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We were a strictly Orthodox family; we used to observe the Jewish holidays regularly. The holiest holiday of the Jews is the Sabbath, on Saturday. Actually, there’s only one even holier holiday: Yom Kippur. Every Jewish family, including my parents, of course, prepared very well for Sabbath. Our home was spotless, even we, the children, had to help out in the cleaning. My parents had special care for the Friday supper. I don’t exactly remember the preparations anymore. On Fridays, my mother used to light the candles. We, the boys, went with our father to the synagogue. When we came back from the synagogue, the table was laid with a white tablecloth, and there were two big loaves of challah covered, and the candles were lit.
We sat at the table and my father said the prayers and bentsched us. That is, he gave us a blessing. I don’t know the origin of the term bentsched. [Editor’s note: This is a Yiddish term. However, it does not mean to bless the children but to say the blessings after finishing the meal.] I can’t remember the text of the blessing, as it was in Hebrew. I think it began with ‘God bless the children of Abraham, Jacob and Yitzak [Isaac]…’ Even today the observant families do it the same way, but there are no such families in Kolozsvar. The Friday evening supper was a ceremony in itself. We used to sing songs at the table; we sang Friday evening songs: the Shalom Alechem, the Kol somer sabosz kados mechalelo and the Manei ha B'simcha. The meals had a specific order, as well. First we ate the fish aspic. This meal can only be prepared in Jewish households. My wife prepares fish aspic quite often even today, she knows the recipe, and I don’t. Then came the meat soup, the beef and then the farfel.
On Saturday morning we again went to the synagogue with my father, then we came home and we had a festive dinner. The Saturday dinner had already been prepared on Friday. We ate chulent then. The chulent was made from bean and hulled barley. They used to put meat in it and poured water over. After that [on Friday] we took it to the bakery and we put it in the preheated stove. We left it there for the night, and the shabesgoy brought it home on Saturday.
We sat at the table and my father said the prayers and bentsched us. That is, he gave us a blessing. I don’t know the origin of the term bentsched. [Editor’s note: This is a Yiddish term. However, it does not mean to bless the children but to say the blessings after finishing the meal.] I can’t remember the text of the blessing, as it was in Hebrew. I think it began with ‘God bless the children of Abraham, Jacob and Yitzak [Isaac]…’ Even today the observant families do it the same way, but there are no such families in Kolozsvar. The Friday evening supper was a ceremony in itself. We used to sing songs at the table; we sang Friday evening songs: the Shalom Alechem, the Kol somer sabosz kados mechalelo and the Manei ha B'simcha. The meals had a specific order, as well. First we ate the fish aspic. This meal can only be prepared in Jewish households. My wife prepares fish aspic quite often even today, she knows the recipe, and I don’t. Then came the meat soup, the beef and then the farfel.
On Saturday morning we again went to the synagogue with my father, then we came home and we had a festive dinner. The Saturday dinner had already been prepared on Friday. We ate chulent then. The chulent was made from bean and hulled barley. They used to put meat in it and poured water over. After that [on Friday] we took it to the bakery and we put it in the preheated stove. We left it there for the night, and the shabesgoy brought it home on Saturday.
Period
Location
Cluj Napoca
Romania
Interview
Bela Muller
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