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Memory Paintings of Samuel Rothbort
The Shtetl
A "Shtetl" was a place where, from time immemorial, the Torah was studied, where all inhabitants were students, where
synagogues and houses of prayer were filled with people from all classes, absorbed in study; people from the village and youth
from the countryside. Where craftsmen and other simple people between the afternoon prayers and the dusk, gathered around
the table to listen to a conversation on the Books of the Torah and to the interpretations of the Sages. A place were on Shabat,
next to the Holy Ark, words of comfort were spoken, words from the Prophets, words that touched the hearts, doing good to
the soul and filling the whole being. In this atmosphere, the Yiddish songs arose"
Mendele Moicher Sforim
(free translation)
The Shtetl was a voluntary Community of outstanding religious and social quality
Source: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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