Exodus: Out of Slavery

     This week I have been traveling with my daughters.  Along the way we visited Tuskegee University, the Historical Museum in Montgomery, drove along US 80 from Montgomery to Selma, and walked across the bridge.  At the University we saw the stained glass window at the Chapel which highlights spirituals sung by slaves.  In Selma, we also saw pictures: both contained scenes from Egypt.
     >see pictures on Facebook, type in the link "KosherCopy"
     The Passover story has meaning in every generation.  It is so full of meaning the Jewish people have been telling the story, celebrating our freedom, and incorporating concern for others through 3,500 years.  The African American also celebrates this story, as well as their own freedom.  And we need to look today at those who still need freedom, for the story is meant to teach us compassion.
     One celebrated verse in the book of Exodus says, "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." (Ex 9:1) Enslaved people need a God who will give them boldness and the way to ask for freedom.
     God tells us, "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt." (Ex 22:21)  We are to take this teaching and apply it to our world today.  What of children of aliens born in this country?  This seems to be a political hotbed.  The Bible would teach us not only to care for the children born in this country; but also their parents (yes, some are illegal), who have come to make a better life for themselves.  We are to care for them and help them.  We live in a land of immigrants.  (We saw at the History Museum how white men displaced the Indians illegally).  
     We, as parents set the example for our children.  We are to "On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt." Ex 13:8.  Certainly we are to take the teachings of Passover and put them to use, so all will be able to hear the Gospel, and live in the land.
     

Exodus: Ben Finkelstein

His hometown might have been Stanislwow, but his heart was on bigger things. Although Stanislwow was called home by a large Jewish population, Ben Finkelstein saw no future there. He wanted larger things. He learned the garment industry from his father, Joseph, and his mother, Rifka, for clothing manufacture was the prevailing industry of this community.

In the past Stanislwow had a thriving economy. It had been on one of the main trade routes running from the Ukraine into Austria and Europe. However, changing politics of this region pushed the flow of commerce elsewhere, and in Ben Finkelstein’s time, other than clothing manufacture, and a pitiful agricultural yield the economy of Stanislwow, and the region called Galicia was poor at best.

Galicia, perhaps because of its beauty, drew people. There were more people per acre here than in most places in the world. The region boasted a great Jewish population, and was the home of Hasidism. However, for Ben Finkelstein, the glitz and the glamour lay elsewhere; further east, in the region currently controlling Galicia: Austria.

As a young man Ben felt the call of the city, and he left his family to create his life and to make his fortune in Vienna, the capital of Austria. He left behind the world he grew up in, his family, and the family trade in the garment industry to create something new for himself. He found work driving a taxi. He found life in the theater and the thriving culture of urban Vienna.

My mother tells how he made friends with the Emperor’s son, Franz Ferdinand, who took the taxi whenever he went on a tryst to see his mistress lover in a distant quarter of Vienna from the palace. The friendship was not immediate, but Archduke Franz Ferdinand found my grandfather was a calm spirit who could be trusted. My grandfather became the Archduke’s regular transportation for his secret affair.

Ben loved the culture of Vienna. He found many new friends. He enjoyed the theater, dancing, and concerts. But as in his homeland of Galicia, the politics of Europe were changing. In 1914, crown prince Franz Joseph was assassinated by a Bosnian dissident. This event would throw Europe into a world war. Ben Finkelstein knew this killing would also bring a wave of antisemitism across the region.

Ben could have escaped the turmoil of the Hapsburg Empire by going home … but the Ukrainians were also gearing up for war, and would have quickly inducted a young man in his 20’s into the army. Ben Finkelstein said, “I don’t hate anyone;” and headed for Bremen, Germany. He boarded a ship, the Breslau, and headed for the United States of America.

Ben Finkelstein had an acquaintance who my Grandfather said would receive him when he entered the country. Be followed in this man’s footsteps, entering the United States at the port of Baltimore, and quickly moving to Columbus, Ohio. Once in Ohio, he found work in his family trade, as a presser in the garment industry. He of course found the Yiddish Theater, and a young lady who captured his eye. His Exodus from poverty and antisemitism was complete.

Exodus: Solomon Tabatznikoff

     According to family tradition he was a simple country doctor, who lived in a village on the road from St. Petersburg to the Tzar's Crimean resort. At least once when the Tzar's son was in a medical crisis, this family doctor was able to help. Other than that, Solomon lived a quiet life in his community among his people.
     But then things changed. Following the death of Tzar Alexander II anti-Jewish sentiment arose within Russia. The first trouble arose in Kirovograd the end of April 1881. This spread throughout the region to Kiev and to Odessa. Property was destroyed and homes were set on fire.
     Count D. Tolstoy, the new minister of the interior wrote in June 1882 the riots were the result of poor oversight by governors and other officials in the area. But in other quarters officials pushed an anti-semetic agenda. Nikolai Ignatyev  minister of internal affairs pushed through a law which prohibited Jewish settlement in unauthorized areas; it forbid signing deeds and other legal documents with Jews until their legal status could be decided; and Jews were forbidden from doing business on Sundays and other Christian holidays.

     As the persecution continued Solomon worried about his family. Life looked better elsewhere. He talked with the neighbors about moving, and about greener pastures.  All this was a concept until a new progrom hit the village.  Solomon got mad and punched a Kosack in the nose.  He knew he needed to leave his village.

     So the Tabatznik family Solomon, his wife, and nine children, boarded a ship, and traveled to France. A distant relative lived in France. Following a long passage across the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus, around the tip of Greece into Italy.  Then the family walked to Paris.  Solomon found the home where his relatives lived, and knocked on the door.

     Solomon's uncle opened the door, and it is reported my Great Grandfather said, "I'm here with my wife and nine children.  We're staying."  Solomon told his uncle how life was bad at home, and they needed to move.  They would stay until they could figure something out.

     After a few years "Uncle Louie" figured something out.  He received a flier telling about the Jewish Colonization Association funded by philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch.  "Uncle Louie" convinced his nephew to apply.  Funding was obtained, and in April 1893, the Tobatznik family boarded the Maasdam in Boulogne for New York in the United States of America.  

     The passage was hard.  Many doubted the food was kosher, so they did not eat.  The ship was crowded and sanitation was poor.  One government report spoke of cholera outbreaks which were transported in situations like this.  It is said five children died on board the ship, and Solomon's wife died soon after arrival. 

     Solomon found housing in a tenement and survived as he could.  He would find a desperate landlord, and move his family into an apartment with the promise of pay, until the money was due.  Then he moved elsewhere.  Solomon came with no money, and no job.  He eventually found work in a Piano factory, where he supported his three children the best he could.

     Eventually Simeon, his son was old enough to find work in the garment industry.  At first it was just piece work.  Simeon worked hard, made friends, and became a salesman.  The Exodus was complete. The family had found their Goshen.

To learn more and hear me read this story, visit Chelsea's VoiceThread project from her class at the Jewish Theological Seminary last year. Click images on the left to page through her presentation and hear the stories!