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And it also means to sing:<\/p>\n<p>\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6 \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8, \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8,<br \/>\n\u05d9\u05e2\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e1 \u05d5\u05d5\u05d9\u05dc \u05e0\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8,<br \/>\n\u05d9\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05df \u05d4\u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05d0\u05b7\u05d8\u05f2\u05b7\u05d8!<br \/>\n\u05d0\u05b7\u05dc\u05d8\u05e2 \u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df, \u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df,<br \/>\n\u05e7\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05d0\u05d5\u05d9\u05da \u05d6\u05f2\u05b7\u05df \u05e7\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8<br \/>\n\u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05d0 \u05e0\u05f2\u05b7\u05e2\u05e8, \u05e4\u05e8\u05f2\u05b7\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e6\u05f2\u05b7\u05d8!<\/p>\n<p>In addition to seasoning their gefilte fish with pepper instead of with sugar; in addition to their proud array of powerful women; and in addition to their reputation of being <em>tseylem-kep<\/em>, heretics, Litvaks lived with special devotion: devotion to the past, to their spiritual leaders, to the community, to the Book of Books, to the beauty of nature, and to the poetic word.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> See \u201cThe Geography of Yiddish\u201d in <em>The Shtetl Book<\/em>, edited by Diane K. Roskies and David G. Roskies (New York: Ktav Pub. House, 1975).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> See <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yivoencyclopedia.org\/article.aspx\/Vayter_A\">http:\/\/www.yivoencyclopedia.org\/article.aspx\/Vayter_A<\/a>, which contains a hyperlink to a home movie of Szemach Szabad\u2019s funeral, where all the eulogies were delivered in front of the Vayter Monument.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Cited in <em>Avraham Suts\u1e33e\u1e7fer bi-melot lo shiv\u02bbim: ta\u02bbarukhah = Avraham Suts\u1e33e\u1e7fer tsum \u1e7fern a benshivim: oysshtelung<\/em>, catalog written and edited by Avraham Novershtern. Jerusalem: The National and University Library, 1983, p. 140.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> See David E. Fishman, <em>Shaytlekh aroysgerisn fun fayer : dos oprateven yidishe kul\u1e6dur-oytsres in \u1e7eilne<\/em>.\u00a0 New York : YIVO, 1996.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> <em>Avraham Suts\u1e33e\u1e7fer bi-melot lo shiv\u02bbim<\/em>, ibid.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> Except where otherwise noted, all page references are to <em>The Penguin book of modern Yiddish verse<\/em> edited by Irving Howe, Ruth R. Wisse, and Khone Shmeruk. \u00a0New York, N.Y. : Viking, 1989.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/shevazucker.com\/blog\/?p=988\">http:\/\/shevazucker.com\/blog\/?p=988<\/a>, with a different translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liepos m\u0117nes\u012f \u017eyd\u0173 kult\u016bros istorikas, jidi\u0161 literat\u016bros tyrin\u0117tojas i\u0161 JAV Davidas G. Roskiesas skait\u0117 paskait\u0105 apie aistringuosius ir poeti\u0161kuosius litvakus. Su d\u017eiaugsmu pristatome ilgai laukt\u0105 paskaitos vertim\u0105 \u012f lietuvi\u0173 kalb\u0105. Tekstas angl\u0173 kalba pateikiamas po lietuvi\u0161kojo. &nbsp; \u012esimyl\u0117j\u0119 litvakai Davidas G. Roskiesas &nbsp; Ti\u0161kevi\u010di\u0173 r\u016bmai Trak\u0173 ir Pylimo (kuri anks\u010diau vadinosi Zavalna) gatvi\u0173 sankry\u017eoje yra [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":3529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musu-sveciai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lnb.lt\/judaika\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}