Brukhe Feldman was born in 1938 or 1939 in Bershad. Her father died fighting in the war when she was three years old, and she was brought up by her mother. She spent much of her life working in a furniture factory.
Other Interviews:
Postwar Religious PracticeA Gravestone for My Mother
Hunger of 1946
Kheskele - the Clarinetist
The Shiva
A Jew Must Eat Matzo
Burial Customs
Bershad, Ukraine
After the war, surviving Jews continued to mourn the dead in the Jewish fashion. In this clip, Brukhe Feldman recalls the practice of burial, recalling how the body would be wrapped in a shroud and carried into the cemetery. She remembers, in particular, the practice of avnet, in which a sash is wrapped around the shroud and tied in the form of the Hebrew letter shin. Jewish burial customs were marked as distinctly different than Christian customs, as a result of which Brukhe recalls that the Christians would look on with curiosity. She mentions that they would comment on Jews “running” with the body, likely viewing the custom of carrying the body by hand as bizarre. The clip finishes with Feldman discussing the custom of burning the shoes that the deceased had worn.