Fascinating!  So how did an Orthodox man reconcile davening every day
(except Shabbat, of course) with the Torah work ethic (ref. Rambam)?  This
was probably just before the time of the Bolshevik uprising, right?  That
makes sense.  So, mag's grandfather apparently rebelled against his own
father's ultra-Orthodoxy and became a Socialist?

I love family stories.  They add so much life to historical study!

-----Original Message-----
From: Kat [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 8:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Did I delete something important? Genia


Kyle,

A 'Shul' is the place of prayer for Jews, or a synagogue.  What Mag is
saying is that since her great-grandfather was always praying in shul, he
never worked to earn money for food and so his family starved.  That was
considered kosher back then since to daven every day as Meir would say, was
right and proper for the Jewish Orthodox man.

From what little I know of Jewish Russian history, that could have taken
place any time from 1890 until after WWI.  The guard could have been a Jew
himself who was conscripted into the Tsar's army.  There are stories of boys
taking on their mothers' family names to avoid being counted by census
takers.  Hence a lot of Jewish surnames are maternal names rather than
patrilineal names, making finding one's family in census records more
difficult.  That is probably why my last name, Salkin, is probably dirived
from 'Shulka,' a female surname.

Kat, bringing you more trivia to ponder!