[Page XXV]

Of the physical Slutzk, I know next to nothing. I have a mental image of huddled houses, of frequently mired streets, of a square girdled by synagogues, and houses of Study, and of “der kalte schul” – a big – and in the winter months – often deserted house of worship, which was just too large to heat properly. I know that it had its students, and its laborers, its saints and its sinners, its genteel ladies and its harridans, its societies and its charities, and its study groups. I know that most of the people who sauntered or scurried through its streets were Jews, that Yiddish was the language in which voices were raised, endearments uttered and debates conducted. In short, I know what facts can tell me. And yet, of course, I know nothing. Never having been to Slutzk nor seen its counterpart on the landscape of Eastern Europe, I find my imagination unable to bridge the gap and visualize that historic place which is so much remembered and cherished by all its descendants.

That Slutzk is dead with almost all its latter day inhabitants. I can never hope to know it. But there is a Slutzk that I do know. It is the spiritual Slutzk. I know it because I have met some of the people who carried it abroad with them when they left native home to seek other parts of the world. I know it because I met it in Chicago and in New York and in casual conversation on a bus in Tel Aviv. I have seen it glowing from printed pages and have heard its overtones in the spoken word; and I know it most of all because it resided in my parental home and because, insofar as I know myself, it is a part of me, who am a second generation of the expatriates of Slutzk.

If I, then write about it, it is out of the deepest knowledge, out of a journey into a personal interior, and I deal with what is more characteristic of Slutzk than its stones and its houses and its streets; more characteristic and more enduring. Because I write of the spirit it sent forth abroad and that planted itself in other landscapes and -yielded new fruits.

What then is the spiritual Slutzk and what are its values which I have observed, which I have inherited, which I cherish, which I would transmit?

The Slutzk I have encountered was a Jewish world at peace with itself. The product of long centuries of Jewish thought and experience; it had achieved a maturity about its Jewish values. Its descendants, whom I have met abroad, have been notably free of rejections and extremism, of narrowness of affirmation and negation which are, regret- fully, so prevalent in our midst. It was suffused with religion – it took it seriously; it observed it devoutly. But it was devoid of the fanaticism which was so rampant elsewhere. It produced people who spoke, read and wrote Yiddish, but did not confuse it with the totality of Jewish life and culture. Zion struck a responsive chord in its heart, but it was not prepared to set the totality of Jewish experience aside and to say that nothing save Zionism was important. Hebrew was a cause dear to its heart and it sent abroad men who spoke and wrote in Hebrew and enriched Hebrew letters. But they did not make the mistake of regarding the language as an end rather than a means. Always, there abided with them the notion that Hebrew was not merely a “lashon”, but rather a lasbon ha-kodesh.

In short, the spirit of Slutzk abroad has been a spirit of wholeness and of balance. Nothing Jewish has been alien to it. But it has insisted on harmony, on a golden mean, on the recognition and cultivation of many values, each in proper balance with the other.

This mature harmony of the spirit was the natural outgrowth of certain well- recognized and cultivated values.

There was first of all, a sheer love of Jewishness. Slutzk did not feel that Jewishness was a burden to be borne, a state to be regretted. It might have laughed at the dictum of Heinrich Heine that: “Judaism is not a religion, but a misfortune.” It is a sentiment which has been shared by many Jews plummeted into the modern

[Page XXVI]

world. Slutzk might have laughed at the witticism, but it certainly would have rejected the sentiment. It had been nurtured in the feeling that it is a privilege to be a Jew. It was a tenet of the prayer book which came easily to its life; it was the underlying sentiment of the traditional literature in which it was at home; it was the theme of the Sabbath and the festivals in which it found both joy and awe.

Hand in hand with this love of Jewishness and fundamental to it went the love of Torah and study. If not everyone in Slutzk was a scholar, everyone at least appreciated scholarship. The familiar “techinah” of the Jewish woman as she kindled her candles on Friday evening that: “even as the candles glow, so, I pray, may the eyes of my children glow with the light of the Torah” was the most natural prayer in Slutzk.

Study was both work and avocation in Slutzk. It had its workers and its businessmen who competed in knowledge and recognition of recondite texts. It had its students who studied diligently through the livelong day and were the living exemplars of Bialik's HaMatmid. It was at home in the Talmud, the Midrash and in their commentaries. It took them seriously. But it could also appreciate a scholarly jest. It could relish sharpness of intellect, seriously intended, and equally enjoy a cynical employment of the same faculties.

Slutzk above all strove for clarity and lucidity. While it valued sheer knowledge, it also demanded that knowledge be combined with common sense, or with that more elusive and broader quality which is called “sechel”. It sought the application of knowledge to life, but insisted that the result should not be merely an absurd triumph of intellect and text, but rather a practical illumination of life and experience. If it believed wholeheartedly in the pursuit of knowledge, as it saw it realized in its own Jewish literature, it demanded that knowledge be the companion of reason. Pilpul may have been a favorite sport, but the real preoccupation of Slutzk was meaningful living.

The chief achievement of Slutzk was that it combined these attributes with a sense for the demands made upon Jews by the modern spirit which was burgeoning in many parts of the world. There were many Jewish communities which sent their residents forth into the world of the West unequipped to deal with the intellectual and sociological demands of the twentieth century. Slutzk, by contrast, was a community which both sensed and responded to the currents in the world and sent its expatriates able to cope with new situations with a spirit and a temper of mind equal to the challenge.

The Haskalah movement which represented the response of a segment of Jewry to a world coming into being found a hospitable home in Slutzk. Mendele Mocher Sfarim had studied for some time in Slutzk. The memory of the later Mendele was treasured in his temporary abode. In Slutzk there were many who spoke and cherished modern Hebrew, who followed the Hebrew press, who responded to the play of new ideas. Zionism was at home in Slutzk, even as the Talmud was at home there. The Jewish philosophers of the middle ages, dead and forgotten in many other communities, were part of the intellectual fare of many in Slutzk. In brief, Slutzk was a community in which the modern spirit of the new era was fully alive side by side with ancient ideas and practices. This all-embracing spirit was carried by those who departed from Slutzk into other lands.

Perhaps the outstanding quality of that spirit is the right of free thought and dissent which it carries, combined with an abiding and unquestioning love of Judaism. The ability to disagree and yet remain within the same universe of discourse is a quality to be cherished. It is the quintessence of the harmony and maturity which Slutzk achieved. It is more than tolerance. It is tolerance without a diminution of concern and it implies that behind the disagreement and dissent there are values so deeply imbedded and so deeply accepted that no disagreement may affect them. This is the spirit which I have seen in many whom Slutzk sent abroad and this is the quality which I value most.

All these qualities of Slutzk which I cherish – its love of Torah and learning, its cultivation of knowledge applied to life, its intellectual lucidity and clarity, its code of Jewish living and behavior, its free spirit and its recognition of the right to dissent, are, perhaps caught up in a story of the last Slutzker Rav R. Issar Zalmon Meltzer. A question arose in a Slutzk synagogue during the Sabbath services whether the prayer of “Av HaRachamim” should be recited on a “Shabbos M'Vorchim” preceding the month of Sivan. Usually that somber prayer is not recited on a Sabbath when the new Hebrew month is welcomed. The Sabbath before the month of Sivan, however, falls during the time of Sefira which is a period of mourning, and the cantor therefore chanted the prayer. But many worshippers in the congregation did not agree with the cantor's decision and began to bang upon the benches in protest When someone of the congregation turned to the rabbi for his opinion in the matter, Rabbi Meltzer is credited to have replied: “that is exactly the right custom. The cantor recites the 'Av HaRachamim' prayer and some of the worshippers bang the benches in protest!”.

[Page XXVII]

This decision came fittingly from the Rav of Slutzk and he spoke the spirit of a community which was well versed, which encompassed a variety of theories and opinions but still worshipped in the same manner and out of the same prayer book.

The Jewish life of our generation has been benefited by this spirit of Slutzk. It has been enlightened and uplifted by some of the men whom Slutzk produced, who have written and preached and lectured in many tongues and lived their conceptions in many lands. It is a spirit to be cherished and to be developed in the community of tomorrow.

It has been reported by many – including Slutzkites themselves – that the residents of Slutzk went about with a bent index finger. Apparently, they took pride in their native town and were not backward about mentioning their distinctions. However, when challenged to enumerate their virtues and to count them off on their fingers, they were often reduced to bending the index finger and saying: “in the first place, I come from Slutzk.” Many remained with only one bent finger, unable to adduce further and personal virtues. But one finger might well have been enough, for no Slutzkite could readily escape the spirit and the virtues which Slutzk bequeathed to all its children.

[Page XXVIII]

The American “Slutzk Yizkor Book Committee” wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the following organizations and individuals for their assistance in making possible this publication. May their generosity be a source of inspiration to others and an everlasting pride to their descendants.

The Lefrak Foundation (Harry and Sarah Lefrak) Slutzker Shul (Morris Asofsky) United Slutzker Relief (Israel Schwaidelson) Hlusker Benevolent Ass'n. (Ellix Richman) Sholom Family Circle Soc. (Abraham Maisel) Ablon Finishers, Inc. (Abraham Maisel) Progressive Slutzker Young Men's Benev. Ass'n. (Samuel Travin)

[Page XXX]

Family name	First name	Page(s)
MAIZES	Isidor & Mrs.	XXVIII
MAPO		XXI
MASLAN	Philip & Mrs.	XXVIII
MEISEL	Morris & Mrs.	XXVIII
MELNICK	the barber	XVI
MELTZER	Issar Zalmon Rabbi	X, XXIV, XXVI
MENDELE	Mocher Sforim	XXVIII
MILIKOWITZ	Harry	XXVIII
MILIKOWITZ	Max & Mrs.	XXVIII
MILLER	I. & Mrs.	XXVIII
MISHALOVA		XVI
MISHELOV	Isidor & Mrs.	XXVIII
MLINSKY		XXII
MONES	Yale	XXVIII
MONOMACH	Vladimir	XVIII
MISKOSVSKY	Lev	XXII
N
NADSON		XXII
NELSON	I & Mrs.	XXVIII
NEUMARK	brothers	XVI
NISSENSON	Harry & Mrs.	XXVIII
O
OKO	Ely & Mrs.	XXVIII
OLELKO	Vladimiroch	XVIII
OLELKNIVICHI	Sophia	X, XVIII
ORNSTART	Edith	XXVIII
P
PEIMER	Meir Rabbi	XXIV
PEIMER	Chaim & Mrs.	XXVIII
PEIMER	Mutya	XXII
PERETZ		XXII
PICKOLTZ	Mrs.	XVIII
PICKOLTZ	Rachele	XXVIII
PINSKER		XXII
POPOFF		XVI
PORTON	Samuel & Mrs.	XXVIII
POST	David & Mrs.	XXVIII
R
RACHLIN	S. & Mrs.	XXVIII
RACKMAN	David Rabbi & Mrs.	XXVIII
RACKMAN	Emanuel	XXIII
RADZIWILL	Boguslav	XXI
RADZIWILL	Januez	XVIII
RAZRAN	Gregory & Mrs.	XVIII,XXVIII
RESNICK	Paul & Mrs.	XXVIII
RICH	A. & Mrs.	XXVIII
RICHMAN	Ellix & Mrs.	XXVIII
RIVIN	Moe & Louis	XXVIII
ROLNICK	A. & Mrs.	XXVIII
ROZENTHAL	Hyman & Mrs.	XXVIII
ROTHOLZ	Esther	XXVIII
RUBIN	Max & Mrs.	XXVIII
RUBINSTEIN	Nathan & Mrs.	XXVIII
RUBNITZ	Solomon	XXVIII
S
SABBATAI	Zevo	IX
SARKING	R & Mrs.	XXVIII
SCHILDKRET	S. Rev. & Mrs	XXVIII
SCHWAIDELSON	Israel & Mrs.	XXVIII
SCHWARTZ	Ira & Mrs.	XXVIII
SCHWARTZ	Isaac & Mrs.	XXVIII
SCHWARTZ	Louis & Mrs.	XXVIII
SEGAL	Isaac & Mrs.	XXVIII
SEROTOWITZ	Molie Mrs.	XXVIII
SHAPIRO	Mrs.	XXVIII
SHEIB	Benjamin P.	XXVIII
SHEIN	E.R. Mrs.	XXVIII
SHIFMAN	Benjamin & Mrs.	XXVIII
SHIFMAN	I. & Mrs.	XXVIII
SHIFMAN	Jerome & Mrs.	XXVIII
SHILDKRET	Lev. Dr.	XXII
SHNEUR		XXII
SHOLOM	Family Circle Soc. (Abraham Maisel)	XXVIII
SHUB	Harry & Mrs.	XXVIII
SLUTZKER	Prog.Young Men's Benev. Ass'n (Samuel Travin)	XXVIII
SLUTZKER	Shul (Morris Asofsky)	XXVIII
SLUTZKER	United Relief (Israel Schwaidelson)	XXVIII
SMELKINSON	Bros	XXVIII
SMOLENSKY		XXI
SOLOMYAK		XXII
SOLOWEICHICK	Dov. Rabbi	XXIII
T
THEODOSIUS	Vasilevich	XXI
TRAVIN	S. & Mrs.	XXVIII
TULMAN	Morris & Mrs.	XXVIII
W
WALLENROD	Reuben. Dr. & Mrs.	XXVIII
WASSERMAN	Samuel & Mrs.	XXVIII
WAXMAN	Mordecai	XXV
WAXMAN	Nissan. Rabbi & Mrs.	IX, XXVIII
WAXMAN	Reuben & Mrs.	XXVIII
WEINER	R. Mrs.	XXVIII
WEINSTOCK	Joseph & Mrs.	XXVIII
WICHMAN		XIV
Y
YAROSHEVICH	Karp	XXI
YAROSHEVITZEVA	Meshchanka	XXI
YAROSHEVICH	Stephan	XXI
Z
ZEIDES	H. Rev. & Mrs.	XXVIII
ZENNER	General	XIV
ZIRKEL	Samuel & Mrs.	XXVIII

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