The Shochet (Vol. 2) - by Pinkhes-Dov Goldenshteyn

About the Book

This unique book is the memoirs of a kosher slaughterer, a Jewish functionary, who lived in Ukraine and Crimea from the middle of the nineteenth century until the First World War. For the first time, it gives us a snapshot of Jewish life from a functionary's point of view in the last century of Tsarist rule, and at the same time deals with the eternal questions of antisemitism, minority status, and the life of Jews in Ukraine.

Book Synopsis

"A fitting conclusion to a well-researched and meticulously edited memoir translation." -- Kirkus Reviews

"You have to read this book... It's not like anything you read before." -- Tablet Magazine

Set in Ukraine, Crimea, and Israel, this unique two-volume autobiography offers a fascinating, detailed picture of life in Tsarist Russia and Israel during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Goldenshteyn (1848-1930), a traditional Jew who was orphaned as a young boy and became a shochet (kosher slaughterer) as a young man, is a master storyteller. Folksy, funny, streetwise, and self-confident, he is a keen observer of his surroundings. His accounts are vivid and readable, sometimes stunning in their intensity.

The memoir is brimming with information. Goldenshteyn's adventures shed light on communal life, persecution, family relationships, religious practices and beliefs, social classes, local politics, interactions between Jews and other religious communities, epidemics, poverty, competition for resources, migration, war, technology, modernity and secularization. In chronicling his own life, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a bigger story--the story of how a small, oppressed people, among other minority groups, struggled for survival in the massive Russian Empire and in the Land of Israel.

Volume two begins in 1873, when Goldenshteyn obtains his first position as a shochet in Slobodze, and it follows him to the Crimea, where he endures 34 years of vicissitudes. In 1913, he fulfills a dream of immigrating to the Land of Israel, hoping to find tranquility in his old age. Instead, he is met with the turbulence of the First World War, as battles rage between the retreating Ottoman Turks and the advancing British forces.

Informed by research in Ukrainian, Israeli and American archives and personal interviews with the few surviving individuals who knew Goldenshteyn personally, The Shochet is a magnificent new contribution to Jewish and Eastern European history.

Review Quotes

"Despite being an academic publication, it has found its way into virtually every ... [Jewish] bookstore, as readers eagerly snapped up this uniquely vivid account of a bygone world."

--Mottie Wilhelm, COLlive Magazine

"I read The Shochet and was deeply moved by the way an apparently ordinary life opens into such a rich record of faith, struggle, and resilience. There's something powerful about how Goldenshteyn's steadiness, his daily work, his devotion, his honesty, becomes history in its own right. Rotenfeld's careful restoration and translation make that world feel both intimate and enduring."

--Otessa Moshfegh, author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation

"This is one of those rare books that once you start, it is very difficult to put down. You know you should put it down and go to sleep or go to work or make supper... but you can't! And once you finish it, you want everyone you know and love to read it too... The Shochet is written, edited, and footnoted beautifully. I am in awe of Michoel Rotenfeld's translation, which is not only precise but also eloquent.... I keep The Shochet on my desk just to remember the inspiration I gleaned from reading the life story of this remarkable 'simple Jew.'"

-- Rishe Deitsch, N'shei Chabad Newsletter

"The second volume of Goldenshteyn's memoir continues to captivate, brimming with the same dazzling color and detail that defined the first. The author's fluid writing style, combined with his knack for capturing nuance and subtlety, makes this volume difficult to put down.... Particularly worthy of celebration is the exceptional work of translator and presenter Michoel Rotenfeld.... This is yeoman's work of the highest order and sets a gold standard for future presentations of memoir literature."

--Rabbi Moshe Maimon, SeforimChatter

"Goldenshteyn, a traditional Jew who was orphaned as a young boy and became a shochet (kosher slaughterer) as a young man, is a master storyteller. His accounts are vivid and readable, sometimes stunning in their intensity. In chronicling his own life, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a bigger story--the story of how a small, oppressed people, among other minority groups, struggled for survival in the massive Russian Empire and in the Land of Israel. With great self-sacrifice and acumen, he overcomes tremendous adversity time after time by following his belief that justice will prevail if one acts with integrity.

The translator, Michoel Rotenfeld, spent decades on the research and translation, traveling to Ukraine, Crimea, and Israel to explore archives and interview the last remaining individuals who knew Goldenshteyn. The results are self-evident: the footnotes are concise and illuminating, providing the reader with a thorough understanding of what Jewish life was like in his era."

-- Jewish Link

"Rabbi Goldenshteyn wrote his life story as a guide to his children. But in this fascinating work, he leaves us with a unique record of what life was like in Eastern Europe and Israel for all of us, and it's not a pretty story by any stretch of the imagination. Goldenshteyn endured trials and travails sufficient for 50 people. Yet, in this work, we see him not just as a scholar but as a man of deep faith. Like Volume 1, Volume 2 is an exceptionally interesting first-hand account of life in Eastern Europe and Israel. Rotenfeld has done a remarkable translation and research to bring this most important volume to print."

-- Ben Rothke, The Times of Israel

"Writ-ing about his life, which was shaped by death, pover-ty, finan-cial dif-fi-cul-ties, and strug-gles against cor-rup-tion, Gold-en-shteyn does not present read-ers with easy top-ics. Yet his vivid, read-able prose is full of resilience, nuance, and humor. It invites us into the world of a crit-i-cal thinker, a pious Jew, and a thought-ful observ-er of Jew-ish life."

-- Katha-ri-na Hadas-sah Wendl, Jewish Book Council

"Despite being an academic publication, it has found its way into virtually every ... [Jewish] bookstore, as readers eagerly snapped up this uniquely vivid account of a bygone world."

-Mottie Wilhelm, COLlive Magazine

"I read The Shochet and was deeply moved by the way an apparently ordinary life opens into such a rich record of faith, struggle, and resilience. There's something powerful about how Goldenshteyn's steadiness, his daily work, his devotion, his honesty, becomes history in its own right. Rotenfeld's careful restoration and translation make that world feel both intimate and enduring."

--Otessa Moshfegh, author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation

"This is one of those rare books that once you start, it is very difficult to put down. You know you should put it down and go to sleep or go to work or make supper... but you can't! And once you finish it, you want everyone you know and love to read it too... The Shochet is written, edited, and footnoted beautifully. I am in awe of Michoel Rotenfeld's translation, which is not only precise but also eloquent.... I keep The Shochet on my desk just to remember the inspiration I gleaned from reading the life story of this remarkable 'simple Jew.'"

-- Rishe Deitsch, N'shei Chabad Newsletter

"The second volume of Goldenshteyn's memoir continues to captivate, brimming with the same dazzling color and detail that defined the first. The author's fluid writing style, combined with his knack for capturing nuance and subtlety, makes this volume difficult to put down.... Particularly worthy of celebration is the exceptional work of translator and presenter Michoel Rotenfeld.... This is yeoman's work of the highest order and sets a gold standard for future presentations of memoir literature."

--Rabbi Moshe Maimon, SeforimChatter

"Goldenshteyn, a traditional Jew who was orphaned as a young boy and became a shochet (kosher slaughterer) as a young man, is a master storyteller. His accounts are vivid and readable, sometimes stunning in their intensity. In chronicling his own life, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a bigger story--the story of how a small, oppressed people, among other minority groups, struggled for survival in the massive Russian Empire and in the Land of Israel. With great self-sacrifice and acumen, he overcomes tremendous adversity time after time by following his belief that justice will prevail if one acts with integrity.

The translator, Michoel Rotenfeld, spent decades on the research and translation, traveling to Ukraine, Crimea, and Israel to explore archives and interview the last remaining individuals who knew Goldenshteyn. The results are self-evident: the footnotes are concise and illuminating, providing the reader with a thorough understanding of what Jewish life was like in his era."

-- Jewish Link

"Rabbi Goldenshteyn wrote his life story as a guide to his children. But in this fascinating work, he leaves us with a unique record of what life was like in Eastern Europe and Israel for all of us, and it's not a pretty story by any stretch of the imagination. Goldenshteyn endured trials and travails sufficient for 50 people. Yet, in this work, we see him not just as a scholar but as a man of deep faith. Like Volume 1, Volume 2 is an exceptionally interesting first-hand account of life in Eastern Europe and Israel. Rotenfeld has done a remarkable translation and research to bring this most important volume to print."

-- Ben Rothke, The Times of Israel

"Writ-ing about his life, which was shaped by death, pover-ty, finan-cial dif-fi-cul-ties, and strug-gles against cor-ru

"This is one of those rare books that once you start, it is very difficult to put down. You know you should put it down and go to sleep or go to work or make supper... but you can't! And once you finish it, you want everyone you know and love to read it too... The Shochet is written, edited, and footnoted beautifully. I am in awe of Michoel Rotenfeld's translation, which is not only precise but also eloquent.... I keep The Shochet on my desk just to remember the inspiration I gleaned from reading the life story of this remarkable 'simple Jew.'"

- Rishe Deitsch, N'shei Chabad Newsletter

"The second volume of Goldenshteyn's memoir continues to captivate, brimming with the same dazzling color and detail that defined the first. The author's fluid writing style, combined with his knack for capturing nuance and subtlety, makes this volume difficult to put down.... Particularly worthy of celebration is the exceptional work of translator and presenter Michoel Rotenfeld.... This is yeoman's work of the highest order and sets a gold standard for future presentations of memoir literature."

--Rabbi Moshe Maimon, SeforimChatter

"Goldenshteyn, a traditional Jew who was orphaned as a young boy and became a shochet (kosher slaughterer) as a young man, is a master storyteller. His accounts are vivid and readable, sometimes stunning in their intensity. In chronicling his own life, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a bigger story--the story of how a small, oppressed people, among other minority groups, struggled for survival in the massive Russian Empire and in the Land of Israel. With great self-sacrifice and acumen, he overcomes tremendous adversity time after time by following his belief that justice will prevail if one acts with integrity.

The translator, Michoel Rotenfeld, spent decades on the research and translation, traveling to Ukraine, Crimea, and Israel to explore archives and interview the last remaining individuals who knew Goldenshteyn. The results are self-evident: the footnotes are concise and illuminating, providing the reader with a thorough understanding of what Jewish life was like in his era."

-- Jewish Link

"Rabbi Goldenshteyn wrote his life story as a guide to his children. But in this fascinating work, he leaves us with a unique record of what life was like in Eastern Europe and Israel for all of us, and it's not a pretty story by any stretch of the imagination. Goldenshteyn endured trials and travails sufficient for 50 people. Yet, in this work, we see him not just as a scholar but as a man of deep faith. Like Volume 1, Volume 2 is an exceptionally interesting first-hand account of life in Eastern Europe and Israel. Rotenfeld has done a remarkable translation and research to bring this most important volume to print."

-- Ben Rothke, The Times of Israel

"Writ-ing about his life, which was shaped by death, pover-ty, finan-cial dif-fi-cul-ties, and strug-gles against cor-rup-tion, Gold-en-shteyn does not present read-ers with easy top-ics. Yet his vivid, read-able prose is full of resilience, nuance, and humor. It invites us into the world of a crit-i-cal thinker, a pious Jew, and a thought-ful observ-er of Jew-ish life."

-- Katha-ri-na Hadas-sah Wendl, Jewish Book Council

About the Author

Michoel Rotenfeld is a historical researcher who has long been fascinated by Jewish memory in its myriad forms, especially the genre of Jewish autobiography. He is the director of Touro University Library's Project Zikaron, a permanent collection of previously uncollated and undigitized historical material from Jewish communities across the world. He also coordinated the digitization of David Tidhar's ninеtееn-volume Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel (www.tidhar.tourolib.org), which has received over three million page views.