[Cz-L] Zastavna-Translation Part I

Here the translation of the the first part of the article about
Saztavna:

Saztavna my small town

by Ze'ev Jagendorf

The location is marked by a a rich rural vista, rich and fruitful soil.
The houses are immersed between tall and green sprouting trees.
The fields are crowned by walls of golden ears of corn, her lots of land
are wrapped in fresh lawns. Her alleys are saturated with the smells
of the season,scents of hay, trees and the products of the fields.
The symbol of the town used to be the fish pond into which poured
all the water from the springs of the area.
That is why the name of the town is Saztavna, which in Ukrainian means
next to the pond.

The population used to be about 12 000 people. Most of them Ruthenian
and Polish peasants employed in Agriculture and about 200 Jewish
families'
who made their living as traders, clerks, doctors, artisans and lawyers.
There had been a Jewish presence in the town since the 17th century.
In my search for source-material, found an official list from 1802,
in which
are included Jewish names (Dorf, Bauer) of people whos occupation
was in agriculture.

The Jewish community flourished during the Austrian and Romanian times.
The institutions of the town were influenced by the proximity to
Czernowitz,
the provincial capital and this city's standard of living. There they
learned
how to run a community which helps its members in all matters.
A glorious synagogue was built and the only bath-house in the area.
Of special prominence was the Hebrew school "Safa Ivria" in which
well know teachers like Shim'on Kimmelfeld, Chayim Yampolski,
Chayim Grossmann, Hilel Har-Shoshanim, Rabinowitz and Ludwig taught.
 From this school came Hebrew speaking young people, who knew the Bible
and were equipped with the idea of renewal and who devoted themselves
to the work of building a nation and a homeland.

Of course, there also was a Heder of "Talmud Torah", in which the
teaching
was done by R. Benjamin Braunstein and M. Stern.
For a short time there also was a mixed Gymnasium, founded by the
local Jews
and meant to be used by all children of the locality. The head of
this gymnasium
was the well known Prof. M. Lockspeiser.
  In general there was in this school a desire for spiritual values.

 From the students of the school there came into being an amateur
group of actors
who under the practiced hand of Prof. Grossmann produced plays by Dr.
Herzel
and Shalom Aleichem on the stages of the halls of Linker and Dom Polski.
The income from these performances were solely devoted to the
maintenance of
the Hebrew school and assistance to the poor of the town.

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Received on 2013-02-20 15:34:14