Tag #133645 - Interview #100685 (Jozsef Farkas)

There was a mikveh in Torda, but we never went there. We had a bathroom at home and weren’t that religious to consider it necessary. There was also a kosher slaughterhouse in Torda, behind the yard of the synagogue. We called it ‘sakteraj,’ and we used to take our poultry there to be slaughtered. It was a classic slaughterhouse, but only for poultry. There were hangers and a floor-drain for the blood.People used to take there all kinds of poultry: hens, chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, to be slaughtered.People also used to take there calves. Cattle were slaughtered at the town slaughterhouse, but also by a shochet.We had chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys at home. The servant used to take them there and bring them back [from the shochet’s place].Before World War II my mother always had a help at home: a servant.An older spinster was the servant for a while. She lived in the underground dwelling.There was a period when we had a young girl originally from Gyorgyfalva and she had a special bed in the kitchen. During the daytime it was used as a table, and when it was extended, it became a bed.We had several servants [in time].