Shprintsa (Shprintse) Khaimovna Yaruskaya

Yaruskaya gives personal data: born in 1925 in Hâncești and evacuated in 1941. She names her parents, her father Khaim, a painter from Chișinău, and her mother Khaye Dobrish, who was born in Hâncești and did sewing at home. She mentions a sister, Polia, and her parents' birth years. She names grandparents and their occupations, and says she named her sons after relatives; one son lives in America.

gives the grandparents' names and occupations and the naming of her sons after relatives

Yaruskaya recalls her childhood in Hâncești, living in rented rooms without a flat of their own. She remembers kindergarten and school, and the family's poverty. She describes her grandparents' synagogue-going on holidays and her father attending only on holidays. She says there were two synagogues, that Jews lived in town and non-Jews in the surrounding districts, and that Yiddish was spoken.

Yaruskaya describes Passover preparations in her family's home. Matzah was hidden in the attic, Passover dishes were koshered, and the children went to fetch Passover wine. She tells the seder plate, including horseradish, and recalls what her mother told about the origin of matzah. She does not remember the four questions.

includes her mother's explanation of the origin of matzah and the koshering of dishes

Yaruskaya recalls prewar Purim in the town: a carnival with music, costumed people in the streets, and children following along. She remembers going from house to house with greetings. She recites a Purim rhyme her father used to sing and mentions a children's song, but does not recall further songs.

includes a rhyme her father sang and the children's greetings

Yaruskaya speaks about Simchat Torah, Sabbath synagogue attendance with her mother and grandmother, and the town's two synagogues, a tailors' one and a larger one. She describes her mother's Sabbath cooking, including a dish made from chicken feet, and keeping food warm. She gives the method for gefilte fish and says they added no sugar.

includes the second synagogue and the keeping of food warm on Sabbath

Yaruskaya says she remembers Yiddish songs from childhood, including one about paper children, but not their words. She describes a traditional Jewish wedding before the war outside the synagogue, with candles and fireworks and a fiddler. She mentions the huppah at her son's wedding at home, then answers a question about the term for gefilte fish.

Yaruskaya says she has been in Latvia and mentions Riga and a sanatorium. She answers questions about travelling and about family visits to her grandparents in Chișinău on holidays. The passage is partly garbled.

the catalogue says Lithuania; the transcript points to Latvia and Riga

Yaruskaya sings a Yiddish song about a tailor and recalls meeting Polish Jews during the evacuation, noting their different accent. She describes returning to Hâncești after the war. The murdered Jews of the town were dug up from graves shown by a local non-Jewish woman. Remains were found, including the rabbi's candlesticks and children's shoes, and were reburied in the field. Her mother's parents had stayed behind and were killed there.

includes the grandparents who stayed behind and the rabbi's candlesticks found in the grave

Yaruskaya recalls the family's poverty, including buying wood for winter. She says she finished six classes in a Romanian school, where pupils were beaten, and that street signs were in Romanian. She says her father was something of a communist who was once arrested and bought out, and who distributed leaflets at night.

Yaruskaya recalls the arrival of the Soviets and the outbreak of war. The family fled, walking for months to Rostov and passing Dubăsari. Local Ukrainians gave them bread and food, and the children briefly lost their parents. From Rostov they went by train to Makhachkala and then by steamer across the Caspian Sea in a storm, in which many people were lost. They lived on the street in Krasnovodsk, then in a camp-like settlement outside, where the parents worked and the mother was weak.

the transcript's route is only partly clear; the final place name is uncertain

Yaruskaya says she stayed in Krasnovodsk after the war, working in a factory. Her parents returned to Chișinău first and were given an apartment, while she stayed there, had a child and waited long for permission to leave. She travelled by ship across the frozen sea. The year of her own return is unclear in the transcript; she seems to say 1949.

Yaruskaya tries to recall Yiddish proverbs and sayings and discusses the wording of one with the interviewers. She repeats the Purim rhyme and mentions songs about cigarette sellers. She names her husband Makhl from Nariv (?) and a saying about people from Nariv. She says she spoke Yiddish with her husband and sons. Her sons live in Israel and America and she did not join them; she has visited America and her relatives there.

adds her husband and sons' Yiddish, and their emigration abroad

Yaruskaya answers questions about cultural terminology: the meanings of terms for a bad or foolish person, and what a dibbuk is. She explains pouring lead to cure fright, which old women did in Hâncești, and her mother's charms. She says matchmakers were not used in the town. She also describes prewar weddings with fish, bread and brandy, and says her sons had bar mitzvahs in Chișinău.

adds pouring lead to cure fright, the absence of matchmakers and sons' bar mitzvahs

Yaruskaya mentions the synagogues in Chișinău today, including a new one. She answers the question of the best time of her life, speaking of her good husband. She counts her grandchildren and great-grandchildren in America, Ukraine and Chișinău.

Yaruskaya says she trained as a motor mechanic and, after the children were small, worked for thirty-six years as a bus conductor. She talks about visiting the cemetery where her mother, husband, sister and father are buried and what she says there. She speaks of her sons and grandchildren, and the son from America who phones and visits.

adds cemetery visits and the son in America

Yaruskaya talks about her visits to America and Israel, preferring Israel and its Sabbath observance. She recalls prewar holidays: Sukkot, with the sukkah and decorations, and Purim, when her father played an instrument. She also describes Yom Kippur fasting at home and going to the water. At the end Kerler asks for the Russian words for water, river and lake.

adds Israel and America and the Russian word questions at the end

Yaruskaya concludes the formal interview. She recalls quiet prewar life in Hâncești without envy between rich and poor, and describes how she and her sister took wrapped meat and bread to poor families at their mother's direction.