According to Jewish tradition, the
responsibility of a shochet, or ritual slaughterer, confers great
distinction on the man who discharges it. To become a shochet it is
necessary, first of all, to have a deep knowledge of the Talmud and to
come from an honourable family. In the second place, the ritual
slaughterer must enjoy good health. Indeed, according to the precepts
of the "Shulchan Aruch", which goes back to the 16th century, a ritual
slaughterer must seize the fowl or the cattle firmly, never betraying
the slightest hesitation by his gestures.
In Ozarow, the ritual
slaughterers came from the same family going back several generations.
This was a family living at the beginning of Jasna Street, to the left
of the synagogue. In my day, the oldest of the slaughterers was
Reb Yisruel the Shochet. He was a man of exemplary spirituality, who
also assumed the role of cantor during services. People would come to
hear him from the furthest corners of the village, when he intoned the
Kol Nidre prayer in his deep, warm voice. Motel the Shochet and Wolf
Koenigsberg were also noteworthy figures in this distinguished family.
Wolf, the son of Reb Yisruel, was
the youngest of Ozarow's ritual slaughterers. He was married, but had
no children. He decided one fine day to emigrate with his wife to
Palestine. At first, he left to scout out the possibilities for
eventual settlement. Being an astute man, he purchased a building in
Tel Aviv in order to invest his money. Then he returned to Ozarow to
liquidate all of his goods and to leave once more, this time for good.
Alas, the war broke out. So Wolf the Shochet and his family became
trapped in the Ozarow ghetto in the company of thousands of refugees
who were pouring in from all corners of Poland. While all this was
going on, there came knocking at Wolf's door one of his aunts and her
daughter Ida, both knowing no one in Ozarow and desperate. Wolf and
his wife offered them asylum.
In 1942, Wolf the Shochet
divorced in order to marry his cousin Ida. As for Yessoucher, he was
raised in a respectable family and studied constantly until he
attained a level of erudition high enough to legitimately claim the
status of shochet. But in the eyes of the rabbi and the fraternity of
ritual slaughterers within the village, it was out of the question
that the son of a mere tailor like Leibish-Meyer take his place among
them. However, the young man did not lose confidence. Soon he met a
young woman from a neighbouring village whom he married and went to
live with there. In his new town things were more liberal, so
Yessoucher the son of a simple tailor and an accomplished Talmudist,
became a ritual slaughterer.
Itche-Chaskiel was the son of
Moishe-Wolf and of Baile-Gittel, the bakers. He filled his parents
with happiness, so great were his intelligence and his thirst for
learning. One day he told them of his life's ambition to become a
shochet.
He married Hena, the daughter of
the ritual slaughterer of Cmielow who soon welcomed his son-in-law
into his fraternity. The long awaited moment came when Itche-Chaskiel
had to perform his first slaughter. His heart pounding with emotion,
he recited the ritual blessing, seized his knife......and then
disaster! The blade trembled in his hand. In a case like this, the
Talmudic code was inflexible. Poor Itche-Chaskiel was never to become
a shochet.
******
Abush Helfant, born in Ozarow,
returned to settle there in 1935. He came from a line of ritual
slaughterers and planned to practice this profession as well. However,
the kehillah and the other slaughterers did no look on his arrival
kindly. He found refuge with Kopel Orenstein, who placed his cabin at
his disposal as a slaughtering place. So here was a new competitor
setting up shop.
One night, Abush Helfant received a
visit that was far from friendly. A certain Moishe Czarkis - one of
Ozarow's Jewish thugs - suggested he shelve his ritual knife. When
Abush rebuffed him energetically, on the ground that to comply would
be a sacrilege, he threw himself on Abush firmly resolved to break his
fingers. This assault gave rise to general condemnation, and the
Mizrachi Zionist movement gave Abush their support so that finally, he
was able to establish himself as a ritual slaughterer in Ozarow.
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