Mariia Andreevna Yakuta

Kerler states the date and Yakuta's address, then asks for her name for the record.

Yakuta gives her name and birth in Teplyk in 1921 and says she lived there until the war. She names her father and says he was born in Teplyk, and that he and her mother and three children were killed by the Germans. Her father was a hatmaker, and she describes the lined caps and collars he made. She gives her grandfather's name and her parents' names and birth years, lists her siblings, and says two brothers were evacuated to Tashkent. One brother served as a military doctor, and the family is now partly in Tel Aviv.

adds the hat-making terminology, the siblings' names and birth years, and the brothers' evacuation to Tashkent

Yakuta talks about her Yiddish school in Teplyk, its director, and her seven years there. Kerler asks whether she remembers Yiddish writers studied in literature, and she does not. She recalls her father, who was self-taught, reading the Yiddish newspaper Der Shtern aloud to the people of the town who came to listen.

adds the school director and the other townspeople gathering to hear the newspaper

Yakuta recalls how electric light first came to Teplyk in the 1930s, from an old tractor set by the river that gave one lamp per house. After the war a captured tank supplied more light, and radio arrived. S3 and Kerler briefly discuss the Ukrainian word for radio.

adds the postwar radio and the exchange on the Ukrainian word for radio

Yakuta lists the subjects taught in Yiddish at her school, including dictation and letter writing, and mentions Russian as a subject. She describes her father's secret Sabbath and religious practice during Soviet times and his trips to Uman and Bratslav with a pooled cart, as a Bratslaver hasid. Kerler asks her about the terms "good Jew" and "honest Jew", and the tsadik. She then begins to tell how the Germans selected craftsmen from among the Jews, including her father.

adds the terms for 'good Jew' and tsadik, and the start of the wartime account of the selection of craftsmen

Yakuta says her father refused to stay as a selected artisan when his wife and children were taken, and that he was killed with them. The other specialists were killed later. Kerler asks for the Yiddish for "later".

Yakuta describes prewar Sabbath at home, with her mother blessing the candles and her father requiring the children to sit and listen to his Sabbath order. He told stories about Teplyk people who went to America, and about Uman. Her mother prayed from a Yiddish prayer book, which Kerler discusses with her, and retold biblical tales such as the binding of Isaac. A side discussion with Kerler concerns Yiddish words and a blessing phrase.

adds the stories about emigrants to America, the prayer book, the binding of Isaac, and the Yiddish word discussion

Yakuta describes the many prayer houses of prewar Teplyk, including those of shoemakers, tailors, butchers and klezmers, and the one for the rich. She says Teplyk klezmers were hired for weddings elsewhere, in Bershad and Uman. She also lists other trades such as shoemakers, tailors, wigmakers and tinsmiths, and mentions a dentist and his wife.

adds the trades list including tinsmiths and the klezmer travel to other towns

Yakuta talks about the local wise woman and folk healing, including the cure for the evil eye by spoken charm. She tells how her mother, when her husband had malaria, cooked porridge with bread and salt and threw the pot into the river with an incantation to the seven spirits. Kerler and S2 discuss the Ukrainian and Yiddish words for the "grain of salt". Kerler then asks about the time when religious practice had to be hidden.

adds the discussion of the Yiddish and Ukrainian word for the pinch of salt

Yakuta says religious practice was done secretly before the war, and that the change came with collectivization. She recalls the great hunger of 1933, when starving non-Jews ate the mash from the alcohol plant's pit and died, and the road was full of corpses. She mentions the common pit at the non-Jewish cemetery and says she does not remember Jews dying of hunger there, though they suffered. The Jewish cemetery is also named.

adds secret religious practice and collectivization before the famine

Yakuta describes the main synagogue of prewar Teplyk, with its high steps, the women's section at the back, and the ark with the Torah, and a bimah she remembers from childhood.

Yakuta describes the synagogues of Teplyk before the war, among them a small wooden one near her house and the Great Synagogue, which had two floors. She explains where the men and women sat, how the women could hear the cantor, and that small girls were not allowed near the bimah. She recalls women being allowed in on Simchat Torah, when there was dancing, singing and great joy. Kerler asks the questions that clarify the layout.

Simchat Torah dancing and women's access to the synagogue that day.

Yakuta recalls the Passover seder at home, with her father reclining on a cushion on a bed and the children asking the questions. Kerler asks about the four questions, the Haggadah and the name of the bed. She then says the Yiddish school was closed before the war and made into a Ukrainian school. According to her, Jews accepted this because their children needed to advance. The second woman adds that a Yiddish soviet existed in Teplyk in the 1920s.

Yakuta's account of why Jews accepted the closure, and the Yiddish soviet.

Yakuta says that after the synagogues were closed Jews gathered in private homes to pray, and that there was a Jewish militia for some years. Kerler tests a few words by having her translate from Russian. She then describes her father's brother, who kept a small kerosene shop. A chairman of the Yiddish soviet had him arrested and held for a winter when he could not produce gold, and he came out in a terrible state. The family was poor.

The militia, the translation questions, and the uncle's arrest by a Jewish official.

Yakuta explains how buckwheat dumplings were made and eaten with boiled milk. Kerler asks about the details. She recalls childhood poverty: oranges and bananas were unknown, her mother split an apple among the children, and a glass of milk was a holiday. Kerler and the second woman ask about the Yiddish word for orange.

Yakuta speaks about the shops of prewar Teplyk, including an iron goods store, and about where vodka and lemons came from. Kerler asks about the Sukkot sukkah. She says neighbors used to come to sit in the sukkah at her father's house, that fish and soup were served, and that songs were sung. Kerler also asks about the words for meals (supper, breakfast, lunch).

Shops and trade in Teplyk, and terms for meals.

Yakuta says her parents' house was taken apart after the war. Kerler asks her mother's gefilte fish recipe, and Yakuta describes boning, chopping, onion, pepper and matzo meal. They discuss sweet versus peppery fish, and the horseradish served with it. She then talks about borscht cooked in clay pots, meat cutlets, and kinds of kasha. The second woman asks about beans in soup.

Borscht, cutlets and kasha varieties, and the fate of the parental house.

Kerler puts the AHEYM questionnaire to Yakuta, giving Russian prompts for her to translate into Yiddish. They cover body and illness words, forgiveness phrases, going out on the road or street, numbers of people, 'cold', 'high', 'mouse' and 'luck'. They also discuss how Litvaks speak Yiddish and a non-Jewish servant woman who spoke it.

Questionnaire work with Yakuta, driven by Kerler's questions. It covers words for converting from Judaism and for putting up a gravestone, the terms for non-Jews and for 'tasty', and words for sausage and for stuffed or baked fish. Further items are 'there isn't', house types, 'thousand', 'run away', 'sour', rain, 'came from another town', book, mouse, group, pigeon, broth and 'deaf'. Some talk about the economy today is mixed in.

Besides the questionnaire, it contains food terms, with sausage, treyf and stuffed fish discussed, and some remarks on the economy.

Yakuta describes how Hanukkah was celebrated at home before the war, including gifts of money and sweets for the children. She also names the fruits and treats eaten on Purim and other holidays. Kerler continues the questionnaire with items such as 'then', 'I had', 'tooth', 'dessert' and a word for floor or boards. Yakuta says what her mother baked for the Sabbath and discusses the word for challah and the terms for mushrooms. She adds that nobody knew of any non-kosher food before the war.

Beyond Hanukkah, it has Purim treats, a Tishah b'Av item (not clear in the transcript), and Sabbath baking and mushroom terms.

The interview with Yakuta winds down with brief remarks among the team, and then the scene shifts outdoors, where an unnamed woman is heard talking about whether one can live in Israel.

The team talks with Veliye, born in Sharhorod, who lives in Israel and is visiting her son in Teplyk. She talks about her pension, her husband, her children and grandchildren, and the Jewish relatives and acquaintances she knows in Israel. She tells of visiting the grave of a revered figure at Uman and of the climate and the sea in Israel. She also describes Hasidic families who travel there, and recent news of killings. Kerler says that he is recording how Yiddish speakers talk.

Besides her life today, it includes details about her family, relatives in Israel and the Hasidim there.

Veliye answers a few terminology questions, including the word for a priest and for one who converted. She says her sister, father and grandmother were baptized to avoid being caught. She then speaks about the war years in Sharhorod, where the occupiers were Germans, and about relatives who were shot there. She also tells of the fate of her mother in the ghetto. The details are hard to follow in the transcript.

The team greets another woman, perhaps Marinina, who joins the conversation with Veliye. Veliye's group says goodbye with promises to meet in Israel. The people present talk about who speaks Yiddish in their families and in Israel and Canada. Kerler explains that he speaks only Yiddish and tells where he is from, and the scene ends with further farewells in Yiddish and Russian.