May

My great-grandfather, Zurech May, and two of his brothers (Pincus and Wolf) came to the U.S. The son (Motel) of another brother (Moshe) came here. The daughter (Rita) of another brother (Herschel) came here in 1920. Most members of Herschel's family died in the Holocaust.

William Burstein, editor of the Jewish publication, "The Forward," (married to Herschel's daughter Rita and also from Ciechanow) told me in 1977 about the origin of the name "Ciechanow." He said that the Polish king "Zigmund the Old" had a castle. The castle was considered a "new joy"; new joy = Ciecha Nova (the ch is pronounced like the ch in Loch Lomond).

Rita May Burstein told me that Ciechanow was a small town where everyone knew everybody. There was the main square called "The Mark." It was here that all the big businesses were located. Rita said her family lived above their store on the main square. Herschel (Rita's father) had a big iron store which sold only iron, nothing else. The store did very well. Herschel was very recognized in Ciechanow. He and his wife were charitable people. Hinda belonged to a society to help poor people in Ciechanow.

Regina Gelford Landis (Herschel's granddaughter from Dvora May and Pincus Mondry) recalls that Herschel and Hinda's store was the same kind (building materials and iron) as her family had. Herschel's store was located on the main square, called "stari rinek."

Hinda, like her daughters, was a business person; but the men were not. Regina (who moved to Mlawa after marrying) visited Ciechanow several times. She remembers that her uncle, who lived upstairs, used to call her "Kloytsgelay," like the dough of a "piroge," because she was chubby. Regina recalls that she could see a castle on the other side of the main square. There was a little street called the "jabbergas." All the poor people lived there, including the tailors and the shoe repairmen. In New York City, David May (my grandfather, who arrived in 1899) used to teasingly ask his cousin Rita (who arrived in 1920), "How are the 'jabberskaytels?'"

"In Ciechanow the people had a very miserable life. There were no sinks for water. To get water, a special man walked around from house to house with pails of water from the river and sold the water. Each family had a barrel in the kitchen where they accumulated the water to drink and to wash dishes. Of course, the water was unsterilized. There was no electricity and no gas. Just wood for the oven. It was a very bad life. In Ciechanow we lived one long block from the market [The "Mark"] where Herschel and Hinda May lived. The "Mark" or market was the place where the peasants used to come three times a week to sell their milk, butter, cheese and eggs. One block walking, to the left of our apartment, was the house of my stepmother, Yetta . When we were small children we used to visit her on Passover. She had a dry goods store. One block to the South was the heder where the rabbis used to teach me davening. There was a big shul to the right side. And there was a river."