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The prayer house was in the same neighborhood as our apartment. On the next plot; it was a single-story building, quite long, a tiny plot; the prayer house was there, and on weekdays the cheder. Father at first every Saturday and then only on the bigger holidays went to that prayer house.
In the 1920s it was more like the 19th century [in terms of observation of Jewish law], but later on he went less and less frequently. Father wore a hat, but then everyone wore a hat, or a peaked cap. He even had a bowler hat for a few years.
There was a synagogue on Starowarszawska Street [Editor’s note: the synagogue on Nowowarszawska Street was erected in 1903 thanks to the support of Mojzesz Pfeffer]; that synagogue is still there in Kielce, I think.
A synagogue [as opposed to a prayer house] is an impressive building with all the ornamentation; it has this little platform, podium – I don’t know what it’s called [bimah]. It’s a two-story building, spacious, that can accommodate some 200 people, say. But a prayer house is small. That one was the size of an apartment.
In the 1920s it was more like the 19th century [in terms of observation of Jewish law], but later on he went less and less frequently. Father wore a hat, but then everyone wore a hat, or a peaked cap. He even had a bowler hat for a few years.
There was a synagogue on Starowarszawska Street [Editor’s note: the synagogue on Nowowarszawska Street was erected in 1903 thanks to the support of Mojzesz Pfeffer]; that synagogue is still there in Kielce, I think.
A synagogue [as opposed to a prayer house] is an impressive building with all the ornamentation; it has this little platform, podium – I don’t know what it’s called [bimah]. It’s a two-story building, spacious, that can accommodate some 200 people, say. But a prayer house is small. That one was the size of an apartment.
Period
Interview
Julian Gringras
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