A HISTORY OF THE SALTER LEVINE CLAN
A JEWISH FAMILY
Written By Pepper Salter Abrams Edmiston
2014.
INTRODUCTION:
I am writing this history for all Salter-Levine descendants but it is addressed to the cousins of my generation.
BEING A JEW:
There aren’t many of us Jews, but people take notice. In 1939 the Jewish population reached its peak of seventeen million (.8% of the global population.)
In 2013 the number of Jews was fourteen million (.2% of the world’s population.) Since Jews are clustered in Israel, New York and Los Angeles, it’s safe to say few beings in the world have ever met a Jew, but most people hate us.
“What is a Jew?” is a common question. When my Christian husband, Joe, and I discuss religion, I tell him that many Jews are atheists. He’s says, “If they don’t believe in God, they’re not Jews.” He’s totally wrong, because, as I understand it, “If you think you’re a Jew, you are.” Plus, Moses Mendelssohn, a great Jewish philosopher said, “Judaism is a faith of reason.” That covers most of us other than the Orthodox nuts.
THE GOYIM:
Nearly every Gentile I know mentions that his/her ancestors came over on the Mayflower. I was always impressed. I also thought, “What a big boat.” Now I think: “They arrived, slaughtered the Indians, enslaved the Blacks, stole the Mexican’s land, wiped out the buffalos, destroyed the environment ... and their descendants continue to commit war crimes worldwide. What’s so hot about them?” Plus, despite their barbarian behavior, they still won’t let Jews into their Clubs.
The Goyim have one thing working for them: they always have the same name as their ancestors had, going way, way back. For instance, I’ve traced my husband’s family to the 1100s. There’s a town of Edmiston, a mansion, a castle, a graveyard. Lucky them.
Joe’s constantly loosening his collar and tie; he can’t stand anything tight around his throat. Why? It turns out, as we discovered in an old castle where his family dwelled, one of the ancient Edmistons was “hang’d bye the nek untel ded.” Thus Joe’s need for shirts with loose-fitting necks. That’s how influential genetic heritage is! Joe has so much information. What do we know about our ancestry?
GRANDPA MEYER “MIKE” SALTER
We know about Grandpa Mike because he was notorious! Mike was born in 1870 in Russia/Poland and came to America when he was a baby. In 1904, when our Grandpa was thirty-four, he opened a snazzy saloon in the heart of Chinatown called the Pelham Cafe, located at 12 Pell Street. It was a dance hall, bar, restaurant, opium den and, to use the vernacular, “whore house.” For quite a while Mike lived the high life. His cafe was visited by wealthy tourists and gang members alike and our charismatic Grandpa was the center of it all.
In his capacity as a member of Tammany Hall, Mike was a political fixer. He was responsible for preventing William Randolph Hearst from being elected Mayor of New York. Mike did this by dumping thousands of pro-Hearst ballots into the East River.
Legend has it that in order to “stay alive,” Mike moved his wife, Lena Levine, and sons Edward (1906) and Arthur (1909) to Canada. Daughter Gladys (1910) was born there and didn’t get a proper birth certificate until she was an adult. The family was able to return to New York in 1910, although there is evidence that Mike served some time in jail. He wasn’t incarcerated too long, as Harold (1914) and Maxwell (1920) were born.
When Grandpa Mike passed away, his death was big news on the front page of the December 18, 1922 New York Herald. Because of his swarthy complexion, he was dubbed “Nigger Mike.” The headline read, “‘Nigger Mike’ Buried with Dimmed Glory. Irving Berlin, Composer, Only One of Old Chinatown Friends to Appear.”
Like the Salters, Irving Berlin, born Israel Baline, was a Russian Jew, who came to America seeking freedom from oppression. His first job was as a singing waiter at the Pelham Cafe. He became famous for writing such classics as “God Bless America” and “White Christmas.” Because of his renown, many books have been written about Irving Berlin and our Grandpa is mentioned in all of them. The Salter children did not go into the family business, although when they moved to California, they worked within blocks of one another in downtown L.A.
Eddie, Harold and Glady worked at Levine Brothers, a successful fabric store; Artie ran Crown Loan & Jewelry, a profitable pawn shop and Max operated Beno’s, a chain of clothing stores. Max served on the Beverly Hills City Council for eight years and twice was Mayor. It is ironic that the youngest son of ‘Nigger Mike’, who claimed to have murdered ten men, became the Mayor of Beverly Hills!
The next generation of Mike Salter’s descendants (my generation) produced only two sons: Elliot Salter (son of Art) and Mike Salter (son of Max.) Both boys went into their dad’s fields - Elliot runs “Elliot Salter Gives Instant Loans,” and for years, Mike headed Beno’s.
ISRAEL SALTER:
According to the 1880 U.S. Census, our Great-Grandfather, Israel Salter, and his wife, Rachel Rittenhaus, lived in New York at 19115 Baxter Street. The family included Israel, 43, a glazier (a tradesman working with glass); Rachel, 42, “keeping house;” Louis, 18, a tailor; Betsy, 13, a tailor’s apprentice and Meyer “Mike,” 10, a student. All of those Salters were born in Russia/Poland. Once the family was settled, along came Sarah, 7, a student; Esther, 4; a student and Jacob, 2 months old, a baby.
The Salters arrived at Ellis Island between 1870 - 1871. We know a few other facts: The children didn’t stay in school past age thirteen and, with the birth of Jacob, the family was complete.
Israel was born in 1834 in Russia/Poland, and died in Manhattan on March 11, 1904 at age seventy. He was buried at Bayside Cemetery in Queens, New York, with the inscription “My Beloved Husband and Dear Father” engraved on his tombstone. Also inscribed is “Yisrael b Shraga Feivel, meaning, “Israel, son of Shraga Feivel.” Shraga Feivel . . our Great-Great-Grandpa!
Moscow, 1800’s.
SHRAGA FEIVEL:
Historically, Jews used Hebrew patronymic names, which means the first name is followed by either ben- or bat- ("son of" or "daughter of"), and then the father's first name. Permanent family surnames were rarely used by the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe until the 18th century.
From what I’ve learned, Shraga and Feivel are most likely Yiddish first and middle names. Remember Feivel, the Russian-Jewish mouse in “An American Tail”? He could be a relation.
The names are a common pair, because Shraga (in Aramaic) means fire and Feivush (nickname - Feivel) is Yiddish for Phoebus, the Greek goddess of light. Fire and light! Eventually, Feivel became the Yiddish translation of Shraga. So, typically the man (or mouse) was called Feivel.
In researching the name, I learned an additional translation. Feivel could come from Feibush, which was written as Vivus, the Latin equivalent of Chaim. Chaim means “life” and the name was given to sick children and adults to fool the Angel of Death.
All of my kids are tired of hearing about Shraga Feivel , as in, “Mom! Can’t you let the dude rest in peace?!” But what a beautiful name and lovely inheritance: “Light, Firey Life!”
NYC in 1895.
THE NAME ‘SALTER:‘
We always thought “Salter” was an English name some bureaucrat threw at our Great-Grandpa Israel when he landed at Ellis Island. But, with the most minimal research, I learned that “Salter” is a surname among Ashkenazi Jews, derived from “salitra,” the Ukrainian word for “saltpeter.” So, as Israel and his exhausted wife and children began their new life in a new land, when asked his surname, Israel presumably said, “Salitra,” which became Salter!
I was hoping “saltpeter” was nicer than it sounds, but it isn’t. Saltpeter is a group of nitrogen-containing mineral compounds, including potassium nitrate. Sadly, cow manure and bat guano are also sources of potassium nitrate, which is used in fertilizers, fireworks and gunpowder. It also treats high blood pressure and asthma. Perhaps so many Jews are asthmatic because the medicine was available to them. Almost certainly, Israel’s last name was Salter because of his trade in the “Old Country.” Here’s hoping he didn’t deal exclusively in bat guano!
I searched for hours, (like a maniac), looking for every “Salter” in New York who could have been related to Israel and who might have indicated his birthplace. Nothing. I believe Israel Salter came to America with his immediate family only. The rest remained in the “Old Country.”
Anybody who walked through the front door, even those who couldn’t read English, were shown the Louis Salter census report and asked to decipher the name of his town. Nobody could.
Finally, William, who is infinitely brighter than his mom, said, “Why don’t you hire a hand-writing expert?” So I did. She compared the handwriting on about a hundred entries in the 1920 Federal Census that included Louis Salter and family, and her $300 opinion is:
“O.K. Name of town is Grodner, but I can't find it anywhere. I hope you get luckier and find it. At some point I thought it was either Godien or Godin, but then I realized that this person is very consistent doting the i. Her r is very consistent, same as n and, I had doubts about the e but after thorough analysis I realized that this person many times wrote closed loops for the letter e. Best regards, Victoria”
Stara Stol Synagogue in Polish Shtetl, 1906.
WHERE WE COME FROM:
A few years ago, I signed on to two great sites: Ancestry.com and JewishGen.org. We now have the Salter Family Tree on Ancestry.com. If you check it out, do not expect anything remotely resembling perfection. It’s “In Progress,” just like our lives, and I’ve barely begun to fill in names and information. Please feel free to help fill in the blanks!
One interesting document found on Ancestry.com is a U.S. Census report on Louis Salter and his family. He was the eldest of the six children of Israel and the only Salter who wrote down the name of the town of his birth. Everybody else responded “Russia/Poland.” I couldn’t quite read what the census taker wrote, but it looked like Grodein.
I asked my Russian dressmaker and the Russian who owns the cleaners and my Russian manicurist - all Jews - and none had heard of Grodein. “The Jews lived in shtetls,” my manicurist barked. “They didn’t have names. They’re all gone. Forget about it.”
But, I couldn’t. I decided to look up every town in Russia, Poland and neighboring countries that started with GROD. Here are the results:
Russia: Grodekova, Grodekovo, Grodiyenki, Grodnenka, Grodnenskiy
Poland: Grodkow, Grodzisk,
Ukraine: Grodek, Grodok, Grodovka, Grodzevo,
Belarus: Grodi, Grodno, Grodze, Grodzyanka
Latvia: - Grobina
Lithuania: none
Shtetl in Lithuania, 1910.
HOME TOWN DISCOVERED!
No Grodner was to be found! But, when I initially searched for Shraga Feivel on Ancestry.com, his name came up in reference to cemeteries where his children were buried. Two towns listed sons and daughters of Shraga Feivel: One was Grodno, now part of Belarus and the other was Kiecle, in Poland.
Grodno is about as close to Grodner as we can get, and, along with the information about the cemeteries, I believe our home town has been identified! However, only a few offspring of Shraga Feivel were laid to rest at the Nemenskaya Cemetery in Grodno. Many more relations were buried in Kielce.
The distance between the two villages is about 285 miles. It takes about 5 1/2 hours driving time. Who knows how long it took when fleeing the Cossacks.
Of the 3.5 million Polish men, women and children, nearly 90% died in the Holocaust. A mere 250,000 survived and the majority of them left Poland after the war. In 2014, the number of Jews living in Poland is thought to be about 5,000. Poland doesn’t know what it’s missing.
WARSAW:
Joe and I flew to Warsaw. The cabbie who took us from the airport to the hotel reminded us of home: he didn’t speak a word of English. Surprisingly, Warsaw is a gorgeous city. There are parks, plazas, lots of trees, a lovely river.
I came to Eastern Europe searching for dead ancestors and live Jews, but I was grateful to be with my Scotch/Irish/German/English husband, as I felt less a target. I looked around, trying to find faces similar to mine - narrow with a yellowish cast, close-set eyes, an aggressive nose, judgmental mouth and unruly hair. Instead, everybody I saw had broad faces with rosy cheeks and wideset, blue eyes, up-turned noses, smiling mouths and straight, shiny, blond hair. In other words, they were terrifying. They looked like Nazi guards.
No doubt our Polish ancestors were observant Jews who never ate animals with cloven hooves. Actually, what is a cloven hoof? Joe, however, is another matter. Here’s what he had for dinner our first night in Warsaw:
-Ear of young piglet in spicy sauce
-Delicately cut slice of lard with pickled turnip
-Tongue with nut sauce & capers
-Eye of sea bass soup
And, for dessert, boiled potato topped with whipped cream & Nutella
For sale in the restaurant book store, written in English, was:
“500 Ways to Prepare Potato.” Seriously.
TRAVELING TO EASTERN EUROPE:
With not much information, and the brains to match, Joe and I set out to visit Grodno and Kielce. While I’d never heard of Belarus, I knew about Poland. It’s famed for having fewer Jews living within its borders than any other country in Europe. Yet it has the highest rate of anti-Semitism. Why? Who knows? Maybe the Poles continue to demonize us to justify their horrific treatment of our people. Whatever, the Polish folks also have been responsible for a ton of good jokes, my favorite being: “Did you hear about the Polish airliner? It crashed into a cemetery and there were 5500 fatalities.”
POLAND:
For almost 1,000 years, Poland was the center of Jewish culture. Because Jews had been expelled from most countries in Western Europe, they moved East.
Before World War Two Poland had the largest Jewish community in Europe: 3.5 million Jews. More than 70% of American Jews trace their lineage to Poland, as do 60% of Israeli Jews. Who knew?
Grodno, 1939.
Picture of Pep and Joe in Poland?
WARSAW MEETS BEVERLY HILLS:
I needed to see some of my people. Joe and I (and our obviously anti-Semitic driver) visited one of several synagogues in Warsaw. A few parents and kids were standing on the sidewalk. I rushed up to them and said, “I’m a Jew from the United States!” and started hugging them. They laughed and hugged me back. I wasn’t the first, nor the last, visiting Jew hungering for her “peeps.”
That night we went to a relatively new temple, which helps serve the small, but growing Jewish population of Warsaw. The Friday night services were in English and Hebrew as the Rabbi was from Israel and didn’t speak Polish. The prayers - the same prayers Jews have recited throughout the world for thousands of years- reminded me so much of my dear Dad that I started sobbing.
A tall, handsome man introduced himself to us, thanking us for coming. His name was Severyn Ashkenazy and he founded the temple, Beit Warzawa. Within minutes, we discovered he was long time friends with “Max Salter, one of the truly good guys!” Severyn escaped the Nazis and landed in Beverly Hills, becoming a successful hotel owner. But he, and other philanthropists who survived the war, still love their native Poland and want to see Jews living there again. Severyn divides his year between Beverly Hills and Warsaw.
I kind of understand why Jews return to the countries that despise them. “People of Poland! You tried to wipe us off the face of the earth, but you did not succeed. We are still here and we are thriving!” I asked one of the members of Beit Warzawa if there were any Jewish shops I could visit and support. She laughed and explained, “Jews here don’t have any stores. They all own multi-national corporations!” Go, Jews!
KIECLE AND THE JEWS:
Our translator/driver drove us to Kiecle. Located in southeastern Poland, Kiecle was founded by the Celts in 5th century B.C. and belonged to Poland from the beginning. In the mid 1700s, it was gobbled up by Russia but, by 1915, Kiecle was again part of independent Poland.
Kiecle was a typical Polish village: nobody wanted Jews living there. Why? I’ve often discussed anti-Semitism with Joe. He explained that anti-Semitism existed before we nailed up Jesus. (Per God’s plan, I might add.) Joe said that up until the Jews and their “One God” scenario showed up, nations were ruled by chiefs who were considered gods. The “Ten Commandments,” etc., infuriated the nobility, as it reduced their status. So, we were we hated by the rich (“I want to be a God”) rulers and their poor (“You murdered the Messiah!”) subjects alike. Good to know.
Jewish identity in the Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jews among the lands outside of Israel) was based on insularity. Jews believed if they prayed, behaved and dressed differently from the Christian majority, they would survive as a people. And, despite slavery, pogroms, the Holocaust, inter-marriage, Jews for Jesus, Buddha/Jews and eating shrimp, we’re still here!
Winston S. Churchill:
"Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.”
Poles were devout Catholics who were taught that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. During Easter in Kielce Jews feared having stones flung at them or worse. The tradition continued into the 20th century in New York: my Dad remembers growing up in Brighton Beach where neighborhood kids screamed “Christ Killer!” at him and threw rocks.
As for Kielce, as early as 1535, a royal "privilege" was granted to the city which officially excluded Jews. The town belonged to the bishops of Kracow so the prohibition on Jewish settlement remained in force until 1833, when a small number of Jews moved into Kielce. Eventually, they were expelled, then allowed to return, then expelled, etc. The Jews could be counted on to pay their taxes, so, when money was needed, Jews were welcomed back.
By 1852, there were 101 Jews in Kielce and in 1868, a cemetery was established. Having a cemetery was important because it made the Jews feel secure. They thought they could put down roots. In Kielce, the cemetery was the only evidence we found that Jewish people once lived there.
Kiecle is surrounded by beautiful forests and streams. After they were allowed to reside there, Jews utilized the natural resources of the area, developing industries and commerce. They founded banks and organized merchants and artisans. They established an old-age home, an orphanage, a library, a high school, religious and secular Jewish schools and a Yiddish weekly newspaper. Like Jews all over Poland, when they became part of a community, the Jews did well and so did the whole town. Still, the locals were resentful. “YOUR COUNTRY MEN BEFORE STRANGERS!”
Anti-Semites were always eager to make life tough for the Jews.They preached from the pulpits of their churches and in their houses of legislature to boycott Jewish businesses. Their motto was: “Swoj do swego,” “Your countrymen before strangers.” Wherever we lived, we were considered strangers.
Jews tolerated insults, beatings and damages to their homes and businesses, yet they continued with their life. The philosophy was “Nothing lasts forever.” The Jews clung to the words of the prophet: “Wait a moment until the fury is past.”
The hopefulness of the Jews was their downfall in Eastern Europe.
WORLD WAR TWO
By the time Israel Salter was in America, about 2500 Jews lived in Kielce. By the time of the Holocaust, there were 25,000 Jews, about one-third of the population. In September, 1939, immediately after the German occupation, action was taken against our people: first fines, then restrictions, confiscation of property, forced labor, deportation to concentration camps, and genocide. Between 1940 and 1944, nearly every Jewish resident of Kielce was murdered. After nearly one hundred years, Kielce officially became judenrein, or “cleansed of jews.”
Along with our translator, Joe and I went to a municipal building to see if we could find records of Shraga Feivel or his family. But, there was nothing. After a town was judenrein, the “good citizens” tried to destroy all evidence of the Jews’ existence. They nearly succeeded.
Because millions of Jews disappeared during the Holocaust, volunteers from around the world have searched through desecrated Jewish cemeteries. They have recorded the names of the dead, so that they may be remembered. Every found name is a memory recovered from oblivion. Shraga Fevel is in our DNA , and because of the hard work of generous people, we know his name and we know where he lived.
Joe and I visited the Jewish cemetery, hoping to see the actual tombstones of my ancestors. This was not to be. The Kielce cemetery had been vandalized and was a mess. We noticed an enormous monument that stopped us cold. It read:
THIS MONUMENT IS IN MEMORY OF THE LAST 45 JEWISH CHILDREN WHO WERE MURDERED BY THE GERMAN NAZIS AT THE JEWISH CEMETERY IN OUR HOMETOWN KIELCE, POLAND
THE 23RD OF MAY 1943.
THE YOUNG MARTYRS RANGED IN AGE FROM 15 MONTHS TO 13 YEARS. WE ALSO REMEMBER ALL (one and one-half million) OF THE JEWISH CHILDREN WHO PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST FROM 1939 TO 1945.
We learned this tragic event happened toward the second half of the war. These children had survived the Kielce Ghetto and the concentration camps, but the Nazis would not allow them to live. The soldiers dug a pit, shot the children into the pit, and covered it up. Years later, families of the victims created the memorial. The rocks are in lieu of flowers which is a tradition found in the Middle East. Flowers last a little while but a rock will sit there forever.
I have to believe that if you endured the camps, suffered for years, watched thousands die, you probably were traumatized beyond reason. And, you would have idealized “home” and somehow forgiven the people who allowed you and yours to be dragged off. Still, it is amazing to me that after the war, two hundred adults and children came back to Kielce to reclaim their lives.
They were not to find peace in Poland. On July 4, 1946, local anti-Semites held their own pogrom, attacking their former neighbors and murdering more than sixty of them, including children and pregnant women, and injuring one hundred more. The police did nothing. Imagine, surviving the war only to be killed because you wanted to come home!
News of the Kielce pogrom spread far and wide. It was the final impetus for Jews to leave Poland en masse. Former Kielce residents have made lives for themselves in Israel, the United States, Canada, Argentina, and France.
BURIED IN KIELCE:
Many descendants of Shraga Feivel are buried at the Jewish cemetery in Pilica, near Kielce. As mentioned, Israel Salter left his parents and siblings behind when he came to America. I have searched for Salters from Russia who lived in New York and who would have been close in age to Israel and have found none. There are plenty of English and Irish Salters, with the standard Gentile names, but no Moshe or Yaacovs around.
Israel’s lifespan was from 1834 to 1904; a nice, long life for a man of that era.
Resting in the cemetery in Pilica, with “‘ben’ or ‘bat’ Shaga Feivel” etched on their tombstones, and their dates of death, are these possible brothers and sister of Israel: Shlomo (1890); Shlomo Kac (1890); Aaron (1897), Yentel (1903), and Tzvi Darnleweczki (1903). We will never know for sure.
Kielce is a beautiful place, but it is no place for a Jew, and never was.
GRODNO, BELARUS
Because Russia and Germany are such greedy beasts, Grodno was eaten up and spit out time and again. Here is a brief history of Grodno:
10th century - founded in Lithuania.
16th century - passed to Poland
18th century - annexed by Russia
1915 - occupied by Germany
1918 - handed to Belarus
1919 - back to Poland (a few more back and forths between Belarus and Poland)
1930s - given to Belarus
1941 - occupied by Germany
1944 - belonged to the USSR
1990 - Now - part of the Republic of Belarus
BEAUTIFUL GRODNO:
To reach Grodno, we flew to Minsk. Our next driver (who was, no doubt, also an anti-Semite) then took us through miles of the most beautiful countryside imaginable - forests and streams, pastures and flowers, blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Everything was so lush and peaceful that it was hard to imagine vile acts were committed there. The scenery looked so lovely it seemed unreal. Grodno itself was charming. Trees and parks were everywhere, with playgrounds in many of them. Flowers were growing on almost every corner, in large wrought iron baskets. Moms pushing strollers walked leisurely through town. Kids held balloons and bounced balls. Everything was slowed down, like in a dream. Everybody was white and, of course, Gentile.
Joe and I stayed in a beautiful inn located in the middle of a forest. We had made arrangements to meet with a local guide. She was Jewish and didn’t know much English, but she and I complained about our mutual frizzy hair and she tried her best to insult her in-laws. I felt right at home with her.
MY GRANDMA HID JEWS:
One day Joe and I were walking around the central plaza when we heard a young man speaking perfect English. We began talking to him. He explained he lives in Manhattan but was born in Grodno and comes once a year to see his Grandmother. When I told him why we were visiting and that I was Jewish, his face looked stricken and he did that gulp guys do with their Adam’s apples when they are lying or uncomfortable. He calmed down and, as his eyes shifted around, said, “Oh! My Grandma hid lots of Jews. She saved plenty.” “Sure she did,” I thought, as we moved on.
JEWISH GRODNO:
Grodno had one of the oldest Jewish communities in what was formerly Poland- Lithuania. As early as 1389 Jews were able to own real property and engage in commerce, crafts and agriculture. Just like in Kielce, periodically Jews were banished and their property was stolen. But, time and again, they were able to return and reclaim their lives, often by paying outrageous taxes. For centuries, though, the hand-writing was on the wall.
For the usual reasons - killing Christ, being wealthy and educated, having strange religious practices - the local Gentiles started resenting the Jews. A Repressive Act of 1566 was passed: "The Jews shall not wear costly clothing, nor gold chains. The Jews shall not have silver mountings on their sabers and daggers; they shall wear yellow caps, and their wives kerchiefs of yellow linen, in order to be distinguished from Christians." Yellow was the color of hate centuries ago!
In the late 1800‘s, 88% of commercial undertakings, 76% of factories and 65% of real estate in Grodno were Jewish-owned. Like their counterparts in Kiecle, the Jewish community prospered, and, because of Jewish entrepreneurship, so did everybody else.
WORLD WARS:
After World War One, and Grodno's reversion to Poland, the Jews were oustedfrom their economic positions. From the middle of the 1930s on, a stringent anti-Jewish economic boycott was imposed.
At one time there were forty-three synagogues in Grodno; the first was built in the late 1500s. In 1816, about 8500 Jews lived in Grodno, which was 85% of the population. By 1931, the number was 21,000 but the percentage was only 42%. It was the beginning of the end for the Jews of Grodno. Between 1942-1943, 29,000 Jews in the Grodno region were murdered by the Germans. By 1943, other than several dozen Jews either working for the Germans or in hiding, Grodno was “judenrein,” which means, as we know, “cleansed of Jews”.
Some 2,000 Jews resettled in Grodno following its liberation. In the 1990s, the revived community began renovating the synagogue and in the early 2000s had a resident rabbi.
As we did in Kielce, we went to the Hall of Records to try to find information about Shraga Feivel and his offspring. Along with our translators, we spent hours searching through the few precious notebooks that had not been destroyed. We found nothing. Again, the only proof of their existence was in the graveyard.
NEMENSKAYA CEMETARY:
On the outskirts of Grodno are four enormous pits where thousands of nameless Jews were buried in mass graves during World War Two. Prior to the war, the city had several Jewish cemeteries, but all were destroyed save one, Nemenskaya Cemetery.
Nemenskaya is a immense place, with more than 1500 tombstones, some dating back to the 1700s. Everything is overgrown with lush vines and is splashed with light filtering through the ancient trees. Nemenskaya is beautiful and compelling. I separated myself from Joe because I wanted be alone with my family. I felt my ancestors - your ancestors - calling to me, enveloping me, entering me. They were pleased I had come.
Listed as children of Shraga Feivel in Nemenskaya Cemetery are:
Rachel Ita (1882); Leah Masapetkin, (1889); Ari Levy (1902) and Sheina Slamyansky (1904.) Judging by their dates of death, they could have been siblings of Israel Salter, but there is no way to verify that. Believe me, I’ve tried! Joe and I visited the beautiful synagogue that is being restored. Today, there are nearly 1500 Jews living in Grodno, giving Jewish life yet another chance.
THE LEVINES:
After Grodno, we visited Minsk, the capitol of Belarus. Outside of Minsk is the town of Slutz, which is where the family of Reb Hershel Levine originated. In 1979 my brother Michael Salter complied a family tree entitled, “The Elia Levine Family.” This is what he wrote, and any errors must be attributed to him. “Reb Herschel Levine (1807) was from the town of Slutz in the state of Minsk [Wrong! Minsk is a city!], in the Kiev region of Russia. He outlived his first wife, married her younger sister; outlived his second wife, and married her younger sister. He out-lived his third wife before immigrating to the United States. Reb Herschel’s three children were all by his first wife.
“In 1890, Elia, the eldest son of Reb Herschel, immigrated to the United States by himself, and sent word back for the rest of the family to come. On June 6th, 1891, the SS Columbia arrived at Castle Garden (Ellis Island,) New York, bound from Hamburg. On board were Reb Herschel, Rose, Louie, Elia’s wife, Eva, and her children Max, Abe, Lena and Moe.”
According to the 1900 U.S Federal Census, here is the composition of the Eliah (Elia) Levine Household that year: Eliah, (1859) & Eva Sklar (1858, Poland); with children Max (1880); Lena (1882), our Grandma!; Abraham (1883); Moses (1885); Harry (1894); Louis (1896), passed away by 1900; Mike (1897); Ishmael (1898), died young; Solomon (1899). In all, our Grandma Lena had eight brothers and not a sister in sight!
Tragically, both Max and Abe passed away in the prime of their lives. My dad and his cousin were both named for their Uncle Max. Because none of the family could bear to say “Max,” both cousins were called “Sonny.” Sadly, Sonny Levine, son of Mike, and Irving Levine, son of Moe, both died during World War Two.
A FAMILY BATTLE:
Sometime in the 1930s Uncle Mike and Uncle Harry got into a terrible fight, so Uncle Mike left L.B. He started his own business right next door to Levine Brothers! His store failed, so my dad helped him open a new one on another street. “Michael Levine” offered fabric, notions and other goods. Uncle Mike purchased closeouts for next to nothing, then sold the merchandise at a low cost, giving the business a huge profit. Mike would buy millions of buttons or thousands of yards of fabric and everything went but the buttons!
When Mike was in his late 80s, he sold the business to my dad, Max, and to Mort Kern, Mike’s son-in-law. Eventually my brother, Mike, got involved in “Michael Levine” and it’s still a great money-maker. It’s the largest fabric store downtown and is known across L.A. county for having the best deals in town. Uncle Mike’s last years were spent as a greeter at the downtown Beno’s.
Uncle Sol eventually moved to San Diego, where he opened his own business, L.D. Trimmings, which, like Levine Brothers, sold tailor’s trimmings.
MINSK:
Similar to Kielce and Grodno, Minsk was tossed about among the Russians, Lithuanians, Poles and Germans. In 1991, it became part of Belarus, but, when our ancestors lived there it was a region of Russia. Also, like the other cities we visited, life for the Jews was hard. By the end of the 1800s, Jews comprised half the population of Minsk, yet they were in constant danger of Russian massacres. It’s easy to understand why Reb Herschel wanted his family to leave.
The Levines missed the pogroms of 1897 and 1905, along with the Soviet purges of the 1930s. They missed World War Two, when Belarus was the first Soviet republic to be invaded by Hitler. The Levines - at least, our branch - were safely in New York in July, 1942, when more than 30,000 of our Jewish brethren were killed during three days in Minsk, with tens of thousands killed at other times. Only a handful survived.
SLUTZ:
Joe and I went to Slutz, which is a small suburb of Minsk. We met with a Jewish man named Fred Falevich. Through a translator, (who, surprisingly, was not that much of an anti-Semite), we learned that before World War Two, Jews lived wherever they wanted. Because Slutz is such a tiny town, Fred walked us around. His small apartment is a few blocks away from the cramped ghetto where the Jews were eventually confined and a mile away from the horrible area where the Jews were murdered, including his family.
Fred said for him, life in the ghetto seems like it was yesterday. He was a young boy then and was able to escape from the ghetto and stay alive. He has no family left, but where would he go? Out of 14,000 Jews, only 30 families survived, totaling 200 people.
Fred explained that the Jews who survived the Soviets became Communists and renounced their Judaism. Fred didn’t know Hebrew, and I think is an atheist. But he does run a little Jewish Community Center, with prayers painted on the walls in Hebrew and phonetically in Cyrillic so that he can chant them. Several times a week, Fred meets with people like me, from the United States or Israel, who travel a great distance to see where they came from.
IN CONCLUSION:
While writing about our history, I learned a few things. I realized that family members of ours who remained in Grodno or Kielce or Slutz probably perished in World War Two. Very few of the descendants of Shraga Feivel were buried after 1930. Great aunts and uncles, second and third cousins, whose names we’ll never know, are gone because they thought they could survive in the countries of their birth. They were wrong, because the Jew was always “the stranger.” I now understand why my Dad was forever asking, “Is it good for the Jews?” It could be a volcanic eruption in Turkey or a beached whale in South Africa, but my Dad’s first question was, “Is it good for the Jews?” One of his fundamental beliefs was that the Jewish people must survive. So, Maxwell Hillary “Sonny” Salter dedicated his life to supporting Israel, a country where the Jew is not “the stranger.”
When he was in his late 80s my Dad described a dream he had: He was at a dinner with Rabin and Arafat, both long gone. He said they were able to do in death what they couldn’t do in life: broker peace for Israel and Palestine. How telling! My dad hanging out with the big shots, able to solve the problem that has defied a solution for millennia. Years ago after a trip to Israel my Dad grew a beard. He said he would shave it when there was peace in Israel. Of course, when he left this world, his beard still graced his sweet face.
As I read that anti-Semitism is again strong in Europe, always alive in the Middle East, and growing in other places around the globe, it has become clear how lucky we are that our ancestors chose to come to this wonderful country. When you can, drink a toast to the Patriarchs of the Salter Levine family: “To Israel Salter and to Reb Herschel Levine - Many Thanks! May your names be remembered and praised for generations to come!”
With Love,
Pepper