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son, Asher, would always come to his aid and
find the merchandise.
After Asher got married he opened up a
similar store. The son's store was as disordered as
his father's. Boxes were in the way everywhere,
and buttons lay all over the floor as he ran from
one corner of the store to the other. If his wife was
not in the store, customers would go to Meyertze
Ludmirer or Itche Melnitzer on the other side of
the marketplace.
This is a small picture of a father and son and
not to laugh at, God forbid. Many Jews in other
towns and in other lines ofbusiness used to be like
that. Gifted merchants, brilliant minds, but preoccupied
with God more than with business.
Avrom Buzis
Avrom Buzis was a tratsh [wood cutter]. He
cut boards from round logs, hard work for a Jew.
The work was done mostly in the summer. In the
winter, Avrom would cut oak-bark at my father's
(may he rest in peace) place.
My father dealt in wood for heating homes.
He also sold oak-bark to the tanners who used it
to tan leather.
It took a whole winter to cut the bark, but in
the summertime the bark peeled off more easily
from the oaks in the woods. The season began in
the spring, between Pesach and Shavuot. The
bark was dried in the sun and then stored in
stables built especially for that purpose.
A big, heavy machine stood on the stable's
cement floor. It had a huge wheel made of wood,
which was suspended from a steel axle that rested
on wooden supports. Attached to the axle were
two toothed knives, like a saw. The bark was put
piecemeal under the knives of the machine and
the cut bark fell into a sack that hung underneath.
Avrom Buzis was a middle-aged Jew, with
broad shoulders and a short blond beard. His
short fur-jacket was girt with a rope. He wore
quilted pants and tall boots, which were too big
for him, to leave room for stuffing in more rags
[onetses ] to wrap his feet.
Avrom would get up at dawn. After praying
with the first minyan, he would come to work for
US.
First of all, he would snatch something to
eat. He boiled a pot of water, broke into it small
CHARACTERS AND PERSONALITIES 195
pieces of the Sabbath challah, which was too dry
for easy cutting, and put it into a big earthenware
bowl together with a piece of beef fat and a
handful of salt. When steam came up from the
bowl, he would sit down at the table in a relaxed
manner and begin to work over the bowl, blowing
and eating, eating and sweating. When the bowl
was empty, he would light a bit of machorke
[tobacco, a hand-rolled cigarette] and after resting,
he would come into the shop to work. This
was his first meal of the day.
He was a fast worker. An electric motor could
not beat the speed with which he turned the
handle of the wheel.
His daughter brought him his midday meal.
This second meal consisted of millet with honey,
a dish of sour milk, and half a loaf of bread.
Another "menu" for the second meal was a pot of
potatoes and red borsht made of beets. Usually
after a meal, Avrom blessed the food, thanking
God for giving him sustenance.
After his meal, he went back to the wheel,
working until it got dark. Yes, those Jews of old
were healthy Jews!
Yoneh Ladinyer
Five days a week Yon eh was busy in his flour
mill. Not far from the mill there stood a big house
where his whole family lived, including the sons
and the daughters and their families.
He was called Yoneh Ladinyer because he
came from the village of Ladinye. His real name
was Mel, and mel [flour] did cover his entire face,
his hands, and all his clothes.
Only on two days of the week, on the Sabbath
and on Sunday, did he wear different clothes. We
could then see abit of his face, and his clothes were
a bit darker than during the week.
Yoneh Ladinyer was a simple Jew. But he had
picked as his sons-in-law men who were not so
simple! His oldest son-in-law, Hershele Lifshitz,
was a Jew who knew how to study the sacred
books. I used to meet him at the home of the
Stepenyer rebbe. He would talk and study the
books with the rebbe's son, R. Moyshele, or with
Itche Meyer Shaye Leibushes.
They called him Hershele because he was
short. He had such a long beard that it did not fit
his short stature: it looked as if he had stolen it