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LIFE, RECONSTRUCTION, AND CREATIVITY 135
chores were on my head and in my small hands.
I had to prepare food for the whole family and
keep the house clean, so it was not easy to study.
I did not have books and had to borrow from
friends. Writing paper was also limited. On cold
days I caught a cold because it was some way from
home to the school. Only with great effort could I
succeed in finishing my housework and prepare
my homework.
I was a good student. My teacher, Chikowolski,
was a good teacher, and his lessons were interesting
to the students. My younger brother was the
best student. There wasn't anything he did not
know. He especially excelled in drawing.
At one point the teacher called on my father
and asked him to send my brother Yitshak to an
art school in a larger town. In his opinion my
brother had a great talent for art. The teacher even
said that in such a case the government would
provide a stipend, and that he would even request
it.
However, he could not persuade my father.
One, he could not imagine his child so far away
from him. Two, who knows, maybe he would fall
in, God forbid, among Christians, and be so confused
as to forget his Jewish roots?
Time continued to move forward. The situation
slowly began to improve. On a request from
my sister, my father rented a sewing machine
because my sister had mastered the tailoring
profession. All our Christian neighbors began to
bring in orders for dresses, blouses, and children's
items. My sister cut and finished everything on
her own. Everybody praised Shmuel Dovid's "capable
children."
In the towns, a child who showed some talent
or willingness to learn, could achieve something.
But children who had no desire wasted their best
years. In most cases they remained uneducated.
They had neither a Jewish education nor general
education; few of these children even finished
the public school, so when they came together
socially with others they felt very bad. A girl who
did not finish the public or, later, the Tarbut
school felt the effects later on.
In our village there were only four grades in
the public school. I asked my father to arrange so
that I could study in Luboml. To my surprise my
father easily agreed. In a few years, I finished
public school in Luboml and returned to the
village, where I worked and made a living.
The outbreak of the Russian-German war
suddenly brought an end to everything. We were
all forced into the Luboml Ghetto, where my
entire family was annihilated, along with all the
other Jewish inhabitants. For two years I hid in
the surrounding forests. After the war I went to
Russia, where I located my childhood friend and
bridegroom, Israel Leichter. We were married in
1948 and went to Israel.