Michoel Rotenfeld is a historical researcher who has long been fascinated by Jewish memory in its myriad forms, especially the genre of Jewish autobiography. He is the director of Touro University Library's Project Zikaron, a permanent collection of previously uncollated and undigitized historical material from Jewish communities across the world. He also coordinated the digitization of David Tidhar's ninеtееn-volume Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel (www.tidhar.tourolib.org), which has received over two million page views.

"Rotenfeld offers readers more than just an English translation in this volume, also providing an abundance of historical context and commentary on the life and times of Goldenshteyn. ... This presentation, combined with the inclusion of maps, photographs, drawings, and other images, will make the book accessible to scholars and general readers alike. ... Most important is the book's emphasis on the lives and beliefs of common Jews within a genre that typically highlights a more secular, middle-class, and elite perspective."

- Kirkus Reviews

"A historically insightful memoir, The Shochet trades between humorous and grave descriptions of rural Jewish life in nineteenth-century Ukraine. ... [T]he frank central narration stands to captivate all."

-- Foreword Clarion Reviews

"Thanks to Michoel Rotenfeld's new English-language translation of a Yiddish autobiography, The Shochet (1929), we now have a detailed, vivid, and unvarnished view of life in Ukraine in the second half of the 19th century."

-- Barbara Bensoussan, Mishpacha Magazine

"Startling candor is characteristic of The Shochet, an unusual and fascinating account of Chasidic life in nineteenth-century Ukraine, then part of Tsarist Russia. ... Goldenshteyn understands well that 'happiness writes in white ink on a white page' and that stories need tension to come to life. He captures the petulance, the ego-centrism, as well as the innocent trust and hopefulness of his childhood. Following him as he matures, we come to appreciate his honesty, kindness, and compassion in the face of betrayals and misfortune. His account is a page-turner, gripping and compelling. For anyone who wants an unvarnished insider view of the Chasidic life of yesteryear, its travails and its glories, The Shochet is a rare treasure."

-- Chana Silberstein, Lubavitch International

"The Shochet: An Unparalleled Autobiographical Account of Life in the Shtetl... The Shochet... is an unparalleled autobiographical account of faith and piety amid poverty, suffering and loss experienced by a smart, rambunctious and traumatized orphan living in the fast-disappearing traditional Jewish communities in late 19th-century Eastern Europe. ... Thanks to Michoel Rotenfeld's scholarly and deeply engaging translation... and introduction, Goldenshteyn comes across as someone without guile or pretense, a person who has neither the desire to highlight the faults of others nor the need to hide his own shortcomings and mistakes. ... The more than 300-page dramatic autobiography, a page-turner in every sense of the word, is preceded by a comprehensive scholarly introduction to the life and times of Pinye-Ber Goldenshteyn by the book's translator and editor, Michoel Rotenfeld. Itself an extraordinary work of scholarship and insight, the introduction contextualizes the author's life amidst the deteriorating Jewish life in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century, and contrasts this work to those of maskilim who sought to demean and denigrate everything that was good and holy about traditional Jewish life. ... The Shochet is a timely and timeless story of faith amid suffering that teaches us much about where we came from and where we ought to be going. It will inform, inspire and elevate those who read it."

-- Yaakov Ort, Chabad.org

"Pinye Ber (Pinchas Dov) Goldenstein, born in 1848, lived a life of poverty and piety, struggle and

Publisher: Academic Studies Press

Pub date: 2023-09-26

Length: 418 pages