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The beginning of the ceremony was that they gave us matzah, they gave us potato, everything that had to be given, and we said a broche [blessing] over everything. We recited a broche over the matzah: ‘Majci ani lehunekum melahajrum, anser gil macesz’.
[Editor’s note: Presumably Edit Grossmann refers to the ha-motzi blessing, which is a generic blessing over the bread or grain products used in a meal, and also recited over the matzah.] We didn’t say ‘hurec’, because hurec is for bread, we said: matzah, we recited the blessing over the matzah instead of bread. First we ate the potatoes.
Boiled potatoes, it was cut, we dipped it in salty water, because it meant that they [Jews] crossed the salty sea. [Editor’s note: Others think that the salty water refers to the tears shed in captivity.] Then we had ‘hrajszesz’ [charoset]. Charoset means the result of the harvest: apple and nut and wine, we made a mixture of these. Charoset is very tasty, I like it a lot.
Then we had radish, and we drank wine, they poured a glass of wine for everybody. And praying, praying, and we were already so hungry that our eyes were popping out. And so we ate meat-soup, we had a roast with farfel, and after the meat we ate latkes. On the first night we didn’t eat cake, just on the second night. And we were praying during the meal too.
[It was also during the meal that] Dad recited a prayer, and poured a glass of wine for [Elijah] the Prophet – we called him: the angel. And dad said to one of the children: ‘Go and open the door!’ We opened the door... we were standing. And I was convinced that the angel came in.
One enters into the spirit of religion so intensely that we opened the door, and mammy said: ‘Can you see then that the wine stirred?’ ‘It stirred indeed, the angel came in.’ Like Christians in front of the Christmas tree, they also imagine that the angel is coming, isn’t it? [Editor’s note: Edit Grossmann associates the angel with Elijah the Prophet.]
The matzah stolen of course, we were children. They hid the afikoman by the end of the ceremony already, and we tried to take it out. There were two pillows [put on daddy’s chair], he was sitting on them, [it was hid] between the pillows, and dad arranged it so that one of us could draw it out.
[Editor’s note: Presumably Edit Grossmann refers to the ha-motzi blessing, which is a generic blessing over the bread or grain products used in a meal, and also recited over the matzah.] We didn’t say ‘hurec’, because hurec is for bread, we said: matzah, we recited the blessing over the matzah instead of bread. First we ate the potatoes.
Boiled potatoes, it was cut, we dipped it in salty water, because it meant that they [Jews] crossed the salty sea. [Editor’s note: Others think that the salty water refers to the tears shed in captivity.] Then we had ‘hrajszesz’ [charoset]. Charoset means the result of the harvest: apple and nut and wine, we made a mixture of these. Charoset is very tasty, I like it a lot.
Then we had radish, and we drank wine, they poured a glass of wine for everybody. And praying, praying, and we were already so hungry that our eyes were popping out. And so we ate meat-soup, we had a roast with farfel, and after the meat we ate latkes. On the first night we didn’t eat cake, just on the second night. And we were praying during the meal too.
[It was also during the meal that] Dad recited a prayer, and poured a glass of wine for [Elijah] the Prophet – we called him: the angel. And dad said to one of the children: ‘Go and open the door!’ We opened the door... we were standing. And I was convinced that the angel came in.
One enters into the spirit of religion so intensely that we opened the door, and mammy said: ‘Can you see then that the wine stirred?’ ‘It stirred indeed, the angel came in.’ Like Christians in front of the Christmas tree, they also imagine that the angel is coming, isn’t it? [Editor’s note: Edit Grossmann associates the angel with Elijah the Prophet.]
The matzah stolen of course, we were children. They hid the afikoman by the end of the ceremony already, and we tried to take it out. There were two pillows [put on daddy’s chair], he was sitting on them, [it was hid] between the pillows, and dad arranged it so that one of us could draw it out.
Period
Location
Nagyenyed
Romania
Interview
Edit Grossmann
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