https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/terebovlya/terebovlya.html
Chaskel Shor
Moische Semenover – “Belokopetnik”, as the peasants used to call him– got husbands for his daughters from the Yeshiva. He chose only the knowledgeable ones, and those with extraordinary ability, and not necessarily the most orthodox.
His sojourns to yeshivas were frequent and time–consuming, but the results were always rewarding, for among the yeshiva “bocherim” he met his future son–in–law Chaskel, a very tall, handsome, unusually bright young man, a native of Yassy, Rumania. His family settled in the vicinity of Stanislav.
After marrying Sheindel, and enjoying his three years “kest” he followed the usual pattern of becoming a merchant, dealing in grain. He soon tired of this life which was limited and not challenging. In secret he acquired knowledge not in the confines of Jewish studies. It was the time when the “Haskala” began to pierce through the self–imposed Jewish Ghetto. Soon it was known that Chaskel was indulging in “Tarbuth Raa” and his position became precarious. He always found Talmudic justification for his indulgence in foreign culture.
As time went on he acquired a lifestyle that was not acceptable in his environs. He became more and more brazen, and began introducing new words and phrases into the Yiddish language, words like Liberty, Equality, Emancipation, thus frightening the Jewish Community.
In 1907, when the general elections took place to the Parliament in Vienna, he was the only one who dared to come out against the Polish candidate who was supported by the orthodoxy, and urged all to vote for a Zionist named Mahler. This was unforgivable, and he was forced to leave Semenov with his family, and settle in Chernovitz, Bukovina. He kept contact with his family by a yearly visit allegedly for “Kaver Avoth”. He continued his Talmudic symposia with his erudite brothers–in–law, somehow always winning the decision.
In Chernovitz, he became a successful insurance agent, where his Talmudic knowledge was helpful.
He raised three sons who became well known. Strangely enough they were not raised in the Jewish spirit, and were lukewarm to the Zionist movement.
They abandoned the name Shor, and adopted other names. The eldest was
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known as Dr. Philip Menchel, who was the editor of the Chernovitzer “Tag Blatt”. He died in New York in 1940.
Chaskel Shor's world left its mark on several generations. His beautiful aphorisms which I heard as a child still ring in my ears. His philosophy, his ethics, his morals, all left a deep imprint on his fellow men.
Today I say sadly: there are no survivors of the second and third generation due to the Holocaust.
