| Len's uncle
Judah enters the Yeshiva at age 11
Now I’ll have to go back to the time I went to the Yeshiva. I mentioned before that my Rebbe suggested to mother that she take me to the Yeshiva, and he suggested that she take me to Rogachov, to the city Rogachov, one of the cities in Russia. Today Rogachov is very prominent in Russia. When I visited Russia several years ago, I was told that Rogachov is known throughout Russia for its dairy products. All the cheese and everything there comes from Rogachov.
But in my days, when I went to Rogachov, Rogachov was a very nice city, like a very big one. I imagine that the entire population of Rogachov consisted of about 30,000 or 35,000 people. That was all. But it was considered a very big city, because of the Count, that Rogachov had a big police commissioner who controlled the county, and a lot of cities, and hundreds of villages and towns.
Well, my mother took me to the Yeshiva. I remember traveling with my mother to a city by rail, to a city called Zhlobin. In Zhlobin the Dniepr passed through, and so there we got on a steamer on the Dniepr, and we sailed to Rogachov. We came to Rogachov, my mother brought me to the Yeshiva.
I remember she brought me to a house of the Rosh Yeshiva, the dean of the Yeshiva. She came in, she said, “Good morning.” It was morning I recall that we went in, and she took out a letter and gave it to him. It was a letter from my rebbe. The Rosh Yeshiva looked at the letter, and read it over. Then he stood up and said to my mother, “All the honor is to you. I know who you are. I know who your husband was.” He says, “This gentleman, whom I know well, is writing the letter. He is telling me all this. Well, don’t be afraid. I see that you’re a pretty nice boy who happens to be a pretty good student. He’ll do well, I’m sure. Just leave him here. I’ll take care of him.” I recall my mother crying. She cried. She was very happy.
She left the very same day, went back. I took her to the steamer. I went with her. I don’t recall why they called it the railroad station. It was right on the river, beautifully built. The steamer would back up right to that. It would pull it in with a rope, and then people would walk into the steamer. I took Mother there, and saw her get into the steamer.
Then I walked out, and I went to the left; over there was a big hill. It was way above the Dneipr River. You looked down from there, you saw the river way down. It was beautiful ó a lot of trees there, and green grass. So I sat down, and I saw the steamer take off, and getting a little bit farther and farther on. I looked at the steamer until it disappeared in the horizon. I fell into the grass and I cried. [Cries] I was a young boy. And Mother was the only close friend I had ó closest.
Well, somebody woke me up. I fell asleep. I opened my eyes. A policeman was standing over me, asking me who I was. I told him that I belonged to the Yeshiva. He knew what it was, and he took me there.
|
