The following was read immediately before the Yizkor(memorial) service on Yom Kippur 2005 at
Temple Israel, a large Conservative congregation in Sharon, Massachusetts. It was written by Aaron Israel Ginsburg.
The following was written by Temple Israel member, Aaron Ginsburg
about the shtetlach his father left in 1921 to join a large
number
of family members in America; an equally large mishpochah stayed
behind.
Dokshitz and Parfafianov are neighboring towns located 10 kilometers
apart in Belarus, 65 miles northeast of Minsk. Dokshitz had 210
Jewish taxpayers in 1766, indicating a well-established community.
That community grew during the mostly peaceful 19th century, but
immigration pulled away many between 1905 and 1921. The Jews who
remained lived in a Poland that became less and less friendly through
the 1920's and 30's, and they became increasingly impoverished.
Nevertheless, a strong Jewish life existed.
Let's listen to Zvi Markman, one of the former residents:
"I am reminded of a parade on Lag Ba'Omer, with the national flags
and slogans, "Long Live our National Language!" Then comes a Keren
Kayemet Bazaar with the lovely exhibits and drawings, which
emboldened the youth to transform during a folk-demonstration from
love and sincerity to a Zionist mindset. And the lively ebullient
youth-organizations: HaShomer HaTzair, HeChalutz, HeChalutz HaTzair,
Beitar, Com-yung. Everywhere a flurry of activity, discussions full
of zeal and passion. Evening group meetings with heated arguments
that sometimes ended in blows. And overall—there was joy! A
comrade
travels to the Land of Israel. The entire shtetl sends him off with
song and dance, on the bridge they dance a "hora," and then the
traveler commences on his long journey.
The noise of the matza oven announces the approaching Passover.
Milkhiks, Tisha B'Av--with shtekhekhtz [little thorns thrown in beard
in an Eastern European Tisha B'Av custom]. Dressed up and festive
girls, strolling to the synagogue on Rosh Hashana to hear the shofar
blow. By the river a multitude of Jews stands shaking out their
pockets, they free themselves of all of their sins from the previous
year. Later, the pre-Yom Kippur atonement ceremony of shlogn kapores
begins. On the eve of Yom Kippur, Jews wrapped in talisim and kittles
fast and pray more than a day and a night in the full synagogues,
where the lights burn non-stop. Kol Nidrey-it is a tremendous
experience for all the Jews in the shtetl.
Here runs the shames with an esrog and lulov to the women, so they
don't miss this mitzvah. And the streets become filled with joy as do
all six basey midrashim]-Simchas Toyrah is upon you, Jews. In a state
of light drunkenness, the congregation begins hokofes. Blessings with
"Shehaklen" [benedictions over drink] over full cups, entire families
wishing a "l'chayim"!
Again, the gray weekdays return, with the old worries and troubles.
Quietly a funeral procession goes to the cemetery and the pine-trees
rock themselves to the cadence, and shade the fresh grave. And
comrades enlist jokes and pranks from one another to bring out
laughter, and also anger."
That rich Jewish culture was suppressed when the Russians arrived in
1939. In June 1941, the Germans came in a war not merely of conquest
but also of murder.
In Dokshitz only 130 out of 4000 souls survived the Holocaust. The
pattern was familiar- the Jews were improvished, ghettoized and
starved. Most were killed on three separate days in the spring of
1942. They were marched to a pit on the edge of town across from the
Jewish cemetery, and slaughtered.
In Parafianov the Germans hung my great uncle Aharon Levitan when
they arrived because he participated in the Russian town government.
Most of the other residents were marched into a nearby forest and
murdered in 1941. My father's first cousin, Shmuel Markman, who I
met in Israel in 2004, listed 70 of his- and my- relatives in the
Dokshitz-Parafianov Yizkor book, in the vain hope some might have
survived.
In Dokshitz there stands a monument to the liberators; there is no
monument to the victims[Actually, there is a monument to the victims.
It fails to mention that they are Jewish]. In the nearby pit are not only the bodies of
the martyrs, but also their memories and hopes.
And now I need your help. Help me remember the courageous nurse Fanya
Scheinman who injected her two children with morphine to prevent
their murder at the hands of the Germans. Help me remember
the other
innocent victims, in the pit and in the forest, in the streets and in
the homes.
Please… help me… to remember
them…Yizkor!