From The Wedding by Joseph Levine Chapter 12

From The Wedding
by Joseph Levine
Chapter 12


I now have to go to Lithuania by myself. I arrive at Grodna but do not know what to do, so I become a tailor.


Now what to do? To stay in town with the puddles is not very desirable. I really feel like seeing a big city. But how is one to travel without a passport? My passport for the three months has long since expired.

Soon after yomtov the first military conscription began. I must go to Grodna where they will appraise my age. It was quite clear that I did not have any choice but to travel to Grodna.

I packed all my bags and hired a wagon. When the wagon was waiting in front of my house, I bid farewell to my mother, my older sisters and my younger sisters. I will never forget the image of my faithful mother at that moment when we bid one another farewell. She looked like a beautiful angel with pearl tears in her beautiful, blue eyes. She planted a final motherly kiss upon my lips.

As the horses began to move we heard the farewell wishes from my mother and my sisters. "Be well!" "Drive well!" "Have a safe trip!" Before long we were on the road near the other side of town.

What an awful night this was. My heart was pained by the very strong feeling of homesickness. Tears were pouring from my eyes and I could not stop sighing. Eventually I fell asleep and had all sorts of dreams.

In my dream I saw the helper in school bringing dishes of food that he distributed among the children. I also saw the teacher explaining the biblical story of Moses as a baby in a basket drifting in the Nile river in Egypt. The crocodiles wanted to catch it. I also dreamt that my father took me to a new teacher who tested me.

When I awoke, I was in the town of Shmilla. From Shmilla we traveled to Cherkosk to the boat that goes to Kiev.

When I was sitting in the boat, it began to take off as though it was anxious to leave. It was in the month of August when the water was somewhat shallow. The boat was sailing slowly and smoothly from early in the morning until five P.M.

Suddenly the boat hit a rock with a loud crash. Everyone was frightened. There was a hole in the deck. Water rushed into the bottom deck. The fire from the steam engine was extinguished by the water. Then the boat started to capsize. The front of the boat was sticking up in the air but the back was submerged. All the passengers ran to the front of the boat with a tremendous commotion, especially from the women and children. It looked like there was no way to save ourselves and it would soon become dark.

Here I was standing with my packages. It was quite crowded, since there was little room above the water line. Our only choice was to jump into the water. I thought to myself, "What's going to be with me? Will I suffer the same death as my father?" Suddenly it dawned on me that this was the same Dneiper River that drowned my father just a year ago!
What if I were to jump into the water and disappear like my father? No one would know what happened to me.

Some time later, some men appeared with ropes and somehow managed to pull the boat close to the shore. They extended a plank and rescued the passengers. First they took the women and children and then the men. The plank was not very steady. It was shaking and quite frightened. But in the end, everyone was rescued and there was a happy ending in this case.

We were thankful to G-d. We were sitting on the ground in a sandy area within a forest. We spent the entire night there. In the morning, another boat arrived which took all the passengers to Kiev.

I was afraid to spend the night in Kiev because my papers were not in order and I was not allowed to stay there. So I went straight to the train station and took the first train out. It was a train to Cossatin and from there to Berditchev. I stayed in Berditchev for a couple of days. Since I did not have much money, I tried to sell some of the light colored pants that I had. The pants had cost me 10 rubles and all I could get for them was 3 rubles. What could I do? I needed the money. I had no alternative. I sold them for 3 rubles. With that I barely managed to make it to Grodna and from there to Amdur. I arrived in Amdur just before Rosh Hashanna.