Page 61 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Three teachers

as any other leaf. It has a spine almost like a human’s, with ribs
branching out, which is quite thick and hard when dried. The good
tobacco is pulled off that hard spine, blended and sold for a good
price. The spine itself is cut up into little cubes called machorka and
sold to the poor, like peasants, soldiers, and Hirshely. The foulest
smell is not as obnoxious to one’s nose as machorka in a pipe. When
Hirshely unscrewed the stem of the pipe from the bowl and let the
tar-black juice run out on the floor, the house took on forevermore
the smell of machorka.
My sister Hannah was very industrious and cleaned the floor of
the house quite often. She also washed the teacher’s clothes, all for
the sake of having a brother that she could look up to—and to put
on display when she came to choose a bridegroom. But Hirshely did
not care much for the floor or for women in general. When she had
washed and dried the floor nicely, he would clean his pipe’s ashes and
juice right on the cleanest spot. My sister was a husky girl and was
prepared to tear out Hirshely’s whiskers. My mother restrained her
from taking any harsh action, but Hannah rebuked him. He
complained to my father, who favored him, bringing dissension to
the family. My mother and sisters suffered hell from that godly man,
but my father stuck by him. He did teach us well, and made us
behave properly, which we really needed.

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