pdf available - Multiple Choices

A compulsory law to study Torah did not exist in
our town, Luboml, until the establishment of
Poland as a sovereign state. But our parents felt it
their duty (a duty of the heart) to teach their
children the Torah of Israel. And this duty was
stronger than many laws; they were dedicated to
this to the point of denying themselves food, and
they performed it with a great deal of effort.
4
TEACHERS (MELAMDIM) IN THE SHTETL
By Nathan Tchelet (Blumen)
A
4 '''' : .1 .1t
'4{''''
it dit
..... % ' .4
The teacher (melamed) Mendl Frechter.
When a child reached the age of three, there
was great joy in the parents' home. This was
celebrated as a birthday and as the first day that
this little Jew would assume the responsibility of
performing the mitzvah of studying Torah.
From that point on, he was no longer a child
like other children but a young candidate for a
great and glorious task. It often seems to me that
this third birthday was more important than the
thirteenth (the bar mitzvah), for on this day the
fate of many young, tender children was decided
for a number of years to come.
178
From now on there was a different scene, a
different world, a different background, a different
environment. We were commanded to be
planted on a different earth, whose scenery was
different, whose environment was different. We
started with the Book of Leviticus, the Law of the
Priests. There is not only study here, but also
knowledge, deeds and a way of lifeTorahthat
is the beginning and the end. A people divided
into Israelites, Levites, and Kohens (Priests) and
each within their own setting, with their own
destiny and fate.
When I think about the melamdim [Jewish
teachers] I remember them as downtrodden in
their lifestyle and only proud and tall within the
bounds of the classroom (cheder]. Here they became
a decisive factor, here they observed the
commandment of ensuring the survival of the
Jewish people, here their feet were firmly planted
on the ground.
These are their names: R. Yanke Nitcheches,
R. Moyshe Yoseles, R. Hersh of Koritnitza (nicknamed
"the crooked hand"), R. Mendl, the sonin-law
of the shochet Chayim Hersh, R. Notl
Melamed (Faigen), R. Avrom der Poylisher, R.
Hersh Borsht. They were all my teachers, and
their memory is engraved on my heart. Each
name represents another age: the first, three to
six; the second, six to seven; the third, fourth, and
so on. Years, seasons, responsibilities, and duties.
With the first melamed, R. Yanke Nitcheches,
I became acquainted with the kan chikastick
that had three leather straps at the enda kind of
homemade whip whose purpose was purely deterrent.
I don't remember him actually using it.
We were so little then, and R. Yanke, who even