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My father’s family lived in the village of Borovka, Chernevtsy district, Vinnitsa province [5 km from Vinnitsa, about 280 km from Kiev]. I never saw my father’s parents. My grandmother died before I was born and my grandfather died when I was still a child. They were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Borovka.
I know that before the Revolution of 1917 [1] my father’s sisters and brothers lived in Borovka, but I never saw them and I don’t know their names. Perhaps, my father mentioned them, but after so many years my memory fails me. Vinnitsa region was within the Pale of Settlement [2] before the revolution and almost every settlement was a Jewish town there. After the revolution my father’s relatives moved to other towns or even countries, perhaps.
A small nameless dried out river crease divided Borovka village into two parts. Jews, who constituted almost half of its population, lived in both parts of the village. The rest of the villagers were Ukrainian. There were two synagogues in Borovka – one in each part. There was a separate room for women, who could listen to prayers through small windows. Jews mostly resided in the right-bank part of the village that was its center.
Most of the houses in Borovka were ‘mazanka’ houses. The word derives from the Russian term ‘mazat’ meaning apply clay on wooden carcasses of houses. In the 1930s the saman – air-brick – houses appeared. Air bricks were a mixture of clay and manure. Most of the houses had straw roofs. Only the wealthiest families had tin sheet roofing.
There was little land in the central part of the village and Jewish houses actually adjusted to one another. They only had sufficient land to grow some greenery. Ukrainians were farmers: they had vegetable and fruit gardens and fields.
Jews were craftsmen for the most part: tailors, shoemakers, barbers. There was also a blacksmith and a harness-maker. Jews owned stores: there were two or three fabric and garment shops and the rest of them were food stores selling daily consumer goods – salt, matches, sugar, cereals, tea, glass and wicks for kerosene lamps, etc.
Jewish families were religious. On Sabbath and Jewish holidays all men put on their black suits and black hats to go to the synagogue. Women attended the synagogue on the main Jewish holidays. Most men had beards, and the rabbi and shochet had payes. Married women wore wigs. All families celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home.
I know that before the Revolution of 1917 [1] my father’s sisters and brothers lived in Borovka, but I never saw them and I don’t know their names. Perhaps, my father mentioned them, but after so many years my memory fails me. Vinnitsa region was within the Pale of Settlement [2] before the revolution and almost every settlement was a Jewish town there. After the revolution my father’s relatives moved to other towns or even countries, perhaps.
A small nameless dried out river crease divided Borovka village into two parts. Jews, who constituted almost half of its population, lived in both parts of the village. The rest of the villagers were Ukrainian. There were two synagogues in Borovka – one in each part. There was a separate room for women, who could listen to prayers through small windows. Jews mostly resided in the right-bank part of the village that was its center.
Most of the houses in Borovka were ‘mazanka’ houses. The word derives from the Russian term ‘mazat’ meaning apply clay on wooden carcasses of houses. In the 1930s the saman – air-brick – houses appeared. Air bricks were a mixture of clay and manure. Most of the houses had straw roofs. Only the wealthiest families had tin sheet roofing.
There was little land in the central part of the village and Jewish houses actually adjusted to one another. They only had sufficient land to grow some greenery. Ukrainians were farmers: they had vegetable and fruit gardens and fields.
Jews were craftsmen for the most part: tailors, shoemakers, barbers. There was also a blacksmith and a harness-maker. Jews owned stores: there were two or three fabric and garment shops and the rest of them were food stores selling daily consumer goods – salt, matches, sugar, cereals, tea, glass and wicks for kerosene lamps, etc.
Jewish families were religious. On Sabbath and Jewish holidays all men put on their black suits and black hats to go to the synagogue. Women attended the synagogue on the main Jewish holidays. Most men had beards, and the rabbi and shochet had payes. Married women wore wigs. All families celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Frida Shatkhina