Nissan GreenbergTranslation by Daphna Brafman Coordinated by Tilford Bartman
In Zabludow Niski was an educational institute like the New York Public School, and in his "Cheder" half of the town's infants studied. The began with the aleph-bet and continued with the reading from the "Siddur" (prayer book), until they were able to read Hebrew. After that they learned "Chumash" (five books of Moses) with other teachers.
They used an old method of teaching, adjusting letters to the Hebrew vowels at first- ah, bah etc, and the study lasted a few periods of time. The parents paid for the period- like from Pessach to Sukkot and from sukkot until Pessach. Two or three rubles were considered an expensive tuition. But Nisska was not strict about the payment. He never sent home children whose parents did not have enough money to pay for the studies. For him the study was more important than the tuition. He had so much pleasure teaching the children, and he considered every detail- letter and vowel. He taught each child separately; finished with one and called upon the second, and that's how the entire group passed before him. He taught every child three times a day. Niski didn't know how many children he had and not always was he able to identify all of them. So many were without "evil eye" (ultra religious Jews don't count their children due to a fear of "evil eye"- meaning bad luck.) But they didn't care how many they are. He used to look on the infants, called upon the first, second and so on.
He was a man with a good and pure heart. He knew not lie; always speaking truth. If comparing him to George Washington who never said a lie, it is permissible to say that Niski deserves more praise.
I remember that in Zabludow there was a rabbi named R. Ephraim Lap. A great learner and wise, but still a young and not very impressing. Because he was not blessed with the talent to speak, he did not gain the heart of the people, and they did not consider his words too much. For that reason he had no influence on the land lords in Zabludow. When messengers from another town on the border of Germany, who knew Rabbi Lap and appreciated his knowledge and wisdom and asked him to be their rabbi- none was sorry in Zabludow.
Niski visited R. Lap before he left town. While conversing r. Lap asked Niski: "aren't you sorry that I am leaving?" Answered Niski- if the big landlords aren't sorry, why should I be? Niski was unaware that he insulted the rabbi. When he told his friends about it, and they commented that he had hurt the rabbi- Niski's spirit was restless until the rabbi forgave him.
Niski did not appreciate this world. He settled for less. It was unimportant to him what he shall eat and wear. There was only one desire in his heart- the desire for books. An author or a book salesman who came to town first went to Niski; they knew that Niski was always ready to buy a new book, even if it was expensive. Although he wasn't a learner, and did not understand in books that were not in Yiddish- he kept buying new books and greatly enjoyed looking at them standing on the shelf. Sometimes they caused him much sorrow. As is known, the Russian government decided that relatives of a Jewish guy who did not go to the army must pay 300 rubles for every one of them. Since Niski's three sons had immigrated to America, he was required to pay 300 rubles for each of the sons. Since all he owned were the books, officials used to auction them in order to cover the fine. Niska used to send one of his friends to buy the books for a few rubles and return them to their owner. Niski placed them back on the shelf. Sometime later a demand came from Peterburgh to pay the rest of the fine. The police came to his home to confiscate the books that had already been sold and other new books, and again there was an auction his friend was sent to. How great his joy was to see them on the shelf and how sad was he to see the uncircumcised sell his holy books. They tell that the police came one day and demanded 900 rubles for his three sons. Said Niska to them: " what kind of math is that? Give me 100 rubles and I will owe you a thousand."
And so Niska lived peacefully in Zabludow. His sons urged him to come to America but he refused. He knew that nowhere will he find the good life he has in Zabludow. As he was getting old he saw that new teachers and methods came to town and that the number of his students declined. He felt unwanted. With a broken heart he said good bye to his students, took his books and went to his sons in America.
There they took care of all his needs. But the worldly pleasures of the "treif" (not kosher) America was no match for the spiritual pleasure he had in Zabludow and was lost forever.
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