Sara Gelfand Memoir

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Sara Gelfand Memoir

Kletsk Life (2)
We also considered our stay in Poland as temporary, so we had to think of some type of occupation. Following Rabbi Kotler's recommendation, I started working in a factory and I met there one of the noblest person in my life. It was Rabbi Pimstein, whose business was located in the centre of the commercial district.

I liked my job very much and was totally dedicated to it. The owners of the business were fond of me and I liked them very much. They were very rich and pleasant people, who also were very good looking. Rabbi Pimstein, with an imposing white beard was a rabbinic authority and a extremely correct person. He also was a clever businessman, somebody pleasing to everybody and to God himself. And I had become his right hand in the business. The work gave me pleasure and taught me much for my future life.

With these people I felt a mensch (a PERSON on my own), happy to be surrounded by these pleasant people. In spite of having been left without a family, we were satisfied and felt that Rabbi Pimstein's family had become ours. Living in a country that was foreign to us, we gained having met these wonderful people, who replaced grandfather, unless and aunts. Rabbi Pimstein had two sons and one daughter – Leizer, Josef, and Minna – who were studying and in spite of being adults were not involved in the business.

Editor's Notes: Rabbi Pimstein: A Ch. Pimsztein is listed as a fabric manufacturer or dealer in the Kletsk entry for the 1929 Polish Business Directory. There are further entries for a Ch. Pimsztein and a R. Pimsztein (possibly a son?) in the foodstuffs business. In the Kletsk Yizkor Book, Rabbi Chaim Pimstein is included in a list of Rabbinical Judges and Torah Scholars of Kletsk. The Index indicates many as yet-untranslated pages that reference “Chaim Pimstein”. These seem to confirm that Rabbi Pimstein was an important figure in pre-war Klesk. Foreign might be translated unfamiliar. It is revealing that a move of no more than 80km (50 miles) placed these people in such unfamiliar territory.

Page Last Updated: 29-Dec-2010