I will always cherish the memory of my Grandfather Pinchas and what he did to keep our family hidden and safe during Cossack pogroms in Skvira, the city in the Kiev oblast (province) in Ukraine where they lived.
This story depicts how the life of one man, Pinchas, impacted so many. I’m glad that I remembered it as my father told it to me, because I want to help keep the memory of Pinchas alive. I want his efforts and creativity and hard work to be acknowledged by our family, who probably never knew anything of what he did.
A very important rule of life is to always be prepared. At times it can mean the difference between life and death, literally, and so it was for my Grandfather Pinchas, my father’s father. Pinchas was an intelligent person and a talented craftsmen who made elaborate samovars as well as other sterling silver pieces. He built with his own hands, without any help from anyone, a secret room beneath the center of the workshop, which adjoined his house. He made a trap door entrance in the floor that was ‘undetectable’ from the top surface. Pinchas made it with the same finger joints found in the wooden floor, so it blended in and showed no sign of being a trap door. It locked from below and it had steps going down to a ventilated with plenty of space to lie down.
During those terrifying pogroms, the family hid in that room until the Cossacks passed through the shtetl, leaving death and devastation behind.
I remember my father telling me how frightened he was during a pogrom, but how safe and secure his family felt while below in that secret room. At one point they heard Cossacks walking around in the shop above them, laughing and drinking. That secret room was where my grandparents and my father, who was then about nine years old, were nestled together quietly chanting prayers; {Shmai-Yisro’el} for themselves, and those who were in harm’s way.
Can you imagine the feeling of helplessness when you hear screaming in the distance, and you know that you can do nothing about it? My young father’s ‘brother’ Isaac, was not yet born. Thank God for that! How would they have been able to control a baby’s crying?
In the morning when it was quiet, Pinchas decided to go out and see if it was over. He climbed the steps, unlocked the trap door and gently lifted it ‘just enough’ to see if it was clear. As he stepped out, he made sure it was locked behind him. He cautiously made his way to the front of the shop and he stood near the door with his right shoulder and arm hidden from view. Two were passing by on horseback and they stopped and asked him who lived in the building. He stood his ground, answering slowly, while holding back his fear as he said that he and his brother lived there. When they asked, he spoke confidently, saying that his brother went to buy roofing material. Pinchas was a strong man with hands that were calloused from hard work. He did not back down mentally to these Cossacks who probably were wondering what he had in his right hand behind the door jamb. It seemed that they were reluctant to antagonize him, because they accepted what he said and moved on.
On the following day, when the conflict was over, the family emerged from that secret room grateful for their good fortune. The emotional expression on my father’s face as he spoke about all the suffering that people encountered was a testament to that terrible time. I am sure that he did not relate to me all of the horrific things he saw in the shtetl that day, because it was the first time I ever remembered seeing tears streaming down my father’s face as he spoke.
It was his foresight, skill and hard work that saved us all. If not for that secret room he built, who knows if our family would exist today?
I couldn’t be more proud of what my Grandfather Pinchas did even though I never met, spoke to or hugged him!
By David S. Weinstein
