The Shochet: A Memoir of Jewish Life in Ukraine and Crimea
“An unparalleled autobiographical account of life in the shtetl.” — Yaakov Ort, Chabad.org
An Ordinary Jew. An Extraordinary Life.
Forget everything you think you know about the romanticized nostalgia of the Eastern European shtetl. The Shochet delivers a gritty and unvarnished view of that vanished world through the eyes of someone who was part of it: Pinkhes-Dov Goldenshteyn (1848-1930), a traditional Jew who worked as a shochet (kosher slaughterer) for 43 years. Discovered and masterfully translated by historical researcher Michoel Rotenfeld, this stunning memoir stands virtually alone in Jewish literature.
Goldenshteyn's two-volume autobiography is an invaluable historical document that reads like an adventure novel. It pulses with raw intensity and surprising humor. Free from the sentimentality of popular folklore, yet entirely devoid of the harsh cynicism and judgment of traditional life that often colors other memoirs of the era, his unpretentious narrative offers a candid first-person window into 19th-century Jewish life.
The author's gripping account captures the stark trials of a bygone era. His struggles are daunting: the pain of being orphaned, extreme poverty, persecution, war, disease, displacement. Along the way he encounters people who range from deeply devout to corrupt, from compassionate to cruel, and his keen instincts are sharpened as he attempts to outmaneuver those who seek to undermine him. Whether he is surviving epidemics, escaping border guards, scrambling to feed his family or witnessing the clash of empires, Goldenshteyn chronicles a tumultuous life powered by an iron will and an unbreakable belief in divine providence. Beyond a simple story of resilience, it stands as the singular autobiography of a ‘silent voice’—a rare, intimate record of the struggles and fleeting joys of the traditional Jewish majority of that era, written with an immediacy that keeps the reader entirely captive.
“An impressively researched and surprisingly accessible portrait of Jewish life in the mid-19th century.”
“You have to read this book… It's not like anything you read before.”
“A riveting panorama of a vanished world.”
Volume 1
Orphanhood, Adversity, and an Unshakable Trust in God
Volume 1 plunges readers into the grueling reality of life in Ukraine under the oppressive weight of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Born in 1848, young Pinkhes-Dov (Pinye-Ber) is struck by tragedy early, losing his mother at age five and his father at seven. Shuffled between indigent relatives, his childhood was a bleak battle against extreme privation, disease, and neglect—punctuated by terrifying encounters with snatchers, from whom he was once saved only by hiding beneath his sister's skirt to avoid being seized as a Cantonist. Yet at just 15 years old, against seemingly impossible odds, he fiercely takes charge of his own destiny. Refusing to succumb to self-pity and driven by an unbreakable desire for spiritual growth, he resolves to become a yeshiva student—embarking on a monumental journey north to Lubavitch in Belarus to seek out the Tzemach Tzedek, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Along the way, his path is marked by adventure, from evading border guards to the frantic mission of delivering a sacred esrog to the Lyever Rebbe.
Desperate to support his family after marrying at a young age, he undergoes rigorous training to become a shochet (kosher slaughterer). Searching for a position in this coveted profession launches him on a journey through hamlets and villages, where he routinely faces persecution, exploitation, and the heavy burdens of poverty as he tries to establish himself. His account, elucidated by Rotenfeld's meticulous footnotes, provides a remarkable, granular look at day-to-day life of 19th-century Jewish community life not found elsewhere. Despite enduring one misfortune after another, Goldenshteyn writes with a charming, undefeated attitude. His narrative shines with surprising humor, warmth, and ironclad trust in G‑d, turning a life of immense hardship into an unforgettable testament to the power of the human spirit.
Foreword by Israel Singer, former Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress.
Volume 2
Ukraine, the Crimean Frontier, and World War I in the Land of Israel
Volume 2 sets Goldenshteyn's deep personal struggles onto an epic historical canvas. In 1873 he secures his first official post as a shochet (kosher slaughterer) in Slobodze, Ukraine. Caught in the crossfire of two corrupt, rival communal factions, Pinye-Ber cleverly outmaneuvers his detractors by securing official certification and an authoritative decree from the Tolner Rebbe, which exposed his agitators' duplicity and temporarily silenced their hostility. Leveraging this victory, he successfully restructured his working conditions on his own terms, overcoming the community's abuse before leaving Slobodze of his own accord.
Six years later, he moves his family to the frontier of the Crimea, where he spends 34 tumultuous years. Operating in a unique, predominantly Tatar-speaking Muslim environment, he masterfully manages local politics, cross-cultural relationships, fierce economic competition, and the unsettling onset of modernity threatening his traditional way of life.
In 1913, longing for spiritual tranquility in his twilight years, Goldenshteyn finally fulfills a lifelong dream and immigrates to the Land of Israel. But the peace he seeks is violently upended by the outbreak of the First World War. The chapters at the end of Volume 2 provide a firsthand account of living on the front lines as fierce battles rage between the retreating Ottoman Turks and the advancing British forces.
What makes The Shochet a magnificent, unforgettable contribution to Jewish history is its extraordinary texture. Beyond the historical backdrop, Goldenshteyn fills his pages with vivid, granular details of everyday Jewish life—from the intricate politics of the shtetl and the delicate halachic dilemmas of a shochet to regional customs and folk remedies. In chronicling his own journey, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a much larger story—the gripping saga of how a small, oppressed people struggled for survival both within the massive Russian Empire and in the Land of Israel.
Reviews
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Kirkus Reviews (Recommended Read)
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Real Time in the Shtetl (Cover Story)
Mishpacha Magazine
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Honest Memories of a Vanished World
Lubavitch International
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Mid-1800s Shtetl Life Comes Alive
Ami Magazine
Interviews
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Interview with Michoel Rotenfeld — Vol. 1
New Books Network
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Interview with Michoel Rotenfeld — Vol. 2
SeforimChatter
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Interview with Michoel Rotenfeld — Vol. 1
SeforimChatter
Michoel Rotenfeld
Michoel Rotenfeld is a historical researcher who has long been fascinated by Jewish memory in its myriad forms, especially the genre of Jewish autobiography. Apart from his two-volume The Shochet: A Memoir of Jewish Life in Ukraine and Crimea, he is the Associate Director of Touro University Libraries and the director of Touro University Libraries' Project Zikaron, a permanent collection of previously uncollated and undigitized historical material from Jewish communities across the world. Project Zikaron will be made freely available to the public later this year.
He also coordinated the digitization of David Tidhar's nineteen-volume Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel, which has received over four million page views.
Articles by Michoel Rotenfeld