Slonim, Belarus (Pages 112-113)

« Previous Page

Table of Contents

Next Page »

[Page 112]

An Examination in the Yeshiva
by Eliezer Vilentchik
Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund

Donated by Sarah Dine

It is a beautiful summer Thursday evening. We, the yeshiva [religious secondary school] boys, repeat the Gemara [Talmudic commentary] that we have studied throughout the week. The voice of the teacher echoes and the sounds tear through the open windows into the void outside.

We sway over the open Gemaras with fervor and zeal. Our teacher, Reb Itshe, son of Leite, a good, affable Jew, smokes a cigarette (I remember that he would smoke cigarettes that our Vilentchik family's [cigarette] rolling paper factory would fabricate…). Reb Itshe had the habit at every opportunity of saying to his students with a drawn-out voice: “I-r-f-a-r-sh-t-e-i-t?” [Do you understand?]

That day, by chance, Reb Itshe left the yeshiva in order to take a bit of a stroll. And we continued our repetition of a page of Gemara.

Suddenly our melody was interrupted and a dead silence reigned over us. The image appeared of our examiner, Reb Lozshe Belus, who came to test us, a Jew with a strong face, very near-sighted, with a thick, white beard.

All of the students huddled next to each other like frightened lambs…The teacher's reading desk stood empty. And a repressive silence reigned, as if before a storm, in the temple of Torah.

Reb Lozshe Belus approached the teacher's reading desk and, with a serious tone, turned to us, asking what daf [page of the Torah] we were on. With humility we answered and showed him which daf we were learning. He opened the Gemara and said that he would ask us a law according to the sugye [Talmudic question being studied] we were learning.

Our answers, it seemed, satisfied him. He closed the Gemara, saying to himself: “Good students…” He kissed the mezuzah and quickly left the room.

As soon as he left, a buzzing broke out like in a beehive. Each boy, who a few minutes before had been scared to death, enthusiastically showed his joy with the results of Reb Lozshe's examination of us.

In the very fervor of the tumult, our teacher entered and, hearing the terrible clamor, asked us what had happened. We told him that Reb Lozshe had examined us and had asked us about a law. Reb Itshe listened to us, thought a while and then said with sarcasm:

[Page 113]

It is not “law,” it is none other than “coarse…”

He meant to say that one does not examine students in the absence of the teacher.

We laughed loudly at the teacher's sharp answer. He smoked his cigarette and with his good-natured smile said:

“I-r-f-a-r-sh-t-e-i-t?”

He returned to his reading desk and we continued our studying with enthusiasm.

« Previous Page

Table of Contents

Next Page »

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Slonim, Belarus Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page

Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
This web page created by Max G. Heffler