The Shtetl: Medzhybizh Then and Now
by Nathan Roi
On the way to Medzhybizh, we pass through a small town called Tolchin: along the road are galvanized tin shacks selling a variety of smoked fish to people who come from all over Ukraine, even as far as Kiev, as the prices are evidently far less. In large basins carp are swimming. Decades ago they would have been destined to end up as gefilte fish on the Sabbath tables of the more affluent Jews in the shtetl. It could well be that the disciples of the Besht could not afford them. Today Tolchin has no Jews but on the outbreak of the Second World War, 44 percent of its population was Jewish. Most of them were slaughtered, but a small remnant settled in Netanya.
Before the Limmud FSU festival for young Russian-speaking Jews taking place in Odessa, a group of us embark on a short tour of some of the typical Jewish shtetls of this region where the Besht Tov lived and preached. The family roots of Chaim Chesler, the founder and chair of the executive of Limmud FSU, who was treasurer of the Jewish Agency and head of the Agency’s delegation to the former Soviet Union, lie in Poland but he is fascinated by hassidic tales. His interest may stem from the fact that his father and his mother were both adherents of the tolerant strain of Eastern European Judaism (they are buried in Bnai Brak adjacent to the grave of R. Eliezer Shach, the leader of Lithuanian Jewry during and after the war.) The elder Chesler was known for his tolerance and was also as an expert in the field of kashrut, especially the stage of porging – cleaning the meat after slaughter.
All of Ukraine, but this area in particular, is saturated with memories of riots and pogroms. Jewish blood was spilled here by the Cossacks, the Swedes, the Poles, the Ukrainians and the Germans. The anti Jewish actions reached a peak during the infamous Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-9 and are recorded in the monumental work, Abyss of Despair, by Rabbi Nathan Hanover, a famous 17th century chronicle depicting Jewish life in Russia and Poland of that period. Bogdan Chmielnicki was leader of the Cossack and peasant uprising against Polish rule in the Ukraine in 1648 which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities. A popular hero to Ukrainians, for Jews, the name Chmielnicki is synonymous with terror, murder and oppression.
The colorful old cemetery and the building over the Besht’s tomb are quiet and inactive by comparison to the tomb of R. Nachman of Bratslav but there are still some visitors who have arrived from Israel to pray at the site.
Images courtesy the author.