I am totally mystified by the name “Tobacco Pipe Tree” (or Pipke Baum). From afar, one cannot discern a pipe but rather the chin of an elephant, and I would have named it “The Elephant Tree”. One can see that from the chin, the snout stretches out and there are the two eyes, one on each side, and it is indeed like a real elephant. However, as I’m neither the owner of the forest nor of its trees, I cannot change the world. And as everyone knows it as the Pipe Tree, so I too must conform and call it that.
It is located at the end of a densely wooded forest in Titezvian. Every summer, women with small children, the elderly and some young boys and girls, mostly high school pupils streamed to this village, known as Tituvenai in Lithuania. They came to relax, breath in the clear, fresh air and get away from the turmoil of the town and daily concerns. Most are there on duchy from the surrounding villages and towns and also from all the corners of the country. They come because it is the most thickly wooded forest, the most common trees being pine and there are forest all around, but in the middle of this one is a huge lake, known as “Bridvaisto”. Young and old come here to bathe, when the heat is at its height, to invigorate and refresh the body and soul, to soak oneself in the velvety waters of the lake, take a boat or swim to the other end of the lake.
Music is often heard there and people singing all kinds of Yiddish songs. Some sit around in the shade on the edge of the lake; elderly couples play chess or dominos or lotto. There is also a game of cards involving small boxes in each of which is marked a certain number. In a bag, there are many wooden titles on each side of which is a number. Whoever draws out the same number as that appearing on his card, puts up a stake.
The young couples rarely sit at the edge of the forest, they go out to swim with a boat or go deep into the woods, each with his own age group or friends, and according to his particular interests. But the Pipe Tree does not differentiate between people. It is a place for a rendezvous between couples, and also for the elderly to take a rest. It has long and wide wings that spread out all around over the large area.
“Why is the tree actually called the “Pipe Tree”, I ventured to ask a Tzitieviane resident.
“Well, you see, you only come here in the summer. But when one approaches the tree in the fall or the spring, when the sun warms the tree somewhat after a rain, one can see a sort of smoke rising from its mouth and the impression is as of someone smoking a long pipe. It’s several hundred years old and is no longer a young tree; it smokes like in years gone by and that’s how it got its name.”
“How do you know this?”
“My grandmother told me and she remembers the name from her childhood.”
Young men would cut off pieces of bark from aged pine trees and from these cut out little ships, small houses and other interesting toys for small children to play with and float on the waters. On the stumps of trees and even on the trees themselves they would make inscriptions and other signs. The Pipe Tree had no such bad luck. It was holy to all. Nothing was cut or torn from it, no hammock was strung from it, it served as a symbol, a sort of museum piece. Whoever wants to have a souvenir of the Tsitvianer duchy, will invariably take a photo with the tree. The place occupied by the Pipe Tree cannot be passed by with indifference; one cannot but stop and look at it from all sides and drink in the pleasure of such a sight.
And who are those who await impatiently the arrival of the owners of the duchies? More than anyone, of course, the peasants and the owners of the surrounding houses, set out lengthwise in the forest. Here, in the summer holiday area, shops open up in the summer for the purchase of small necessities, restaurants where one an order a lunch or take a bit on the spot or a take-away meal, or an inn where one can sleep overnight. And how can one possibly pass the summer without ice-cream?
The smart tradespeople are not asleep. From early morning to late at night there are wagons laden with two kettledrums filled with ice. In the one, there is white ice-cream and in the other fruit ice-cream. The tradesman puts a waffle inside a tiny cone and with a spoon adds the ice-cream, and on top of that another waffle, pushes a lever at the bottom and the portion rises to the top. The holiday makers called this simply “Morazena”.
The owners of the small houses rent them out to the Jewish holiday-makers, or only some of them, for the whole summer season, and they themselves move out into the courtyard or the barn of the summer kitchen. This gives these tradespeople a chance to sell their food products locally instead of having to travel to the surrounding villages to do so. This too makes their products available more cheaply Here the holiday-makers are one kilometer away from the shtetl of Tzitavien, where there ae also food stores. And this is where they make their small purchases of salt, sugar, matches, etc. which are not sold by the locals. The local products, including dairy products such as cheese, butter, eggs, vegetables and fruit are quite fresh. The regular customers receive milk just after the cows are milked and it is still warm.
Local stores mainly supply the local inhabitants. The meat consumers buy live chickens from the locals and a shochet slaughters these; or else the men bring home for shabbat ready koshered meat or fish. These had to be eaten when still fresh, since no refrigeration existed then only cellars where perishable food could be kept for only a day or two. Dairy foods were kept in a deep well in a special bucket. Milk, butter and cream were lowered with a thick string up to the surface edge of the water. But such deep wells were few and not adequate for the needs of the summer holiday folk. The snag was that these products could not be kept in the wells for any length of time. This method was complicated by the fact that each time water was required, the food had to be removed before the water could be drawn out.
The holiday folk spent as little time as possible in their houses – eat breakfast, lunch or supper and off to the woods. The older folks to the hammocks, the younger would wander around in the woods, play ball games or enjoy the lake. Those who spent the most time in the houses were the Jewish mothers and grandmothers. Indeed, they came to the duchies especially to prepare meals for their children and grandchildren, to care for their physical comfort and see that they were well-fed, rested and invigorated for the fresh air. They were seldom to be found in the hammocks.
The Jews were no disturbance to the local Lithuanian population; on the contrary, the contact was mutually advantageous. The residents gained from it and were never the losers. Those who wished to be free of the chore of cooking lunch, would order meals in advance for a month or even a season from the “pensions” according to choice or take. Naturally, the food was always kosher and each pension had its own particular menu.
During the day, a dead silence reigned in the streets, broken only at lunch time by the clatter of knives, forks and plates. Voices rose up out of the woods. The healthy ones went deep into the woods, where it was cooler and the sun did not filter through. But in the colder air of the evening, everything changed. The chirping of birds wafted in from the woods and the streets were filled with the clamor of human pleasure-seekers. Here and there a musician was playing or records would twang out Yiddish melodies or music. At the end of the village center there was a large hall. In the evenings, both inside and outside this hall crowds gathered mainly of young people. They came not only to dance, but to hear some gay and lively music, and old tango or a modern foxtrot. As there was no room to dance a waltz inside, the couples danced in the street. And many young couples drifted to the street on the edge of the woods, opposite the hall and danced there. The music from the hall was loud and clear, especially when there was a band. The older folk strolled nearby breathing in the clear forest air of Yadle and Sasne and enjoying the Jewish music.
