Beyle Mindel Vaisman; Isaak Iosipovich Vaisman

The interviewee talks about her daughter, who married a Jew and lives in America with two children, whom she calls of Jewish blood. They say they wait for a visit and cannot travel, being old and unwell. Kerler wishes them good health and then asks permission to put some questions.

The daughter's marriage ending and the grandchildren's Jewish identity are mentioned.

The interviewee speaks of a daughter who married a Jew and now lives in America with her children, and of the couple's age and poor health today. Kerler wishes them good health before turning to questions.

The Vaismans answer questionnaire items from Kerler. These include a Russian word for 'forbidden' or 'gloomy', words for ear, attic and the Passover afikoman, and a Hanukkah song. Toward the end Kerler asks what latkes were made from; buckwheat is suggested and not confirmed.

Passover seder customs and a Hanukkah song come up in the elicitation.

They talk about latkes made from potatoes, with Kerler asking about prewar practice. The questionnaire then continues with words for blue, grey and colours of hair and eyes, window panes, groats, deaf, a mouse, and a small bird. Several questions are met with 'I don't know', and a Russian passage is heard briefly.

Potato latkes and colour and body terms are covered, not only latkes.

The interviewee says her father was an honest man who was a refugee in the First World War, apparently from Poland, and was from a German-origin family. She mentions that Jewish learning was no longer given at home in her day and speaks of a rebbe. Elicitation follows on words for quick, Kremenets, blue, sun and sons, 'whose child is this', a thing in school, and a word for face.

Kerler's questions on thanksgiving blessings (gomel) and on how Lithuanian Jews speak are included.

The questionnaire continues with words for a man or male, the expression for 'we sit near', the past form of 'to be', crying and a verb 'to cry', and 'pathology'. The informants disagree over words such as 'on the bridge' and 'someone told us', and a participant remarks on the Lithuanian speaker among them. A wedding song is not clearly identifiable in the transcript.

The wedding song is not evident in the transcript; the passage is mostly elicitation.

Katz and Kerler ask the difference between a rav and a rebbe and what is meant by a good Jew. The Vaismans say they know little about Hasidism before the war. They add that going to a rebbe with a question and to a rav for a wedding canopy is known.

Katz's comments on rav and rebbe are not covered by the label.

They discuss prewar Jewish religious life in Berdychiv, with a view that there was one religion and no sharp split between Hasidic and other Jews. A companion tells that people used to walk at night to a grave in town and an anecdote of Rabbi Bik on the Sabbath goy. The informants also recall that the lamp was kept burning on the Sabbath. Kerler then asks plural forms of rav and rebbe.

Talk about Jewish doctors in prewar Berdychiv, especially a much-loved doctor (named Barabán or similar) who treated people at any hour, took no money from Jews, and was reported to have been killed by the Germans. Many such doctors were murdered. Kerler then begins asking about word meanings.

The catalogue speaks of locals and their fate; the transcript centres on Jewish doctors and one doctor in particular.

Answers questions about Yiddish words and expressions, such as terms for a pest or bore, a good-for-nothing, a woman who goes about disheveled, Lithuanian Jews and their pronunciation, a monastery, gentile holidays, Easter and a cemetery. The Vaismans say Galicians were not known in their area. The informants contrast their own speech with Litvak Yiddish, and the discussion also touches on dialect sounds.

The transcript shows the contrast with Litvak speech and a Galician question, not only terminology.

Discussion of prayer terms such as kiddush and kaddish and how they were said, with talk about who in Berdychiv still remembers the kaddish and about who attends the synagogue today. The passage is garbled, and the catalogue's recitation of the kaddish is not clearly confirmed in the transcript.

The transcript shows questions about words and about present-day synagogue life rather than a recitation.

Answers questions from the dialect questionnaire and on cultural terminology: a bridal gift or dowry, the words for milk, yellow, flower and flowers, painting oneself, how Christians cross themselves and pray, and photographer and photographing. The informants also explain the expression 'gentile luck' and what Jewish luck means.

Kerler asks whether they saw the film Yidishe glikn, and the conversation turns to the actor Mikhoels.

Recalls seeing Mikhoels perform in Kharkiv, in the role of Tevye the milkman and in both Yiddish and Russian, and comments on the actor Ulyanov. The conversation then turns to the singer Appelbaum in Berdychiv, to the meeting of young and old on a bridge, and to sayings about youth and old age. Asked to sing a Yiddish song, the informants say they do not remember one, and mention a relative who knows a little.

The transcript shows no discussion of Cracow; it concerns Kharkiv and Berdychiv, with a failed request for a song.

Answers questions about the words for a peasant and a peasant woman, a non-Jewish woman, and what Jews meant by saying someone 'speaks gentile'. Then recalls the Passover seder at home, including the closing song Khad gadyo, the four cups, the plagues, stealing the afikomen, and the burrs thrown at people. The questions come from Kerler and Katz.

The catalogue speaks of questionnaire items and a Passover passage; the transcript also covers terms for non-Jews and what 'speaking gentile' meant.

Speaks about Jewish life in Berdychiv today: a wasteland that has been rebuilt, the synagogue's revival with help from Americans, pensions, and the husband's service at the front at eighteen with medals. The speaker links this to Jewish revival. Katz then begins a question about the 1920s.

The transcript mentions the rebuilding of the synagogue site and pensions, and the husband's service at eighteen.

Talks about Jewish religious life under Soviet rule before the war. The parents were learned and observant but the children were afraid to study openly, the cheder was forbidden, and Jews were taught in a Yiddish school for four years and then sent to Russian schools. Katz asks how the Soviet Yiddish school differed from the earlier education, and the informants describe the generation gap and intermarriage.

The transcript adds the Yiddish-school question and the conversation about marriage.

Talks about weddings before and after the war, with half marrying Jews, and about the daughter and grandchildren in America and a grandchild who knows Hebrew and English. The conversation then turns to whether Jews drink, and the informants argue that Jews seldom get drunk.

The transcript shows talk about intermarriage, grandchildren abroad and Jews and drinking.

Talks about Jewish coachmen in prewar Berdychiv, who sometimes drank, and says they spoke Yiddish. The speaker also says that non-Jews spoke Yiddish before the war because there were so many Jews, while the grandchildren today do not know it.