Shpitalnik discusses Yiddish poetry, before she speaks about prewar Yiddish cultural life, including libraries and theater. Shpitalnik recalls Yiddish plays, performed by the Vilna Troupe, as well as performances by Sidi Tal, Gina Zlotaya and Adolf Tefner. She also went to an author reading by Itzik Fefer.
Shpitalnik names the libraries of Chișinău before the war and says she read novels in Russian, later in French and Romanian. Asked about Yiddish theater, she recalls her parents attending the Vilna Troupe and performances by Sidi Tal, Gina Zlotaya (?) and Adolf Tefner (?). She also remembers an evening with Itsik Fefer in 1940.
Also includes a short exchange on a Yiddish poem and on reading languages.
Shpitalnik talks about her grandmother, who was said to have sung beautifully until she learned of her husband's death, and who later received a small pension under tsarist Russia. In answer to Kerler she says her mother did not sing and describes her as a kind woman who never spoke ill of anyone.
Also covers her mother's character and the grandmother's pension.
Shpitalnik addresses life before the war in Chişinău, specifically the relationship between Jews and non-Jews. She also recalls the persecution of Communists during Romanian rule, as well as of Zionists under early Soviet rule. In particular, Shpitalnik mentions the persecution of Zalmen Rosenthal, editor of "Undzer tsayt" (our time).
Shpitalnik answers questions about contact between Jews and non-Jews in Chișinău. She recalls that around 1938 the family moved to a house among Jews, and says that under the Romanians Communists rather than Zionists were persecuted. She recalls that after the Soviets arrived in 1940 Zionists were arrested and sent to Siberia, including Zalmen Rosenthal, editor of the paper Undzer Tsayt, and others; Kerler asks about Rosenthal's first name.
Also names other arrested Zionists and the question whether non-Jews spoke Yiddish.
Shpitalnik speaks about a Moldovan family, who rescued Jews during anti-Jewish pogroms and then continues addressing Jewish and non-Jewish relations. She then speaks about her life before the war, including childhood friends. Shpitalnik states that she learned how to speak Yiddish from her grandmother during the war.
Shpitalnik tells of a Moldovan family from whom her family rented rooms, whose parents had sheltered Jews during the pogroms, hiding them near a monastery on Astapovskaya (?) street. She speaks about rare intermarriage, her Jewish kindergarten and friends (one now in Los Angeles, another killed in the war). She says that before the war she only understood Yiddish and learned to speak it from her grandmother during the war, and explains why Russian was spoken at home.
Also covers her kindergarten, childhood friends and language use at home.
Shpitalnik says there were no Yiddish shop signs in prewar Chișinău, only Romanian. Asked about Rabbi Tsirelson, she recalls her grandfather knowing him and describes him as a small man with a white beard, a member of the Romanian senate who tore up his mandate when the fascists came. She also mentions the slaughterhouse where her mother grew up, a street named after Tsirelson, excursions she led, and religious instruction in the Romanian gymnasium.
Also covers shop signs, the slaughterhouse, Shpitalnik's own excursions and the religion lesson at school.
Shpitalnik speaks about her school education at a Romanian school before the war. She remembers how Jewish students were given lessons by a religious teacher. She then speaks about prewar religious life and local rebbes, before answering questions about cultural terminology.
Shpitalnik describes how Jewish pupils in the Romanian gymnasium were taught religion in the corridor by a rabbi (Epelbaum or Yampolski). Asked about Hasidim, she says she knew of none before the war but knew of a good Jew in Bender and of the Ribnitser rebbe Chaim Zalbul(?), who died in Queens. Kerler then asks what 'a good Jew' and 'a good place' (cemetery) mean, which she answers briefly.
Also covers the religion lessons, tsadikim in Bender and Rybnitsa, and questions on 'a good Jew' and 'a good place'.
Shpitalnik recalls Jewish refugees in 1940. Her family received a Hungarian-speaking family from the Transylvanian region. She also addresses different regional Yiddish dialects.
Shpitalnik recalls that in 1940 Jewish refugees from elsewhere in Romania came to Chișinău, among them a Hungarian-speaking family from Transylvania whom her family took in and another from Bucharest. She says she was then in the sixth class and switched easily to Russian. She answers Kerler's questions on differences in Yiddish: Bucharest speakers, Baltic Jews who think theirs is the true Yiddish, and her own Bessarabian speech compared with Lithuanian Jews.
Also covers Yiddish dialect differences and her husband's reaction to Lithuanian Yiddish.
Shpitalnik talks about prewar Jewish life, including traditional weddings, in Chişinău. She was married in 1951 and states that there was no wedding canopy at her wedding because she considered it old-fashioned.
Shpitalnik says Chișinău was a Yiddish-speaking city with street vendors calling out in Yiddish, though she saw no street singers or klezmorim playing for money. She describes prewar Jewish weddings with canopies, glass-breaking, an entertainer and klezmer, and says she married in 1951 without a canopy, considering it old-fashioned, although her husband's parents wanted one.
Also covers street vendors, wedding customs and the entertainer.
Shpitalnik answers Kerler's questions on cultural terminology: the word dybbuk and its local meaning, a convert to Christianity (meshumed), the golem, formulas said after a dead person is mentioned, and a blessing that the deceased may plead for the living. She also recalls a known convert (Rovinovitsh (?)) from before her time.
Shpitalnik describes the districts of prewar Chișinău, including the poor lower town and the Old Bridge area, and the richer upper parts. She talks about the Teater Ekspres, the Auerbach family and two Jewish dancers named Seltser, who performed Yiddish theater and European dances.
Shpitalnik speaks about the Yiddish cultural organization "Kultur-lige," including activists and activities before the war. She then speaks about the contemporary situation of the organization and activities.
Shpitalnik speaks about the prewar Yiddish Kultur-Lige: its meetings, members who wanted Yiddish at home, Lipe Altman (brother of the writer Moyshe Altman), the librarian Gitl Shvidkaya (?), and literary evenings. She says Rosenthal was a Zionist while the league leaned left, and reflects on peaceful relations among differing camps. She then describes her work as the only librarian handling Yiddish books today and the few remaining readers.
Also covers her library work today and the Zionist-communist relations.
Shpitalnik speaks about her life and work after World War II, as well as her return to Chişinău. She moved to Chernivtsi for university studies soon after her return. Shpitalnik then speaks about her husband's work.
Shpitalnik recalls that life in Chișinău after the war was very hard, with houses destroyed and the family home gone, so she left to study in Chernivtsi; she mentions the ration system. She then tells how her husband, a well-known agronomist who lacked a medal, was denied an award, and that he worked with tobacco and died of liver illness.
Shpitalnik talks about postwar religious life. She states that the only synagogue was closed down in the 1960s. She also addresses traditional weddings with performers. Shpitalnik then speaks about prewar Jewish occupational structure in Chişinău, particularly doctors and teachers.
Shpitalnik says that after the war there was one synagogue, which was closed in the 1960s, and that Yom Kippur crowds could not fit in. She discusses Jewish singers hired for weddings, why Odessan Jews had more education than Bessarabians, and the many prewar Jewish doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and the Jewish cooperative bank, with few Jewish teachers.
Also covers prewar Jewish doctors, lawyers, bankers and teachers.
Shpitalnik says the 1903 pogrom is overemphasized and that prewar Jewish Chișinău was poor, with good tailors, shoemakers and craftsmen but no rich people; she mentions about seventy synagogues. She recalls the short-lived Yiddish folk theater of the late 1960s, performances she saw, and a story involving an Ukrainian doctor friend. The passage ends with talk among the interviewers about Moyshe and arrangements.
Shpitalnik speaks about her current work in the Yiddish library, where she is the only Yiddish specialist. She has set up a Yiddish study room and published a booklet on Bessarabian writers, and mentions a new literature museum. The passage ends with arrangements for the next day, her remarks on being helped during her husband's illness, and thanks.
