Later expeditions, 2012–2018 › Ryb Sigal

AHEYM-2018-065 · Sigal

Rîbnița (Ribnitz in the project's index) 2018-06-28 22 min · 5 stretches · 1 questions about words Yiddish 10% Russian 90%

Not online: the recording is held by the project and is not on Media Collections Online, YouTube or archive.org. Everything below is a paraphrase of a machine transcript, the weaker of this site's two transcript layers — see how it was made.

Summary

Camera-track file of a visit to Sigal in Ribnitz (Rybnitsa), 28 June 2018, spoken almost entirely in Russian. A blind man (Sigal) gives blessings to the team, then talks about his family (relatives who died in the war, an uncle buried at the Jewish cemetery, restoring the cemetery monument), looks at photograph albums, and finally the talk turns to a rebbe who spoke Yiddish with all visitors. The file is the end of a longer session and ends with the team preparing to leave.

Stretches

00:00–04:09

The blind host gives warm blessings and good wishes to the visitors, saying that sightless people are enlightened by God. The team is shown around the table, a friend 'known all over the world' (a rebbe from Ribnitz) is mentioned, there is a toast and a talk about drinking, and the hope that their paths may cross in America (Philadelphia, Indiana).

Informal life today Jewish identity and attitudes · Rybnitsa, Philadelphia, Indiana, Bessarabia (?)

04:09–10:18

Sigal talks about his family name and relatives: an uncle Peysakh in Philadelphia(?) and a violinist uncle buried at the Jewish cemetery, whose monument he helps restore. He recalls grandfathers Itsik and Khaim (Peysakhovich) who died during the flight east in the war, near the Dnieper where a bridge was bombed, and the flight by cart with his cousin Bershatski's family through Ukraine from the village Tymkovo(?). He says he was not in the ghetto.

10:03–13:36

The team says that the project matters and hopes it will be of use someday; they say one must forgive but remember. There is talk about tea and cookies, then Sigal gives his address on Kirov street and names friends from Ribnitz in America who helped restore the Jewish cemetery.

13:36–18:24

A small album of photographs of the restoration of the cemetery is fetched and looked at, with the people in them identified; a group in Israel and a man named Grisha are mentioned. A toast follows and a Yiddish song is begun with the guest (unclear words), and the team looks through all the albums, including photos of Sigal performing on stage and at the monument.

Questions about words

  • 20:45
    Which languages did Sura speak? — languages spoken by the rebbe's wife