Bessie

By Janice Steinbeck

As an elderly woman battling loneliness and isolation, Bessie Bascove spent the rest of her life reflecting on memories of times gone by, beginning with stories she heard as a child, and continuing on to a new and unfamiliar life in America. In her old age, while still traumatized after so many years, Bessie recalls living through the tragic events she witnessed during the 1905 Odessa pogrom that brought her here. It was her hope that upon her passing, her life and the lives and memories of those she cherished would not be forgotten. This is her story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640271920

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Bessie

(25 November 1894 ~ 5 August 1994)

Janice Steinbeck

Copyright © 2017 Janice Steinbeck

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2017

Reproduction or translation of any part of this book, including illustrations, exhibits and photographs, without permission is strictly prohibited.

ISBN 978-1-64027-191-3 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64027-190-6 (Hard Cover)

ISBN 978-1-64027-192-0 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to my beloved parents

Millie (Blum/Bascove) Levine

(19 March 1918 ~ 21 November 2015)

and

Harry Gesh Levine

(7 June 1916 ~ 27 November 2004)

A Letter from Grandma

Introduction

As a child, I listened intently to stories told to me by my maternal grandmother Bessie about days gone by. While growing up, I allowed my imagination to wander in order to fill in the gaps that were left unspoken. Eventually, I found myself adding embellishments where they didn’t belong, and I decided I wanted to find the true missing pieces. Bessie and I corresponded regularly. We wrote countless letters to each other filled with all my questions, and she was delighted to provide the answers.

Bessie painstakingly recorded moments in her life that she wished to preserve. When she began her journal, her fingers were still nimble and her vision was still good. As her vision deteriorated and her hands became too stiff to hold a pen, she relied on caregivers or visiting family members to write down her thoughts as she spoke them. A few audiotapes also exist. All her words appear in italics in this book.

During the years surrounding her birth, significant dates were not recorded. Often, many years passed before a birth date became important or necessary. Once our ancestors arrived in America and they needed to provide the specific date of a marriage or birth, they chose one that seemed reasonable. Someone was born in the fall near a holiday, sisters were perhaps two years apart, and men compared themselves and decided they were nearly the same age or perhaps one looked a little older. From that, they decided on a month and year and chose a day at random. In this book, the birth dates of most everyone born prior to 1905 are estimates extracted from multiple documents and sources. Dates become more accurate as time progresses.

Also, in most every case, the exact name of their foreign town was left blank on immigration or American documents. Instead, they generalized and stated only that they came from Russia.

Some moments of Bessie’s life were so important that she repeated them in her numerous letters to me, occasionally adding a newly-remembered detail or elaborating on a previous thought. So, although some of her writings may appear redundant, they are all important.

Additional commentary and supporting information from historical documents were necessary in order to explain her thoughts more clearly.

Sometimes, she referred to her father as Dad, but when she spoke to me, she referred to him as Great-Grandpa. She identified people in her life according to their relationship to the person to whom she was speaking.

Today, as in the past, children receive their formal given name at birth. In the Jewish tradition, a child is also given a Hebrew name. Even though it’s not recorded anywhere nor does it appear on any official document, all Jewish children grow up knowing their Hebrew names. Traditionally, one would never name a child after someone who is still living. This practice was never broken in the old days, and most every person mentioned in this book was named after a mother, father, grandparent, sibling, or other significant person in the family who had died. In Bessie’s case, this tradition was broken because Bessie wanted assurance that her name would carry on, and only one person bears her name today.

Several women are named after Bessie’s grandmother Hayanna, including me, and many are named after her father. My sister is named after Bessie’s mother, and my sister’s daughter, Miriam, is named after Bessie.

Chapter 1

Hayanna Segal and Her Life in Black Church

Great-Grandma was born and raised in Black Church.

Bessie’s grandma Hayanna lived most of her days in a shtetl called Balaya Tserkov. She was the daughter of Avraham, and aside from the engraving on Hayanna’s cemetery monument, no trace of Avraham remains.¹ She was born sometime around 1833 and was named after a significant ancestor who had already died at the time of her own birth.

Before I go on, I need to explain how to pronounce Hayanna’s name. The Hay is spoken as though one were lightly clearing the throat. The beginning of her name rhymes with hi or bye, and the second part of her name is pronounced just as it’s written, Anna. The vocal sound of the beginning of her name, spoken alone, is a word meaning life.

Balaya Tserkov, known also as Bila Tserkva, was located in the Pale of Settlement, or simply the Pale. The Pale was a specific region in the Russian Empire where Jews were allowed to live. Areas outside of the Pale were forbidden to Jews. These limited areas of the Pale were first established in the fifteenth century and were expanded at subsequent times in history by governmental decrees. By the mid-1850s, contempt for the Jews had already been established, and so it was the Jews who were selected for displacement into the Pale. The creation and expansion of the Pale served only to isolate them further and segregate them from mainstream society.²

There were many places within the Pale that were forbidden places of settlement for Jews, such as Kiev and Moscow, and some Jews were given permission to live in places located outside the Pale. Balaya Tserkov was within the Pale and was a permitted place of residency.

Those who were forced to live within the Pale established small provincial towns called shtetls. The village of Balaya Tserkov included a gentile (non-Jewish) community as well. Balaya Tserkov, translated as white church, was named for a white Christian church located in the heart of the village. To the Jews, Balaya Tserkov was a constant reminder of their inability to live freely, and they expressed their resentment by calling the town by the opposite name of Shvartz Timmeh, meaning Black Church, or more literally black abomination. The coordinates for Black Church are 49º47’ N, 30º07’ E. To simplify, it’s about 48 miles SSW of Kiev.³

Life in Black Church was difficult, but like most shtetls it included merchants and tradesmen of all sorts. Poverty among Jews was prevalent throughout the Pale, and the majority of Jewish households in Black Church were poor. Even Jews who were considered well-to-do struggled to provide for their families.

The primary means of transportation to and from surrounding villages was by horse and cart, and short trips to neighboring villages was a part of everyday life.

Society in and around Black Church included all the trades that were essential to daily living. There were carpenters and furniture makers, grocers, farmers, cobblers, tailors, physicians, and religious leaders scattered throughout the neighborhoods.

I forgot to say my grandmother had a baker shop. People used to order cakes from all the little towns for bar mitzvahs, weddings, engagements, and years ago when a woman gave birth to a baby, children used to come and sing for the mother and her child. Grandma used to be busy with all this and the children were rewarded with candy, cookies, and cakes. Years ago, when a woman gave birth to a child, they used to come from the hada. That’s a Jewish school for children. They used to come and sing for the mother. All kind’a Hebrew songs, and then they used to give ’em a cake and throw candy at them.

In Jewish culture, female relatives and friends would gather in the newborn’s home on the first Sabbath after the birth to recite prayers in the baby’s presence so the infant could hear the words of the Bible (Torah), and they celebrated the survival of mother and infant with gifts to ward off bad spirits. They sang and danced for the mother and baby and shared sweet desserts to remind everyone of the sweetness of the event. Hayanna made a good living preparing baked goods for all types of ceremonies, including the celebration of a baby’s birth.

Hayanna married Mr. Rabinovitz sometime around 1847 when she was a young teenager.⁴ She was a child by today’s standards, but in those days, adolescent marriages were expected. Her husband was studying to become a teacher (rabbi). Bread was a staple of all Jewish households, and there were a few bakeries in Black Church, but Hayanna’s was one of the best. She worked hard to support her family so that her husband could continue