Max talks about his father, Eli Tvi Lien and how he earned his livelihood as a tailor in Wysokie. (This material moved from the "Working" chapter, original page 14 as it pertains to life in Wysokie)
IMAGE: untitled (tailor with jacket)
Max describes his father's home-based tailor shop:
MAX: Max, interviewed by Lisa or talking with other family members When they [the peasants] had to use a tailor, they used to come to Jewish tailors, or shoemakers, or carpenters, and they'd do it! It was a life like this! My father was a tailor... in the same house as we lived! He didn't have to pay rent... He used to make clothing – for the ladies, for the peasants. In other words, a ladies' tailor, what we call a real ladies' tailor. So his customers used to be from the dorfa, you know what a dorfa is, it's the village. My father used to sit in the house and work! Tailoring, tailoring, tailoring. He did it in the house; we had a big room, we used it for the shop, in there six days a week. We used it for Saturday, for holiday, as a parlor, and for all the necessary functions, in the house.
Is it significant that Max chose to detail that Jewish craftspeople served the non-Jews of the town, specifically the native Belarusian peasants? We can infer that Max took pride in the fact that his father --and his father's fellow Wysoker Jewish craftspeople-- served their customers irrespective of culture, religion, or ethnicity.
NARRATOR: Lisa, backgrounding/commenting. Although the peasants and Jews were culturally and physically isolated from one another, there was little or no reason to be actively hostile. They had a mutually beneficial relationship, and so tolerated the existence of the other.
NARRATOR: By the middle of the nineteenth century, most of the merchants in the Pale were Jews, and while most were living at a /14/ subsistence level, it was still a better life than that of the local Belarusian peasant.
The statement "most of the merchants in the Pale were Jews" rings true, but we should try to look closer at Wysokie in particular. The only systematic data available is a 1929 Polish Business directory, which does in fact list Jewish-appearing surnames in the majority. Were these existing at the subsistence level in 1850? We have no direct evidence for Wysokie, but we have the general impression that Jewish populations in some areas of Eastern Europe increased by as much as 400% in this era, leading to serious economic difficulties.
The Wysokie Jews in Max's time may have had a better material life than the local peasants, but those peasants had a vibrant folk culture, well-adapted to local conditions, going back as far as history has recorded and enduring to this day.
IMAGE: untitled (tailor with jacket)
Eli --who made women's clothing, exclusively-- chose an egalitarian course: he trained Max to make clothes for both men and women.
Lisa: My father taught me to be a tailor, period. And as a matter of fact, he sent me to learn, to a tailor who made men's work. My father used to be a ladies' tailor, and I was taught to sew, period.
NARRATOR: But by the end of the century, after the institution of the notorious May Laws of 1882 and subsequent pogroms, fully 40% of the Jews within the Pale were dependent upon charity. /16/ These edicts, passed under the reign of Tsar Alexander III, prevented the Jews from settling in new rural areas, severely limited opportunities for higher education, and narrowed the legitimate professions they could enter. This resulted in the growth of slums, the implanting of revolutionary ideas in students, and in severe economic problems for the empire as a whole.
We simply have no direct information on how the May Laws affected Wysokie. A very small number of presumptively pre-WWI --but not specifically dated-- photos of the town's central square show a bleak, shabby, and almost un-peopled scene. Could this sad scene be attributed to the May Laws? Possibly. In contrast, later interwar photos of the same area show busy, vibrant, crowded scenes. About 1920, Poland regained control of Wysokie and invested in significant modernization work there -- quite the opposite of the Russian May Laws.
NARRATOR: The reasons for this renewed oppression are vast and complex. But still, within the little towns of the Pale, fathers taught their sons a trade, and went on with their business as usual. But it was not enough that Max should learn his father's skill; he was sent away to learn the complete art of tailoring. In response to the pervasive lack of certainty about the future, Max's father took the initiative in making sure that his son would be as well-prepared as possible.
IMAGE: untitled (tailor with jacket)
Why did Russian enact draconian anti-Semitic policies in 1882? This is far beyond the scope of our work here.
In short, Lisa notes that life went on, regardless, and we must agree.
NARRATOR: In response to the pervasive lack of certainty about the future, Max's father took the initiative in making sure that his son would be as well-prepared as possible.
Alternatively: The Jewish families of Wysokie were completely hardened to uncertainty under the Russian government. Eli Tzvi Lien can be seen as a thoughtful realist, a head of a strong, resilient family. Eli would do his best to prepare his children for their lives –– in any case. Max's life, taken as a whole, seems to reflect these strengths.