Cossacks

Feodosia had its share of Cossacks. They were a Russian ethnic group that was hired to do policing for the Russian government. The Jews of Feodosia negotiated with them to keep them from harassing their businesses, homes, and families. 

Ironically, after the Russian Revolution, these same people were harassed and exiled by the new Soviet government in ways very similar to what they had used against the Jews and other ethnic people.

Even more ironically, when these proud Cossacks arrived to America proudly wearing their heavy coats, boots, high hats, and long swords, Americans saw them and were frightened. They urged them to pull off this warmongering costume and to stop their bullying swagger. It wasn't welcomed in the new land where there was a written law in the land and no Czar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cossacks

Old Feodosia

Aunt Mary told me about how unique Feodosia was as a city. She described it as being "not a large city, as cities go".  I looked it up. 

It was a center of commerce along the Black Sea and the Silk Road from China. It was where the Ancient Greeks and Romans built homes while negotiating trades. 

In the 14th and 15th centuries the Genoese from North West Italy built a huge stone fortress - - probably on top of the ones the other ancient people had - - to protect their trade goods. 

Later, the farmers North of Crimea, in the Ukraine, sent their agricultural goods out of the port of Feodosia to market. 

Mary's family and the other Jews of Feodosia benefited from this international location.

On days when her Papa and Uncle took the children out for a hike, they enjoyed many cultural opportunities that the city had to offer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feodosia

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g736010-Activities-Feodosia.html

The Bronx Tenement House

Mary's oldest brother found them a home with three rooms. It was glorious to Mary after living for ten months in the backroom of a miserly shopkeeper. 

How she described this building and their new apartment was so like the Tenement Museum House on 97th Orchard Street in New York City! So, as an author, I was able to match up her detailed memories to the pictures in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Biography-Tenement-House-York-City/

The Blind Jewish Story Teller

In old Feodosia, there was a blind Jewish storyteller who taught the children in three languages. Russian when the Cossacks were patrolling: Yiddish for the majority of the children; and Tatar for the ethnic Sephardic children. He taught them to respond to the stories as he dramatized them. So they responded with applause, groans, crying, or laughter as he cued them.

He dramatized stories from the Torah reading of the week.

https://www.amazon.com/Childs-Bible-Lessons-from-the-Torah

He dramatized stories from Sholom Aleichem:

https://www.amazon.com/Tevyes-Daughters-Collected-Stories-Aleichem/

And, to keep the Cossacks at bay as they strolled by, he read from the local newspapers, which had pictures of the Czar and his family:

https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Alexandra-Prince-Greece-Michael/

The children looked for him every week on Thursdays. They never knew which corner he'd show up on. Afterward, they each offered him a kopek to thank him, per instructions from their parents.