Tag #151767 - Interview #84041 (Yacob Hollander)

Kamyanske was a big village of about 350 houses. There were about 150 Jewish families. It was a wealthy village: families had a lot of land and kept livestock. Jews dealt in crafts and trade. Jews also owned taverns and inns. There were wealthier Jews who owned bigger stores selling fabrics, shoes and more expensive food products, but most of them were selling consumer goods: flour, butter, cereals, herring, sugar, matches, kerosene and whatever else villagers needed. There were Jewish shoemakers and tailors. They owned small shops. They didn’t hire employees preferring apprentices and this was beneficial to both sides. Parents didn’t pay for their children’s training. Each craftsman had 4-5 apprentices. It took 3 years to become a shoemaker or a tailor. In the first year of training apprentices helped their masters about the house fetching water or cutting wood – whatever errands their masters gave them to do. When the first year was over, apprentices began to do simple work and in the third year apprentices started working, but their masters didn’t pay them for work. Tailors received orders and did measurements and their apprentices made garments. Christians dealt in farming in Kamyanske farming the lands and keeping livestock.

About one third of all Jewish families in Kamyanske were Hasidim [4]. There were two big synagogues in Kamyanske: one Hasidic and one for all other Jews. Hasidim also had a shochet that only did slaughtering for them. Hasidim had their own life staying aside from other Jews. Women went to the synagogue on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. They had seats on the 2nd floor.