Căpreşti, Moldova

Kapresht, Our Village;
Memorial Book for the
Jewish Community of Kapresht, Bessarabia
(Căpreşti, Moldova)
47°45' / 28°28'

Translation of
Kapresht ayaratenu - undzer shtetele Kapresht;
sefer zikaron le-kehila yehudit bje-Bessarabia

Edited by: M. Rishpy, Av. B. Yanowitz

Published in Haifa 1980

Acknowledgments

Emerita Project Coordinator Patricia Klindienst

Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem
for the submission of the necrology for placement on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Kapresht ayaratenu - undzer shtetele Kapresht; sefer zikaron le-kehila yehudit bje-Bessarabia,
Kapresht, our village; memorial book for the Jewish community of Kapresht, Bessarabia,
ed: M. Rishpy, Av. B. Yanowitz, Haifa, Kapresht Society in Israel, 1980 (496 H,Y)

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Capresti

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Translated by Yocheved Klausner

Map of the town (from the flyleaves)

Foreword		10

A Town that exists no more
A Shtetl [Y]	Mordechai Goldenberg	17
How Căpreşti was Founded	Dr. Nachum Fidelman	18
How Căpreşti was Developed [Y]	Dr. N. Fidelman	19
The History of Căpreşti	Att. Baruch Yanowitz	21
The Răut [Y]	Arie Koparov	27
The occupations of the Jews of Căpreşti	Att. Baruch Yanowitz	30
A quick glimpse on our town Căpreşti	Israel Reshef (Feierman)	32
When I remember my town Căpreşti	Arye Koparov	35
The Loan-and-Savings Fund in Căpreşti	Att. Baruch Yanowitz	37
The savings-funds in Bessarabia [Y]	“The Co-operative Word”	39
What's New in the Country? [Y]	A. U. (“Unzer Zeit”)	40
The Căpreşti “General Assembly” (H u m o r e s q u e) [Y]	Ozer Bronstein	41
Dos Cooperative Vort [The Cooperative word] (a poem, lyrics & music) [Y]	Herzel Geissiner	43
Going home [Y]	Eliezer Heissinger	45
In the “Joint” Committee [Y]	* * *	46
A letter from Kishinev [Y]	Yosifon	46
Our street “The New Street”	Shifra Schneider (Borman)	47

Teachers and Students
The way we studied in Căpreşti [Y]	Dr. Nachum Fidelman	51
(I have learned) from all my teachers…	Mordechai Rishpi (Feierman)	67
To the image of the teacher Nachman Polischuk (N. Palti)	Z. Igeret	70
In the Heder by the Melamed of Little Children [Y]	Boria Yanowitz	71
My teachers in Căpreşti	Leah Kolker (Faliks)	74
A Gymnasium [High–School] for sale	Leib Kuperstein	74
Exiles to a place of study	Mordechai Rishpi (Feierman)	75

The Social and Cultural Life
Synagogues in Căpreşti [Y]	Dr. Nyoka Fidelman	81
The lively cultural life in Căpreşti	Att. Baruch Yanowitz	85
Drama groups in Căpreşti	Zev Skaldman	88
The balegule [cart driver] (a folk song) [Y]	Simcha Schwartz	91
A Bathhouse in Căpreşti [Y]	Dr. Nachum Fidelman	92
A Reading–Hall in Căpreşti [Y]	A. U. (“Unzer Zeit”)	96
The Public Library “Tarbut”	M. Rishpy – B. Yanowitz	97
“Let us build a Bet Ha'am!”	M. Rishpi (Feierman)	98
Rabbis and Gute-Yiden [“Good Jews”] [Y]	Dr. N. Fidelman	101
The Căpreşti Community	Dr. Nachum Fidelman	101

Parties, Youth Movements, “Hechalutz”
The “Pirhei–Zion” [Flowers of Zion] Association in Căpreşti	Yakov Shomroni (Skeldman)	109
Regulations of the Pirhei–Zion Organization in Căpreşti	The Association Committee	111
Tze'irei Zion in Căpreşti	Marish – Byanov	112
The Hehalutz in Căpreşti	Dov (Boya) Tabatchnik	114
A visit at the Pioneers' Cell	Chaim Schurer	116
Hamitzpe	Mordechai Rishpy (Feierman)	116
Gordonia and Hashomer Hatza'ir	Mordechai Rishpy	117
We are Building our Country [Y]	Mordechai Goldenberg	118
Gordonia in Căpreşti	Zerubavel Seker (Sklyar)	122
An invitation to the Jubilee festivities	“Gordonia” Căpreşti	126
The Hashomer Hatza'ir in Căpreşti	Ethel Efrat (Rabinowitz)	127
“Po'alei Zion”, “Freiheit”, “Dror”	Mordechai Rishpi	128
The Conference of the Dror group [Y]	Amnon Sklyar	134
An attempt to organize a Maccabi group	Leib Kuperstein	135
Non-Zionist youth in town	Aharon Puterman	136
The activity for the benefit of Keren Kayemet (JNF)	Mendel Davidsohn	138
Donors for JNF (Jewish National Fund)	The Central Office	140
How we tricked the police	Yehuda Klavier	142

People Active in the Community Life
The Rabbis Kaplivetzki z”l	David Rachmani (Derbandiner)	145
Dr. Yochanan Kaplivetzki–Kafil	Dr. Nyuke Fidelman	147
R'Aharon SHU”V	David Rachmani (Derbandiner)	150
A Man of Many Deeds	Pinchas Galitzki	151
He Believed in God and Loved His Creatures	Zerubavel Seker (Sklyar)	152
R'Aharon – a Man of Charity	Mordechai Rishpi (Feuerman)	154
Gmilus Chesed (Free Loan Society) in Capreşti [Y]	A. Y. (“Unzer Zeit”)	156
The personality of Eliezer Heissiner	Arie Koparov	157
Shmuel Leiberfarb, active in the community	Beile and Devora	158
Yosef (Yosl) Sklyar	Marish-Bianov	161
The “pair” Shimon-Yankel	Marish-Bianov	162
Chaim-Leib Chermon (Charsonski)	Avraham (Buma) Yutzis	163
Dr. Nachum Fidelman z”l	Mordechai Rishpi	164

Personalities and Types
Caprester types [Y]	Dr. Nyoke Fidelman	167
The Carriage-Conductor [Y]	Aryeh Koprov	179
David and Avraham Silberman	Marish-Byanov	182
Melech Hoichman	Marish-Byanov	182
Mordechai-Leib Yanowitz	Marish-Byanov	183
Moshe and Malka Elkis	Baruch Yanowitz	183
Hershel Pekelman	Ozer Bronstein	184
The Ibtcher family	Marish-Byanov	186
Avrahm'l Bronstein	Marish-Byanov	187
The Răut is the cruelest of all	Avraham (Buma) Yutzis	188

From Our Home
Like an uprooted tree	Ida Weinshelbaum (Peck)	191
The home of Eliezer and Rivka Heissiner	Tova Filon (Heissiner)	194
The man who was one of the pillars of society	Zerubavel Seker (Sklyar)	194
Our mother Chana “the Beinushke's”	Mordechai Rishpi (Feierman)	198
In the family circle	Dora Tur-Kaspa (Froimtchik)	200
R'Aharon Liebestag	Yitzhak Liebestag	202
Small talks of a scholar	Yitzhak Liebestag	204
Bits of memories from our home	Israel Reshef (Feierman)	205
A family like ours	Immanuel Pri-Paz	207
Grandfather in the kvutza	Imanuel Pri-Paz	210
Our home	Sheindle Mer	212
This is the story of Baruch…	Marish-Bianov	213
Our father Moshe Yanowitz	Etti Anker (Yanowitz)	217
The young genius Michael'e Kleiman z"l	Shmuel Potik	218
In need and in poverty	Ozer Bronstein	219
Trifles	Ozer Bronstein	223

From Times of Long Ago
I shall remember them	Yissachar (Shunya) Bronstein	227
Căpreşti as I knew it	Hersch Peckelman	232
Moshe Heissiner remembers the old days	Baruch Yanowitz	234
Yitzhak Chitron tells the stories	Bella Lavie (Liebestag)	235
Memories from Căpreşti	Meir Hersh Leiderman	236
Periods in life	Arie Efroni (Zeikoner)	238
With Arie at the Hechalutz	Mordechai Rishpi	240
Sketchings of a Căpreşti woman	Bella Lavie (Liebestag)	241
A conversation with Ita Galitzki	Bella Lavie (Liebestag)	246
Memories	Yitzhak Liebestag	247
There is nothing new under the sun	Lea Kolker (Faliks)	249
Radio and prayers	Mordechai Rishpi	250

Authors and Artists
Mordechai Goldenberg	Dr. Shlomo Bikel	253
The figure of Mordechai Goldenberg z”l	Zev Igeret	256
A small collection of poems	Mordechai Goldenberg	258
Herz Rivkin-Heissiner [Y]	Yakov Yakir	263
Songs and Poems [Y]	Herz Rivkin	272
Zvi (Hershl) Tzelman	Marish-Byanov	284
Poems [Y & H]	Zvi Tzelman	285
Guidelines to the personality of Dr. Sose'le Kleiman	Shmuel Potik	287
Poems [Y]	Dr. Sofia (Sossel) Kleiman	289
Dr. Moshe Sambation	Marish-Byanov	291
Zerubavel Seker (Slkyar)	Marish-Byanov	292

Humor and Folklore in Căpreşti
How can we recognize a Căpreşti person?		297
The Capreshti Language (two monologues) [Y]		298
For every affliction there is a remedy [Y]	Ozer Bronstein	302
Tales from Căpreşti [Y]	Ozer Bronstein	305
In the youth movement [Y]	Ozer Bronstein	308
From Yiddish to German in Căpreşti	Ozer Bronstein
Our little town Căpreşti (a poem) [Y]	Arie Koparov	310
The live newspaper [Y]	Heissiner, Yutzis, Matyewitch	315
A tragi-comical epic poem [Y]	Motl Feierman	327
Purim presents (1933)	From a humoristic newspaper	330
“The Goat-Land Trumpet” (a humoristic newspaper)	Mordechai Rishpi (Feierman)	332
To take and “to take away”	Ozer Bronstein	333
Sayings and proverbs [Y]	Baruch (Boria) Yanowitz	334
A list of Yiddish folk songs	Mordechai Rishpi	342

Under the Soviet Rule
In the far and cold Siberia [Y]	Dr. Nyoke Fidelman	347
Orphaned and wandering [Y]	Sara Zunis (Schor)	356
Four years of suffering in the Kolkhoz	Dr. Asia Zaslawski (Dickerman)	359
Pages from the story of wandering	Bella Lavie (Liebestag)	361
The partisan Eliyahu Kubinski	Arie Koparov	362
Capresht in 1979 [Y]	Yisroel Flieman	363

During the Holocaust and Following it
On the Bessarabia dirt roads (a poem) [Y]	Shalom Sudit	367
From the Transnistria hell	Chana Puterman (Weiner)	368
A bloody escape	Simcha Tchorni, Sonia	371
	Feinboim (Bronstein)	372
	Chaia Friedman (Bolstein)	373
	Masia Fidelman	374
In the storm	Ida Weinschelbaum (Peck)	374
My orphaned shtetl [Y]	Sara Zunis (Schor)	377
Exile and wandering	Chanan Puterman	378
Several visits in the destroyed Căpreşti	Zvi Leiderman, Arie Mehr	381
	Aharon Schechtman	383
Back to the Valley of Tears	Dora Tur-Kaspa (Froimstock)	384
The Holocaust victims brought to a Jewish burial	Moshe Moscowitz	385
The last wish of R'Israel Goldenberg	Zerubavel Seker (Sklyar)	389
The fate of a family	Frieda Duchovni (Yanowitz)	390

Former Căpreşti Residents in America
Words of thanks to the donors in America		392
The Broitman family [Y]	M. Rishpi, B. Yanowitz	394
Biographical guidelines of the Siegelboim family [Y]	Berl Broitman	400
Velvel and Sorka Siegelbaum [Y]	Baruch (Boris) Yanovitch – Mordechai Rishpi (Feierman)	402
Yitzchok and Miriam Siegelbaum [Y]	Boris Yanovitch – Mordechai Rishpi	403
From the memories of aunt Bertha Itzkowitz	Israel and Tzipora Reshef	404
Căpreşti Jews going to America [Y]	Baruch Yanowitz	407
Harry Sheylpen [Y]	Efraim Auerbach	409
The prayer: “How to get old as a wise man…”	Jean Arnold	415
A speech that was not spoken [Y]	Boris (Berl) Broitman	417

Memorial Pages
Yizkor		422
On the grave of Nachum Yanowitz	Baruch Yanowitz	424
My thoughts	Baruch Yanowitz	426
The humanity of our soldiers	Baruch Yanowitz	428
In memory of family members		430
List of the victims, the Căpreşti martyrs		475
A Page of Memorial		480

The Organization of Former Residents of Căpreşti in Israel
Overview [Y]	Zev Skladman	483
The first Congress of the Organization		485
The activity of the Organization	M. Rishpi, B. Yanowitz	486
A yearly assembly [Y]	Mordechai Rishpi	488
Reactions and answers	The Editors	489
A letter to the editor	Na'aman Pri-Paz	492
List of donors to the Kapresht Book		493
Words of thanks	The Editors	496

List of Pictures

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