Jozsef, who attended both a religious and a secular school as a child, paints for us a picture of growing up in the bustling, small Jewish community of the small Hungarian town of Kiskoros. His father, an orthodox Jew, served in the First World War and had a small leather goods shop.
Jozsef attended yeshiva, and in 1939 emigrated to Palestine, where he worked in a dressmaker's shop in Tel Aviv . Jozsef left his orthodoxy behind and married a Yemini woman, Zarum Mazal, who he met through the Communist party. His family, who remained in Hungary, were all killed during the Holocaust.
Jozsef and Zarum retumed to Hungary in 1948 and changed their name from Fogler to Faludi (more Hungarian sounding). They had three sons. Although not in the film, Jozsef did not pass on Jewish traditions to his sons; none married Jews.
Jozsef joined the Communist Party in 1949, which helped him find a job as a manual laborer. Jozsef never returned to Judaism, but gives private Hebrew and Yiddish lessons at home.