Museum Day. Shtetl

Shtetl is a Yiddish word meaning a Jewish town or settlement. And Yiddish (just in case you don't know) is the Hebrew language from the group of Germanic languages, which is used mainly by Ashkenazi Jews (Central and Western European Jews).

Jewish settlement in the village

So. While the most valuable exhibits of museums in Ukraine are kept in a safe place, museums attract visitors by arranging author exhibitions, lectures, and theatrical tours. As I wrote in my previous post I took a day off over the past week and set up a museum day for myself. The first part was about an exhibit of handmade cats in the Sholem Aleichem Museum. And on the upper floor, they have an absolutely terrific exhibit - a collection of works by various puppeteers, which are united into one whole - a Jewish settlement or Shtetl.

I was the only visitor. For me, they turned on the lights and backlight, I even had a short conversation with the caretaker of this hall. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photo. It was a challenge for my simple camera. And I will tell some of the history along the way. Let's start the journey!

At the turn of 1791-1792, the Russian empress Catherine II introduced a limit of residence for Jews, limiting the freedom of movement and residence of the Jewish population. Where did the Jews come from? Fair question.

Before the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there were no Jewish communities in the Russian Empire at all. In 1772, the first partition took place - tens of thousands of Jews found themselves within the borders of the Russian Empire. And during the first 20 years before the introduction of the settlement limit, Catherine II and her administration tried to integrate the population of the newly annexed territories into the Russian state structure.

But with the beginning of the Great French Revolution, Jewish merchants, who moved a lot, were not just competitors, but representatives of the new bourgeoisie. Therefore, the ban gradually spread to all merchants from the newly annexed territories. Later, the term "border of traditional Jewish residence" appears. Such Jews were not allowed to own agricultural land. Also, they were not allowed to settle in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sevastopol (Crimea).

Jews were able to buy land only at the beginning of the 19th century, but only on the condition that it was land that had not been cultivated before, land in the south of Ukraine. It is those that are now on the brink of ecological disaster after the Russians blew up the Kakhovska HPP.

The border of the settlement included a fairly large territory: Lithuania, Belarus, part of Poland that was part of the Russian Empire, most of the Ukrainian lands and Crimea. That is, Ukrainians have been living next to Jews for a very long time. I think that our cultures have only been enriched by this coexistence. In terms of the size of the Jewish community, Ukraine ranked first in Europe and second in the world (in mid-1941). (source)

But let's go back to Sholem Aleichem. This is a literary nickname that means "peace be upon you" and is a traditional Jewish greeting. He was born on March 2, 1859, in a poor patriarchal Jewish family in the city of Pereyaslav (near Kyiv).

During his life, Sholem Aleichem tried himself in many very different professions, from a tutor to a stock player. By the way, fragments of his biography can be recognized in many characters of his works. By the way, almost all his works are written in Yiddish. His style is really similar to that of Mark Twain.

Fleeing from Jewish pogroms, he left for Europe, then fell ill with tuberculosis, moved to the USA, and died there, in New York. Buried in Queens.

I had plenty of time to see all the small details. As I looked around, I made guesses about what kind of building it was. Who are these people and what are they doing at the moment?

This seems to be a school. What do you think?

Oh, look at this! I know what is it - it's a pub! Two Jews are sitting on a bench near the entrance and it is clear that they are drunk. And to the left, you can see barrels, obviously with wine.

These two were difficult to photograph given the distance and my short stature. I hope you recognize them. The Rebbe and the Orthodox priest are talking about something, and next to them (not visible in the photo) a visitor to the pub is sleeping with his head on the table. A very colorful character, LOL.

Some roofs are made of tiles, some of slate, others of straw. These details could be examined all day. I started thinking about going there again.

Jewelry! It's totally guesswork.

Main square of the town

Well, this is all about Ukrainian-Jewish settlement, but not the end of exhibition. There is also a toy city! It is incredible. Brokers, bankers, hairdressers and photographers. A boy you sell newspaper in the square, a butcher shop.

The butcher holds a piece of steak in his hand. There are scales in front of him, and behind him two knives are stuck into a piece of log.

Look at how the cobblestones in the square are made. Like in real life.

Bonus

At the end of the Jewish theme, I will show a few more compositions. The first is named "Blessing the Children on Shabbat".

Look at the pages of the Torah. What small print, and yet if I knew Yiddish, I could read what it says. In the background, on the shelf there is another attribute of Shabbat - Challah, the festive bread.

This doll is made in a completely different style. This is a Ukrainian character, whom the author called - "A Witch" (meaning healer), that is, a person who knows about herbs and the treatment of diseases, etc.

She is very beautiful, but her eyes emit so much longing!

The second exhibit has the name "Lullaby". She thought about something, and again, her eyes were beautiful and sad.

That's it. I was totally thrilled about this visit. And it gave me a feeling of being a tourist in your city.

Besarabsky Market.

I couldn't stand to take a picture of this market building. Because it's all connected. The market was built in 1910-1912 with the money of the famous sugar factory Lazar Brodsky. Sholem Aleichem often mentions him in his writings as a very wealthy person when he writes about Kyiv.

According to Kyiv residents and visitors to the capital of Ukraine, the Bessarabian market is the most expensive in Kyiv.