Discussion of the Founding of the Demievka School

Despite all the great difficulties and obstacles, the school in Demievka soon attracted the attention of the Kiev Jewish public. The remote muddy little street in Demievka became a central location. People would literally go there on pilgrimages. A single day wouldn’t pass without one or more visitors going to see with their own eyes the great miracle achieved by the school. There wasn’t a soul who would not visit the school in Demievka: teachers, writers, educational activists, students, kindergarten teachers, workers, etc. And everyone returned with great enthusiasm for the school. Even enemies who went to take a look at this strange phenomenon, those who could not imagine how one could teach in Yiddish, those who were skeptical about secular education that was not in Russian and about the teaching of Jewishness [Yidishkayt] in a language other than Hebrew. Even those who went there with the intention to “curse” the school ended up blessing and praising it.¹ Just imagine how many teachers became ardent supporters of the secular Yiddish school as a result of these visits!