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My older brother Sahne studied in a cheder. At the age of 13 he had his bar mitzvah. My father organized a big celebration on this day. There were many guests. My father gave him a tallit and tefillin. There was no cheder for girls [4] in Aluksne. During summer vacations our father invited a Jewish teacher for us. My sister and I studied in Yiddish. I remember how I cheated on our teacher once. I started reading a prayer, when I realized that I knew this prayer by heart. When our family sat at the table for meals, my father used to recite a prayer over the bread and I knew these prayers by heart. So I continued reciting the prayer, and my teacher called for my father to hear how good at reading I was. Later, I confessed to him, but I remember this moment.
We observed all Jewish traditions at home. My mother followed the kashrut strictly. Perhaps, for this reason she cooked herself. Our Latvian servant washed and peeled the vegetables, and my mother took care of the cooking. She was a brilliant housewife. I’ve never tried anything close to her gefilte fish, or teyglakh, my favorite, which was little balls of tight dough made with eggs, with a bit of lemon juice and citron. All of us liked teyglakh, and my mother often made it. It was always served, when we had guests, boiled in honey with spices. My mother observed the kosher rules [kashrut] strictly. We had specific utensils for meat and dairy products. If there was meat on the table, nobody would even think of putting butter there. We even had separate dish washing sponges.
Every Thursday there was a big market in Aluksne. We bought eggs, butter, sour cream and cottage cheese at the market. The same farmer delivered the dairy products to our home. There was a jar for sour cream and the money was left in the kitchen in the morning. He picked the empty jar and left another jar of sour cream, butter and cottage cheese. Farmers brought chicken and fish to the market knowing that Jews needed these products for their festive dinner on Friday. The chickens were taken to the shochet, and he also sold kosher meat. He bought calves from farmers, cut the meat and sold it to Jews. My mother used to bake bread before a Jewish bakery opened in Aluksne. She then bought bread and bagels from there. We liked warm and fresh bagels for breakfast. This bakery also sold very delicious challah for Sabbath.
We observed all Jewish traditions at home. My mother followed the kashrut strictly. Perhaps, for this reason she cooked herself. Our Latvian servant washed and peeled the vegetables, and my mother took care of the cooking. She was a brilliant housewife. I’ve never tried anything close to her gefilte fish, or teyglakh, my favorite, which was little balls of tight dough made with eggs, with a bit of lemon juice and citron. All of us liked teyglakh, and my mother often made it. It was always served, when we had guests, boiled in honey with spices. My mother observed the kosher rules [kashrut] strictly. We had specific utensils for meat and dairy products. If there was meat on the table, nobody would even think of putting butter there. We even had separate dish washing sponges.
Every Thursday there was a big market in Aluksne. We bought eggs, butter, sour cream and cottage cheese at the market. The same farmer delivered the dairy products to our home. There was a jar for sour cream and the money was left in the kitchen in the morning. He picked the empty jar and left another jar of sour cream, butter and cottage cheese. Farmers brought chicken and fish to the market knowing that Jews needed these products for their festive dinner on Friday. The chickens were taken to the shochet, and he also sold kosher meat. He bought calves from farmers, cut the meat and sold it to Jews. My mother used to bake bread before a Jewish bakery opened in Aluksne. She then bought bread and bagels from there. We liked warm and fresh bagels for breakfast. This bakery also sold very delicious challah for Sabbath.
Period
Location
Aluksne
Latvia
Interview
Maria Sorkina