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It would be a sin on my part, writing memories about my little shtetl Amdur and its colorful types, not to remember my family and, first of all, my parents, z”l [abbreviation for “may his/her/their memory be blessed” or “of blessed memory”]. It is now more than 55 years since I left Amdur [in 1895], of which, alas, no remnant or survivor remains, yet I am connected to it with every fiber of my being. I now have children and grandchildren born here in the country of Argentina, to which I am bound body and soul and with which I am strongly identified, and yet I cannot, even for a moment, tear away from my memory reminders of that small shtetl in which I was born, grew up, and received my Jewish education and formed my unassuming personality. The Amdur synagogue, the houses of prayer, its yeshiva, its rabbis and scholars, its balabatim [men of influence], shoemakers, tailors and other artisans, everything and all are baked into my heart. I hold only my parents, a”h [abbreviation for “rest in peace”], responsible for my entire Jewish self. I dedicate these reminiscences to their sacred memory and I write about them in this chapter.

My father, z”l, was a son of Rabbi Dovid and a grandson of Rabbi Mordekhai Tsinne's, or as he was called in Amdur, Rabbi Motshe Tsinne's. He received the added name, “Tsinne's,” from his great-grandmother Tsinne, who was the founder of the family Efron, who carried the name “Tsinkowiczes.” I remember how

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they would say that the Tsinkowiczes was the “Czarist family.” I can recall a little about my great-grandfather, Rabbi Motshe Tsinne's, because my father, z”l, was named after him. Amdur old men would remember Rabbi Motshe Tsinne's with great reverence. They claimed he was the greatest rich man of his time and the most important man in Amdur; they would add: “Torah and greatness in one place.” He had six sons, of whom my grandfather, Rabbi Dovid, z”l, was the youngest. Elderly Amdur Jews would always say to me: “It was impossible to look in your grandfather's face… The sun shone in his face.” My [great-] uncle and rabbi, Rabbi Avrahamel Rabbi Matis's [Abraham Shor] – about whom I will write separately – once told me: Of your grandfather, Dovid, a”h, it was simply stated, “The light shone from his face,” [Exodus 34:29] and “the beauty of Dovid was equal to the beauty of our Patriarch Jacob,” an expression from the Talmud [Berakhot 58a]. They told me that a hundred years ago he wore a gold watch, a fedora, and galoshes, a sign of wealth and elegance of the time. He would travel to large Russian cities as a broker and was granted a special, privileged status. My grandmother, Toyba, a”h, was a daughter of his older brother, Moshe, a”h. He died in Kiev, when my father, z”l, was 11 years old. The Makarover Rebbe of that era said at his death: “He was covered with the respect of the world.” My grandfather, a”h, was a fervid Misnagid [mainstream orthodox Jew opposed to the Hasidic Movement] and one can marvel at such respect from a Hasidic rebbe of that time. His sister, Etshe, was the wife of Rabbi Avraham Ezra, z”l. Her name as “the old Rebbitzen [wife of the rabbi]” was venerated in all of Amdur. My grandmother, Toyba – she was called “the clever Toyba” in Amdur – after my grandfather's death

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Rabbi Mordekhai Efron, z”l Rabbi Yedidya's father

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married Rabbi Moshe, about whom I write separately in my memories of the Amdurer scholars.

When my father, z”l, became an orphan, he was taken by the great Rabbi Avraham Ezra, a”h – I am writing a separate chapter about him – saying: My Dovid's child must be raised by me; I do not trust anyone else…

I received all of my memories about this great, righteous man from the best source – from my father, z”l. He would mention his name with veneration and awe.

My mother [Pesha], a”h – was a daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Sergei, a Jew, a scholar, to whom bridegrooms would come to be examined [for their religious knowledge]; he lived in Sislevitsh [Svislach, Belarus] and was the lessee of the Kolonoyer [of Kolonya, Belarus] mill for many years. He was called “Yehuda the Sage.” My father and my rabbi, Rabbi Avrahamel Rabbi Matis's, who took as his bride my grandfather's sister, my aunt, Chaya, a”h, they once said to me: “Rabbi Yehuda is a sage when he wants to be” (A Talmudic expression [Tractate Gittin 76a] about the Tanna [a sage of the Mishnah], Rabbi Yehuda, implying: [Our] Rabbi Yehuda is a sage when he wants to be…).

I knew him when I was just a child. He was not kind, by nature, but very clever; he worked hard in the mill all his life to feed his large family of boys and girls, one of whom was my unforgettable mother, the great, pious and righteous woman, Pesha, a”h. My grandmother on my mother's side was named Gittel, a”h, and I carry her name. It is necessary to say several words about the connection of my name, Yedidya, and my grandmother's name, Gittel. My name was supposed to be “Gottlieb,” a name that was transformed from the female to the male – from Gittel, Gottlieb. It happened that in Grodno there was a land surveyor named Gottlieb who

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Pesha Sergei, z”l Rabbi Yedidya's mother

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at that time used to travel on Shabbos [Sabbath]. So how could it be that I would carry the same name as one who openly desecrated Shabbos? Giving me the name Gottlieb would not happen… And my father and my rabbi Rabbi Avrahamel Rabbi Matis's made a compromise; they translated the name Gottlieb to Yedidya [both meaning loved by God] and everything was in order: I carry my grandmother's name, but not Gottlieb; instead, Yedidya, in defiance of that desecrator of Shabbos… That will show that treyfniak [unkosher one]…

My father and my mother married, a joyous occasion; he at 15 and she at 17 years old. Together, they were the founders of the Efron family of which I am a branch. We were nine brothers and one sister. My oldest brother, Dovid, a”h, was a diligent scholar, a capable writer and a great lover of agricultural work; he came to Argentina with the entire family as colonists courtesy of Baron Hirsch in 1895 and remained a true worker of the land for 45 years, not changing his means of earning a living for a moment; a modest person; humble – content in his modesty and not looking for any luck; he worked hard during the day and read and studied at night; did not want to travel to Buenos Aires, even when he had to establish legal title for his fields. He sent me with a power of attorney to sign for him. With his death, the Jewish colonies in Entre Ríos lost a bit of Torah. His many-branched family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were all colonists. One of his sons, Eliahu, was chairman of the Fraternidad Agraria [Agrarian Brotherhood].

My second oldest brother, Chaim-Tzvi, may he be healthy, has surpassed Gevuros [meaning “strength”: see Psalms 90:10], the age of 80 - came to Argentina many years after us; remained

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in the country for several years; was a Hebrew teacher in the colony Desparramados [lit., the dispersed], Entre Ríos, and left for North America. Today, he is the rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn, but altruistically – not taking any salary. A diligent scholar and exceptional speaker, he is moreover gifted with good charitable qualities. His many-branched family is in North America.

My older brother, Gedalyahu, is also in North America; a longtime American resident; a merchant all his life and he devoted himself to the interests of the community; gabbai [assistant to the rabbi] of a synagogue in the city of Poughkeepsie and teacher of Ein-Yakov [compilation of Talmudic stories]. Even though he has been in America for more than 50 years, arriving there as a young man, I found him in 1946 still very orthodox, religious and Jewishly traditional.

My older brother Shevakh, a”h. When I began writing my memoirs two months ago, he was still among the living. Suddenly, he died [March, 1950]. He came to Argentina as a young man with our parents; created his many-branched family there and lived in the Baron Hirsch colony, Entre Ríos, over the course of 55 years as a pure and honest agricultural worker; worked hard and bitter for all his years and often without any favorable results; he often lived in want, but was never untrue to the ideal of the colony – he was strongly devoted to agricultural work. When the best years came, he suddenly died. One of the few and chosen individuals, a remnant of the old Litvish [Jewish culture and mores of religious study and orthodoxy centered around Lithuanian Jewish communities] colonialist immigration that brought Torah and virtue with it; a scholar, studied as a boy and young man in yeshivas and before leaving Russia, in the Szczuczyn [Poland] institute of Torah study, where remarkable subjects were taught under the supervision of the

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rabbi there, Rabbi Menakhem-Mendl Ostrinsky, author of the book, Tzemakh Menakhem. The Baron Hirsch colony was orphaned by the sudden death of my brother, Shevakh. The last remaining of the Litvish colonists; scholarly Mohicans. Woe unto those who are lost! [from the Talmud, Sanhedrin 111a]

My younger brother, Arye-Leib,^[1] may he be healthy, came to Argentina with our entire family as a boy of 14 years. Despite his young age, he brought with him from Amdur a very considerable storehouse of Torah acquired at the Amdur Yeshiva and supplemented at the home of our parents, a”h, which was a gathering place for scholars. He worked for a long time as a colonist in the Baron Hirsch colony; he was an official of the communal fund of the Clara colony for many years; he later had a shop in the towns “La Capizha” and “Vizha Clara” [Argentinian pronunciations of La Capilla and Villa Clara] and then was an inspector of licenses for the Entre Ríos government. He gave all of his children a university education.

My younger brother Yehuda, a”h, came to Argentina while still a small boy. Thanks to the energetic intervention of my father, z”l, he escaped from ignorance in the Jewish sense. It is worth remembering an episode that illustrates the relationship of the former Litvish Jews to Jewish education.

On a Shabbos day in 1897, we, our entire family, were sitting at the table eating cholent [Sabbath stew]. My father, z”l, was quietly singing Shabbos songs at the table. He asked my younger brother, Yehuda, a”h, for the interpretation of the sentence, “When he sees that it is so, the Edomite oppressor will think that Bozrah can give refuge like Bezer” that is found in the Shabbos song, “Blessed is the Lord Every Day.” In truth, this is a difficult

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Rabbi Yedidya's six brothers, all born in Amdur. From right to left, top: Dovid, Chaim and Shevakh; bottom: Gedalyah, Leibe and Yehuda. The photographs of each were taken at various times. They all worked in the colonies of Entre Ríos as colonists or teachers.

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bit of Shabbos song that correlated with a passage of the Gemara [the later portion of the Talmud] in the Talmudic Tractate Makkos about the three errors [regarding the city of Bozrah] that the symbolic “Samael” [an archangel] will make in the time to come. Thus, it was completely natural for my father, z”l, that a 10-year-old child should know this: what else? Just two years out of Amdur… Okay, more than 80 percent of Amdur Jews would certainly not have known the explanation of that passage in the Shabbos song, for which study of the Gemara was necessary, to know the difference between the cities Bezer and Bozrah: between someone who has committed a sin intentionally and unintentionally, and between a man and an angel. My father, a”h, did not take this into consideration. He remained greatly dissatisfied with my small brother's lack of knowledge. In general, Shabbos is Shabbos. However, Shabbos night, after Havdalah [ritual ending of each Sabbath], he was adamant with my brother about this case. He moaned, calling out: “Will I leave a person ignorant about Jewish law? The horses and the cows and calves are beginning to have an influence on the boy. It will not happen! I did not come to Argentina for this.” He proposed, “I have a request of you: the boy will not go to work; he must first stop being an ignoramus.” I took over the work of studying the Prophets and Writings with him, and my father, z”l, taught him Khumish [Torah] and Rashi [commentaries by Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 11^th Century French rabbi], Chayei Adam [Life of Man by Avraham Danzig], Mishnayos [rabbinic legal code], and Ein Yaakov [Jacob's Well – Talmudic stories]. Thus, he was saved from ignorance and became a scholar of Jewish knowledge, knew Hebrew and Yiddish very well and was a great activist at the Communal Fund of the Clara colony. He died in the very spring of his life – age 42. After his death, the entire family moved to Buenos Aires, taking part in commerce and industry. One bit of consolation – the fields were not sold to strangers, but remained among the family; no alien element intruded in the fields that

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were administered for many years by our father, a”h, and my brothers.

Here should be remembered the moving episode of the last days of my youngest brother's life. One day before his death, when he was in his death throes, with a lowered voice he said to me: “Thanks to you, I was clear about the Book of Isaiah.” I exclaimed about my brother: “The youngest and so smart!”

I have digressed a little from my main theme, to write in this chapter about my parents, a”h, at the time of their life in Amdur.

My recollections are dedicated to my birthplace, Amdur, and almost exclusively to the past, to the past of that shtetl and not to the memory of the “bygone epoch of Amdur.” I will, consequently, return to the life of my parents at the time of their activities in Amdur. I still intend, if God will grant me the health and the years, to write a book about the time of my departure from Grodno Gubernia [Governorate] until these recent years, a work that has to include the entire period of the emigration movement in the Lithuanian gubernias in the ‘80s of the past century, the Jewish Colonization Association in Argentina, the founding of the Jewish colonies of Entre Ríos, their progress and reversals, the school system, and so on. If only I will merit doing so!

In Amdur, they would call my father by the name, “Motya Toyba's,” after the name of my grandmother, Toyba, a”h, and my mother, a”h, “Pesha Motya's” or “Pesha Toyba's,” all from the name of my grandmother, Toyba, a”h. The children would be called by three names: Dovid Motya Toyba's, Chaim Motya Toyba's, etc.

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My parents' income in Amdur was drawn from a shop in which they would sell herring, salt, sugar and other kinds of food, as well as all kinds of ironware for agricultural and construction use. Most of the clients were the Gentiles from the surrounding villages and the greatest hope for income was at the Tuesday market, the basis of the economy for the entire week. God forbid, if it rained the whole day or the day before; there was no market, and it was difficult to earn money the entire week. A family of twelve souls had to be fed and a Jewish and general education provided to nine boys. I say “general” because during the last years before we left Amdur, my father, z”l, sent me and my younger brothers to study secular subjects, including how to read and write Russian. And yet, with the entire difficulties of earning an income, we led a middle-class life. It is worth remembering: we never ate black or brown bread, only cakes or potatoes in the morning and rye bread at night. Such a “menu” was only found in the well-to-do houses in Amdur. Food, clothing, and providing an education to such a large family and continuing with a middle-class life was a difficult economic problem. My holy mother, a”h, the true mistress-of-the-house, the pious woman and righteous woman, would run the shop almost alone the entire day. My father, z”l, would arrive at the business after half a day – with the exception of Tuesday, market day, when he would arrive very early – and then, only come nighttime, my mother, a”h, would go to the house to take care of the entire family with food and repair everyone's clothes. There was a Jewish maid in the house, but only during the day; at night she would go home to sleep. When she would come, very early, she found the food already prepared

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for the entire day, everything done by my mother: she went to sleep at midnight and she would already be on her feet at four in the morning to prepare everything for the family, and mainly so the children would be able to study Torah. My parents, a”h, did not strive for wealth or affluence, only to earn a living so that the children could study Torah; my parents, a”h, did not have any other aspirations. My parents, a”h, had so many things to ask of God, supporting such a large family with such great needs, and yet, that their children would learn Torah, was foremost in their prayers. And I see my father, a”h, on erev [evening start of] Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement] before Kol Nidre [the opening prayer], dressed in a kitl [white robe worn on Yom-Kippur] and talis [prayer shawl] blessing his children with his small book, Likutei Tzvi [collection of ethical prayers and readings], in his hand, saying with tears in his eyes the heartfelt prayer: “May it be the will of our Father in Heaven to place in your heart love and fear of Him. May your yearnings be for Torah and mitzvahs [good deeds]. May your eyes see straight ahead, may your mouth speak wisdom…And may He give you children who will be engaged in learning Torah and mitzvahs their entire lives.” My mother, a”h, dressed in white for the holiday, stands at his side and sheds virtuous tears, saying: “Dear Father, give my children the strength to study that their eyes should be lit by Your Holy Torah…” And at the blessing over the candles, when she would recite the blessing, “ L'hadlik ner shel Yom Kippur” [recited when lighting Yom Kippur candles], two wells of tears would open from her eyes, crying: “Just as the sacred Yom Kippur candles illuminate, thus should they illuminate the eyes of my husband and children in your Holy Torah.” The sun was about to set; the holiday candles and the large memorial candle

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glowed mysteriously in all of the rooms and I think they winked something sacred about the new year that my parents were going to ask of God; it should be a good one and a fortunate one. How much holiness lay in those moments! At the completion of the writing of a Torah scroll and at the prayers for the dead recited on holidays, the voice of my mother, a”h, would be heard: “Strengthen the hearts of my children; may they study Torah.” With great piety and reverence, I bend my head before you, my parents, and for all Jewish parents who made so many sacrifices on the altar of Yiddishkeit [Jewish way of life]. May their names be blessed!

My rabbi and [great-]uncle, Rabbi Avrahamel Rabbi Matis's, once told me: “Do you know what your father is? Once,” he said to me, “it was a difficult winter and your father had a difficult time earning money. Your two brothers, Dovid and Chaim, were studying with me and there was nothing with which to pay tuition; your father took the “potatoes” from the “henhouse” and sent them to me as tuition…” And my rabbi concluded: “He gave away the last bite of food for tuition,” and there were tears in my rabbi's eyes. “However,” he added, “your two brothers became great scholars; that great sacrifice was worth it…”

As I said above, my mother, the righteous woman, a”h, would sit from early morning to late at night in the shop and be the merchant. She spoke fluent Polish and Russian – both languages in use in the Grodno area at that time – she was very nimble and agile in selling and dealing with the non-Jewish customers and knew the psychology of each one. The Gentiles from the villages would often come to her, to consult with her about their family matters and frequent tragedies; they considered her as a kind of oracle; Idziemy do

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Peshki – we want to go to Peshka – they would say at a time of trouble, and she would help everyone with word and deed.

When she would come home in the evening, she would prepare food for the entire family for the 24 hours in the day; repair everyone's shirts and clothing and see if the shoes for each child were in good condition.

My father, a”h, would come to the store very late at night, examine all of the invoices for the entire day, and attend to the Grodno sales regulations that had to be followed. His first tasks were to wash, recite the evening prayers and eat something. My dear mother waited until she could prepare the food and, with joy, she would prepare the table for my father. He would very often wake us up after eating and ask us what we learned in kheder or in the yeshiva. He seldom left the teaching completely to the teachers.

And I remember an episode that throws light on the relationship my father, a”h, had with the Jewish education of his children, according to his conception at that time. Once, he left the shop on a summer day and took me and my older brother, Shevakh-Avraham, a”h, to the house of study. What happened? In addition to the Gemaras that we would study in the yeshiva, he taught us the special Gemara, Shavuot [the tractate regarding the laws of vows] and he had become aware of a section of Rashi from page 4a [dealing with principles of interpreting laws of the Torah] involving the interpretation of inclusive language followed by exclusive language, and the interpretation of a general case followed by a specific example followed by another general case. This was not yet completely clear to us, and we still had to have it “beaten into our head,” and so we could forget about doing anything for the rest of the day. Then, he said to us emphatically: the mechanism of “inclusive and exclusive” and that “the general subsumes only the specific” is found in many places in the Gemara, and only in Shavuot does Rashi explain it broadly and clearly. If you will not know

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this piece of Rashi well, you will remain “crippled” for your entire life. He did not let us go until he was sure that we understood the “syllogism” of extension, exclusion, and inclusion versus general, specific, general. Who cares about the store, who cares about earning money? Analogy; inference, exclusion, and inclusion; general, specific; and so on and so forth. This is the main thing. And when I later studied the arithmetical, mathematical and geometric axioms and theories at the normal school, I thought: my father had prepared me when I was a boy and today I understand all of the formulas clearly. My father, z”l, lay full weight on Khumish with Rashi and he applied himself so that his children would be masters of the explanation. He would always say to us: “If one does not know Rashi's explanations of Torah, he remains ignorant of Gemara.” And actually, for this reason, every Shabbos, he would first of all study the Torah portion with Rashi for the week during the day and then the Gemara. This was the system from the Vilna Gaon [Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman], z”l, used by the Litvish scholars. There was a reason a Sephardic gaon [sage], Rabbi Yosef Tuv Elem, was permitted to say about Rashi: “Throw out all of the French commentaries in the garbage, except Parshandatha” (the “interpreter of the laws,” meaning Rashi, and [his] younger son – Rabbi Yosef Tuv Elem was referring to Rashi's grandson).

However, despite the piety and orthodoxy of my father, z”l, he was inclined to literary works and the Enlightenment; he, himself, read many “impure” books and wanted us to have a knowledge of “the world as it exists.”

When he found me poring over Rabbi Yitzhak-Ber Levinsohn's works, he read them all and was very satisfied with Efes Dammim [No Blood], Te'udah beYisrael [Testimony in Israel], and Zerubbabel. However, he was very unsatisfied with the Yalkut

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Ribal [Anthology of Ribal – Levinsohn was known by the acronym of his name, Ribal] because he found mockery there of the Hasidic rebbes from Volyn and Galicia, despite the fact that he [my father], himself, was a great opponent of Hasidism.

I remember: Once, seeing me very involved with the books of the Enlightenment, he said to me: “You will die of hunger; in order to have strength, one must eat bread with meat; one needs to eat a little compote; living the entire day with only the latter [compote] one becomes weakened and swells from hunger. Gemara, Tosfos [medieval commentaries on the Talmud] and commentaries – this is bread with meat, other books – compote… With compote, you will remain an emaciated ignoramus…”

He had a deep knowledge of Jewish laws and at times he showed great tolerance and humanity when it came to health.

I recall: This happened in 1896, the first year of our being in Argentina. We lived then in the Sagastume group, far and separated from a settlement. The nearest colony, Baron Hirsch, was seven kilometers away. At two o'clock in the morning, a young woman “decided” to give birth, and there was no midwife… We looked for the oxen in the camp to hitch-up and drive to Baron Hirsch – a journey of five hours, there and back. And meanwhile, the young woman was crying out. Her first-born did not want to wait for the midwife and arrived in the candlelight's glow. Good, but there was no one to cut the umbilical cord and the mother was dying. What does one do? It was the middle of the night, in the dark, in a vast wasteland. My father, a”h, went to the group where this was taking place and called out: Fools! This is called piety? Letting two souls die?! And he, himself, did the procedure with good fortune. By the way, the newborn

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child was the first Argentinian Jewish boy who was born in the Sagastume colony, and he was given the name Moshe after Baron Hirsch, a”h. That first Jewish colonist boy from the Sagastume colony – its official name is Atshuras [not identified] – is a son of Gedalyahu Efron and today he is the pharmacist in Avellaneda, his name “Mauricio Alberto Efron.”

There was another such case with a non-Jewish woman, where my father, a”h, “intervened” in such a procedure, but I will leave it for the book that, God willing, I intend to write about the history of the Jewish colonies.

My father strongly opposed his children leaving Amdur and emigrating to America; there was no guarantee there for the continuation of Yiddishkeit – he would say. However, when the emigration movement of the Baron Hirsch Colonization in Argentina was created he enrolled the entire family along with my brother, Dovid, a”h, who then had a family of four people, to travel to become agricultural workers in distant and unfamiliar Argentina. To this day, I continue to admire the revolutionary spirit that governed my father, a”h, and other Grodno Jews, learned men, to take this daring step: a Jew, a scholar, a God-fearing person, a rigorously righteous person who raised his children in the path of Torah, within the four cubits of Halakha [Jewish law]… He did not let his children leave Amdur to settle in America, but suddenly, out of the clear blue sky, he stood up, sold everything, left the house of study, and left for unknown Argentina to become an agricultural worker. Wonder of wonders!

1. Died already, too. Return

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