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After I left the yeshivah, I gradually began breaking away from Orthodox Judaism. Above all, I was no longer concerning myself with Talmudic studies, and didn't wear payes. I still ate kosher, it wasn't until in Hungary, in 1939, that for the first time I didn't eat kosher food.
It was complicated for me to transfer from the yeshivah to high school, because I was missing a basic secular education. My main problems were with mathematics. On the other hand, my favorite subjects were languages and history, especially the Middle Ages.
Today I can communicate in eight languages. Already from home I can speak German, Hungarian, Yiddish and Slovak. With my father and at school I studied Hebrew and Aramaic texts. During my high school studies, I began learning French.
After the war it gradually became a useless language. In order to find some sort of a job, I had to quickly learn English. In time I also added the Romanian language, which I learned during my five-year stay in that country. I also spoke Spanish well, but that faded away. I still more or less manage in it passively. Besides that I also know Czech, both spoken and written.
It was complicated for me to transfer from the yeshivah to high school, because I was missing a basic secular education. My main problems were with mathematics. On the other hand, my favorite subjects were languages and history, especially the Middle Ages.
Today I can communicate in eight languages. Already from home I can speak German, Hungarian, Yiddish and Slovak. With my father and at school I studied Hebrew and Aramaic texts. During my high school studies, I began learning French.
After the war it gradually became a useless language. In order to find some sort of a job, I had to quickly learn English. In time I also added the Romanian language, which I learned during my five-year stay in that country. I also spoke Spanish well, but that faded away. I still more or less manage in it passively. Besides that I also know Czech, both spoken and written.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Singer Alexander