Page 9 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Introduction

they certainly reveal a mind of depth and sensitivity—as well as a
personality of stubbornness and pessimism.
They are, first, the reportorial level: facts—or even gossip—
gathered firsthand, about the self and other known people; and
information about events occurring in the outside world, learned
primarily through reading. Second, the interpretive level: a linkage of
facts and events leading to their personal, familial or sociological
significance; at its most profound, this produces an historical world
view, the way things “really are.” Third, the philosophical level:
dispassionate consideration of the self in relation to the world view,
the effect and affect of existence in a particular time and space;
fatalistic resignation and blind faith optimism are at the poles of this
sphere of discourse. Fourth, the moral level: judgement of the self,
given the facts of its life history and the values it holds; ultimate
justification or condemnation. AR, alone with his thoughts, moved
unconsciously from one level to another, driven by sometimes
contradictory motives: to leave a record of his life for his
descendants, to provide them with moral instruction, to make sense
of his own experience, to give his feelings some sort of catharsis. His
work is enriched by that complexity.
Although most of AR’s text requires no gloss, certain points of
interest are worthy of note. These are of two types, references and
inferences. In the first category are experiences he shared with many
other eastern European Jews, and which have been documented
elsewhere; in the second are more or less supportable deductions or
observations about his life based on the text. The references may be
divided into pre- and post-immigration. It is curious that the Yiddish
word shtetl appears nowhere in AR’s narrative. On one hand, it is
likely that the word did not come into a sort of vogue in this country
until after he had written; on the other, he is not consistent in his
description of Pelcovizna: sometimes it is a suburb, sometimes a
small town or settlement. But this ambiguity is apposite to
shtetl culture in general and AR’s situation in particular. He was living
on the fringes of a great metropolis, and was caught inevitably in the
clash of cultures between traditional Jewish village life and the
enlightened liberal currents sweeping through Warsaw.

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