{"id":32,"date":"2006-05-17T22:02:59","date_gmt":"2006-05-18T03:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simpletone.com\/cdi\/aharon\/writing\/wordpress\/?p=32"},"modified":"2024-04-10T13:04:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T20:04:47","slug":"from-moinesti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aharon.varady.net\/omphalos\/2006\/05\/from-moinesti","title":{"rendered":"From Moine\u015fti"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Moine\u015fti<\/a> (pronounced MOI-nesht) is a small city in north-eastern Romania, in the Moldavian<\/a> region, and in the county of Bac\u0103u<\/a>. According to Wikipedia<\/a>,<\/p>\n

The name is derived from the Romanian word moin\u0103<\/em>, which means fallow<\/em> or light rain<\/em>. Moine\u015fti once had a large Jewish community; in Jewish contexts the name is often given as Mojnescht.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Moinesti is situated on the Trotu\u015f River on the eastern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. A little further to the west is the region of Transylvania. Bordering the Moldavian region to the east and across the Romanian border is the Republic of Moldova<\/a>, part of Moldavia in the Middle Ages and later known as Bessarabia.<\/p>\n

Mentioned as early as 1467, the small village of Moine\u015fti, grew steadily through the 19th century as a regional market town. In 1832, Moine\u015fti had 188 houses and 588 inhabitants (wikipedia<\/a>). According to another source, the 1831 Census registered 49 Jewish resident families (source<\/a>). (Reconciling these two sources apparently indicates there were on average 12 individuals living in each family home.)<\/p>\n

In 1836, in Moinesti, there were 193 Jews, three teachers, and three Hahams. In 1844, in “The Charter of Moinesti town” (Prince Mihail Grigore Sturdza) there are some mentions about “the Jews, the Rabbi, and the Haham”. In the same year, Neculai Neculce sells a piece of ground to Rabbi Manascu from Moinesti…<\/p>\n

The 1885-1893 statistics mention approximately 500 families. There are also mentioned five prayer houses; a ritual bath (mentioned also by M. Sadoveanu: “the only public bath was owned by the Jews”); a primary school for boys, founded in 1893, with 125 students; a cemetery. 1896 -1899. J.C.A. (Jewish Colonization Association) founded by Baron Rothschild, offers support for erecting a new school. In 1896, there were 183 students. In 1899, there were 2,398 Jews [or] some 50.6% [of] the entire population. (source<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of the two Jewish cemeteries in the town, somewhere between 1000 and 5000 tombstones (most of which are toppled) attest to a Jewish population that persisted from the early 18th Century until the Holocaust. The earliest tombstone was dated by a visitor to 1740 (fourty years before the town was first chartered, source<\/a>). Even older stones may be undateable due to erosion by vegetation and the elements.<\/p>\n

For such a small place, Moine\u015fti has something of a proud if obscure history as the birthplace of some wonderful Jewish artists, poets, and writers. Here’s a short list of Jewish artists and writers born in Moinesti:<\/p>\n