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SABBATH EVE IN THE SHTETL
By Yitshak Oyvental-Kopernik
The day before the Sabbath, in May. Nature had
come alive. Gardens and fields were blooming
and the air was filled with an intoxicating aroma,
as if bottles of perfume had been poured upon
them. The Jews were preparing to greet the Sabbath.
As the day progressed, the shames, a short,
thin man, began his tasks in the bet hamidrash.
He picked up his thick cane and began to walk
from one store to another, knocking on their
doors and yelling: "Jews, Sabbath! Close the
stores. You have to begin preparing for the
Sabbath!" It did not take long before the storekeepers
started to shut their stores and make
their way home. And when the sun was just
beginning to set, Jews, dressed in their silk
Sabbath attire, were seen hurrying in the directions
of their particular shuls.
The shtetl acquired a festive appearance. It
was evident that Sabbath had come to the shtetl.
People finished their prayers, returned home,
and sat down to eat their festive meal. After
eating, the young people poured out into the
street for a walk.
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The frogs were performing a concert, a beautiful
symphony. The concert reminded one of the
Concert of the Frogs that the famous Adam
Mickiewicz had described so masterfully in his
Pan Tadeusz . But the concert of zmiros [Sabbath
songs] heard from the home of Abba Gluz and his
sons late into the night was more pleasing to the
ear.
Abba Gluz, the reader in the Trisker shtibl,
a fine-looking man with a patriarchal beard and a
magnificent voice, conducted his own music
band, singing zmiros while his sons Shike and
Yakov harmonized with their father with great
spirit and feeling. It was truly a well-trained
choir. People who were taking a walk would
purposely head in that direction in order to hear
the magical sounds of the zmiros sung by the Gluz
family.
These zmiros , sung on Friday nights, are
etched and rooted in my memory. This has remained
one of the dearest memories of my beloved,
never-forgotten friends (may they rest in
peace). The songs ring in my ears until the present
and will live on in my soul forever.