Family Stories: Muzykant

Memories from my Grandpa Harry Musicant,
by Sharon Strugatz Racusin

I have always been curious about where my grandparents lived and what their lives were like when they were young. My grandfather, Harry Musicant (formerly Gersh Muzykant) fed me small bits that made my imagination take off. He was 12 when he arrived in the US. One of 6 children but I don’t know in what order they were born. One died as I will recount later on.

I might have been 8 or 10 years old when I first asked where he came from. He rattled off Lechowitz, Baronavich, Minsk gubernia. Gubernia? What’s that? Why are there four names? He patiently explained the geography. Here are some vignettes that I remember him telling me.

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I have not read this in any of the other accounts about life in Lechowitz. Grandpa Harry told me that during Sukkot (Sukus) the men in town would lift open the roof of a building with pulleys. I don’t recall if he said which building. For some reason I decided it was a shul. Has anyone heard a similar story?

Another story is about Harry’s grandfather Nissn (the klezmer) who was previously divorced from his first wife - Chaine Rivanoff, my grandfather’s grandmother. Nissn remarried and had three more daughters, Leah, Rae and Dora. My fellow researcher and third cousin, Karen Rubin (descended from Chaya Muzykant, my great-grandfather Sam’s sister) and I are curious about the divorce and how often divorces occurred and for what reason this one occured. We may never know. My grandfather told me that his grandmother remarried a farmer (I believe in Lechowitz) and Harry would visit her there often and enjoy her pumpkin soup - the best ever.

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My grandfather lost a brother to drowning while ice skating. As a young child with 4 sisters I could not imagine such a tragic thing happening. I can’t remember if he told me his name! Perhaps I can find the lost brother in the archives. But as I was reading the story by Berta Turbavich about her memory of the Wiedma River. She wrote: “Oh our beautiful little river!: It lived up to its name: Wiedma (witch), it swallowed people. My parents used to tell the story about a group of boys and girls, skating happily on the frozen river, everything was so nice, suddenly there was a loud crack and a desperate cry for help rang out. All attempts to rescue them failed; several from the group drowned. That was their fate; the end of a happy life.”

Could my grandfather’s brother be one of those people in Berta’s parent’s story?

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I have a photo of my grandfather with another boy, and I am not sure if it was taken in Lechowitz or in the States but perhaps someone reading this might know from the clothing. Perhaps it was the last photo taken before my Grandpa Harry left Lechowitz.

The first time my great grandfather Sam (formerly Schlojma Musikant) came to the states in 1909 he travelled to New York City via Canada at Rouses Point, NY. I have been told that immigrants took the least expensive means of travel to their destination, sometimes a very roundabout path.