«PAN CREEK» the square in front of the spring that housed the Great Synagogue, the Jewish house of worship, the Jewish school and beyond the Jewish bath - a story about the Jewish presence. First of all, why «PAN CREEK»? In translation, this means the Source of the mistress of the Madonna & mdash; spring, so named in honor of the owner of Rashkov in the XVII century (since 1653), the beautiful Ruxanda. She was the daughter of the Moldovan ruler Vasily Lupu, who was given in marriage to Timothy Khmelnitsky, son of Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who was the leader of a national liberation uprising to liberate Ukraine from Polish-Lithuanian rule. As a result of the uprising, Left-bank Ukraine and Kiev finally withdrew from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland. Because he sealed the union of Hetman Ukraine and Moldavia.Why romantic? Residents of Rashkov have preserved a beautiful legend about the daughter of the Moldavian ruler. After the sudden death of her husband, Ruxanda settled in Rashkov, which was given to her by her father-in-law, Bogdan Khmelnitsky.According to legend, she lived there for 13 years mourning her husband. Ruxanda's tears formed a crystal-clear spring, which became known as «panska krynitsa». The tears were combustible, but the water was not salty, but tasty and refreshing: its temperature was +10 °C. And actually it is an underground watercourse, draining along the Nistru fault from northeast to southwest. This well serves all the social structures of the village of Rashkov. What do we see on the square? Opposite the spring stands the Great Synagogue, at the entrance of which will be our next stop. This place was not chosen for the synagogue by chance. Before building the synagogue, it was necessary to make sure there was a source of water nearby for ablutions. Presumably this is where the ablutions were first performed. But first let's look around the square.Standing in front of the spring, on the left we see the building of the Jewish house of prayer, modified over time. It is assumed that those Jews who sought solitude during prayer preferred to communicate with G-d in such a small prayer house (there were two in Rashkov). Most went to the synagogue both to pray and to participate in the local Jewish community. I'll give you an interesting addition about this house that makes it even more Jewish. In Soviet times, in the 1970s, there was a department for making soft drinks, making lemonade and filling siphons with carbonated water, headed by Mikhail Yachmes. All the children who went to school were given free soda.Uncle Misha used to say: «Water holds up ships. Wouldn't she hold me? Mikhail Yakhmes went through the whole Patriotic War and was a Knight of two Orders of the Red Star. When Uncle Misha's children grew up and he grew old, they went to Ukraine, to Kerch, and took Uncle Misha with them. The shop closed, but the residents of Rashkov remember Uncle Misha with kind words. Another building that once housed a Jewish school can still be found behind it, next to the synagogue. Recall that for the Jews, the "People of the Book," the school was a very important institution. In Soviet times it housed a carpentry workshop, and at one time - in its rebuilt form - there was even a village club. Now it is abandoned. Speaking of the school, we should remember Mikhail Maksimovich Aranchuk, who was one of the last two Jews of Rashkov (the other was Abrasha the shoemaker). Mikhail Maksimovich passed away in 2003, but he came to Rashkov in 1951 and worked for 40 years in a school (not this Jewish school, but a village school). Aranchuk was a teacher, vice-principal and longtime director of the school. To the left of the former Jewish school building, the next inconspicuous building on the same side – the former Jewish bathhouse, not a mikvah, but a public bathhouse. It was built in 1903 and functioned until 1990. Before its construction, the Jewish community requested and obtained permission from the administration on the condition that non-Jewish inhabitants could use it one day a week. There was also a laundry, and water naturally flowed from a nearby spring to both the bathhouse and other institutions. Until now, the village administration, school, kindergarten, post office, savings bank and other social facilities, as well as 20 private farms still use this water. Now let's walk around the Synagogue and approach the main entrance from the opposite side of the square.