The Massacre

A section title page by New York artist Note Kozlovski, who created illustrations for the yizkor book based on information from former Felshtiners.

Ludmir,and agreed that she would handle the job.  She completed the initial version in less than six months.  That  year also marked he 80th anniversary of the pogrom, and more than a 100 Felshtin descendants met for a yahrtzeit reunion in New York.
     But that was just the beginning.  As Shaievitz soon learned, a translation like this involves the possibility of multiple interpretations.  With help from his wife, Rhoda, a recently  retired teacher, from members of his Yiddish class in Whippany, and from various friends and associates in the United States

and abroad,  Shaievitz produced a few copies of a second translation-- on paper and CD, this time including copies of the drawings from the original.  And he continued reworking the 650 pages of Yiddish himself, inserting footnotes and explanations for the benefit of readers who may not have a Jewish background.    
      But Shaievitz acknowledges that a professional translator is still needed, someone fluent in Yiddish and Yiddishkeit, for a definitive version.  "This is what I did last night, working for about two hours," he says, showing a visitor a page from a yellow legal pad with one paragraph of handwriting, stapled to a version typed by one of his office assistants.  "As you can see, it's very slow and time-consuming for me -- and it's time-consuming for my staff.  We really should have a professional translator do it."  Having exhausted the society's funds on the first version, its members are eager to find individuals or organizations interested in helping to finance the work.
     "At first," Shaievitz explains, "I wanted the translation for our children, for future generations.  But I've come to believe that it's a very important work for the Jewish community and that it would be of great value to anyone who's interested in Jewish history."  

Read another excerpt from the yizkor book: 
 The Thirteen Questions
(Regarding Ritual Purity)   

Excerpt from the Felshtin Yizkor Book:
Our Great Disaster
by Sore Oksman

(From Chapter 14.  Editor's note: Sore Oksman came to America with four of her children right after the pogrom.  After her death, her children found among her possessions her handwritten description of the pogrom.)

     We lived two miles from Proskurov in the town of Felshtin, Podolia Gubernia.  When we heard about the terrible disaster in Proskurov (Sabbath, the 16th day in the Month of Adar I), we went to the Rabbi for advice and counsel because we knew the pogromists were heading in our direction.  The Rabbi instructed us to fast that day, and we did.  We also collected a few hundred rubles so we could bribe the hooligans when they would come into town, hoping that this payoff would spare our lives.

     Monday evening after the fast, soldiers rode into town ... The townsfolk fell into a panic and, leaving everything behind, ran for their lives. They did not know where to run and followed wherever their eyes took them.  The soldiers had already blocked the roads and let no one escape from town.  The gentiles of the town and of the surrounding villages were forewarned that if they harbored any Jews, they too would be killed along with the Jews.  They followed orders accordingly and let no one into their homes.,  As a result, we were forced to hide in attics and cellars.
     When I fled my home, my three sons were with me.  Somehow, along the way, the two older ones got separated from me, and I had no idea where they were or what happened to them. Only my youngest son was still with me ...
    I, who write these words, am a driven woman.  The mother of two murdered sons.  The oldest, Isaiah son of Khayim, was 28 years old and the youngest, Tsvi, was only 15 years old.  They were torn from their mother's side and killed in the worst way.  It is six years now that I am here with my children and my middle son and his family.  May they be well.

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