THE MASTER WOODWORKERS OF MY FAMILY

Life in the shtetel was never easy.  Sometimes it was even harder, but the Jewish people of these little towns survived somehow, and occasionally even prospered.  They managed to maintain their religion, their society and culture, their family attachments, and their ideals.

I don’t know how long my mother’s family, the Beglaibtors, lived in our town, Shebreshim -  it must have been a very long time, certainly hundreds of years.

Looking back to analyze the listing of family names, it is obvious that there have been many repetitions of certain names.  It was the custom to name newborns after deceased family members, and therefore the same names would cycle over and over.  The chaining of names can also be seen such as: Meir ben Shmuel, Daniel ben Meir, Shmuel ben Daniel, etc.  An early Meir ben Shmuel escaped from Shebreshim after the then current pogroms.  In 1675 he published a report in Italy describing the atrocities of the Chmielnicky Kozak hordes against the inhabitants of our township.

The Jewish population was then about 1600 people.  I am positive that the  Beglaibters already practiced their chosen craft, woodworking, in the 17^th and 18^th century.  They were well established, respected, and acknowledged as competent woodworkers throughout their long history in this shtetel.  Beglaibter means trustworthy.

How can I be sure?  Being curious I often asked questions of my family - especially the elders, and because of an elaborate sign with German and Polish lettering that I found in our old attic.

Jews of the shtetel were mostly merchants, buying and selling wares produced by their Gentile neighbors, and importing goods not grown or manufactured by the local people, such as textiles, salt and spices. They lent money on a percentage basis,  and also collected the taxes for the authorities.  No wonder they were disliked. Who likes to pay taxes at anytime, or repay loans in difficult times. Yet, they also were the town's craftsmen; mostly cabinet-makers, shoemakers, tailors, and bakers.

The well being of the Jews often depended on who ruled the general land area in which the shtetel was situated.  This changed many times over the centuries, and our shtetel was ruled by a number of different governments and heads of state.

Some persecuted the Jews.  Some tolerated them to some degree, and others even proved helpful towards maintaining the religious and ethnic identity.

When our part of what is now Poland was ruled by the Germans, the authorities wanted the best businesses and positions for themselves, and so they organized the "Crafts" and "Masters."  They gave the various crafts an official charter – a formal "Crest," and called them "The Guild."

As a rule Jews were never allowed to receive such honors.   If sometimes, after a great deal of maneuvering and sponsorship pressure, they were actually permitted to try the strict examinations, one could be sure that "somehow" they always failed.

It was a most rigid, tight knitted group.  And yet, the Beglaibters must have been extremely good, or had a great deal of political influence, because they managed to belong to this exclusive group of craftsmen – "The Guild."

The sign we found in our old attic proved it!  I brought the old sign out and quizzed my grandfather.  I asked him to please explain it to me.

He took the sign, examined it carefully, and shook his head.  He remarked that now was a different time and that we were subject to a different ruler.  He led me outside and pointed to an area above the window where we could see the deep holes that corresponded to the holes in the sign.

"They made us take the sign off, but I don’t regret it.  We were the envy of too many people.  Under the German authority we were the designers and manufacturers of small one-student desks. They were about 30" wide with their own seat, inkwell holder, pencil compartment ,and shelves for books and papers.  We perfected this desk, and built thousands of them – some still exist.  We also built the teacher’s desks, and the blackboards.  Later we built the same furnishings for the Russians, but this time without the sign of the Guild."

"We were always good cabinet makers," mused my grandfather. "I had two brothers in other cities who also had their own shops."

My grandfather had six sons; all were woodworkers.  Even one of their own son-in-laws, my father – an ordained rabbi and scholar, became a woodworker, and a good one.  He practiced the craft all his life.

Two of my uncles remained with my grandfather and ran our shop. Three others opened their own  woodworking shops in three other townships.  And the Sixth, Avrum, who while serving in the Tsar’s army, became a hero with a "gold" medal, came home, married a local girl, went to America, and located his family in a little town, Ellenville, in upper New York, and he too started his own woodworking shop. This shop existed throughout his lifetime, and the life of his son.

The smell of wood must have taken over all of our senses, as I too eventually became a worker of wood, and later started my own shop.  This kept me going for 30 years, until I got interested in other pursuits, but still dealing with furniture.  My son Bennett, even as a young boy, began to love working in my shop. He became highly proficient in woodworking, and spent many days, nights, and weekends fabricating furniture and boat parts.

And even later, when I began to work in art, my best work were sculptures and collages that I created with random found pieces of wood.

I had a few one man-shows with my creations.  My brother Leon, who passed away a few years ago, was a great artist living in his craft his entire life.  His work is in many museums and galleries.  Private collectors buy and cherish his art now.  He too started and finished his career by creating his masterworks in wood.

Two hours before he died, he was still at work on a new creation entitled: Space and Time – a wooden "clock."  He did not live to finish it.  It remains in pieces in his studio.

So, saw-dust is in our hair, and if it’s true, what we say about genes – sometime soon there should appear in our family a member, male or female, with a born talent to appreciate the essence of what once was a tree, and to continue to craft wooden objects of great  beauty.

I hope that I am right.