This unique book is an unforgettable journey into the heart of Yiddishland, a mythical and real land that has never appeared on a map of the world, but whose frontiers have forged rivers, crossed oceans and spanned continents. Although, tragically, it no longer exists, Yiddishland — a huge area that stretched from Poland to the Ukraine, Belorussia, Romania, Bessarabia, Eastern Hungary and the Baltic States — lives on through the telling imagery of the humble postcard.
Gleaned from the millions preserved in attics, trunks and Jewish family archives all over the world, this remarkable collection brings to life the immutable rhythm of the shtetl. The pages are alive with rabbis, professional marriage brokers, itinerant water carriers, bright-eyed yeshivot students, porters, beggars and brilliant intellectuals, plus synagogues, hospitals, cemeteries and those sadly unavoidable scenes of suffering and persecution. The humble trades that kept entire populations from starving to death are shown in minute detail. Poignant, touching, and alarming these fleeting moments, frozen in time, portray a civilization which might otherwise have been forgotten. They enable us to relive the past, incite us to remember and record for eternity the history and the legend that is Yiddishland. |
