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There was a Jew, Shamele Protsentnik [money
lender for interest]. He was very tiny, with short
legs. All day long he would run around in the
streets, practicing geben and nemen [give-andtake]
with whoever needed a hundred or two, for
a day, week or month. He used to carry in his
pockets a long, narrow roll of paper with numbers
on it, as well as symbols that only he could
interpret. He never owned a measly groshen himselfhe
only "gave and took."
There were women in Libivne called
beterkes. They kept track of the anniversaries
LIFE, RECONSTRUCTION, AND CREATIVITY 117
of everybody's death and made a living out of
the few groshen they begged from the bereaved
to go to the cemetery in their stead to ask the
dead to intercede on their behalf.
I remember once hearing one such beterke
talking to a dead person after knocking three
times on the tombstone: "Tsadeykes Tzadeykes
Zlate Bas Chave [Righteous righteous Zlate,
daughter of Chave] ! Do you know who is standing
before you? I, Rashke Bas Memke beseech you on
behalf of your daughter . . . "