Tag #119917 - Interview #87379 (Marim Haller)

My mother used to sacrifice a fowl every Saturday, she also did so during the week if needed. She didn’t raise fowls, she bought them. It was like this, everyone had a small cage and kept a bird or two there until they sacrificed them. But they didn’t raise them. She took the birds to the hakham to be slaughtered – people couldn’t do without a hakham. [Editor’s note: According to Alan Unterman (Dictionary of Jewish traditions) among the Sephardim Jews the rabbi was also called hakham (in Hebrew: wise), but according to Dr. Slomo Leibovici-Lais (President, World Cultural Association of Jews from Romania) who lives now in Israel, writes in his ‘Lexicon’ that the name of hakham ’in Romania was addressed to the shochet’ (book supported by the ‘Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture’ and ‘Biroul pentru Comunitati din Agentia Evreiasca’ (ie. the Office for the Communities of the Jewish Agency), Liscat haKehiot)] There were kosher butchers at the market as well, who sold kosher meat. It wasn’t mixed with treyf. And only the upper part of the animal was sold, the lower part wasn’t for consumption. That’s according to my knowledge. Only when it came to larger animals. [Editor’s note: Among the four-footed animals the artiodactyl and ruminant animals are kosher, like the cattle and the sheep. The joint tendons have to be eliminated, but this requires to be done with skill. If there is no expert, it is simpler to consume only the upper part. This came into the general use.] We ate all the meat of fowls. Including the gizzard and the leibara [the liver]. People cooked “anghiact” – meaning you chopped the lived, added onion and mixed in a little oil and salt. This was served as vorspeiss [appetizer].