Uncompleted interview with Basya Goldmacher

I told him that we, my mother and I, were heading to Khanty-Mansyisk to my husband and his family. The Goldmacher family… As soon as I said the name of the family, he immediately put his arm around my neck: ‘The Goldmacher family – I see! Well, come with me than…’ The next moment I found myself in a big cabin, with a couple of men sitting around a big table full of drinks and food… I was hungry, and the smell of the food almost made me faint…

I soon found out that the administration of ‘Glavribtrest’ (Fish Company) of the North District was traveling in that cabin. There was an incredible abundance of fish in that area, where the Irtysh River merges with Ob River. These were the two biggest rivers of Siberia, the land of rivers.

It was not a problem to have food products on the table for that kind of superiors. A part of that group was the chief accountant of ‘Glavribtrest’, Brodsky, and other accountants that were going to Salekhard to inspect the subordinated branches of the fish trust. Matus and Peyrets told me later that the fish industry at that time was the main one of the region. Its importance increased significantly with the beginning of the war. It was due to the fact that many fish canning factories were working in the region that were supplying the Red Army with mushroom and fish cans, and other products that the North region was rich of.

Brodsky knew Matus very well, as he was working as chief accountant at the Khanty-Mansyisk department of the trust. Matus was a very experienced accountant, and Brodsky was always inviting him to develop the financial reports for the entire trust.

The man who took me to Brodsky was the chief accountant of the Tyumen department of the fish trust. When we first got to Tyumen, Matus wrote him a letter and asked to help his relatives, who were forced to spend the winter in Tyumen. Peyrets also wrote me in one of his letters the address of his office, and advised me to go there as he could give us a helping hand. I went there once, but the manager appeared to be on a field trip. I never went there again because of my juvenile foolishness. Here I was, meeting this man and his colleagues on a ship.

We did not starve on that ship anymore after that nightly meeting. Brodsky asked the captain of the ship to find a cabin for us, so that we would not have to sleep on the deck on the cold nights. The cabin had only one bed though, but it was not an inconvenience for two skinny women, moreover it was enough for both of us. In addition, the cabin had a shower, which turned out to be a ‘luxury’ for us, as well as rescue from lice. Brodsky asked my mother if she could cook for them the Jewish Gefilte Fish. In other words, another ‘Holly Angel’ saved us on that ship.

Photo #21. Basya is carrying a chemistry class in the school # 13, Chernovtsy, 1954.

When we reached Khanty-Mansyisk, I finally found my Peyrets, and his family.

Photo #22, #23 Basya in the associated choir of teachers from Moldavian Schools in Chernovtsy city, 1970.

N. G. The great philosopher Maimonides said that Jews should believe in miracles. Your last story is a true miracle! I cannot believe that the person you were supposed to meet in Tyumen and did not manage to, was on that ship. Moreover, he was together with the Chief Financial Manager Brodsky…

I believe you are very tired by now. We are having this conversation for almost 4 hours already…

Let me polish the material and we will meet again in three weeks from now to find out your ‘womanly understanding’ of the next step of your extraordinary life.
Nelly Gorovskaya. Unfortunately, the second meeting-discussion never happened…
At first, I was busy with my personal problems, and continuously postponing for ‘later’ to continue our conversation.

After that, Basya had serious health issues. The disease was incurable. After a short period she passed away in the Long Island Jewish hospital.

According to Peyrets’ words, Basya was very ‘brave’ during her stay in the hospital. She never complained that she was dying. She was aware of everything. She was hesitant to bother an assistant or nurse. She was independent, holding her husband’s hand, going to the bathroom until her last breath… What a will power did she have! She showed ‘halutza’ endurance and courage! This is what ‘never give in’ means!

She passed away in her sleep. The first moment, Peyrets thought she peacefully felt asleep. But she was not sleeping. She was gone forever…

‘Whenever a man dies there dies with him his first snow and kiss and love – it goes with him. And every time my heart just screams, about this irretrievable course of things!’

Basya has lived a long and intensive life full of incredible events. A life, I tried to, at least partially bring to life with my interview (or better said a heart to heart conversation). The years of life experience of this wonderful woman became history for my generation. I believe it is not only my case; it is the case of many other women too.

Experiencing tremendously difficult life circumstances, she managed to graduate from college in Siberia; obtain a higher education diploma; become a successful professional chemist, an excellent teacher, and an experienced head teacher of the school…

She came to USA at the age of 60, mastered the English language and successfully continued working by her main profession in American companies. At the same time, she bravely bore her daily life and hardships of emigration, and she always was helping Peyrets, captivated by public Jewish activity…

******

Nothing can be set aside ‘for later’. Human life is a too fragile thing.

I am convinced that if I would continue my conversation – interview with Basya, I would certainly find out about many more ‘Holly Angels’ that helped her and her family along the way of her life; as well as about other wonderful stories, rich with Jewish wisdom she inherited from her grandparents and her mother.

The Jewish wisdom and faith in the ‘Jewish destiny’ in this world help our people survive in the most tragic circumstances for more than four millennia. Moreover, it helped create timeless spiritual values – Torah, ‘The Book of Books’, that changed the world surrounding us for the better; it helped our nation to ‘be reborn from ashes’ into a new life in the most terrible and critical moment of national and worldwide history of the cruel 20^th century.

The Jewish people, that were one of the most humiliated, deprived of homeland, security and dignity, found willingness to arrive at those peaks, which they reached in the second half of the 20^th century, and show wonders of resilience, courage and optimism.

This is about our liberation from the ‘Modern Egypt of the 20^th century’ – from Soviet bondage; it is about rebuilding of our national identity in the lands of our ancestors, and strengthening of our Jewish communities around the globe. It is about the achievements of our Jewish scientists and intellectuals – that were awarded with most distinguished prizes in all the areas of the intellectual performance of the modern world.

This kind of drastic metamorphosis borders with ‘Divine miracles’. While reflecting on the destiny of Basya Goldmacher – an outstanding Jewish woman, I remembered a legend Peyrets told me about, trying to ‘enlighten’ me, ‘a Soviet person’, about the Jewish wisdom. According to this legend, the whole world is holding on, relaying on 36 righteous people of the world. Speaking in Hebrew terms, he named the 36 righteous ‘Lamed Vav’, as the Hebrew letters ‘lamed’ (numerical value of 30) and ‘vav’ (numerical value of 6) have together numerical meaning of 36. Our world would come to an end without the 36 ‘Lamed Vav’ (righteous). If one of 36 righteous dies, a substitution will be found in our world immediately to replace the righteous.

I strongly believe that Basya was one of the righteous. She was the feminine component of them.

What woman would be ready to immediately replace the righteous in the obligatory magic number of 36?

My dear Jewish women – we live in the times, when the ‘patriarchic era’ comes to an end in our Jewish traditions. Nowadays, our Jewish women are increasingly occupying the most important positions of the Jewish world. We cannot lower this bar…

Who is the next woman, which could continue to hold this honorable torch, who could take a very difficult and responsible place within the group of righteous? Respond to my calling and I will be ready to tell your stories to ‘the entire Jewish world’…
Nelly Gorovskaya. October, 2010
Note: The 23 photos are from the personal archive of the Goldmacher family.
NOTES
ORT (abbreviation) – Association of Vocational Labor – philanthropy organization for distribution among the Jews of Russia of qualified vocational and agricultural training. Since 1921, ORT is a world-wide Jewish educational and cultural organization.

ORT was founded in 1880 in St. Petersburg. The founders were Russian Jewish philanthropists S. Poliakov, G. Ginzburg, L. Rozental, and others. The goal of the Association was the economic stability of Russian Jews in Tsarist Russia. Besides training, it would offer loans for the purchase of agricultural equipment. At present, the headquarters of ORT is in London. ORT Association does not only have vocational schools (mainly in poor developed countries), but also colleges in US, Israel and CIS countries.

«TSEENA-U- EREENA» (Hebrew), literally: «Go and see». The Yiddish name of the book for Jewish women. Named after the verse from ‘Song of Songs’: ‘Go and see daughters of Jerusalem’. It represents the transcription of the story of Torah and five other biblical books (Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiast, Jeremiah, and Song of Songs). The book also contained translations from the books of Prophets together with a number of commentaries made by Rashi and other Jewish religious scholars. The book of ‘Tsur’ was very popular among Ashkenazi women and, as a rule, was the main reading attribute.

From the aesthetic point of view, the book was poetic, filled with pathos, meant to address the readers’ curiosity. Since ‘Tsur’ was written in Yiddish, it was better understood by women, more than religious literature written in Hebrew. Hebrew was less taught to the girls than to the boys. Only boys could study at Yeshivas and other religious schools.

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