Gift of Caroline Netter

Id no. 625.91, Household goods

before 1911, Vilnius, Vilna, Lithuania

Subject(s):  Families

Fagel Pearlman used this chopping knife (“hockmesser” in Yiddish) in Vilna around the turn of the century, and in the US after she and her family immigrated in 1911. A “hockmesser” could be used to make a variety of traditional Jewish foods, such as gefilte fish, and was often brought to the United States by new Jewish immigrants hoping to continue family traditions in the “New World.”