Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In 1912, Abraham Rechtman traveled to the Pale of Settlement. The Lost World of Russia's Jews is the first English translation of his experiences, originally published in Yiddish, that inspired Life Is with People and Fiddler on the Roof.
In the last years of the Russian Tsar's Empire, Abraham Rechtman was a young member of S. An-sky's Jewish Ethnographic Expedition which explored Jewish daily life in the communities of the Pale of Settlement. Rechtman described the places Jews inhabited--cemeteries, houses, synagogues--and connected these sites to the local folklore. He provided rare accounts of traditional Jewish healers and exorcists and documented their methods and practices.
Rather than a nostalgic portrait of an imagined shtetl, Rechtman succeeded in producing an account of Jewish life and death that is highly nuanced and richly detailed. The Lost World of Russia's Jews sheds invaluable light on life in Eastern Europe at a time before the vast majority of Jews would immigrate to the United States.
Synopsis
978-0-253-02045-1 978-0-253-04777-9 978-1503611832
Synopsis
In 1913, Abraham Rechtman journeyed through the Russian Pale of Settlement on a mission to record its Jewish folk traditions before they disappeared forever. The Lost World of Russia's Jews is the first English translation of his extraordinary experiences, originally published in Yiddish, documenting a culture best known until now through romanticized works like Life Is with People and Fiddler on the Roof.
In the last years of the Russian Empire, Abraham Rechtman joined S. An-sky's Jewish Ethnographic Expedition to explore and document daily life in the centuries old Jewish communities of the Pale of Settlement. Rechtman described the key places where Jewish life and death were experienced and connected these sites to local folklore and customary practices. Among the many unique contributions of his memoir are riveting descriptions of traditional Jewish healers and exorcists--many of them women--and their methods and incantations.
Rather than a nostalgic portrait of an imagined shtetl, Rechtman succeeded in producing an intimate account of Jewish life and death that is highly nuanced and richly detailed. The Lost World of Russia's Jews powerfully illuminates traditional Jewish life in Eastern Europe on the eve of its transformation and, ultimately, destruction.