Re: [Cz-L] The Temple

Thank you to you Czernowitzers for sharing your stories. They make my parents
and grandparents heritage more real for me.
 
I am Eytan Fichman, grandson of Mordecai Spiegel and Pessie Stadler Spiegel.
They too were Czernowitzers from about 1905 thru the end of the World War II,
with a hiatus in Vienna during WW I.
 
Mordecai was, I believe, a very regular attendee at the Temple. He was a very
religious man. My late mother, Pearl Spiegel Fichman, said her father
Mordecai had a very fine singing voice, that he was a very gentle person who did much
volunteer work for the poor Jewish community in Czernowitz. He had dark hair
and a dark beard and had a store on Mehlplatz / Rudolfsplatz where he sold
Solingen knives and scissors, gloves, scarves and other things. Pessie was a
bright, well schooled homemaker who had a red birthmark on her cheek.
 
Do any of you, by chance, have any recollections of either Mordecai or Pessie?
 
Eytan
 
In a message dated 5/21/2007 1:25:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
fred2_at_worldnet.att.net writes:
I would like to add two recollections to the story of the temple:

1. In 1939, I attended a Jubilee Service at the Temple commemorating the
sixtieth anniversary of its dedication (though some sources give 1878 as the
year of dedication). I was part of a group of Jewish students from the Aron
Pumnul lyceum (secondary school). The service was in Hebrew and Dr. Mark,
the Chief Rabbi, delivered a sermon in German. I do not recall any addresses
in Romanian, though the prayer for King and Country may have been
translated. There was an impressive choir accompanied by a harmonium. Women
were sitting in the balconies. Rabbi Mark was assisted by Dr. Kessler, the
associate rabbi. (Dr. Kessler was the father of a renowned cardiologist and
also of my Latin teacher.)

2. The Temple was burned down by the Germans in 1941. Some of the details of
this crime can be found in the transcript of the testimony by the widow of
Rabbi Mark at the Eichmann trial. During 1941 - 44, a young Ukrainian was
selling used books in front of the Temple. Most of the books came from the
plundered homes of Jews who had been deported. I occasionally bought some
books there, after overcoming a certain guilt feeling. We referred to these
books as coming from the "Tempelverlag" (Temple Publishers). They were
important in allowing younger Jews for whom there were no schools to keep
up with some studies. These books, along with many from my fathers
impressive library, were left behind when we departed from Czernowitz in
1945.

Alfred Schneider
Received on 2007-05-21 17:52:13